〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an encompassing sin vvhich he cannot cast off Heb. 12.1 vvhich he has no povver to resist it so besets him in every faculty that he cannot take it avvay 4. The Lavv discovers the filthiness of Original sin that it is mire it is vomit 2 Cor. 7.1 Jam. 1.21 it is filthiness it self nay that it is the excrement of naughtiness it has defiled the soul it defiles all creatures that are for a mans use Hag. 2.11 as the Leper whatever he touched is unclean To the soul of man the Sun in his glory was not to be compared if a man had been cast into Hell as a Diamond into the dirt it could never have defiled him his Holiness like a Diamond would have shined bright notwithstanding but since the soul is defiled with sin the defilement is so deep that nothing can wash it out it is a stain that will remain to eternity upon all that are not washed in the blood of Christ as spots in scarlet and crimson much soap will not serve turn to take them out the fire of Hell will not purge sin and therefore when men have been there millions of years they are as black and filthy and as unpurged as at the first entrance into that place of darkness and horrour c. 5. The Law discovers that Original sin is the seed of all sin and it contains virtually all sin in it Jer. 6. Jam. 1.14 it is sin in the fountain an evil man out of the treasure of his evil heart casts out evil things murder and adultery A man is tempted by his own lust it is his father and it is his mother lust conceives and brings forth sin all actual sins are much more in the heart there is a beam in the eye and a dimness in the heart and I conceive by all occasions also sin is drawn out and he can look upon no creature but he conceives sin from it 1 Joh. 2.15 whatever is in the world is the fuel of lust there is nothing but is the object and draws out some lust in the heart 6. The Law discovers the deceitfulness of Original sin that all the lusts of a mans heart are deceitful lusts Ephes 4.24 Jer. 17.9 Jam. 3.15 Heb. 3.13 and the heart is deceitful above all things who can know it that a man can never fathom the bottom of it for there is a devillishness in it that whatever policy there is in Hell all this is in sin the wisdom of the flesh will take all opportunities to sin and make provision for the flesh and by often sinning mens hearts are hardned and they use much policy also in drawing others to sin and to keep them off from that which is good to set them upon things that are unlawful or else to pervert and poyson them in those things which are lawful to make an improvement of every occasion and to grow upon the sudden beyond what a man could have imagined as we see it in Peter from lying he proceeded even to cursing and damning himself Hab. 2. Deut. 25. Ephes 4.19 Jud. 11. Isa 56. 7. The Law discovers the unsatiableness and unweariedness that is in Original sin and the infiniteness that is in it it is compared to drunkenness the more men drink the more they desire and it is like Hell that is never satisfied the pleasures of sin enlarge the soul but never fill it there is a greediness in sin men pour out themselves they are greedy dogs that can never have enough there is such a dog-like appetite after sin they do evil with both hands earnestly always modo modo non haberet modum and therefore eternity of punishment is reserved for it God dealing with the creature not according to his actions but intentions the sinner would have it infinite extensively and intensively and therefore peccat in aeterno suo c. he sins in his eternity and God punisheth in his eternity 8. It discovers the demerit and effects of Original sin that it brings a man under the curse which is all evil and the wrath of God in Hell all the curses in Gods book and all the plagues of Gods Justice all the torments of Hell which either infinite wisdom can find out or infinite power inflict and that to eternity and that not only upon himself but upon all the creatures for his use Cursed is the ground for thy sake and cursed shalt thou be in thy house Rom. 8.20 and the curse enters into the timber and there is a vanity of corruption brought upon them all it turns a land into barrenness makes the Stars fight against them and the Clouds to drop vengeance and there is the desert of sin written in the drops of rain it hinders the influences of Heaven binds up the influences of the Pleiades which no man can do c. 2. The Law sets before a man and discovers his actual sins and that in many particulars It shews a maâ—â— what dishonour every sin does unto Gods glory a man gives not glory to the God of Heaven but debases him as much as in him lies by casting dishonour upon him saying The way of the Lord is not equal Is God unrighteous I speak as a man says Paul he despises his Justice turns his Grace into wantonness and gives the glory of God to any thing else for in every actual sin a man sets up a new God and serves the Devil in it who is the God of this World The Idols of mens hearts as well as of their hands strike at the very Being of God and also at the excellency of Gods rule the Law being the Septer by which the Lord rules and that by which his Soveraignty is seen in the world Rom. 7.12 it is the glorious royal Law the perfect Law it is holy just and good infinitely surpassing all the Laws of men I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad And not only the holiness of the Law but the harmony of it is opposed he that breaks one is guilty of all he that neglects any one command willingly is undoubtedly an hypocrite and he disobeys all for sincerity is accompanied with universality Then the Law opened in its spirituality shews a man the intention of his heart much more than it does in his actions and the intent of the sin goes beyond that of the sinner it shews also the infection of it upon others for evil words corrupt good manners it is as rottenness a plague a gangrene there is an infection in them all This one act of sin would defile the whole man as we see it has done in Adam and the Angels that fell the act defiles the nature and the nature defiles the man the least vain thought deserves death and the least idle word qualifies a man for Hell and therefore there is more evil in the least act of sin than there is good in all the
Generality and Vniversality it being expressed in general and sometimes universal terms as a mode or form most convenient and agreeable to humane Nature For the wise God resolved in the distribution of Divine Grace to suit the externe exhibition thereof to the indigent condition of humane nature Grace doth not destroy but perfect nature and therefore it is expressed and dispensed in a form or mode most adapted to humane nature namely in propositions and invitations indifferent general and sometimes universal thereby the more potently to allure elect Souls and also to cut off all pretext of excuse from Unbelievers as Joh. 3.16 Esa 55.1 These general invitations are termed Hos 11.4 The cords of a man i. e. most agreeable to humane nature Hence [3] Conditional this Covenant of Grace is as to its externe mode expressed frequently in terms hypothetic or conditional which is also most congruous to humane nature as Rev. 22.17 and doth not speak the Covenant to be in it self conditional as in what follows 2 We descend now to the Covenant of Grace 2. The Nature of the Covenant as to its interne form or essence as considered according to its interne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Habitude and Dispensation wherein its essential form mode or essence consists This interne form and dispensation of the Covenant we find described Jer. 31.33 34. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days saith the Lord I will put my law into their inward parts c. In which verses we find all the essential parts and benefits of this new Covenant as to its interne respect namely Union with God in Christ Justification Sanctification Adoption c. And so we aver [1] It is but one That the Covenant of Grace is but one and the same for notwithstanding all that variety before-mentioned in the extern exhibition both as to Adam Noah Abraham Israel and we may add David yet the Covenant as to its intern spirit mind and essence admits not the least variety it flowing from the same fountain of free Grace by the same Mediator unto the same elect objects and on the same terms This Identity of the Covenant both as to Jews and Gentiles our Author demonstrates from Rom. 11.16 17. where by the Olive-tree he understands the Church of God and by the Root Abraham as taken into Covenant with whom the Covenant in some sence began and upon which both Jews and Gentiles grow Hence [2] It is particular This Covenant is also as to its intern mind and form Particular For all the Indefinition Generality and Vniversality of this Covenant regards onely its extern offer and dispensation not the immanent Will of God as if he had an universal love to or desire of all mens Salvation It 's true God really intends and decrees the offer shall be universal or general to all where the Gospel comes yet he doth not intend or decree that all shall accept of this offer or have real benefit by it Whence [3] Absolute This Covenant is as to its intern form or essence Absolute not Conditional This is evident 1 From the very Notion given it Matt. 26.28 and more particularly Act. 3.25 Acts 3.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with its radix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notes that it primarily imports a Testament whereby men absolutely dispose of their goods The same we find Heb. 8.10 10.16 which the old Latin Version interprets to dispose by Testament and so with the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequently occurs as Gen. 21.27 32. 26.28 31.44 as elsewhere and answers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cut or strike a Covenant And thus among the ancient Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is frequently used to signifie a disposition of somewhat by Testament unto heirs as Isocrates and others and what more absolute than a Testament Thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the Covenant of Grace is expressed in the Old Testament as Gen. 9.9 and elsewhere is alwayes rendred by the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the New Testament and never 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies a conditional Covenant depending on the mutual stipulation of both parties 2 If the Covenant of Grace be conditional either these Conditions are included in the Covenant or not if included then it is as to its intern dispensation and mind absolute if not included then is this Covenant equally as hard yea impossible to Sinners as the Covenant of Works 3 A condition in a Covenant strictly taken denotes a moral Efficience and has a causal influence upon what is conditionally promised which destroys the freedom of Grace 4 The principal difference between the Covenant of Works and of Grace lies in this that the former was conditional given to Grace received but this is absolute giving Grace The first Covenant supposed grace but gave none this second gives all grace but supposeth none as precedent to its gift 5 Yet we deny not but that there are Conditions and conditional Promises appendent to this second Covenant but they are such as belong principally to the extern form of it as before or if they belong to the substance of the Covenant they are onely consequent improper Conditions absolutely undertaken for by the Head of the Covenant and effectually wrought by the Grace of the Covenant not antecedent proper Conditions such as bespeak the Covenant conditional [4] Certain and immutable Hence it follows that the second Covenant is most sure and immutable as to all the Heirs of salvation He that is once in Covenant is ever so There is no way of securing Promises and Covenants among men but the God of all Grace hath assumed the same to assure us that his Covenant is most certain and inviolable Doth a Promise confirmed by Sacrifices and Oaths make sure a Covenant and has not God confirmed his Covenant by all these Psal 50.5 Lev. 2.13 Heb. 6.18 Is a Surety a Surety to make good Covenants And has not God made this Covenant primarily with Christ our Surety that so in him it might be firm to all his members So much for the Nature of this Covenant An account of the Revise of this Discourse Having given this Summary of the two Covenants we shall conclude this Proeme with some account of the endeavours we have put forth to render the following Discourse more perfect and useful which was penned as delivered in a popular way of Sermons but I gave my self the liberty of casting it into this method of Books Chapters Sections and half-Sections as that which to me seems most natural proper and adequate to its matter For I have long thought it one of the most principal concerns in Method to follow the conduct of Nature in suiting our Form to our Matter and not our Matter to our Form as the Schools are wont The Additions I
's utterly defaced and a new Image is now stampt upon us We are all by nature the children of the Devil and there is an image that 's earthly which we do now bear 1 Cor. 15.49 therefore we must be renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us for all knowledge and inward abilities of mind either to know God or the Creature is lost and the soul is darkness it self Ephes 4.18 dark in its principles and dark in its reasonings his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is darkness and though Divines do commonly say that there are some common notions as fragments of the former image I conceive we are beholding to the Covenant of Grace for them and that they are preserved in us by Christ as our lives are and the support of the Creatures for our use and whatever does tend to our comfortable being whatever is on this side Hell we have not as a part of the first Image and from the first Covenant but as an overflowing of the Grace of the second Covenant by which I say the world stands for surely man fell in lutum lapidosum into a stony mire as Bernard the one blotted out the image of Holiness and the other brake in pieces all his natural abilities It 's laid for a ground that Original sin is alike in all now how comes it to pass that it has not the same punishment and power upon all Take a natural fool and the veriest idiot and every one of us was as guilty of Adam's sin as he now why are those common notions blotted out in him and preserved in us surely it is from the different dispensations of the Mediator into whose hand the government and administration of all things are committed and it 's said Joh. 1.9 That he enlightens every man there is not only a supernatural light from Christ to all the Elect but there is some kind of light that even all mankind has from Christ by vertue of the second Covenant that it 's not destroy'd it is from him and that glorious freedom of Will is wholly lost that though man acts as a free-willer because he does it answerable to the dictates of Reason yet it is libertas adulterina an adulterine liberty and that which has a shew of liberty but is only bondage for surely that libertas contrarietatis velle bonum vel malum is not liberty for that 's a perfection and so is not the other neither can there be liberty in Heaven then but now the soul is wholly servile because it can will nothing else but evil Phil. 2.13 he must work the will c. Facit ut velimus praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati Aug. 4. The Soul has lost all fellowship and communion with God Adam could walk with God and enjoy fellowship as a friend with God and so do the Saints that have this image renewed but it 's grace only fits a man for fellowship Being made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 And so for glory also Col. 1.12 Ephes 4.18 Estranged from the life of God So call'd either because it 's wrought by God as the righteousness of Christ is call'd the righteousness of God it's God that lives in the soul by his spirit and it 's the life of God by way of eminency and excellency for things excellent are call'd the things of God and it 's the life of God because it does fit a man to walk with God and to live to God Now from this life men are strangers Isa 44.20 they live a natural life and they feed upon the carnal comforts that are below that nature desires and seeks after and they live a civil life they converse with men in civil affairs but for a godly life a life to God to walk with God converse with him in all their ways this they are strangers to this is only the life of Saints But men live the life of satan he lives in them being the spirit of this world and he acts them and with him they converse and his lusts they do As Augustin says of himself speaking of the lusts of his youthful time Hi sunt amici quibus acquievi consules quibus credidi aves quibus cohabitavi But for God they have no acquaintance with him in all their ways 5. The Soul is at enmity with God Col. 1.21 Enemies in our minds and this enmity is twofold either direct or collateral enmity as when mens lusts run out to the Creatures and the using of them loco mariti in the stead of an husband it 's an enmity unto God though we intend it not but Jam 4.4 only pleasure in the Creature carries us on and we prove adulterers therewith when mens spirits are carried unto several lusts for pleasure sake and profits sake c. and so it 's enmity against God but indirectly and men say they never meant God any evil I never intended it as they in Ezech. 8.3 They set up the image of jealousie to provoke me to go far from my sanctuary that was finis operis the end of the work though not operantis of the worker But there is a kind of direct enmity which carries a man on unto that which is simply evil and that for no cause but because it does displease and dishonour God as in swearing a sin wherein is neither pleasure nor profit there is no ground for it but barely because God is dishonoured by it We read Heb. 10.29 there is a despighting of the spirit of Grace there is an enmity to do evil for no other end but to despight the spirit of Grace which is the great transgression Psal 19.13 There is an inclination in our nature to this great offence unto which not only presumptuous sins but even secret sins are steps and degrees Men reject the Soveraignty of God and scorn his Laws and despise his power and judgments deny his being and exalt themselves above him saying there is no God 6. The Souls death lies in this mainly that it hates and is an enemy to all those ways that might bring him back unto God again resists whatever may reconcile God and his soul let but a good thought of God come into their head and they hate it Rom. 1.28 We naturally like not to retain God in our knowledge let any thing be offered unto us that exalts God and we reject it we are enemies to all righteousness Take but the offers of Christ and the grace of the Gospel there is nothing that the heart rises so much against and opposes because it 's the way that brings us to God they will find out another of their own they desire to be under the Law go about to establish their own righteousness and not submit to the righteousness of Christ This will be the great condemnation of the World Nay even in a godly man let but a little of God be set upon his soul presently flesh lusts against it Gal. 5.17 and would
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies 1 ye that covet earnestly or vehemently desire so the word is used Mat. 12.38 16.24 Mar. 10.35 12.38 2 Ye that demand or make it your petition so Mat. 15.28 20.21 3 Ye that study contrive labour with all your might so Mat. 16 25. Mar. 8.10 43 44. Luk. 23.20 4 Ye that consent to this as best determine as Mat. 13.28 Joh. 9.54 Mat. 17.4 5 Ye that delight or take pleasure Mat. 9.13 12.7 Heb. 10.5 8. It follows to be under the Law The Apostle Paul speaks of being under the Law in divers senses 1 There is a being under the Law for justification and life Gal. 4.4 5. that is under the Law as a Covenant Christ was made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law 2 There is a being under the Law for condemnation Gal. 3.10 Rom. 6.14 As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse 3 There is a being under the Law for irritation that is stirring up a mans corruption Sin taking occasion by the Commandment became exceeding sinful Gal. 5.8 4 There is a being under the Law by compulsion If you are led by the spirit you are not under the Law that is the Law as only inforcing and compelling as an unregenerate man is as a slave and having the spirit of a servant not of a son who does all he does from an inward principle and disposition suitable to the Law in whatever it does command But it will appear that being under the Law in all these senses are grounded on being under it as a Covenant as we shall see hereafter and that he that is freed from it as a Covenant is not under the Law in any of these respects but by vertue of the second Covenant is delivered from it Only here I think Pareus and others say that to be under the law and desire so to be is the same with Gal. 3.10 They that are of the works of the Law that is that seek righteousness and life by the works of the Law and this is properly to be under the Law as a Covenant of Works which was the natural sin of the Jews and with which error and heresie they endeavoured to overspread all the Gentile Churches going about to establish their own righteousness and therefore typified by Hagar which the Apostle makes Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem above the Christian Church is Sarah that did receive the Doctrine of the Gospel without any mixture of their own righteousness but did trust perfectly in the Grace that was revealed to them by Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 10.3 So here to be under the Law is to seek to be justified by the works of the Moral or Ceremonial Law as being works of righteousness that we have done For though the whole Ceremonial Law were Gospel under a veil yet they not being able to look to the end of it as the Apostle says they did perform it as works of righteousness 2 Cor. 3. in which they did expect justification and life for their obedience to them and performance of them without looking into the things shadowed in those types Now the Apostle says not only that men were thus under the Law but so they did desire to be Therefore looking upon these as being a patern of all mankind and in whom the dispositions of all men may be read I do hence observe Doct. That to be under the Law as a Covenant of works is unto every natural man a very desirable condition He is not only born under the first Covenant but under that Covenant he does desire to continue In the handling of it I shall first prove it and give the grounds of it and answer some Objections that may arise in the hearts of men against it and then make the application of it There is in the fall of man a double misery come upon him 1 His being under Adams Covenant 2 His bearing Adams image And in this state all men by nature desire to live and die And that men do still desire to bear the image of the Earthly Adam is plain because they resist the image of God in Christ that blessed image that by the holy Spirit is offered to them in the Gospel And we find how much they do hug the image of old Adam in themselves Now though their desire to be under his Covenant be the foundation of all their misery yet men apprehend it not so much The offer of the second Covenant they hate and reject the Covenant of Christ as much as they despise his Image yet they perceive it not Therefore to prove it we must take the most convincing course we can First this was the evil that God saw Adam's nature to be prone to and therefore he not only cast him out of Paradise as a just reward of his apostacy but also in a particular manner forbad him the use of the tree of life Gen. 3.22 Gen. 3.22 God having made for our first Parents coats of skins now he saith Behold the man is become like one of us it is an Ironical exclamation wherein God derides the falshood of Satan and the folly of man This is the Godship that Satan promis'd en Divinitatem promissam Behold the promised Divinity And the knowledge of good and evil was nothing but a miserable and shameful nakedness which before man knew not And now here follows exilii decretum ratio decreti the decree is Gods will to cast man out of Paradice and the ground of it is lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of Life But why must not man after the fall taste of the tree of Life seeing before the fall it was not forbidden It is answered Non in esse sed in intentione futurum erat peccatum not in the action but in the intention it was to be reputed sin And Interpreters give this as a reason that thereby God might take away occasion of sinning from him and God doth not only aim at keeping us from sin by his Word but by his Rod also And they observe that there was by the fall a double corrupt disposition in Adam's heart which the eating of this tree would have drawn forth 1 Looking upon it as a Creature which he might conceive to have a vertue in it to preserve life he might put forth his hand which notes a voluntary act and so he might conceive though God hath threatned death yet here is a tree that can preserve life and of this I will eat and live And so he might have sin'd wilfully and out of contempt of the threatning of God by deifying a Creature and setting it in his place and giving it Gods power and so the life that was denied him by God he might think to make up in the Creature as men commonly do 2 Looking upon it Sacramentally as it was a Creature and
in all things written in the book of the Law to do them which cannot be meant of the Ceremonial Law but of the Moral Law and therefore if this Interpretation could stand the answer were easie that the subserviency of the Ceremonial Law was to end when the seed came and yet the Moral the copy of the first Covenant was still to remain and might be a servant to the Gospel and Gospel-ends but it must be understood of the Moral and that was the Law that was added till the seed came 2. Some by the Law understand the whole Pedagogy of Moses in the Ceremonial Judicial and Moral Law and so Beza and Pareus that way of discovering of the mind of God under the time of the Law which was to last only till the coming of Christ the promised seed and all these were added because of transgression that the Jews might thereby be stirred up to long for Christ to come and to pray and wait for the consolation of Israel being shut up under the Law and this darker and obscurer and less spiritual administration till Faith should come that is the dispensation of the Gospel which was afterward to be revealed as it is ver 23. for though the Saints were heirs of the Promises yet they were during that administration as it were under the morning twi-light the Sun not being yet risen as Beza has it and so by the Law he understands the same that before we understood in the continuance of the Law and the Prophets untill John and makes the sense of the words to be the same 3. Some do conceive the seed to be meant primarily indeed of Christ personal but yet in the second place of Christ Mystical Christ with the whole body of Christ and the Church the promise being made unto Christ primarily being primus foederatus the second Adam and the Head and Prince of the Covenant yet so that as the first Covenant was not made with the first Adam in his person only but together with him with all his posterity in him so the Covenant is first made with Christ the second Adam but yet not with him apart from his body but with them in him and so they understand the seed to be not only Christ in himself though he be primarily meant but also Christ in his body all the faithful and then the meaning seems to be this that so long as there are any of this seed to come or to be brought into the body of Christ and to be continued and kept there so long there will be this use of the Law Reinolds the use of the Law as given for the Seed discovering sin restraining it and condemning it that they may with the greater earnestness fly to the city of refuge And as for those places Rom. 6.14 and Rom. 7. it is spoken of Adam as under the Law as a Covenant and as a Husband irritating strengthning and stirring up sin in us sin taking occasion by the Commandment for so he saith Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law as a husband stirring up sin in you and thereby bringing forth fruit unto death but under grace as pardoning and so healing corruption and subduing sin and breaking the power thereof and so you are not under the Law provoking sin and strengthning it but under Grace healing sanctifying and subduing it Gal. 5.18 As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the law irritating sin and forcibly compelling unto duty Thus a man may be freed from the Law in these evil effects of it which are but fruits of the Curse even upon the Law of God it self accidentally as it meets with a corrupt nature and yet the Law remain unto those good ends for which it was given in the hand of a Mediator for our Salvation and to advance the Grace of the Gospel Vse 1 § 4. First then it is for Instruction in several particulars 1. It shews us the great end of God in publishing the Law it was for the Saints and for their good only The Law was published by Christ he was the Law-giver of him Moses received lively Oracles Act. 7. and Heb. 12. the end and giving of the Law was in reference unto the seed to whom the promise was made As there is a double end of the Gospel so there is of the Law 1 That which was intended principally and by it self and that only was Salvation both in the Law and in the Gospel to advance the ends of the Gospel 2 There is an accidental end Intentio principalis per se that which follows not from the nature of the thing but from the evil disposition of the subject and so unto all unregenerate men the Law doth discover their sins and make them out of measure sinful doth irritate and stir up their corruptions and so doth heighten and increase them and their condemnation for them as the Gospel doth but yet we may say of the Law as Christ does of himself That he came not into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved yet by accident he did condemn the world being despised and set for the falling as well as the rising of many in Israel but the proper and principal intent of his coming was salvation and not damnation so here I may say of the Law as it 's said of Christ had there not been some souls that Christ did intend to life he had never come into the world so had there not been a seed unto whom the Law vvas to be a servant the Lord had never given the Lavv never renevved it for there vvas condemnation enough in the vvorld before and death enough before and the vvrath of God did abound upon men the Gospel brings it not upon them but leaves them under it neither vvas it Gods intention in the Lavv to bring them under further condemnation though it does through their corruption prove so but had it not been for the seed the Lavv had never been added as a handmaid to the Gospel so that all the use of the Lavv and the discoveries of it to unregenerate men they do ovve to the Saints for it vvas for their sakes only that Christ did reveal it again to the vvorld 2. See the folly of those that cry dovvn the preaching of the Lavv it vvas published by Christ the foundation of the Gospel and the only Gospel Preacher the great Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gloss and Jerome do expound the vvord Isa 41.27 and yet the Lavv is dispensed unto the seed by and in the hand of this Mediator he that loved this seed so that he laid dovvn his life for it abased his glory and veiled his Godhead yet he did as a fruit of his love unto this seed deliver the Lavv unto them and in the days of his flesh interpreted it and vvill you slight his Love vvill you say it is
did all by Covenant and Christ dying did give Legacies that by the means of death they that are called may receive the promise of eternal Life it is a Testament confirmed by the death of the Testator Surely it shall be performed for it is a Covenant made unto Christ and if you did love him your hearts would rejoyce more in the performance of it as to Christ than unto your selves § 3. I come now unto the fourth particular in the opening of the point That is the Terms of the Covenant as they did pass between the Father and the Son and are set forth in the Scripture A Covenant is an agreement upon certain Conditions unto which two persons or parties by mutual consent do freely bind themselves So that in a Covenant properly and so in this there are four things 1 The parties that make the Covenant must be free 2 The Articles or Terms must be propounded 3 There must be a mutual free and full consent 4 By this consent they are bound each to other 1. In a Covenant the parties must be free and in their own power and therefore in Vows to God or Covenants with men if one under the power of another do Vow or Covenant it is in his power under whom he is to disannul and make it void Numb 30. 4.8 And therefore Divines do here commonly observe two things 1 The difference between a Law and a Covenant a Law being the act of a Superior that hath power over another doth bind whether the party bound thereby doth consent or no for it is an act of the Will of a superior upon one that is subject to his will but it is not so in a Covenant it doth require consent in both parties 2 They distinguish between the Covenant that passed between the first Adam and that which God made with the second Adam The Covenant made with the first Adam was such that though his consent was necessary to make it a Covenant else it had been only a command yet unto this Covenant by the right of creation he was bound to consent and consenting it was but his duty and there was a duty which lay upon him antecedente◠to consent unto that Covenant and the terms that God should propound But it was not so in the Covenant that God made with the second Adam he was free to accept of the terms of the Covenant or no when God had propounded them so that there was no duty that lay upon him anteceeding his consent So that the Covenant between God and man is not properly such a Covenant as is between God and Christ and between man and man in which each party is free and not bound to any thing but by his own consent Now 1 consider God is free and a debtor unto none God the Father who hath the first and the great hand in the Covenant and in propounding the terms thereof is debtor to none For he that is the first cause and the last end of whom all things are and to whom they are he can be debtor unto none but so God the Father is of whom are all things And that is Aquinas's rule * Deus non est debitor quia ad alia non ordinatur sed omnia adseipsum Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 Rom. 11.36 2 Christ is free and in his own power 1 If we consider him as the Son the second person with whom properly the Covenant was made for God did agree with the Son that he should take the nature of man upon him and in that nature suffer and satisfie and his very taking of mans nature was an act of obedience and duty that was due from the Son by Covenant and he did it in reference to the will and command of the Father as he did all other things either doing or suffering in that nature John 1.2 The word is God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.7 and therefore is free even as God himself and is not bound unto any duty but by his own consent 2. If we consider Christ as man in that he was not free for he was bound unto the Law and to all the duties of it as he was a creature It 's true he having taken the nature of man was by his Covenant bound to offer that nature as a sacrifice for Gods satisfaction and for mans sanctification in that nature he was to be made sin and to bear our Curse If we do consider Christ as meer man then he was bound indeed unto the Law by right of creation as well as we but if we consider him as God and Man so we cannot say that he is bound for actiones sunt suppositorum And our Divines generally say that there is a communication of properties between the two natures so that he does offer himself by the eternal Spirit Heb. 4.14 All his actions and passions in our nature are not only humane but Divine being from him who was both God and Man and that he was no otherways bound to obey God in that nature than he was to assume the nature no Law did require that his obedience should be the obedience of God and that God should be satisfied by the blood of God and that he should suffer that did never sin this was from the Covenant of God the Father and the superabundan◠grace of God the Son And therefore when Christ saith that he received a commandment to obey it refers only to his obligation by covenant and not by any antecedent duty that he did owe his Father 2. The terms of the Covenant or Articles of agreement that did pass between the Father and the Son are contained in two things 1 Something that the Father did require of the Son 2 Something that the Father did promise the Son 1. There is a service that the Father doth propound unto the Son and that is double 1 That he should take upon him the form of a Servant The children being partakers of flesh and blood that he should take part of the same Heb. 2.14 Bernard Rom 3.26 He took not only the form of a Servant that he might be subject but also of an evil Servant that he might be beaten he was willing to take the body that the Father had prepared for him that he might be bruised by him 2 That in that nature he should perform whatever was necessary for the satisfaction of God or the sanctification of man and in all things he must be Gods servant do his will and serve his ends deny himself humble and abase himself that his Father may be exalted Isa 42.1 1. He did whatever is required unto the perfect satisfaction of God The Justice of God is twofold 1 Remunerative justice in reference unto the precept of the Law as man was a creature 2 Vindicative justice in reference to the curse of the Law as man was a sinner and he that shall give a perfect satisfaction to Justice must perform
11.5 as the Lord says Obey my voice according to all that I command thee so shall you be my people and I will be your God and I will perform the oath that I swore to your Fathers and the Prophet did answer Amen O Lord c. so should our souls do take heed of the treachery that is in your spirits that you behave not your selves unfaithfully in the Covenant for though it is true that the Covenant cannot be broken by your unfaithfulness because the Lord hath laid help upon one that is mighty who is the surety of your Covenant yet remember that Covenant-breaking is a great aggravation of every sin on your parts and there is a quarrel of the Covenant that the Lord will certainly avenge and the stripes even of a God in Covenant are terrible even our God is a consuming fire Lev. 20.25 Vse 2 § 2. Having entred into Covenant with the Lord let me now exhort you to make Conscience to keep it let thy heart be faithful and stedfast in the Covenant It is that which the Lord requires of all those that do enter into Covenant with him Exod. 19.5 If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant you shall be unto me a peculiar treasure Mal. 3.17 my Jewels above all people in the world therefore being taken into Covenant he doth expect you should observe the breach of it and be careful to avoid it 1. From the nature of a Covenant and the ends thereof it is vinculum conservandae fidei the great bond and engagement that men lay upon themselves for the being faithful in the promises that they make each to other And therefore Ezech. 20.37 it is called the bond of the Covenant because by it a man is bound unto the terms thereof and therefore if men keep not their Covenants it destroys their end and makes them of none effect and it is an obligation that a man takes and lays upon himself by his own consent for every Covenant must be free and voluntary Voluntas est spontanea the will is most free And therefore it being free and voluntary afterwards for us to recede and go back is the greater abomination Ezek. 17.18 He despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant after he had given his hand and therefore they say Let us bind our selves in an everlasting Covenant Jer. 50.5 never to be forgotten And for a man to be unsteady and depart from his ingagement in which he hath freely bound himself is the greater evil but always Covenants have amongst men been counted sacred and nature has taught men to keep them inviolable if it had been but a mans Covenant Gal. 3.18 no man would disannul or add thereunto and it was looked upon as the binding that men could not go back from although it were never so much against their hearts to keep it it is sanctissimum humani pectoris bonum Seneca de benefic l. 5. to 10. and therefore perfidi lege Aegyptiorum capite plectebantur quòd duplici tenerentur scelere quòd pietatem in Deos violarent fidem inter homines tollerent Diodor. Sic. l. 1. to 6. Tholos de rep l. 8. Perfidious persons were by the law of the Egyptians beheaded because they were guilty of a double crime impiety towards God and unfaithfulness to man Now if there be so much respect unto Covenants between man and man how sacred should the Covenant be between God and man the holy Covenant 2. It is a Covenant made unto God and there is no going back for 1 God knows it if he falsifie the Covenant in the least God will find it out There is a great deal of falseness of heart within us this way Our righteousness is like unto the morning dew and as an early cloud we promise and go back from our purposes and promises and our purposes are broken off we repent and repent of our repentance we vow Prov. 20 25. and after our vows we make enquiry we come out of Sodom and yet with Lot's wife we look back we are brought out of Egypt and yet our hearts turn back into Egypt again Now our Covenant being made with God he will observe it though the treachery of our Spirits be carried never so secretly and therefore Psal 44.21 the Psalmist says God would search it out If we have forgot thy name and stretched out our hands to any strange God God will find it out for he knows the secrets of our hearts and this Covenant is a Marriage Covenant and therefore the Lord looks upon the breaches of it with a jealous eye which is exceeding quick-sighted there is no disguising of ones self from a true Lover he observes every motion and out-going of the heart and will not admit the least deviation from the royal Law of Love And our God is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity he trys the heart and the reins by him actions are weighed 2 God hath declared that he hates Covenant-breaking and unsteadiness of spirit therein and he will certainly punish it There is not only the mercy of the Covenant but there is the quarrel of the Covenant I 〈◊〉 â—eal with thee says the Lord as thou hast done Lev. 36.25 Ezech. 16.59 for thou hast despised the Oath in brâ—â—â—ng the Covenant That is he would deal with them in judgment as they had dealt with him in a way of sinning Quis miles a regibus hostibus stipendium captat nisi planè transfuga desertor Tert. de praescript c. 12. For a man that is a subject to one king to be a Pensioner to an enemy we judge it very hateful amongst men that wear the Livery and take the Wages of one Master and do the work of another A subject to Christ and a pensioner to Satan is exceeding hateful to the Lord. And therefore when the Lord would express the worse sort of sinners the Apostate Jews that did joyn with Antiochus the Vile Dan. 11.30 Jer. 34.18 he calls them those that forsake the holy Covenant God will surely avenge the breach of humane Covenants as we see in the story of Zedekiah because he falsified his oath he had sworn by God much more will he avenge the holy Covenant when that is broken by any and therefore it being a Covenant made unto God there is no dallying it is one of the great things of God and if we despise it and cast it behind our back the wrath of God will surely overtake us 3. We have the highest patterns for our imitation the glorious Angels they abide in the truth they never left their first habitation they have alwaies kept their Covenant and they stand before God to this day in the Covenant of their Creation And consider your own Prayers Tert. you do pray that the will of God may be done by you on earth as it is in Heaven do not therefore perseverante iracundia orationem perdere will you
creatures because they cannot all expiate it Chrysost and make satisfaction for it These things the power of nature can never discover no though a man hath the letter of the Law but the Spirit of God makes use of these ends that the â—race of the Gospel may be the more glorious and the blood of Christ the more precious â—hich can purge such hellish stains as these and take away that evil that else were impossible 〈◊〉 be done away § 2. The Law is a Judge it has an accusing power as it is a witness against a man Joh. 5.45 Ezek. 22.2 and as a Judiciary power Wilt thou judge them son of man wilt thou judge them So that Miâ—â—sters pronouncing the sentence of the Lord in the Law are said to pass a sentence upâ—â— the actions and states of men he is convinced of all and he is judged of all 1 Cor. 14.24 And therefore â—â—e Apostle argues from the word and the judgment thereof unto God whose word it is and â—â—o shall be our Judge at the last day The Word is a curious discerner Heb. 4.12 As a man that is skillâ— in any Languâ—â—â— and able exactly to judge of the idiome and properties thereof and can â—â—â—cern any absurdity impropriety and incongruity in speech we say he is a Critick and â—â—t which one man may think an elegancy he thinks to be an impropriety so it is with the â—ord of God and the reason is because all things are naked unto that God that Judge with â—â—m in this Law we have to do and therefore when this Word is brought home to the â—â—nscience in a convincing way that the soul cannot deny it it is said to be a receiving of â—â—gement in a mans own heart before that great and dreadful day come Heb. 10.27 Now 〈◊〉 judgment of the Law is seen in these three Particulars 1 It revives sin 2 It conâ—â—â—ns the sinner 3 It does make a man stoop to and own this condemnation and lye â—â—n under it as his portion from which no man no power on earth can acquit 〈◊〉 1. The Law has this use as a Judge to revive sin Rom. 7.9 Rom. 7.9 Here is a double state that â—â—e Apostle mentions that he was in 1 He was alive I could do any duty and I thought â—tept the Law perfectly and also in presumption I thought my self in a good estate Phil. 3.7 and all â—â—y duties I counted gain such as should bring me in gain such as should bring me in great 〈◊〉 comes of glory at the last day and all this while sin was dead it was to me in respect of â—y present sense and sting as a dead thing and I was no more troubled at it nor affected â—â—th it than if there were no such thing sin was in its proper place and therefore seemed â—â—t heavy as Philosophers say That Elements are not heavy in their proper place though in â—â—â—mselves they are so So also whilst the strong man armed keeps the house all that he â—â—ssesses is in peace 2 But here is another state of Paul that is sin revived in the guilt and 〈◊〉 condemning power thereof the Law shewed him that there was a sting yet in it that â—â—â—ld be his ruin if it were not taken out of the way and that though the door was shut yâ—â— sin lay at the door of his Conscience Conscience is a door that will open Gen. 4.7 and being once opened either by the Ministry of the Word or by death and the presence of the Lord sin which now seems to be dead will in the guilt of it break in again What a miserable thing 〈◊〉 it to have such a door-keeper And then I died that is I saw my self to be a dead man Luther and 〈◊〉 a state of death wrath and condemnation and that death was my portion and Hell my â—roper place How was this change wrought that sin was thus revived that was dead when 〈◊〉 â—aul was without the Law and yet was alive when the Commandment came Paul was â—â—rn a Pharisee and therefore never without the Law in the literal sense of it he had the â—â—ter of the Law and he was according to that in the righteousness of the Law blameless â—â—â—t the Commandment came in the life and power in the spiritual sense and in the efficacy thereof set on by the Spirit of Christ making it a servant to the Gospel by this it was that sin was revived For without the Law sin is dead Rom. 5.13 Rom. 5.13 Before the Law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no Law The meaning is not that men were not esteemed sinners and punished as sinners or that all men were righteous before the Law was â—iven upon Mount Sinai for death as well as sin raigned from Adam till Moses but it must be either understood comparatively in respect of God that is God did not impute it so much or as so great a sin because they sinned against a dimmer light and a darker discovery of the will and mind of God or else which I rather conceive not imputed by their own Consciences they did not lay it unto their own charge as so great and so hainous because the abominable nature thereof was not so clearly discovered and therefore the Law entred that the offence might abound as the light discovers spirits as Index peccati non genitrix the Index of sin not the parent So that though men be sinners Ambros and very great and hainous sinners yet they do not charge themselves with it nor impute it unto themselves neither are they affected with it but walk cheerfully under the burden of it as if it were nothing Satan has by nature in every man a Kingdom and he does there most of all desire a peaceable and a quiet government and therefore he sets up that lust as Prorex and the Vice-roy in the man that is most affected in the soul in which the man takes most satisfaction and contentment that thereby he may keep the whole man in peace and therefore Mat. 12.45 though he go out of the man and be not cast out and does it for a further end going out in some bodily lust yet he walks in some dry places seeking rest and finding none he loves not to be disquieted in his government though he does many times make an improvement of it to bring into the man seven worse spirits And it is strange for a man to consider what a power the Devil has over men in this particular to keep all quiet There is a deceitfulness and a bewitching nature in every sin that a man is hardened by it there be strong holds Heb. 3.13 Isa 28.15 2 Cor. 10.5 strong reasonings for it and there are thick bossed bucklers for resistance Job 15.26 that men may not feel it there is a hardness of heart a feared Conscience there is a custom in sinning and