though Adam being created in the state of spirituall perfection by the spirituall light of his understanding of the word of the Law in his heart really one with the spirituall light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law Adam must needs understand that God was to be worshipped upon the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse yet without the word of the first seventh dayes rest Adam could never have known the certain first seventh day of Gods commanded worship Secondly without the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law Adam could neither have known the formall manner of Gods commanded worship to have worshipped God upon the first seventh day of the Law of God to whose perfect worship of God the eternall blessing of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law was due by the Law by which only immediate blessing the created state of man and the creatures were continued while Adam did stand in the perfection of his Creation Thirdly without the word of the first seventh dayes rest no Covenant could be made by God to binde himselfe to man in the word of his promise or man to God for the word of the seventh dayes rest and the word of promise of eternall life as hath been formerly delivered are really one for the word of promise whereby God doth bind himselfe by Covenant to the eternall continuation of the present estate of man is enjoyed by the eternall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest Fourthly without the word of the first seventh dayes rest which is really one with the word of promise of eternall life as there is no covenant to bee made by God with man so there was neither any object for the faith of man to rest on for though the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest was not due by the law immediately to Adams faith but due by the Law immediately to the merit of Adams works of righteousnesse yet Adams workes of righteousnesse did necessarily proceed from his faith in the promise of God of the Law of righteousnesse for without faith it is impossible for Adam to have pleased God while he stood in his state of perfection Fifthly without the light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest Adam could never have understood that God was the Creator and Conservator of man the world and the Creatures created for man neither could Adam have known the formall worship of God whose worship is commanded to be after that formall manner as he did reveale himselfe by the word of his first seventh dayes rest according to which formall worship Adam by the command of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law as it is the great command of the Law implying the command of the whole Law was commanded to worship God upon the first seventh day of the Law for Adams solemn perfect worship of God upon the first seventh day of the Law was as if all the workes of the Creation had falne downe with Adam to worship God the great Creator for as Adam was the life ornament and perfection of the workes of the Creation so Adam was the sum and compend of the workes of the Creation for all the creatures of God are either of an intellectuall or corporeall nature which were essentially united in the nature of man Sixthly without the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse to our first parents there could have been no law of God to command the obedience of man to the command of his law for all the power of life light and command of every severall precept of the whole Law is immediately from the power of the word of the seventh dayes rest without the power whereof there is no power of any severall precept of the Law to command man or any light for man to know that it is a precept of the Law of God And therefore we see that in the Decalogue set downe to Moses the word of the second seventh dayes rest then by the name of the Sabbath of the Lord is placed in the end of the first Table of the Law uniting as it were both the Tables to the seventh day of the Law from whence all the severall precepts of the law receive the power of life light and command much like the last binding stone of an Arch whereon the strength and power of the whole Arch doth rely and depend for as the last binding stone of the Arch being removed the whole Arch as it is an Arch must fall to the ground so by the removing of the immediate command of God by his word commanding the whole law in the seventh day the whole law and the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes rest must necessarily fall and perish together which is necessarily removed while as the command of the seventh dayes worship is attributed to the immediate authority and command of man The writing of the word of the seventh dayes rest as it were in the heart of the Law in two Tables of stone to Moses is the true embleme of the word of the Law written in the two Tables of the intellectuall and sensitive nature of man in the heart of man for as from the immediate power of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law life light and power of command is diffused to all the severall precepts of the Law so from the immediate power of the word of the Law in the heart of man life and light is diffused to all the parts and powers of man as he is man And this is the maine reason that in the command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law the whole law is necessarily commanded which the Lord calleth the great command of the Law necessarily implying the lesser command which is like to the great command Seventhly without the command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest necessarily implying the command of the whole Law neither Adam or any man created in Adam as he was the created head of all men naturally to descend of Adam could have transgressed the Law Rom. 4.15 obliged by the first Covenant for where there is no Law there is no transgression of the Law And so much briefly for the declaration of the word of the first seventh dayes rest upon the immediate command whereof the first Covenant was established between God and man next to be declared CHAP. VIII GOD according to his eternall Decree of predestination having created man male and female in this state of naturall and spirituall perfection advanced to the high love and favour of God and to the soveraignty and dominion over the earth and over the creatures of the earth God entred his first Covenant with Adam not with Adam as he was a private person but with Adam as created man the head root and originall of all men naturally to descend of Adam to the end of the world and therefore God according
the great propheticall Sabbath did necessarily give place wherby the Lords day was mystically prefigurate to succeed in place of the Jewes propheticall Sabbath The day of our Saviours resurrection therefore being the next day immediatly succeeding the last Sabbath wheron our Saviour rested in his sacred grave is the just seventh day of the Law from the last formall propheticall Jewes Sabbath As man naturally descended of Adam is obliged to the command of the seventh day of the Law of God implying the command of the whole Law The Lords day therefore the day of the Lords resurrection from the grave is the true seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of God decreed by God from all eternity Where three fundamentall points of faith are necessarily to bee observed by the Christian Reader First as the first seventh day of the Law was blessed sanctified by the Lords rest from the workes of the creation And as the next seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath was blessed and sanctified by the truth of the word of the Lords promised rest in the promise of the blessed seede to rest upon the last Sabbath from the redemption of man from the curse of the Law for the sinne of Adam So the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of faith is blessed and sanctified by the truth of the Lords fulfilled promise by his Evangelicall rest The last period of whose fulfilled promise was in his conquest of his last enemy by his resurrection from the power of the grave upon the Lords day Whereby the Lord rested from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed By the power of whose infinit merit by his Evangelicall rest the Lords day is the blessed and sanctified seventh day of the Evangelicall Law the word of eternall life rest and the immediate object of Christian faith Secondly as the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath was immediatly commanded by the power of the Lords word by his promised rest commanding Adam and the Fathers to beleeve in the truth of his merit by his promised rest which was then prophesied by the word of the propheticall Sabbath commanding the ceremoniall worship of the Sabbath immediatly as it was the seventh day of the propheticall Law and in the seventh day the obedience of man to the command of the whole propheticall Law by faith in the promise of the blessed seed to whose faith the eternall blessing of the Lords promised Sabbaticall rest was due by the propheticall Law So the Lords day is immediatly commanded by the power of his immediate word commanding all the nations of the world to beleeve the truth of his fulfilled promise by his seventh daies Evangelicall rest as the Lords day is the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law implying the command of the whole Law first immediatly commanding the seventh daies worship by faith in the truth of the Lords fulfilled promise to whose faith the blessing of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest is due by the Evangelicall Law of faith which is the blessing of the Lords day This is therefore the howre and blessed day which the Lord told the Samaritan woman should come when God should be worshiped In spirit and truth that is in the spirit of faith in the truth of the Lords fulfilled promise Thirdly as by the light of the propheticall Sabbath day Adam and the Fathers were literally lead to the blessing of the Lords promised rest So by the light of the Lords day all the nations of the world are literally lead to the blessing of the Lords merit by the truth of his fulfilled promise Whosoever therefore doth denie the light of the truth of the Lords day sealed by the precious blood of his blessed heart doth necessarily denie the Lord truth it selfe By this opening of the mystery of the Lords day blessed sanctified by his Evangelicall rest necessarily implying his bloody rest the judicious Reader may easily perceive the reason of the mistake of the lords day the only cause of which mistake is in the mistaking of the last Sabbath for the formall propheticall Jewes Sabbath which was no waies the Jewes propheticall Sabbath neither was either Jew or Gentile obliged to the command of this last Sabbath or had any hand in the fulfilling of the command of this last Sabbath being too hard and impossible a task for man as he is man Let us leave therefore the command of this last Sabbath to the Lord of the Sabbath who as he did in his great mercy oblige himselfe to the obedience of the command of this last Sabbath so in his love and mercy to man the Lord graciously fulfilled the command thereof for man Let us leave I say this last Sabbath to the Lord of the Sabbath who was only obliged to the command of this last Sabbath as it is the seventh day of the Law obliging the Lord himselfe as he is man and we shall have the Lords day the just seventh day of the Evangelicall Law as the Law of God obligeth man naturally descended of Adam And this is properly the Sabbath whereby the Lord is intituled Lord of the Sabbath And the Sabbath properly that the Lord saith was made for man For by the Lords fulfilling of this last Sabbath by his bloody rest the Lord rested from his cursed death of the Crosse for the redemption of man and by his bloody rest in the grave did merit the eternall rest lost by Adam By whose resurrection from the grave the Lord did triumphantly and Evangelically rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed This twofold rest of the eternall word arising from the last mysticall Sabbath was prefigurate by a twofold type and figure Of which twofold type and figure next CHAP. VI. The twofold type and figure whereby the last Sabbath was prefigurate THe last Sabbath according to the mysticall sense was prefigurate by a twofold type and figure First the fulfilling of this Sabbath was prefigurate by the blessed Virgin Secondly by the yeare of Jubile First therefore of the prefigurating thereof by the blessed Virgin As by the Arke with the word placed therein and the Cherubins overshadowing the Mercie-seat the blessed Virgin was prefigurate from her conception of the blessed seed till her delivery of the blessed Child So by the bessed Virgin the rest of Christ Jesus in the grave upon the last Sabbath till the day of his resurrection was prefigurate Wherein a threefold type most worthy of observation is to be marked First by the virginall conception of the blessed seed the virginall conception of the blessed body of our Saviour in the new hewen Tombe out of a Rocke wherein no man was ever laid was prefigurate Secondly by the Virgins going three quarters of a yeare with the blessed Child the three daies rest of the blessed body of Christ Jesus in the grave was prefigurate Thirdly as the renting the Vaile of the Temple did prefigurate the renting of of the sacred
end to end is nothing else but the light of the sound of the word of the Lords day For by the sounding of the word of the Lords resurrection by the Apostles what a world of wonders and miracles were wrought and how many thousands by the light of the sound of the word came by the hands of faith to lay hold on the Lords daies Evangelicall rest Thirdly the new Covenant is immediatly established upon the Evangelicall word of the Lords day by inseperable union Fourthly the Apostle doth affirme that the sound of the word to wit of the Lords day went to the ends of the earth Fiftly Iohn doth call the day of the Lords resurrection the Lords day Sixtly the Apostle to the Hebrews doth set downe the Lords day the Evangelicall Word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse of faith most plainly saying first that after a long time which was the time of the promised rest of the propheticall Sabbaticall seventh day there was another certaine seventh day appointed in David that is in Davids seed Secondly that the Lord of life to wit the Son of David did enter this day into his rest from his resting from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed which is his Evangelicall rest necessarily implying his bloody promised Sabbaticall rest from the worke of the redemtion As he did first rest from the workes of the creation Thirdly the Apostle proveth that this day appointed in David was for the people to enter into this seventh daies rest For saith the Apostle Hebrews 4.8 if Joshua could have given the people of Israel rest to wit by the promised rest of the propheticall Sabbaticall seventh day then bad not David bin appointed to speake of another day that sâ— another seventh day which the Apostle Hebrews 4.12 cals the lively powerfull word of God which is the word of the Lords day the true Evangelicall Word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse of faith by the Evangelicall sound thereof sharper then any two edged sword dâ—viding and seperating the soule from the spirit where the soule is taken for the soule of man as he is a naturall man and the spirit is taken for the soule of man as he is regenerate and a spirituall man for by the spirituall sanctifying understanding of the wâ—rd the rebellious powers of the flesh of man as he is a naturall man are devided and subdued by the power of the Spirit though not totally in thâ—s life And therefore the Apostle Paul doth affirme that the sins pro eeding from his rebellious flesh are none of his to wit as he is a spirituall man Seventhly David doth prophetically affirme Psal 118 24. First that this is the day which the Lord hath made exhorting all men to rejoyce in this blessed day which day David did see with his spirituall eyes of faith for the Lord did fulfill this prophesie of David indeed for the Lord made this day with his precious bloud Secondly David doth prophetically affirme Psal 118.22 that it was the glorious light of this seventh dayes rest which David calls the corner stone which the Judaicall builders did refuse and now is made the head of the corner mounted above the heaven of heavens the Tabernacle not made with hands wherein the Lord of life Head of his mysticall members is entered to make continuall intercession as their Advocate at the Throne and Alter of righteousnesse by the merit of his fulfilling of the Law of righteousnesse whereby all the actuall sins of his mysticall members united to their mysticall head by his indivisible love are covered and freed from the curse of the Evangelicall Law of faith by the new Covenant As by his cursed death of the altar of the Crosse they are freed from the curse of the Law for their sinne in Adam by the first Covenant Eightly the Lord himselfe doth affirme John 8.56 that Abraham did see this his joyfull day to wit with his spirituall eyes of faith in the eight day of the Sacrament of circumcision wherein there doth lye no small mysterie for the child was to be circumcised upon the eight day though the eight day did fall upon the propheticall Sabbath day upon which day no worke was to be done under the paine of death much lesse the shedding of mans bloud The shedding of mans bloud therefore upon the Sabbath was onely lawfull by the command of the Sacramentall circumcision for both the propheticall Sacraments implying the whole propheticall ceremoniall Law were commanded in the Church of God before the Law was given to Moses to the end that the Jews might understand that the Law to the fathers before Moses and after Moses till Christs resurrection was really one and the same Law of God and one and the same formall obliegement of the Law The point of the mysterie lyeth in this That the Sacrament of circumcision which was the eighth day was preferred to the command of the Sabbath which was the seventh day of the Law implying the command of the whole Law Now the Sacrament of circumcision was but the shadow of the Sacrament of the Lords day which was the eight day from the last propheticall Sabbath reckoning the propheticall Sabbath inclusively for the first day in the accompt of the eight dayes though by beginning the accompt from the last formall Jews propheticall Sabbath exclusively the Lords day as man naturally descended of Adam is oblieged to the Law is the just seventh day from the last formall Jews propheticall Sabbath as hath beene declared What an admirable faith was this of Abraham to see this day so farre off which the Lord affirmeth that Abraham did see and that Abraham did rejoyce in the sight of this blessed day Ninthly the Lord of life the Lord of the Evangelicall law of the righteousnesse of faith the true eternall rest of the Evangelicall seventh day of the Law doth call this blessed day his owne day John 85.6 His owne day by all true title and right of righteousnesse it selfe his owne which in spite of the power of darkenesse must shine till the eternall day Tenthly this is the most joyfull day of dayes for by the Evangelicall sound of the Lords dayes Evangelicall rest the Jews and Gentiles were actually called to one Church and were made one fold to the joyous and thankfull jubilising of all the Nations of the world Eleventhly by the Evangelicall sound of the Lords daies Evangelicall rest arising from his bloudy rest all the propheticall Sabbaths all the jubilees of Sabbaths and all the prophesies prophesying from the foundation of the world of the comming and suffering of the Lord of life the promised blessed seed are actually determined Twelfthly by his bloudy Sabbaticall rest necessarily implyed in his Evangelicall seventh dayes rest of the Lords day All the altars and sacrifices the foundation of the partition wall of the ceremoniall Law and all the figures types rites and propheticall ceremonies from the foundation of
day of the law by the last Sabbath being fulfilled by our Saviours obedience even to the death of the Crosse and the seventh day of the law as man naturally descended of Adam is oblieged to the law being continued in the command of the Lords day there is not any seventh day or any jot or tittle of the law lost as man is oblieged to the law of God Where the judicious Reader may observe that as the gracious promise of the blessed seed went forth from the eternall Word eternall life and rest So by the fulfilling of his promise the eternall life and rest of man is returned to the Word And this is the reason that God is called Alpha and Omega the first and the last Rev. 22.13 all in all Even as wee see the great Ocean from whence all the wells springs brooks rivers and all the waters falling from the clouds doe proceed So all do returne to the Ocean from whence they came and so much for answer to the first objection The second objection is this Neither Christ Jesus or his Apostles have set downe the command of the Lords day in the written word of God The Lord therefore hath left the power to command the Lords day to the Apostolicke Successours Ministers of the Word and Sacraments to command for that blessed day what day of the weeke they shall thinke fitting Of all the objections that ever was objected by man this is one of the most fearfull which doth rase from the foundation all what hath bin faithfully declared in this tractate and the very foundation of truth it selfe where there is two maine fundamentall points of faith overthrowne the first is in the antecedent the next is in the consequent I answer first to the antecedent By this assertion that the Lord of life the Lord of the Law of righteousnesse of faith or his Apostles hath not commanded the Lords day the Evangelicall seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse of faith the Lord of life is charged with the foule aspertion of untruth For if the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of faith implying the command of the whole Law be not immediatly commanded by the Lord himselfe by his immediate word there is never a precept of the whole Evangelicall morall Law commanded And therefore to vindicate the truth of God from this horrible aspertion I answer after this threefold manner First if we touch this tenet with the touchstone of the twofold Theologicall Canon set downe in the tenth Chapter of this third booke we shall find this tenet to vanish with the objecters breath first therefore to touch the tenet with the first Canon First the foule adulterous light of the sound of the false word of this assertion is repugnant to the light of the sound of the word of the Lords day and to the truth of the Lords Evangelicall rest For by the immediate power of his infinit merit by his Evangelicall seventh daies rest the seventh is blessed and sanctified and the worship of the seventh day commanded and in the seventh day the whole morall Evangelicall Law of faith To the faithfull obedience of man to which command the temporall blessing of the Lords daies Evangelicall rest is due to man whereby man hath the continuation of his redeemed light life and rest in this life and eternall rest in the life to come contrary to the adulterous light of the sound of the words of this tenet whereby the Lords day is affirmed to be by the immediate command of man by meanes whereof we must hold our life light moveing and being in this life and eternall rest in the life to come immediately from the command of man Next to touch the tenet with the second Theologicall Canon set downe in the forenamed Chapter By the sound of the words of this false assertion the command of man doth interveene and come betweene the faith of the beleever and the Lords merit by his Evangelicall seventh daies rest which being the rocke and rest whereon the visible Church of God is built by this assertion the Church of God it selfe and the Lords commanded worship is rased from the very foundation For my second answer to this assertion to wit that neither Christ or his Apostles hath commanded the Lords day in the written word of God I answer with the Apostle Iohn 1 Iohn 2 7. There is no new command but the same which was from the beginning and that was the sound of the word of the first seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse to Adam and now it is the found of the word of the seventh day of the Law of rigeteousnesse of faith first propheticall and now Evangelicall And though the Apostle to the Hebrewes Hebrewes 7.12 doth affirme that with the Leviticall Priesthood the Law was changed Yet we must understand that the Law of righteousnesse is never really changed though the Law be formerly changed from the formall propheticall ceremoniall obligement by the propheticall Sabbath to the formall Evangelicall obligement of the law by the Lords day by the immediate command whereof the seventh day of the propheticall ceremoniall Sabbath implying the whole morall propheticall ceremoniall law is actually determined the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall law implying the whole moral evangelicall law actually established by the new Covenant Let the thankelesse objecter therefore doe but determine the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath set downe to Moses in the decalogue by the Lords day as the Lord himselfe hath determined the same by the word of the Lords daies Evangelicall rest And he shall finde that the Lords day and the whole morall Evangelicall law is set downe in ten severall morall precepts My third answer to the antecedent of this fearfull objection is this It was the infinit wisdome and the infinit love and mercy of God to man that the Evangelicall morall law of faith was not set downe in the written word in distinct formall precepts as it was set downe to Moses in the propheticall decalog for if the Evangelicall law had bin so set downe the morall propheticall law and the whole old Testament had bin quite misregarded Without the true knowledge whereof there is no foundation for Christian faith I next answer to the consequent of the objection CHAP. XVII The Lords day is by the immediate command of the Lords owne word and not by the command of the word of the Church THe consequent of the objection is that the Lord hath left the power of the commanding of his blessed day to the Apostolicall successors the Ministers of his Word and Sacraments to appoint for the Lords day what day of the weeke they shall thinke fitting To this I answer that this is all one to affirme that the Lord hath left to the Apostolicall successors the power to be God himselfe For it is by the only merit of the Lords Evangelicall seventh dayes rest arising from his bloudy rest that the Apostolicall
THE THEOLOGICALL KEY Of the three first COVENANTS Made by God with Man in the severall state of Man obliging Man to his Law after a severall formall manner from the beginning according to his sacred Decree of Predestination Fundamentally declared according to his sacred WORD and TRUTH By David Dunbar Esq This is life eternall to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 LONDON Printed in the yeere 1646. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER BY the Judicious reading of this small Tractate fundamentally from the beginning the Reader is enabled to make the most powerfull objection against the word of truth to vanish with the objecters breath And to determine of all the misconceived opinions concerning universall redemption universall grace falling away totally and finally from grace originall sinne naturall corruption freedome of will merit by workes children departing this life unbaptized and such like all proceeding from the mistake of the sacred decree of Predestination which is here demonstratively and fundamentally resolved from the lowest effect in the supreme cause so farre as is revealed to man in this life arising from the three first Covenants made by God with man Thine in the Lord David Dunbar The Introduction leading the judicious Reader to the understanding of this Tractate THe perfect essentiall understanding of God being infinite as God in himselfe is infinite and consequently God in this sense being incomprehensible by the finite act of any created understanding God therefore is comprehensible by man by the onely light of the word of his severall seventh dayes rest as God from the beginning did manifest himselfe to man in his severall state and condition to bee honoured and worshipped by man upon the seventh day of his law of righteousnesse To whose worship the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes rest is due by the law to man in the severall state and condition of man The reason is because in the fulfilling of the commanded worship of God upon the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse the whole law is necessarily fulfilled for the command of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse is that command which the Lord doth call the first and greatest Command to which the lesser command is like and necessarily implyed in the great command For as by the great Command the seventh dayes formall worship of God is first and immediately commanded by the immediate power of the word of the seventh dayes rest commanding all the actions of man proceeding from his love to God to worship God upon the seventh day of his law which is the summe of the first table of the law So by the lesser command all the actions of man proceeding from his love are commanded to the image of God to wit man Which twofold command is necessarily fulfilled in the fulfilling of the commanded formall worship of the seventh day of the law as God hath revealed himselfe to man by the word of his severall seventh dayes rest For as no man can love God whom he hath not seen who doth not love his image man whom he doth see And in this sense it is said that love is the fulfilling of the law So no man can love Gods image man but he must love God whose image man is and therefore it is said That he that loveth his brother hath fulfilled the Law As in the great Command therefore of the word of every severall seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse the whole Law is necessarily commanded So in the fulfilling of the great Command of the seventh dayes rest the whole law is as necessariâ—â— fulfilled for if the love of man be defective either to God or to his image man mans worship is no worship And this is the reason that all the Covenants made by God with man from the beginning are established upon the immediate command of the word of every severall seventh dayes rest as God did manifest himself to man from the beginning to be worshipped by man in the severall state and condition of man for every severall covenant is established upon the condition of the fulfilling of the command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse implying the command of the whole law though after a severall formall manner as God hath mafest himselfe to man in his severall state and condition by the word of his severall seventh dayes rest Now all the covenants made by God with man from the beginning being but the exercite act of his most sacred and most comfortable eternal decree of Predestination By the understanding therefore of the severall Covenants made by God with man from the beginning we are led fundamentally in the knowledge of God at God did manifest himselfe to man from the beginning The new Covenant therefore which is the last Covenant made by God with man being established upon the immediate command of the word of the seventh daies rest of the Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith which is the Lords day upon which blessed day the Lord by his glorious resurrection did rest from his fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed The Lords day therefore is the last period of the exercite act of the sacred decree of Predestination necessarily implying the exercite act of the whole decree so farre therefore as is revealed to man in this life As for the mystery of the Lords day after what manner it is the word of the seventh day of the Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith it is demonstrate from the truth of the sacred word immediately in this Tractate and set downe in the proper place For the Lords day must be the true seventh day of the Evangelicall law of righteousnes of faith or there is no object for the faith of man or any law to command man or any covenant to oblige God to man or any blessing by the Lords infinite merit by his Evangelicall seventh dayes rest to man for it is by the immediate power of the blessing of his infinite merit that man and the whole worke of the redemption is continued while there is day in this life By the light therefore of the Lords day which is the word of the seventh daies rest of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnesse of faith we are led fundamentally and demonstratively from the lowest effect of the sacred decree of predestination to the first supreme cause necessarily implying the light of all the Covenants made by God with man from the beginning Which supreme cause is God The understanding therefore of the Covenants made by God with man from the beginning is the understanding of God which is called the mystery of God In which understanding is eternall life and therfore the Lord saith this is life eternall to know thee to be the only true God The reason is because the word of promise whereby God and man are mutually obliged by Covenant is the immediate object of faith without which it
Church are mystically signified First those who by the preaching of the Word are morally begotten by moral faith And secondly those whom God according to his eternall purpose doth spiritually enlighten by the grace of spirituall faith who by their morall and spirituall love are morally and spiritually united to their immediate head the Lord Jesus Christ the Word and Truth and by that morall and spirituall union members of his body which is the militant Church of God upon earth Though this enmity and hatred be inflicted upon Satan and his cursed seed as a curse whereby they are induced to hate the truth and to persecute the possessed of the truth yet this enmity is not inflicted upon the Church and upon the seed of the Church as a curse For the Church of God as they are members of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom they live move and have their being they do hate all the professors of his truth who are the Church of God By this enmity therefore put between these parties irreconcileable mortall and bloody wars is raised between Satan and his seed and the Lord Jesus Christ the Word of truth and his members the Church begot of the seed of the Word And from this irreconcileable bloody wars the Church of God upon earth is said to be the militant Church This enmity and hatred to which Satan by the curse is necessitate is not only a simple privation of the former love and amity between God and Satan for Satan as hath been formerly declared was created a most glorious Angel in the high love and favour of God untill such time as Satan for his foul ambitious sin was cast down into a most despicable and disgracefull manner from the heavens and from his conversment with the blessed Angels who are ministring spirits sent out by God for the safety of his Chuâ—ch upon earth against the power of Satan and of his seed and therefore the eternall blessing of the Word of the Lords Evangelicall seventh dayes rest is extended to the blessed Angels according to the eternall Decree of God by the immediate power of which blessing the blessed Angels do stand in their created perfection Satan therefore by this enmity is not only deprived of his former love to God and to his truth but likewise Satan for his betraying of man by his belying of the truth Satan is necessitate by a positive enmity and hatred to hate the truth and to persecute the Professors of the truth and so are his cursed brood whom Satan by the sowing of his seed begets to be bloody finall persecutors of the Church Here two Questions may be moved the first is this Are all those the cursed seed of Satan who are called the children and seed of Satan I answer The seed of Satan is taken in a two-fold sense First all men who are actually sinners as they do sin actually are called the children and seed of Satan for actuall sin is from the Devill and of these many being stung by Satans sting of enmity sweetned by his false deceiving light are stirred up to be persecutors of the Church for a time though afterwards they become pillars of the Church and such a persecutor was Paul before his spirituall darknesse was spiritually enlightned by spirituall faith Secondly the seed of Satan is taken for those whom Satan by his bewitching sting of enmity sweetned by his false pleasing deceiving darknesse hath induced to such a finall hatred of all truth and of all professors of the truth provoking the long patience of God leading them so graciously to repentance till for their finall contempt and impenitency God in his justice doth justly give them over to a reprobate mind whereby they do inherit the curse of their father Satan and these are the only cursed seed of Satan The parties therefore of this irreconcileable mortall bloody wars is first Satan and not only his cursed seed but likewise all those whom by his false deceiving light Satan hath stirred up for a time to be haters of the truth and persecutors of the professors of the truth who are the Church of God The other party of this irreconcileable war is the Lord Jesus Christ the Word and the seed of the Church of which sacred seed the morall and mysticall members of his body are begot who out of their love to their head Truth it self do necessarily and mortally hate all haters of his truth and all persecutors of the professors of his truth The second question may be moved what is the reason that this irreconcileable enmity and hatred is put by the Lord between the parties whereby his Church is so continually and so bloodily persecuted and afflicted in this life by Satan and his seed since the Church is more dear to the Lord Jesus Christ then his own life as he is man was to himself I answer The reason is first that the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified by the redeemed valour of his militant Church in his continuall preservation thereof against the mighty power of Satan and his seed that the world may know that all their labour is in vain Secondly that his mysticall members in their mysticall head may victoriously revenge the blood of man upon Satan and his cursed seed in the great day by the finall breaking of their head to their eternall confusion Thirdly that in recompence of their valour for their couragious defending of the truth in this life they may be crowned with an incorruptible crown of glory in their mysticall head in the life to come For by the eternall Decree of God the victory of this irreconcileable war is decreed to the mysticall man Christ Jesus and his mysticall members The seed of the woman must break the head of the Serpent according to the second branch of the censure the mysticall sense whereof is next to be declared CHAP. XXI The mysticall sense of the second branch of the censure BY the mysticall sense of this second branch of the censure the victory of this irreconcileable war is decreed to the seed of the woman For as by the false suggestion of Satan the woman was first deceived by the Serpent so by the eternall Decree of God the head of the old murdering Serpent Satan and the head of his cursed seed shall be broke by the seed of the woman The mysticall woman therefore in this branch of the censure is the blessed Virgine and the mysticall seed of the Virgine is the Word who is promised to become man of the seed of the woman by whom the head of the Serpent must be broke In this second branch therefore of the censure the sacred generation conception birth death and resurrection of the Word as he is man of the seed of the woman is necessarily and mystically implied which is the meaning and sense of the promise of the blessed seed mystically set down in this second branch of the censure For the better conceiving of this sacred mystery first the
the mysticall members of his body spiritually and indivisibly united to their mysticall head by his indivisible love As for the Analogie between the sacrifice offered up by the Leviticall high Priest and the sacrifice prefigurate thereby it did likewise consist in three speciall points First as the blood of the Leviticall sacrifice of the brazen altar was first shed and then laid upon the brazen altar So the sacred blood of the Son of God was shed first by his crowning with a crown of sharp prickly thornes causing streams of blood to besmeare his glorious face and body Secondly by his cruell scourging which was a most c uell kinde of bloody punishment according to the manner of the Jews Thirdly by the flood of blood by reason of the great boysterous nails to hold his body fast to the cursed altar of the crosse prefigurate by the brazen altar The Analogie of the second point between the two sacrifices was that both was an Holocaust sacrifice For as the Leviticall sacrifice of of the brazen altar was wholy burnt up and consumed by the fire which came down from heaven so the sacrifice of the Lord of life as he is man was burnt up and consumed by the fire of Gods wrath which came down frâ—m â—eaven for the actuall curse of the Law for the sin of Adam to which Câ—â—st did oblige himself to sustaine for wretched unthankfull man by whose to fed death all men are redeemed from that curse The third point of the Aâ—alogie of the two sacrifices was Levit. 4.12 that as the ashes of the whole burnt sacrifice of the brazen altar was taken from the brazen altar and carryed in ash-pans and laid apart from the altar in a clean place So the blessed body of our Saviour Joh. 19.38 39 40 41. was taken down from the cursed altar of the crosse by Joseph of Arimathea Nicodemus and others of that religious company prefigurate by the ash-pans and carried and laid in a new sepulchre wherein no man was formerly laid Because the point of this declaration is in the sacrifice of our blessed Saviour the declaration thereof shall be discharged in these two heads First our Saviours cruell cursed death by the cursed altar of the crosse shall be declared And secondly the place where the Lord was laid prefigurate by the ashes of the sacrifice of the brazen altar which were carried apart from the altar and laid in a clean place Because the sacrifice of our Saviour is plainly set down in the Scripture we will first only make a brief and summary relation of the severall pasges thereof and next certain mysticall concerning points shall be observed of the death and suffering of our Saviour Of all the stratagems of Satan by his false deceiving bewitching light his incensing of miserable men with such bloody cruell hands to crucifie the Lord of life was most admirable and strange For first the power of actuall freedome of naturall and morall gâ—ace which they then enjoyed by the redemption of man from the curse of the Law by the eternall Decree of God though to be performed in time was such as Satan and all the created powers of God could not necessitate the will of man to any morall evill but that man must be willingly and freely led and induced to commit that evill Secondly the propheticall Sabbath was the glory of the Jews nation whereby the Jews were so eminent and had such great preferment above all the nations of the earth which glory and great preferment the Jews did then enjoy by faith in the blessing of the promised rest of the blessed seed prophesied by the propheticall Sabbath as it was the seventh day of the propheticall ceremoniall Law which was then the immediate object of the Jews faith And though our Saviour did manifest himself to the Jews that he was that blessed seed which was prophesied by the propheticall Sabbath shining then so gloriously amongst the Jews by his gracious light leading them to his love which was freely extended towards all rich and poor in his curing of all manner of sensitive incurable diseases of the body and the diseased souls of many engaging thereby so the generall love of all that happy was he who could but touch the Lord of life to none was his love and help denyed who were led to him by this gracious light of the sound of his Word who by the power of his wonders and miracles did manifest himself to be the Son of God ingaging the reverend fear of all by the convincing power of whose wonders and miracles the wretched Jews were constrained to acknowledge so much yet that Satan by his false deceiving light should notwithstanding so induce the unthankfull Jews not to suppresse but with such bloody hands to extinguish the light of their own eternall life and rest it cannot but amaze the heart of man though all was by the hand of Gods permissive power For though the power of Satans false deceiving light be wonderfull yet Satan with all his power must work all his mischief only by the betraying of the willing consent of man to have man to effect what he would of whose help Satan himself did then stand in great need for this miserable act of Satan was not so much out of his malice to man as out of Satans own fear For by the greatnesse of this glorious light of the promised blessed seed Satan began to be afraid that the head of his power must be broke by the seed of the woman and therefore it did stand Satan in hand in time to prevent this so great and eminent danger which that false Serpent did by suggesting such a light of apparent fear to the Priests Scribes and Pharisees of the utter losse of their glorious Sabbath and of the Leviticall dignity means and preferment if they should give way to this glorious light to shine amongst them whereby the world was so led and carried by which false suggested fear of Satans false deceiving light the Scribes and Pharisees and the rest of that rablement were furiously incensed with all greedy desire not to suppresse but extinguish the light it self whereby both might rest secure from any such fear which this barbarous crue did with most cruell bloody hands effect though while their cruell hands were in externall action their hearts were internally pricked with the power of this light as may appear by the sacred History from the first point to the last For first while the Scribes and Parisees did hire their Helhounds to apprehend the Lord of life the Lord told the Helhounds John 18.5 6.12.13 that he was the man whom they did seek And though by the power of his Word they fell back to the ground yet up again and to the Lord they went And though Malcomes eare Luke 22 50 51. being struck off was miraculously cured by our Saviour a glim of the light of the rest of their glorious Sabbath yet such was the power of the
Virgins wombe in the bringing forth of her first borne the word made flesh without the help of woman or man which was the naturall birth day of the Son of God So by the Virgins bringing forth of her first borne the word made flesh the mysticall bringing forth of the first borne evangelicall Word by the mysticall Virgin Sabbath without the help of any created power was prefigurate Which was the mystical birth day of the Evangelicall word Whose mysticall birth day being the just seventh day frō the last formall propheticall Jewes Sabbath as man naturally descended of Adam is obliged to the Law of God his mystical birth day is the true seventh day of the Evangelicall Law By the power of the word of his seventh daies Evangelicall rest commanding the Evangelicall worship of the seventh day of his Law by man and in the seventh day the Evangelicall obedience of man to his whole Evangelicall Law implied in the seventh day To whose faithfull obedience the eternall blessing of his Evangelicall birth daies rest is due by the Law of God The second type and figure whereby the mysticall Virgin Sabbath was prefigurate was the Sabbaticall yeare of Jubile For first as in the yeare of Jubile all bound men all sold and pawned Land the earth and the labouring Cattell were set at liberty So by the bloody rest of Christ Jesus blessed body in the grave for the space of the whole last Sabbath all men condemned and bound by the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam to eternall death and darknes and the creatures created for man where freed from the eternall curse of the Law and set at liberty Secondly as the yeare of Jubile by the immediate influence of God without all labour help or industry of man the earth of its owne accord did produce the fruit thereof for the comfort of man and for the creatures created for man So by the mysticall Sabbath without all the help aide or asistance of any man naturally descended of Adam did bring forth the Evangelicall word enabled by the immediate act of his owne infinit power upon the joyfull day of his resurrection Who is the life light and foode of man and by whom only man and all the creatures created for man doe live move and have the continuation of their redeemed being The blessed day of whose mysticall Evangelicall birth being the just seventh day from the last formall Jewes prophetical Sabbath as man naturally descended of Adam is obliged to the Law of God the blessed day therefore of the Lords resurrection is the true seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnes of faith whereby the Son of righteousnes in his blessed day began to shine one high by inlightning the ceremoniall darknesse of the propheticall Sabbath prophesying his death through all the Nations of the world by the light of his blessed day leading all men by the hands of faith to lay hold on the Evangelicall word the Lord of the life light and rest of man and of the creatures created for man to be inbelized by the thankfull praises and Jubiles of all the Nations of the world The mysticall Evangelicall birth day therefore of the Evangelicall word the Lords day is the true joyfull day of all the years of this life prophesied by the mysticall yeere of Jubile which by the truth of the Lords Evangelicall rest from the fulfilling of the promise of the blessed seed arising from his bloody rest is the true Evangelical word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnes of faith next to be declared CHAP. VII The declaration of the Evangelicall word THe Evangelicall word is taken in a twofold sense first the Evangelicall word is taken essentially for the second person of the sacred Trinity God equal with the Father and Holy Spirit in which sense the Evangelical word is incommunicable to man or Angel Secondly the Evangelical word is taken for the word of the Lords day the 7th day of the Evangelical Law of faith as it is the Image of God in his Son Christ Iesus For as the Lords daies Evangelicall rest is the Image of the Lords eternall life and rest So the light of the Lords day is the Image of his inaccessable light and in this sense the Evangelicall word is communicable to man and it is the life and light of man and hath a twofold acception first the Evangelicall word is taken for the word of the Lords day as it is the Evangelicall word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnes of faith Secondly the Evangelicall word is taken for the word of promise and new covenant whereby both God and man are mutually obliged For though the word of the seventh day of the Law and the word of promise and covenant be really one yet they are of a formall difference First therefore of the Evangelicall word of the Lords day as it is the word of the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnes of faith The Evangelicall word of the Lords day is the same reall word which was from the beginning And therefore it is said by Iohn 1.4.5 that in it that is in that word was life and that that life was the light of man which doth in this manner appeare First in the state of perfection by the word of the Law written in Adams heart spiritually enlightned Adam did live move and had the perfection of his naturall and spirituall being and felicity Wherby Adam was the Image of righteousnes and holines And the word of the first seventh day of the Law of righteousnes implying the command of the whole Law was objected to Adams externall senses obliging Adam to the command of the Law of righteousnes To the merit of whose perfect obedience the blessing of the first seventh daies eternall rest was due by the Law of righteousnes Wherby Adam had the continuation of his created estate of perfection and felicity while Adam did stand in the perfection of his obedience And was to have continued eternally upon earth to Adam by covenant if Adam had continued in the perfection of his obedience The word of God therefore to Adam before the fall as he was the head of all men naturall to descend of his loines was the word of the first seventh day of the Law of righteousnes implying the command of the whole Law Secondly Adam in whome as in the head all were created having transgressed the command of God of the Law of righteousnes the transgression was infinit for the transgression of the Law as it is the Law of righteousnes is an immediate contempt against the infinit Majesty of God and consequently the sinne infinit And the second Person of the Trinity in whom is only mercy being then not revealed to Adam the sinne was without any hope of revealed mercy wherby Adam and all men created in Adam as head naturally to descend of Adam were in the justice of God by covenant condemned to the eternall
from the redemption of man from the curse of the Law and from his fulfilling of the Law for man by his bloody rest was likewise infinit By the power of whose infinit merit by the Lords daies Evangelicall rest as it is the word of the eternall life and rest of man the formall worship of the Lords day is commanded in spirit and truth And therefore the Lord told the Samaritan woman The houre commeth and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father and consequently the Son and holy Spirit in Spirit and truth For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and truth By which words the formall Evangelicall worship of the Lords day is both set downe and commanded by the Lord of the Lords day For first the Lord told the Samaritan woman commanding her to beleeve that the houre should come which is the houre of the Lords day which was then to come Secondly the Lord commanded the Samaritan woman to beleeve that God is a Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit and truth that is in the Spirit of faith in the truth of his Evangelicall rest fâ—om the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed Which is the formall Evangelicall commanded worship of the Lords day which must be sanctified by man after that formall manner in the Spirit of faith in the truth of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest as he hath manifested himselfe to man by the day of his resurrection to wit Lord God and man in the three coessentiall distinct Persons of the glorious Trinity Thirdly whereas the Lord told the Samaritan woman that God must be worshipped in Spirit and truth and that the Father requireth such worship The formall Evangelicall worship of the Lords day is immediatly commanded by the Lord of the Lords day for Gods will and requiring of man by his word is the Lords immediate command to man Fourthly whereas the Lord said to the Samaritan woman the houre is in these words the Lords last will testament to be executed after the testators death is fully implied for in the commanded worship of the Lords day the whole Evangelicall morall Law of God which is the whole Evangelicall word is necessarily implied Fiftly while as the Lord saith to the Samaritan woman the houre cometh when ye shall neither worship the Father in this Mountaine or at Jerusalem By these words the formall ceremoniall worship of the propheticall Sabbath implying the whole propheticall ceremoniall Law is actually determined by the actuall immediate commanded Evangelicall worship of the Lords day to the great comfort of both Jewes and Gentiles in tâ—eir freedome from the sore yoake of the ceremoniall Law Conclusion 11. All propheticall ceremoniall worship is barred from the truth of the Lords commanded worship for by such ceremoniall worship the truth of the Lords fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed is belied and necessarily denied by the will worship of man Conclusion 12. All ceremoniall pretended worship of God by any maner of carved or painted Image objectively representing to the eyes of man the Son of God as he is man is contradictory to the truth of the Lords commanded worship by his Evangelicall rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed as he is God and man For first by this ceremoniall pretended worship God is immediatly worshipped as he is man Secondly by the intervening of the sensitive object between the Lord and his worship the Lords worship is necessarily interrupted and consequently the worship a false faithles idolatrous worship necessarily denying the truth of the Lords commanded worship Conclusion 13. All mediate pretended worship of God by invocation of Angels or Saints departed this life is repugnant to the Lords infinit merit by the truth of his Evangelicall rest For first by the immediate object of such worship intervening between the worshipper and the Lord as by his infinit merit he is eternall life rest the infinitnes of his merit is confined Secondly prayer being a most essentiall part of Gods immediate worship by such invocation of the object to which the prayer is directed the worship of God is necessarily interrupted while as man by the Lords owne immediate command is commanded to call upon the Lord himselfe immediatly in the day of trouble and neither upon Saint or Angel And consequently such mediate pretended worship of God equall idolatry with the former Conclusion 14. As all men for their first sinne in Adam as head were condemned to the curse of eternall death and darknes So by the infinit powâ—â— of the Lords merit all men were redeemed in Adam as head from the curse of eternall death and from eternall naturall and spirituall darknes shuâ— up its â—â—mâ—orall spirituall darknes called unbeleefe and originall sinne for â—he infinit good of man Conclusion 15. As by the perfection of the redemption of man by the power of the Lords infinit free merit all men are freed from the curse of eternall naturall morall and spirituall death and from the eternall curse of naturall morall and spirituall darknesse though shut up in temporall spirituall darknes So all men by the redeemed free power of the word in the heart as they are naturall men are restored to the free grace of naturall and morall life and light without any manner of necessitating the act of the understanding will or senses either naturally or morally Conclusion 16. All men redeemed from the curse of the Law by the eternall decree of predestination being concluded in spirituall darknes called unbeleefe and originall sinne all naturall men comming to actual morall understanding and action before they be regenerate are necessarily dead in actuall sinne by their transgression of the Law of faith Conclusion 17. By the redeemed word of the Law in the heart of man man is the Image of God in his Son Christ Jesus as he hath revealed himselfe by the light of the word of the Lords day truth love and mercy First therefore the naturall man by the power of the redeemed word of the Law written in his heart is enabled to produce the workes of truth love and mercy morally though not spiritually which are the workes of morall faith Secondly and consequently by the reall unity of the power of light and command of the word of the Law in his heart with the light and command of the Lords day the naturall mans heart is morally moved to assent and to beleeve the truth of the Lords day and to give morall obedience to the command of the Law implied in the Lords day Thirdly and consequently by the power of the redeemed word in the heart man is enabled to morall repentance which doth necessarily proceed the act of morall faith Conclusion 18. All tenents and assertions denying the universall grace of the redemption of all men from the curse of the Law for their sinne in Adam shut up in spirituall darknes called unbeleefe and sinne
Word doth comprehend the twelve Articles of Christian faith all depending one upon another like as many links of a chain linked one into another all arising from the literall light of the Lords day by his rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blâ—ssed seed as the Lord did graciously oblige himself to man by the covenant First therefore of the Lords resurrection from the grave and next of his resurrection from the earth by his ascention to the heavens The Lords resurrection from the grave doth comprehend these ten fundamentall points of faith First by the literal light of the sound of the evangelicall Word of the Lords day really one with the literall light of the redeemed Word of the Law written in the heart of man whereby man doth live move and hath his redeemed state of being the naturall mans understanding is morally produced in act by the mediate sense of hearing to understand that the Lords resurrection from the grave was the last period of his rest from the redemption of man and all things lost by man from the curse of the Law for the first sin of Adam And that the Lords resurrection from the grave was from the bloody rest in the grave and his bloody rest in the grave from his sustâ—iâ—ing of the bloody cursed death of the crosse and his bloody cursed death of the crosse from his love and mercy to man Secondly as by our Saviâ—urs bloody death and rest in the grave necessarily presupposing his birth and life our Saviour did manifest himself true man so by our Saviours gracious words glorious wonders and miracles while he was personally upon earth as our Saviour was man the Son of God before all time so he did manifest himself man the Son of God in time begot of the seed of the woman by the overshadowing act of the Almighty Thirdly as our Saviour as he is the eternall Son of God by his sustaining of the eternall curse of the Law did merit the salvation of Adam and of all men naturally to descend of Adam from the first death which was the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam so our Saviour by his bloody rest in the grave for the full space of the seventh day of the last Sabbath whereby the Law was fulfilled as he was obliged to the Law for man as our Saviour is the eternall Son of God he did merit the eternall life and rest of the first seventh day lost by Adam due by the Law to his eternall merit which is the blessing of the Lords day offered to the faith of all the nations of the world by the new covenant whereby all the faithfull are saved from the second death which is the curse of the Law of faith Fourthly by the literall light of the sound of the word of the Lords day the naturall mans understanding is morally produced in act by the mediat sense of hearing to understand that the Lords resurrection from the grave was by his rest from the power of eternall death and darknesse of hell from the eternall curse of the Law the cause of eternall death from sin which he made himself for man the cause of the curse of the Law from the power of Satan the cause of sin and from the power of the grave his last enemy whereby the Lord by the immediate act of his own immediate infinite power did gloriously and triumphantly manifest himself truth to man by the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed and in that truth love and mercy to man and by that truth love and mercy Lord God and man in the essentiall union of the divine and humane nature Lord God and man equall with the Father and holy Spirit Lord God and man equall with the Father by the work of the redemption of man eternally lost by the eternall curse of the Law and by the redemption of the creatures which were cursed for the sin of man which are equall to the works of the creation and the Lord did manifest himself Lord God and man equall with the holy Spirit as by the continuall influence of his blessing the creatures which he hath redeemed are conserved in their redeemed estate which is the proper blessing of the holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son The name Lord therefore is the name of the essentiall union of the divine and humane nature necessarily implying the three coessentiall distinct persons of the glorious Trinity and consequently implying the name Jesus and Christ For as by the Lord God and man the lost creatures are râ—stored the Lord is the Father Lord and commander of the creatures And as he is the Saviour of man from eternall death he is Jesus the eternall Son of God aâ—d as by the continuall influence of his blessing the creatures are conserved he is Christ the anointed with the oile of gladnesse the holy Spirit and sanctifier and consequently as the redeemed word written in the heart of man by the power of which redeemed word the naturall man doth live move and hath his redeemed state and grace of naturall and morall being is the Image of God in his Son Christ Jesus so the redeemed word in the heart of man is the Image of the Lords truth love and mercy whereby the naturall man is morally enabled by the act of his understanding and will to produce the works of truth love and mercy Fifthly the Lords rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed being by his infinite immediate power his merit by his resurrection and rest is infinite and his love and mercy to man by his rest is infinite Sixthly as by the infinit power of the Lords merit by his resurrection and rest the day of the Lords resurrection is blessed and sanctified for his worship by man to whose faithfull worship the infinite blessing of the Lords merit of eternall life and rest is due by the Evangelicall law of faith so by the infinite power of his merit the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day is immediatly commanded and in that immediate worship as the Lords day is the Evangelicall seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith implying the command of the whole law the whole Evangelicall law is commanded obliging all the nations of the world to believe the truth of the Lords fulfilled promise to whose faith the blessing of the Lords Evangelicall eternall rest is due by the law whereby the faithfull man is saved from the second death which is the curse of the law of faith and doth enjoy eternall life Seventhly the naturall man being commanded to believe that by faith in the Lords merit he is saved from the second death and Evangelicall faith being the act of the redeemed heart of man and the originall of all his naturall and morall actions to which all men are inabled by the power of the redeemed Word of truth love and mercy written in the heart of man faith
therefore being commanded immediatly by the literall command of the law though necessarily implying the spirituall command in the command of faith the works of truth love and mercy are necessarily commanded which are the works of faith without which faith is but a dead faith and man but a dead man dead in actuall sin though he doth live all the days of this life To the knowledge of which actuall sin as the naturall man is led by the literall light of the law implyed in the command of the Lords day So by the knowledge of death by actuall sin the naturall man is moved to morall repentance And by repentance to amendment of life by the works of truth love and mercy to which he is morally enabled by the power of the redeemed Word of truth love and mercy in his heart which are the works of faith whereby the Lords merit is morally apprehended Eighthly the new covenant made between God and man being established upon the immediat command of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith as the Lord doth oblige himself to man to conferre the actuall blessing of the Lords dayes eternall rest to the faithfull believer so the Lord by his covenant doth oblige the finall contemner of his infinit merit to the actuall mercilesse eternall curse of his Law The Lords merit of mercy therefore being infinit there is mercy for man all the day of this life For the new covenant is made to all men whatsoever and at what time soever For Mar. 13.13 whosoever shall endure to the end shall be saved This end to the naturall man is his finall perseverance in his morall obedience till the Lords prefixed time of his spirituall calling by the spirituall grace of faith whereby the naturall man being regenerate is saved who hath nothing to necessitate his morall disobedience And though he doth stumble and fall yet by the power of the redeemed word written in his heart the naturall man hath freedome to repent morally without necessitating of his impenitency for morall repentance must necessarily precede morall faith As the naturall man therefore is no wayes to dispaire of the Lords infinite mercy while there is day in this life for the dispairer of the Lords infinite mercy doth belie the Lords mercy and doth detract from the infinitensse of the Lords merit so the naturall man is no wayes by his presumptuous continuance in sin and wickednesse to contemn the Lords long patience leading him so graciously to repentance lest the Lord in his justice give him over to a reprobate minde that he cannot repent though he hath all the dayes of this life to repent by covenant Ninthly the law of God being eternall eternally obliging man as he is man and the reward of the law due by the law to the merit of man being according to the law eternall there must be therefore resurrection from the dead that man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive may receive the eternall reward of the law in the full extent to wit eternall life and rest to the faithfull believer in the merit of man Jesus Christ the eternall Son of God and the curse of the law by eternall death to the merit of man the proud finall contemner of the Lords infinit merit offered so freely to him in this life The reward therefore of the law in the full extent as the reward is eternall cannot be received by man till the last day Tenthly the Lord being the head of all men redeemed from the curse of the law for the sin of Adam as the Lord hath his universall redeemed Church in all the nations of the world who by the power of the redeemed word of truth love and mercy written in their heart are all morally united by one faith in one body and by that faith morally united to their head the gracious Redeemer of all men So the Lord being the mysticall head of his mysticall members the Lord hath his mysticall universall Church all united in one mysticall body by spirituall faith and by spirituall faith all spiritually and indivisibly united to their mysticall head These are the first ten fundamentall points of faith arising from the literall light of the Evangelicall sound of the word of the Lords day by the Lords rest and resurrection from the grave leading the naturall mans understanding by faith to apprehend the Lords merit to save him from the curse of the law of faith Next therefore of the fundamentall points of faith arising from the Lords resurrection from the earth by his ascention to the heavens to which his resurrection from his grave doth extend where the Lord sitteth at the right hand of the infinite power of the Father whence two fundamentall points of faith doth arise First the Lord according to his promise that the seed of the woman shall break the head of the old Serpent and the head of his cursed seed hath obliged himself by the new covenant that by his second coming from the heavens gloriously united to his mysticall members shall revenge the blood of man upon Satan and his cursed seed First the blood of man first betrayed by Satan to fall under the curse of the law Secondly the blood of man Jesus Christ the eternall Son of God by his redemption of man from the eternall curse of the law Thirdly the blood of the Lords mystical members persecute by Satan and his cursed seed for their valorous defending of his sacred truth in this life For the Lord as head united to his mysticall members is the mysticall man who must break the old Serpents head and the head of his cursed seed in the grat day afterwards more fully to be declared This breaking of the head of the old Serpent and of the head of his cursed seed is by the Lords judging condemning and by the actuall inflicting of the eternall curse and reward of the law in the full extent to the greâ—t glory of God the eternall comfort of the faithfull and to the finall eternall and utter confusion of Satan and his cursed seed in the great day The second fundamentall point of faith arising from the Lords resurrection from the earth by his ascention to the heavens is that the Lord hath graciously obliged himself by the covenant to send the Comforter John 16.7 the Spirit of truth by whose spirituall light enlightening the spirituall darknesse of the naturall man the Lords mysticall members are begot and by the spirituall power of whose spirituall life by that spirituall light the regenerate are enabled with the gift of patience to overcome all the afflictions and temptations of Satan and of his cursed seed in this life which is the Lords earnest of their incorruptible crown of glory in the life to come for their valor in their defence of his truth in this life In these twelve fundamentall points of faith as by the literall light of the sound of the word of the Lords day by his rest and resurrection from the grave the naturall mans understaning is morally enlightened So by the power of
the world built thereon by which partition the Gentiles were barred from the judiciall service of God all are rased from the very foundation never to be reiterate in the Church of God Last of all Mary Magdalen did not know the Lord of life John 20.16 17 the eternall rest of his blessed day though Mary did see the Lord with her bodily eyes till she heard the sound of the word of the Evangelicall seventh dayes eternall rest calling Mary At the hearing of the sound of whose Evangelicall word while Mary knowing the Lord would have embraced him in her armes the Lord said Mary touch me not to wit but by thine arms of faith The Lord after his resurrection did first honour Mary to be the joyfull trumpeter to sound the news of the word of his mysticall Evangelicall birth-day to the Apostles themselves as the Lord of life the Son of God as he is man did honour Mary the blessed Virgin to be inclosed in her wombe and to be the first proclaimer of the joyfull day of his naturall birth Though woman therefore seduced by the false trechery of Satan was the instrument of the fall of man yet woman first and last was the most happy news-bringer of the most joyfull tidings that ever came to man or Angel Let a man therefore honour woman whom God the Lord hath so highly honoured For first woman was the happy instrument of the salvation of man and of the confirmed grace of the Angels Secondly woman was the happy instrument that man is crowned with the incorruptible crown of glory eternally in all heavenly happinesse whereas though man had stood in the state of perfection man must have enjoyed his perfection and felicity but eternally upon earth And so much for the declaration of the Evangelicall word as the word is the seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith implying the command of the whole law which is the Lords day the blessed day of dayes We are next according to our method to declare the Evangelicall word as it is the word of the new covenant and promise of God But a question doth arise of the Lords day first necessarily to be answered CHAP. XIII The Evangelicall sense of the bowing of the knee at the name of Jesus THe Question here may be moved Since at the name of Jesus every knee must bow Phil. 2.10 11. of things in heaven of things upon earth and of things under the earth wherefore is not the seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith called rather by the name of Jesus day then by the name of the Lords day I answer because it is by the light of the seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith by the truth of the Lords Evangelicall rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed that Jesus is known to be the Saviour of man the eternall Son of God Lord God and man equall to the Father and holy Spirit as hath been formerly declared by the infinite sanctified power of whose blessed merit the Lords day is blessed and sanctified and the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day immediatly commanded Though Jesus therefore be the name of the Son of God as he is man begot of the seed of the woman and the Saviour of man by his cursed death and bloody rest in the grave without whose resurrection from the dead Jesus the Son of God Adam and all men created in Adam as head must have diâ—d eternally under the eternall curse of the law yet the name Lord is 〈◊〉 name by his infinit power he hath overcome the power of death and the grave necessarily implying the name Jesus and Christ as hath formerly been declared The Lords day therefore is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ immediatly and not immediatly the day of Jesus And consequently the bowing of the knee at the name of Jesus is the bowing of the knee at the name of the Lord Jesus by which bowing of the knee the Evangelicall commanded worship of the Lords day is implied as may plainly appear by the Apostles words saying that God hath given him a name above all names that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and that every tongue shall confesse that Jesus Christ is the Lord For as the religious bowing of the knee is from the believing heart implying the Spirit of the mind that Jesus the Saviour of man is the Lord wherâ—by the internall and externall worship of God is expressed So the confession of the tongue as likewise from the Spirit of faith in the heart that Jesus the Saviour of man is the Lord by the truth of his merit by his Evangelicall rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed upon the Lords day whereby the worship of the Lords day is commanded in spirit and truth In which commanded worship â—ll the internall and externall worship of God is necessarily implied In this sense thâ— Apostle saith Rom. 10.10 with the heart man doth believe to righteousnesse and with the mouth man doth confesse to salvation that is with the heart implying the Spirit of the mind enlightened by the light of the Lords day really one with the light of the redeemed word of the law in the heart man doth believe that the Lord hath fulfilled the law of righteousnesse by whose merit the believer is saved and with the mouth man doth confesse before God and man that he is saved by faith in the truth of the Lords only merit for as by his only merit all men are saved from the first death which is the curse of the law for the sin of Adam so all the faithfull are saved from the second death which is the curse of the law of faith The externall bowing of the knee therefore at the name of Jesus without adding or implying Lord proceeding from the believing of the heart is but a faithlesse and irreligious worship of God by man In these words of the Apostle concering the bowing of the knee which is a Prophesie and now fulfilled by the Lords dayes Evangelicall rest and resurrection three speciall things are to be observed First though the name Jesus signifying a Saviour be given to man as at the power of the Lords command â—â—n is saved by man from temporall danger yet the name Jesus as he is Lord God and man is incommuâ—icable to man or Angel and a name above all names propâ—rly and immediatly ascribed to the Son the second person of the Trinity And therefore we see that in the Apostles salutations by their Epistles they do pray for peace and grace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ For as the Lord is man the Son of God equall with the Father and holy Spirit before all time so he is man the Son of God in time of the seed of the woman in the essentiall union of the divine nature of the Father Son and holy Spirit with the humane nature
rest which is the blessing of the Lords day is the immediate object of faith and therefore the Evangelicall law is called the law of righteousnesse of faith though the works of faith which are the works of truth love and mercy are equally commanded in the command of faith which is the necessary sole immediate efficient cause of the works of faith and therefore necessarily commanded in the command of faith while the Apostle therefore doth affirm that man is justified by faith without the works of the law we must understand that the works meaned by the Apostle are the ceremoniall works of the Propheticall law and not the Evangelicall works of faith to which works the Apostle doth exhort both the Jews and Gentiles and therefore the Apostle James saith shew me thy faith by thy works Now the Lords merit of eternall life which is the blessing of the Lords day being really one the word of promise and new covenant and the word of the seventh day of the Evangelicall law are really one and so much for the reall unity of both next of the formall difference The formall difference of both doth consist in this that by the new covenant God and man are mutually obliged in the Evangelicall word of the Lords day For as God by his new covenant doth formally oblige man to believe the truth of his fulfilled promise of the blessed seed by his Evangelicall rest So the Lord doth mutually oblige himself by the truth of his merit by his Evangelicall rest to save the believer from the curse of the second death obliging likewise the unbeliever and finall contemner of his free gracious offer to the mercilesse curse of the law of faith But by the Evangelicall word of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall law the Lord doth formally command man to testifie his beliefe to the word of eternall life as the Lords Word is his law to man The chief precept of whose law is the commanded worship of the Lords day in which commanded worship the whole Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith as formally and necessarily commanded commanding the faith of man in the originall which is the love of the heart where the redeemed word of the law is written really one with the Evangelicall word of the seventh day of the law the Lords day by the power of which redeemed word in the heart which is the Image of God in his Son Christ Jesus truth love and mercy it self all men are morally enabled by the works of truth love and mercy to give morall obedience to the command of the Evangelicall law which are the works of faith the chief work whereof is the truth of the commanded worship of the Lords day whereby the Lord by his Evangelicall rest hath manifested himself truth love and mercy to man The judicious Reader therefore may plainly perceive that though there be a formall difference between the word of the seventh day of the Evangelicall law and of the word of promise and the new covenant yet they are really one and the one necessarily implyed in the other For as hath been formerly declared God cannot morally command man to his new covenant but by the immediate command of the word of the seventh day of the law implying the command of the whole Evangelicall law which is the Evangelicall word of the Lords day For there is neither life light or the power of command in any precept of the Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith but by the only immediate commanded worship of the Lords day in that commanded worship implying the command of the whole law And therefore the blessing of the Lords merit by the Lords dayes Evangelicall rest is only and immediatly due by the law to the faithfull worship of the Lords day for the fulfilling of the whole law which is fulfilled by faith in the Lords infinite merit by whose infinite sanctified merit by his Evangelicall resurrection and rest from the fulfilling of his promise the Lords day is the word of eternall life and the immediate object of Christian faith without the command therefore of the Lord day as it is his law to man there is neither life or light for man or any law or new covenant or any object for the faith of man dead in actuall sin as all men freed from the curse of the law for the sin of Adam are before they be regenerate by their transgression of the law of faith And therfore as our Saviour by his bloody rest in the grave by his fulfilling of the command of the seventh day did fulfill the whole law as our Saviour was oblieged to the law for man to whose merit the eternall life and rest lost by Adam is due by the law so the Lord Iesus Christ eternall life and rest by his resurrection and rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed upon the day of his resurrection did obliege all men again to his new Covenant by the immediate command of the Lords dayes commanded worship blessed and sanctified by his merit to believe in his fulfilled promise of the blessed seed to whose faith the blessing of his merit of eternall life is due by the law which is commanded in the cōmanded worship of the Lords day as may appear by the word of promise new covenant Go and teach preach the Evangel to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit Mar. 16.15 16. he that shal believe shall be saved but he that wil not believe shall be condemned The sense of the word of the covenant is this Go and preach the Evangel that is go and preach proclaim the glad tidings of my resurrection and rest this day from the fulfilling of my promise of the blessed seed which is the summe of the whole Evangel implied in the Lords day by the Lords Evangelicall rest go therefore preach the Evangel to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit as my my resurrection and rest this day from the power of sin Satan hell eternall death the curse of the law and the power of the grave I have manifested my self by mine own infinit immediate power Truth to man by the fulfilling of my promise and in that truth love and mercy to man and in that truth love and mercy God and man in the three coessentiall distinct persons of the Trinity whosoever shall believe in me to wit eternall life and rest by the power of my infinit merit by my Evangelicall rest shall be saved from the curse of the second death for the transgression of the law of faith as by my bloody rest in the grave from the cursed death of the crosse all men are saved from the curse of the law for their transgression of the law in Adam which is the first death he that will not believe in me shall be condemned to
that day confounded Though the High Priest or any man that day without any feare might have entered the highest place and have touched and looked on the Arke but it was more then was then knowne to the high Priest Against this it may be objected Luke the Evangelist saith Luke 23 56. That the women according to the command of the Law rested from going to the sacred grave that day which command of the Law was the command of the propheticall Sabbath day I answer Luke the faithfull Historiographer of the sacred History doth faithfully relate the act of the religious women with the precise circumstance of the time of the act what the women then full of sorrow for the Lord of life were constrained to doe out of their respect to the command of the Sabbath which was that day in force for ought that the women did know But Luke doth not relate what the women might have done that day Neither had it been sitting for the Evangelist so to have done for the formall command of the Sabbath day as it was the formall propheticall Jews Sabbath day was not actually determined till it was determined by the next day the day of Christs resurrection from the grave to wit the Lords day though the prophesies of the Sabbath were then actually determined And so much for answer to the first Question To the second Question I answer That it had beene as impossible in any morall right by the command of the Law that the last Sabbath for the whole space whereof the blessed body of our Saviour rested in the sacred grave could have beene worshipped for the Lords day For first the mournfull sorrowfull and lamentable light of the sound of the word of the seventh day of the last Sabbath had been repugnant to the joyful Evangelicall sound light of the word of the Lords day Secondly the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day to have beene celebrate upon the last Sabbath had implyed a manifest contradiction in the command of the law for so the law should have commanded the day of the Lords resurrection to be worshipped in spirit and truth while as contrary to all truth the sensitive body of our Saviour did lye dead in the grave that day Thirdly by the commanded worship of that Sabbath to be celebrate by the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day had been contradictory to the sacred written Word of God by his eternall decree for the last enemy to be conquered by the Lord of life was the grave Fourthly the commanded Evangelicall worship of that day had been contradictory to Christs own prophesie which was that he should rise again the third day while by his Evangelicall worship he must have risen the second day Fifthly by such commanded Evangelicall worship of the last Sabbath the Apostles must have been false witnesses in preaching and proclaiming that the Lord was risen from the grave while his sacred body did rest in the grave Sixthly such Evangelicall worship of the last Sabbath had overthrown the chief Article of Christian faith For all Christians are obliged to believe that the Lord of life rose the third day from the grave and not the second day and so much for answer to the second question against this declaration of the Lords day three obejections are to be answered CHAP. XVI The reason that God is said to be Alpha and Omega the first and the last FIrst it may be objected that by the establishing of the Lords day for the Evangelicall morall seventh day of the law of faith there is one seventh day of the law implying the whole law lost in the account Now heaven and earth must perish before a jot or a tittle of the law shall perish Luke 86.17 For the law of God is eternall I answer By this account there is neither any jot or tittle of the seventh day of the law of God lost neither by this account is there my prejudice at all to the decreed six dayes work allowed by the law to man For the seventh day of the last Sabbath implying the whole law as Christ Jesus was obliged thereby as he is man was fulfilled by himself Now by the fulfilling of the law the law is established and not lost if man by his finall obstinate contempt of the law should escape the curse of the law at Christs second coming then the law we lost indeed Or if the Lord had not fulfilled the command of the seventh day of the last Sabbath as the Lord did oblige himself by the propheticall covenant the seventh day of the law implying the command of the whole law had been likewise utterly lost as man Christ Jesus the Son of God was obliged to the command of the law This objection therefore is easily answered by the former declaration For God and man being mutually obliged to the propheticall covenant by the seventh day of the law then by the name of the Sabbath of the Lord the obligement of man to the propheticall covenant was formally twofold First man to wit Adam and all men naturally to descend of Adam were formally obliged to the command of the seventh day as it was then the propheticall Sabbath obliging the faith of man to believe the promised rest of the blessed seed prophesied by the prophetical Sabbath untill the promised rest was fulfilled by the blessed seed Secondly man the Son of God Christ Iesus the blessed seed was formally obliged by the propheticall covenant to fulfill his promised rest by his obedience to the command of the seventh day of the last Sabbath as it was prophesied by the propheticall Sabbath who having fulfilled the command of the last Sabbath by his obedience even to the death of the Crosse by his redemption of man from the curse of the law for the sinne of Adam And by his rest in the grave after his death upon the last Sabbath haveing fulfilled the whole law in the command of the seventh day The eternall life and rest of the first seventh day lost by Adam was redeemed likwise for man and due by the law to our Saviours merit Now the eternall life and rest of man being in our Saviour The Lord by his resurrection from the grave did manifest himselfe truth to man by the fulfilling of his promised rest and in that truth Lord God Jesus Christ the eternall Son of God God equall with the Father and holy Spirit the eternall life and rest of man The day of whose resurrection being the just seventh day of the law as man naturally descended of Adam is obliged to the law of God the Lord by the power of his merit by his Evangelicall rest from the fulfilling of the law for man implying his bloody rest from the redemption of man from the curse of the law for the sinne of Adam doth command the day of his resurrection the Lords day to be worshipped by man for the seventh day of his Evangelicall law And therefore to conclude this answer The seventh
successors themselves and that all men under the heavens have the continuation of their redeemed light and life moving and being It is most certaine that there was great power given to the Apostles and in the Apostles to the Apostolicall successors though all the power given to the Apostles was not given to the Apostolicall successors and Ministers of the word But all the created powers of heaven and earth are not capable of any such power as to command the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day implying the command of the whole Evangelicall morall law of God The great power which was given to the Apostles was for the maintaining of the Evangelicall word of the seventh day of the law of righteousnesse of faith implying the whole word and law of God which the Lord of the Lords day did plant while he was personally upon earth and watered with his precious bloud for the enabling of the Apostles to the establishing and encrease whereof the Keyes of the kingdome of Heaven that rich Pearle were delivered to the Apostles which are the keyes of the Old and New Testament this power of the keyes of the kingdome of heaven delivered to the Apostles was threefold The first was the power of the light of the word which did shine from the word it selfe the Lord of the law of righteousnesse of faith By which power the Apostles were enabled to teach and preach the Evangell to all the Nations of the world The second power of the word was the power of healing disposessing and the power of miracles whereby their doctrine was confirmed and the Evangell established The third was the power of command whereby obedience was given to the word taught and preached by the Apostles The power of the light of the word whereby the Apostles were enabled to teach and preach was morall and spirituall the morall light was the light of the sound of the mediate word of the Lord of life by which light the Apostles were first literally led to the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest which is the first light leading to the kingdome of heaven The glorious riches of this light bought at the price of the sacred bloud of the Lord of light was prefigurate by the light of the golden Candlesticks in the holy place and by the rich robe and vesture of the high Priest as also the sound of this rich word was prefigurate by the sound of the bells hanging at the high Priests rich vesture Exod. 28.33 The spirituall light by which the Apostles were enabled to teach and preach the Evangell was in the spirituall sanctifying understanding of the word of the law of righteousnesse which the Apostles received of the holy Spirit of the Lord of light and life immediately signified by our Saviourâ— breathing upon the Apostles John 20.22 while as he said Receive yee the holy Spirit by which power of sanctifying light the Apostles were enabled with the spiritual power to teach and preach and with the holinesse of spirituall action whereby they shined as pure light in the darkenesse of the world leading all men to the kingdome of heaven who were able to be led by that light This pure light of spirituall righteousnesse was likewise prefigurate Exod. 28.36 by the inscription of righteousnesse and holinesse ingraven in the Brest-plate of the high Priest and by the high Priests white pure vesture with which he was cloathed when he went in once a yeare into the holiest place to obtaine pardon of actuall sin at the Mercy-seat And this is the light and holinesse of life with which the Apostolicall successors are to be continually vested to goe in and out before their charge The second power of the Keyes of the word whereby the Apostles were enabled Marke 16.17 was the power of healing disposessing of possessed with evill spirits and with the power of miracles which was given to the Apostles for the confirmation of their doctrine and for the establishing of the Evangell planted by the Lord of the Lords day sealed by his precious bloud Which being established by the Apostles and the establishing thereof sealed likewise by their owne bloud the power of healing dispossessing and miracles did determine in the Apostles according to the eternall decree of God And this power of the word given to the Apostles was likewise prefigurate by Aarons Rod placed by the word in the Arke of the Covenant The third power of the Keyes of the word given to the Apostles John 20.23 which is likewise given in the Apostles to the Apostolicall successors is the morall power of commanding the obedience of man to the command of the word And this power doth consist in mercy and justice In mercy the authority is given to pardon the morall sin of the penitent scandalous contemner of the command of the word delivered by the Apostles and Ministers of the word The power of justice is in the authority of the morall sword of excommunication Whereby the proud rebellious contemners of the word preached by the Apostles and Ministers of the word are cut off from the visible Church and from the blessing of the Lords merit which is by the hearing of his word To the end that Evangelicall morall obedience may be given to the teaching and preaching of the word Now because the pardon of spirituall sinne is incommunicable to any created power of God The Lord therefore did obliege himselfe by Covenant to the Apostles and in the Apostles to the Apostolicall successors to remit or retaine spiritually what morall sin soever the Apostles should pardon or retaine morally upon earth which is a most admirable power given to the Ministers of the Word For by this power of the keys the proudest rebellious contemner of the command of God sounded by the Ministers of the word and sacraments is brought to subjection And that for two main reasons The first is because the proud contemner being excommunicate the sin is never pardoned by God before it be first pardoned by the Ministers of the Word which is a most fearfull case if the contemner should die in his impenitency and obstinacy The second reason is because the civill sword of the Magistrate is to second the power of the morall sword to free the Church of God from such proud contempt to whose protection the militant Church of God is committed as to the Father of the family to be preserved in the purity of the light of the word and in the freedome of the profession of the word in which respect the twofold portion of the first born is due by the law of God to the King The first is the inheritance of the crown for the enabling of the King to advance the obedient to the command of the word who are alwayes his most faithfull and loyall subjects The second is the power of the civill sword implying the power of the King to cut from the militant Church the proud contemner of the command of God by his Church that by
new covenant obliging and commanding all the nations of the world to the Evangelicall worship of that day The Lords day did immediatly succeed the last formall Jews prophetical Sabbath The Lords day therefore is the decreed seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith as man naturally descended of Adam is obliged to the Evangelicall law of God by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant obliging and commanding all the nations of the world to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 4. The word of eternall life which all men by the new covenant are obliged to believe to save them from the curse of the second death all the nations of the world are obliged to the Evangelicall worship of that word of eternall life The Lords day by the merit of his Evangelicall rest is the word of eternall life which all men by the new covenant are obliged to believe to save them from the curse of the second death All the nations of the world therefore are obliged to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 5. By the immediate power whereby the Lords day is the blessed and sanctified word or eternall life whereby the new covenant is immediatly established by that immediate power the evangelical worship of the Lords day is immediatly commanded implying the command of the whole Evangellicall law By the immediate power of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed the Lords day is the blessed and sanctified word of eternall life whereby the new covenant is immediately established by the immediate power therefore of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day is immediatly commanded implying the command of the whole Evangelicall law 6. What the Lords new covenant doth oblige men to believe to save them from the second death The Lords day commands all men to worship for the only object of Christian faith The Lords new covenant doth oblige all men to believe the Lords day by the merit of his evangelicall rest to save them from the second death The Lords day therefore doth command all men to worship the Lords day by the merit of his evangelicall rest for the only object of Christian faith 7. By the onely blessing of which day all the Nations of the world doe live move and have the redeemed grace of being continued by the new Covenant all the Nations of the world by the Lords immediate word of the new Covenant are oblieged and commanded to the joyfull worship of that day By the onely blessing of the Lords day all the Nations of the world doe live move and have their redeemed grace of being continued by the new Covenant All the Nations of the world therefore by the Lords immediate word of his new Covenant are oblieged and commanded to the joyfull worship of the Lords day 8. The light of the sound of the word of which day doth necessarily imply the light and life of the whole word and law of God the whole Evangelicall commanded worship of God and all Christian Religion By the power of the sound of that word all men are commanded to the Evangelicall worship of that day The light of the sound of the Lords day doth necessarily imply the light and life of the whole word and law of God the whole Evangelicall commanded worship of God and all Christian Religion By the power therefore of the light of the sound of the word of the Lords day all men are commanded to the Evangecall worship of the Lords day 9. Without the only blessing of the sound of the word of which day there is no object for Christian faith By the immediate power of that dayes blessing all men are commanded to the Evangelicall worship of that day Without the only blessing of the sound of the word of the Lords day there is no object for Christian faith By the immediate power therefore of the Lords dayes blessing all men are commanded to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 10. Without the immediate power of the light and command of which day no man can either know or give obedience to any precept of the Evangelicall morall law of faith That is the necessary seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith by the Lords immediate word of his new Covenant oblieging and commanding all the Nations of the world to the Evangelicall worship of that day Without the immediate power of light and command of the Lords day blessed and sanctified by his Evangelicall rest no man can either know or give obedience to any precept of the Evangelical moral law of faith The Lords day therefore is the necessary seventh day of the Evangelical law of faith by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant oblieging and commanding all the Nations of the world to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 11. To the faithful worship of which day only the blessing of the merit of the Lords Evangelicall 7th dayes rest is due by the law for the fulfilling of the whole Evangelicall law of faith All the Nations of the world by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant are oblieged and commanded to the Evangelicall worship of that day To the onely faithfull worship of the Lords day the blessing of the merit of the Lords seventh dayes Evangelicall rest is due by the Law for the fulfilling of the whole evangelicall law All the Nations of the world therefore by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant are obliged and commanded to the evangelicall worship of the Lords day 12. By the faithfull of which day the whole evangelicall law of faith is fulfilled that dayes worship is commanded by the power of the word of the seventh day of the evangelicall law of faith By the faithfull worship of the Lords day by faith in the Lords merit the whole evanglicall law is fulfilled The Lords dayes worship therefore is commanded by the power of the word of the seventh day of the evangelicall law of faith 13. By that day whereby the Lord by his resurrection from the grave victoriously triumphing over sin Satan hell the curse of the law and the power of the grave did clearly manifest himselfe powe life and light it selfe and in that power life and light Truth by his fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed and in that truth love and mercy to man and in that truth love and mercy Lord God and man in the three coessentiall distinct persons of the glorious Trinity All the Nations of the world by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant are oblieged and commanded to the Evangelicall worship of that day By the Lords day the day of the Lords resurrection from the grave the Lord victoriously triumphing over sinne Satan hell the curse of the law and the power of the grave did clearly manifest himselfe power life
and light it selfe and in that power life and light Truth by his fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed and in that truth love and mercy Lord God and man in the three coessentiall distinct persons of the glorious Trinity All the Nations of the world therefore by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant are oblieged and commanded to the evangelicall worship of the Lords day 14. By the truth of the Lords merit by which dayes evangelicall rest necessarily implying his bloody rest all the Prophesies prophesying of the comming of the blessed seed and all the Altars sacrifices types figures and ceremonies prefigurating his death from the foundation of the world are actually determined All the Nations of the world by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant are obliged and commanded to the evangelicall worship of that day By the truth of the Lords merit by the Lords dayes Evangelicall rest necessarily implying his bloody rest all the Prophesies prophesying the comming of the blessed seed and all the Altars sacrifices types figures and ceremonies prefigurating his death from the foundation of the world are actually determined All the Nations of the world therefore by the Lords immediate word of his new Covenant are obliged and commanded to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 15. By the truth of the Lords resurrection from the dead upon which day all men condemned by the curse of the law to eternall death for the sin of Adam are raised and reconciled to the love and favour of God for that sinne All the Nations of the world are obliged to the joyfull worship of that blessed day By the truth of the Lords ressurection from the dead upon the Lords day all men condemned by the curse of the law to eternall death for the sinne of Adam are raised and reconciled to the love and favour of God for that sinne All the Nations of the world therefore are obliged to the joyfull worship of the Lords blessed day 16. That day which the Lord rested from the fulfilling of the law that day was blessed sanctified and commanded by the power of the Lords merit of eternall life due by the law to the Lords fulfilling of the law The Lord rested his owne day from the fulfilling of the law The Lords day therefore was blessed sanctified and commanded by the power of the Lords merit of eternall life due by the law to the Lords fulfilling of the law 17. By the Evangelicall sound of the word of which day all Jewes and Gentiles were called and united in one Church of God by the new covenant All the Nations of the world are obliged to the joyfull jubilizing and worship of that blessed day By the Evangelicall sound of the word of the Lords day all Jewes and Gentiles were called and united in one Church of God by the new covenant All the Nations of the world therefore are obliged to the joyfull jubilizing and worship of the Lords blessed day 18. Without the knowledge of which day no man can know that he is a sinner against the Evangelicall law of faith or that he standeth in need of the Lords merit to save him from the curse of the Evangelicall law That day commands all men to the Evangelicall worship of that day and in that day to the obedience of the whole Evangelicall law Without the knowledge of the Lords day no man can know that he is a sinner against the Evangelicall law or that he stands in need of the Lords merit to save him from the curse of the Evangelicall law of faith The Lords day therefore commands all men to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 19. By the only literall light of the sound of the word of which day all the Nations of the world are literally led to the blessing of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest By the power of that word all the nations of the world are commanded to the Evangelicall worship of that day By the only literall light of the sound of the word of the Lords day all the nations of the world are literally led to the blessing of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest By the power therefore of the word of the Lords day all the nations of the world are commanded to the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day 20. By the only command of which day necessarily implying the command of the whole Evangelicall law the heart of the naturall man is moved to give morall obedience to the command of the Evangelicall law that day commands all men to the Evangelicall worship of that day and in that day the obedience of man to the whole Evangelicall law By the only command of the Lords day nenecessarily implying the command of the whole Evangelicall law the heart of the naturall man is moved to give morall obedience to the command of the evangelicall law The Lords day therefore commands all men to the evangelicall worship of the Lords day and in the Lords day the obedience of man to the command of the whole evangelicall law 21. With the standing or falling of which day the blessing of the Lords merit and the whole evangelicall law of faith doth necessarily stand or fall That is the decreed seventh day of the evangelicall law by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant obliging and cōmanding all the nations of the world to the evangelicall worship of that day With the standing or falling of the Lords day the Lords merit and the whole evangelicall law doth necessarily stand or fall The Lords day therefore is the decreed seventh day of the evanglicall law by the Lords immediate word of his new covenant obliging and commanding all the nations of the world to his evangelicall worship of the Lords day 22. Whom the Lord Jesus Christ by his immediate word did command to preach and teach the Evangelicall blessing of his merit whereby the Lords day is blessed and sanctified them the Lord Jesus Christ by his immediate word did command the Evangelicall worship of the day to which the blessing of his merit is only due The Lord Jesus Christ by his immediate Word did command the Apostles to preach and teach to all the nations of the world the Evangelicall blessing of his merit whereby the Lords day is blessed and sanctified The Lord Jesus Christ therefore by his immediate word did command the Apostles to teach and preach the Evangelicall worship of the Lords day to which the evangelicall blessing of his merit is only due And now to conclude lest I weary my Reader 23. That day of dayes that decreed day sealed by the precious blood of the immaculate Lambe which no power time or day can determine but the second coming of the eternall day when the mysticall members of Christ Jesus shall rest in their head crowned with an incorruptible crown of glory in the heauen of heavens eternally that is the true evangelicall seventh day of the law of faith by the new
covenant obliging and commanding all the nations of the world to the joyfull jubelizing of that blessed day The Lords day that decreed day sealed with the Lords precious blood no power day or time can determine but the second coming of the Lord the eternall day when his mysticall members shall rest in him their head crowned with an incorruptible crown of glory in the heaven of heavens eternally The Lords day therefore is the true evangelicall seventh day of the law of faith by the new covenant obliging and commanding all the nations of the world to the joyfull jubelizing of the Lords day Thus by the only and immediate assisting grace of the Lord of the Lords day without the aid or help of any mortall man have we finished these three books of the Theologicall key by manifesting of the revealed truth of his sacred day so long darkned and obscured by the darknesse of the miserable age And now for a full conclusion of this Tractate according to our pomise in the second Chapter of the second book the pretended absolute decree whereby the hearts of so many Christians hath been from time to time distracted shall be examined with other opinions in the like kinde concerning the sacred decree of Predestination which for the Readers better satisfaction shall be demonstratively resolved from the lowest and last effect in the supreme and first cause as the eternall word from the beginning hath execute the same by his first three covenants made with man as they are set down in the sacred written Word Certain Opinions concerning the sacred Decree of Predestination CHAP. I. The Pelagian and semipelagian opinions concerning the sacred Decree of Predestination COncerning the sacred Decree of Predestination there be four severall opinions set down by the Authors The first is the Pelagian and semipelagian opinion which in substance and effect are both one For by both the grace to fulfill the law of God is ascribed to the freedome of mans own election though by the semipelagian opinion the grace is parted between God and man Both the opinions are pretended to be grounded upon a fundamentall Theologicall principle which principle is set down in the first Chapter of the first book of the Theologicall key which is in this manner As God doth command the action of his intellectuall creature man as well upon the eternall curse of the law as upon the blessing of the seventh dayes rest So God in his justice by his covenant is obliged to enable man to the performing of the command of his law and man being the free intellectuall creature of God it is affirmed that it is in the freedome of mans own election to fulfill or transgresse the Law of God And that God out of his eternall prescience of mans fulfilling or transgressing of the law hath decreed accordingly the election or condemnation of man so that the suspending or not suspending of the sacred decree of Predestination by these opinions must stand at the beck of the creature The only truth of these two opinions is that the will of man is not necessitate by Gods eternall decree to transgresse the law Now because the untruth of these two opinions hath been from age to age condemned as contradictory to the sacred Word of God my purpose is not to do an act done but to declare the grosse error in the mistake of the fundamentall principle whereon the opinioâ—s are pretended to be grounded It is most certain that God in his justice doth oblige himself to man by his covenant to enable man to the fulfilling of the command of his law But by the favour of the authors and maintainers of these opinions the state of man must be considered wherein God doth oblige himselfe to man by his severall Covenant in which sense this principle is to be conceived and not simply It is without all doubt that God by his first Covenant made with man in Adam created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection did oblige himselfe to Adam to enable Adam in the state of perfection wherein he was created by the eternall blessing of his first seventh daies rest But God did mutually oblige Adam to merit that blessing by the eternall perfection of his obedience to the command of his law obliging Adam likewise to the eternall curse of his law upon Adams disobedience whose obedience or disobedience by the first Covenant was left to the freedome of his owne election to stand or fall at his pleasure or perill for the freedome of Adams election wherein he was created was such as no increated or created power could necessitate Adams will to fall and yet Gods eternall decree was not suspendible by Adam as hath beene formerly and necessarily concluded to which I must referre the Reader So it is likewise most certaine that God hath entered his new Covenant with man in the redeemed state of man from the curse of eternall darknesse and from eternall death by that darknesse to which all men were condemned shut up in temporall spirituall darknesse till the naturall man be regenerate whereby man as he is a naturall man is enabled to give morall obedience to his calling by the new Covenant without any manner of necessitating the will of man either naturally or morally to disobedience It is likewise most certaine that God hath obliged himselfe by his new Covenant to the actuall continuation of the redeemed naturall and morall grace of man for all the day of this life upon the continuation of mans morall obedience till Gods prefixed time of spirituall calling to whose finall perseverance in his morall obedience the spirituall grace of faith is then due to the naturall man by the new Covenant And therefore the Evangel is said to be the power of God to salvation from faith to faith that is from the grace of morall faith to the grace of spirituall faith But the maintainers of these two opinionâ— must understand that God by his new Covenant hath likewise reâ—liged man to the finall continuation of his morall obedience upon the mercylesse curse of the law of faith as well as upon the eâ—ernall blessing of the law by his Evangelicall seventh daies rest Now though neither Sâ—tan or his instâ—uments can necessitate the will of man to morall disobedience yet the naturall man having no spirituall grace till he be regenerate the naturall man is easily enâ—uced by Satan to the morall finall contempt of the law of God without Gods speciall objective concursive grace to which God is no waies obliged who in this case will shew mercy on whom he will shew mercy And therefore the finall perseverance of the naaturall man and his spirituall calling is the immediate free gift of God and no waies in the freedome of man election And this twofold grace in the Scripture is called the first and latter raine which is from God immediatly And therefore to conclude this point the judicious Reader may plainly perceive the grosse mistake of
power of the word For the word of righteousnes in this sense is the word of the law of righteousnes internally commanding the heart of man which is the center and originall of all the powers of man as he is man commanding man to produce the workes of righteousnes according to the law of righteousnes as man by the first power of the word written in his heart is enabled to live the life of righteousnes For according to that Theologicall Principle As God doth command the action of his creature so before or in and with the command God in his justice doth inable his creature with the power of action to fulfill his command As the word of righteousnes is objected to the externall senses of man it is taken in a twofold sense First the word of the power of life of righteousnes necessarily implying the power of naturall life of the word is taken for the word of promise wherby God doth covenant with man to grant the eternall continuation of the life of righteousnes necessarily implying me naturall life of the word to man as man is inabled to live that life by the power of the word written in his heart which is called the word of eternall life Secondly as the word of righteousnes is objected to the externall senses of man it is taken for the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousâ—â—s implying the command of the whole law And the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law in this sense hath likewise a twofold power The first power of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law it is the power of command for in this sense the word of God is the command of his law of righteousnes commanding the obedience of man by his workes of righteousnes to fulfill the command of his law of righteousnes as man is inabled to live that life by the immediate power of the word of the law written in his heart And in this sense Gods word is said to be a law to man For all the commands of God righteousnes it selfe by his word are the necessary commands of his law of righteousnes and all the commands of the law of God are the necessary commands of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law which doeth necessarily imply the command of the whole law of God Gods command therefore to Adam commanding him to abstaine from eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil was the necessary command of the word of the first seventh daies rest of the law of righteousnes The second power of the word of the seventh dayes rest is the power of life of righteousnes necessarily implying the power of the naturall life of the word and this power of the word of the seventh dayes rest is by the immediate blessing of the seventh dayes rest which is due by the law to the seventh dayes worship and man necessarily implying his fulfilling of the whole law for the seventh day is blessed for man and the seventh day is sanctified for Gods worship by man by the immediate power of which blessing of the seventh dayes rest man doth rest in the injoying of the word of promise The word of the law therefore written in the heart and the word of promise and the word of the seventh dayes rest are really one for by the word written in the heart man doth live the life of righteousnes and by the word of promise God doth promise the eternall continuation of that life and by the blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest man doth rest in the injoying of his life of righteousnes and the word in this threefold sense is the image of the righteousnes of God the infinite life of righteousnes But yet as there is a reall unity in the word written in the heart in the word of promise and in the word of the seventh dayes rest so there is a formall difference For the word of the Law written in the heart is formally the word of the power of life and the word of promise is formally the word of eternall life whereby the eternall continuance of the power of the word in the heart is promised and the word of the seventh dayes rest is formally the word of eternall rest for by the eternall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest man doth rest in the injoying of the word of promise wherby God doth fulfill his promise to man and therefore called truth And this is the reason that as in the word of promise the covenant is established between God and man upon the word of the seventh dayes rest the covenant and the word of the seventh dayes rest are really one but of a formall difference The reall unity of both is in this that the word of promise which is the word of eternall life is by the eternall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest And the formall difference of both is in this that God and man in the word of promise are formally and mutually obliged by covenant but man is only formally commanded by the word of the seventh dayes rest of his law of righteousnesse For God in the word of promise doth bind and obliege himselfe to man by covenant to grant the eternall continuation of the life of righteousnes which man doth injoy by the power of the word written in his heart And because this eternall continuation of the life of man is by the eternall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest therefore God doth mutually bind and obliege man by his covenant to fulfill the command of his seventh dayes worship implying the fulfilling of the whole law after that formall maner as God hath manifested himselfe to be worshipped by man by the word of his seventh dayes rest and this obligement of man by covenant is both upon the promise of eternall life and also upon the promise of eternall death By the light of the word therefore of every severall seventh dayes rest first we are led in the knowledge of the state and condition of man with whom the covenant is made For the word of the seventh dayes rest and the word of the law written in the heart whereby man doth live are really one Secondly by this light we are led in the knowledge of the covenant which is alwayes really one with the word of the seventh dayes rest For the word of promise is fulfilled by the eternall blessing of the word of the seventh daies rest whereon the condition of the covenant doth depend Now because by covenant man is bound and obliged to the command of the law of righteousnes both upon the promise of eternall life and eternall death according to the merit of man The law of GOD is therefore sayd to have a twofold reward to wit the blessing of eternall rest to the merit of the obedient and eternall death to the merit of the disobedient which is called the curse of
the law though eternall death be properly and immediately by the covenant for the law of God in its proper nature which is the image of his righteousnes doth command the obedience of man only upon the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes rest and not upon eternall death And therfore we see that the curse of the Law is not set downe in the Decalogue But because as the covenant is established upon the immediat command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnes it is the image both of the righteousnes and justice of God rendring to man according to his merit For this cause the law commands man both upon the blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest and upon the curse of disobedients and therefore though by covenant it be left to the freedome of mans election to live the life of righteousnes according to the command of the law of righteousnes and to merit eternall life by his obedience or eternall death by his disobedience yet as the covenant is established upon the immediate command of the words of the seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnes the obedience of man is both obliged and commanded upon the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes rest and upon the inevitable curse of eternall death By the light of this Theologicall infallible ground arising from the light of the truth of the sacred word the judicious Reader is led in the knowledge of the three covenants made by God with man which are linckt together as it were in a chaine as may appeare by the subsequent declaration of this tractat First therefore of the first covenant made by God with man CHAP. II. Of the created perfection of the intellectuall nature of man and of the immortality of the soule BEcause the first covenant doeth necessarily presuppose the first estate of man with whom the first covenant was made This first Booke therefore shal be divided into these two parts The first shall contain the declaration of the first estate of man The second shall contain the declaration of the first covenant The first state of man was the created state of man the last created of all creatures whose creation doth presuppose the whole workes of the creation which is the very first period of the exercit act of the sacred decree of predestination exercit by the infinit essentiall word immediately As for the knowledge of the first estate of man it must necessarily arise from the light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest For the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse and the word of the law first written in the heart of man are of one reall life and light For as the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnes was the word of the eternall rest of righteousnes by the eternall blessing of the first seventh dayes rest so the word of the law of righteousnes first written in the heart of man was the word of the power of the life of righteousnes necessarily implying the power of the naturall life of the word For by the immediate power of the word thus written in the heart of man man was inabled to live the life of righteousnes to live the naturall life of man in his first state condition But as man of all creatures was last created so man was the ornament perfection and as it were the master piece of the workes of the creation For of all the creatures created by God the creation of man was the most rare and curious worke And though it be sayd That man was made a little lower then the Angels to wit in the perfection of glory yet the perfection of mans creation was superiour to the creation of Angels for all creatures were either intellectuall or corporall But that two so strange differing natures should be essentially united in the nature of man it is the wonder of nature it selfe All the creatures therefore being perfectly created man the ornament of the workes of the creation was created in the state of humane perfection This created perfection of man was the perfect life of righteousnes necessarily implying the perfection of the naturall life of man This perfection of man did arise from the perfection of the word of the law first written in the heart of man for in and with the immediat act of the creation of man as the word of the law of righteousnes was spiritually and immediatly written in the soule essentially united to the heart so by the same immediate act of the spirituall writer the word of the law as the law is spirituall was actually and spiritually enlightned by the spirituall light of his holy spirit in the soule of man By the power of which sanctifying light the heart of man to which the soule is essentially united was by the same immediate act sanctified with the spirituall action of holines By the immediate sanctifying power of the word thus actually and spiritually enlightned man was enabled to live the perfect life of righteousnes and holines wherby man was a perfect naturall and spirituall man and the perfect image of righteousnes and holines And this was the first state and condition of man with whom the first covenant was made by God Man therefore by the perfection of his creation was of a twofold perfection The first was the naturall perfection of man the second was his spirituall perfection Of this twofold perfection of man briefly so far as concerneth the subject in hand And first of the naturall perfection of man and next of his spirituall perfection The naturall perfection of man doth consist in the essentiall union of the intellectuall and sensitive nature of man First therefore of the created perfection of the intellectuall nature of man abstractly and next of the created perfection of the sensitive nature of man and of the essentiall union of the two natures The created perfection of the intellectuall nature of man is in the perfection of the soule of man and the perfection of the soule is from the perfection of the naturall power of the life of the word which the perfection of the spirituall life of the word doeth necessarily imply For the word is spiritually and immediately written in the soule of man as it is the image of the infinite word infinite power perfection life light righteousnes truth and eternity it selfe By the immediate naturall power of the word thus immediately written in the soule of man the soule doth live move intellectually and hath its perfect eternall state of intellectuall being as the word immediately written in the soule is perfect and eternall the soule of man therefore was created as perfect a true eternall spirit in the humane sphere as the Angelicall spirit in the Angelicall sphere for both as they are created spirits of a simple immateriall substance doe live move intellectually and have their eternall state of intellectuall being by
time for the actuall suffering of the cursed horrors and tortors of the state of the reprobate howsoever the reprobate departs this life for heaven and Earth must perish before one jot or tittle of time of the law doe perish And this is the estate of the faithfull and of the reprobate howsoever they depart this life till the great day when the soule being reunited to the sensitive body as the soule and body of the faithfull is actually glorified by the enjoying of the reward of the law in the full extent by an incorruptible crowne of glory So the soule and body of the reprobate are cast downe to the eternall unquenchable fire of the eternall lake If the most wicked were truly instructed in the immortality of the soul and in the necessity of the sustaining of the fearfull tortors of the soul so soon as they depart this life they would not make such hast to hasten their tortors by laying violent hands on themselves and to be so easily led with the Devills temptations for this misery comes chiefly by ignorance whereof the Devill takes such occasion to lead wretched man so long by his damnable darknesse till by continuance in sin and wickednesse God give him over to a reprobate minde And now to returne to the point in hand As by the naturall power of the life of the word immediatly written in the soule the soule doth live in its intellectuall being So in that life is the intellectuall light of the soule whereby the understanding is only produced in act in the intellectuall operations of the soule for without this light all the created light of God cannot produce the understanding and will in act in the intellectuall operations of the soule And therefore Aristotle doth affirm that it is as impossible for the understanding to be produced intellectually in act without this pure light as for the sense of seeing to be produced sensitively in act without the light of the Sun or some materiall light And from this intellectuall light of the soul of man man is said to be an intellectuall creature And this is that very reall light which Aristole did ascribe to his intellect agent for though Arist was ignorant of the writing of the word either in the soul or in the heart of man yet Aristotle did truly apprehend both the intellectuall light of the word in the soule and the rationall light of the word literally written in the heart of man And Arist doth call his intellect agent a divine and an eternall light And consequently and necessarily Aristotle did acknowledge the intellectuall soule of man to be immortall But Aristotle did never affirme that the intellect agent contrary to all Philosophicall truth doth enlighten the species of the externall sensitive object received in the sense of phansie which miserable assertion of some ignorant pretended moderne naturall Philosophers did beget that damnable opinion of the mortallity of the soule And so much for the created perfection of the intellectuall nature of man Next of the created perfection of his sensitive nature CHAP. III. Of the created pâ—â—fection of the sensitive nature of man And of the essentiall union of the intellectuall and sensitive nature THe declaration of the created perfection of the sensitive nature of man is a point of no small difficulty because the sensitive nature of man is mixed with the intellectuall nature as man is man intellectuall and sensitive which created perfection of the sensitive nature of man doth surmount the perfection of all the sensitive creatures created by God for first though some sensitive creatures doe exceed the sensitive nature of man in the degree of some particular sense as the Eagle or Falcon in the sense of seeing the Spaniel or Hound in the sense of smelling yet in the compleat perfection of all the internall and externall senses no sensitive creature doth come neare the perfection of the sensitive nature of man Secondly all other sensitive creatures beside man by the act of the senses are said properly to sent the externall sensitive object but man by the act of his senses is properly said to know the externall sensitive object of which sensitive knowledge all other sensitive creatures are incapable The declaration therefore of the sensitive perfection of man is both Theologicall and Philosophicall for though the power of life and light of the sensitive nature of man according to the truth of naturall Philosophy do proceed immediatly from the braine yet that life and light doth proceed originally from the heart and from the naturall power of the word literally writen in the heart of man as hee is man intellectuall and sensitive the declaration whereof is proper to the Theolog. But because we cannot attaine to the knowledge of perfection of the sensitive nature of man being a mixt nature of the intellectuall and sensitive nature without the knowledge of the essentiall union of the intellectuall and sensitive nature of man which is by the power of the word written in the heart of man briefly therefore of this essentiall union As the eternall Father of spirits by the immediate power of the word doth unite the intellectuall soul humane spirit to the vitall spirits of the heart so the twofold power of the life of the word is written and as it were imprinted in the heart of man which is the fountain and originall of the life of man The first power of life is the naturall life of the word written in the heart of man as it is the image of the eternall life of the infinite word And this power of naturall life is diffused from the heart to all the powers of man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive The second power of the life of the word written in the heart of man is the power of the life of righteousnesse and this power of life is diffused from the heart to all the powers of man proceeding from the will of man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive whereby the naturall man is inabled with the power of the life of righteousnesse to live according to the literall command of the law that is according to the letter of the law of the word of the seventh dayes rest implying the command of the whole law of righteousnesse And as from the power of the word thus written in the heart man is inabled with the twofold power of life so by this twofold power of life man is inabled with a twofold power of light the first is the naturall light of man the second is the light of righteousnesse And therefore it is said That in it was life and that life was the light of man in it Joh. 1.4 that is in the word as it is the power of the image of the infinit word life and light written in the heart of man First therefore of the naturall life and light of man as he is a naturall man intellectuall and sensitive by the naturall power of the word
written in his heart And next of his life and light of righteousnesse This naturall light proceeding from the naturall life of man is called the rationall light of man And from this rationall light which is a mixed light man is said to be a rationall creature As from the pure intellectuall light of the soule man is said to be an intellectuall creature By this rationall light proceeding from the naturall life of man as hee is man intellectuall and sensitive as the naturall understanding of man is rationally produced in act to understand the species of the externall sensitive object received in the understanding so his sensitive powers are produced in act to know the externall sensitive object rationally And the externall light whereby the externall sensitive object is actually enlightned to bee apprehended by the act of the senses of man is the naturall light of the creatures created for man as the light of the Sunne Moon Stars the light of fire and such like whereby the sense of seeing is produced rationally in act So is found to the sense of hearing relish to the taste odour to the smelling and taction if I may use the terme to the tactive sense all arising from the severall nature of the creature and proportionate to the severall externall sense of man which naturall light of the creatures is really one with the naturall light of the words in the heart of man though of a formall difference the one formally naturall the other formally rationall And as the creatures were created for man so man and the creatures were continued in the state of their created perfection by the immediat blessing of God by his word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse while man did stand in the perfection of his obedience to the commands of God for it is by the only immediate blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest that God doth give the influence of his blessing to the naturall life and light of man and to the creatures created for man and to the spirituall life and light of man By this rationall light the understanding of man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive is rationally produced in act by the three operations of the act of the understanding according to Aristotle the first whereof is the apprehension of the simple tearmes of the species of the externall sensitive object received in the understanding as the received species doth represent the truth of the sensitive externall object The second is the compounding of things inseperable apprehended in the received species and the dividing of things separable The third is in discurring and as it were running from the things apprehended and knowne in the received species to conclude things unknowne And from this last operation of the understanding the rationall act of the understanding is called discursive And the conclusion inferred by this discursive act is only probable and hence doth arise the formall difference of the act of the understanding of man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive and of the act of the understanding of man as he is intellectuall for the rationall discursive act of the understanding is formally probable inferring only a probable conclusion called Opinion But the intellectuall act of the understanding is formally necessary definitive and scientificall equall with the perfect demonstration called Science But the rationall light whereby the rationall and intellectuall act of the understanding is produced in act is one reall act light though the one to wit the intellectuall light bee a pure unmixed light which is the naturall light of the word as is immediately written in the soule and the other a mixed light proportionate to the rationall act of the understanding and senses of man To make this appear by a familiar example of the Sun As the Sun is placed in the midst of the planets the three superiour planets are inlightened by the pure light of the Sun whereby they give downe the influence of their severall natures to the sublunary creatures And as the Sunne doth passe through the orbs of the three inferiour planets through the region of the fire and the three regions of the aire the light and heat of the Sun is mixed qualified and proportionate to the temper of the severall natures of the sublunary creatures As this twofold light therefore of the Sun is really one so is the light of the word written in the soule and heart of man which is the image of the naturall life and light of the Son of righteosnesse really one Next of the light of man proceeding from his life of righteousnesse By the literall light of the word in the heart of man which is the light of the letter of the Law the understanding of man as hee is man intellectuall and sensitive is l terally produced in act according to the letter of the Law of righteousnesse implyed in the command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of God for the literall light and command of the word of the seventh dayes rest and the literall light and command of the word of the Law of righteousnesse written in the heart of man is one reall light and command And this light of the word written in the heart of man as it is the lighâ— of the word as the word is a Law to man is as it were a great lumpe of light set upon a table in the heart enlightning all the species of the externall sensitive objects as they are received in the understanding By this great light first man is inabled by the act of his understanding as he is man intellectuall and sensitive to discerne and to judge the species received in the understanding by the act of his mediate senses whether the sensitive object be apprehended by the senses inlightened by the light of the Law or whether it be apprehended by the act of the senses inlightned by the false adultrous light of Satan whereby Satan doth continually betray man to transgresse the Law of God Secondly by this great light as it is the light of the word commanding man really one with the light and command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse man is inlightened to understand that he is commanded to reject the species of the sensitive object inlightened by the false adulterous light of Satan which is alwayes contrary to the command of the Law and to apprehend the species inlightened by the light of the Law at his pleasure And this is that great light which is called the light and Law of conscience As by the power of this great literall light in the heart of man really one with the literall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law the understanding of man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive is literally and morally produced in act So by the power of this light his senses are literally cognoscitively produced in act to
know the externall sensitive object by the literal sensitive light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse for the literall light of the Law which is by the sound of the word doth necessarily begin at the externall senses And therefore since the fall and redemption of man faith which is morall faith is said to bee the hearing of the word But because it is in the freedome of mans election by the act of his senses proceeding from the free act of his will to apprehend the externall sensitive object inlightened by what light soever therefore God by his Covenant doth only binde and oblige man to live this life of righteousnesse according to the literall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse As man is enabled to live the life of righteousnesse by the immediate power of the word written in his heart But God by his Covenant doth not formally command man to live the life of righteousnesse but leaveth it to the freedome of mans election by his obedience to the command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law either to choose eternall life by his obedience or eternall death by his disobedience The reason is because the life of righteousnesse doth immediately proceed from the act of the will which is the act of the soule of man which cannot bee necessitate by any command whatsoever for the will of the soule is created with the perfection of such contradictory and specificall freedome as all the created powers of God are not able to necâ—ssitate or enforce the free act of the will by any meanes under the heavens though the act of the will as it is intellectuall and sensitive may be externally coacted for as the will cannot be killed so the will can neither bee necessitate by any command But as the Covenant is established upon the immediate command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse the workes of righteousnesse according to the Law are commanded both upon the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes rest and upon the curse of eternall death the first and immediate command whereof as the seventh day is the great command of the Law is the seventh dayes commanded worship implying the command of the whole Law which doth both oblige and command man to worship God in the truth of his promise for by the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes rest the word of promise is alwayes fulfilled according to the obedience of man or by the inflicting of the curse of eternall death upon the disobedience of man to the command of his word his promise is likewise fulfilled for it is all one for God not to fulfill his promise by his Covenant as to be no God And this is the first reason of Gods essentiall attribute of truth and that his word which is his immediate image is called truth The literall command of the Law arising from the letter of the Law is called by the Theologs the morall command of the Law and therefore the word of the seventh dayes rest implying the command of the whole Law of righteousnesse is called the morall Law of God obliging and commanding as it were the manners of man to God and to his image man as the voluntary action of man doth concerne God or his image man and from this morall denomination of the Law the voluntary action of man whether by his obedience or disobedience to the command of the Law is said to bee formally morall for both are equally the exercite act of the Law and to both the reward of the Law is equally due by the Law according to the merit of mans obedience or disobedience to the command of the Law from this morall denomination likewise of the Law the literall light of the Law is called the morall light of the Law for a formall difference between the literall and morall light of the Law arising immediatly from the letter of the Law and the spirituall light of the Law which is the immediate light of the holy Spirit And from this morall denomination of the litterall light of the Law since the fall and redemption of man faith arising from the morall light of the Law is called morall faith for a formall difference of morall faith from spirituall faith which doth arise from the immediate spirituall light of the holy Spirit in the immediate act of regeneration CHAP. IV. Of the created spirituall perfection of man THe intellectuall and sensitive nature of man being thus essentially united in the heart by the immediate power of the word inabling man with the power of naturall life and with the life of righteousnesse God in and with the immediate act of the creation of man did inlighten the word of the Law of righteousnesse spiritually written in the soule of man with the spirituall light of his holy Spirit sanctifying the heart of man to which the soul is essentially united with the spirituall life of holinesse By the immediate power of this spirituall life and light really one with the spirituall light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse Adam was enabled with the perfection of the spirituall understanding of the command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law and to frame his spirituall life of righteousnesse and holinesse according to the perfection of the command of the Law which is the spirituall command By this perfection of spirituall life and light Adam was the perfect image of righteousnesse and holinesse and a perfect spirituall man And this is the image of righteousnesse and holinesse which the Apostle exhorts to bee renewed in the Ephesians and Collossians which was lost by Adams fall Adam therefore being created in this state of naturall and spirituall perfection the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse implying the command of the whole Law was objected to Adams externall senses by the power of the word of the first seventh dayes rest commanding Adam according to the spirituall light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law really one with the spirituall light and command of the word of the Law of righteousnesse in his heart to worship God upon the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse As God did manifest himselfe by the word of his first seventh dayes rest from the workes of the creation And in that commanded spirituall worship commanding Adams spirituall obedience by his spirituall works of holinesse to fulfill the command of the Law of righteousnesse according to the spirituall light and command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest to whose perfect worship and obedience the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest was due by the Law of God By this light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of God from the workes of the creation Adam by the perfect act of
his spirituall understanding did perfectly apprehend God to bee the Creator of Heaven of earth of man of the creatures and that by the immediate eternall blessing of the first seventh dayes rest of God the world man and the creatures were continued and preserved in the perfection of their created estate And upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest implying the command of the whole law of righteousnesse the first Covenant was made with man afterward to be declared As Adam by the spirituall light of his understanding really one with the spirituall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest did perfectly understand God as God revealed himselfe to Adam by the word of his first seventh dayes rest wherein the perfection of Adams understanding of God did consist so Adam by the created perfection of his spirituall action of holinesse did adequate the perfection of the command of the Law as Adam was first obliged to the Law of God for if Adams spitituall action of holinesse had not been of equall power with the perfection of the command of the Law which is in the spirituall command and the first Covenant being established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seven dayes rest of the Law both upon the eternall blessing of the first seven dayes rest and upon the curse of eternall death Adam could never have fulfilled the perfection of the command of the Law but must have necessarily fallen under the curse of eternall death which had been most high injustice in God in binding and obliging his intellectuall creature man to a law upon the curse of eternall death above the power of his obedience by his spirituall action of holinesse for it was only by Adams spirituall action of holinesse that the law was to be fulfilled for though Adam was created with the power of morall action yet while Adam stood in his state of perfection Adams morall action was not actuall neither could his spirituall action of holinesse be called formally and properly morall which denomination is extended both to the obedience and transgression of the Law as hath been formerly declared Adams morall action therefore was not actuall till the Law of righteousnesse was transgressed by Adam and then Adams morall action was actuall and formally morall and morally evill and the greatest evill that ever was or can be committed by man Now as Adam by the perfection of his spirituall understanding of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse did perfectly understand God as God revealed himselfe to be honoured and worshipped by his rest from the works of the Creation So Adam by the perfection of his naturall understanding must needs apprehend the being power perfection goodnesse life light knowledge understanding wisdome in himselfe and the creatures to flow from the infinite perfection of the Creator whereby Adam was led in the understanding of the essentiall Attributes of God which essentiall understanding of God in Adam must be imperfect God as he is essentiall being infinite and incomprehensible Adams perfect understanding of God therefore was perfected by the perfection of his spirituall understanding of the word of the first seventh dayes rest as God did manifest himselfe to man to be understood and worshipped by man for God can no otherwise be comprehended by the act of the understanding of man or Angel but after that formall manner that God doth minifest himselfe to be understood and worshipped by either And so much briefly of the created naturall and spirituall perfection of man with whom the first Covenant was made by God which is the contents of the first part of the first Book Before we come to the second part an objection must be removed CHAP. V. Of a threefold comparison between the created naturall and spirituall perfection of the first Adam with the naturall and spirituall perfection of the second Adam IT is said That the first Adam was made a living soule a naturall man and from the earth earthly 1 Cor. 15.45 46 47. Adam therefore was not created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection neither could he be created the image of righteousnesse and holinesse or a true spirituall man I answer briefly to the Objection The Apostle in these three verses of this chapter doth make a threefold comparison between the first and second Adam The first is in the 45. verse the sense whereof is this The first Adam was made a living soule to wit to live the perfect life of righteousnesse necessarily implying the perfection of his naturall life but the second Adam was not only made a living soule but likewise a quickning spirit where the power of the naturall and spirituall life of the first Adam is compared with the power of the naturall and spirituall life of the second Adam The first Adam by the power of his naturall and spirituall life was not able to quicken himselfe or any man else being dead but the second Adam by the power of his naturall life in sustaining the cursed death of the Crosse did redeem the first Adam and all men condemned and dead under the curse of the Law by eternall death in Adam their head for the transgression of the Law by Adam and by the infinite power of his Resurrection from the dead did raise up Adam and all men condemned and dead in Adam their head quickning and reconciling all men by the price of his blood to the love and favour of God for that first sinne The first Adam therefore notwithstanding of his naturall and spirituall perfection in respect of the second Adam may be truly said to be but a living soule and not a quickning spirit The second comparison is in the 46. verse where the spirituall perfection of the first Adam is compared with the spirituall perfection of the second Adam the sense of the words is this Though the first Adam was created in such spirituall perfection yet his spirituall perfection was not essentiall but habituall and conditionall But the spirituall perfection of the second Adam the Lord Jesus Christ is Essentiall and therefore the first Adams spirituall perfection in respect of the second Adams essentiall perfection was but the perfection of a naturall man as the spirituall perfection of the second Adam was the essentiall perfection of an essentiall spirituall man the eternall Sonne of God begot of the seed of the woman in time The third comparison is in the 47. verse where the humane sensitive nature of the first Adam is compared with the humane sensitive nature of the second Adam The sense of the words is this The first Adam as he is man sensitively was created of earthly principles immediately and therefore from the earth earthly But the second Adam as he is man sensitively Christ Jesus the naturall Son of God was begot of the sanctified seed of the woman immediately and every way from the heaven heavenly in respect of whose humane
sensitive nature the humane sensitive nature of the first Adam may be said to be from the earth earthly for though the first Adam was created in the state of such naturall and spirit perfection yet he must have lived eternally upon earth by covenant Here by the way whereas the Apostle saith that the first man was from the earth earthly the words must not be taken in the literall but in the spirituall sense which is this The first man was from the earth to wit as he is sensitive for otherwise we conclude the living immortall soule of man to be from the earth in which sense the wicked wrests this place to their eternall damnation The Apostle therefore in this part of the chapter doth not speake simply of the created naturall and spirituall perfection of the first Adam but comparatively with the essentiall naturall and spirituall perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ second person of the glorious Trinity for otherwise the first Adam is affirmed by the Apostle himselfe to be created after the image of righteousnesse and holinesse which is the image of God infinite righteousnesse and holinesse for the created perfection of man was such as Moses in the history of the Creation of man can hardly finde words to expresse the perfection of his Creation saying Let us make man in our owne image let us make man according to our owne likenesse Thus God created man in his Image In the Image of God created hee them male and female Gen. 1.26 27. Thus having answered the objection for a close to the first part of the first Book wee proceed to the second part of this first Book containing the declaration of the first Covenant made by God with man THE SECOND PART OF THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE THEOLOGICALL KEY Containing the Declaration of the first Covenant made by God with Man CHAP. VI. Man is placed in Paradise GOD according to his eternall Decree of predestination having created man male and female in such estate of naturall and spirituall perfection God blessed man by his word which was the blessing of his word of his first seventh dayes rest of his Law of righteousnesse and therefore the word of his first seven dayes rest of the Law implying the command of the whole Law was objected to the externall senses of man for as all the commands of God by his Word are the necessary commands of the word of his seventh dayes rest So all the blessing of God by his word are the necessary influence of his blessing in the blessing of the word of his seventh dayes rest for by the only immediate power of that blessing man is only blessed by God God having thus created and blessed man male and female God gave man power soveraignty and dominion over the earth over the creatures next and immediately to himselfet And for the higher advancement of man his immediate vicegerent on earth God did plant the glorious garden of Edē for man as a Palace sutable to the majesty of such a great Monarch wherein there was all manner of Trees laden with variety of all pleasing fruit no lesse delicate to the taste odoriferous to the smelling beautifull to the eye then wholsome to the nature of man upon the boughes whereof the created Birds of the ayre might reside by their melodious harmony to congratulate the installment of their Lord and King A River likewise falling in its golden channell for there was gold past thorow the Garden wherein the created Fishes sporting themselves might shew their applause to their Princes arrivall All manner of Herbs all manner of beautifull odoriferous Flowers which could objectively delight the externall senses no doubt must be in this pleasing Garden the species of all which externall sensitive objects did give no small contentment to man being created in such actuall perfection of naturall understanding while by variety of such pleasing objects the understanding of man must be ravished with variety of contemplation In the midst of this glorious Garden the Tree of life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evill were placed by God both named as it seemeth by Moses from the effect for as by the vertue of the Tree of life the nature of man as he is man was to be eternally preserved and therefore our first parents might then eat thereof at their pleasure So by eating of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evill contrary to the command of God by his word which is the command of his Law of righteousnesse the effect of the knowledge of evill which our first Parents did so affect to know was produced by the eating of the forbidden fruit This pleasing glorious Garden for the pleasure and contentment which it did afford is commonly called by the name of Paradise which word our Saviour himselfe did use for to expresse the joy pleasure and contentment of the heavenly Paradise In this pleasing glorious Garden God placed man male and female created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection appointing the naturall and spirituall food for the eternall preservation of the naturall and spirituall life of man which was then the fruit of Trees of the Garden whereby the naturall life of man was to be maintained and for the spirituall food of man God gave the word of the first seventh dayes rest for in the onely true spirituall understanding of the word of the seventh dayes rest as God doth reveale himselfe to be known and worshipped by man is the only true knowledge of God which the Lord himselfe affirmes to be eternall life And this is the reason that the word of God is called the bread of life which is really one with the word of promise which is the word of eternall life whereby God doth mutually bind and oblige himselfe and man by Covenant By the only light therfore of the word of the first seventh dayes rest wherein the first Covenant is immediately established we are necessarily led to the understanding of the first Covenant First therefore briefly of the word of the first seventh dayes rest and of the necessity thereof to man created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection and next of the the first Covenant made by God with man CHAP. VII Of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse AS by the only light of the word of every severall seventh dayes rest of the Law of God in the severall state and condition of man man is led in the understanding of God by his word as God hath revealed himselfe by the word of his severall seventh dayes rest to be known and worshipped by man so by the onely immediate blessing of God by the word of his seventh dayes rest the state and condition of man and the creatures created for man are continued The word therefore of the first seventh dayes rest was most necessary to our first parents in the state of their created perfection for these maine reasons following First
to his eternall Decree intending the Creation of man said Let us make man Gen. 1.26 and not let us make Adam to wit as a private person Adam therefore was created in such admirable state of naturall and spirituall perfection as he was the head of the river of men naturally to descend and flow from Adam the head The first Covenant therefore was made with Adam as the created head of all men naturally to descend of Adam who were all really created in the same naturall and spirituall perfection that Adam their head was created in whō all men were as truly really bound obliged in Adam head to the first Covenant and to the command of the word of the first seventh daies rest of the law of righteousnesse in every respect as Adam their head though not actually descended of Adam for as all men sinned in Adam their head to wit really so all men were as really and necessarily bound and obliged to the command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law in Adam their head as Adam was as all men found by experience and consequently the naturall and spirituall perfection of Adam the head of all men whereby he was enabled to merit eternall life upon earth was as really truly and necessarily due by Covenant established upon the immediate command of the Law to Adams posterity as they should actually descend of Adam as to Adam himselfe for as all men were bound to the same reall Law in Adam their head so in the justice of God all men as they should naturally descend of Adam must be enabled with the like power of obedience with Adam their head The first Covenant made by God with man is set downe by Moses Gen. 2.16 17. The word of promise of eternall life whereby God doth binde and oblige himselfe and man to his first Covenant is in the 16. verse the words are Eating thou shalt freely eate of every Tree of the Garden and consequently Adam was to eate of the Tree of life by eating whereof Adam as he was created a naturall man intellectuall and sensitive was to live eternally upon earth for by the doubling of the word eating thou shalt eate is signified an eternall eating and by an eternall eating an eternall living in the state and felicity wherein Adam was created God therefore in these words doth promise to Adam and to all men created in Adam naturally to descend of Adam that his created estate and condition shall be continued eternally upon earth which promise was to be fulfilled by God and enjoyed by Adam by the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest for by the onely immediate eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest Adam the world and the creatures created for man were to rest eternally upon earth in the state and condition wherein they were created for which cause God blessed the first seventh day for Adam and God sanctified the first seventh day for his perfect worship of the first seventh day by Adam If Adam therefore will have the actuall enjoying of the word of promise of eternall life Adam must have it by his perfect worship of God upon the first seventh day of the Law according to that formall manner that God did manifest himselfe to Adam by the word of his first seventh dayes rest which is the condition of the Covenant As God therefore in his word of promise of eternall life doth binde and oblige himselfe to Adam by his Covenant so God doth mutually binde and oblige Adam to the formall perfect worship of the first seventh day that by the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh daies rest of the Law Adam might enjoy the promise As God doth binde and oblige Adam by his Covenant to obedience the promise of eternall life by his perfect worship of God upon the first seventh day of the Law so God by his first Covenant in the command of the seventh dayes worship as it is the great command of the Law doth likewise binde and oblige Adams obedience to the command of the whole Law of righteousnesse upon a dying death which is eternall death ever dying without all end of dying contained in the 17. verse in these words But of the Tree of knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eate of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt dye Gen. 2.17 In which words God doth binde and oblige Adams obedience to the command of the whole Law upon a dying death for by the transgression of the command of God of the Law of righteousnesse by his word commanding Adam to abstaine from eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge the whole Law of righteousnesse is necessarily transgressed for he that doth offend in one doth offend in all Jam. 2.10 By this negative command therefore necessarily implying the affirmative command of the Law Adams obedience is bound and obliged to the command of the whole Law of righteousnesse upon a dying death which is eternall death Now as the promise of eternall life whereby God doth oblige himselfe and Adam mutually by his Covenant was to be enjoyed by the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law the Covenant doth bind and oblige Adam to the immediate command of the Law and the Law doth formally command Adam by the immediate power of the word of the first seventh dayes rest implying the command of the whole law both upon the eternall blessing of the first seventh dayes rest and upon the curse of a dying death which is eternall death and therefore the curse of eternall death is called the curse of the Law The first Covenant being thus established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse implying the command of the whole Law between God and Adam the created head of all men naturally to descend of Adam to the end of the world the first Covenant was ratified by the Tree of life and by the Tree of knowledge of good and evill placed in the midst of the Garden of Paradise as the Sacraments of the first Covenant made between God and Adam the created head of all men that Adam as he was man intellectuall and sensitive created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection advanced to such felicity by the Tree of life might rest secured of the promise of God by eternall life upon his perfect obedience to the command of the Law commanding him by the power of the word of the first seventh dayes rest so Adam by the Tree of knowledge of good and evill might rest as assuredly in the promise of eternall death upon his transgression of the command of God by his word commanding Adam which was the necessary command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of his Law of righteousnesse for God cannot command man by his word as
his word is the command of his Law of righteousnesse commanding man but as his word is the command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse for all the commands of God commanding man by his word which are the commands of his Law of righteousnesse doe retain strength and power of command from the immediate power of the word of the seventh dayes rest Of this declaration of the first Covenant I inferre the first formall obligement of the Law of God obliging man in his state of perfection The formall obligement of the Law obliging man in his severall state and condition is immediately by the formality of the Covenant and the formality of the covenant is by the formall manner that God doth manifest himselfe to man by the word of his severall seventh dayes rest of the Law in the severall state and condition of man obliging man to the formall worship of the seventh day and in the seventh day obliging the obedience of man to the command of the whole law by which formall obliged worship of the seventh day the whole law implyed in the command of the seventh day is formally obliged obliging and commanding man in his severall state and condition to the formall worship of God as God by the word of his seventh dayes rest hath manifest himselfe to man both upon the eternall blessing of the word of his seventh dayes rest and upon the curse of eternall death and in that commanded worship of the seventh day commanding the obedience of man to the whole Law God therefore by the word of his first seventh dayes rest of the Law having manifest himselfe to man God of the Law of righteousnesse Creator and conservator of heaven of earth of man and the creatures by the first Covenant the first seventh dayes worship was the formall worship of God of the Law of righteousnesse Creator and Conservator by which obliged formall worship of the first seventh day of the law the whole law implyed in the command of the first seventh day was formally obliged obliging and commanding man to the formall worship of God of the law of righteousnesse Creator and Conservator both upon the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest and upon the curse of eternall death and in that formall commanded worship of the first seventh day commanding the obedience of man to the command of the whole Law of God of the Law of righteousnesse Creator and Conservator of heaven earth man and the creatures created for man By this first formall obligement of the Law of righteousnesse obliging man in his state of perfection the second and third obligement of the law were formally distinguished from the first for the first obligement of the law was simply the law of righteousnesse of God the Creator which is called the simple formall obligement of the law because it was without the revelation of the second person of the Trinity who was manifest to man by the word of his second and third seventh dayes rest after a generall manner according to which severall manner the law was formally obliged by two severall Covenants whereby the first simple formall obligement of the law of righteousnesse was determined and the law of righteousnesse of faith in God â—he Redeemer actually established first by faith in the promise of the blessed â—â—edâ— and secondly by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by his fulfiling of the promise afterwards particularly to be declared Of this obligement of man created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection to the first Covenant established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of God I inferre these even Theologicall demonstrative conclusions following CHAP. IX Seven necessary conclusions inferrent of the obligement of man to the first Covenant 1. ADam being created in the state of naturall and spirituall perfection the head of all men naturally to descend of Adam all men naturally to descend of Adam the body of the head were all really created in Adam the head and in Adam the head really bound and obliged to the first Covenant though not actually descended from the head 2. All men naturally to descend of Adam the head being bound and obliged to the Law of God in Adam the head by the first Covenant Adams obedience and disobedience to the command of the law of righteousnesse was as truly really and necessarily the obedience and disobedience of the body to wit the obedience and disobedience of all men naturally to descend of Adam the head as it was the obedience and disobedience of Adam the head though none were actually descended from the head Even as we see the water flowing from a Conduit the water flowing from the head is the same reall water which was in the head before it did flow from the head which was the water of the naturall and spirituall life of man arising from the lively spring of the word of the law in Adams heart naturally and spiritually enlightened and sanctified Adam therefore as he was head by his transgression of the law having polluted the spring in the head it was the necessary reall act of his body in the correlative respect of the head with the body and of the body with the head 3. The transgression of the law of righteousnesse obliged by the first Covenant was without all hope of mercy known to man or Angel for all mercy is in the Lord Jesus Christ second person of the Trinity who according to the eternall decree of God was not at first revealed to man created in such admirable state of naturall and spirituall perfection 4. By the denyall of the first Covenant made by God with man the truth of God to man is fundamentally denyed for it is by Gods fulfilling of his promise to man by his Covenant that God doth manifest himselfe truth to man 5. God according to his eternall decree of predestination having created man male and female in the naturall and spirituall perfection of man God could not annihilate man for so his transeant act had been contradictory to his imminent act 6. The first Covenant being established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse and man having transgressed the Law God could not annihilate man for his transgression of the Law of righteousnesse for so his justice could never have been satisfied by man 7. God and man being mutually bound and obliged by the first Covenant established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse whereby God did binde and oblige himselfe to Adam by the eternall blessing of the word of his seventh dayes rest to continue the naturall and spirituall perfection of Adam upon the eternall continuation of the perfection of Adams obedience God without highest in justice by the breach of his Covenant could neither withdraw his actuall
notwithstanding that Adams will was subjectively necessitate by the pretended absolute decree is from a simile of a man riding upon a lame horse for though the rider be the efficient cause of the horses going the way which the horse is directed by the rider yet the rider is not the cause of the horses lame going To this I answer If the horse be lamed by the rider the rider is the efficient cause of the horses lame going Now the absolute decree is the rider and Adam is the lame horse lamed by the absolute decree Adams will therefore being subjectively lamed by the absolute decree Adam must give lame obedience to the command of God by his Law The third instance followeth CHAP. III. The positive and permissive power of God proceeding immediatly from his eternall Decree of Predestination is by the immediate power of the Word THe third instance whereby God is pretended to be freed from being the first author of sinne notwithstanding that Adams will was subjectively necessitate by the absolute Decree is pretended to be from the Scripture in these words Act. 4.28 Herod Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel did gather together and doe what thy hand and councell had determined to bee done From hence and such like places of the Scripture it is concluded Gods hand and Councell did decree and determine from all eternity what was done in the crucifying of man Christ Jesus the Sonne of God Gods hand and Councell therefore from all eternity did determine to necessitate Adams will by his eternall Decree which was the cause of Christs death I answer the inference is fallacious and therefore for clearing of the point it is to be understood that Gods eternall Decree is the act of his will The act of his Will is either immanent or transeant to his creatures The immanent act of his Will is his Councell and Decree and in this sense Gods Councell and Decree is God himselfe infinite and eternall power and his Decree eternall with himselfe As the act of his will by his Councell and eternall Decree is transeant to his creatures it is the hand of his power and his power is the power of his word of his seventh dayes rest as it is the image of the infinite essentiall word power it selfe his word therefore is the hand of his power whereby the act of his will by his eternall Councell â—â—d Decree is execute upon earth for it is by the immediate power of his blessing by the word of his severall seventh dayes rest in the severall state and condition of man that the word in the heart of man whereby he liveth and moveth is blessed and continued naturally morally and spiritually and that the naturall life of the creatures created by the word are preserved The word therefore of every severall seventh dayes rest is the Decree of God to man as God hath revealed himselfe to be known and worshipped by man in the severall state and condition of man and therefore the severall Covenants made by God with man in his severall state and condition are established upon the immediate command of the word of every severall seventh dayes rest Adam therefore in his greatest state of perfection must not exceed the revealed light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest to pry in the secret Councell of God and to know what God had decreed concerning man Now the hand of God by the power of his word is either positive or permissive By the hand of Gods positive power by his word God doth actually and positively concurre with the act of his creature whereby the decreed act of his will is execute upon earth By the permissive power of his word God doth permit the act of his creature to doe what God hath decreed to be done or he doth restraine and divert the act of his creature as it is contrary to that which God hath decreed to be done Gods permissive power by his word in this two-fold sense is either necessary or free By the necessary permissive power of his word God in his justice doth necessarily permit what he hath obliged himselfe unto by Covenant proceeding immediately from his eternall decree What God doth otherwise permit God doth most freely permit and in this sense God is said to be a most free Agent By the permissive power therefore of his word the decreed act of his will is equally execute as by the positive power of the word in which twofold power the providence of God to his creatures doth consist God therefore according to his eternall Councell and Decree having created man male and female in such an admirable state of naturall and spirituall perfection as all the created powers of God were not able to necessitate Adams will to disobey the command of God by his word and God having obliged himselfe by Covenant to Adam and to all men created in Adam to the continuation of the eternall blessing of the word of the first seventh dayes rest upon the eternall continuation of the perfection of Adams obedience and to inflict the eternall curse of the Law by eternall death upon Adams disobedience to the command of his word which was the necessary command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest God without highest injustice by the breach of his Covenant could neither restraine Satan from tempting Adam or support Adam being tempted by Satan And this was the hand of Gods necessary permissive power by his word to permit Satan to tempt Adam Satan therefore in this temptation did doe but what Gods Councell by the necessary hand of the permissive power of his word had decreed and determined to be done for God by his eternall Decree by his Covenant had barred himselfe from restraining of Satans tempting of Adam or from supporting of Adam tempted by Satan So in like manner to come to the word of the Scripture objected by the propugnators of the absolute Decree God according to his Councell and Decree from all eternity having obliged himselfe by Covenant in the promise of the blessed seed to Adam and to all men condemned to the curse of eternall death in Adam the head that man the eternall Son of his love Christ Jesus should become man of the seed of the woman in time and by his cursed death of the Crosse redeemed Adam and all men condemned in Adam from the curse of the Law for the sinne of Adam God therefore in his justice by his Covenant did barre himselfe from the restraining of the acts of Satan and of his cruell instruments in the crucifying of the Lord of life and this was the hand of the necessary permissive power of his word to Herod Pontius Pilate to the Gentiles to the people of Israel to Judas and to the rest of that bloody band Acts 4.28 who did nothing in this case but what Gods eternall Councell and Decree determined to be done by the hand of the permissive power of his word
partner of her expected transcendant felicity as Adam was the true owner of her lov◠〈…〉 beautifull hand present the fruit to Adam using her most pâ—rswâ—â—â—â—â—â—â—ions to move Adam to eate of the fruit and no question Eve was the more instant that both in time might prevent threatned death by the Covenant which Eve was confident to be prevented by their mutuall eating of the fruit whereby both were suggested to be equall to God and free from all feare and danger of death Adam therefore presuming on Eves judgement and wisdome which he knew to be equall with his owne by hearing of the suggested vertue of the fruit suggested by the Serpent and confirmed by such apparent reasons Adam did begin to be as confident and as much affected with the hopefull expected felicity of the suggested vertue of the fruit as Eve her selfe for otherwise all Adams love to Eve and all Eves amorous perswasions of Adam could never have induced Adam to runne upon so desperate a hazzard Wretched Adam therefore in confidence by eating of the fruit to bee equall to God himselfe did take of the forbidden fruit and eate thereof mounting himselfe upon the ambitious wings of so neere affected Deity in flying at so lofty a pitch till by the glorious splendor thereof Adams ambitious wings being scorched Adam with his posterity Icarus-like fell down in the bottomlesse sea of Gods eternall wrath under the fearefull curse of the Law hopelesse helplesse eternally upon earth and all by the miserable sting of the old Serpents darknesse ending alwayes in afflictions though this was the affliction of afflictions for as Adams transgression of the command of God of the Law of Righteousnesse was the transgression of all men created in Adam the head of all men naturally to descend of Adam to the end of the world whereby the first Covenant made betweene God and man upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse was broken by man so Adam and all men created and falne in Adam the head according to the first Covenant were eternally condemned by the Law of Righteousnesse to the curse of eternall death without all hope of mercy or redemption Now though it be manifest by the Scripture that by the transgression of one precept the whole Law of God is necessarily transgressed and therefore this precept of the forbidden fruit transgressed by Adam being the necessary command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse for as hath beene formerly declared the word of God commanding man hath the onely power of command but as it is implyed in the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law and therefore the curse of the Law of Righteousnesse was due by the Law for the transgression of the command though I say by the transgression of this one command the whole Law was transgressed yet for the Readers satisfaction it shall be declared that by the transgression of this one command every severall precept of the Decalogue set downe to Moses was necessarily transgressed taking the Law in the simple formall obligement without any respect either to the Propheticall or Evangelicall obligement of the Law CHAP. X. By the transgressing of the command of the forbidden fruit every Precept of the Law was transgressed FIrst our first parents being condemned to the eternall curse of the Law for the transgression of the command of the forbidden fruit they were utterly disabled from the first seventh dayes commanded worship whereby the fourth precept of the first Table was transgressed Secondly our first parents by following the Serpents advice and by expecting by eating of the forbidden fruit to become Gods they had other Gods contrary to the first precept of the Decalogue Thirdly the false deceiving words of the serpent being imprinted and as it were graven in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge to induce our first parents to eate of the fruit was the first graven image of the devils erection to which our first parents did bow and bend all the whole powers of their love and affection contrary to the second precept of the Decalogue Fourthly by our first parents assenting to the Serpents blasphemous belying of God the sacred Name of God was taken in vaine contrary to the third precept of the first Table in which foure precepts is the summe of the first Table of the Law Fifthly by the transgressing of the command of the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve did dishonour their parents contrary to the first precept of the second Table whose parents were the blessed Trinity though the second Person was not then revealed Sixthly Adam by transgressing of the command of the forbidden fruit did kill all his posterity by the procuring the curse of eternall death upon himselfe and his posterity contrary to the second precept of the second Table Seventhly our first parents by their spirituall adulterous whoredome with their idoll of the Devils erection did commit adultery contrary to the third precept of the second Table Eighthly Adam by procuring of the curse of the Law against his posterity did steale away all the naturall and spirituall gifts wherein they were created which by the first Covenant were as due to them as to Adam himselfe contrary to the fourth precept of the second Table Ninthly by our first parents assenting to the false calumnious lie of the Serpent against God our first parents did bear false witness against God for the command of the fifth Precept of the second table doth extend as well to God as to man Tenthly and lastly our first parents by coveting to be Gods did transgress the last precept of the second table whereby every precept of the whole Law was necessarily transgressed by our first parents Before we do proceed an Objection is to be answered CHAP. XI The Decree of Predistination was not suspendible by Adam though created in the estate of naturall and spirituall perfection ADam being created in the state of such naturall and spirituall perfection as did equall the perfection of the Law to which he was so necessarily obliged it was in the freedome of Adams power to have resisted Satans temptation by resisting whereof the Decree of Predestination had been suspended It is therefore concluded by the Authors and maintainers of the absolute Decree that there was a necessity that the freedome of Adams will must be necessitate by the absolute Decree to yeeld to the temptation of Satan lest the Decree of Predestination should be suspended I answer to the Objection It is true that Adam was created in such estate of naturall and spirituall perfection as did equall the command of the Law but this perfection was with equall freedome of naturall morall and spirituall action without the determining of the act of the one by the act of the other as hath been formerly declared Adam therefore in respect of his freedome of election had the power to be induced or not induced
of man were morally enabled to believe the promised rest of the blessed seed from the redemption of man from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam upon the Sabbath and by the power of the word of righteousness of faith in their heart were inabled to bring forth the morall and ceremoniall works of faith according to the formall command of the Law of faith So now by the power of the redeemed word of the law of Faith written in the heart of man really one with the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Evangelicall Law of righteousness of faith the redeemed naturall man is morally inabled to believe the fulfilled promise of the blessed seed and to bring forth the morall works of faith according to the command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Evangelicall Law of righteousness of faith And therefore though the redeemed naturall man from the curse of eternall death and darkness be shut up and concluded in temporall spirituall darknes till he be regenerate and dead as he is a spirituall man without any manner of spirituall understanding or action and necessitate to spirituall unbelief yet the redeemed naturall man is not shut up and concluded in naturall and morall darkness and dead as he is a naturall man necessitate to morall unbelief but by the power of the redeemed word written in the heart of man The naturall man is alive with freedome of naturall and morall grace by the act of his understanding will and senses to believe the promise of the blessed seed by the old covenant and the fulfilled promise by the new covenant for the word of the Law of righteousness of faith obliged both by the old and new covenant is first and immediately morally commanded though necessarily implying the spirituall command and that as well upon the merciless curse of the Law of Faith as upon the eternall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of faith If the redeemed naturall man therefore were concluded and necessitate to morall unbelief as by his concluding in spirituall darkness he is necessitate to spirituall unbelief First it were impossible for the redeemed naturall man to give morall obedience to the command of the Law of faith obliged either by the old or new covenant But more impossible for God in this case to make his old or new covenant with man For it were high injustice in God to oblige man redeemed from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam to believe his promise upon the merciless curse of the Law of faith while the redeemed naturall man in the mean time was necessitate both to morall and spirituall unbelief Secondly in the free naturall and morall act of the understanding will and senses of the redeemed naturall man which naturall and morall act is really one though formally differing the perfection of the redemption of the naturall man as he is man intellectuall and sensitive doth consist which being necessitate man is no man Thirdly such morall necessitating of the redeemed will of man and consequently of his externall senses doth inferre a necessary contradiction in the act of the redemption of the naturall man for by the literall light of the redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousness of faith written in his heart really one with the literall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of faith the naturall man is morally inabled to believe the word preached for the literall light of the word is in the sound of the word and therefore it is said Rom. 10.17 that Faith which is morall faith is by the hearing of the Word And by the necessitating of the morall act of the understanding will and consequently of the senses of the naturall man he is necessitate to morall unbelief which is a manifest contradiction Hence I inferre these seven Theologicall necessary conclusions First the redeemed naturall man by the redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousness of Faith written in his heart which is of one reall light and command with the eternall light and command of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of Faith the redeemed naturall man is morally inabled with the grace of morall faith to believe the word of promise which is really one with the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of Faith First in the promise of the blessed seed by the old covenant and now by faith in the fulfilled promise by the new covenant made with all the nations of the world Secondly and consequently by the power of the redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousnes of Faith written in the heart of the redeemed naturall man the naturall man is morally inabled to bring forth the works of morall faith according to the formall command of the Law of Faith without any manner of necessitating of his will to morall disobedience by the temptation of Satan or his instruments for if either Satan or any created power of God could necessitate the will of the redeemed man to morall disobedience God in his justice could never oblige man to the command of his Law upon the curse of eternall death either by the old or new covenant Though Satan therefore be necessitate to tempt man as shall be declared hereafter yet Satan with all his power must either induce the redeemed naturall man freely and willingly to disobedience or no way Thirdly the redeemed naturall man by the power of the light of the word of the Law and life of righteousness of faith in his heart really one with the literall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of Faith is morally inabled to know when he doth transgresse the Law of faith by bringing forth the works of unbelief and unrighteousness by his actuall sins and to repent him of his actuall sins for fear of the curse of the Law For the grace of morall faith doth necessarily presuppose the grace of morall repentance And this is the reason that from the promise of the blessed seed throughout the old and new Testament all men are continually called upon to forsake their actuall sins and unrighteousness and by repentance to turn and reconcile themselves to God for all naturall men by the perfection of their redemption are inabled with the morall grace of repentance without any manner of necessitating of their impenitency by the power of Satan or his instruments For the grace of morall repentance being necessitate the grace of morall faith is likewise inevitably necessitate Fourthly the redeemed naturall man being morally inabled with the grace of morall faith and repentance without any manner of necessitating of his will to morall unbelief and impenitency The grace of spirituall faith is promised by the old and new covenant in God prefixed time to the continuation of his morall obedience by the morall works of faith
For Mark 13.13 Whosoever shall continue to the end shall be saved This end to the naturall redeemed man is the prefixed time of Gods spirituall calling by spirituall faith For by spirituall faith the naturall redeemed man is saved from the second death which is the curse of the Law of righteousness of faith as by the cursed death of Christ Jesus the Son of God as he is man naturall man is saved from the first death which is the curse of the Law of righteousness for the first sin of Adam Fifthly though Satan and his wicked instruments cannot necessitate the will of the redeemed man morally to disobedience yet Satan by his false deceiving light can induce and betray man without Gods speciall concursive grace to transgresse the Law of righteousness of faith by his works of unbelief and unrighteousness and to draw down the evill reward of the Law by sore afflictions proceeding from the wrath of God upon the naturall man for his transgression of the Law The redeemed naturall man therefore by the power of the redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousness of faith in his heart is inabled with the morall grace and gift of morall prayer to call upon the Lord in the day of affliction and trouble who hath promised to hear the prayer of the redeemed naturall man And therefore the Lord saith Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee for prayer is one of the principall works of worship and a chief work of faith Sixthly the naturall and morall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of Faith is morally due by the Law to the redeemed naturall mans morall faith by the immediate power of which blessing the naturall mans power to produce his morall good works of faith is continued Though the good morall action therefore of the redemed naturall man be necessary spirituall sin by reason of his concluding in spirituall darknesâ— which is spirituall unbelief for whatsoever is not of spirituall faith is necessarily spirituall sin yet the good morall action of the naturall man is not actuall spirituall sin for so God must be the first author of actuall spirituall sin since the fall which is blasphemy to affirm For this spirituall sin is not by the positive act of the will of man but from the will of God according to his eternall Decree by concluding man in spirituall unbelief which is called sin for the reasons set down in the Chapter following But this spirituall unbelief proceeding of the spirituall darkness wherein all redeemed men are concluded is not actuall sin For actuall sin is the transgression of the Law which is the only sin that condemnes man For as the Law of righteousness of Faith doth command the works of Faith So the Law doth condemn the works of unbelief whereby the Law is transgressed by man we must therefore distinguish between the good morall action of the naturall man as it is spirituall sin for want of spirituall faith and the morall evill action of the naturall man which is both actuall morall and actuall spirituall sin for there is but one Law of God as God is one literally and spiriritually commanding man and consequently the morall transgression is a necessary spirituall transgression of the Law The good morall action therefore of the naturall man according to the literall command of the Law cannot be actuall spirituall sin for the naturall man being shut up in spirituall darkness is dead as he is a spirituall man and therefore the naturall man as he is a spirituall man being dead is freed from the Law of actuall sin And his morall good action proceeding from his morall faith being without either morall or spirituall actuall sin The morall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of Faith is as due by the Law to his morall faith as the spirituall blessing is due by the Law to the spirituall faith of the regenerate man For as the Law is first and immediately literally commanded so the blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest is first immediately due by the Law to morall faith which must necessarily precede spirituall Faith in the ordinary calling of God Seventhly though the naturall man do too often stumble and fall by the temptation of Satan and his instruments yet he hath all the dayes of this life to repent him of his actuall sins for the arms of Gods mercy are out-stretched all the dayes of his life to imbrace the repenting sinner And therefore is said Ezek. 18.21 22. At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sins from the bottome of his heart I will put away all his sins out of my remembrance As the naturall man therefore must not despair of Gods mercy in his Son Christ Jesus which is the greatest sin that can be committed by man proceeding from unbelief for by desparing in the mercy of God wretched man doth detract from the infiniteness of the Lords merit So it is one of the most fearfull sins for wretched man by continuing in actuall sins and wickeness to presume on the mercy of God while by his contemning of the long patience of God leading him so graciously to repentance God in his justice doth most justly give him over to a reprobate minde that though he hath all the dayes of this life to repent yet he cannot repent And this is the reason that it is said Matth. 12.13 from him that hath not that which he hath shall be taken from him that is the grace of morall repentance which he hath by the power of the redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousness of faith written in his heart And now to conclude the perfection of the redemption of the naturall man by the cursed death of the Son of God Christ Jesus as he is man Though the redeemed naturall man according to the eternall decree of God Rom. 11.31 be shut up and concluded in spirituall darkness till he be regenerate called unbelief and sin yet the redeemed naturall man by the immediate power of the word of the Law life and light of righteousness of Faith necessarily implying the power of naturall life and light written in the heart of the redeemed naturall man the naturall man is inabled to live the naturall life of man and the life of righteousness of faith morally without any manner of any necessitating of the act of his understanding will or senses either naturally or morally Whosoever therefore doth presume to deny the freedome of the will of the redeemed naturall man either naturally or morally doth necessarily deny the perfection of the redemption of man by the cursed death of the eternall Son of God Christ Jesus as he is man The eternall death and darkness to which all men in Adam the head were condemned was prefigurate by the darkness of the first Tabernacle called the Holy place which was made
sacrifice as the altar and sacrifice is immediately referred to the propheticall Sabbath as it is the great command of the Law implying the whole command of the Law of righteousnesse of faith in the promise of the blessed seed Thus having declared the word of the second seventh dayes promised rest of the Law of righteousnesse of faith upon the immediate command whereof the second covenant is established I come next to the declaration of the second covenant God therefore in this gracious word of promise doth first bind and obliged himself by covenant to Adam the redeemed head of man and in Adam to all men naturally to descend of Adam that the word should be made man of the seed of the woman by whom the old Serpents head should be broke by whose merit by his promised rest Adam should have eternall life And because this promise of eternall life was to be enjoyed by the blessing of the seventh dayes Sabaticall promised rest God therefore doth mutually bind and oblige Adam the redeemed head of man to believe the promise and by his faithfull morall and ceremoniall works of worship to worship God upon the Sabbath as God did reveal himself to Adam by his promised Sabaticall seventh dayes rest God of the Law of righteousnesse of faith in three distinct persons of the Trinity Creator and Redemeer of man And because Adam by the redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousnesse of faith in his heart was morally enabled to that formal commanded moral and ceremoniall worship God doth likewise bind Adam the redeemed head of man upon the finall contempt of his commanded worship to eternall death as if the word of the covenant were thus Whosoever shall believe in the promise of the blessed seed shall be saved from the second death as by my promised rest from the redemption of man he is saved from the first death whosover shall not believe shall be condemned Now as the formall commanded worship of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse of faith is obliged by the second covenant Adam is commanded to worship God upon the seventh day of the propheticâ—ll Sabbath by his propheticall and ceremoniall worship of God as God hath revealed himself by his Sabaticall rest both upon the eternall blessing of the Sabaticall seventh dayes promised rest and upon the eternall cuâ—se of the Law of righteousnesse of faith in which commanded formall worship as the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath was then the great command of the Law of faith all the morall and ceremoniall works of faith are necessarily commanded To the continuance of man in which works of faith till Gods prefixed time of spirituall calling the grace of spirituall faith is promised by covenant for Mat. 13.13 Whosoever shall endure to the end shall be saved which is the saving of man from the second death by spirituall faith By faith in this promised rest of the blessed seed of Adam and the Fathers before Moses and the Fathers after Moses till the promise was fulfilled were saved For the formall morall propheticall and ceremoniall obligement of the Law of righteousnesse of faith was really and formally one and the same till the promise was fulfilled For as the morall and ceremoniall Law given to Moses in distinct precepts was necessarily implied in the command of the word of the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath to Adam and to the Fathers before Moses So the distinct precepts of the ceremoniall Law given to Moses were as necessarily implied in the ceremoniall command of the altar and sacrifice for all the rites and ceremonies of the ceremoniall Law and immediatly referred to the altar and sacrifice as the command of the ceremoniall altar and sacrifice is immediately referred to the formall commanded worship of the Sabbath Hence I inferre this necessary conclusion Adam and the Fathers before Moses having the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath implying the command of the whole Law of righteousnesse of faith in the promise of the blessed seed and the ceremoniall altar and sacrifice implying all the ceremoniall Law Adam and the Fathers before Moses had the morall and ceremoniall Law and were thereby as really obliged as after the morall and ceremoniall Law was given to Moses And therefore it is said 1 Cor. 10.3 4. that the Fathers did eat of the same spirituall bread and drink of the same spirituall Rock with us for that Rock was the blessed seed to Adam and the Fathers which is now to us the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore it is likewise said that the Evangel was preached to them to wit mystically and prophetically as it is preached to us cleerly and Evangelically To conclude the second covenant called the old covenant I inferre the second formall obligement of the Law of God by the old covenant As the first word of promise to Adam the created head of man in his state of perfection was eternall life by the rest of the Law of righteousnesse upon the first seventh day from the works of the creation So the second word of promise to Adam the redeemed head of man is eternall life by the promised rest of God of the Law of righteousnesse of faith the Redeemer of man by his promised rest upon the Sabbath from the works of the redemption First therefore this promised rest of the blessed seed upon the Sabbath being formally propheticall consequently the formall worship of the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath obliged by the second covenant was formally propheticall and therefore typically and ceremonially commanded upon the performing of which commanded worship by Adam the second covenant is established Secondly the propheticall Sabbaticall seventh day of the Law as it is the great coÌ„mand of the Law implying the command of the whole Law of righteousnesse of faith being prophetically and ceremonially obliged the whole Law of righteousnesse of faith is prophetically and ceremonially obliged commanding Adam first and immediatly to the formall propheticall ceremoniall worship of the propheticall Sabbath of the Lord both upon the eternall blessing of the Sabbaticall seventh days promised rest to his faithfull worship and upon the curse of eternall death to his finall contempt of that commanded formall worship necessarily implying the contempt of the whole Law For as in the commanded worship of the seventh day of the Law as it is the great command of the Law necessarily implying the lesser command all the powers of man proceeding from his faithfull love to God are necessarily commanded So by the finall contempt of the formall commanded worship of the seventh day of the Law the whole Law is necessarily transgressed Hence I inferre these two Theologicall demonstrative conclusions First as necessarily as by the second covenant the faith of man was obliged to the faithfull propheticall and ceremoniall worship of the propheticall Sabbath upon the promise of eternall life to his faith and eternall death to his infidelity So the works of faith whereby the propheticall
and ceremoniall worship of the Sabbath was to be performed were as necessarily commanded by the command of the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath both upon the eternall blessing of the Sabbaticall seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousness of faith and upon the eternall curse of the Law of faith Secondly though the propheticall and ceremoniall works of faith were necessarily commanded by the Law yet the blessing of the eternall promised rest of the blessed seed was due by the Law immediately to faith and not to the works of faith The reason is because it was by the Spirit of faith that the merit of the promised rest of the blessed seâ—d was to be apprehended and not by the greatest works of faith which hath no spirit at all And therefore the eternall blessing of the seventh dayes promised rest of the blessed seed by the Law of righteousnesse of faith was not due by the Law to the greatest morall or ceremoniall works of Adam but immediately to the merit of man the promised blessed seed by the immediate power of whole redeemed word of the Law and life of righteousnesse of faith written in the heart of Adam Adam was morally enabled to believe the promise and to produce the morall and ceremoniall works of faith as by the spirituall grace of faith in Gods prefixed time Adam was spiritually enabled with the spirituall grace of faith by the hands of spirituall faith to apprehend the merit of the blessed seed by his promised rest by which spirituall union Adams faith and the merit of the blessed seed were really and indivisibly one whereby Adam was saved from the second death which is the curse of the Law of faith And so much for the literall and mysticall sense of the second covenant comprehended in the second branch of the censure as the censure doth concern the woman and her seed We proceed therefore next to the censure of God upon the two last delinquents for the transgression of the Law of righteousnesse obliged by the first covenant CHAP. XXIV The literall sense of the censure in particular upon the woman FOr the better conceiving of the censure of God upon the last two delinquents for the transgression of the Law of righteousnesse by the first covenant it is necessarily to be understood that Adam is said to be the head of man after a twofold manner First as under the name of Adam man male and female is comprehended For so Adam is the created head of all men naturally descended and to descend of Adam and in this sense as all men are said to have sinned in Adam the created head of all men Rom. 5.18 so all men are said to be redeemed in Adam the redeemed head of man from the curse of eternall death and darknesse by the promised rest of the blessed seed from the redemption of man from the curse of the Law and by the eternall decree of God shut up in temporall spirituall darknesse called unbelief and originall sin and temporall naturall death which followed that sin which was then according to the eternall decree of God pronounced upon Adam thâ— redeemed head of man by the censure of God in which censure of naturall death all the punishments inflicted by the censure are comprehended And therefore in the infinite mercy of God all the punishments by this censure pronounced upon man male and female are all temporall in this life to the end that all men and women might be put in continuall remembrance of the never to be forgotten love and mercy of God in his Son Christ Jesus for the redemption of man from the fearfull eternall curse of the Law for the sin of Adam which nothing could redeem but the only cursed death of Christ Jesus the eternall Son of God made flesh of the seed of the woman who therefore as he is man was made a curse for man Gal. 3.13 Secondly Adam is said to be the head of man as he is man male the head of the woman by matrimoniall union in which sense Adam is said to be the head of his wife the woman and the woman the wife is said to be the body of her husband To proceed therefore with the censure which is first pronounced upon the woman because she was first in the transgression to wit before Adam man male The censure upon the woman is set down by Moses in these words Gen. 3.16 I will greatly multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee The censure hath a literall and mysticall sense First of the literall sense of the censure which is pronounced upon the woman in particular as she is the wife and body of her husband The censure doth divide it self into two branches to wit sorrow in conception and child-birth and subjection to the husband First of the literall sense of the two branches and next of the mysticall sense As this sorrow in the infinite mercy of God at that time was not without greatest comfort to women so it is with no lesse comfort to women at this present For as 〈◊〉 in the bringing forth of children the promise of the blessed seed was confirmed to be born of the seed of the woman by whose cursed death the curse of the Law was removed from man the benefit whereof our first parents did then actually enjoy though the blessed child was afterwards to be born according to the eternal decree of God So there is great comfort at this time under the Law of Grace in the bringing forth of children by women For the child is brought forth actually freed from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam by the first covenant and born a hopefull member of the Lord Jesus Christ And though it doth please God many times to take away the childe by temporall death yet it is no small comfort to the sorrowfull parents that the childe is a glorious Saint in heaven It is said here I will greatly multiply or increase thy sorrows because of the pronounced enmity between the old Serpent Satan and his seed and the woman and her seed of whose continuall afflictions the woman is never free while she is in this life And now her sorrows are increased by her conception and bringing forth of children which are inflicted upon women to the end that the woman in her greatest extremity by her sorrow in conception and childbirth should be put in mind of the eternall sorrows and pains of eternall death by the first covenant from which she was redeemed by the blessed childe then to be born and now born of the seed of the woman upon whose merit Eves faith may safely rest as upon a rock from any fear of the second death by the new covenant In which sense only the words of the Apostle are to be conceived to wit 1 Tim. 2.15 that women are saved through the bearing of children for
blessing of his cursed death did belong to Adam and to all men naturally descended and to descend of Adam to the end of the world according to the promise made to Adam And therefore upon the day of his resurrection from the grave both the Jews and Gentiles were graciously called to whose faith the blessing of the promise made to Abraham was freely offered by the new covenant by means whereof the promise made to Abraham that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed was graciously and faithfully fulfilled And this is the reason that the Apostle saith Heb. 9.8 that while the first Tabernacle was standing the second Tabernacle could not be opned for all the nations of the world could not be blessed in this promise till our Saviour did first suffer though his suffering was first and immediately for the Jews which was prefigurate by the Levitical high Priests brest-plate Exod. 39.8.14 wherein the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel were written while he was to offer up the sacrifice of the altar whereby it was signified that our Saviour was first and immediatly to be offered in sacrifice for the Jews and therefore it is said John 4.22 that Salvation is from the Jews Thus have we briefly declared that in the three first ages of the Church the formall propheticall ceremoniall Law was really one and the same obliging of the Fathers before any part of the promise of the blessed seed was fulfilled So by the Tabernacle and Temple which our Saviour calls his body whereby both the promise made to Abraham and the promise made to Adam were prefigurate it was signified that the same formall obligement of the Law did continue from Moses till our Saviours coming in the world and from his coming till the day of his resurrection from the grave which is to be declared in the third Book of our Theologicall key in the mean time for a conclusion to this second Book certain materiall objections are to be answered against the perfection of the redemption of man which doth concern both that which hath been delivered in this second Book and likewise that which is to be delivered in the third CHAP. XXXII Satans cunning by his tempting of man by the sensitive naturall object of his understanding FIrst it is objected Satan hath the power to unite the free love of man so inseparably to the sensitive object of his pleasure as man doth necessarily produce his action contrary to the Law of faith Satan therefore hath the power to necessitate the free will of man to disobedience contrary to the declaration of the perfection of redemption I answer The inference is fallacious For though Satan hath the power by his false envious deceiving light to unite to the love and desire of man to the object of his sensitive pleasure yet it is by the free act of the love of man that man is induced to that union and not by Satans necessitating of his will I cleer the point by Satans cunning in tempting of man Satan doth tempt man to disobedience both by the naturall and morall object of the understanding of man First of Satans cunning in tempting of man by the naturall object and next of his cunning in tempting man by the morall object of his understanding By the naturall externall sensitive object of mans understanding I understand all things in nature whereby the understanding and will of man is produced in act by the mediate senses all which things are the proper objects of the five externall senses of man These severall sensitive objects Satan by himself and his instruments doth so continually and actually enlighten with his false envious deceiving naturall light as the species of these sensitive objects thus Satanically enlightened being received in the understanding the love of man is so incensed to unite it self to the object of its pleasure as it doth hate all things that doth resist the union by which miserable union these fearfull effects are produced First by this foul incensed love and desire of man to apprehend the sensiâ—ive object of his pleasure slaming in the heart of man the light of the redeemed word of the Law written in the heart is so obscured and darkned as wretched man doth greedily grasp the sensitive object without all respect to the Law of faith and this is the first degree of actuall sin which is by the darkning and obscuring of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith whereby the works of faith are formally commâ—nded for the light of the word of the Law in the heart which is really one with the light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith being obscured the light of the word of the seventh dayes rest is necessarily obscured and darkned And therefore this false envious deceiving light of Satan is called the Devils darknesse and the works produced by this false deceiving light are called the works of darknesse Secondly the incensed naturall love and pleasure of man and the sensitive object of his pleasure being once actually united such continuall fewell is added to this incensed fire by Satan and his instruments as wretched man doth lie and continue in his filthy love and pleasure and hate all things which doth resist the enjoying of his foul desire And this is the reason that the Lord saith John 3.20 he that doth evill doth hate the light which is the light of the command of the Law of faith For by the command of the Law of faith all such continued filthy pleasure is condemned And this is the second degree of actuall sin which is by continuance in sin Thirdly by this false envious deceiving light of Satan whereby the love and desire of man and the object of his pleasure are so united the more that wretched man is pressed with the command of the Law the more strictly doth he unite himself to the object of his pleasure by resisting all command of the Law and the pressure of the command And this Medea could see while as she saith we presse against what is forbidden and still affect what is denied And this the third degree of actuall sin while by the continuance of man in actuall sin the long patience of God leading him so graciously to repentance is contemned with such a high hand as God doth justly give him over to such a reprobate minde as he cannot repent though he hath all the dayes of his life to repent For by this means that morall power of repentance which wretched man hath by the redeemed word of the Law and life of Righteousnesse of faith written in his heart is taken away and this is the reason that it is said Luke 19.26 from him that hath not that which he hath shall be taken away that is to say because wretched man will not repent having morall grace to repent therefore he shall be deprived of the power of morall
Lord that doth justifie them by his merit And therefore though it be the Lords pleasure for their triall to keep them in some measure under the yoak of affliction in this life yet they are enabled with patience to bear his hand till in his good time he determine their afflictions by calling them to himself where they shall be exalted to an incorruptible crown of glory and in their mysticall head enabled to tread on the neck of the old roaring Serpent and upon the neck of his cursed brood to their eternall confusion for betraying them by the pride of sin to the shame and afflictions of this life And now to conclude this point of Satans cunning by this tempting of man by the naturall sensitive object Of all the temptations of Satan his accusing of man whom he hath betrayed to such long continuance in actuall sin is the most fearfull And from this fearfull accusing of man Satan is called the Devill and in this diabolicall faculty stands the master-piece of the Devils cunning For when the Devill doth once begin to accuse wretched man for his continuance in unrepented sin the fearfull severity of Gods justice for the high contempt of the Law of faith and the impossibility of his mercy to such high continued contempt is so continually suggested by Satan as he never leaves night and day racking and torturing of the guilty conscience of the wretched sinner till his spirit be so insupportably wounded as he is induced to believe that all repentance comes too late and to despair of all mercy and unlesse by the Lords unexpected concursive grace the fearfull blow be prevented such is the insupportable wounded spirit of the wretched sinner by the Devils continuall accusation as the Devill doth easily induce the tortured restlesse desperate man to lay violent hands on himself as a present remedy for his torture and pain O that the wretched sinner would in time but by morall repentance accuse and condemn himself for his obstinate continuance in actuall sin as he is morally inabled thereto by the perfection of his redemption and then he shall prevent the Devils cunning For by that happy means the Devils fearfull accusation should come too late for there is alwayes such mercy in store to the least repenting sinner as there is no place for the Devill to plead at the barre of the Lords mercy and to accuse man for actuall sin I next proceed to the declaration of Satans cunning in his betraying of man by the morall object of mans understanding CHAP. XXXIII Satans cunning by his betraying of man by the morall object of mans understanding BY the morall object of mans understanding I understand the word of the seventh dayes rest implying the command of the whole Law whereby man from the beginning by every severall covenant is formally obliged to produce his action according to the formall command of the Law as he is actually enabled to produce that formall action by the power of the Word of the Law and life of Righteousnesse written in his heart This light of the word of Law in the heart Satan from the beginning hath and doth obscure by a false deceiving morall light contradictory to the light of the word of the seventh dayes rest By the obscuring of which light of the word of the Law written in the heart the light of the word of the seventh dayes rest is necessarily obscured and darkned by means whereof man doth produce his action without all respect to the formall command of the Law By this false morall deceiving light as Satan from the beginning did obscure the light of the Law of God totally and in generall so by his false deceiving morall light Satan doth now obscure and darken the light of the Law of faith in particular by his obtruding and suggesting false fundamentall particular points of faith whereby the Church of God hath been so miserably distracted in all ages So Satan by his false deceiving morall light did betray our first parents to transgresse the Law of God For while God by his first covenant had obliged man to fulfill the command of his Law by his Word commanding man to abstain from eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge upon the curse of a dying death Satan by the Serpent did suggest a false morall deceiving light contradictory to the light of the command of God which was that by eating of the forbidden fruit our first parents should not only be freed from all fear of any dying death by covenant but that by eating of the fruit they should be equall to God himself by which false great suggested morall light the hearts of our first parents was so incensed to such a height of pride to be equall to God as they did greedily grasp the fruit without all respect to the command of God by his Word commanding man which was the command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse For by the foul incensed desire of our first parents to be equall to God flaming in their hearts the light of the Word in their hearts was obscured and darkned by obscuring whereof the light of the word of the first seventh dayes rest was so totally obscured and darkned as the whole Law was transgressed whereby Adam the created head of man and all men naturally to descend of the head were condemned to the curse of the Law of Righteousnesse by the first covenant So after the second covenant was made in the promise of the blessed seed by the promised rest of the propheticall Sabbath and after the word the blessed seed was born man of the seed of the woman and after he did manifest himself to the Jews by his glorious works wonders and miracles that he was that promised blessed seed of the woman and the eternall Son of God by whom they were to enjoy the promised rest of their propheticall Sabbath extending his love and mercy so generally towards all by curing of all sensitive diseases incurable by nature and the diseases of the souls of many whereby he did so ingage the reverend love and fear of all leading the world so by that glorious light that happy was he that could but touch the Lord of Life In so much that the glory of his light was such as the Jews began to be possest with a jealousie that by this great glorious light the glory of their great propheticall Sabbath should be obscured whereby they were so famous above all nations and that the honour and dignity of the Leviticall Priesthood and the great preferment which they did hold by the Priesthood should be quite taken away from them At this jealousie of the Jews the Devill takes occasion to suggest a remedy for this fear and that was that they should kill the Word which did so gloriously shine amongst them though this suggestion of Satan was but a cloak to colour his own fear lest the head of the Serpent should
new covenant he that doth believe and shall be baptized shall be saved It is neither by the preaching of the Word or by the exâ—ernall administration of the Sacraments but it is by the immediate faith of man in the Lords merit that man is saved from the second death Thus having declared the perfection of the redemption of man from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam shut up in spirituall darknesse called unbelief and originall sin according to the eternall Decree of God as the act of the redemption doth concern all men in generall male and female created in Adam naturally to descend of Adam to the end of the world And having answered and determined the most materiall objections against the declaration thereof we now proceed to the third Book THe Author of this small Tractate having fully ended it did intend to fit it for the Presse as soon as conveniently he could but being at London about his other occasions he did accidentally come into the company where some worthy Gentlemen were earnestly in discourse about some points of Religion After which conference he did resolve at his coming home to draw his Book into as short and plain a way as possibly he could for the Readers better understanding And thus far he went and then it pleased God to take him to himself before he could write one word of the third Book which he did intend to contract very much because he had spoke so much of the Lords day before But I not knowing how to get it done according to his mind and being loth to mangle so excellent a Work have rather thought good to set forth this third Book word for word as it was in his first method and to venture the censure of some rather then to keep it in any longer being exceedingly troubled in mind that it hath been kept almost this six yeeres from the publike view The third Book of the Theologicall Key containing the third Covenant made by God with man CHAP. I. Christ manifesting of himself at his coming in the world WE are now according to our Method to declare such acts of the blessed seed as they are set down in his sacred Word performed by him while he was personally upon earth Christ Jesus the eternall Son of God made flesh of the seed of the woman in time according to the Decree of God from all eternity as he is the first begotten Son of the most High by his birthright Prophet Priest and King so by the execution of his threefold office Christ Jesus did manifest himself Prophet Priest and King First therefore of the execution of his Propheticall office Secondly of his Priestly and Thirdly of his Kingly office The execution of Christs Propheticall office while he was personally upon earth was by the immediate power of his Word as he himself was the promised rest of the seventh day of the Propheticall Sabbath Christ Jesus the Word as the redeemed Word his Image is internally written in the heart of man his Word is the redeemed light and life of man And as his Word is externally objected to the externall senses he is the continuation of the redeemed life and light of man His Word under the propheticall obligement of the Law was the word of the seventh day of the propheticall Sabbath implying the whole propheticall Law and the whole old Testament As the life and light of the promised Sabbaticall rest did proceed from his love to man so Christ Jesus at his being personally in the world did manifest himself light love and life to man His light was in the sound of his Word and by the power of his Word his miracles were wrought and this was the light which did gloriously shine amongst the Jews while he was personally conversant with the Jews This glorious light by the sound of his Word did shine to the Jews first and immediatly by his own immediate Word And secondly by the commanded ministry of the Apostles By the light of his immediate Word first the understanding of the Jews was enlightned in the prophesies prophecying of the coming of the blessed seed from the foundation of the world Mat. 4.17 Mar. 1.21 Luke 4.21 Ioh. 3.13 whereby our Saviour did manifest himself to the Jews that he was the promised rest of their Sabbath and that he was the seed of the woman who must die for the sins of man and rest after his death upon the Sabbath for the recovering of the eternall rest of the first seventh day lost by Adam and that he it was that must rise again to break the head of the Serpent for the betraying of man All which was so many prophesies of himself whereby Christ did discharge his propheticall office Joh. 3.14 as he did likewise prophesie his death by the lifting up of the brazen Serpent and his resting in the grave Mat. 12.40 by Jonas rest in the Whales belly and both his death and resurrection in saying Joh. 2.19 Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it again So did he prophesie of the destruction of Jerusalem Luke 21.6 So his second coming and the day of judgement and many such like Secondly by this glorious shining light by the sound of his Word our Saviour Mat. 5.20 did cleer the obscured light of the Law corrupted by the false glosse of the Scribes and Pharisees arising from the Devils darknesse Thirdly as Christ Jesus while he was personally in the world by the light of the sound of his Word the Jews understanding was inlightned to know that he was the promised blessed seed So by the light of the power of his Word by his wonders and miracles he did manifest himself to be the eternall Son of God With the glorious fame of whose wonders and miracles the whole world was filled and amazed insomuch that the Jews were constrained to acknowledge the Lord of life to be the Son of God though the Jews darknesse led by the Devils false deceiving light could not comprehend that glorious shining light Fourthly at this glorious light did proceed from the love of the Lord of life to man by his promised Sabbatical rest So he did manifest his love while he was personally upon earth to man in curing of all manner of incurable sensitive diseases of the body and the diseased souls of many by the pardoning of sin None were denied the blessing of his rest who came to him by the light of his love As this glorious light did shine to the Jews immediatly by Christ himself as he was the promised rest of the propheticall Sabbath day so this glorious light did shine immediatly by the ministry of the Apostles whom our Saviour did send abroad Mat. 10.7 to preach and teach this glorious shining light shining from the Son of God whom likewise before his death and resurrection he authorized to preach and to teach the Evangel and to administrate the Sacrament of Baptisme as John did first before Christs manifesting
curse of the Law of righteousnes by the curse of eternall death and darknes Adam therefore and all men naturally to descend of Adam as head out of the infinit love and mercy of God to man in his Son Christ Iesus according to his decree from all eternity being redeemed from the curse of the Law by the cursed death of his only Son which was to be sustained in his prefixed time the word of the Law then written in the heart of man was the redeemed Image of God in his Son Christ Iesus by the power of which redeemed word Adam after the fall did live move and had his redeemed grace of naturall and morall being but shut up in spirituall darknes till he was regenerate And the word of the seventh day of the Law was then objected to Adams externall senses as it was the propheticall word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnes of faith in the promise of the blessed seed then by the name of the Sabbath of the Lord prophesying the rest of the Lord to wit the blessed seed upon the Sabbath from the redemption of man from the curse of the Law for the sinne of Adam whereby Adam and all men naturally to descend of Adam till the promise of the blessed seed was fulfilled were obliged to beleeve the promised rest of the blessed seed To whose faith the blessing of the Lords promised rest by the propheticall Sabbath was due by the Law The word of God therefore to the Fathers till the promise was fulfilled was the propheticall word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnes of faith in the promise of the blessed seed by the light of the sabbaticall seventh day leading the faith of man to the blessing of the Lords promised rest of the blessed seed By which faith all the Fathers were saved before the promise was fulfilled in the Lords prefixed time according to his eternall decree Thirdly the promise of the blessed seed being fulfilled by the Lords daies Evangelicall rest as by the redeemed word of the Law written in the heart the naturall man doth live move and hath his redeemed grace of naturall and morall being shut up in spirituall darknes till he be regenerate So the Evangelicall word of the Lords day as it is the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnes of faith is objected to the externall senses of man as it is the word of the truth of the Lords Evangelicall rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed obliging the faith of all the Nations of the World to beleeve the truth of the Lords fulfilled promise to whose faith the blessing of the Lords merit of eternall life and rest by the fulfilling of his promise is due morally by the Law whereby the naturall mans redeemed grace of naturall and morall being is continued while he is in this life and being regenerat hath his eternall life light and rest in the life to come The judicious reader therefore may plainly observe that the Evangelicall word of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnes of faith is the same reall word which was from the beginning in the true knowledge wherof is the life light eternal rest of man for as by the literall light of the Lords day the naturall man is literally led to the morall blessing of the Lords merit by the Lords daies Evangelicall rest So by the Lords spirituall light in Gods prefixed time the naturall man apprehending himselfe dead in actuall spirituall sinne as sinne is a fearfull contempt against the infinit Majesty of God The naturall man in this spirituall feare being led by this spirituall light to the Lords infinit merit doth by the hands of his spirituall faith lay such spirituall hold on the Lords infinit merit as all the created powers of God and all the temptations of the Divell and the World are not able to part the naturall man being regenerate from the grace of his spirituall hold And this is that faith which the Lord saith is able to command the greatest Mountaine of temptation and to cast it selfe in the Sea if it stand in the way to seperate the regenerate man from his spirituall hold of eternall life Though his spirituall faith be so litle as a graine of mustard seed For the threatned Mountaine of naturall death it selfe is not able to seperate the regenerate man from this spirituall hold totally and finally This light of the Lords day therefore is that light of that spirituall fire which came downe from Heaven not the fearfull firie light of Gods consuming fire which came downe from Heaven to burne the Holocaust Sacrifice of the Lambe of God but the gracious light of the Lords deare love warning quickning inlightning and raising from the dead where it doth shine By which gracious light as all men were raised from the first death of the curse of the Law for the sinne of Adam So this gracious light doth now shine to enlighten the faith of all the Nations of the World to save them from the merciles curse of the Law of faith which is the second death Heere two speciall things are to be observed by the reader CHAP. VIII THe first is the difference of the word of the Law written in the heart of man and the word of the seventh day of the Law implying the command of the whole Law externally objected to the externall senses of man Tâ—e second is the formall difference of the word of the seventh day of the Law from the beginning First in the state of perfection the word of the Law written in Adams heart was the power of the Image of righteousnes and holines enabling Adam to merit eternall life and rest upon earth And the word of the first seventh day of the Law of righteousnes was objected to Adams externall senses obliging the perfection of Adams obedience to the command of the Law of God to whose merit by his actions of holines the blessing of the first seventh daies eternall rest was due by the Law to Adams merit Secondly man being redeemed from the curse of the Law the word of the Law written in the heart is the redeemed word and Image of God in his Son Christ Iesus first in the promise of the blessed seed enabling Adam from faith to faith to beleeve the promise of the blessed seed And the word of the seventh day of the Law of righteousnes of faith by the name of the Sabbath of the Lord was objected to Adams externall senses prophesying the rest of the blessed seed upon the Sabbath from the redemption of man from the curse of the Law obliging and commanding Adam to beleeve the promised rest of the blessed seed to whose faith the blessing of the Lords eternall rest was due by the Law to Adams faith in beleeving the the promised rest of the blessed seed Thirdly after the Lords resurrection the promise of the blessed seed being fulfilled the
are contradictory to the truth of the Lords infinit merit contradictory to the whole current of the sacred word and consequently to the sacred decree of predestination Conclusion 19. All tenents and assertions denying the freedome of the naturall mans redeemed grace by the free act of his understanding will and senses without any manner of the necessitating of the free act of man either naturally or morally are contradictory to the perfection of the redemption of man by the Lords infinit merit For the naturall mans will being necessitate either naturally or morally man is no man as hath bin formerly demonstrate And consequently the naturall man by the perfection of his redemption is enabled with morall grace by the act of his understanding actually enlightned by the literall light of the Lords day to understand morally the grace of the Lords merit of eternall life and rest and by the act of his will to beleeve morally the Lords offered grace as hath bin formerly declared Conclusion 20. All tenents and assertions affirming the universall spirituall grace of man by the only act of the redemption which grace is only by the spirituall light of the holy Spirit enlightning the spirituall darknesse of the naturall man in the act of regeneration are contradictory to the sacred word and consequently to the sacred decree of predestination For all men freed from the curse of eternall death and darknesse are shut up in temporall spiritual darknes called unbeleef and sin by the eternall decree of God Conclusion 21. By all tenents and assertions affirming that the naturall man by his morall good workes doth merit eternall life The infinitnesse of the Lords merit is denied Such assertions are contradictory to the very words of the new Covenant For by the new covenant the morall blessing of the Lords merit of eternall life is immediatly offered to the morall faith of the beleever And therefore the Evangelicall Law is called the Law of righteousnesse of faith and not the Law of workes for from the morall faith of the naturall man his morall good workes doe immediatly proceed and consequently can merit nothing at all and therefore the morall blessing of the Lords day as it is the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law is due morally and immediatly by the Law to the morall faith of the naturall man whose faithfull workes of truth love and mercy are mediatly commanded as the effects of his morall faith whereby the truth of the Lords infinit love and mercy is testified by the naturall man without the blessing of whose truth by the Lords infinit merit the naturall man could not so much as craule upon the earth Conclusion 22. All tenents and assertions affirming that the free grace of the Lords infinit merit by the new Covenat is offered only to the elect are contradictory to the very words of the new Covenant whereby the free grace â—f thâ— Lords infinit merit of eternall life and rest is freely offered to all the Nations of the world And therefore this state is called the state of grace for though the state of man under the propheticall obligement of the Law of faith in the promise of the blessed seed was likewise the state of grace yet that was the estate of promised grace and this is the state of grace of that fulfilled promise for as the faithfull Fathers were saved from the curse of the propheticall Law by faith in the promise of the blessed seed So the faithfull are now sâ—ved by faith in the fulfilled promise Conclusion 23. All tenents and assertions whereby the faith of the beleever and the Lords infinit merit are seperate and devided which is the Rocke whereon the Lord told Peter the Church of God is builded are false and adulterous tenents and assertions arising from the false light of errour Now because the Church of God is so much distempered by a multitude of such tenents and objections all arising from the false light of the spirit of error two short Theologicall Canons or rules shall be set downe whereby the judicious Reader is enabled to make the strongest objection against the truth of the sacred word to vanish with the objecters breath By meanes whereof the spirit of error is discovered according to the Apostles command CHAP. X. The first Canon ALL tenents and assertions of faith repugnant to the literall light and truth of the Evangelicall word of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnesse of faith are from the false light of the spirit of error The second Canon All pretended worship of God repugnant to the truth of the commanded Evangelicall worship of the Lords day is a false adulterous worship The explanation of the twofold Canon As the immediate object of faith is the Lords infinit merit by his rest and resurrection from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed the eternall life light and rest of man So is the literall light of the Lords day the light whereby the object is enlightned to be apprehended by the faith of man which being one reall light with the literall light of the redeemed word of truth love and mercy written in the heart of man whereby man doth live move and hath his being As by this literall light the naturall mans understanding is morally produced in act to apprehend the object of the Lords merit as it is the Lords truth So his will by its love to that truth is moved to apprehend the object of the Lords merit as it is the eternall life light and rest of man This literall light is in the sound of the word of the Lords dâ—y For as by the light of the Sunne fire or of any materiall light the understanding of man is produced in act by the mediate sense of seeing So the sâ—uâ—d of the word is the light whereby the understanding is produce in act by the mediate sense of hearing I doe not meane heare the light of the sound of the words â—s â—â—â—y are simply words but as they are the sound of the Evangelicaâ— word of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall law of faith the word of the eternall life and light of man which being founded by the faithfull Minister in the naturall mans hearing his understanding and will is morally produced in act to understand and believe the truth of the Lords fulfilled promise of the blessed seed as the Lord did graciously oblige himself to man by covenant which was fulfilled by the Lords twofold resurrection The first was by his resurrection from the grave the second was by his resurrectiâ—â— from the earth to the heavens from whence he did descend For as the Word is man the Son of God with the Father and holy Spirit before all time he did descend from the heavens to the earth and as the Word is man the Son of God made flesh of the seed of the woman in time he did ascend again to the heavens This twofold resurrection of the