second in Trinity hereby laying a ground of a firm Mediation between God and us for Jesus Christ being of Gods Nature therefore he will be faithful unto God and being of our Nature therefore he will be compassionate towards us And here is the root of all the life and power of this Mediation to wit this Personal Union of the Son of man with the second Person in Trinity which is a firm and everlasting Union 2. By Gods giving him to be a Covenant Isa 42.6 I will give thee for a Covenant of the People for a Light of the Gentiles What is meant hereby the Lord meaneth that he giveth him to be a Mediator of this Covenant 1. To receive from God all the promises and gracious gifts whatsoever is requisite for him to be King Priest and Prophet and all these things he receiveth from the hand of the Father Col. 1.19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell thus he becometh a plentiful Redeemer And as the Lord gave him to be a Covenant so he giveth him also to work all things needful for our Redemption partly by his passion and obedience unto the Death of the Cross Phil. 2.8 and partly by fulfilling all the righteousness of the Law Mat. 3.15 The Lord Jesus Christ did fully accomplish whatsoever was requisite for him to accomplish in his own Person 2. He doth perform all things needful for the Application of this Redemption unto our souls Isa 26.12 And to this end he it is that sheadeth abroad his Spirit into our hearts Joh. 15.26 16.7 and when this blessed Spirit cometh he applieth unto the soul all this gracious Redemption of Jesus Christ by giving Jesus Christ and all the Fruits of his redemption and by working all those blessed works that the souls of his people come to be partakers of and so performeth all those conditions that are required on our parts if it be needful for us to have Faith he will work it in us if it be needful for us to live a life of Faith he will help us so to live for it is not of our selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.9 Thus hath the Lord made him a compleat Mediator of this holy Covenant and whatsoever we receive we receive from him for unto him first as the head of the Church are all blessings given and unto us all promises in him are Yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 for though Christ be not a sinner in his own Person yet in respect of his Members he is many times lost in them though not in himself and poor in them though not in himself for us therefore he receiveth the Promises of God and that is the great security of them that they are laid up safe in him and belong unto us if we have union with the Head and in him we perform whatsoever God requireth whether we pray or preach or hear we do all in the Name of Jesus Christ going forth in his strength and power Col. 3.17 Thus is the Lord Jesus Christ a firm surety of this better Covenant stablished upon better Promises Heb. 8.6 In the first place Use 1 This may teach us a broad difference between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace In the Covenant of Works The Lord offereth Himself as a Father Diff. 1 his Son as a Redeemer his Spirit as a Sanctifier but this is still upon a condition of obedience if they shall keep his Laws and obey his voice then they shall be a peculiar treasure unto him above all people Exod. 19.5 6. This also they undertake to do Deut. 5.27 All that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee we will hear it and do it but O saith God that there was such an heart in them vers 29. When they rebelled he did not pardon them graciously but the Angel whom he sendeth with them he biddeth them beware of him and obey his voice and provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him In the Covenant of Grace he will but not in this here is indeed a conditional Redeemer and Saviour and so it is expressed Isa 63.8 9 10. He was their Saviour in all their affliction he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love c. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them with many of them God was not well pleased almost with none of them but overthrew them in the wilderness Thus in the Covenant of Works all is given upon condition of obedience The Lord giving himself Diff. 2 his Son and Spirit upon condition though it be but to Works yet he is pleased to receive them into some kinde of Relative Vnion expressed Jer. 32.32 Which my Covenant they brake although I was an Husband to them He was married unto them in Church-Covenant this was some kinde of union He was their God and they were his peculiar people and yet the Lord cast them off a generation of his wrath from this Marriage-Covenant between them and him from this union there springeth a kinde of Faith by which the soul cleaveth unto the Lord in some measure else there could not be this Marriage-Union and this Faith is that of which you read Psal 106.12 13. They beleeved his words they sang his praise they soon forgat his works they waited not for his counsel So also Exod. 14.31 it is said They beleeved the Lord and his servant Moses this is that Faith which men may receive and yet may Apostate from it spoken of Heb. 6.3 to 6. For a while some do beleeve and in time of temptation fall away Luk. 8.13 But all that Faith was never grounded upon any free promise of Grace but all was built upon Ordinances and Duties and upon no higher ground In the 2 Chron. 13.8 to 12. marvellously strong are the expressions of Abijah when Jeroboam came against him You think to withstand the Kingdom of the Lord in the hand of David c. Have not you cast out the Priests of the Lord saith he c. But as for us the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him and the Priests which minister unto the Lord are the Sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their business and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening Burat-sacrifices and sweet Incense the Shew-bread also they set in order upon the pure Table and the Candlestick of gold with the Lamps thereof to burn every evening for we keep the charge of the Lord our God but ye have forsaken him And behold God himself is with us for our Captain and his Priests with sounding Trumpets to cry Alarm against you O ye children of Israel fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers for you shall not prosper Thus we see what Faith he did express and hereupon vers 18. the children of Israel
is left utterly void and hath in himself neither root nor branch but seeth how unable he is to believe or wait nor can he tell whether Jesus Christ be his portion and now doth the Lord take possession and fill the empty soul If you shall ask me how this spirit cometh into the soul to make it thus to stoop unto Jesus Christ You shall find that the Lord useth to convey himself unto the soul in some word of promise of the Gospel that sheweth unto the soul the riches of the grace of God in Jesus Christ something or other is declared of Jesus Christ This word being taught in the publick Ministry of the Word or brought to remembrance in some spiritual duty as prayer or conference or the like for I will not limit the holy One of Israel yet usually it is done in the Ministry of the Gospel and though the Lord doth not limit himself yet he doth limit us to attend upon the means which he usually worketh by but whatsoever the way be this is the manner of Gods working he doth universally come into the soul in some word or other of his grace as for instance that in 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself or that in 1 Tim. 1.15 Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of which I am chief In some such word of Gods grace he cometh and putteth life into the soul and maketh it somwhat quiet and causeth it to see that there is hope in Israel and the Lord is able to save me and there is riches enough in Jesus Christ to save me By such kind of work it is that the Lord bringeth the souls of his servants effectually to Jesus Christ And now hath God the Father given us unto Jesus Christ and until now thou never camest home savingly This is the second act whereby God the Father giveth himself unto the soul 3. The third Act or work of God the Father which followeth both these So soon as ever the Lord hath given this self-denying spirit unto the soul and hath made it like unto a bruised reed or like a Traveller that is out of his way and willing to take any man by the hand that will lead him into his way again when the soul is in such a frame now God the Father cometh by a third work of actual reconcilement The first work was of conviction The second was a work of subjection And the third of reconciliation This is the third work of the Father though there is in all these works a concurrence of the whole Trinity yet some are more proper unto each person as our Catechisms teach us and we are not wont to scruple such expressions in them God the Father created us and we cannot expound it but as God the Father created us at the first so he doth again create you or else if we acknowledge it in the one and not in the other we do God the Father wrong Well he is then reconciled unto us having given us the Spirit of his Son and now he doth pronounce us reconciled unto him this is the work which is spoken of Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son And this is the work of God the Father according to that which is before alledged 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world c. now there are two acts of God as fruits that follow hereupon and both of them done at once upon the soul 1. Act of God is Adoption whereby he maketh us his Children as Gal. 4.4 5 6. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God Joh. 1.12 So that now we are the brethren of Christ and the sons of the eternal God Adoption is properly the work of the Father but Jesus Christ being the natural Son of God we must be knit unto him before we can be accounted sons 2. Act of God is Justification It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.33 34. This is the Fathers work and it is principally attributed unto him to forgive our iniquities and to reconcile us in Jesus Christ And look as it is in our natural being so soon as ever we have received natural life from Adam we become the sons of Adam and his sin is imputed unto us so it is in the new birth so soon as ever the life of Christ is shed abroad into our hearts so soon are we heirs with Christ and the righteousness of the second Adam is imputed unto us now to our justificacation as was the sin of Adam before to our condemnation The Doctrine it self is but an Use Vse 1 But I desire that we may all of us apply it unto our selves It will be helpful unto us for our instruction to teach us how we came to saving fellowship with God in Jesus Christ and wherein lieth our spiritual union with Jesus Christ how it is wrought and obtained and this is necessary for as it hath been observed by others so we may now gather it from what we have heard that there be four sorts of men that fall short of this union with Jesus Christ 1. You have some that bless themselves in their natural state it may be they are rich and honourable among men well they bless themselves in that state and will never go any further 2. There is another sort that are convinced of the danger of their natural estate they dare not rest there and hereupon they fall to reformations and so to duties of humiliation and the like wherein they find such a blessed change and so much comfort as doth satisfie them and indeed the Lord doth comfort men in their reformations for God will have no man lose by him Mat. 6.2 5. Hypocrites have their reward for their alms and for their prayers Herod when he heard John reformed many things and heard him gladly Mar. 6.20 here was a great change and doubtless much comfort yet these men never had the work of God the Father to burn up all that they have received by any strength of their own 3. A third sort go a step beyond these They have been convinced that they went forth to reformation in their own strength they plainly see it and discern it and therefore they know that it is impossible to be saved by the righteousness of the Law and that it is not of works neither of one kind nor of another They are convinced that faith only must do the deed and upon this ground they will take up faith to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation and that faith which
strength of sin so sin was the strength and sting of death 1 Cor. 15.6 but now O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the Lord hath delivered us from him that hath the power of death Col. 2.15 Heb. 2.14 and from this evil world Gal. 1.4 and from the wrath come 1 Thes 1.10 so then this was bondage we sometimes lay under when the Law of God pressed heavily upon us the conscience of sin even unto death both first and second death and both Law and sin and death delivered us unto the power of Satan and held us under the wrath of God the world turned to be our enemy in all the blessings and crosses of it from all these bondages Christ hath redeemed us and it is a marvelous work in the eyes of all that enjoy the ben fit of it If you shall ask what Ransom the Lord did pay that we might be redeemed The answer is given in 1 Tim. 2.5 6. There is one mediator between God and man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all c. so that he himself is the Ransom I will not stand disputing whether he gave his active or passive obedience or both The Text is large He gave himself from the height of glory to become a mortal man not sinful but by imputation so that from first to last he gave himself Consider him therefore from his first taking our nature upon him and all is but one ransom for his very active obedience was passive and his passive obedience was active if he had not been active in his sufferings his sufferings had not been satisfactory therefore he willingly laid down his life No man taketh it from him but he layeth it down of himself Joh. 10.17 18. else had not his death been of any sweet smelling savour to the Lord forced death is no acceptable sacrifice Again on the other side his active obedience was passive he suffered himself to be closed in his Mothers womb and when he was born he suffered himself to be laid in a manger and although being God over all blessed for ever he was subject to no Law yet now he suffered himself to be obedient unto his Father now for great Princes to live in other Dominions to observe their Rules and be guided by their Laws it is a suffering This did the Lord Jesus for he had a special commandment to observe both Law and Gospel and in this the Divine Nature doth suffer as much as for the Creator to become a creature and to take upon him the terms of hardship which become a creature It is no debasement unto Angels nor unto Saints to be obedient but for the Creator to be obedient unto the Law of God given unto the creature in this he greatly humbleth himself when he saith Thus it behooveth us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3.15 And this is such kind of passion as hath all things tending to satisfaction in it And by all this you may see that from the first to the last the Lord Jesus is a Ransom take him in his Cradle and he is a Ransom take him throughout all the course of his life and he is passive and in all his sufferings he is active He went up and down doing good and suffering evil all his life long and thus he is a Ransom but above all when as he came to wrestle with the wrath of his Father he did therein exceed all the rest of his sufferings It was much indeed for the Son of God to make himself a servant but when he that is the Son of the eternal God and in regard of his God-head equal with the Father shall now stand to wrestle with the unsupportable wrath of God and to cry out My soul is in an agony unto the very death and through anguish thereof to sweat drops of bloud and though his heart as it were seems to recoil so that if it were possible he desires the cup might pass from him yet he is carried before Pontius Pilate and is there condemned and afterward suffereth the death of the Cross this was the chiefest part of the ransom which the Lord did intend to pay to the justice of his Father wherein he did also undergo the very pangs of Hell for our sins and so gave himself a Ransom for us And had not all this been we should never have been redeemed from the terrours of the Law Thus therefore did the Lord give himself in taking our nature upon him and giving himself unto a state of bondage from a state of liberty to redeem us unto liberty from a state of bondage under the curse of the Law of God even unto liberty from sin and death and Satan and this World and from the indignation of the most High A wonderful deliverance But as it is in all other liberties so this Christian Liberty doth stand in two things First As in removing some bondage and burdens Secondly So it carrieth with it some such priviledge and enfranchisement as whereby me claim some liberties which others cannot reach unto and those the Lord Jesus hath dearly paid for by suffering his Fathers wrath which did so drink up his Spirits that I believe he died not by the pains of his body for he died before his time but the wrath of God did swallow him up principally though his bodily pains did help it forward Now by this means we have access unto the Lord and into this grace wherein we stand Rom. 5.2 and that with boldness and confidence Ephes 2.12 even to enter with boldness into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus Hob. 10.19 Hereby we have liberty to call God Father and to come unto him as to a Father and to expect all blessings from him for this life and for a better both wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption from all miseries and dangers even from death to life even life eternal besides all blessings of the Kingdom of grace here below All Church-priviledges and Commonwealth-priviledges hath the Lord purchased for us by his bloud great and large are the liberties which the Lord hath purchased for us that are recorded every where in Scripture So that if the Son shall make you free then are you free indeed 2. Now for the second work of the Son in this everlasting Covenant Presupposing the Lord God the Father to have drawn the soul unto the Son from all confidence in the world and in his own righteousness and in his own returnings unto God by believing through his own power from confidence in his own resolutions and his own waiting upon Christ and from all confidence in priviledges and power of nature and grace received now it may be all this while the poor soul knoweth not who it is that hath wrought all this work in him and for him and it may be he is so far to seek in this as that he knows not whether it be the Lord God the Father or the
work so great redemption for those that never knew what it meant nay first he will teach them their bondage ver 34. He that committeth sin is the servant of sin therefore if the Son make us free we shall be free indeed but otherwise we cannot be free Secondly Use 2 It may teach all those that are under bondage where your liberty and hope and spiritual redemption lies Isai 45.22 Look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth look unto him Object But may I not look at such good desires and hungrings and thirstings and mournings after Christ as are in me to satisfie my self with them Answ Alas you may look long and it may be much ado to kindle a spark of comfort it may be you may get out a spark but then it is but a sparkling light neither will the Lord suffer his servants to fasten the satisfaction of their souls there shall a man that is hungry look to his hungring and thirsting will that satisfie him It is indeed a sign of health but it will not satisfie him so neither will spiritual hungring and thirsting therefore he saith Come unto me if you mean to finde rest it is not a mans weariness that doth set his bones at rest but Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden Mat. 11.28 there hath he laid up our peace in coming to him we shall find ease even a certain secret refocilation at least that will strengthen us to bear temptation so as that you may see the Fathers love and you may also see your own hungrings and thirstings for unto such the Lord calleth us and that puts a great deal of difference between a great deal of common work and such as is wrought by Gods efficacious drawing of us home to Jesus Christ Take you an hypocrite and if he begin to mourn for Christ and the like he satisfieth himself in these things but is this the way of the working of Gods almighty power to bring men unto something that is in themselves Is it not his effectual calling of us unto Christ doth not Christ say If any man thirst let him come to me and drink Otherwise all is but unprofitable work until you come unto Christ so far as Christ is there so far there is life if we be drawn unto him that as he beginneth the work so he is the end of it in us and the soul cannot rest but in cleaving unto him then is there something more then flesh and bloud hath revealed So that this is the way that God calleth his servants to walk in namely to look unto Christ to turn unto this strong hold Zach. 9.12 By his bloud he hath delivered his prisoners out of the pit wherein there it no water our strength lieth not in our own hungring and thirsting and poverty though there be truth in these and everlasting truth by reason of the Spirit that wrought them and the bloud that bought them yet your strong hold is not in them but in the rock of Israel he is the horn of salvation to his people so that I would advise every poor soul in whom is wrought any mourning after Christ through sence of your need of him make the Lord Jesus your strong hold And this is the true work and way of the Son of God to bring you to the Father and the more you find the Lord Jesus the more you shall discern the gifts that are given unto you and the comfort and power of them not that I deny that Jesus Christ doth open unto the soul what he hath done for him Joh. 6.69 We believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God so Joh. 16.30 but he doth not shew them for this end that you should satisfie your selves in them but still come unto him what though you have many gracious promises that promise many future consolations it is that you should seek unto the Lord in whom they are laid up and unto the Father of Jesus Christ that promised them in whose hand it is to make them all good unto us thus in all this doth the Lord train up his servants unto an heavenly and Christian frame and if the soul should rest in any work he doth or gift he hath received it is a strong jealousie the work is not sound for if it be of the grace of God and in truth it will still lead the soul to look up unto Christ and the soul cannot quench his thirst in it but comes to the Father and earnestly beggeth that out of his Fatherly love he would give him Jesus Christ this is the spirit and way of a true-hearted Christian Thirdly Use 3 This may teach Christians that are in such a way as this to hold on in that way for truly it is a way of comfort through the grace of God Isai 43.1 Fear not O Israel for I have redeemed thee none of the redeemed of God need to fear Luk. 1.74 We are delivered that we might serve him without fear It is in the Lord Jesus that the Apostle doth so triumph Rom. 8.31 c. Who can be against us who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died c. and hereupon he triumpheth saying Who shall separate us from the love of God c. and though we may say That he was grown to a greater measure of strength then we now speak of yet this is the work of all the Israel of God to hope in the Lord in whom is plenteous redemption Psal 130.7 Fourthly Use 4 This may serve to teach us to wait upon the Lord for this his plenteous redemption and to bless his name for it when we find it Psal 103.4 Bless the Lord O my soul who redeemeth thy life from destruction c. Let us learn to serve him with thankfulness and to grow up therein for this is the great redemption wherewith the Lord hath redeemed us to himself he that hath thus redeemed us will still redeem and deliver us 2 Cor. 1.10 he that hath done this will not leave us until he hath finished all his thoughts of peace towards us In the Fifth and last place Use 5 let it exhort us to stand fast in all our Christian liberties they cost dear and we are redeemed from the Covenant and curse of the Law of God from the Laws of men much more that are not according to God be not therefore servants to lusts and passions to the world and to the Devil let us tread the world under foot seeing God hath redeemed us let us walk as his redeemed ones redeemed from all errours of mind and judgement standing fast in all that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Gal. 5.1 and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage it was a bondage that we were in before and a bondage greater then either we or our fathers were able to bear let
some peace unto the soul Thus the Father doth reveal the Son in us and in point of sanctification the Father doth regenerate us but it is by a spirit of regeneration the Son redeemeth us into liberty by a spirit of liberty he comes in the Fathers name and in the Sons name to carry on that work which they have in hand in the Saints Joh. 14.26 and chap. 15.26 the Father will send him and I will send him and the Holy Ghost doth kindly work all to make us regenerate sons unto the Lord these things he doth in their name he doth some things also in his own name though from their power also now though both these are sanctifying works there is a third work of sanctification which is proper to the Spirit this was foretold by Christ Act. 1.8 You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you they were the sons of God before and free sons before set at liberty by the Spirit of the Son but there is yet more to come You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you so this is the proper sanctifying work of the Spirit to give a further power in sanctification he doth imprint a character of power upon our sanctification that we have not only power to be called the sons of God nor to be free sons of God but powerful also 2 Tim. 1.7 the Lord hath given us the Spirit of power when the Spirit worketh this he worketh his own proper work And as there is such a kind of threefold degree in a spirit of sanctification so there is a kind of semblable work that is found in hypocrites in some measure for as you read of the Holy Ghost his coming upon them so shall you find mention made of their sanctification Heb. 10.29 they are said to tread under foot the bloud of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified so Mat. 20.16 Many are called but few are chosen doth he mean by the outward call of the word truly you shall find that the context will carry you much farther then so for consider upon what occasion our Saviour speaketh it there was a certain rich man that would have forsaken all and followed Christ but he found it too costly but Peter said We have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore verily saith Christ Ye that have followed me in the regeneration meaning in the regeneration of the world shall sit upon twelve thrones c. but many of those that do forsake much shall be last and the last shall be first for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain housholder that hired men into his vineyard and some he hired early in the morning some at the third hour some at the sixth some at the ninth some at the eleventh and when he comes to reckon he payeth every man a peny they that bore the heat of the day expected to have received more whereupon the Lord Jesus gives this as one answer Many are called but few are chosen they may be called to forsake brethren and sisters and fathers and mothers and that out of conscience unto Christ and much they have done for Christ they have laboured for Christ and born the burden and heat of the day they had a calling to come into the vineyard and there they have wrought and yet of these few are chosen so that it was not a meer verbal calling no here is a kind of strong spiritual calling which did prevail to withdraw them from all the comforts of this life so far it was effectual and yet these were not chosen so that there is a sanctification that doth not flow from Gods eternal election and therefore it is not to be despised that the Apostle doth add Rom. 8.28 To them that are called according to his purpose otherwise there is a calling that comes from Gods purpose of free grace and then it carrieth them along no farther then to do some outward service for God they may do much harvest-work and yet not be called according to purpose so then we see there is a calling and sanctification that reacheth unto them that are but common hypocrites whence it comes to pass they will work much according to it for sanctification is that which worketh from God the things of God and for the glory of God this is sanctification in the proper meaning of it and this you shall find in hypocrites For they will work from God Mat. 7.22 Have not we prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils they knew their own name would not reach it therefore they will make God their efficient cause and it is a great word which the Lord spake unto Jehu 2 King 10.30 Because thou hast done well in executing that which was right in my eyes and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart thus he wrought the things of God and pretended the glory of God vers 16. and which is more wonderful that they should for the sake of Jesus Christ do many things Mat. 19.29 and these not chosen and such as shall be last in the recompence and what is yet wanting in these mens sanctification is the change of their heart wanting truly not altogether for the Lord gave Saul another heart 2 Sam. 10.9 But mind it though it was somewhat altered in quality yet not in substance it was not a new heart not an heart of flesh for that is peculiar to the Covenant of Grace they want that self-denying faith that is found in all new-hearted Christians whereby they deny even themselves Luk. 9.23 for a man to be all from Christ and all in Christ and all for Christ this is wanting to these moral sanctifications that are found in men But wherein then is the defect of their sanctification discovered in this Take you a man sanctified as Saul Jehu Judas Demas these were men of good account Samuel had a good esteem of Saul and Jonadab bears Jehu record that his heart was upright with him the Disciples mistrust themselves rather then Judas and Paul ranketh Demas with Marcus and Aristarchus his fellow-labourers yet in all these here was no self-denying faith for he that comes to Christ and closeth with Christ must deny himself so then in this these men do shew themselves different from the chosen of God they come not to Christ with a self-denying heart they seem to work all in the name of Christ yet they still work in their own power and strength or at least they work for themselves You read of some that took delight in the Lord Isai 58.2 3. and yet if God do not hear their prayers they are offended a sign they wrought in the sence of the worth of their own works so also those in Mat. 7.22 Have not we prophesied in thy name they do expostulate with God why he should cast off them they expected a bountiful reward for the works they
of the Covenant he is the Prince of it and hath received all the promises from God they are accomplished in him he hath fulfilled all the conditions and received all the blessings and applyed them unto us and wrought all things in us and for us and still leadeth us on unto further and further fellowship with himself For the Use of this Point Use 1 in the first place it is of refutation unto the Popish Doctrine that hath devised other Mediatours besides Jesus Christ they come unto God in the mediation of Saints and Angels and pray to them to pray for them in Heaven and look that by the vertue of their prayers they shall be saved and whereas the Scripture is plain 1 Tim. 2.5 there is one mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus yea say they one Mediatour of Redemption but many of Intercession whereas mind you it is the work of a Mediatour not only to do that which may prevail for the obtaining of peace but he must apply it also or else he hath not brought us unto union and communion with the Father And when they make intercession unto Angels for the vertue and merit of their prayers it doth evacuate the mediation of Jesus Christ for bring in other Mediatours and you weaken him in his Office A sign they trust not in him and therefore are accursed when they put confidence in other things Jer. 17.5 But you will say Answ Do we not pray the Saints on earth to pray for us It is true we do so Object and Christ hath bidden us and given us paterns to pray one for another but if we in this Country should pray to a friend in England to pray for us it were Idolatry Paul indeed doth write unto the Churches to pray for him but not unto the Saints or Angels in heaven 2. We do not depend upon their prayers that by the merit of them they should prevail but we look at it only as a way wherein the Lord calleth us to wait upon him so as that when we have done desiring we look for all blessing from Jesus Christ even then when we beg the prayers of our friends When as God was angry with the friends of Job because they falsly accused Job chap. 42.7 8. he bids them take a sacrifice and go to Job and he shall pray for you for him will I accept but must they now trust upon Job or upon his acquaintance with God no verily but upon the Lord Jesus who was held forth by the Sacrifice So that though we crave the help of our brethrens prayers yet the Lord doth not allow us to make our friends Mediatours between Christ and us we look not for any thing from them but from the Lord Jesus Christ alone in that way Now they look at Mary as able to command the Lord Jesus Jube Mater Filium command thy Son and when they pray to this Saint and that Saint they look that the right and merit and efficacy of their prayers shall carry all an end whereas they need a Mediatour themselves and therefore they cannot by their own right be Mediatours unto us But that we might the better understand the mystery of iniquity do not they make the Saints and Angels the Mediatours of their Redemption also what is the ground of the Popish indulgences have not they a treasure of Church-merit which they boast of and therefore have they power as they say to grant pardons and to apply the merits of the Saints unto this and that soul now minde you he which is a Mediatour of the pardon of my sins is a Mediatour of redemption and justification and this is the dangerous gulfe into which the Popish Religion sinketh many millions of souls The second Use Use 2 Is of Instruction how to make an holy use of all the gifts of Gods grace and duties of Gods worship this Doctrine will properly hold it forth for here is as dangerous a rock for our souls to be split upon as is among them for we also may be subject to the like danger in making our own righteousness our mediatours as they be in making their prayers and merits of their Saints their Mediatours if we shall make any graces in our hearts the ground of our union with God we have forgotten that Jesus Christ became God and man and that he only is a fit person to remove all offence and to communicate all good things from God unto us if we shall say within our selves Were I but thus and thus humbled the Lord would accept me and all the blessed promises would be mine if I could but pray as such a Christian can then I know the Lord would accept me This may be a piece of refined Popery but it is Popery at the very bottom if we look unto our graces or duties to bring us unto union with Christ or if we think that by the right of them communion shall be maintained we have forgotten our Mediatour Jesus Christ God and man for if he be our Mediatour he doth work both these for us these things cannot bring us unto Christ for they all flow from him if therefore we have no other union with Christ then that which flows from them we are not united unto this very day But you will say Cannot our gifts and works maintain this union when it is true If they can uphold it they are in part Mediatours that they do uphold it by merit no Protestant will say neither is there any right or power in them to do this and therefore to trust in them is to put confidence in the arm of flesh and though it be not so gross as Popery yet it tends unto the like dishonour of Jesus Christ It was a faithful saying of the Apostle Peter and worthy of all acceptation when they saw the people ready to attribute much unto their holiness Acts 3.12 c. Ye men of Israel saith Peter why look ye so earnestly on us as if we by our power or holiness had made this man to walk the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus c. so it is not in the power of the best spiritual gifts or works to make a creeple go much less is it in their power to make a feeble soul stand upright but the God of our fathers glorifieth his Son Jesus in doing all this work for us for he is our only mediatour of reconciliation redemption and intercession and if we look for any such vertue power or right in any other means under heaven we deprive Christ of the Office of a Mediatour There is an Opinion as I hear stirring in our native Country that though none of our works give us merit right or power to reach the blessing yet they give us fitness Now truly this is but an English word in Latine we call it congruity and this the Papists come unto that when they be driven hard
of bondage according to that power which was given to the faithful witnesses Revel 11. Besides this spirit of bondage the Lord hath another work which is called a spirit of burning Mal. 4.1 The day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of hosts and it shall leave them neither root nor branch This is a spirit of burning let us speak unto it a little The Prophet saith It shall leave them neither root nor branch There are two things in the root 1. First is the root of Abraham's Covenant which this people much trusted upon and that is it of which John Baptist speaketh Now the ax is laid to the root of the tree c. and this he spake Mat. 3.9 after he had said Think not to say with your selves We have Abraham to our father ver 8. So that all the confidence that they had in Abraham's Covenant and Temple and Tabernacle and such things is burnt up and so they have no root left them to stand upon And this is one thing intended by the root But 2. There is something more in it for with this spirit of burning the Lord by the power of his Spirit doth cut us off from any power of our own natural gifts or parts and spiritual gifts also whereby we thought to lay hold on Jesus Christ and we are cut off hereby from all that confidence that we have in our own sufficiency when once the Lord intendeth to bring a soul unto himself for there is an usual prefidence that we have of our own state though the Lord have cut us off from hope in the righteousness of our parents and from boasting of his Ordinances yet we think there is some power still left us and therefore we hope and will seek that the Lord may reveal himself to us in mercy and peace but when the Lord cometh neerer unto us he will shew us how unable we are to take up the least good resolution we shall be like bruised reeds and not find our selves able to hold up our heads for Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost So that Christ will not seek us until we be lost and therefore he saith Mat. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and follow me and according hereunto it is that those converts Act. 2.37 do cry out when they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do Hence it is also that the poor souls that came unto Christ Mat. 12.20 were like bruised reeds that could not hold up their heads for the Lord in this case bruiseth them and layeth them low that they see no more hope of mercy no likelihood that God should shew them any hope Thus doth the Lord burn up the root of Abraham's Covenant wherein men trust and the root of all our self-sufficiency that now we find our selves dried up and our strength consumed that now we are not able to think as of our selves a good thought And again The Lord by this spirit of burning doth burn up all our branches also how fair and green soever they have been all our fastings and humiliations and alms-deeds and prayers such things as the Pharisees much boasted in Mat. 6.1 2 3. c. but these things are all burnt up This is a spirit of bondage partly as it worketh a trembling and fear and partly as it worketh to the burning up of all the hope that we have in our selves There is a spirit of bondage I confess that only worketh unto fear and now all the hope is that a man setteth upon reformation but if the Lord love a mans soul he will not let him stay there but goeth further with him and sheweth him that his prayers fastings are all empty and fall short of the life and power of Jesus Christ I but yet the soul is not quite out of hope though the Law cannot save me if it cannot I must get me to Jesus Christ then and lay hold upon him for salvation as if all were to be had by faith in Jesus Christ if once he can lay hold upon him and nothing else were required but faith in Jesus Christ and my laying hold upon him I see plainly saith a man in this case that there is no hope in me as hath been rightly observed therefore he trusteth upon Jesus Christ and giveth himself to Jesus Christ but now if the Lord love thy soul he will not suffer thee there to rest the spirit of burning will not leave thee so How comest thou by faith in Jesus Christ Why Thou tookest it up of thy own accord thou thoughtest all thy gifts and duties were in vaine and therefore now thou wilt believe in Jesus Christ Is it so easie a matter Can any man come unto Christ except the Father draw him And is thy faith any more then a resolution of thine own when thou wast convinced of the emptiness of thine own gifts and abilities When this spirit of burning hath blasted this thy faith also and that by the clear evidence of the Gospel put upon it now saith the soul I see that I am not in Christ though I said I would trust in Christ yet I see it is not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven now I see it is not my faith that will reach Jesus Christ it is not a faith of my own undertaking that will serve the turn I see now Christ alone must work this great work in me and Christ in the way of his own Ordinances therefore I must look for it in his word and in the fellowship of the Sacraments therefore I will look up unto the Lord in all these and wait for him and seek him therein And so the poor soul maketh account that in time he shall find Jesus Christ in the Ordinances and so hammereth out a faith from thence and therein blesseth himself Now minde you the Spirit of God when the Lord God the Father will draw home the soul throughly to Jesus Christ will burn up all thy confidence for if thy soul be not utterly lost so long as it hath any root or power in it self though I cannot work I will believe and if I cannot believe I will wait that I may believe and so here is still the old root of Adam left alive in us whereby men seek to establish their own righteousness whereof the Apostle Paul often maketh mention This old root putteth forth it self and will not suffer the soul to be wholly for Christ and for Christ alone and all because there is a spring of Adam still in the soul whence it is that the soul is marvelous apt to have hope and confidence more or less from some vertue or power in himself therefore it is
toward us as he saith Joh. 16.26 27. I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you Then doth he keep us in this estate And which is a farther work of the Son for this purpose he will send us his holy Spirit as He told his Disciples Joh. 16.7 It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you Thus as the Father sent the Son so will the Son send the Spirit and in the mean while he doth preserve us until the Spirit come and then he preserveth us by his Spirit Now sometimes he makes his people tarry longer before he send the Spirit in this kind of dispensation but we leave the times and seasons thereof unto the free purpose of the grace of God but I say mean while the Son preserveth us Joh. 6.39 This is the Fathers will that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing So Joh. 17.12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost He keeps us in a waiting frame of spirit so that we cannot but thirst after him and long for him and mourn for the want of him and then a bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench until he bring forth judgement unto victory Mat. 12.20 Thus hath the Lord Jesus promised to keep us and this he doth perform 1. Partly by praying for us Luk. 22.31 32. Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy saith fail not so Joh. 17.11 20 21 22 23 c. Holy Father keep through thy own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are c. and this is the eternal efficacy of the Son whereby every beleeving soul is kept until he do finde fulness of accomplishment of his spiritual desires and though we may be many waies wanting in prayer for our selves yet he will give us his Spirit to pray within us with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed 2. And as he ' will keep us by his prayer so secondly by his ruling Providence for all power is given unto him both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 and this power he doth employ to preserve his servants from all the delusions of the sons of men The Prophet Ezekiel complains of some that thrust away and shoulder out the people of God Ezek. 34.21 22 c. but saith the Lord I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them even my servant David vers 23 25. They shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods None of all the delusions of Antichrist none of all the power of Tyrants not all the flattering world nor all the persecuting world shall be able to shoulder off the Saints of God from him 2 Tim. 1.12 I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day and the Lord Jesus engageth both his own power and his Fathers power for this end Joh. 10.28 29. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall they pluck them out of my hand my Father which gave them me is greater then all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Thus have you seen how Jesus Christ gives himself unto Abraham and to his seed to become one with us to lead a miserable life and dye an accursed death thereby to redeem us from all our enemies unto a state of liberty by an invaluable price even by himself And having thus had the Father drawing us unto Christ though the Father said little unto the soul who had been about him all this while and so leaves the soul in no small distress as the Fathers work is Power so the Sons work is Liberty and he revealeth to us our redemption and reveals it so that the soul is set in an earnest longing after Christ in whom there is a way to the Father and a great mourning after him hungring for him so that nothing in heaven nor earth can satisfie him in which case the Lord doth give such strength and constancy unto the soul in looking towards Christ as encourageth him to expect refreshing in the end though at present he looks at all that he hath attained as a parable in comparison of what he would further enjoy in communion with Jesus Christ but it often befals the servants of God as it did the Disciples of Christ they were put unto new demurrs and doubtings We thought say they it had been he that should have restored the kingdome to Israel Luk. 24.21 these were Simon and Cleophas if it had not been He where was the comfort and blessed hope of rest which they looked for in Jesus Christ we thought it had been he a sign it was a demurr and dispute in them whether it was Gods grace in them or Christ that had been with them yea or no whilest they are at this debate in themselves Jesus himself comes unto them and reproves them for their unbelief and chargeth them to tarry at Jerusalem and there to wait for the promise of the Father And thus doth the Lord Jesus teach us to know the Father and reveals him to us by strengthning us unto all such holy duties as he calleth us unto and though we be many times affraid to pray to hear to come to Christian conference yet the Lord will not suffer us to refrain but we must pray and confer and hear and when we have used all he teacheth us to know that it is not in all these as of themselves to work any thing in us nor doth he suffer us to content our selves in any thing wrought in us but causeth us to thirst after more of himself in every Ordinance until the Spirit comes in a plentiful measure according to all the latitude of our desires after Christ Jesus Now for the Use of this Vse 1 in the first place If so be the work of the Son be such a work of redemption then certainly our state is a state of bondage before we be thus redeemed yea it is such a state of bondage as wherein we lie bound under Gods Law and under sin under Gods wrath and curse under the Devil and death and under the power of this world and all these enemies have power over us to carry us captive unto sin and misery so that great is the misery we lie under if we knew our misery few know it but are ready to say with those Joh. 8.33 We were never in bondage to any oh poor hearts then were you never redeemed to this very day if thou never yet knewest thy bondage thou never yet knewest thy Redeemer the Lord will never so dishonour his own work as to pay so great a price to
had done they wrought from themselves and for themselves and so those many that were called Mat. 20 they had denied father and mother and wife and children and therefore they looked for great reward having borne the burden and heat of the day and this is the proper character of an hypocrite he doth challenge his reward out of the worth of his work whereas the chosen ones of God are taught to say When we have done all that is commanded us we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17.10 this is one difference in the rise of the work Again there is a difference in the work it self Gods chosen ones work the will of Christ and not their own though their will also goeth along with it others work the will of Christ as far as it will stand with their own Jebu's zeal did root out Baal and the house of Abab freely he drove on furiously for it was an act of his own ambitious heart to settle his own Kingdom this he aimed at no further would he go from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he departed not And Lastly Hypocrites will out-shoot Christ in his own bow they will aim at their own ends in Christs works Jehu will root out Ahab and Baal but it is to establish his own Kingdom to walk in all the Lords Commandments he did not regard while Gods will accomplisheth his will he goeth along with it but no farther Thus we see there is a work of sanctification under a Covenant of works such as whereby men have another heart and many gifts of courage and wisdom and zeal and power come upon them for the service of the Church and yet you will find that they will work from themselves and for themselves and for God they will not work beyond their own ends and though they seem to walk with him for a while yet you shall soon see the Lord will take one course and they will take another 3. We now come unto a third work of the Holy Ghost in which he doth give himself as God unto his people for in all these works he doth work as God and so expresseth himself this work is Divine revelation he doth reveal himself like a God in the soul that so you may acknowledge his presence power and truth a very clear place we have for it Eph. 1.17 18. c. I cease not to make mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him c. mark how the Apostle doth consider God in regard of his most eminent glory and power as he is the God of Jesus Christ and the Father of glory That he might give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that is of the Father Son and Spirit That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints c. minde what Divine revelation here is see how gloriously God is set forth that giveth it and also the gift that is given and these things the Apostle prayeth not only for glorious and transcendent Christians men of renown but for all the Ephesians for all ordinary Christians among them he would have none of them destitute of a Spirit of wisdom and revelation and what should this Spirit do it should enlighten the organ even the eyes of their understanding otherwise it is beyond the power of created gifts to reach the clear discerning of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God as they are dispensed in the Gospel of Christ and as in all sight there is the Organ and the Medium and the Object the eye is the organ the air is the medium the thing seen is the object so doth the Apostle here pray that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened far above the capacity of Reason yea above the capacity of the spiritual gifts which they had received for he desires that a spirit of wisdom and revelation might be given them though the Lord had blessed them with all spiritual blessings already they had believed and had been sealed yet here is something more to be attained they want a further enlightening by the clearing of the word of God which is the medium by which we discern all things therein and for the Object he doth express what it is that you may know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward which believe c. these things the Apostle prayeth that the Spirit would reveal even the hope that God hath laid up for his Saints glorious things are spoken of the church of God great and glorious hopes are prepared for them and they are begotten unto them even to an inheritance incorruptable and undefiled that by vertue of our calling we might have fellowship with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.2 3. some degree of fellowship we have already but the hope of that which is to come is beyond all our comprehension and beyond what any created understanding can search into the depth of and yet we may see much in the hope of preservation and quickening to that which is good in the hope of God's turning all things to the best for us we may see much of the rich and plenteous redemption which God hath wrought for us and what goodness of God is reserved to every poor servant of his and what is the riches of his glorious inheritance in his Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe even that mighty power which he did put forth to bring us to believe that ever he should bring such hearts as ours were to be enlightened to see the blessings of his heavenly calling to be called unto fellowship with the Father and with the Son and with the Spirit and with the Church of God in all the promises of God and gifts of grace and duties of sanctification our calling is to be exercised in them all until at length all their enemies be subdued and death at length swallowed up in victory This the Apostle prayeth for that their eyes might be opened to behold all these mysteries And thus doth the Holy Ghost clear up our understandings and the Scriptures whereby we understand and the objects which are to be understood by us even the riches of grace here bestowed upon us and laid up in heaven for us But how doth the Holy Ghost work these things Quest indeed they are unconceivable mysteries better felt then told The Spirit doth reveal himself partly in witnessing unto our spiritual estate Answ and partly by revealing all other counsels of his truth needful for us to know in this our age and time wherein any Christian man
liveth Touching our estate He is called a witness 1 Joh. 5.6 It is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth there are six witnesses mentioned in that text three in heaven the Father the word and the Holy Ghost three in earth the Spirit the water and the bloud but it is the Spirit that beareth witness in all these But doth not the water and the bloud bear witness truly they do but it is in the hands of the Spirit and that is plain by the 9. ver wherein the Apostle giveth us to understand that if any thing be confirmed by any of those witnesses it is the witness of God because indeed the Spirit witnesseth in them all You will say Object Doth not a Divine work yield a Divine Testimony and are not the water of sanctification and the bloud of justification Divine works and will they not reach a Divine Testimony It is not a Divine Testimony Answ unless the Spirit of God bear witness in and by it for are not the heavens and the earth Divine works which the power of the creature cannot reach unto all are Divine works even to the least hairs of our head for we cannot make one of them white or black and yet an argument from the creature is no Divine Testimony unless the Spirit of God set it home if it be from the least work when the Spirit of of God beareth witness in it there is a powerful Testimony the Magicians of Egypt do profess when Moses brought the Plague of Lice that it was the finger of God when as in greater works they did not acknowledge it but thought they could do the like and what was the reason that they were confounded in the Lice truly because the Spirit of God would on purpose breath in that work to confound them in so mean a creature all which sheweth us thus much that it is not in the power of Divine works though they be never so immediate that are able to work Divine faith in us unless the Holy Ghost breathe in them and then though it were but some creeping work or word it would breathe a strong testimony to some former work of God so that it is the Spirit of God that doth make Divine Testimony both in heaven and in earth otherwise howsoever the judgement may be by some means convinced yet a lively faith will not be wrought To speak something unto particulars the Father beareth witness and the Son beareth witness of himself and many great works which He wrought bear witness of him all his life long Take you now the Father's work which is to draw the soul unto Christ through a spirit of bondage to make us sensible of our need of him for every man that hath heard and learned of the Father comes unto Christ Joh. 6.44 and no man can come unto Christ except the Father draw him so Mat. 16.17 Flesh and bloud hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven so Gal. 1.15 16. When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me now though these be the work and witness of the Father yet doth he not work them immediately but by his Spirit as he saith expresly 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Eye hath not seen nor ear hath heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by the Spirit c. In like manner when the Father doth discover Christ unto us and draw us unto Christ it is by the Spirit that he doth these things When the Son bringeth on the soul unto Christian liberty for liberty is the property of the Son and reveals the Father's love unto the soul Joh. 16.27 a son-like spirit doth this it is the Spirit of his Son that maketh us cry Abba Father Gal. 4.9 7. Also the Spirit beareth witness by a testimony from it self which it doth set on more clearly then either of the former testimonies according to Joh. 16.25 The time comes when I shall speak no more to you in proverbs but I shall shew you plainly of the Father He comes with power and speaketh peace more plentifully unto the soul Act. 1.8 Psal 85.8 Isai 57.19 All which sheweth us that the Spirit setteth on his testimony with more clearness power and certainty unto the soul therefore he is called the unction by which the Saints know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 by his testimony we have more full assurance of all things concerning our spiritual estate It is he also that doth bear witness in the water and in the bloud for otherwise though the Spirit be never so much broken in the sence of sin as Davids was and he saw it Psal 51.17 it was the Spirit that gave him to see it and yet he still begs the upholding of the free spirit ver 12. for without him neither the water of sanctification nor the bloud of justification will clearly establish the heart in the peace of God Faith it self is not able to beget more assurance of faith nay it is not all the word of God that is able to put life into faith though the whole word of God beareth witness unto faith wherefore is the word excluded from the number of the witnesses all is certainly carried home unto the soul by the word whether the Father reveal the Son or the Son reveal the Father all is by the word likewise also whatsoever the Spirit doth reveal it is by the word Joh. 14.26 He shall bring all things unto your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you he makes the word take deep impression upon the soul but the word of God of it self doth not testifie though it be the counsel of God for the Lord would not have his people to scramble out a testimony from the word nor from his works for they will not afford it unless the Spirit be in them but when the Spirit doth accompany them then will the soul finde matter to build upon otherwise though sanctification may convince a gainsayer yet Divine faith is only wrought by the Spirit breathing in the word of life Thus have we seen that it is the Spirit that beareth witness in all the six Witnesses unto the state of a Christian It is the Spirit also that beareth witness unto all things else that are needful for us to know in our times 1 Joh. 2.20 Joh. 14.26 The anointing teacheth you all things the Comforter shall teach you all things Great is the power of the Spirit to beget and encrease faith by the word of God and by the works of his providence he causeth the soul to trust in God and to say He that hath delivered me out of six troubles will not he deliver me out of the seventh otherwise if the Spirit do not set in though judgement be convinced yet the heart is not enlarged to believe David could not gainsay Nathan when he told him from the Lord that God
the comfort of the Holy Ghost is more abundant and constant so it is more powerful Luk. 24.49 Behold I send unto you the promise of the Father tarry ye at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high so Act. 1.8 You shall receive power from on high after that the holy Ghost is come upon you not by the gift of him nor by his inhabitation nor by sanctification nor by revelation only but in the power of all these that in the middest of strong opppositions you might have strong consolation therefore this is the ground of the Apostle Pauls thanksgiving 2 Cor. 1.5 and chap. 2.14 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so also our consolation aboundeth by Christ and thanks be to God who alwaies causeth us to triumph in Christ Thus you see the truth of the Point that the work of consolation doth in special manner belong unto the Holy Ghost yet for the further clearing of it there is a Question or two to be answered There is mention made Ephes 1.13 14. of the seal of the Spirit and of the earnest of the Spirit Therefore it may be demanded 1. What is the seal of the Spirit 2. What is the earnest of the Spirit What is the seal of the Spirit Quest 1 for so he is called Ephes 4.30 Grieve not the holy Spirit whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption so likewise there is mention made both of the seal and earnest of the Spirit 2 Cor. 1.21 22. For answer hereunto Answ to speak properly what I conceive the Scripture to hold forth I take the seal of the Spirit to be nothing else but the Spirit it self as the name of Christ is often put for Christ himself for you shall not read in Scripture that it is called the seal of the Spirit but they were sealed by the Spirit He hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 So that as the Spirit is the anointment and the earnest so he is also the seal when the Angel mentioned Revel 7.2 is said to have the seal of the living God it is meant of the Spirit But Quest how is the Holy Ghost said to be a seal and in respect of what workings of his is he so called I Answer Answ There is a threefold respect in which he is called The seal and he doth expresse the nature of a seal in them all 1. First He doth confirm and ratifie all the gracious promises of God unto the soul bearing witness in truth and power of them unto the soul and thereby begetting and confirming faith in the soul for the use of the seal is to confirm and this is the principal work of the Holy Ghost to confirm all the promises of God as an authentick seal There is a place of Scripture which being a little miss-translated leadeth I cannot say into a little but into a great inconveniency Ephes 1.13 In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed Calvin is much troubled about it and so is Piscator the truth is it implyeth thus much that in believing they were sealed this is the true English of those Greek words so that it is the Holy Ghost that comes in every promise of grace wherein Jesus Christ is conveyed unto the soul he setteth it home and confirmeth it to the soul by begetting faith in that grace and so setteth to his seal that it is true to thee and hence it is that the faith which is wrought by the Holy Ghost is said to be a seal Joh. 3.33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true so then the Holy Ghost setteth his seal to it when he gives us faith and thus he is the seal as he doth confirm all the word of Gods grace unto us and hence it is that faith is called the spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 Calvin disputes this point at large when he speaketh touching the authority of the word of God which though it be none of the most learned nor elegant of his works yet I think there be so many plain arguments that they may convince the most arrogant Atheist yet to make him believe it you cannot except the Holy Ghost set in to convince a gain-sayer for it is the Spirit that gives the seal and confirmation of every word of the Gospel And to speak a little more plainly in this point although the Apostle John 1 Epistle chap. 5. ver 7 8. speaketh of six witnesses that bear witness unto Jesus Christ yet you shall finde this to be true that there are none of all that do set it home unto the soul but the Holy Ghost only when the Father beareth witness he doth it by the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.9 10. c. God revealeth the hidden things of his love unto us by his Spirit c. when the Son doth shew us the Father and so setteth the soul at liberty and easeth our consciences thereby The Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 And it is the Spirit that setteth on his own work much more plentifully by the powerfull efficacy of himself upon the soul Act. 1.8 and for the water and the bloud who applyeth them as for the water of sanctification it is but a creature and it is not in the power of any creature to beget faith for the word of God it self cannot beget faith can any work of God do it no no it is neither the bloud of justification nor the water of sanctification that can beger faith but the Spirit only otherwise you will ever and anon suspect your faith and your sanctification and every Christian knows what I say That if a man have nothing but his works of sanctification to trust unto they will fail him unless the Spirit of God do breathe in them testifie the Lords acceptance of you All the works of creation though they may convince my judgement that there is a God yet they cannot beget lively faith in me unless the Holy Ghost set in with them for the word of God cannot do it no nor the Sacraments though they be seals but when are they seals only then when the Holy Ghost is conveyed in them and therefore we see why the Holy Ghost is called a seal because he doth confirm our faith in the works and word of God You will say But may not a soul comfort himself in the former experiences of Gods mercy True but the Holy Ghost must then breathe in them and his work it is also to bring them to remembrance Joh. 14.26 if he will reveal his loving kindness in these footsteps of his grace then they do come in to confirm your faith otherwise both word and works are dead unlesse the Spirit of God breathe in them he it is that revealeth free grace justifying the ungodly and afterward will let you know the works of your sanctification he