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
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
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
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
is impossible either to know or please God As the fundamentall knowledge of God doth arise from the Covenants made by God with man So the fundamentall knowledge of the Covenants doth necessarily arise from the light of the word of eve y severall seventh daies rest as God hath revealed himselfe to man from the beginning in his severall state and condition For as hath beene said upon the immediate command of the word of every severall seventh daies rest the severall Covenants are established First and immediatly obliging man to the seventh daies formall comanded worship and in that commanded worship obliging the obedience of man to the fulfilling of the command of the whole Law without the light therefore of the word of the seventh daies rest we can never attaine to the knowledge of the Covenant The word of God therefore in this sense implying the Covenant established upon the word of the seventh daies rest is the subject of this small Tractate And as God from the beginning did manifest himselfe after a threefold formall manner to man by the word of his severall seventh daies rest of his Law of righteousnesse â—o from the beginning God did make three severall formall Covenants with man in his severall state and condition Whereby the Law of God from the beginning was formally obliged after a threefold formall severall manner obliging man in his severall state and condition which was likewise after a threefold manner As for the Covenant made with Abraham that in his seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed it was the same reall Covenant made to Adam after the fall in the promise of the blessed seed though the promise was made after a more particuler manner to Abraham after to be declared According to these three Covenants This smale Tractate shall be devided into three severall bookes containing the fundamentall declaration of the three Covenants made by God with man which are the exercit act of the sacred decree of predestination so farre therefore as is revealed to man in this life Errata Paâ— 1. l. 38. read internally p. 3. 16. of mâ—n p. 5. 23. execute p 7 27 externall p. 8. 3. infer p. 9. â—3 sustaining ib. 24. soule p. 13. 5. â—â—e act ib. 29 lamp p. 14. 17. adâ—e by p. 28 23. severall p 41. 32 the iâ—t rnall p 42. 14. extend p. 48 17. might p. 55. 19. adde more p 57. 10 addâ— spirituall ib. 35. after and sin adde and in temporall naturall death which followed thâ—t sin p. 60. 3. adde demonstratiue ib 6 literall p. 64 29 after necessary adde spirituall p 65. 14. spirituall ib. 17. indivisibly p. 67. 3. sin ib 22. he is p. 82. 21 supernaturally p. 83. 17. read thus they do necessarily hate all harers and pe secutâ—rs of his truth and of p. 89. 18. adde to p 90. 24. to Adam p. 93 11 for seed head p. 94. 36 adde from Abel p. 96. 4. adde promised ib 14 dele the second of ib. 24. are p. 97. 2. addâ— after rest of God p. 104. 25. barren works p. 107. 3. the reason p. 128. 4. of the. p. 130. 6 ancient subv rted p. 132. 23. be likewise p. 133. 31. be essentially p. 147. 7. which is p. 150. 29. light of p. 160 â—3 by his p. 165. 20. is flatly The First Booke of the Theologicall Key c. CHAP. I. Of the reall unity of the word of the law of righteousnesse written in the heart of man Of the word of promise and of the word of the seventh dayes rest and of the formall difference of each from the other WIthout the knowledge of the first Covenant established betweene God and man upon the immediat command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse there is no rest for the faith of man to rest fundamentally upon the immediate object of faith for without the true light of this fundamentall knowledge the faith of man is unstable apt to be carried away with the light of error from the true rocke of rest For the better informing the judicious Reader in the true knowledge both of the first and likewise of the two last Covenants made by God with man I doe premit this certaine Theologicall ground arising immediatly from the truth of the sacred word most necessarily to be first set downe The word of God in the Scripture is taken in a twofold sence first the word is taken for the infinite word infinite power life light righteousnes necessarily implying the essentiall power of the naturall life of the humane nature of the word man the son of God before all time as he is man the son of God begotten of the seed of the woman in time second person of the glorious Trinity By the word in this sense before the word was made flesh of the seed of the woman heaven earth the hoast of both to wit man and the creatures were created in the beginning of time and in this sence the word is incommunicable to all the creatures created by the word Secondly the word is taken for the image of the infinite power of the life of righteousnesse of the word necessarily implying the image of the power of the naturall life of the humane nature of the word and in this sense the word is called the word of the power of righteousnesse and the word in this acception is communicate to man and that after a twofold maner First the word of the power of the life of righteousnes necessarily implying the power of the naturall life of the word is eternally written in the heart of man Secondly the word of the power of life of righteousnes necessarily implying the power of the naturall life of the word is objected to the externall senses of man and by the sound of the word written as it were in the sense of hearing This power of the word of righteousnes both as it is internally written in the heart of man and as it is objected to his externall senses is twofold The first power of the word as it is internally written in the heart of man is the power of the life of righteousnesse necessarily implying the power of the naturall life of the word By the immediate power of the word thus written in the heart of man man is enabled to live the life of righteousnes and the naturall life of man for without the power of naturall life man can no way live the life of righteousnes and in this sense it is said that in him we live in him we move in him we have our being that is in the word for by the immediate power of the word written in the heart of man as it is the image of the infinite word power life and being it selfe man doth live move and hath his being in his severall state and condition Joh. 1.4 The second power of the word of righteousnes as the word is internally written in the heart of man it is the commanding
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
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
blessing from Adam before the law was transgressed by Adam for so Adam must necessarily fall under the eternall curse of the law neither could God by any act or decree whatsoever necessitate the will of man to fall under the fearefull eternall curse of the law by necessitating his free intellectuall creature man to a ten thousand million of times a worse being than if man should have had no being at all 8. The first Covenant being established between God and Adam and Adam being left to the freedome of his election by covenant to stand or fall at his pleasure or perill God without infinite prejudice to his justice could neither barre Satan from tempting of Adam created in such state of spirituall perfection neither could God uphold and support Adam tempted by the mighty temptation of Satan for so the Covenant had not been made with man but with God himselfe Against the truth of that which hath been here faithfully delivered arising from the truth of the sacred word it is objected that Adam in his state of perfection was neither obliged to the Law of God or commanded to the seventh dayes worship of God and consequently and necessarily I conclude First Adam in his state of perfection was not obliged to the first Covenant made by God with man for the first Covenant is established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the Law of righteousnesse necessarily implying the command of the whole Law Secondly and consequently the first Covenant being denyed the Covenant in the promise of the blessed seed and the new Covenant made with all the nations of the world is necessarily denyed which doe necessarily and fundamentally depend upon the first Covenant Thirdly there was no law to command man in his state of perfection for the Law of God formally commanding Adam was the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse necessarily implying the command of the whole law Fourthly neither could Adam or any man created in Adam transgresse the Law of God for where there is no law there is no transgression of the law and the seventh day of the law of God being denyed there is no law of God to command man Fifthly and consequently Christ suffered the ignominious curse of the Crosse in vaine for the transgression of the Law of God by man Sixthly by denying of the obligement of man to the command of the Law of righteousnesse by the first Covenant the truth of God is fundamentally denyed Seventhly and consequently by this denyall all Christian faith is rased from the very foundation for the foundation of all Christian faith is in the obligement of all men in Adam the head to the first Covenant established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law and upon the transgression of the law by man But the objection is proved by two strong Arguments the first is that the formall obligement of the Law now commanding man was not sutable to the perfection of Adam which is most certaine for neither the formall propheticall ceremoniall obligement of the law or the formall Evangelicall obligement of the Law of righteousnesse of faith was sutable to Adam in his state of perfection But the simple formall obligement of the Law of righteousnesse was so sutable to Adams state of perfection as the objecter Adam and all men created in Adam their head for the transgression of the Law of righteousnesse were condemned by the law to the curse of eternall death and darknesse which nothing could redeem but the sacred Blood of the Son of God which the objecter by denying that Adam in his state of perfection was not bound to the law of God doth most unthankfully deny The second Argument to prove this fearefull objection is this Adam in his state of perfection had no other obligatory precept but the command of abstenance from eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge and in the very termes of this Argument a flat contradiction is necessarily involved for this obligatory precept doth necessarily imply the command of the whole Law of righteousnesse as hath been formerly declared for by the transgression of this obligatory precept the whole Law of righteousnesse was necessarily transgressed and therefore Adam and all men naturally to descend of Adam for the transgression of this obligatory precept were condemned to the eternall curse of the law of righteousnesse But of all the fearefull blasphemous objections which was ever objected by the devill or man against the truth of God this may stand upon record for the first Thus have we finished the first Book of our Theologicall Key wherein the fundamentall points of the first Covenant are Theologically and fundamentally opened for the foundation of all Christian faith containing the first part of the exercit act of the sacred decree of predestination execute by the infinite essentiall word in the Creation of heaven and the Hoast thereof of the earth of man and of the creatures created for man and in the obligement of man to the first Covenant established upon the immediate command of the word of the first seventh dayes rest of the law of righteousnesse The Second Booke of the Theologicall Key Contayning the second Covenant made by God with man CHAP. I. It is contrary to the truth of the sacred Word to affirme that our first Parents did fall the same day that they were created AS the first Covenant made by God with man did necessarily presuppose the perfection of mans creation so the second Covenant doth as necessarily presuppose the fall of man from the perfection wherein he was created unto the eternall curse of the law of righteousnesse and the redemption of man from the eternall curse of the Law condemned by the first Covenant The second Covenant therefore doth containe the second part of the exercit act of the sacred decree of predestination in the declaration whereof the order and method set downe by Moses Gen. 3. shall be observed where first the transgression of the law by our first parents is set downe Secondly the arraignment of our first parents by God for their transgression of the law Thirdly the censure of God upon the arraignment containing the second Covenant according to which method this second Booke shall be divided in these two parts In the first part the fall of man under the eternall curse of the law shall be briefly declared In the second part the arraignment of our first parents and the censure of God upon the arraignment shall be set downe containing the second Covenant necessarily presupposing the declaration of the redeemed state of man first therefore of the fall of man from his created state of perfection under the eternall curse of the law of righteousnesse as he was obliged by the first Covenant In the declaration of the fall of man two questions may be moved first it may be demanded how long did our
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
Satan by the sensitive Serpent did first deceive the woman so the old Serpent Satans head shall be broke by man the seed of the woman This gracious promise was to be fulfilled First by the resurrection of the blessed seed the Word made flesh of the seed of the woman from the grave his last enemy to the face of the earth whereby he did manifest himself God and man by his rest from the fulfilling of the promise of the blessed seed Secondly by his resurrection from the face of the earth to the heavens from whence he came whereby he did manifest himself again by his infinite power God and man from whence he shall return again the second time in all glory and majesty united to his mysticall members who is the mysticall man that must break the head of the Serpent Satan and the seed of his cursed seed to their eternall confusion This last promised rest of the blessed seed the Word to be made flesh of the seed of the woman doth necessarily presuppose and imply his bloody rest in the grave from his cursed death of the crosse whose merit by his bloody rest as he is the eternall Son of God begot of the seed of the woman in time was twofold First by his rest from the cursed death of the crosse our Saviour was to merit the redemption of all men condemned to the curse of the Law of righteousnesse for the sin of Adam whereby all men in Adam their redeemed head were saved from the first death Secondly by his bloody rest in the grave upon the seventh day of the Law from end to end by his fulfilling of the Law in the seventh day as he obliged himself to man the eternall life and rest of the first seventh day lost by Adam was due by the Law to his merit that by faith in his merit all redeemed men might rest by faith till the promise was fulfilled whereby as all faithfull redeemed men were saved from the second death which is the curse of the Law of righteousnesse of faith for actuall sin So by the fulfilling of the promise of the blessed seed by his resurrection from the grave all faithfull believers are now saved from the second death which is the curse of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnesse of faith for actuall sin And this is the mysticall sense of this gracious promise which was made to Adam the redeemed head of man and to all men naturally to descend of Adam and was really fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ The benefit of which gracious promise was then actually to Adam and to all men to descend of Adam though the promise was to be fulfilled in time For by vertue of this promise the word of the Law and life of Righteousnesse first written in the heart of man was then the redeemed word of the Law of righteousnesse of faith whereby Adam was morally enabled to believe the promise and by believing in the promised rest of the blessed seed to have eternall life But before the second covenant can be declared whereby God doth oblige himself and Adam in this gracious promise first the word of the seventh dayes rest must be set down upon the immediate command whereof the second covenant was established between God and man For without the light of the word of this seventh dayes promised rest the second covenant can no wayes be known for the knowledge whereof we must necessarily understand that the day wherein this gracious promise was made to Adam was the seventh day of the Law from the creation by morall account as man naturally descended of Adam the head is obliged to the Law of God And this doth plainly appear by the words of the fourth Precept of the Decalogue set down to Moses where it is said Remember the Sabbath day be kept holy six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the seventh day to wit whereby Adam was obliged to the Law of righteousnesse by the first covenant in his state of perfection is now the promised rest or Sabbath of the Lord thy God to wit the promised blessed seed who hath promised to rest upon the Sabbath day in his sacred grave for the redemption of man from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam and to rise from the grave to break the Serpents head for the betraying of man to fall under the eternall curse of the Law The reason is given For in six dayes the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it that is to say as the Lord by his rest from the works of the creation did blesse the first seventh day of his Law for man and did sanctifie the first seventh day for his worship by man So from his promised rest from the works of the redemption of man the Lord hath blessed the Sabbath day for man and hath sanctified the Sabbath day for his worship by man This day therefore wherein this gracious promise was made was the seventh day by morall account from the creation sanctified by the word of promise then by the name of the Sabbath of the Lord to Adam This gracious promise made to Adam being to be performed in time was formally propheticall and consequently the Sabbath day wherein this promise was made was likewise formally propheticall For by the literall light of the propheticall Sabbath day Adams faith was led to rest upon the promised rest of the blessed seed And this is the reason that our Saviour said Mat. 11.13 The Law and Prophets did prophesie to John For the Law did then prophesie by the Sabbath which did necessarily imply the whole Law of righteousnesse of faith in the promise of the blessed seed where it is to be marked that the Lord saith that the Law did prophesie to John lest the Jewes might conceive that the first seventh day of the Law obliging Adam did prophesie which did no wayes prophesie Now because this promised rest of the blessed seed upon the Sabbath was propheticall and mysticall therefore for the strenghthening of Adams faith and the faith of the Fathers in the promise the formall worship in the propheticall Sabbath was commanded to be celebrate by the ceremoniall Altar prefigurating the cursed Altar of the crosse and by the ceremoniall sacrifice of the altar prefiguraring the cursed death of the blessed seed that as Adam faith by the ceremoniall light of the Altar and sacrifice might be led to the cursed death of the blessed seed So by the literall light of the Sabaticall seventh day of the Law of righteousnesse of faith Adams faith might be morally led to the grave of the blessed seed and from the grave to his resurrection from the grave for the breaking of the head of the Serpent In which commanded formall worship by the ceremoniall altar and sacrifice all the rites and ceremonies of the ceremoniall Law are implied and immediately referred to the Altar and
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
Scripture But yet the earth is not restored to the measure of the former fruitfulnesse The reason is that the redeemed man by his continuall labour and care might be put in minde of his thankfull obedience to his gracious Redeemer by his exercise in the commanded works of faith that his faith may be watered with the dew of the morall and spirituall blessing of the Word This blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith then to the Fathers in the promise of the blessed seed and now to us in the fulfilled promise is twofold The first is the naturall blessing of the word to the naturall life of man as he is man The second is the morall and spirituall blessing of the word to the morall and spirituall life of man by the morall and spirituall grace of faith For without the blessing of the nature of the redeemed man his morall and spirituall life must perish in this life This naturall blessing of the word is freely extended to all redeemed men without all respect to the merit of their obedience or disobedience to the command of the Word And therefore it is said Mat. 5.45 That his Sun doth shine and his rain doth fall upon the just and unjust And this is to the end that as God doth freely confer the blessings of the earth without respect to some in great plenty which he hath denyed to many of his redeemed poor members So the plentiful redeemed man may out of his plenty relieve the wants of his redeemed poor brethren without all respect to their merit who are the Lords redeemed members whereby the plentifull man doth testifie his thankfulnesse to his gracious Redeemer by the works of mercy and charity which are the commanded works of faith For what is freely given to the Lords poor redeemed members who are disabled of all means to supply their necessities it is freely given to the Lord himself as may appear by his own words Mat. 25.40 When I was hungry ye fed me not when I was thirstie ye gave me no drinke when I was naked ye clothed me not For want of means for the preservation of the life is a sore temptation which many times is prevented by the charity of the plentifull For by such means the poor indigent wretched man is diverted from attempting unlawfull courses to supply his necessity Though I must confesse that plenty without the speciall dew of the blessing of the Word be the greater and more dangerous temptation of the two The second blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith is the morall and spirituall blessing of the word necessarily implying the naturall blessing of the word And this morall and spirituall blessing is due by the Law of faith to the morall and spirituall faithfull worship of the seventh day of the Law of faith For by the morall faithfull worship of the seventh day by the naturall man and by the spirituall faithfull worship of the regenerate man by faith in the Lords merit the whole Law of faith is morally and spiritually fulfilled in the seventh day of the Law And therefore the morall and spirituall blessing of the word of the seventh dayes rest doth rest upon the naturall and regenerate man whereby the naturall man is enabled to bring forth the morall works of faith and to continue in his morall obedience till the time of Gods spirituall calling and the regenerate man is enabled to persevere and continue in his spirituall works of faith by his spirituall obedience to the spirituall command of the Law of faith And this is the first and second rain which is the dew of the Lords influence by the blessing of his Word to the grace of the morall and spirituall faith of man Thus have we briefly set down the literall and mysticall sense of the censure pronounced upon our first parents for the transgression of the Law of Righteousnesse and the second covenant established upon the immediate command of the word of the seventh dayes promised rest of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith then implyed in the propheticall Sabbath whereby Adam the redeemed head of man and all men naturally to descend of Adam were formally prophetically and ceremonially obliged to the command of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith in the promised rest of the blessed seed which is the last part of this second Book yet before we proceed a question is to be resolved which is this How long did this formall propheticall ceremoniall obligement of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith continue and how long were all redeemed men obliged by the propheticall ceremoniall Law of God CHAP. XXIX The continuation of the formall propheticall ceremoniall obligement of the Law of righteousnesse of faith in the promise of the blessed seed in the first age of the Church TO the question moved in the end of the former chapter I briefly answer The formall obligement of man by the propheticall ceremoniall Law of faith in the promise of the blessed seed did continue from the very period of the promise first made to Adam the redeemed head of man till the day of our Saviours resurrection from the grave whereby the promised rest of the blessed seed was totally and absolutely fulfilled The continuation whereof may be divided in these two points The first is the formall obligement of our Fathers by the promise before any part of the promise was fulfilled And this formall obligement did continue till our Saviours coming in the world by whom the promise was fulfilled by degrees which is to be declared in the third Book As for the continuation of the formall obligement of the Law obliging Adam and the Fathers in the promise it may be distinguished in the first three ages of the Church The first was from Adam to Noah the second from Noah to Abraham the third from Abraham to Moses which continued till our Saviours coming wherein my purpose is only to shew that the formall obligement of the propheticall ceremoniall Law by faith in the promise of the blessed seed and that the covenant was really one and the same in all the first three ages of the Church though the figures prefigurating the promise were more significant the more neer that the promise came to be fulfilled After the covenant in the promise of the blessed seed was entred with Adam the redeemed head of man and with all men naturally to descend of Adam Satan that old raging Lion fearing the breaking of his head by the promised blessed seed to be born of the woman did begin to roare afresh intending to devoure the line whereof the blessed seed was to descend as he had devoured all men formally by the betraying of our first parents to fall under the curse of the Law by eternall death For Satan knowing the severity of Gods justice whereof himself had such experience resolved to set the whole world in such a fire of
be broke by the seed of the woman which suggested remedy the Jews did divers times attempt but the Lord did prevent their purpose by escaping their bloody hands because his hour was not come yet this fear did so possesse Satan as he never left with all diligence to watch his opportunity till the hour was come that our Saviour was to suffer for the sins of man for then Satan did bestir himself by incensing of the high Priest Scribes Pharisees and the rabblement of the Jews and Gentiles with most cruell bloody hands to murder the Lord of life the Word whereby the light of the whole Word was obscured and darkned for a time And then both Satan and the Jews thought themselves secure But after the Lords resurrection from the dead Satan apprehending himself so horribly deceived the roaring Lyion did so rage as he did incense the Jews to keep afoot the ceremoniall worship of the Jews propheticall Sabbath for which effect Satans instruments were set awork to persecute the planters of the Evangell amongst wâ—ich crue who was so busie as Paul before his conversion By this means Satan again did attempt to obscure and darken the light of the whole Word by a false deceiving morall light contradictory to the Evangelicall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Evangelicall Law â—f Righteousnesse of faith For by keeping afoot the ceremoniall worship of the propheticall Sabbath the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was plainly denied and the Evangelicall light of the Lords day implying the whole Evangell attempted to be obscured As Satan by his false morall light did obscure the light of the word of the seventh dayes rest from the beginning totally and in generall So doth he now by his false deceiving morall light obscure the Evangelicall light of the word of the seventh dayes rest of the Law of Righteousnesse of faith in particular which Satan doth effect by suggesting a false morall deceiving light contradictory to the light of the Evangelicall Law of faith whereby some fundamentall points of faith is subverted and stifly maintained contrary to the Evangelicall Law of faith some of which points be ancient some modern of the ancient subjected points of faith such are these First salvation from the curse of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnesse of faith may be merited by the good works of man Secondly Christ died for originall sin only Thirdly the actuall sins of the dead and of the quick are taken away by the surmised sacrifice of the fictious ceremoniall altar Fourthly the power to pardon actuall sin as it is a transgression against the spirituall command of the Law is in the Church Fifthly universality of spirituall grace to fulfill the command of the Law is by the act of the externall sacrament of baptisme The authority of canonicall Scripture depends upon the allowance of man and a world of such errors So of modern fundamentall errors be such as these First the elect only not all men lost in Adam the head are redeemed from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam Secondly all the promises of salvation are made to the elect only and not to all men in generall Thirdly universall grace of morall faith by the perfection of the redemption is peremptorily denyed and consequently and necessarily the grace of morall repentance Fourthly the morall freedome of the will without any necessitating of the will of man to morall disobedience is denyed by the act of the redemption Fifthly the election of man to salvation is out of the alone free pleasure of God without all subordinate respect to the Lords merit Sixthly the condemnation of man to the eternall torments of hel is out of the alone pleasure of God without all subordinate respect to the Law of God or to the merit of man by transgression of the Law Seventhly children dying unbaptized are saved by the parents faith and a number of such All which pretended fundamentall points of faith are contradictory to the light of the truth of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnesse of faith for removing of which false fundamentall errors and of all manner of erronious tenents repugnant to the command of the Evangelicall Law of faith the judicious Reader is enabled by a short rule or canon in the third Book And so much for answer to the first objection by answering whereof the judicious Reader may plainly observe that though Satan and his instruments hath the power by his false deceiving naturall light to unite the naturall love of man irresistibly to the sensitive object of his pleasure yet the union is by the free yeelding and assent of the will of man to be so induced by Satan and not by Satans necessitating of the free love of man And that it is in the freedome of mans naturall election before Satans temptation to be induced to disobedience by his false deceiving envious naturall light As for Satans false deceiving morall light whereby he doth incense the heart of man to maintain such pretended points of faith so contradictory to the Evangelical Law of faith The judicious Reader may likewise plainly perceive that it is in the freedome of manâ— morall election to be induced or not induced by any such false moral light to maintain any such pretended points of faith while as by his maintaining of which erronious tenents he doth divide his faith from the proper object of the Lords merit by the intervention of a false object though after the faith of man and the false object be once united and the erronious tenent being once set abroach it shall not want a world of propugnators whose hearts by the Devils false morall light are incensed to maintain the tenent for a main pretended point of faith by the multiplication of which united maintainers of the opinion such strength is added to the tenent as doth resist all Evangelicall light of the Word and command of the Evangelicall Law of faith by the only power of which Evangelicall light all tenents contradictory to the Law of faith are discovered and by the power of command of the Evangelicall Law of faith all exploded from the Church of God And so much for answer to the first objection CHAP. XXXIV The true sense of the words that both the will and deed is from God and the sense of the words that the thoughts of man are only and continually evill originall sin is not the corruption of nature and of the rebellious will of the flesh which is said to be enmity against God IT is secondly objected God giveth both the will and the deed man therefore by the perfection of the redemption hath neither the free power of will neither to will or do any good I answer the Antecedent is most true but the Inference is false for the grace of morall faith which is the act of the redeemed will of man proceeding from the power of the redeemed word of the Law and life of
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
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
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
and resurrection from the grave the naturall mans understaning is morally enlightened So by the power of the redeemed Word of truth written in the heart the naturall man is morally enabled to believe these twelve fundamentall points of faith And therefore by the new covenant all men are obliged and commanded to believe these tweâ—ve fundamentall points of faith upon the twofold reward of the law By this literall light therefore of the sound of the truth of the Evangelicall word of the Lords day the judicious Reader is enabled with all boldnesse to condemn all tenents and assertions of faith repugnant to the truth of this light for false adulterous tenents and assertions And with the like boldnesse to condemn all pretended worship of God repugnant to the truth of the Lords Evangelicall commanded worship in spirit and truth for a false adulterous worship of God arising from the false light of error This false light from whence this adulterous worship of God doth arise is the ceremoniall light of some sensitive visible object whereby the understanding is produced in act by the mediate sense of seeing which for the most part is the sensitive objective carved or painted image of the eternall Son of God as he is man which is a most faithlesse false adulterous and idolatrous worship It is faithlesse because faith is by hearing of the Word the Image of God in his Son Christ Jesus and not by the seeing of the Image of our Saviour in his humility as he is man It is false worship because it doth belie the truth of the Lords glorious resurrection it is an adulterous worship because it is repugnant to the truth of the light of the Lords commanded Evangelicall worship in spirit and in truth It is an adulterous worship because the sensitive visible object doth interveen between the Lord and his worship and in this sense a lier is called an Idolater because the falshood which the lier doth maintain doth interveen between the lier and the light of the Word of truth love and mercy in his heart which is the Image of God obliging the heart of the lier to declare and witnesse the truth which is called the light and law of conscience and so is the covetous man under which name the lier hypocrite coozener cheater extortioner briber whoremaster drunkard murderer and in a word the foul malitious cruell affection of man for by all such foul desire of the covetous man the light of the word of truth love and mercy in the heart redeemed by our Saviours sacred blood is belied darkned and obscured and the foul desire worshipped as an Idol contrary to the light of the command of the word of the seventh day of the law really one with the literall light of the law written in the heart of man And though our Saviours bloody rest be necessarily implied in the Lords Evangelicall rest yet his bloody rest is not to be represented by any sensitive visible object to the sense of seeing but by the light of the sound of the commanded word of truth to wit the Lords day to the sense of hearing preached by the faithfull Minister of the Word Neither must any man excuse the hanging up of our Saviours Image in his humility as he is man pretending that he hath the Image objected to his eyes only to put him in minde of our Saviâ—â—â— love by his death To whom I answer that by this manner of putting thee in minde of our Saviours love thou putst the Lord in minde of his fearfull wrath against thee For first it is by the Lords Evangelicall rest that thou art immediatly saved the truth whereof thou art commanded to worship in the Spirit of faith upon the mercilesse curse of the law Secondly the species of the sensitive Image doth interveen between thy mind and the Lords worship whom thou art commanded to worship immediatly and consequently thy putting in minde an Idolatrous mentall worship for preventing of which Idolatrous worship the faithfull Minister by the sound of the word is commanded to instruct the people committed to his charge at his peril for by the new covenant the Apostles are immediately commanded to teach and to preach the truth of the Lords Evangelicall worship to all the Nations of the world as the Lord hath revealed himselfe by the Evangelicall rest of the Lords day And in the Apostles the Apostolicall successors the Ministers of the word are commanded to the like teaching and preaching of the truth of the Lords Evangelicall commanded worship to the people committed to their charge The new Covenant therefore being commanded as well upon the mercilesse curse of the Law of faith as upon the blessing of the Lords Evangelicall rest It doth stand the Ministers of the Sacred word in hand to look to the faithfull discharge of so strict an imposed task Now though in the commanded Evangelicall Sacraments implying the Lords whole last Will and Testament which is the Evangelicall word the word be objectively presented to the sense of seeing touching tasting and smelling as by the light of the sound of the word it is objected to the sense of hearing that man as he is man may receive the word sacramentally that is by faith in the word represented by the externall elements Yet this sacramentall object doth not represent the object of faith to wit the Word Jesus Christ the Son of God to come and to suffer for the sins of man but doth represent him by his cursed death of the Crosse by his bloudy rest in the grave and by his Resurrection from the grave to be received sacramentally by faith in his merit by his cursed death of the Crosse by his bloudy rest in the grave and by his Resurrection and rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed which both the Sacraments doe most lively signifie for the better conceiving whereof it is to be understood that the Sacraments were not delivered in the primitive Church but to such as were come to actuall naturall and morall understanding and action First therefore in the Sacrament of Baptisme by the baptizeds ducking and as it were drowning in the water according to the manner of the primitive Câ—â—â—ch the party to be baptized freed from the curse of the Law 〈◊〉 â—n of Adam is signified to be drowned and dead in actuall sin by 〈◊〉 â—â—anâ—gression of the â—aw of faith as by his arising out of the water his rising 〈◊〉 the death of actuall sin to the new life of faith and that his actuall â—â—ns arâ—â—â—â—ffied â—waâ— by his faith in the Lords merit which is the water of eternall life purchased by the water and bloud issuing from our Saviours â—eaâ—â— represented by the sacramentall water So in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper by the sacramentall bread the bread of life is signified whereby the baptizeds faith is nourished and preserved as by the naturall bread his naturall life is maintained and continued By the breaking 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
Lord God and man And consequently the three coessentiall distinct Persons of the Trinity Lord God and man The second thing to be observed in the words is that by the things in Heaven the Saints departed this life and the blessed Angels are to be understood for as the Saints in Heaven doe with all humility acknowledge their glory and heavenly felicity to the only merit of the Lord Jesus Christ So doe the Angels with all humility acknowledge the conserved grace of their created perfection to the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ to whom his merit doth extend who are conserved as ministring spirits for man First for man Christ Jesus while he was personally upon earth that his fooâ—e should not dash against a stone Luke 4.10 and secondly they are ministring spirits for his mysticall members that the foot of their fayth shall not be dashed totally and finally against the stony temptation of Satan and his instruments in this life The third thing to be observed is that by things upon earth man and the sensitive and insensitive creatures created for man are to be understood and by things under or within the earth the waters mineralls and other things created for the use of man which as they were all cursed for man so they are all redeemed from the curse with man in whose behalfe man is to bend the knees of his heart with all thankefulnesse to the Lord Jesus Christ and to testifie his thankfulnesse by his thank-thank-worship of the Lords day as the Lord hath revealed himselfe by the Lords dayes Evangelicall rest Lord Jesus Christ God and man in the three coessentiall distinct persons of the glorious Trinity And so much for the declaration or the Evangelicall Word as it is the word of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law Next according to our methode the Evangelicall Word is to be declared as it is the word of promise and new Covenant made by God with man CHAP. XIV The Evangelicall Covenant made by God with man in his Son Christ Jesus called the new Covenant The Evangelicall Word of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law of righteousnes of faith the Evangelicall Word of promise and new Covenant are really one but of a formall difference First of the reall unity of both and next of the formall difference The reall unity of both doth consist in this that the word of promise and new Covenant which is the Lords merit of eternall life by his resurrection and rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed is the blessing of the Lords day For by the Lords infinit merit by the Lords daies Evangelicall rest the Lords day is blessed sanctified and commanded for the seventh day of the Evangelicall Law implying the command of the whole Evangelicall Law of faith And consequently the word of promise and new Covenant and the word of the Lords day really one for the one is necessarily implied in the other as may appeare by the severall names of the new Covenant First the new Covenant is called the Covenant of grace because the Lords merit of eternall life by the Lords dayes Evangelicall rest from the fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed which is the blessing of the Lords day is freely offered to all beleevers by the new Covenant without all respect to the merit of any man naturally descended of Adam whereby all beleevers are saved from the second death which is the curse of the Law of faith And consequently the word of promise and the word of the Lords day are really one Secondly the new Covenant is called the Covenant of truth because the Lord by his Evangelicall resurrection and rest from the faithfull fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed upon his blessed day did manifest himselfe truth to man by the truth of whose infinite merit by his Evangelicall rest the Lords day is blessed sanctified and commanded Which blessing of eternall life is word of promise and new Covenant and consequently the word of promise and the word of the Lords day really one Thirdly the new Covenant is called the Covenant of mercy because as the Lord by his Evangelicall rest did manifest himselfe truth to man so in that truth the Lord by his infinite merit did manifest himselfe love and mercy to man for as by his cursed death of the Crosse our Saviour did merit the salvation of all men from the curse of the Law for the sin of Adam So by his bloudy rest in the grave by his fulfilling of the law in the seventh day of the last Sabbath the eternall life and rest lost by Adam from the first seventh day of the law was due to the Lords merit whereby all beleevers are saved from the second death extending his twofold love and mercy to all men by the new Covenant whose mercy according to the truth of his infinite merit being likewise infinite The Lords gracious armes of mercy are outstretched to the penitent sinner for all the daies of this life by the new Covenant And this is the reason that wretched men do so insult upon the Lords infinite mercy by their continuance in sin and wickednesse because they see the daily love and mercy of God extended to all men in this life whose Sun doth shine and his rain doth fall both upon the just and the unjust Mat. 5.45 And this is likewise the reason that many though most unjustly do grudge the temporall blessings of God to the wicked who though they do enjoy the temporall blessings of the Lords merit by his Evangelicall rest yet they are far from the spirituall blessing of the Lords merit whereby man is only saved But the Lord hath thus graciously obliged himself by the new covenant first that wretched man should not dispair of the Lords mercy while he hath all the dayes of this life to repent him of his actuall sins Secondly that the wicked may be excuselesse For though God willeth that all men should be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 by testifying of their thankfulnesse for their redemption by the works of truth love and mercy to which they are morally enabled by the redeemed word of the law written in their heart yet while the wicked man without any created power to necessitate his morall disobedience doth by his obstinate continuance in sin and wickednesse make himself the cursed seed of Satan The Lord doth justly give him over to a reprobate minde and doth most justly will his condemnation where by the way the difference between the first and second covenant is to be observed for the least transgression of the law by the first covenant was without all revealed hope of mercy or time of repentance but the second covenant both Prophetically and Evangelically is with all hope of mercy by repentance for all the days of this life Fourthly the new covenant is called the covenant of faith because the Lords merit of eternall life by his Evangelicall
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
wit to the mercilesse curse of the Evangelicall law of faith which is mercilesse This salvation and condemnation of man being the twofold reward of the Evangelicall law due by the law according to the obedience or finall disobedience of man The Lord commands man to his new covenant by the immediate word and command of the Evangelical law by which command the reward is only due The chief precept of whose Evangelicall law being the precept of the Lords commanded worship implying the command of the whole Evangelicall obedience and Religion of man The Lords day therefore by the Lords immediate word is commanded and in the Lords day as it is the seventh day of the Evangelicall law the obedience of man to the whole Evangelicall law is necessarily commanded Thus according to the truth of the sacred word having set down the true sense of the new covenant I next set down the formall obligement of man to the Evangelicall law of God by the new covenant As the Lords resurrection and rest from his fulfilling of his promise of the blessed seed upon the Lords day doth extend to the safety of all men from the curse of eternall death for the first sinne in Adam And to the safety of all beleevers dead in actuall sinne for their owne naturall transgression of the Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith So the merit of the Lords resurrection doth likewise extend to the confirmation of the blessed Angels in the grace of their created perfection who are sent as ministring spirits for the saving of the elect from being finally overcome by the temptation of satan and his cruell instruments The Lords resurrection and rest therefore upon the Lords day being the most joyfull newes that ever came to Man or Angell his seventh dayes rest is formally Evangelicall and consequently the commanded worship of the Lords day formally Evangelicall which is therefore commanded in spirit and truth that is in the spirit of faith in the truth of the Lords merit to the joy and comfort of all the Nations of the world For both Iew and Gentile by the immediate command of the Lords dayes commanded Evangelicall worship are freed from the sore yoke of the sabbaticall seventh dayes Propheticall ceremoniall worship implying the whole ceremoniall law According to the formall Evangelicall worship therefore of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall law the whole Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith is formally and Evangelically both obliged and commanded by the immediate word of the Lord of the Lords day by his new Covenant obliging and commanding the faithfull obedience of all the Nations of the world first and immediately to the commanded Evangelicall worship of the Lords day and in that commanded worship commanding the faithfull obedience of man to the command of the whole Evangelicall law of faith that by beleeving in the Lords merit by the Lords dayes evangelicall rest they may be saved from the curse of the second death to which command all men are morally enabled by the redeemed word of the law written in their heart really one with the command of the Lords day CHAP. XV. It was impossible in any morall right by the command of the law that the last Sabbath could have been worshipped either for the Jewes formall Propheticall Sabbath or for the Lords day OF the declaration of the Lords day a twofold Question may be moved The first is whether in any morall right by the command of the law the last Sabbath by the whole space whereof the sacred body of the Lord did rest in his grave might not have been worshipped for the formall Iewes Propheticall sabbath The second question is Whether in any morall right by the command of the law the last Sabbath might not have been worshipped for the Lords day the first Evangelicall seventh day of the law of faith First I answer to the first Question Lest there be a mistake in this Discourse I first state the Question The question here is not in the matter of fact whether the Jews did celebrate or did not celebrate the ceremoniall worship of the last Sabbath for the Jews propheticall Sabbath But the Question is whether in any morall right by the command of the Law the Jews might have worshipped that day by the Ceremoniall worship of their propheticall Sabbath And now I answer And do affirme that it is impossible by any right of the command of the law of God that the Jews might have celebrated the last Sabbath for their propheticall Sabbath for such commanded worship had inferred a twofold necessary contradiction in the command of the law For first by such ceremoniall worship of the last Sabbath Christs death should have been prefigurate to be hereafter while as his sacred body lay in the grave Secondly though the formall propheticall Jews Sabbath day was not actually determined till it was immediately determined by the day of Christs resurrection from the grave yet all the prophesies of all the propheticall Sabbaths all the jubilees of Sabbaths and all the prophesies prophesying of Christ from the foundation of the world were all actually determined by his rest in the grave for the whole space of the last Sabbath So that if there should have beene any such command of the law the prophesies should have beene fulfilled and not fulfilled as by the ceremoniall worship of the last Sabbath Christ should have beene dead and not dead which is a twofold contradiction Neither in all reason durst the High Priest that day offer to celebrate the ceremoniall worship of the golden Altar which he was to discharge after the service of the brazen Alter and that for this twofold feare First the great rent from the top to the bottome of the Vale of the Temple was just betweene the golden Alter and the Table of Shew-bread where a great deale of stones and rubbish must fall whereby the table of Shew-bread and the golden Alter were parted mystically signifying to the High Priest that the bread of life was seperate and departed from the ceremoniall worship of the golden Altar Now the golden Altar standing so neere to the great ruinous wall the Priest in his comming up to offer sweet Incense at the golden Altar might have beene afraid to be brained with the stones falling from the great rent of the Vale. The next feare was farre greater for the high Priest in his comming up to offer Incense at the golden Alter the rent of the wall being so great must have seene the Arke of the Covenant the golden Crown and the Cherubims covering the Mercy-seat to which the glorious lights of the golden Candlesticks were directly opposite Now it was death for the Priest himselfe to looke on the Arke of the Lord with any materiall light Insomuch that out of all question by the reflex of the light of the golden Candlesticks from the golden Crowne Cherubims and Mercy-seat and from the glistring gold of the golden Alter All the Priests were
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
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
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
is that iâ— our ascending from the Covenants with the resolutâ—â—â— when weâ— come to the third mediate cause in both the Covenants as they are referred to God we must stop from ascending with our resolution till by resolving of the Covenants as they are referred to man wee meet with the like collaterall causes which will be in all foure in number And then we ascend from these foure causes as they are effects produced by one and the same next and immediate superiour cause till we come to the supreame indemonstrable case of all To begin therefore with the first Covenant First as the Covenant is referred to God and next as the first Covenant is referred to man God by his first Covenant doth first oblige himselfe to Adam and to all men created in Adam naturally to descend of Adam to the eternall continuation of the naturall and spirituall perfection of man and the felicity wherein he was created by the blessing of his first seveth dayes rest Secondly God by his first Covenant doth mutually reoblige Adam and all men naturally to descend of Adam to the eternall continuation of the perfection of Adams obedience to the command of his law both upon the eternall blessing of his first seventh dayes rest to Adams obedience and upon the eternall curse of the law to Adams disobedience From this reobliging of man by God to his Covenant the word Religion doth take the name implying the whole obedience of man to the law of God To come therefore to the resolution of the first Covenant first as the Covenant is referred to God The last and lowest effect of the first Covenant as the Covenant is referred to God is Gods obliging of man to the obedience of the command of his law upon the eternall blessing of his first seventh dayes rest and upon the eternall curse of the law by the first Covenant The immediate cause of this obliging of Adam by God in his state of perfection was Gods eternall purpose to manifest himselfe to man in his attribute of justice by rendring the reward of the law according to the merit of man The immediate cause whereof was Gods enabling of Adam with such naturall and spirituall perfection as was equall to the perfection of the command of the law whereby Adam was enabled to merit the continuation of the perfection and felicity wherein he was created eternally upon earth whose standing or falling was left to the freedome of Adams election by the first Covenant The immediate cause of Gods thus enabling of Adam was the perfection of Adams creation we must stop our resolution at this cause till we have the like collaterall cause arising from the first Covenant as it is referred to man The first Covenant as it is reffered to man must be resolved both as the first Covenant was fulfilled by Adam while Adam stood in the state of perfection and likewise as the first Covenant was broke and transgressed by man The last and lowest effect of Adam as hee was obliged by the first Covenant while Adam stood in his state of perfection was his perfect worship of the first seventh day for in the fulfilling of the seventh day the whole law was fulfilled by Adam by fulfilling whereof Adams faith and the eternall blessing of the first seventh dayes rest were actually but not eternally united for the continuation of the blessing of the first seventh dayes rest to Adam was according to the continuation of the perfection of his obedience The immediate cause of Adams fulfilling of the command of the law while Adam stood in his state of perfection was Adams saith in the eternall continuation of his eternall rest by God which was due to his obedience by the law and promised by Covenant to which God obliged himselfe The immediate cause of Adams faith was Adams love to spirituall righteousnssse that is to God spirituall righteousnesse it selfe his gracious Lord God and Creator The immediate cause of Adams spirituall love was the spirituall sanctifying light of the holy Spirit enlightning Adams intellectuall soule in the understanding of the law as the law is spirituall The immediate cause of this spirituall perfection of spirituall light and love in Adam was the perfection of his creation as he was created in the perfection of a spirituall man and in the lively Image of God And here we meet collaterally with the first cause as the first Covenant is referred to God and so we have two of the foure causes but we must not proceed to make the other two causes arise from the new Covenant till we resolve the first Covenant as it is referred to man by Adam transgressing of the lâ—w obliged by the first Covenant The lowest and last effect therefore of Adams breaking of the first Covenant was Adams transgression and contempt of the command of the Law which is sin by which transgression Adam and all men created in Adam naturally to descend of Adam were eternally united to the curse of the law by the first Covenant whereby all men were condemned to eternall death and darknesse for the curse of the law the transgression of man by the first Covenant was peremptory without all time of repentance or hope of revealed mercy The immediate cause of Adams transgression of the law was the suggested vertue of the objective forbidden fruit offered by Eve by eating whereof Adam did apprehend himselfe that he should become like God Where by the way the Reader may observe that the immediate cause of Adams fall was externall to Adam which was the forbidden fruit and Eves suggestion of the vertue of the fruit The immediate cause of Eves presenting of the fruit and of her suggestion of the vertue of the fruit of Adam was here deere love to Adam to have Adam equall to God himselfe as Eve did apprehend her selfe to be by the vertue of the fruit which she did first eate The immediate cause of Eves eating of the forbidden fruit was her ambicious desire to have her selfe equall to God and to be freed from that dying death threatned by the Covenant The immediate cause of Eves foule desire was the false suggestion of the Serpent in suggesting such admirable vertue in the fruit To the eating whereof without all doubt Eve was the more easily enduced to beleeve the Serpents suggestion of the vertue of the fruit of the tree of knowledge because there was such vertue in the fruit of the tree of life for by eating thereof the sensitive nature of man was eternallv preserved and therefore after the fall both Adam and Eve were excluded from Paradise The immediate cause therefore of Eves fall was the Serpent and the beautifull objective fruit of the tree of knowledge and the suggested vertue of the fruit which were all externall to Eve Next before wee arise with the resolution to the supreme cause of all the new Covenant is first to be resolved both as the new Covenant is referred to God and as it is
referred to man where we shall meet with the two like collaterall causes all which 4. Causes as they are effects they are al produced by one and the same next and immediate superior cause from whence we arise to the supreme cause of all By the last and lowest effect therefore of the new Covenant as it is referred to God God in his Son Christ Jesus doth oblige the naturall man in his redeemed state of natural and morall grace First and immediately to the Evanglicall faithfull worship of the Lords day the seventh day of the Evangelicall law as the eternall word Christ Jesus hath revealed himselfe by his Evangelicall seventh dayes rest arising from his bloudy rest Truth in the fulfilling of his promise to man and in that truth God in the three coessentiall distinct persons of the glorious Trinity cleerely and Evangelically without all propheticall mystery or Ceremony Secondly God doth oblige the faithfull Evangelicall obedience of man to the command of his whole Evangelicall law of righteousnesse of faith implyed in the Evangelicall seventh dayes commanded worship both upon the eternal blessing of the Lords dayes Evangelical rest upon the mercilesse curse of the law of faith The immediate cause of Gods obliging of man thus by his new Covenant is Gods eternall purpose to manifest himselfe mercy and justice to man by rendring of the reward of his Evangelicall law of faith according to the faith of man obliged by his law The immediate cause whereof is Gods enabling of the naturall man with such freedome of naturall and morall grace as he is able to give morall obedience to his calling by the new Covenant without any manner of necessitating of his morall disobedience To the naturall mans finall perseverance in which morall obedience till Gods prefixed time of spirituall calling the spirituall grace of faith is due to the naturall man by Covenant whereby he hath the temporall blessing of the Lords dayes of Evangelicall rest in this life and eternal rest in the life to come The immediate cause of such naturall morall grace is the perfection of the redemption of man And here we fall in with the two former causes of the first covenant for both the creation and redemtion of man are by the same immediate cause we must therefore yet stop our resolution till we meet with the fourth colatorall cause arising from the new covenant as the new covenant is referred to man which must be likewise resolved both as the new covenant is fulfilled by man and as the new covenant is broke and transgressed by man The last and lowest effect of the regenerate man as he is obliged to the command of the law of faith by the new Covenant is the faithfull Evangelicall worship of the Lords day to whose thankefull faithfull worship the blessing of the Lords daies Evangelicall rest is temporally naturally and spiritually united in this life and eternally in the life to come as the temporall naturall morall blessing of the Lords daies rest is morally united to the morall worship of the naturall man The immediate cause of the regenerate mans faithfull worship of the seventh day implying his obedience to the command of the whole law is his spirituall faith The immediate cause of his spirituall faith is his love to spirituall righteousnes The immediate cause of his spirituall love is the sanctifying light of the holy Spirit enlightning his understanding by his spirituall calling in the immediate act of regeneration The immediate cause of his spiritnall calling is the finall perseverance of the naturall man in his morall obedience according to the word of promise Mat 13.13 whosoever shall endure to the end shall be saved This end to the naturall man is Gods prefixed time of spirituall calling for the naturall man by his spirituall calling being actually regenerate is saved by spirituall faith and consequently justified The immediate cause of the naturall mans finall perseverance in his morall obedience is first and immediately the perfection of the redemption and secondly Gods speciall free concursive grace in saving of the naturall man from being overcome by Satans temptations This immediate cause of the perfection of the redemtion doth fall in collaterally with the three former causes and so we have foure in number But yet we must not rise without resolution from these foure causes till the new Covenant be resolved as the law is finally contemned and transgressed by man obliged to the new Covenant The lowest and last effect to the Reprobate obliged to the new Covenant is his finall willfull obstinate contempt of the gracious promises of Salvation purchased by the sacred bloud of the son of God To the reprobates finall wilfull contempt whereof by his unthankfull merit the mercilesse curse of the law of fayth is eternally united whereby the reprobate is eternally condemned by God upon his eternall prescience of the reprobates finall contempt according to his eternall decree which is actually inflicted upon the soule of the reprobate so soone as he departeth this life and in the full extent both of soule and body in the great day while by the resurrection from the dead the soule and body being essentially reunited the curse of the Law in the full extent is actually and eternally inflicted upon man as he is man The immediate cause of the reprobates finall wilfull obstinate contempt is the hardning of his heart The immediate cause whereof is the reprobates wilfull impenitent obstinat continuance in all sin and wickednesse by his contemning of God in the contemning of his law and truth and of the professors of the truth The immediate cause whereof as the cause is externall is the objective temptations of Satan and of his wicked instruments whereby the reprobate is spiritually and morally corrupted from his childhood The immediate cause of the reprobates continuance in sin as the cause is internall is his wilfull yeelding to be induced by the temptations of Satan and of his instruments while there is nothing to necessitate his morall disobedience whereby the reprobate doth so wilfully ungraciously unthankfully and presumptuously contemn the blood of the new covenant Thus having the foure causes met together we are to ascend from the foure causes as they are effects produced by the next superior immediate cause to the supreme cause of all The immediate cause therefore of these foure severall effects as they are the immediate subordinate effects of the next and immediate superiour cause is Gods eternall purpose of the election of man in his Son Christ Jesus For the immediate object of Gods eternall purpose of election is the state of man redeemed from the curse of eternall death and darknesse shut up in temporall spirituall darknesse till he be regenerate For in this estate all men are equally redeemed from the curse of eternall death and darknesse for their sin in Adam all equally shut up in temporall spirituall darknesse all equally reconciled to the love and favour of God for that