David p. 113 114 All the three persons in the Trinity do enter into this Covenant and bind themselves over to the Elect but yet the person that hath the first and main hand therein is in Scripture said to be God the Father Pag. 114 115 116 God after the fall deals with his People in a covenant-way Pag. 116 Why God will so deal with them Pag. 116 117 The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us Pag. 117 118 119 Free Grace the fountain of this Covenant proved 1 From the Person first in it Elshaddai God Alsufficient 2 From fallen man under the curse of a Broken Covenant 3 From its being given to some and not to others 4 Because herein our Persons are taken into the same Covenant with the Son of God which is the highest advancement And our services have reference to a reward Pag. 119 120 Christ did not purchase this Covenant or by entreaty obtain it Pag. 120 God is willing to be reconciled to sinners Pag. 123 CHAP II. This Covenant as made primarily with Christ the second Adam Gal. 3.16 By the Promises in the Text made to Abraham and his seed is meant the whole Covenant of Grace p. 125 Abraham in this Covenant stands as a publick Person common Root or Parent unto all the faithful ib. By Christ the seed is meant Christ personal primarily and principally and then Christ Mystical Pag. 126 There is a Covenant made with Christ Personal in respect of his Office as Mediator which hath the promise of assistance acceptance deliverance justification success of a seed of glory of victory of a kingdom and of Worship confirm'd by Oath to him Pag. 127 The considering Christ as a Surety implyes a Covenant Pag. 128 God is said to be the God of Christ as he is the Mediator ib. God will deal with Christ in a way of Covenant 1 Because he will have Christ propounded to the World as the second Adam 2 Because he will advance the free Grace of Father and Son 3 Because he will deal with Christ in a Judicial Way 4 That the Promise may be sure to all the seed Pag. 129 130 This Covenant passed between the Father and Son before the World began Pag. 130 131 The terms required in a Covenant applyed to God and Christ Pag. 132 133 134 The Difference between a Law and a Covenant Pag. 131 The Grace of Election begins first in Christ our Head and descends unto us in him Pag. 134 The Plot of our Redemption by Christ was laid in a deep counsel between Father and Son from eternity Pag. 135 136 By vertue of this Covenant-engagement of Christ unto the Father all the sins of Old Testament Saints were pardoned ibid. That the covenant of Grace made with the Saints is primarily and principally made with Christ as the Churches head proved by several Arguments Pag. 138 139 140 Perfect Obedience not required in the Covenant of Grace as the Righteousness thereof Pag. 139 The Grounds why this covenant must be made with Christ first and with Saints in him 1 Because the covenant of Grace is a transcript of the eternal purpose of God in Election and fully sets forth the way how the ends of Gods electing love should be effected Pag. 140 141 142 2 Because after the Fall no covenant could be made without a Mediator Pag. 142 143 3 Because in him alone is the Righteousness of the covenant laid up Pag. 143 144 4 Because it makes much to the honour of Christ ib. 5 Because it exceedingly advances the Grace of the second covenant ib. 6 Because of the great inconveniences that necessarily follow from the contrary Doctrine ibid. The covenant is chiefly seen in the Promises of it Pag. 147 Saints should observe Gods rich and free Grace in giveing Christ as a covenant Pag. 147 148 They should admire honour and exalt Christ thus given as a covenant Pag. 148 149 150 Saints should know their place and station under this covenant viz. that they come in at second hand under the grace favour and acceptance of another Pag. 150 151 Those who have an Interest in Christs covenant must become one with him Pag. 151 152 The terms and conditions of this Vnion are that you shall receive and accept Christ and give up your selves to him Pag. 153 The will of man is desperately shut against this way ib. When God brings a man into the bond of this covenant he puts forth an almighty power upon the will to perswade it Pag. 154 That it is Christs covenant is an argument why we should lay hold on it ib. The glory of this covenant is very great 1 It gives us an interest in the Trinity 2 It brings in a Righteousness beyond that of Angels Pag. 154 155 The consolations of this second covenant are very glorious 1 It is a great honour that God hath put upon his people that they should be conformed to the Image of his Son and have in their place and degree the same claim to mercy that Christ hath 2 It is wonderful comfort to them to stand before God in the Righteousness of Christ and 3 To have a share in his Merits 4 In the better Promises of this covenant 5 In the Surety of it who doth not only pay our debt but perform the duty required of us 6 This covenant can never fail 7 Your Acceptation with God is founded hereon 8 The Saints glory is Christs glory Pag. 155-159 CHAP. III. The Covenant of Grace made with Believers opened and applied Gen. 17.7 That the Covenant of Grace is made with Believers appears 1 From the covenant made with the first Adam who was a type of the second which was made with him and all his posterity 2 We read of a covenant made with persons and people 3 Men are said to make the covenant and break it 4 The promises though they are Yea and Amen in Christ yet are they properly and formally made unto us 5 The covenant of grace is a covenant in the hand of a Mediator and confirmed by the death of the testator 6 The Sacraments are seals of the covenant of grace 7 There is a double oath to confirm this covenant one made to Christ the other to us Pag. 160 It was necessary the covenant of grace should be made with the Faithful as well as Christ 1 To answer the great ends why God will deal with man in a covenant way as 1 That he may declare his glory in a way of faithfulness 2 That he may honour his people 3 That he may bind them to him the more firmly in a way of obedience and that the obedience may be made more sweet 4 That his people might exercise faith in their prayers putting these bonds in suit that God hath made over to them Pag. 162 2 That they may see that they are as strictly bound to obedience in their own persons under the second covenant as they were under the first Pag. 163 3
of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 2 The Author of this Covenant Jehovah the Lord God alsufficient and therefore he doth not here call it Abrahams Covenant but it is my Covenant 3 The fountain from which in God this Covenant does flow And I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly This Covenant is a free gift and an act meerly of free grace and so much doth Abraham acknowledge immediately for he falls upon his face to shew that he could never be thankful enough The property of a thankful soul is this the more mercy it receives from God and the more boldness it may have with God and with the greater confidence he may come to him with the greater reverence he does walk towards the Lord for there is nothing that a gracious heart fears more than goodness and he is lowest in himself when the Lord exalts him highest by his Grace And this doth the Lord repeat three times I will make a Covenant with thee and my Covenant shall be with thee and vers 7. I will establish my Covenant with thee I will cause my Covenant to arise that is I will raise up such a relation between me and thee I will take thee into Covenant with my self and I will enter into Covenant with thee and this he doth repeat so often as Mercer does observe partly to confirm the Faith of Abraham in the promised mercy partly to set forth the greatness of the mercy which no words were sufficient to express also the repetition does stir up and awaken Abraham yet further to consider of the greatness of the mercy of God to him in it and the greatness also of his engagement to God thereby And from hence the first observation that I shall give you is from looking upon Abrahams Covenant as being the same with that God made with all the faithful Gal. 3. ult Doct. After man was fallen and had broken the first Covenant the Lord out of his free Grace hath made with his people a second Covenant and a better Covenant In the handling hereof are four things to be cleared 1 The Person that makes the Covenant who it is Jehovah El-shaddai 2 That God will after the fall as well as before deal with his Elect in a Covenant-way 3 The Lord hath the first and the chief hand in it I will do it I even I and therefore he doth every where call it my Covenant 4 That the fountain of this Covenant is from Gods free Grace 1. The Person that makes it the Author of this Covenant and here there are two things 1 That all the persons in the Trinity do enter into Covenant and thereby bind themselves to make themselves over unto the Elect and that will appear to you by these Considerations 1 They have all of them the same nature and essence the same will and have all a hand in the same acts as Creation is the act of them all so they do all concur in making of the Covenant Father Son and Holy Ghost 2 This is a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and the Son and the Spirit are as truly offended with the sin of man and had a hand in the first Covenant and their authority was as truly despised in the first transgression as the authority of the Father and a dishonour was put upon them also and therefore there was as much need that they should be reconciled and enter into a Covenant with man for his Salvation Bern. Ser. 1. de adventu Domini as God the Father Yea some Divines conceive that the first transgression of Angels and men was chiefly against the Son and some of our own Divines as Reinolds in Psal 110. pag. 421. say That the first sin of man was principally committed against the Son it being an affectation of that which did properly belong to him to be like unto God in Wisdom and also in this was sown the seed of the unpardonable sin which was to be the fatal sin under the second Covenant and therefore as the mercy was the more glorious that they would undertake Offices in this Covenant for reconciliation so there was the greater necessity that they should also join and be taken into the Covenant 3 If we consider the person that does transact this business and strike up this Covenant with Abraham who though he did it as the Word of God in the name of all the persons yet it was the Son who did immediately speak in it as Glassius expounds Job 33.3 the word is there The breath of the Almighty and Psal 91.1 where the same word is used it is the shadow of the Almighty c. 4 If we consider that the Son speaks of himself in Covenant as well as his Father for it is by this Covenant that the Lord is the God of Abraham because therein he did promise so to be now Exod. 3.2 6. the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses and saith I am the God of thy fathers the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac c. Act. 7.30 and the Angel of the Lord is by Scripture plainly proved to be God the Son and it 's generally or for the most part consented unto by all Divines ancient and modern Mal. 3.1 and it may be that having the great hand in striking up the Covenant he is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant 2. Though all the persons enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the person that the Scripture says we do chiefly enter into Covenant with and that hath the main and first hand therein is God the Father 1. Because it is said in Scripture to be a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and therefore it doth suppose an enmity and a war Now though sin was committed against all the Persons yet the suite against sinners in Scripture does chiefly run in God the Father's name as in all Societies there is usually one in whose name all their suites are commenced therefore 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself he speaks 〈◊〉 of God the Father who does reconcile us unto himself by Jesus Christ and therefore we are said to be reconciled to God and the work of the reconciliation of a sinner Christ calls his Fathers business and he is said to be an Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2.1 Sin is an offence to all the Persons they having all a hand in mans Creation and all of them joining in giving man a Law and entring into Covenant with him in his Creation but in Scripture the suite against sin is said to run every where in the Fathers name and our reconciliation is unto him and therefore it is the Father that has the great hand in the Covenant as the person reconciled 2. Because in the Scripture the other Persons have their peculiar Offices which they have voluntarily undertaken in this Covenant to reconcile men unto God and therefore both are said to be
sent which is a term of Office the Father sends the Son and the Son from the Father sends the Spirit Joh. 14. When the Comforter is come which I will send from the Father Now Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant Heb. 12.24 and the Spirit the seal of the Covenant Ephes 1.13 the Covenant is the Covenant of Promise and the Spirit of the Covenant is the Spirit of Promise and the Person that transacts all from each Person within us in reference to this Covenant as Christ does all with God without us in reference to this Covenant Thence in Prayer we are said chiefly to pray to God the Father and Christ teacheth us to say Our Father c. not that we are not to pray to all the Persons but because the other Persons have undertaken their peculiar Offices in reference to the Prayers of the Saints the Spirit within us as a spirit of supplication indites our Prayers and stirs up affections answerable to our Petitions and groans unutterable and Christ as our High Priest receives this Incense and offers it and as the great Master of Requests tenders our Prayers unto the Father and they are received out of the Angels hand therefore in Scripture we are chiefly directed to pray unto the Father so though all the Persons Father Son and holy Spirit do enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the Covenant in Scripture is said to be chiefly made with God the Father because of the Offices that the other Persons have undertaken in the administration of this Covenant and the Grace thereof 3. It will appear by this because all things in this Covenant are from him and the other Persons in all the Offices that they undertake do it by his appointment the original of all is in the Father 1. The plot and the project was his to reconcile sinners to himself by a second Covenant and all that the Son does therein is not his own will but the will of him that sent him and it is by this will of the Father that we are sanctified the original and foundation of all the benefits that we have from Christ in this Covenant is from this will of the Father Heb. 10. the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do The plot and platform was by him laid and as with reverence be it spoken David said the platform of the building of the Temple was shewed unto him and the design was his though Solomon his Son built it so it is here the plot and the form was laid by the Father but it was the Son that did build the Church 2. The Person with whom he would make this Covenant he did design Joh. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me And he shall give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me Rev. 13.8 2 Tim. 2.19 And therefore there is Gods book of Life and the Lambs book and they do exactly answer one another the latter being but a transcript only out of the former The foundation of the Lord remains sure and hath this seal c. 3. He doth appoint how much Grace and how much Glory he will dispense unto every one of them by this Covenant the Lord has made Christ the Treasurer 1 Joh. 5.11 and as it were a Feoffee in trust Ephes 4. but Christ does not dispense Grace unto all alike there is a fulness of the age of the stature of Christ but all Saints do not attain to the same stature in Grace neither shall they in Glory the difference is in the appointment of the Father for in dispensing of Grace as well as in meriting of the same Christ is but the Fathers servant and does his will To sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father 4. It was the Father that employed Christ in this great work to be the Mediator of this Covenant he did not take it of himself and of his own motion but as the Father enters into Covenant so he appoints the Mediator of the Covenant Isa 49.8 He gives him as a Covenant and he did call him to be a Priest therefore you read Mat. 12.18 My servant whom I have chosen 5. He did confirm this Covenant by an Oath and thereby made it unchangeable or else it could never have been And there is a double Oath 1 An Oath to Christ Psal 110.4 making him a Priest by an Oath 2 An Oath to all his federates Heb. 6.17 18. 6. He has delighted in this Covenant and spent infinite thoughts upon it and it is therefore called the pleasure of the Lord. Isa 53.10 How many are thy thoughts to us ward c. Psal 40.5 it is the speech of Christ unto his Father as appears afterwards If I should speak of thy thoughts unto us they are more than can be expressed and all these thoughts are in reference unto this Covenant and his thoughts of peace towards the Elect which he delighted in from everlasting And by all this it will appear that though all the persons be in Covenant with the Saints under the second Covenant yet it is chiefly God the Father § 2. God will after the fall deal with his people in a Covenant-way though mankind did prove unfaithful and break the Covenant of their Creation and so should have perished for ever under the curse of it Covenant breaking being the great aggravation of all transgression and therefore though it was an act of grace and meer goodness before yet now a man would have thought the Lord should have tried man in a way of Covenant no more but only have ruled him in a way of Soveraignty and given him a command and if he did not obey to have taken him away as he saw good but God will deal with man in a Covenant-way Mic. 7. ult Rom. 15.8 1. The Lord will do it thereby to make known his mercy and his truth and he doth manifest both these in the Covenant there is mercy in making the Covenant and mercy infinitenitely the more because it is now with a perfidious and sinful people whose hearts have not been stedfast with the Lord and there is truth and faithfulness in keeping it and there was no way for God to shew forth his faithfulness but this by continuing a Covenant and to be constant in it from a mans conversion unto his glorification for spiritual mercies and for temporal Psal 111.9 he is always mindful of his Covenant he has commanded his Covenant for ever that is to stand fast for ever his Faithfulness is as the Mountains and as the Ordinances of Heaven and you may as soon change the one as the other and this Faithfulness under the second Covenant is so much the more seen because of our unfaithfulness unto him when the unfaithfulness of man cannot make the faithfulness of God of none effect 2.
vent it upon all occasions but he cannot do it himself but it must be by Instruments as the Devil casts men into prison by Instruments Revel 2.10 now when he meets with fit Instruments for his work and God in judgement gives them over unto an efficacy of deceit that they do vent the Doctrines of Hell the depths of Satan then they do receive in judgement the Key of the bottomless pit to open it that the smoak of it may be let forth and the world receive its vent which before was shut up in Hell in the hearts of the Devils only but now it is let forth to over-spread the Earth and thereby the Sun and the Air is darkned so all the Truths of God are expressed it 's darkned as to all spiritual light for that Satan doth aim at Some do apply this to the Doctrines of Mahomet and some unto several abominations of that Idolatry that brake forth in the West about that time as Brightman understands it of both And out of the smoak came Locusts upon the Earth by Locusts in Scripture two things are commonly intended 1. That they are a devouring Creature and are therefore threatned as a judgement that they should seize upon all and destroy and devour all 2. They do go by great troops Joel 1. and strangely over-spread the Earth wheresoever they come and this some do understand of the followers of Mahomet and some of the Discipline of Antichrist as Paraeus but still Brightman takes in both and this I do assure you never doth the smoak arise out of the bottomless pit but it breeds Locusts there doth arise out of it abundance of wicked and worthless men that go by troops and would surely devour all and it 's Satans plot against the Church of God and therefore the most dangerous and that in which he doth put the most confidence he doth love to raise persecution and to roar like a Lion when he can but if that do not accomplish his end then he betakes himself unto this he casts a flood out of his mouth but still his end is the same that the woman that was not devoured by the great red Dragon might be carried away with the flood Austin hath given warning to the Churches of a three-fold Persecution that they should surely undergo Revel 12.17 Prima Ecclesiae persecutio fuit violenta per mundi principes secunda fraudulenta per haereticos tertia erit violenta fraudulenta simul c. The first Persecution of the Church was violent by the Princes of the world the second fraudulent by Hereticks the third violent and fraudulent also Objection Object Now they that deny the persons in the Trinity this Argument is very rife and common amongst them If there be Persons in the God-head they are either something or nothing either they are substances or they are accidents if something then there was something from eternity that was not God and if nothing that cannot be the ground of a distinction for Non entis nullae sunt affectiones that which is not has no affections and if finite then there is something in God that is finite and if infinite then there are three infinites which cannot be in one God the very Argument of Arius that he did use and was refuted by Athanasius and from him Socinus had it and there have been some in our Age that have asserted the same who are Stars fallen from Heaven to whom the Key of the bottomless pit is given in judgement to themselves I am sure and we may fear to the Nation who have not received the Truth in the love of it and therefore God gives up to the efficacy of deceit to believe a lye to whom I say this Key has been given to give vent to this smoak again in the world And this I pitch upon because it is the great Argument that they glory in Answer Answer For Answer to it I would first lay down these positions 1. It 's plain in Scripture that there is but one God and that an Idol is nothing in the world there is none other God but one as it is 1 Corinth 8.4 The Lord thy God is one Lord. 2. The Scripture speaks of Father Son and Spirit and they are said expresly to be Three and therefore are distinguished from one another 1 Joh. 5.7 For there are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are one 3. The God-head in Scripture is attributed to them all and the essential properties of an infinite being He is called God the Father John 1.1 1 Cor. 8.6 and the Word is God the same Word that was incarnate and was made flesh and this Word is God and the Spirit dwells in the hearts of the Faithful all the world over and that both in Heaven and Earth and therefore must be every where present changing the hearts of men which nothing but an Almighty and a Creating Power can do and doth know their hearts for he doth supply them with graces and influences daily and helps their infirmities and teaches them to pray c. all which can be done by none but he that is God and they are therefore said to be one because the God-head of the Divine Essence is but one 1 Joh. 5.7 4. There is something attributed unto one in the Scripture that cannot be said of another the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father the Father doth beget and is not begotten the Son is begotten of the Father and cannot be said to beget the Son is said to take flesh the Word was made flesh and so did not the Father the Son was said to be sent and so is not the Father therefore they are distinguished yet it 's plain that they are but one God this is plainly the Doctrine that is delivered unto the Saints Now let us apply this unto the Argument in hand and we will 1. Retort it they are Three Father Son and Holy Ghost these are either something or nothing they are substances or accidents they are finite or infinite and the same inconveniences will return upon themselves for they must assert them to be Three and yet one for a Trinity in Unity the Scripture doth clearly hold forth 2. It 's not strange even amongst the Creatures that the same person should be a Man and a Father yet as a Father distinguished from himself as a Man and a Son distinguished from himself as a Man therefore it 's not strange in this that the Father should be distinguished from himself as God and the Son also The Scripture does clearly speak to us of certain actiones ad intra which are in God which do not refer to the Creatures but to Father Son and Spirit amongst themselves as the Father does beget and the Son is begotten and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both and from these actions do arise the relative properties of
sufficiens sufficient grace which God gives unto all men but Christ in the Text denies any such power he saith No man can come to me except the Father draw him What is this drawing It is not a forcible act by which violence is offered upon the will of man and yet it 's called drawing because it 's an act of almighty power the words note the sweetness and the efficacy of grace grace works powerfully and therefore God is said to draw and it works sweetly and therefore man is said to come as if he were not drawn trahitur animus amore c. it doth consist in a spiritual illumination of the understanding and in an effectual perswasion and determination of the will for it is a drawing that is a teaching as the next verse makes it manifest and in this is the foundation of eternal life as it is in us begun all this was in the purpose of God towards him but the man was dead in trespasses and sins as well as others without Christ and without God in the world and therefore the Saints actually converted are stiled by the Apostle the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.29 But how is this work attributed to God the Father that the power and the act of believing and of closing with Christ is from him the teaching and the drawing is the Fathers act Here I meet with a deep silence amongst all Interpreters only I find this to be offered by Kemnitius That the grace that we receive is laid up in Christ by God the Father and in the Gospel Christ is but God the Fathers Servant and therefore though grace be given unto us by Christ yet it is by the appointment of the Father and Christ is only the Fathers Servant in it and so the principal efficient of faith is God the Father though you do receive it immediately from Christ This is true that all the grace that we receive from Christ all our days here and all the glory we shall have to Eternity was by the Father laid up for us in Christ and in the whole work Christ is but the Fathers Servant but why in a special manner is this work of the Father appropriated unto the work of conversion and vocation The ground of it I conceive to be this In the Covenant that passed between Christ and the Father the Lord did require this service of him that he should lay down his life and give himself for the Elect he gave himself a ransom for many and he did make him a promise that he would give those souls unto him again Therefore as in the fulness of time the Lord did give Christ for them Vnto us a Child is born Isa 9.6 Joh. 4.10 unto us a Son is given and so he is called by way of eminency the gift of God for though he were promised from the beginning of the world yet he was not actually given and exhibited till the last days so there is a time also when God the Father must fulfil this promise unto Christ to give souls unto him as he has given himself for them in obedience to the Father Now when are souls given unto Christ It is when they come to him and believe in him they are not actually any part of his charge till then and therefore they are said to be without Christ they have no actual relation to Christ or Christ to them Joh. 4.10 for the union between Christ and the soul is matrimonial and it is the Father that gives them each unto other and therefore marriage between Adam and his wife is made a type and resemblance of it or rather mystery called by the Jews Cabala Eph. 5.33 This is a great mystery but I speak of Christ and the Church so that it 's God the Father that gives Christ to the soul and gives the soul unto Christ he it is that doth joyn them in a marriage-covenant for ever Therefore as when the time appointed by the Father was come he sent his Son actually into the world so when the time of love is come that a soul should be converted who before lay polluted in his blood then doth God the Father send his Spirit in Christs name into the soul who doth discover the beauty of Christ and the free grace of God the Father how ready and willing he is to bestow him and the manifestation of this grace of the Father is made effectual to the soul not only to perswade but also to enable it to accept of Christ upon the terms that he is offered And upon this ground the work of vocation is mainly attributed unto the drawing and the teaching of the Father because as they were in the purpose of God and in the Covenant between Christ and the Father given to him from all Eternity so they are by the Father actually given to him in the fulness of time that is when the time of their conversion appointed by the Father is come and therefore the inlightning of the soul in this work is attributed unto the Father 2 Cor. 4.6 God that commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts c. and by the same almighty Word that he did that work in the Creation he doth shine into our hearts discovering Christ unto us and the glory of God all the incommunicable Attributes of God are gloriously set forth in the Man Christ Jesus and so the power by which the soul is enabled to believe is the power of God the Father Eph. 1.17 19. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would shew you what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of the mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead so that if any soul be brought home unto Christ in a work of vocation it is by the almighty working of God the Father and you are to acknowledge his grace as well in giving you unto Christ as in giving Christ unto you 2. In the work of Reconciliation though all the persons were wronged by sin their essence and glory being but one yet the suit against sin doth mainly in Scripture run in God the Fathers name God has reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 and God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself This was properly the act of God the Father Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life Col. 1.19 20. it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell as being to reconcile all things to himself c. What is it to reconcile It is properly amicitiam diremptam resarcire to set them all at one again who were before friends but now at variance amongst themselves God is an enemy unto all men by nature the wicked is an abomination unto the
is Christs King and Lord so he is the Saints 1 He gives them a Law 2 Carries them through their service 3 Destroys their enemies 4 Receives their accounts 5 Rewards them Pag. 321 As the Father stands unto Christ in the relation of a friend or companion so he doth to the Saints Pag. 323 As Christ is the true Vine so the Father is the Husbandman Pag. 324 The visible Church is in Scripture compared to four trees 1 To an Olive-tree 2 To a Palm-tree 3 To a Cedar 4 To a Vine Pag. 325 The Church is compared to a Vine 1 For its excellency 2 Spreading nature 3 Fruitfulness 4 Want of continual husbandry ibid. God the Father is said to be the husbandman 1 Because he plants the Vine 2 Fences it 3 Hires labourers 4 Waters it 5 Prunes it 6 Purges the fruitful branches that they may bring forth more fruit Pag. 326 As the Father is the fountain of the life of Christ so in him he is the fountain of spiritual life unto his Saints Pag. 328 Joh. 6.57 largely explained ibid. Whoever hath an interest in one Person of the Trinity hath at the same time an interest in them all Pag. 331 Yet there is a distinct interest in them all to be attained Pag. 332 The high advancement of the creature lies in union with the Persons Pag. 333 There is more in union with the Persons than in all other benefits whatever ibid. It is our title unto the Person that gives us a title unto all the benefits ibid. If there is such an interest in the Persons every man should examine himself whether he hath that interest Pag. 334 The way of getting this interest is by closing with the Son Pag. 335 If a man be entitled to the Persons there will be the drawing out of his heart towards each Person ibid. There will never be a fulness of assurance till the Persons that have given an interest in themselves do also witness their interest Pag. 336 We are to exercise faith upon all the Persons thus made over under the second covenant ibid. The objects of saith that the soul is to take in in each of the Persons are 1 The Persons themselves we are to believe the record of them all 2 The soul is to rest upon all the promises that in Scripture are made concerning these Persons 3 Faith is to rest upon the love of them all 4 Also upon the appropriated acts of each Person and rely upon them for the performance of them 5 Faith should expect all the Attributes of God to be distinctly exercised by all the Persons 6 Also it should distinctly close with them all in their witnessing ibid. The acts of faith that are distinctly to be put sort upon them all are 1 A fiducial knowledge that the Persons are made over to us 2 A casting of our selves by distinct thought upon each of these Persons 3 A drawing virtue from all the objects of faith 4 A resignation of the soul to God 5 An exercising distinct acts of communion with all the Persons Pag. 339 That there is a distinct communion with all the Persons proved Pag. 340 This communion doth consist 1 In the love one of another 2 In acting one for another 3 In visitations 4 In imparting of counsels 5 In mutual delights in their interest one in another 6 In calling upon one another for further fellowship and communion ibid. Arguments to stir up hereunto 1 This is the great end of the covenant of grace 2 All Christ hath done and suffered was a preparation hereunto 3 There is sweetness in fellowship 4 All mercies are obtained by it Pag. 342 CHAP. V. God in the Covenant of Grace makes over himself in his Alsufficiency That there is enough in the Alsufficiency of God to supply all a mans wants in this life and in the life to come proved at large Pag. 344 That the Alsufficiency of God is by covenant made over unto the Saints proved 1 By promises 2 By instances Pag. 347 The grounds and reasons of it are 1 His own love 2 The insufficiency of all things else 3 Because God would have the happiness of the creature to concenter in him alone 4 Because he will have the creature perfect with him 5 To make up the banks against the greatest temptation that ordinarily befals men 6 To make the soul fear to lose God above all things because its alsufficiency is in him 7 That the creatures may thereby be kept in their own place 8 That the soul may hereby live on God immediately Pag. 349 The Alsufficiency of God belongs unto none but his own covenant-people Pag. 353 The reasons why God suffers his own people to be in as great wants as other men are 1 That their alsufficiency may be in him alone and that they may trust perfectly in him 2 That they may be made partakers of the sufferings of Christ. 3 That God may be alsufficient to them in the loss of all things and want of all things 4 Because it is very sweet to God when we follow him through a wilderness 5 Gods great glory is to manifest his Attributes in their sufferings 6 As our supplies come from God so there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency that is sweeter than the mercy it self Pag. 354 Though wicked men may have great sufficiency in outward things yet 1 It is not from their interest in his alsufficiency 2 It is their portion 3 It is given as a snare to themselves and others Pag. 356 Those are justly reprovable that claim an interest by covenant in God and yet expect a sufficiency in the creature 1 Hereby they dishonour God 2 Themselves 3 The creature to whom they flye for sufficiency can do neither good nor evil 4 The creature cannot reach unto the best in man his soul 5 The creatures have no good in them but what is borrowed 6 Retiring to creatures in straits causes God to leave them Pag. 358 Those that place any sufficiency in themselves are also justly reprovable Pag. 361 There is a twofold sufficiency the heart is apt to go out unto 1 In respect of gifts and inward abilities either acquired or infused 2 In respect of grace received ibid. The evil of a self-sufficiency in respect of gifts 1 They are anothers and not our own 2 They are given to wicked men 3 It is to serve Satan in the highest way that can be 4 These gifts cannot be exercised without Divine aid 5 Nor made successful 6 It will provoke God to take them away ibid. In respect of grace received 1 It is quite contrary to the nature of grace 2 No man can act his own grace 3 Grace is but a creature 4 It makes grace an Idol Pag. 363 There is a great proneness in the best to place their sufficiency in grace received both as to matter of strength and comfort Pag. 364 The great policy of Satan therein Pag. 365 To
is added to the Gospel as the Rule is to the work-mans hand and the yoke of Gospel-obedience is nothing else but the duties that the Law requires as being the servant unto the Gospel the way of the Gospel is still the way of thy Precepts O God Vse 3 It is also for Consolation it is the greatest ground of comfort and the greatest gift of God even next unto Christ and the second Covenant that he hath made the Law a servant thereunto It 's much that the Lord has given us all the Creatures and they are all our servants Angels and Principalities and Powers all things are yours whether Paul or Apollo and the curse of the Law also persecutions afflictions death are all sanctified but above all that he has made the Law a servant to the Gospel For the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law all is from the Law and all our fear is from the Law and to have the Law of God to charge sin upon a man is the great ground of a mans terror because it comes to the Conscience with the Authority and Majesty of the great King the highest Judge and Law-giver now to have this Law made a servant and in subordination unto all a mans spiritual and eternal welfare it is a very high ground of a mans consolation and so a man under the second Covenant loseth only that which is evil in the first Covenant but all the good of the first Covenant he attains under the second whatever good the first Covenant can do him he hath that also purchased by Christ for him through the overplus of the Grace the superabundant Grace of the second Covenant that we may say Grace abounded much more thus Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness and that which was the ground of the greatest terror in the world a man can now claim as his portion talk with as his counseller and feed upon as the sweetest of all his delights that his soul is even ravished with it Thus the Lord has subjected the Law to the Gospel and do you rejoice in its Ministration Thus have we brought this large Tract to an end which is the Key of all the whole Treasury of God wherein you have heard 1 That God in the Creation did deal with man in a Covenant-way 2 The foederati the Covenanters were Adam and his Posterity 3 The terms of this Covenant were perfect personal and perpetual Obedience 4 The Condition on Gods part was Life Spiritual Temporal and Eternal 5 This Covenant Adam brake not only for himself but for all his posterity 6 That the Curse of the Covenant broken is death spiritual temporal and eternal 7 That the Covenant of Works is not abolished by the fall but all unregenerate men stand under it still 8 That this is to every unregenerate man a desirable Condition 9 That under this Covenant all unregenerate men are for Irritation Coaction and Condemnation 10 There is a Translation out of this Covenant and an abolishment of it to all that are regenerate 11 The Subordination of it to the Gospel The END of the First Book BOOK II. THE Covenant of Grace Its AUTHOR FOUNTAIN and the Persons with whom it is made CHAP. I. The Author and Fountain of this Covenant Gen. 17.2 And I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly SECT I. The Person who makes this Covenant Jehovah and why he will deal with all in a Covenant way THE Covenant of Works as made with man in his Creation as violated by the Fall and as cancelled in his Regeneration and as subordinate and made subservient to the Covenant of Grace we have seen in the former Discourse and we now come to consider the nature of the second and better Covenant which all the Saints in Heaven are saved by which man can never break and the righteousness whereof sin can never spend There are in Scripture four eminent publick persons with whom this Covenant was made which are set down in two instances in the Scripture 1 With Adam where it is very darkly represented 2 With Noah Gen. 3.15 Gen. 9.9 and with his Sons which is a branch of the Covenant of Grace and is so brought in Isa 54.9 This is the waters of Noah to me 3 With Abraham and to him was the clearest manifestation of it who it may be was therefore called as a special term of honour the Friend of God because the Lord imparted secrets to him in a more evident familiar manner than he had done with the Saints of old as a man does with his friend Luk. 1.73 it is his Oath that he sware to Abraham to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made Gal. 3.16 and if you be Christs you are Abrahams seed and Gal. 4.22 23 24. Abrahams Family is made a type and a shadow of the two Covenants and the durable generation of men under them Abraham had two Sons which things are an Allegory they are the two Covenants c. and therefore Mic. 7. ult it is mercy unto Abraham and truth unto Jacob because in Abraham after a sort the Promise and the Covenant did begin and therefore it is mercy in making it but it is truth in keeping of it 4 With David Psal 89.3 I have made a Covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant And Isa 55.3 I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David and Act. 13.34 you will find it again repeated and therefore is Christ called the Son of David and also David that shall be King over them Ezek. 37.24 Hos 3. ult Act. 15.16 The Tabernacle of David is said to be raised up in the Primitive times but there is a time coming that God will raise up the throne of David also when that promise shall be fulfilled I shall give him the Throne of his father David of his Kingdom there shall be no end and when that Dan. 7.14 shall be accomplished He shall be brought unto the Antient of days and shall receive a Kingdom after the four persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down which we see not accomplished when that Scripture Rev. 11.17 shall be fulfilled That the Kingdoms of the Earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord. His they are now as he is the King of Nations but they shall be so also as he is the King of Saints and they shall subscribe unto the Lord and his name shall be called upon them c. I have made choice of this Scripture as setting forth the Covenant made with Abraham or rather renewed which God had made fourteen years before Gen. 15.18 but herein gave a more full expression of his entring into Covenant with him Wherein you may observe three things 1 That there is a Covenant the Lord will deal with Abraham in a Covenant way the Lord will bring him into the bond
the great and the wise and the noble and make choice of babes and the foolish things of this world that have nothing in them that should commend them but free-grace made the difference and it is this that raiseth them up above their brethren He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and he gives a commission to his loving kindness to take hold of such a soul and he hears a voice behind him when he is posting with his back upon God and his face towards Hell and there is a voice that he hears that other men do not therefore it is said Act. 9.22 That they saw the light but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me they were with him and yet there was a voice came to Paul a noise and a sound of it they did hear but to hear so as to have it made effectual to their souls that proceeds only from peculiar love 4. That in this Covenant 1 Our persons should be taken into the same Covenant with the Son of God is the highest advancement as the greatest and lowest abasement of Christ was Gal. 4.4 to be made under our Covenant to be made under the Law and so under the curse thereof being made sin so the highest advancement of man is to come under Christs Covenant and thereby we have an interest in his Righteousness and Sonship and by this there is the nearest relation between God and us for it is a Matrimonial Covenant the nearest and the sweetest Union and it is a Covenant of Friendship wherein there is the fullest communion beyond that of the Angels themselves for we are betrothed unto the Lord in mercies and loving kindness Hos 2.18 19. 2 In respect of our services it is by the Covenant that they have a reference unto a reward there is not the meanest services of the Saints that shall lose their reward not a cup of cold water therefore Luther says The whole world has not a reward good enough for the least service of a Saint and professes he had rather be the author of the meanest work of the Saints than of the most glorious acts of Alexander or of Caesar And this reference unto a reward riseth from this Covenant for Psal 16.3 Christ saith Our goodness extends not unto God There was in Christ a merit but it was only ex pacto Heb. 10. it is by his will they are sanctified and through his acceptation had not he made a Covenant with the Lord it had been free with God the Father to accept the righteousness of Christ or not and therefore there is the Grace of Union and of Unction and even the Merit of Christ the ground of it is free-grace by vertue of the Covenant that passed between the Father and the Son and therefore much more that our works or any thing we do should have any relation to a reward from God especially as to Eternal Life § 2. But did not Christ purchase this Covenant or else by his entreaty obtain it for Christ is the Mediator of the new Covenant and therefore it may be at his request the Lord did make this Covenant with us and not singly out of his own love to us I answer No Christ did not merit the Grace of the Covenant there is a difference to be carefully put between the Covenant it self and the benefits and fruits of the Covenant all the fruits of the Covenant are dispensed by Christ and are part of his purchase as Heaven Grace and Glory the very being of a Church God has purchased it with his own blood but as for the Covenant it self it is that in which Christ is promised and all the Merits of Christ and all our acceptation with God through him and it is part of the Covenant that God makes with us I will give you my Son and one of the grand promises thereof and when he did resolve to enter into Covenant with man then Christ becomes his servant and his chosen he being to be the second Adam and Person into whose hand all the transactions of this Covenant should be committed And to exalt this free-grace in him that is the Prince of the Covenant and that we may see all things are of God 2 Cor. 5.18 Who has reconciled us to himself in Christ and all things that do appertain to the Kingdom of Christ He that built all things is God Heb. 3.4 it is spoken in reference to his House that is his Church and not in reference to the general works of Creation so that though it is Christ that is the builder of his House and as a Lord in his own House yet in Christ it is God that is the builder of it all things are originally of him and this Grace of God in Christ as the Prince of the Covenant will appear in these Particulars 1. There is free-grace in designation for he is the Elect of God Isa 42.1 and Prov. 8.22 He is the beginning of the ways of God the first-born among many brethren one first in the womb of Gods Decree and therefore had therein the preheminence he was first elected and we in him And as our Election was an act of free-grace He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy so was Christs also an act of the same grace and therefore Heb. 1.3 He is the brightness of his glory the express image of his person As he is God so all the acts of the Father are acts of nature as his generation is from God naturally and therefore necessarily But as he is the Head of the Church and the Prince of the Covenant of Grace as God-man so he comes under the acts of the will of God and it was free with God whether he would have chosen him to this Office and put this honour upon him or no and therefore as in the one he is haeres natus a born heir so in the other he is constitutus a constituted heir So that even in Christ all is of Gods free-grace he did not honour himself he did not appoint himself but it was the Lord that did call him and design him to this service and wrote his name in the volume of his book so some expound that place Heb. 10.7 the first page of it he being the beginning of all Gods going forth towards the Creature 2. There is free-grace in the Fathers qualification and preparing and fitting of Christ for this great work it is true that Christ was God and had a power equal with his Father and therefore thought it no robbery to be so yet the Scripture doth attribute all unto the free-grace of the Father 1 It was God the Father that prepared him a body he that doth give unto every one of us a body as it pleased him he also did give the Lord Christ a body and did fashion it according to his good pleasure even a humane nature Heb. 10.5 the Holy Ghost did overshadow the Virgin that she should
Baptism is sealing He received the sign of Circumcision a seal of the righteousness of Faith a seal of the righteousness which was his by Faith and he is accepted of God thereby and what Abraham had by Circumcision the Saints have by Baptism Col 2.11 12. Mat. 3.16 Now the most illustrious sealing of all other was in the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus when he was baptized went straightway out of the water c. never any Ordinance was graced with such a Presence the whole Trinity appeared in the work and what was all this for but to make way for that great sealing which was grounded upon the Covenant between the Father and the Son This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So that in this the Covenant between the Father and the Son was visibly sealed Gods acceptation of him and of all the Saints in him 4. The Scripture doth hold forth this Covenant unto us in the terms of it Christ doth publish his commission unto the world Isa 49.1 2. how the Lord had called and fitted him from the womb made his mouth as a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand he hid me and made me a polished shaft and said Thou art my servant in whom I will be glorified And what is the service that the Lord called him to to bring Jacob to him But then the Lord having undertaken the work and seeing how few of the Jews should be converted he seems to complain I have laboured in vain but yet he comforts himself it was for God he did work and his reward was with him Now the Lord does inlarge his grant not only to raise the tribe of Jacob but also to be for salvation to the ends of the earth I will give thee for a Covenant to the people to establish the earth and to cause them to inherit the desolate habitation Isa 49. We have in this Chapter related the very arguments that were between him and his Father who said of him Thou art my servant in whom I will be glorified 2dly Why must such a Covenant pass between the Father and the Son in such a solemn manner The Lord will deal with Christ in this great work in a Covenant way 1. Because he will have Christ to be propounded unto the World as the second Adam For God did intend to bring all the elect under one head that as the offence was by one so the free gift by grace might also be so Rom. 5. God did intend that all man-kind should come under a double head and so be presented unto him in the last Judgment the first and second Adam and therefore the Lord speaks as if there were but two men in the World the first Adam 1 Cor. 15.47 and the second and the first Adam must be the Type of him that was to come therefore as the first Adam had a Covenant made with him and an Image stampt upon him for himself and for all his posterity so must the second Adam also have and therefore he must be the second Adam by Covenant made with him as a publick person and as a representative head for all his posterity that seed and generation that should be born of him 2. That he might thereby advance the free grace of the Father and of the Son 1. The free grace of the Father is much exalted by it in two things 1 In the motion of it it came first from him his taking of us actually into Covenant is a part of the purchase of Christ and he hath bought the Souls of the Elect it is the price of his blood and it is because he dyed that he doth not abide alone but the taking of Christ into Covenant it did not come first from Christ but the motion was the Fathers the Son can do nothing of himself I came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me 2. Joh 5.19 In his accepting a Covenant it was free with him to make it and therefore the obedience of Christ was free with him to accept if Christ had offered himself and had laid down his life it is true it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that God in Justice could expect and it was a price sufficient for all that ever Christ did purchase yet there is grace in the bowels of all this because it was free with the Lord to accept of the righteousness of another to become ours This gracious acceptation and imputation the Lord doth shew forth abundantly in the Covenant made with Christ himself for being a Covenant it must be free 2. It doth also exceedingly advance the Grace of the Son in this That Christ being God equal with the Father having a perfect dominion over his own actions and being Lord of his own life having a power to lay down his life as he saith No man takes it from me but I lay it down John 10.18 That he should freely and voluntarily bind himself in a Covenant in this manner to abase himself to stand in our stead to bear our sins and to be under a Curse for us and to consent unto this cheerfully and willingly as a thing in which he is pleased and delighted to shew forth therein the love of his Father and to his people and to undertake all of it Heb. 9.10 and to bind himself thereunto by his own voluntary consent who otherwise was not could not be bound For there is this difference between the Covenant of the first and the second Adam the first Adam was bound to obey by a bond of creation and he was bound to be subject but the second Adam was not so he was perfectly free and yet he is willing by Covenant to be bound And the Lord herein dealt as Aelian hath a Story of Zaleucus a Ruler in the City Locris who had made a Law against Adultery that it should be punished with the loss of both eyes and his son was afterwards accused and condemned of the same offence and the whole City in honour to his Father became Suitors unto him to spare his Son but the story says he did first put out one of his own eyes and afterwards one of his Sons and thereby satisfied the Law And so between a just legislator and a merciful father he divided himself Had the Lord so dealt with us and laid part of the punishment upon us and part upon Christ we had been undone but Christ undertook all for us to pour out his soul to death Isa 53. last and bear the sins of many being that to which he was not bound and that which he could not have been forced to and yet to make himself by Covenant a debter it exalts free Grace nothing more 3. The Lords intention was in the whole work of Redemption to deal with Christ in a judicial way as he is the judge of all the World that he may have his justice satisfied Rom. 3.25 He doth all to declare
did all by Covenant and Christ dying did give Legacies that by the means of death they that are called may receive the promise of eternal Life it is a Testament confirmed by the death of the Testator Surely it shall be performed for it is a Covenant made unto Christ and if you did love him your hearts would rejoyce more in the performance of it as to Christ than unto your selves § 3. I come now unto the fourth particular in the opening of the point That is the Terms of the Covenant as they did pass between the Father and the Son and are set forth in the Scripture A Covenant is an agreement upon certain Conditions unto which two persons or parties by mutual consent do freely bind themselves So that in a Covenant properly and so in this there are four things 1 The parties that make the Covenant must be free 2 The Articles or Terms must be propounded 3 There must be a mutual free and full consent 4 By this consent they are bound each to other 1. In a Covenant the parties must be free and in their own power and therefore in Vows to God or Covenants with men if one under the power of another do Vow or Covenant it is in his power under whom he is to disannul and make it void Numb 30. 4.8 And therefore Divines do here commonly observe two things 1 The difference between a Law and a Covenant a Law being the act of a Superior that hath power over another doth bind whether the party bound thereby doth consent or no for it is an act of the Will of a superior upon one that is subject to his will but it is not so in a Covenant it doth require consent in both parties 2 They distinguish between the Covenant that passed between the first Adam and that which God made with the second Adam The Covenant made with the first Adam was such that though his consent was necessary to make it a Covenant else it had been only a command yet unto this Covenant by the right of creation he was bound to consent and consenting it was but his duty and there was a duty which lay upon him antecedente◠to consent unto that Covenant and the terms that God should propound But it was not so in the Covenant that God made with the second Adam he was free to accept of the terms of the Covenant or no when God had propounded them so that there was no duty that lay upon him anteceeding his consent So that the Covenant between God and man is not properly such a Covenant as is between God and Christ and between man and man in which each party is free and not bound to any thing but by his own consent Now 1 consider God is free and a debtor unto none God the Father who hath the first and the great hand in the Covenant and in propounding the terms thereof is debtor to none For he that is the first cause and the last end of whom all things are and to whom they are he can be debtor unto none but so God the Father is of whom are all things And that is Aquinas's rule * Deus non est debitor quia ad alia non ordinatur sed omnia adseipsum Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 Rom. 11.36 2 Christ is free and in his own power 1 If we consider him as the Son the second person with whom properly the Covenant was made for God did agree with the Son that he should take the nature of man upon him and in that nature suffer and satisfie and his very taking of mans nature was an act of obedience and duty that was due from the Son by Covenant and he did it in reference to the will and command of the Father as he did all other things either doing or suffering in that nature John 1.2 The word is God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.7 and therefore is free even as God himself and is not bound unto any duty but by his own consent 2. If we consider Christ as man in that he was not free for he was bound unto the Law and to all the duties of it as he was a creature It 's true he having taken the nature of man was by his Covenant bound to offer that nature as a sacrifice for Gods satisfaction and for mans sanctification in that nature he was to be made sin and to bear our Curse If we do consider Christ as meer man then he was bound indeed unto the Law by right of creation as well as we but if we consider him as God and Man so we cannot say that he is bound for actiones sunt suppositorum And our Divines generally say that there is a communication of properties between the two natures so that he does offer himself by the eternal Spirit Heb. 4.14 All his actions and passions in our nature are not only humane but Divine being from him who was both God and Man and that he was no otherways bound to obey God in that nature than he was to assume the nature no Law did require that his obedience should be the obedience of God and that God should be satisfied by the blood of God and that he should suffer that did never sin this was from the Covenant of God the Father and the superabundan◠grace of God the Son And therefore when Christ saith that he received a commandment to obey it refers only to his obligation by covenant and not by any antecedent duty that he did owe his Father 2. The terms of the Covenant or Articles of agreement that did pass between the Father and the Son are contained in two things 1 Something that the Father did require of the Son 2 Something that the Father did promise the Son 1. There is a service that the Father doth propound unto the Son and that is double 1 That he should take upon him the form of a Servant The children being partakers of flesh and blood that he should take part of the same Heb. 2.14 Bernard Rom 3.26 He took not only the form of a Servant that he might be subject but also of an evil Servant that he might be beaten he was willing to take the body that the Father had prepared for him that he might be bruised by him 2 That in that nature he should perform whatever was necessary for the satisfaction of God or the sanctification of man and in all things he must be Gods servant do his will and serve his ends deny himself humble and abase himself that his Father may be exalted Isa 42.1 1. He did whatever is required unto the perfect satisfaction of God The Justice of God is twofold 1 Remunerative justice in reference unto the precept of the Law as man was a creature 2 Vindicative justice in reference to the curse of the Law as man was a sinner and he that shall give a perfect satisfaction to Justice must perform
thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generation for an everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and thy Seed after thee SECT I. That Children are taken into their Parents Covenant § 1. THE subject we have in hand is the Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace the new and better Covenant and therein having shewed the Person that made the Covenant with man and spoken of the free Grace of God which was the Fountain from whence this Covenant of Grace did flow we came in the next place to consider the Persons with whom this Covenant was made and they are set down in a threefold subordination 1 First and immediately with Christ the second Adam 2 In him with all the Faithfull 3 In them with their Seed And this last is the head we are now to enter upon having laid these two grounds 1 That the Covenant that God made with Abraham is the same Covenant that all the Faithfull whether Jews or Gentiles stand under to the worlds end Rom. 4.16 therefore is Abraham called the Father of us all though of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is cognatio specialis quae coram Deo locum habet Deo nos gratos reddit Beza All Believers have a special Cognation to God by virtue of Abrahams Covenant and this is not barely by imitation of his Faith which the Apostle Paul asserts vers 12. of those that walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham but there is â— blessed resultance from this that a man is thereby translated into the Covenant of Abraâ—am and there is no distinction of persons for there is neither Jew nor Greek Gal. 3.29 neither bond â—or free neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus Ad jus adoptionis acquirendum vel minuendum nullum discrimen sancta est in Christo aequalitas quae unitas Par. Par. As to the right of Adoption there is no inequality all are in Christ equal All therefore that are Christs are Abrahams seed and heirs according to the Promise Gal. 4.28.31 we as Isaac are the children of Promise we are not the children of the bond-woman but of the free 2 Though in the manner of the Administration of this Covenant there be a great deal of difference from what it was in ancient times yet as to the substance of the Covenant the persons that are foederati in it are the same and taken in upon the same grounds and shall be so to the end of the world and therefore as the seed were taken into Covenant with their father the same way will the Lord dispense the Covenant to the end of the world that if he take the Parent into Covenant he will take the seed with him and therefore their children are called the Sons of the Covenant Act. 3.25 because it 's as a Birth-Priviledge and belongs unto them as they are taken into their Fathers Covenant And this the Lord says shall be the way in which he will dispense his Covenant for ever Act. 2.39 that no man may say this was a peculiar priviledge unto Abraham and his seed onely for Abraham is made the Father of many Nations Rom. 4.12 the Father of the Circumcision and of the Uncircumcision and the Promise is to you and your seed and unto them that are afar off as Gentiles unconverted are said to be that are yet strangers unto the Church of God Ephes 2.17 and the Priviledges thereof even to as many as in all ages the Lord shall call And these two grounds being laid this Covenant made with Abraham will give us ground to observe this point Doctrine That the Children of believing Parents in the Covenant of Grace are taken into the same Covenant with their Parents the Covenant is to them and to their seed and therefore their Posterity may well be stiled the Children or Sons of the Covenant A point it is of great concernment and therefore to be contended earnestly for 1. As that which doth exceedingly advance the Grace of God unto Parents and makes much for their Consolation that are Believers that not only the Lord doth extend mercy to them but to their seed as he did here extend it to Abrahams seed by which God exceedingly exalts his free Grace and so it 's made an argument of special Love unto Parents Deut. 4.37 Because he loved thy Parents therefore he chose their seed after them Mercy unto their Posterity is from the Love of God unto Parents Now as it is a special Grace of the second Covenant that wherever Believers come unto all people where they live they shall be a blessing Gen. 12.2 the word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esto benedictio so Montanus we render it according to the Septuagint Thou shalt be a blessing but as Aynsworth has well observed this manner of speaking in the Hebrew is very vehement and emphatical noting Gods commanding the blessing according to the Expression Psal 133.3 For there the Lord commanded the Blessing even life for evermore c. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as dew from the Lord c. They shall be as dew the cause of a Nations flourishing and to a decaying Nation they shall be the root and support the holy seed shall be the substance thereof Isa 16.13 how much more shall the Grace of the Covenant be exalted in reference to their Posterity for their consolation in that they are nearer and dearer to them than any other can be and therefore they shall be a blessing to them and this will be much heightned unto them by this that while they were under the Covenant of Works while unstranslated they did convey unto them the Curse of the first Covenant and the Lord doth threaten that he will visit the iniquity of the Parents upon the Children Now it were a great terrour to a man that while he is under the first Covenant his iniquity shall be visited upon his Children if when he is translated into the second Covenant the grace of the Covenant should no way extend unto them and â—â—range it were that all the creatures coming under the Covenant of the Saints are by tâ—â—s means preserved in their being and attain many benefits that by reason of the curse of the first Covenant they should never have attained if amongst all the rest their children should have no benefit by their fathers Covenant and they which are nearest to them should only be excluded 2. This is one of the great Arguments that the Scripture useth to draw men in to Believe because not only they shall have benefit by it but their Posterity there is a double use that I find the Apostle makes of that argument 1 To the Children as a means to bring them in repent ye therefore and be converted for you are the children of the Covenant which God made with your fathers there is mercy in
nisi quod traditum yet conceiving it after my best examination to be a truth of God for I did desire to believe before I spake I could not but speak what I apprehended to be the mind of God therein I should not desire to obtrude any thing upon you without examination if it be upon tryal but hay and stubble I shall be content that it shall burn but if it be a truth of God it will abide the tryal and though such a truth as this is may receive some prejudice by the weakness of the instrument yet if it be a truth the Lord Jesus will certainly raise up such instruments as shall be able to carry it through against all opposition I come now to answer the former Objection I do acknowledge that there is no way for the Gentiles to come under Abrahams covenant but by faith they cannot claim a title from Abraham begetting that belongs to the Jews only who are therefore called by the Apostle the natural Branches Rom. 11.24 and the Gentiles are said to be ingrafted contrary unto nature and therefore the Gentiles can claim no interest in Abrahams covenant but from believing Abraham and yet I deny that the faith which shall give a man any kind of right or title must be true saving and justifying faith And to clear this I must give you a threefold distinction 1. Of Abraham as a father and it 's plain that the Scripture speaks of a threefold paternity of Abraham 1 Abraham is a natural father and so to the Jews only for they are his posterity according to the flesh the natural branches that grow out of this root and this is the paternity that the Jews did glory in We have Abraham to our father Mat. 3.9 Joh. 8.39 2 Abraham is a spiritual father unto all true Believers who walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham whether they be of the Jews or of the Gentiles and they shall be blessed with faithful Abraham Rom. 4.11 12. for which cause I suppose it is that Heaven is called Abrahams bosom Luk. 16.22 Luk. 16.22 Abraham being the father of all the Faithful they shall be received into the same happiness with himself and he will shew unto them special love and tenderness Infantes in parentum sinu gestati amorem benevolentiam intimam experiuntur and so to be gathered to the Saints our fathers is a special mercy because we shall have an experience of the highest love of the Saints even Abraham himself the father of us all will owne us for his sons and receive us into his bosom Others take it as a Metaphor from the custom of the Jews in conviviis in their feasts where they did alter in alterius sinu occumbere lye down one in the others bosom Joh. 13.23 answerable unto that Mat. 8.11 They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac Joh. 13.23 Mat. 8.11 and Jacob in the kingdom of God which doth very fitly suit unto the Parable in hand Lazarus stands at the door of the rich man and was not admitted to taste of his meat much less to sit down at his table but he shall sit down in Heaven at the supper of the Lamb with Abraham Isaac and Jacob he shall there lean upon Abrahams bosom 3 Abraham is also an Ecclesiastical or a Church-father Rom. 11.16 as it appears Rom 11.16 he is the root upon which the Churches of the Jews did grow and into which the Churches of the Gentiles are ingrafted many of the Jews were not spiritually his seed and yet they are said to be broken off not from being Abrahams natural seed that they could never be deprived of they were the posterity of Abraham according to the flesh and so they do remain even after their breaking off but they are only broken off from a Church-relation and so they are the seed of Abraham no more and the Gentiles are grafted not into Abraham as a natural father a natural root for they never can be the posterity of Abraham according to nature and many of them are not from him as a spiritual father for many of them believe not and therefore are in danger of being cut off as the Jews were broken off whence they grow upon Abraham and are ingrafted into him as an Ecclesiastical or Church-father So then the answer is there is not a sufficient enumeration of Abrahams paternities It 's confessed the Gentiles cannot become the posterity of Abraham as a natural father or as a spiritual father for so many of the Gentiles are not of the seed of Abraham as do not walk in the steps of his faith but yet Abraham is an Ecclesiastical father unto the Gentiles as well as he was to the Jews that believed not for the Gentiles are ingrafted into the same root out of which the natural branches were broken off which cannot be spoken of his faith and grace that 's never broken off therefore it is of his Ecclesiastical or Church respect it must be meant 2. In the Covenant of Abraham there are two parts the one spiritual consisting in the inward graces and priviledges the other external consisting in outward priviledges only and this doth plainly appear in Isaac who was the child of the free woman and unto whom the Covenant descended according to the spiritual graces and priviledges thereof and in Ismael who was the son of the bond-woman born after the flesh and taken into covenant only in reference to the external priviledges thereof Deut. 29.10 12 13 14. Rom. 9.4 and thus were all the Jews taken into covenant with God as it appears Ezech. 16.8 and yet with many of them God was not well pleased they never had an interest in the saving graces and the spiritual priviledges of the Covenant for Rom. 9.6 They are not all Israel that are of Israel they were all inchurch'd Israel but they were not all of elected Israel for as there is an external calling Mat. 22.14 and sanctification Mat. 22.14 Joh. 15.2 Heb. 10.29 and an external being in Christ so there is also an external being in Covenant with God or being taken into the Covenant of Abraham for Abraham is the root of the Covenant into which the Gentiles also are ingrafted Rom. 11.17 there is a fatness that is from the Olive-tree communicated to the branches even to such branches as were broken off in whose places the Gentiles were grafted in Now the saving graces of the Covenant are not communicated from any Company of men in the world no not from the invisible Church but from Christ only who is therefore said to be the Root of David Rev. 22.16 and the fountain of the Gardens Cant. 3.15 but Ordinances and outward Priviledges are properly the Churches and from the Church are communicated to others as members whether they be elect or reprobate the Gentiles therefore may have an interest in Abrahams Covenant in reference to the outward Priviledges and Ordinances thereof though
to heal thee but there is something of God made over in the personal promises of the Gospel that never saw light before and that is Mercy and Grace which is the Glory of the Gospel an Attribute that was never known but under the second Covenant And as all Gods Attributes were not made known to Adam by his personal interest so neither were all the persons unto those perfect high and compleat ends that now they are unto the Heirs of Promise The Lord did give Adam an interest in his Son but not his Son to take the Nature of Adam to be made lower than the Angels for the suffering of death He gave him also an interest in his Spirit but not to heal his corruption and to perfect his Graces or help his infirmities or be an Advocate to plead his Cause before God and his own Soul also for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifies an Advocate as well as a Comforter Christ is an Advocate without us and the Spirit within us inabling us to plead for our selves before his Throne Now in these respects though Adam had personal promises yet these of the Gospel are now more glorious and of a higher nature and of a larger extent and therefore they are better promises 2. The greatest Gift that ever God did bestow upon a Creature is a Person and therefore the giving of Christ is call'd by way of excellency The gift of God Joh. 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God And unto us a Son is given It was a great gift that the Lord should give to Adam the Lordship of the whole world the inheritance of all the Creatures but there is no excellency in Creatures in comparison of the glorious persons in the Trinity Answerable to the excellency of the thing given we do rightly value the gift and answerable unto the gift of his Son we may also conclude of the Father and the Spirit for the gift of the Son is upon that ground so great because he that has once attain'd an interest in the Son the whole God-head is become his 3. All the interest that a Soul has in the blessings of God and benefits by him have their foundation in our interest and propriety in the persons themselves they are made over to us by these personal promises and a man can have no more benefit by God than he has interest in him as the Psalmist having spoken of all the benefits and blessings that they have by God he comes at last to shew the title and the conveyance of them all Psal 144. ver the last and that is Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah The ground of all our benefits by Christ is our Union with him and the intendment of Union is Communication and till a man become one with him he can savingly have no benefit by him as 't is said 1 Cor. 3.22 All things are yours and you are Christs it 's your interest in his person that gives you a title to his inheritance as the Wife can have no claim to the estate and the honours of her Husband but by her Union with him and interest in his person and answerable unto mens interest in persons such is their title unto benefits by them and they that have no interest in God can have no title to any of the blessings of God and therefore the fundamental promises and mercies are those that are personal He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5.12 there is no life from the Son but by Union with him you must eat his flesh and drink his blood which are terms of Union if ever you hope for everlasting life by him 4. From our interest in the Persons the personal promises give us boldness and access to him we have says the Apostle boldness and access to come to God by Christ Ephes 3.12 Now a Child comes to the Father with boldness because he has an interest in his person as a Father and a Wife has access unto her Husband with boldness because she has an interest in him whereas all ungodly men are strangers to God and therefore cannot ingage their hearts to draw near to him for they have no interest in him and therefore must stand without and can have no access 5. The great promises to Christ as Mediator lye in this that he has an interest in persons and by personal promises they are made over to him Psal 89.26 He shall call me my Father Psal 16.5 my God and this Christ glories in the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup and it is this Christ takes hold of in his desertion my God my God that high speech of Faith taking hold of these personal promises It 's a glorious inheritance that God has given to Christ for he hath made him heir of all things but yet his inheritance in all the Creatures is nothing in comparison of the inheritance he has in the Lord as he is his God Joh. 3.35 and in the Spirit which is therefore called the Spirit of Christ because he received not the spirit by measure As the great delights of the God-head from everlasting were in the persons one of another Prov. 8.30 I was by him as one brought up with him and I was his delight daily so the great delight of Christ is in his interest in the person of the Father He has also a great delight in the Saints because they are his Seed and his Spouse and therefore he doth rejoyce over them as a Bridegroom over his Bride but yet the main delight of Christ as Mediator doth lye in his interest in the person of the Father and of the Spirit and as God made over his person first unto Christ by the Covenant of Redemption so by that Covenant in him he made it over unto us for he is Christs Father and our Father he is Christs God and he is our God Joh. 20.17 I ascend to my Father and your Father my God and your God 6. The main comfort of a Christian comes in from personal relations of the Covenant and they are all of them grounded in personal promises He is our Father and our Husband and our Friend and all of these are personal relations and speak an interest in the person and the great support of Faith in the worst times lyes in this as we see in the Church Isai 63. doubtless thou art our Father When the Lord was displeased with them and had hid his face and poured upon them spiritual judgments hardned their hearts from his fear and variety of temporal judgments for the Adversary had trodden down their Sanctuary yet now when they have nothing else to lay hold of it is upon a personal relation that they pitch doubtless thou art our Father and it 's according to our relation to his person that the Lord exhorts us to come to him All our Prayers when we pray is Our Father
and the spirit teacheth us to come unto him as our Father so in all our addresses unto God he teacheth us to cry Abba Father and so the Saints in Scripture O Lord thou art my God early will I seek thee 7. Hence comes that glorious communication of properties that is between God and the Saints That as Divines do observe by reason of the hypostatical Union there is a communication of properties that what is done by the humane nature is attributed unto the persons and the blood of the humane nature is called the blood of God Acts 20.28 and God is said to be received up to glory 1 Tim. 3. and Christ is called the Son of God which is proper only to the Divine Nature Luk. 1.35 and the Humane Nature being taken into the same person it comes under the same filiation for the rule of the School-men is filiatio est suppositi filiation is of a person the Son-ship belongs and relates unto the person and not unto the nature so from our Union with Christs person arise those strange communications which some observe the Lord calling himself by the name of a Creature Psal 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob and that glorious and which some say is an incommunicable name of God Jehovah yet it is said to be attributed to the Creature through his interest in the person of God it 's the name of Christ Jer. 23.6 And in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our righteousness and this name is also given to the Church Jer. 38.16 And in those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness c. and all this flows from interest in the person through personal promises 8. Our interest in the persons is always the same and varies not though the dispensations are very various and there is no Saint of God but doth find changes of the right hand of the most High though the Lord in himself changes not Sometime he lifts up the light of his countenance and sometimes he hides his face but yet in the middle of all this here is the comfort of the Saints the Lord is still their God and they have an interest in him And so did Christ himself find a change of dispensations there was substractio visionis a substraction of vision but yet not unionis of union and when the Lord hid his face from him then Christ flyes to a personal promise and in that he looks upon God when he could look upon him no other way my God my God c. and so doth the Church doubtless thou art our Father And there is a special Art and Mystery that the people of God have learned when they are in the deepest desertions to recover themselves out of it Cant. 5. there the Church falls in love with the person of Christ and looks upon her own interest in him and then she breaks out this is my beloved and this is my friend and this recovers her again so that she glories in Christs interest in her and hers in him I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine the comfort of the Saints in their worst estate is that God has an interest in their persons I am thine O save me may every Saint of God say and so they also have an interest in the person of God this God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 if there be never so great Changes or Dispensations yet our relation unto the person is still the same and therefore so should our claim be 9. The highest objects of Faith are Persons for there is a three-fold object of Faith 1. Primarium primary and that is all Divine Truth 2. Mediatum mediate that is Christ as Mediator 3. Vltimatum ultimate for through Christ we believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 therefore the ultimate and the highest object of Faith is a Person Objectum fidei est jus incomplexum the object of faith is an incomplex right Now that which is the highest object of Faith that is the most perfect in which only Faith can rest and therefore must be the greatest ground of Hope and Love as that wherein our happiness doth ultimately consist 10. The highest act of Gods Love to us is in accepting our persons Electing Love was set upon the person and in Christ he doth accept our persons and has respect unto them therefore if he respect our persons so highly being made over to him in Covenant how much more should we set a high price upon his excellent person being made over to us in Covenant It is his Love unto our persons that doth incline his heart to accept our services and reward them and to bestow all good things upon us and so should our Love unto the person of God be that which should sweeten all his benefits towards us he has not this Treasure only but he has the root also upon which it grows Revel 21.6 He shall inherit all things I will be his God and it is much more than all the Creatures can be to him for he shall receive a hundred fold more in this life it is not to be understood formalitèr formally sed eminentèr but eminently that is they shall have all made up in God that the Creatures could supply if they were a hundred times multiply'd God shall be all in all to them so that they can complain of no want for the Lord is their God Vse § 2. First we may hence gather the devillishness of that Opinion that denies all persons in the Trinity they do thereby make void the main of the New Covenant on Gods part which doth consist in personal promises for if there be no persons then the promises of making of them over by way of interest unto the Saints is void and of none effect And truly of all the Abominations of this last Age which Satan has cast forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius calls it Orat. 1. cont Arian there is not any so desperate an Opinion that strikes more at the root of all Religion than this doth all Heresie is the smoak that arises out of the bottomless pit and it is commonly vented by some Star that falls from Heaven some Man Eminent in the Church and he making an Apostasie and Defection from the Truth the Key of the bottomless pit is given him in judgment a Key is potestatis symbolum a symbol of power as we know and unto one man it 's given as a special Mercy and unto another it 's given as a special Judgment Revel 20.1 to the one it 's given to bind Satan and to the other to let out his smoak and wo to the man to whom such a power is given as Revel 20.1 Satan is ready enough to
earth 5. Creatures and promises could never make a man happy if a mans interest in them were never so clearly discovered to him for it could never put his soul into a fruition of the chiefest good it would only make all to be faith and we should rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God 1 Pet. 1.9 and it is true that this is a joy unspeakable and glorious Fruitio est actus voluntatis circa finem importat quietationem delectationem anima in amato Fruition is an act of the will about the end and it imports the quietation and delectation of the soul in its beloved Medin But the soul would be for ever unquiet and always full of restlesness still tending towards God Heb. 12.23 therefore it enjoys him as the end of faith and hope and thence souls in Heaven are made perfect not only because their image is perfected by the beatifical vision but also because they are put into a fruition of that which was the highest and ultimate object of their faith and love and fruitio est nobilissima actio voluntatis the most noble act of the will and it 's this act upon the highest object that doth perfect the will and the perfection of the will is the perfection of the man as the act of the will is the act of the man Vse 1 § 4. From hence see the misery of all those that are out of Covenant with God they have all the Attributes of God against them and they have no inheritance in him thou mayst have large revenues amongst the creatures for God doth give Kingdoms unto the basest of men but it is but mica canibus projecta a crum thrown to a dog as Luther speaks of the Turkish Empire and in them all thou shalt but inherit the wind Prov. 11.29 for thou hast no inheritance in the Lord he is no God to thee tolle meum tolle Deum take away my and take away God it is unto thee as if there were no God And here it 's good to consider 1. If a man had all the creatures armed against him for his destruction as all men out of Covenant have for the Creation groans under their service that is the bondage of corruption spoken of Rom. 8.21 but also they are very ready to make war upon thee for when a man is taken into Covenant with God there is a league made with the beasts of the earth the stones of the field and the creeping things of the ground And God will hear the Heavens and the Heavens shall hear the Earth Hos 2.21 and the Earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel and I will sow her unto me in the earth and will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy c. All the creatures shall work together for their good and yet if God arm the meanest of the creatures against a man they shall destroy him Pharaoh the great King of Egypt that durst presume to war against God cannot contend with Flyes nor with the Lice and the Frogs he cannot fight a pitcht battel with the waves Now if a man cannot stand out a battel with the smallest of the creatures how can he fight against God Therefore I would a little reason with you as God doth with his people if thou hast run with the footmen Jer. 12.5 and they have wearied thee how wilt thou contend with horses and if in a land of peace they have wearied thee what wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan if thou canst not stand it out against creatures how wilt thou be able to endure when the Lord shall rise up and all his Attributes shall be armed against thee For as this is the great comfort of the Saints and their last refuge so it 's the great terrour unto wicked men and their last destruction 2. Consider if it were but a threatning what a miserable thing it is to lye under any evil aspect thereof the Lord has spread out the Expansum of his Word over the rational world and the Lord rules all by it and according to it he will judge them all Zac. 1.6 Did not my word overtake your fathers for the Decree will surely bring forth it will not always carry the judgment in the womb of it and if it be so terrible a thing to be under the power of any one threatning of God Zeph. 2.2 what is it to lye under the evil aspect of all the threatnings of God that there is not a word in this book but speaks terrour unto the man much more under the evil aspects of all the Attributes of God 3. This is the happiness of the Saints that they have something in God to plead for them they have as it were a threefold Advocate 1 within themselves and so the Spirit pleads the causes of the soul 2 without them and so Jesus Christ is an Advocate with the Father 3 they have something in God himself I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loves you c. So here is the misery of wicked men not only the Spirit pleads against them and will strive with them no more but becomes unto them a spirit of bondage in themselves and binds them over unto wrath and Christ pleads against them as Luther tells a story of one Doctor Krans in a Tract of his De Fascina spirituali in Gal. 3. Ego Christum negavi ideo stat coram Patre accusat me illam cogitationem tam fortiter conceperat ut nullâ adhortatione aut consolatione sibi pateretur excuti atque ita desperavit seipsum miserrimè occîdit c. I denied Christ and therefore he stands before the Father and accuseth me c. The learned do for our understanding frame a holy kind of conflict between the Attributes of God according to the liberty allowed them in Scripture speaking of God after the manner of men in the work of our Redemption as if the Lord were reduced into some straights by the cross demands of several Attributes Justice calling for vengeance upon sinful and cursed creatures and with Justice the Truth of God doth joyn to make good his threatning the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye and mercy on the other side pleads for compassion towards miserable and seduced man and this sets infinite wisdom on work to reconcile the different pleas of the Attributes of God in mans redemption but what a misery will that man be in that shall have no Attribute of God to plead for him but they shall all joyn in their pleas and demands against him not only those terrible Attributes that the soul is afraid of as Justice and Truth and Holiness but also the Attributes in which a mans hope is Men cry out God is merciful Oh but mercy is set against thee O sinner and thou hast no interest in his mercy
us Kings and Priests unto God and the Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever c. They have each of them their peculiar glory of the distinct works that they themselves have wrought and all of it is grounded upon this distinct interest that the Lord doth promise to the Saints that he will be their God 5. When the Saints come to glory their communion with all these glorious persons shall be perfected they shall not only have perfect sanctification but communion and as their communion in this life is not with God only but with all the persons distinctly having hearts affected with love and sensible of the communion of them all so it shall be much more in Heaven for the communion here that we have shall be perfected Now in Heaven we shall have not only the vision of God that is of his Essence but also of all the persons we shall see God in Trinity as well as in Vnity for what we have here by faith we shall have there by sight but here we have that by faith therefore we shall see them there or else we cannot see him as he is and according to our vision so shall our communion be but we shall have a distinct fellowship and sweetness in the Father Son and Spirit for ever Now the grounds of it are these 1. That our happiness might appear to consist in the vision and fruition of them all therefore they are all of them distinctly made over by Covenant to us we shall not only see God in his Unity but in his Trinity also not only the glory of the Divine Essence but the excellency of each of the persons This is a mystery now that is inconceivable unto us which we are not to pry into which the Angel in a vision told Austin while he was studying and did endeavour to comprehend he did but attempt to empty the Sea with a spoon into a pit Scrutator Majestatis opprimitur à gloria This Mystery is here discovered only to the faith of the Saints but that revelation which is in this life imperfect shall be perfected in Heaven and our knowledge which in a way of faith is imperfect for faith is a grace that doth suppose imperfection that shall be perfected in vision for in Heaven whatever doth suppose sin or implies imperfection shall be done away therefore the Father as distinguished from the Son and the Son from the Father the nature of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost which now we have only revealed unto us that it is so the nature and the manner of it we shall understand so far as the creature is capable of such glorious and inconceivable mysteries and then in them all shall our happiness consist and our soul is to have its portion in them all 2. That the soul may honour them distinctly for the aim of God in the new Covenant is not barely the glory of the Divine Essence and to exalt in the hearts of the Saints the Attributes of the Nature but the excellency of the persons also that they may honour the Son Joh. 5.23 as they honour the Father that they may give glory to the Father Son and holy Spirit and may cry always day and night Holy holy holy Rev. 4.8 repetitâ acclamatione unum Jehovam celebrant quem etiam trinum agnoscunt Bright And the Lord doth in Scripture exceedingly stand upon a distinct glory and to that very end requires not only a general and confused but a distinct acknowledgment not only that we should know God to have all goodness and all sufficiency in him but the particular attributes and excellencies that are in God and not only to know Christ to have all fulness in him but that the soul see the several offices and the particular excellencies that are laid up in Christ as the Church doth Cant. 5. for as else a man can never give God glory till his particular excellencies be known and discovered so a man will never be in his own soul affected with it for they are particulars that do affect as whilst the Queen of Sheba heard but a general report of the wisdom of Solomon she was so far affected as that she was moved to come a great journey even from the farthest parts of the Earth to hear his wisdom but when she saw his wisdom in the particulars of it when he had answered all her questions and she had seen all his glory there was no more spirit left in her 1 King 10.5 they were the particulars that did affect his wisdom and his house and his servants c. As it 's in confession they are not generals that do affect it 's a small thing for men to say That they are all sinners and they have broken all the commands but when a man sees his sins in the particulars set down in order before him then is his soul amazed and he doth abhor himself never till then and so it is in thanksgiving also Now because that all the persons shall be glorified and they shall all have great glory therefore it must be distinct and that it may come from a heart truly affected with it also therefore he must give unto each person his distinct glory 3. That a man in this life may exercise distinct acts of faith upon them all Joh. 14.1 You believe in God believe also in me not only to the glory of God the Father but of the Son and Spirit also that faith may have an eye unto God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as Eph. 1.14 and unto Christ as the Son in whom he is well pleased as Mat. 17.3 therefore he is in the bosom of the Father able to reveal all his Fathers counsels unto the Saints and interceding as he is the Son and therefore is very powerful with him Joh. 3.16 he cannot deny the cry of a Son Heb. 7. ult Though Christ as he is God cannot pray because he can stand in need of nothing that he should go out of himself for for he is God all-sufficient 1 Cor. 3.11 Rev. 4. yet it is the Godhead that gives an efficacy to all that is done in the humane nature There are two things Christ does as he is a Priest 1 His Satisfaction and the sufficiency thereof is put upon the Godhead in the Scripture Acts 20.28 The blood of God and We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and Heb. 9.14 He offered himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God 2 His Intercession and though he doth intercede by the power of his satisfaction for he doth enter within the most holy place and doth sprinkle the blood with the incense his blood is a speaking blood yet the prevalency of his Intercession is commonly put upon the strength of the relation between God and him Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son c. Ask of me and I will give thee
c. Thou art Christ the Son of God it 's the confession of Peters faith and is also called the Foundation of the Churches faith 1 Cor. 3.11 And so there is Divine Worship given to Christ as Mediator they worship the Lamb this is by reason of union and yet it is evident Rev. 4. that the humane nature remains a creature after its union and therefore it is as he is the Son and so is coessential with the Father this is the formalis ratio the proper cause of this Divine Faith and Worship and so the Holy Ghost also he is to be believed for himself and his own testimony the Spirit is truth 1 Joh. 5.6 and the Scriptures are to be believed only for the testimony of the Spirit 2 Pet. 1.21 But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost therefore we are commanded to hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches he is called therefore the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 4. That we may honour them in our prayers distinctly for whomsoever a man is to believe in him he may pray unto Rom. 10.14 How can they call on him in whom they have not believed And therefore in our prayers we are not only to go unto God but unto each of the persons with distinct petitions suitable unto the acts that they have undertaken and the offices in which they have made over themselves unto the Saints under the new Covenant Christ he prays to the Father Holy Father righteous Father I will that those that thou hast given me be with me sanctifie them by thy truth And Stephen at his death Lord Jesus receive my spirit And the Disciples Lord increase our faith And so doth the Church Tell me where thou feedest c. The Apostle commonly speaks of them all together The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you And Rev. 1.5 6. Grace from him that is and was and is to come and from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne and from Jesus the faithful and true witness And as it is a mans duty to believe in the Son as well as the Father so it is to pray to the Son distinctly as also unto the Father for as our faith must distinctly take in all the objects of faith or else it is imperfect for there are two things that tend to the perfection of any grace 1 When it takes in all the objects in their extent and latitude 2 When they do put forth compleat and perfect acts upon these objects thus I say as faith must take in all its objects or else there is something wanting in it as the Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wants of faith so must faith give unto each of these their due and proper glory and Christ being to be believed in he may be prayed unto nay it 's an honour that belongs unto him and therefore our faith must give it to him 5. That the soul may have a distinct fellowship and communion with them all and there is a fellowship with the Spirit 1 Joh. 1.3 we are by the Gospel brought into communion with God and it 's a distinct fellowship and communion that we are to have with all the persons our communion is as large as our relation and the soul is to look upon himself as reconciled to them all and therefore all of them are become our friends and we have a particular and distinct interest in them all Now how is a man said to have fellowship with God or to walk with God it is when the thoughts of a mans heart are taken up with God and he has an eye unto him and unto his glory from day to day As a man is said to have communion with the Devil when he walks with his temptations and the desires and thoughts of his heart do run out towards the unfruitful works of darkness a man has fellowship with the Devil in all things as it is said Prov. 6.22 The law shall talk with a man waking and keep him when he is asleep and lead him when he goes how is this is it is but in the thoughts and the meditations of a mans own heart by the suggestions and directions thereof where it doth richly dwell so it is in this also it is communion with God and Gods dwelling in the soul animus ascendit frequenter c. the soul frequently ascends there is gratiarum decursus recursus a flowing down and reflowing of graces and in this doth our communion lye Now a man having an interest in all the persons all of them having undertaken something for a mans good by way of office and a man receiving something from them all and returning praise to them all there is in the soul a distinct fellowship to be exercised with them all sometimes the thoughts of his heart being drawn out to the Father and sometimes unto the Son and sometimes unto the Spirit and observing the witnessing of them all and the sealing of them all unto the evidences of the Saints sometimes we walk with the Father and sometimes with the Son and sometimes with the Spirit and the more distinct a mans communion is the more sweet it is 6. That a man may draw arguments and motives unto duty and against sin from them all and a mans interest in them all We are said to be baptized in the name of them all Mat. 28.20 Mat. 28.20 Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Now what is it to be baptized into the name of the Father it's conceived to be taken from the manner of marriage wherein the wife doth transire in nomen in familiam c. into the name and family of the husband or of servants who had their masters name called upon them 1 Cor. 1.13 and therefore no man might be baptized in the name of a creature it is that which Paul detests that he should baptize in his own name and therefore the meaning is to be baptized in fidem in cultum into the faith and worship of God and so you are unto them all and give up your names unto them all and therefore unto each person we owe both faith and worship distinctly all manner of duty and obedience because we are distinctly baptized unto the faith of them all to believe in them and worship them and a man should draw arguments to keep him from sin from them all and his interest in them all the Father is greater than all and it is by his will we are sanctified If we call him Father who without respect of persons judgeth every man according to his works Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.15 And he says of Christ I send my Angel but take heed of him obey his voice provoke him not for my name is in him And grieve
the Word has spoken of each person that we may be assured of that each person has undertaken for the Spirit of God knows the mind of God and the things of God and the Lord would never have spoken so of himself but that he would have us to look upon them as acts that the persons had each of them undertaken for the Elect and these we way build upon in the new Covenant that they have and will perform SECT II. The Actions undertaken by God the Father in this Covenant § 1. GOD the Father has spoken of himself distinctly and has taken upon himself some appropriated acts and hath in them made over himself unto the Saints for their consolation and salvation which we shall demonstrate unto you in these particulars 1. All things begin at God the Father he is first in order of working as he is in the order of subsisting he was the first Plotter and Mover in this great work of mans salvation for the Son saith He can do nothing of himself in it Joh. 5.19 but what he sees the Father do and therefore Luke 24.9 Christ calls it his Fathers business as though Solomon built the Temple yet the Platform was revealed unto David and by him was left unto his son so though Christ this Solomon was to build the Temple the man whose name is the Branch yet the Platform of all was laid by the Father and therefore he is in Scripture every where said to have the first and the great hand therein and I shall reduce these to two heads 1 The Actions that are undertaken by the Father 2 The Relations in which the Saints stand unto the Father 1. The Actions that according unto Scripture-acceptation the Father has undertaken and these are of two sorts 1 There are some acts that are eternal and before time 2 There are some that are done by the Father in time 1. The actions of the Father before all time and they are these 1 He did from Eternity purpose to glorifie himself in the Son for the Father will be glorified in the Son Phil. 2.11 The great end of all the acts of Christ and of all his life is this that every tongue might confess Joh. 14.13 That Jesus is the Lord unto the glory of God the Father for this is the highest way of glorifying the Father and therefore Christ knowing that to be the Fathers end that he might shew himself to be the Fathers servant he did aim at this end and it was always in his eye in all things that he did I seek not mine own glory but the glory of him that sent me Joh. 8.50 There is one that seeks not his own glory and therefore Heb. 1.2 3. he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the shining forth of the glory of the Father for his great aim was from Eternity to be glorified in his Son and therefore 1 Cor. 11.7 Christ is said to be the image and glory of God and the woman the mans glory the head of Christ is God Now glory is the manifestation and the shining forth of some supereminent and transcendent excellency And it was an argument of great excellency that was in man that all the creatures were created for man and put in subjection unto him but the highest honour of man was the woman who was created in the same nature having a reasonable soul as himself had and souls know no sexes being created after the same image and unto the same glory with himself and yet this glorious creature should be created for man and put in subjection unto man for the woman was created for the man so also God hath great glory by all his creatures for Prov. 16.4 He made all things for himself and he has a more special honour from the reasonable creatures the Angels and the Saints but yet the top and the highest of God the Fathers glory is that the Son who thought it no robbery to be equal with God in glory yet shall give up himself to the glory of the Father and this is a far greater glory than the Father has by all the creatures in Heaven and Earth And there is a double glory that the Father did seek by the Son 1 That the Son himself should give him glory should seek his glory in all things reflect all his own glory upon the Father and attribute all to him and be content to veil his own glory that the glory of the Father might appear 2 He has the glory of all that glory that is given to the Son by the Saints it 's all ultimately resolved into his glory who is the Father as all the promises of God in Christ are in him Yea 2 Cor. 1.29 and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us Phil. 2.11 All the confessions and acknowledgments that are made unto Christ do all of them redound unto the praise and glory of God for the more the Son is glorified the more it redounds unto the glory of the Father whose glory the Son seeks in all that he does and therefore in every respect the Father is glorified in the Son and this was the great plot that God made from everlasting 2 The Fathers purpose was to glorifie the Son in the Saints that he might make him the head of both the Creations of God 1 To them that stood so he is the head of all Principalities and Powers that they should all hold of him and so they should all honour the Son as they honour the Father Col. 2.10 and therefore it 's said Heb. 1.6 the Angels do worship him and so Angels are round about the Throne Rev. 5.11 The Father will receive glory from no creature but it shall be by the Son for the great glory of the Father we must still remember comes in by him and all the honour that they do unto the Son redounds unto God the Father 2 As for them that should fall as well as those that stood Joh. 5.23 Joh. 17.10 All men must honour the Son even as they honour the Father and he that honours not the Son honours not the Father and therefore Christ says All thine are mine and mine are thine I am glorified in them so that all the glory that the Son had its foundation was laid in the plot and purpose of the Father I speak of his manifestative glory as for his essential glory he had that from himself as he is God of himself and was therein equal with God and did no more receive his glory from another than he did his essence from another but having one and the same essence they must needs have one and the same glory but as for the glory that he hath amongst the creatures and from them all it 's from and by the plot of God the Father to this end was Christ the head of both Creations Esay 42.1 Eph. 1.4 3 The purpose of the Father was to glorifie the Elect
which he chose to himself out of both Creations and therefore 't is said Ephes 1.4 He has chosen us in him before the foundations of the world were laid He chose him as the head and the Elect as the body Eph. 1.9 10. He has made known unto us the good pleasure of his will according as he purposed in himself to gather together all things unto one whether things in heaven or things on earth There is a Mystery in the Gospel which is called the hidden Wisdom which God hath ordained before the world unto our glory it was free grace to mind the glory of the Elect next to the glory of his own Son 1 Cor. 2.7 and that as the Son shall glorifie him so also the glory of the Son shall come in by the glory of the Saints and the Son ingaged who was the Lord of glory to bring many sons to glory by this because therein should his own glory consist for at the day of Judgment the great glory of Christ shall be in his Saints He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and be admired in them that believe c. And if he did look upon man as fallen he need never have taken up such a purpose as this is for being enemies he had a prison that was large enough to have held them all Esay 10. ult for Tophet was prepared of old he hath made it deep and large and he needs not their service nor their friendship he could have destroyed them and as John Baptist saith Of these stones he could raise up children unto Abraham But yet it was the loving-kindness of the Father that did think thoughts of peace towards them and he had an eternal purpose of good will and as the Father will be glorified in the Son so shall the Saints also and therefore they are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.3 and the plot is in Scripture commonly attributed unto the Father 4 It was God the Father that made the motion unto Christ the Son who called him and appointed him unto this work Joh. 8.42 I came not of my self it was an honour that Christ did not take upon himself Heb. 5.5 But he that said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee he doth ingage him in the work by the highest relation and the greatest obligation that can be as he was his gift so he must be obedient unto the Father in this thing Heb. 10.6 7. and therefore In the volume of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will O God and this is intended in these two expressions Prov. 8.22 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he possessed me Prov. 8.22 23. for the servant is part of his masters goods and therefore it 's said That he is his money Exod. 21.21 Now as soon as the Son became in the purpose of the Father his servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately he possessed him and he is called the beginning of all the ways of God towards the creature The first step of all the good will that was towards the creature and all the goings forth of God towards him was laid in the Son he is the beginning of his way and it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was set up from everlasting it 's the same word in Psal 2.6 I was anointed from everlasting it is spoken in the purpose and intention of God for the efficacy of it took not place till after the Fall neither was he actually anointed till he in the humane nature received the Spirit without measure and was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows 5 He proposed it unto the Son by way of a Covenant for the Covenant was originally made with Christ Esay 49. Gal. 3.6 and so 2 Tim. 1.9 there is a promise of eternal life not unto us but unto him and also in Tit. 1.2 eternal life that was given us before the world began he did appoint him the office that he should undertake him has God the Father consecrated and sanctified the service that he should do Joh. 10.18 I lay down my life and this commandment I received of my Father And to shew the intention of the Fathers Spirit in it he did swear that he should be a Priest and it was the word of the Oath made him so to be For him hath God the Father sealed Heb. 7.27 Joh. 6.26 And it was by this Covenant that most properly Christ became the second Adam 1 Cor. 15.47 As the Lord made a Covenant with the first Adam for an image and an inheritance which he was to transmit unto his posterity so also he did with the second Adam only here was the difference though the first Adams consent to the Covenant was voluntary yet he being a creature and subject to a Law when the mind of God was made manifest in a Covenant and to deal with him in a Covenant-way it had been his sin to withdraw his consent But now the Son being God equal with the Father it was every way free with him to have consented unto the terms of this Covenant or not but he did it freely Lo I come to do thy will O God 6 In this Covenant he did appoint unto his Son what glory he should have and what glory and grace the Saints should have He hath given us eternal life 1 Joh. 5.11 and this life is in his Son so that all the grace that ever should be communicated to the Saints here and their glory hereafter it should be all laid up in him as in a common Treasury It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge And when the Saints enter into happiness they do but enter into their masters joy all is laid up in Christ for them And God doth appoint Christ what glory he should have for his personal glory Phil. 2.10 That he should be exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high and have a name given him above every name and that he should be glorified in the Saints and admired in them that believe Joh. 5. the Father has given him to have life in himself that he may quicken whom he will and hath given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man 7 The Father did appoint him the souls that he should save for Joh. 17.10 All thine are mine I pray not for the world but those that thou hast given me c. The Father and the Lamb have each of them a book of life and they do answer one another Rev. 13.8 for every soul that God would have saved he did give unto the Lord Christ by Covenant so that as he did measure out suffering to Christ and sins too for he had our sins unto a number laid upon him so he did souls also that he was to
make their abode with him Joh. 14.23 They dwell in God that is in the sense and the apprehension of his love from day to day 1 Joh. 4.16 they are in the Father and in his Son Christ friends do impart secrets and divide grief 1 Thess 1.1 and multiply joys and because we cannot ascend up unto God therefore he will come down to us We will come to him and dwell in him c. There is a great deal of sweetness in society where a man loves We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in companies but there is none like unto that that is between Heaven and Earth I saw heaven opened and the Angels ascending and descending upon the sons of men Joh. 1. ult Joh. 15.1 § 4. As Christ is the true Vine so the Father is the Husbandman Christ is not here spoken of as a head in heaven for so he has no dead members but it 's spoken of him as spreading himself into a visible Church which is sometimes compared unto a Vine Jer. 2.21 and sometimes to an Olive-tree Rom. 11. and of this Vine the Father is the Husbandman or the Vine-dresser for there are branches in this Vine that do bear no fruit parentes pampinarii Now there is a double act of the Father in this relation 1 The unfruitful branches he takes away that is all hypocrites and unsound-hearted in the Church visible he takes away partly because they dishonour the root and partly because the husbandman has no fruit by them Cant. ult 11 12. For who is he that plants a vineyard and doth not drink thereof he lets it out unto vine-dressers c. and it was to yield for the fruit of it a thousand pieces of silver there is nothing more hateful than an empty Vine Hos 10.1 and these branches he takes away and they are cast out 1 They are cast out of the hearts of Gods people and out of their prayers and in the end they are cast out of their society 2 They wither their gifts wither and their former seeming graces from which they had their greenness decay their lamps go out 3 Men gather them Hereticks gather them or profane men gather them for they shall be gathered together in bundles those of their own kind and all those spiritual judgments that compleat a man for separation from God befal such a man and this punishment is from God the Father who is the Husbandman 2 All the branches that are fruitful he doth purge them that they may bring forth more fruit There are two parts of Sanctification and there is a growth of a Christian seen in them both there is a growth in grace the new image is more visibly seen and there is a growth in mortification or the decay of the old image the new man is renewed day by day and the old man decays day by day c. In visible Churches the purging of the members is the Fathers act the remainders of sin are the great misery of a Saint Now to whom should a man look to be cleansed It 's true that it 's the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon the conscience by which it is done but it is properly the act of God the Father applying this blood for every degree of grace in the one or the other it 's an act of the grace of the Father But more particularly here are three things to be spoken to for the opening of this relation that we may receive the fruit and taste the sweetness thereof 1 How and in what respect is Christ compared to a Vine 2 Why is he said to be a true Vine 3 How is the Father said to be the Husbandman and what doth he unto this Vine as he is the Husbandman 1. How and in what respect is Christ compared to a Vine and here we are to consider that the visible Church is in Scripture compared in Scripture to four trees because there is no one that is able to resemble it 1 It 's compared to an Olive-tree Rom. 11.17 Jer. 11.16 Rom. 11.17 and that for its profitableness for the Olive-tree is for light which makes the lamp to burn and there is all light in the Church and it 's for nourishment to be eaten Lev. 6.15 16. and so there is all food in the Church and it 's for ornament for oyl makes the face to shine Psal 104.15 the trees of the Lord are full of sap c. 2 It 's compared to a Palm-tree Psal 92.12 The righteous shall flourish like a paâ—m-tree which lives always so there is a flourishing and a greenness and glory that is upon the Church of God and that in the greatest winter of affliction when other trees do cast their leaves Again a Palm the more weight it has hung upon it the more it grows and the deeper it takes root as the Walnut-tree the more it 's beaten the more it bears 3 It 's compared to a Cedar Psal 92.12 and Ezech. 17.23 He shall grow as a cedar in Lebanon 1 For its deep rooting for it 's the strongest of all the trees as the wood of it is of all other least subject unto putrefaction so in respect of the deep rooting of it it 's of all other trees least subject unto subversion so the Israel of God is said to be He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon Hos 14.5 c. 2 For its growth and height it 's therefore called the Cedars of God Psal 80.10 3 For it's spreading nature the boughs spread to the Sea and the branches to the River therefore the birds make their nests and sing in the branches of it Psal 104.17 4 But the Church is specially in the Scripture compared unto a Vine 1 for its excellency for in the Parable of Jotham this is recorded amongst the most excellent the Vine the Fig-tree and the Olive Judg. 9. 2 For its spreading nature for it will not only compass the house but it will fill the land Psal 80.9 3 For its fruitfulness it is the fruitful Vine and the excellency of its fruit is such Psal 128.3 Judg. 9.13 that it is said by it to chear God and man Judg. 9.13 it 's said to chear God and man where by Elohim I should understand great men the great ones as well as the mean ones are cheared and revived by it Some do expound it of God and how the Lord was pleased with it and it was offered unto him in Libamina for a drink-offering 4 Of all trees there is none requires so much husbandry and such a continual labouring about it it is a tree that hath more enemies than any other whether they are suckers from within which call for continual pruning or beasts from without which will surely waste the Vine and root it up or else the Foxes Cant. 2.15 for they all will spoil the Vines and prey upon the grapes and it 〈◊〉 in this respect that the Church
is called and compared to a Vine And it 's of this Vine that Christ is the root for it 's not spoken of Christ as he is a Head in Heaven so he has no dead members there are membra praesumptiva quae ad columbam non pertinent Austin but it 's spoken of Christ spreading himself into a visible Church here upon earth and his being the root notes two things 1 Their union with him as the branches have with the root and therefore they are said to be in him even those that bear no fruit some are in him only by profession and some by a real coalition 2 They may suck sap from him for the foolish Virgins have the oyl in their lamps from him as well as the wise that have oyl in their vessels the one have the oyl of gifts from whence their greenness comes though they afterward wither and the other have the oyl of their graces the one has it from the Spirit of Christ assisting and the other from the same Spirit inhabiting or informing for there are two sorts of branches in this Vine as the Text makes manifest 2. Why is he called the true Vine He may be fitly resembled to a Vine as he is called the true light Joh. 1.9 and the true bread Joh. 6.32 because he has the excellency of the Vine in a spiritual sense he is a spiritual Root that has spiritual branches and they bear spiritual fruit for omnia corporalia sunt imagines quaedam rerum spiritualium all corporals are images of things spiritual and as Christ did condescend unto the lowest condition for our salvation he became a worm and no man Psal 22. so he doth compare himself unto the lowest of creatures for our instruction but yet so as the creatures are but shadows and weak resemblances in respect of those spiritual excellencies that are in him so he is the true bread and so his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed Joh. 6. that is it is spiritual nourishment and is to the soul that which all earthly food is to the body for as the creatures are but shadows of God so Christ and spiritual things have the truth of all excellency of which the creatures are but resemblances 3. How is the Father said to be the Husbandman There are six main acts of the Husbandman and all of them are in the Scripture attributed to God the Father 1 The husbandman doth plant the Vine it 's true here both in the root and branches both are the plantation of God the Father 1 It is true of Christ the Root who though in some respect he be called a Branch as he did grow out of the dead and withered stock of the house of David as a branch out of a dry tree and yet so the Father brings him forth Zac. 3.8 Behold I will bring forth my servant the branch yet as all the other branches do grow upon him being one with him so he is in a more special manner termed a Root the root of David as he is called Rev. 5.5 and it is the Father that did cause this branch to grow Est radix Davidis quia portat non portatur Bernard Jer. 33.16 and it 's the Father that planted this Root for he bids you look unto him Zac. 6.12 The man whose name is The Branch he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he is made unto us of God wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption It 's by the Fathers appointment that he is become the Churches Root he had never had a Church built upon him had not the Lord laid him in Sion as the chief corner-stone 1 Pet. 2.6 and a Church had never grown out of him as the root had it not been of God the Fathers planting for he has given us the rule Mat. 15.13 Every plant that grows alone in the Church and is not planted by the Father shall surely by the Father be rooted up 2 He it is also that doth plant or ingraft all the branches into this root Esay 60.21 Thy people shall be all righteous branches of my planting that I may be glorified and therefore Rom. 6.5 we are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 planted together into the likeness of his death and his resurrection created in Christ unto good works for we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things made by him Eph. 2.10 Now if we do consider Christ not only as a Head in Heaven in reference unto the Church mystical and invisible but as he is a root on earth spreading himself into a Church visible and the great benefits that we have thereby as the incomes of Ordinances the labours of Officers and the fellowship of Members we owe these all unto God the Father he is the Husbandman that planted them all 2 The Father as Husbandman fenceth the Vine he that plants the Vine he it is also that makes the fence for the invisible Church of God has spiritual enemies in heavenly things but the visible Church that has variety of outward enemies as the lily amongst thorns sometimes the Foxes by their subtilty seek to spoil the vines and sometimes the wild Boar out of the wood doth endeavour to root it up and yet it is preserved the bush is in the fire and yet it 's not consumed it is because there is a hedge about it Joh. 10.29 says Christ My Father that gave them me is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of my Fathers hand Job 1.10 Thou hast made a hedge about him and all that he has round about and this hedge of protection is sometimes made by Gods own immediate hand Zac. 2.5 God himself is a wall of fire about Jerusalem he doth himself become their hedge and their defence upon all the glory he doth stretch forth a covering and sometimes he doth make others to be a hedge sometimes his own Angels and they pitch their Tents round about them that fear the Lord Rev. 5.11 they were round about the Throne and sometimes he does make Rulers which are the shields of the Earth to become the shields of the Church but their protection and defence is the work of the husbandman Now when the Lord doth pluck up the hedge and break down the wall of the visible Church we then see what terrible inroads all the enemies do make and how they come in and spoil her The Boar of the wood doth waste it and the beasts of the field devour it Psal 80.13 so that it 's God the Father only that makes the hedge and he it is that doth remove the fence and he it is that has the hand in making it up again 3 He as the Husbandman doth hire labourers into his Vineyard for it is the work of God the Father Mat. 20.1 as he is the Lord of the harvest so he doth thrust forth labourers into his harvest as he is the husbandman so he doth hire labourers into his vineyard which
is more abundant in them 1 Cor. 15. ult 2 When he doth exercise more grace in them and there is more of the inward man in them Rev. 3.2 though he doth the same duties yet it is more fruit to God than formerly when he doth it with more pleasure and the commandments are none of them grievous to him it is his meat and drink to do it his comforts do come in by his duties as well as by the promised rewards and he is also more constant in the performance of them and doth not perform duty only by fits inconstancy in any man is an argument of weakness 't is a reproach to have it said a mans righteousness is but as the morning dew and as the early cloud that passeth away § 5. We come now unto the last particular of the personal and appropriated relation of God the Father as he stands unto Christ and in him unto us as he is his Father and our Father our God and his God his friend so he is the fountain of the life of Christ and in him the fountain of spiritual life to us also 1 Joh. 5.11 and that is set down 1 Joh. 5.11 God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son we see of what person it 's spoken it is the Father that hath given us this life and laid it up in his Son as in a common Treasury Joh. 6.57 that from him it might be conveyed unto us So Joh. 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me Here in the opening of it I must shew 1 Whether this be spoken of Christ as he is God or as he is Mediator 2 How Christ as Mediator is said to live by the Father 3 What the life is that we have from Christ 4 That all this life that we have from Christ and is in him is from the Father he that is the fountain of the life of Christ is also the fountain of our life 1. Whether it be spoken here of Christ as he is God or as he is Mediator God manifested in the flesh That it 's not spoken of Christ as he is God there are three things do clearly make it manifest 1 It 's spoken of Christ with respect unto his Office for he speaks of himself as sent by the Father and sending is a term of office Now as he is sent by the Father so he lives by the Father but he is sent as Mediator and it wholly relates unto his Office in which he is by the Father imployed and therefore it is as Mediator that he lives by the Father 2 It 's spoken of Christ as he is fed upon by the faithful I live by the Father so he that eats me shall live by me which refers to him as he is made man for so he saith vers 34. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life c. Now the Father is the fountain of life unto Christ in the same respect that Christ is the fountain of life unto us but it is as Mediator that he is so to us as he hath flesh and blood for so he becomes unto us a natural head and therefore suited to be an object of our faith fit both to be our surety here and our Advocate in Heaven our surety here as having our nature and therefore being able to pay our debt and our Advocate hereafter as having our nature still upon him and therefore knows how to have mercy and compassion the same nature in him will incline him thereunto 3 I conceive that it were dangerous to say that as he is God so he lives by the Father though I often find that Divines writing of the eternal generation of the Son do speak of the Fathers begetting of the Son by the communication of the same Essence that he is God of God c. But surely he that is God must be without cause he must have his Being from himself he must be the first and the last he that hath his essence from another must have his sufficiency from another and he that is from another must be unto another for he that is the first cause he must also be the last end Rom. 11.36 For of him and to him and through him are all things c. and therefore he that is not God of himself is not God at all I dare not therefore say that he hath the Divine Essence communicated by eternal generation Calv. Institut l. 1. c. 13. §. 25. but rather he is à seipso Deus à Patre filius essentia ejus principio caret personae verò principium est ipse Deus it 's spoken of Christ therefore not as he lives in himself as he is God but as he is Mediator made by the Father the fountain of life unto us 2. What is the life which as Mediator Christ receives from the living Father There are two words in Scripture unto which commonly all things excellent or desirable are compared and those are Light and Life and so all misery is set forth under the two contraries and they are Darkness and Death as Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the righteous in thy light we shall see light c. And so life also Psal 30.5 In his favour is life Psal 36.9 With thee is the fountain of life Psal 63.3 thy loving-kindness is better than life life is that which doth comprehend in it all good things as the lesser is comprehended of the greater for the life is more worth than meat and the body than raiment and so it implies that Jesus the Mediator doth receive all things that are good excellent and desirable from God the Father he doth live by the Father c. he is unto him the fountain of all good things But this is but general I find life in Scripture used four ways as standing in opposition unto a fourfold death in us 1 There is a death in reference to the guilt of sin a man being under the sentence of the Law dead and in opposition thereunto there is a life of Righteousness in Justification therefore it 's said Rom. 5.17 18. For if by one mans offence death raigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gifts of righteousness shall raign in life by one Jesus Christ therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification to life 2 There is a death in reference to the dominion of sin and thus we are said to be dead in trespasses and sins and so there is a life of Holiness and Regeneration when the Lord saith Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead Eph. 5.14 Joh. 5.25 When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live and so he doth
so to all those that wait for them the Father will say I am thy Father and the Son say I am thy Saviour and the Spirit I am thine therefore exercise faith upon your interest in all the persons and in particular upon your interest in God the Father and be much in communion with the Father seeing communion is personal and there is a distinct interest in all the persons therefore a distinct communion that which was the happiness of these persons communion and the infinite satisfaction that they took one in another that shall be thy happiness and thy portion for ever § 3. We are to exercise faith upon all the persons in this manner made over under the second Covenant and to live upon this principle in all our ways 1 That they are all of them objects of faith is clear for the ultimate object of faith is God 1 Pet. 1.21 Now as we are to take in the whole Scripture as objectum immediatum the immediate object and every part of the Scripture is to be believed as an object of faith so the whole Godhead all the attributes of God and all the persons in the Godhead are by faith to be rested upon for there are 1 Thess 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defects of faith so long as faith takes not in its whole object it hath not its perfect work Jam. 1.3 2 We are to worship them all though not as apart one from another yet as in our apprehension distinguished and we are to give unto them distinct worship as Christ says Joh. 4.23 The time cometh that you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father he that will worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship him c. Now worship is twofold either cultus naturalis qui ex ipsa Dei natura pendet natural worship c. There is no man that did ever worship a God but he did acknowledge that this God he was to believe in and hope in love and pray to and to hear and obey him in all things and there is a cultus institutus qui ex liberrima Dei voluntate pendet c. instituted worship which depends on the will of God Now the highest act of worship is in believing and it 's unto this that all the Institutions which are but media cultûs means of worship are properly subordinate for cultus institutus medii locum tantùm supplet ad cultum primarium being to worship the persons we must give to each of them that which is the main of worship and that is to believe in them 3 It is from the objects of faith that the life of the soul comes in Esa 38.16 By these things men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit for the Prophet Esaias had said Take a lump of figs and lay it upon the boil and he shall recover by this promise I shall live and many others that come after shall live upon the promises by this experiment that I have had and found of them for faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mouth and eye of the soul Now the delight of the eye in seeing comes from the object and the nourishment of the body comes in by the mouth and therefore it 's said Eccles 6.7 That all the labour of the man is for his mouth it 's from the meat that a man eats that the strength of his body is derived and therefore Christ as the object of faith saith That his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed it notes strength and nourishment comes from the object of faith and the way of conveyance is by union it is by sucking the sap and the sweet of it crede manducâsti and if any object of faith do not contribute its part and the soul lives not upon it it will in its strength decay and therefore we live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 because it is from the direct acts of faith that life comes in and here are two things to be spoken to 1 What the objects of faith are that the soul is to take in in the making over of each person under the second Covenant 2 What acts of faith the soul is to put forth upon them 1. The objects of faith that the soul is to take in in each of the persons are these 1 The persons themselves we are to believe the record of them all 1 Joh. 5.10 Joh. 5.45 we are to hear and learn of the Father and we are to believe in the Son To him give all the Prophets witness 1 Joh. 5.6 Act. 10.43 that whosoever believes in him shall have remission of sins Joh. 3.16 and we are to believe in the Spirit it is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth and so we are to come unto them in duties in prayer and hearing and in all acts of worship and the ground of it is because we are to believe in him for they cannot pray to him in whom they have not believed Rom. 10.14 Rom. 10.14 Now though the benefit that we have by all these persons is exceeding great the Father adopts and justifies us by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the remission of sins and the Son is Jehovah our righteousness and he gives us power to become the sons of God and the Spirit is the bond of our union the principle of our sanctification and the guide of our way yet the ground of all this interest in their benefits is our interest in their persons so that as our interest in the Mediator and union with his person is far greater than all the benefits that we receive by him because it is the fountain from which they do all flow and the root upon which they do all grow 1 Joh. 5.12 so it 's here also interest in the persons is the foundation of all our interest in their benefits for if we had no title unto the persons we could have no benefit by them or any part thereof and therefore as they are personal promises that are the great promises of the Gospel so they are personal interests that are the great priviledges of the Gospel and that in which the main of the life of a Saint lyes so that as when Christ is set forth by God the Father as a propitiation lifted up in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.25 the soul by the recumbency of faith casts it self upon him leaves it self with him Psal 10.14 so the Father and Spirit are set forth in the Gospel as the God of consolation and the soul is to rely roll and cast it self upon them and as we are not barely to look upon the benefits that come by Christ so neither are we to the benefits that come by them but it is their persons ens incomplexum not things that the soul is to rest upon 2
The soul is to rest upon all the promises that in Scripture are made concerning these persons there are promises that have a peculiar respect unto them all 1 There are promises that specially concern the Father which though they be formally made unto the Son yet it is with special respect unto the Saints as the promise of giving Christ unto their souls and nourishment and life by him for he says Joh. 6.32 Moses gave you not the bread that came down from heaven my Father gives you the true bread promises of justification by him Esa 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many that is as much as to say as many as believe in him shall receive remission of sins and a promise of guidance Exod. 23.20 Behold I send my Angel before you They were in a strait for they were in the wilderness where there was no way now the Father doth promise the Son should undertake their guidance and it is not a promise that is peculiar unto those times only though there was something peculiar in it And there is a promise of gifts Acts 1.4 Wait for the promise of the Father The extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost that were to be poured out to fit men for office in those times it 's called the promise of the Father and the promise also of preservation and perseverance My Father that gave them me is greater than all Joh. 10.29 and no man can pluck them out of my Fathers hand 2 There are some promises that do more especially belong unto the Son as that of grace and a continual supply he shall go in and out and find pasture and says Christ I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly and a promise of a constant presence I will dwell in them and walk amongst them Joh. 10.9 10. what concord hath Christ with Belial I am with you to the end of the world that he will beautifie his Church and sanctifie it and cleanse it that he may present it unto himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 6.26 27. and that he will subdue our enemies Esay 63.3 4. I will take them in my arms and keep them from their enemies fury their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment for the day of vengeance is in mine heart and the year of my redeemed is come he shall be cloathed with a garment d pt in blood and his name shall be called the word of God Rev. 19.13 3 There are some promises that in a more special manner respect the holy Spirit he has promised them a spirit of sanctification and he will purge the filth of the daughter of Sion by a spirit of burning Esa 4.4 promises of direction The Spirit shall lead you into all truth Joh. 16.13 he shall undertake to be the guide of your way and you shall hear a voice crying behind you This is the way walk in it a spirit of liberty also you shall have 2 Cor. 3.17 for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and a spirit of victory Esa 59.19 when the enemy doth break in as a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him so that they shall conquer not by might nor by power but by my Spirit Zac. 4 6. Now all these lead a man unto the person of the Spirit and his interest in him as so many lines into a centre for as all the promises do lead a man to union with Christ by which means he becomes an heir of promise so do all the promises lead a man to an interest in his person without which he can lay no claim unto the promise that is made by any of the persons for they are not universal and made unto all but as the promises of Christ belong unto those that are one with him so all the promises of the persons belong only unto those that have an interest in them and therefore we are to cast our selves upon the persons for the accomplishment of the promises 3 Faith is to rest upon the love of them all for though they are essentially one and therefore have but one will yet as they are personally distinguished so they are three and have distinct wills and distinct loves and therefore Christ distinguishes between his will and the Fathers will I am come not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me not my will but thy will be done essentially his will and the Fathers are one but they are personally distinguished so they have essentially one love but if we look upon them as persons so they have each of them his own proper and peculiar love He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him if any man love me my Father will love him Joh. 14.21 c. so that faith is not only to close with the love of God in general as it is an Attribute of the Divine Nature as his Wisdom and Holiness Mercy and Power are but faith is also to close with the love of each of the persons as they are relatively distinguished one from another the love of the Father and the love of the Son and Spirit and as it is the love of God essentially that is the ground of all that God has wrought for us it was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.4 and though Esau was Jacobs brother yet I loved Jacob Mal. 1.2 so it is the personal love of all the persons that is the ground of all those workings of the persons for us and therefore you are to take in that love also as an object of your faith 4 Faith should rest upon the appropriated acts of each of these persons and rely upon them for the performance of them We have formerly heard that each person hath undertaken some special and peculiar acts for mens salvation as 1 the work of Vocation Adoption Justification Preservation Glorification for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdom they are all of them undertaken by God the Father And 2 the work of Satisfaction Presentation Oblation Intercession Conquest Judgment all these the Son has undertaken 3 The work of Sanctification Direction Consolation Supplication they are all of them undertaken by the Spirit Now we are not only to rely upon the essential faithfulness of God for the performance of it Heb. 6.17 but upon the personal faithfulness of each of these undertakers for they are all of them ingaged in it and here is a farther and higher consideration to be taken in the acts of the persons and they are of two sorts 1 Acts ad intrà internal acts and they are acts of nature which are acts one towards another as the generation of the Father in respect of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost as from them both 2 There are acts ad
extrà which are terminated in the creatures and are meerly acts of will now faith is not only by this means to be exercised and taste the sweetness of the acts of will ad extrà but the acts of nature ad intrà for I have an interest in that Father as the Father that did from all Eternity beget the Son and I have an interest in that Son that was begotten by the Father so that those acts of nature that were of God before the world was they have all some respect unto me and I can taste a sweetness in them all that as I have not only an interest in the absolute perfections of God which are his Attributes but in the relative perfections of God also which respect the persons so I have not only an interest in and benefit by all the actings of the Atrributes of God but by the eternal actings of the persons also that we may see how high it reaches and that there is nothing in God but it is as truly for our good as it is for his own glory therefore we may rejoyce in them all 5 A mans faith should expect all the Attributes of God to be distinctly exercised for him by all the persons a man has an interest in them all in all the works that they do put forth for as they are three in their subsistence so they are but one in their Essence and therefore all the Attributes of God come in unto them all the Son thinks it no robbery to be equal with the Father Phil. 2.6 for he is found in the form of God that is in the nature of God subsisting in the nature or essence of God and therefore Divines do commonly when they prove the Deity of the Son and Spirit shew that the Attributes of God are in Scripture given unto them as Esa 9.6 Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father Prince of peace that 's given to the Son and to the Spirit is given Omnipotency Omnipresence and Omniscience c. Now when the Father comes to work he has the power of God the wisdom of God the holiness of God put forth for the accomplishment of his work and so have the Son and Spirit also and therefore we see that the Son could not miscarry in any thing that he did and though he dyed yet it was impossible that he should be held by death Acts 2. because he had the power of the Godhead to carry him through and so it is with the Persons in all their operations and undertakings for men in the work of our salvation and therefore it is good for a man not only to exercise faith upon the Attributes of the Divine Nature in common as they are infinite and absolute perfections but as those Attributes are to be found in each of the persons and to be exercised for us in all their appropriated actions and by this means the Attributes of the nature are made over not only by the Essence but also that they shall be all of them exercised by each person acting according to their own acts which they have undertaken and so we have an assurance of the acting of the Attributes for us in a threefold way and a threefold cord is not broken 6 As it is the recumbency of faith so it should be in the assurance of faith also it should distinctly close with them all in their witnessing as well as in their working 1 Joh. 5.6 7. 1 Joh. 5.6 7. There are three that bear record in heaven it is not only a testimony to the truth of the Gospel but it is a testimony also given unto the state of the Saints for they have the witness in themselves for it is that they may know that they have eternal life vers 13. which could not be unless the testimony were given in the heart and a mans state put out of controversie Now though they be one in Essence and though their testimony do agree in one yet they are three in their witness in the word and in the heart now under the Law in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established we receive the witness of man but the witness of God is greater the same God who hath but a few witnesses amongst men but two witnesses Rev. 11.3 yet he will not let a mans assurance go without a full testimony there shall be two classes of witnesses some on Earth and some in Heaven and they shall be three of each of them therefore as in acts of recumbency we are to close with the love of all the persons so in acts of assurance we are to close with the witness of all the persons and thus we see that there are distinct objects of faith upon which it is to work in them all 2. Now let us come to consider the acts of faith that are distinctly to be put forth upon them all as 1. There is to be a fiducial knowledge hereof that the persons are made over to us for as faith without works is dead so faith without knowledge is blind therefore faith is commonly set forth by knowledge in the Scripture Joh. 17. ult and Phil. 3.8 9. To know him and be found in him c. But it is not every knowledge but that which is described Col. 2.2 and Tit. 1.1 A knowledge of the mystery of God and the Father and of Christ a knowledge that draws an acknowledgment with it that carries the consent of the soul with it and he sits down under it and lies under the power thereof a sapida scientia a knowledge of a truth that lets in the savour of the goodness of it with the truth 2. The soul is distinctly to cast it self by distinct thoughts upon each of these persons as when a soul comes to Christ he sees his need of him that he is undone without him he sees the excellency that is in him and thereupon he doth leave himself with Christ and will look out for salvation in no other there is an exclusive resolution against all other ways and a full determination to go this way only and if I perish here I will perish so when a soul sees all this and sees his need of the persons and the glory that is not only in Christ but in the Father and the Spirit and sees that without an interest in them he is undone for else there are no benefits by them thereupon he doth distinctly resign himself unto each of them for as all the promises of the Gospel being distinct objects of faith have not their due honour unless we exercise distinct acts of faith upon them so it is true also of all the persons much more because Christ is set forth as an object of faith therefore we rely upon him so we should upon the Father and Spirit also and therefore Christ looks upon it as a dishonour that being set forth to them they did not distinctly believe in him 3. Faith
water and it 's all but the vain presumption of his own spirit 2 Cor. 12.9 My grace is sufficient for thee my strength shall be perfected that is shall be declared to be perfect in weakness therefore I take pleasure in infirmities for when I am weak then am I strong it is an easie thing for the potsherds to contend with the potsherds of the earth but when we come to contend with Spirts and they strengthned by the darkness that is within us now the strength of grace is put to it indeed now we see what power of Christ is in us for there is no power but Christs power that can hold out against temptation 5. That we may know the benefit of Christs Intercession that having so great an Accuser as Satan is we may go to him and strive to find the benefit of such an Advocate O what an advantage was it to Peter to hear this sweet word of Christ to him But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Christ was tempted in all things like unto us and he is sensible of our infirmities and with the temptation we shall find a way to escape for this very end Christ suffered himself to be tempted by Satan that he might succour us in all our temptations he is pleading for us against the accusations of our subtle adversaries and if he had not undertaken to be our Advocate we had been undone but he still saith to Satan The Lord rebuke thee c. 6. And truly hereby we have experience of the power of our own prayers how many times have the prayers of a Saint stilled the enemy and the avenger that pursued them furiously how many times hath Satan fallâ—n before them like lightning and all the devices of the enemy have come to nought Rev 11.7 And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies c. and they shall not only kill men but Satan shall also be trod under their feeâ— and it 's a great honour to the Saints that in their conquests they can overcome Satan for resist the Devil and he will flye from you that so proud a Spirit should be so subdued by mankind in fide fortes Diabolum despiciunt quasi vermiculum c. Bern. pag. 1309. cùm viderint contemnunt 7. It quickens the people of God to wisdom and watchfulness to wisdom that they may discern the devices of Satan and to watchfulness as the exhortation is 1 Pet. 5.8 Watch therefore and put on the whole armour of God because he is as a roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour Austin observes that there are two ways that Satan hath 1 In times of persecution cogit Christianos negare Christum he compels Christians to deny Christ 2 In times of peace and prosperity he raiseth up Hereticks and so docet Christianos Christum negare teaches Christians to deny Christ Tom. 8. pag. 233. therefore we had need be wise and watchful 8. There is a time coming when this over-ruling power of Christ will put an end unto this dominion of Satan he shall not be the god of this world always but when Christ puts down all rule and all authority and power his Kingdom will for ever be broken it must last no longer than the day of Judgment for there will be no further use of him either in tempting accusing or tormenting but as after the day of Judgment Christ in glory shall make up the head of that great body the Church which shall be gathered unto glory by him as they were here on earth gathered into his Kingdom of Grace so Satan in Hell also shall make up the head of that great body of the wicked that he hath been gathering into his Kingdom here upon earth and he shall be tormented together with them and it is no small comfort that we can look beyond the power of the enemies though they be so powerful for the present it is but for a while Nebuchadnezzar had power to do what he pleased in the world but after a little while this great Monarch shall be destroyed My anger says the Lord shall cease in his destruction c. Lastly The temptations and accusations of Satan shall tend to the greater increase of the glory of the Saints for if these light afflictions that all Saints meet with in the world from lesser evils do work for us much more will such great afflictions Potest inimicus excitare tentationis motum sed quoties restiteris toties coronaberis Bern. p. 11 15. They had their several Crowns in their Triumph answerable unto the several Victories that they won therefore Christ hath upon his head many Crowns because of his many Conquests so it shall be unto the Saints matter of great triumph Satan himself who did above all things desire to keep them from glory his very temptations and his accusations shall be so far useful as that they shall add unto our glory and they that have been most tempted and accused by him and have by grace resisted him shall be most glorified in the day of the Lord. § 3. The next thing propounded was Gods providential Kingdom as it respects men and these either good or bad which belong both unto the providential Kingdom and the Soveraignty of God over them is laid out wholly for the good of the Saints And here first we are to consider Providence ordering all things either in reference unto the Saints own spiritual good that the ordering of all things towards them shall tend unto it or else in reference unto the good of others Providence shall so order things that they shall become a common and a publick good unto others in the generations in which they live yea and it shall extend also unto after-ages 1. Providence shall so dispose of all things as they shall tend unto their own spiritual good and all by reason of their interest in the Soveraignty and the Supremacy of God as 1. If we look upon their conversion Providence doth strangely order things so that they shall be cast upon such societies and opportunities which they never thought of nor lookt after and in these they shall be converted and brought home unto God there is an instance in Onesimus Philem. 10 11. he ran away from his master and by this means was brought to Rome unto the Apostle Pauls ministry and there the Lord was pleased to convert him unto the faith a thing that he little thought of or aimed at in going from his master and yet now he that was before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unprofitable Is profitable both to thee and me says the Apostle Paul to Philemon c. And so it was with Junius his father laying the Scripture before him Joh. 1.1 he fell occasionally and carelesly upon Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the word c. he was so taken with the majesty of the stile and with the excellency of the matter that he did
From the Soveraignty of God in the Law ibid. 2. From natural conscience ibid. 3. From the Spirit of God in conscience ibid. 4. From a principle of self-love in men desiring good and fearing evil ibid. 5. From the unrenewedness of the heart which is fully set to do evil Pag. 56 Quest Is a godly man wholly freed from this coaction Pag. 56 57 The Doctrine applied Pag. 57 58 59 60 61 CHAP. V. Col. 1.13 A scriptural account of this translation Pag. 61 Doct. All in Christ are translated out of their former Covenant Pag. 62 1. Such a translation proved from Scripture Pag. 62 63 2. The necessity of such a translation 1. From the nature of the Covenant as it is broken 1 It promiseth no life but upon perfect obedience 2 It is without a Mediator 3 There is in it no promise of pardon 4 No promise of any grace 5 Every sin breaks it 6 It cannot quiet the conscience Pag. 63 64 2. Without this translation no man can receive benefit by the second Covenant Pag. 64 3. God still deals with man in a way of covenant and stipulation 1 Because the first Covenant stands in force upon all out of Christ unto eternity 2 Because all under this covenant must perish 3 All mercies and deliverances that God hath given his people have been by covenant ever since the fall Pag. 65 66 4. No man for the state of his person can stand under both Covenants because one makes void the other 1 The righteousness of the first is in our selves but that of the second in another 2 In the first works are first accepted and then the person in the second the person first and works for the persons sake 3 The first is without a Priest but the second hath one 4 In the first there is matter of glorying in a mans self but in the second all is of grace Pag. 66 Quest May not a man so far as he is flesh be under the covenant of works and so far as regenerate under the covenant of grace Pag. 67 Answ 1 A double image may stand together but two covenants necessarily destroy each other ibid. 2 The change of a mans covenant is a legal act and so is perfect and may be at once but the change of a mans image is perfected by degrees Pag. 68 The Doctrine applied Pag. 68 69 70 71 72 How a man may know whether his covenant be changed Pag. 68 The sinfulness of an unregenerate state Pag. 68 69 The misery of not being translated into the second covenant Pag. 69 70 71 The happiness of those in Christ Pag. 71 72 CHAP. VI. A Mans Translation out of the first Covenant is by Union Gal. 3.29 How our translation is by union with the nature of this union Pag. 73 1. God deals with all men in a way of stipulation ibid. 2. The two Covenants were neither of them made with all men immediately but with a representative head ib. 3. A mans union with either of these heads brings him under either covenant Pag. 74 Doct. A mans Translation out of the first Covenant consists in his Union with the second Adam ibid. The nature of this union explained 1 It is a natural union Henc◠2 Real not meerly voluntary but an union with his person Pag. 75 Quest Whether a man be in Christ before he believe Pag. 76 The reasons why God hath appointed our translation to be in a way of union 1 Because God will have Christ to be the second Adam 2 Because our happiness lies in it 3 Because God cannot enter into covenant immediately with sinners without forfeiting the truth of his threatning Pag. 76 77 78 A mans condition is much changed by this translation 1 God looks upon him no more as the son of Adam 2 He is no more under the rigor of the Law 3 Nor under the curse of the Law 4 He is become heir of the promise 5 God is reconciled 6 His sufferings and services are accepted 7 All things work together for good 8 Sin hath no condemning power 9 He hath communion with God 10 And is of the same body with the Saints Pag. 78 79 The way of obtaining this union is 1 By a work of conviction 2 Of humiliation 3 By a glorious work of revelation Pag. 79 80 Hence the soul resolves to take 〈◊〉 other way of salvation Pag. 81. There is an instinct put into the soul after union with Christ ibid. The soul accepts Christ upon his own terms ibid. CHAP. VII How the Law as a Covenant comes to be abolished Gal. 2.14 Blotting out the Hand-writing c. The words explained Pag. 83 The manner how the Law as a covenant comes to be abolished 1 Christ himself was made under the Law as a covenant of works 2 He hath fully satisfied all this covenant required of us 3 He hath brought in a covenant of grace and reconciliation Pag. 84 85 Hereby the infinite goodness and wisdom of God is discovered Pag. 85 86 CHAP. VIII Gal. 3.17 To all in Christ the first covenant made subservient to the second Pag. 86 The Law taken in Scripture two ways 1 Largely for all the doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai with the promises and precepts thereof And so it is a covenant of grace 2 Strictly as setting down an exact rule of righteousness and promising life upon perfect obedience And so it is a covenant of works Pag. 88 Mount Sinai's covenant the same for substance with that made with Adam but in many circumstances different Pag. 88 89 A threefold use of the Law as subservient to the Gospel 1 It is a glass to discover sin original actual Pag. 90 91 92. 2 It 's a Judge to condemn it and therein it advances the ends of the Gospel Pag. 93 94 95 96 3 As a bridle to restrain sin Pag. 96 97 98 How the Spirit makes use of the Law for the restraining of sin Pag. 98 99 How herein it is an hand-maid to the Gospel Pag. 99 100 101 102 How the Law is subservient to the Gospel as it is a Rule 1 Within as an Instrument of Conversion in the hand of the Spirit 102 103 104 105. 2 Without to guide and direct men in their way of duty Pag. 105 106 Objections against this Answered Pag. 106 107 108 The great End of God in publishing the Law was for the Saints and their good only Pag. 108 109 Those that cry down the preaching of the Law guilty of folly Pag. 109 Ministers must preach the Law as revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator ib. That God hath made the Law a servant to the Gospel is the greatest ground of Comfort and the greatest gift of God next unto Christ and the second Covenant Pag. 110 111. BOOK II. Of the Covenant of Grace CHAP. I. The Author and Fountain of this Covenant Gen. 17.2 THis Covenant was made with four eminent publick persons in Scripture 1 Adam darkly 2 Noah 3 Abraham 4
priviledge and therefore 't is said Gen. 48. of Jacob that he blessed Joseph and wherein did the blessing consist not so much upon Josephs person as upon his posterity and that was that the name of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob should be called upon his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh this is spoken only in reference to the Covenant and the benefits thereof which was to descend upon them from their Parents and it became their right because it was their Parents priviledge and therefore though they had other personal names Ephraim and Manasseh yet this was a name given them from their federal right and is called the blessing of Joseph in his childrens covenant-blessing for it is a conveying of the benefit of the covenant from Gods abundant grace not only to himself but to his posterity and so David looks upon it and admires the mercy 2 Sam. 7.18 19. Lord who am I and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet as if this were a small thing in thy sight O Lord thou hast spoke of thy servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord for thy Word sake and according to thy own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant to know them It is therefore to manifest the extent of the grace of the second Covenant that God takes in their seed and gracious Parents do exceedingly rejoyce therein in behalf of their Posterity and look upon it as a special priviledge and their childrens peculiar right 2. God has so ordered the eternal decree of Election that the great number of the Elect of God do proceed out of the loyns of his own people and therefore the Promises being but the indefinite expressions of his Dâ—crees they run to parents called and unto their children because the great number of them that shall be called are their children It 's true that God hath a seed of Grace that runs through the loyns of the wicked and the Lord will take Proselytes from amongst the Heathen and they shall be added to the Church but this is not the ordinary way but a more extraordinary way of salvation and very many of the children of believing parents within the covenant are wicked which we see in Cain Cham and Ishmael yet in their Posterity hath the Church of God been continued there is yet a Seth and a Sem and an Isaac in which their seed should be called and answerable to the Election of grace continued and this doth appear undeniably by this argument the visible Church of God is made up of Parents in covenant and of their seed and therefore while the Church of God was oeconomical and in families onely they were the families of those that were in covenant in which the Church was continued and after it did spread into a Nation they and their seed make up a Church unto God Now though there be many in the visible Church that are not ordained unto life for many are called but few are chosen and many shall seek to enter in at the strait gate and shall not be able c. yet the Church invisible is gathered out of the visible Church they are hid there amongst the Hypocrites and false-hearted men as wheat is hid amongst the chaffe now the Promises of God are suitable to his Decrees and the events answer unto both wherefore if the greatest part of the Elect proceed out of the loyns of a people in covenant as they do then the promises of the second covenant being but indefinite it was necessary that they should run unto them and to their seed upon whom if you look distributively there are many that shall perish yet if you look upon them collectively you can and may see the seed of the Lord is there and there are many amongst them that are ordained unto life and the persons upon whom God has set his everlasting love are amongst that number though we know not particularly who they are that 's a secret that the Lord has hid in himself 3. To shew his peculiar love to their seed Deut. 7.6 7 8. 10.15 therefore he will gather out of their seed a visible Church and if so he must make with their seed a marriage-covenant And therefore if any say Why doth not the Lord leave their children till they enter into covenant themselves and give testimony of their faith and conversion The reason is because God will make them a Church to himself and therefore will make a Church-covenant with them Now the children of believing parents are taken into a visible Church Deut. 4.37 Because the Lord loved your parents therefore he chose their seed after them There 's a two-fold election as there is a two-fold adoption an election to life and unto Church-priviledges it 's not an election to life that is there spoken of but as Zac. 2.7 the Lord shall yet chuse Jerusalem as he had rejected them and cast them off from a Church-state and called them Loammi so now he will chuse them again in reference to a Church-state And thus he is to chuse their children after them not unto life for that is grounded only upon his own love unto the persons of men but it 's spoken in reference to a Church-state which was grounded upon his love unto their parents therefore when parents were converted there was a Church in their house and the posterity and family was looked upon as a Church unto God and theirs was the Adoption the priviledges of sons externally belonged to them and God owned them for his above all other families in the whole earth now those that were taken into a Church-state unto them and their posterity there did belong a Church-covenant and that 's the meaning of Ezech. 16.8 I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine 4. This is the surest ground of a mans judgment in reference to persons whether it be a private Christian or a chosen Officer There are some persons to be admitted into the visible Church and there are some priviledges of the visible Church that are to be dispensed by judgment in the person that doth dispense or administer them for we are not sent to baptize all mankind nor to administer Sacraments and censures unto all mankind as we are sent to preach the Gospel neither are we to expect a satisfactory convincing ground that this person is inwardly and spiritually holy and savingly interessed in the covenant of grace for that we cannot infallibly judge of but though it cannot come under our judgment yet our judgment must not be blind charity we must take the rule of the word and keep close to it And what is the surest rule There are two that are known either the mans profession or else the promise of God in respect of the childs Church-state by the Fathers priviledge Now as to the first of these my judgment may be deceived and I may
administer it unto one that hath spiritually no right to it as we see in the Scripture the Apostles themselves were deceived but Gods promise in giving the children an interest in the fathers priviledge is a sure ground to go by more than any mans believing or profession in the world can be for himself and therefore a man is bound to believe that his seed is taken into covenant and that they do belong to the Election of grace and are truly justified sanctified adopted and accepted in Christ till they manifest the contrary and we have more than a negative ground for it that we know nothing to the contrary for we have a positive ground and that is the indefinite promise which we have cause to interpret in the most favourable sense and I am sure is a more certain ground for me to pass a judgment upon than any mans profession can be seeing that I know my judgment is not infallible in either but I may be deceived in reference to the person to whom it 's applied therefore consider that 1 Children while in their infancy are members of the visible Church of God 2 They have always been taken into membership in the same Church with their parents and accounted as of the same Church with them 1. Children while they are infants may be members of the visible Church of God before they come to years to be able to understand the nature of a Church or to consent unto the Duties unto which they are obliged in that relation and that will appear Luk. 18.16 Mar. 10.13 1 What children were those spoken of they were not children in meekness and harmlesness as some would have it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infants young children teneri adhuc ab uberibus pendentes pueruli Beza the same word is used of new-born babes 1 Pet. 2.2 and so much do the words also import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them in his arms which notes that they were children in their infancy 2 What doth he say to these children he saith That the kingdom of heaven did belong to such what doth he mean by the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of Heaven is put for the Kingdom of Grace here in a visible Church or else for the Kingdom of Glory Mat. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and shall sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven i. e. shall be added unto the Church upon Earth and shall enter into the Kingdom of glory when the children of the Kingdom of the Jews the natural branches born children by an external right shall be cast out And Mat. 16.19 I give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven it 's meant of the Kingdom of Grace here the Church and the Kingdom of Glory in Heaven for he gives him power to bind on earth and loose on earth and promises that it shall be ratified in Heaven but yet all Officers are for the visible Church and all their power is to be exercised in the visible Church and though it be for the good of the Elect the Church of the first-born the Church invisible yet that is not the proper place thereof but Officers are for the visible Church So then theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven that is not only they shall be saved and so fill up the Kingdom of glory but also they belong to the Kingdom of grace and the Subjects of this Kingdom here are members of the visible Church they are actually Subjects of this Kingdom 3 Neither doth he speak of these very individual children as a priviledge which belonged unto them alone he by his omniscience knowing them to be elected of God but he saith Of such as these are delivering it therefore as an ordinary rule of our judgment in the like case of all other children of parents in covenant unto the end of the world therefore children that are infants are members of the visible Church and therefore taken into a Church-covenant with their parents for by nature no man is a Church-member Eph. 2.12 but all strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and men afar off for if any man were so by nature then all men by nature must be so therefore it 's a priviledge by grace that they are taken into their parents covenant and are members of the same Church with them 2. Children have been always taken into the same covenant with their parents and have been members of the same Church with them When the Lord made a covenant with Abraham he took in his family to be a Church when he took in the Jews he took in their children also to be unto him a holy and a peculiar people and when he did cast out the children of the Kingdom and did give them a bill of divorce removing the candlestick he did excommunicate and disinherit their children and when he takes the Gentiles into covenant also it is with them and with their seed in their generations and therefore the master of the family being converted salvation is come to his house and there is a Church in his house his family becomes of those of whom the visible Church is constituted for the Gentiles were grafted in as the Jews were broken off and that was in reference to a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and so were the Gentiles grafted into a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and the Lord has given us a rule for it Deut. 29.14 Deut. 29.14 15. when he enters into a Church-covenant with that people and with their little ones that they should be a people unto himself that is a Church unto God vers 15. Neither with you only do I make this covenant but also with him that is not here with us this day If you understand it of the Jews only this leaves to us these two things 1 That children are included in their fathers covenant though they be not of themselves able to restipulate 2 That it is the will of God it should not only be so at that time but in after-ages with them and their seed in their generations But if we understand by them that are not here this day all that shall be taken into the same covenant in time to come as it may be then it will leave a door open to bring in all the believing Gentiles and their seed to the end of the world Thus the Lord out of love unto the parents doth take not only them but their seed also into a visible Church that they may be a holy and a peculiar people unto himself 5. They that have a right of membership are to be admitted into the visible Church and to be looked upon as having a right Mat. 16.19 for the Lord has appointed the power of the Keys in his Church unto this end Church-power and authority is commonly expressed in Scripture by the name of Keys the sign being put for the thing signified and the ensign of authority for the