in titles of honour as Pharaoh did in this I am the Son of the ancient Kings and the Jews gloried in this We have Abraham to our father The Saints have a higher glory that Jesus Christ is their Father for he has a successive generation that none can number Isa 57.8 he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days upon earth and yet to be the sons of God the Father is a far higher honour for Christ himself says My Father is greater than I it is to be understood of him as Mediator only for as he is God he is equal with the Father and thinks it no robbery so to be 2. As God is the Father of Christ so he loves Christ as his Son and therefore he doth call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.17 my beloved Son Mat. 3.17 and the Son of his love Col. 1.17 there is an Hebraism for most beloved as the man of sin i. e. the most sinful man the child of wrath one who is subject unto the highest displeasure of God and the son of perdition i. e. one utterly and eternally lost so the son of his love is one tenderly beloved by him the most beloved of the Father and this was the great thing that Christ gloried in even the love of his Father Joh. 5.20 The Father loveth the Son and it was this that did bear up his spirit under all his sufferings that he did abide in his Fathers love Joh. 15.10 Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world Joh. 17.24 and in this also you bear a part with Christ Joh. 14.21 He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him Joh. 17.23 Joh. 16.27 The Father himself loves you Joh. 17.23 Thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me non aequalitatem denotat sed similitudinem it denotes not equality but similitude 1 He loved him from Eternity and so he doth you 2 He loved him as a Son and so he doth you ad similitudinem filii naturalis so he doth love you as sons 3 He loves Christ to Eternity to give him the fruition of himself and so he loves you also Now as the great glory and comfort of Christ was in the love of the Father so also should this be the great glory and the comfort also of the Saints that though we may glory and rejoyce with joy unspeakable in the love of Christ that passeth knowledge yet specially in the love of the Father Christ being but a gift that flows from God the Fathers love therefore Joh. 4.10 Christ is called by way of emincency the gift of God and next to the giving of Christ the love of the Father is principally seen in this that we should be called the sons of God Behold what manner of love the Father has shewed unto us 1 Joh. 3.1 3. The Son knew the mind of the Father and is acquainted with all the Fathers counsels the glory of God the Father is made known to the Son all the excellency of his person No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Mat. 11.27 and so for all actings of the Father The Son can do nothing of himself Joh. 5.20 but what he sees the Father do for the Father loves the Son and shews him all things that he himself doth and he will shew him greater works than these that you may marvel This is not to be understood of Christ as God but as he is Mediator and so as there was an Idea and a Platform in the mind of the Father so this is also discovered to the Son that all the great works that God doth purpose to accomplish in the world he is able to look into all the Fathers counsels that as when Solomon was to build the Temple it is said That David gave him a pattern of all according as he had received of the Spirit 1 Chron. 28.12 Solomon was to build the House but he received the Platform from his father so it is in Christ also the man whose name is the Branch he it is that must build the Temple of the Lord Zac. 6.12 but yet he must do all according unto the pattern for he is but God the Fathers servant in that which he doth and he must receive the Platform from the Father therefore it 's the Father that doth discover to the Son as a fruit of his love all his own works and he doth that which he hath seen of the Father Joh. 8.38 And the discoveries of these secrets of God unto his Son were by degrees more and more he will shew him greater works he had shewed him some great works already in healing the sick and raising of the dead but yet he lets them know that these were not summum sibi ex operibus Dei mandatis but when he did come unto glory his own discoveries should be perfected and then as he had his works more fully revealed unto him of the Father so also he should shew them forth unto the world for the Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified so it is with the Saints according unto their measure the Father loves them and therefore he shews them all that he himself doth Joh. 1.18 and as Christ is in the bosom of the Father so are they also after a sort for the bosom is the seat of secrets and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him they are Jesuron the seeing people they do hear and learn of the Father they shall be all taught of God Joh. 6.45 and as a Father he will not conceal his purposes in all his great works from his children only he doth discover them by degrees as he did unto his only Son Hos 6.3 His going forth is prepared as the morning and therefore they must follow on to know him and though now there be many veils drawn before the eyes of his people for very many of the secrets of God are yet under a veil the fulness of time for their discovery being not yet come for he revealed his word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.1 and the Lord has promised Isa 25.7 That he will destroy the face of the covering that is upon all people 1 It is a great and a thick covering it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the manner of the Hebrews when they would express a thing highly they do it by a duplication Esay 28.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though some would render the last word by the Participle a covering spread forth upon all people and the face of the covering that is as much as involucrum facierum a covering spread upon their faces Now to have a covering upon their faces it notes guilt and dishonour which God saith he 'l take away but I do not conceive that to be all that principally is intended but with Calvin and Forer rather ignorantiam
upheld but now the Spirit comes in and makes bare his arm dispells the darkness and saith Behold me it is I now I come and so a mans comforts and supports come in from an immediate discovery of the Light of Gods countenance as if it were a voice from Heaven as it was to Christ This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 7. He doth sometimes give unto his People courage and assistance immediately beyond what is natural unto them Zach. 4.7 and above and beyond all the means Zac. 4.7 Not by power nor by might but by my Spirit saith the Lord it is spoken of the Spirit of God immediately strengthning and stirring up the spirits of instruments beyond their own natural strength as Samson was the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and then he had the strength of many men in him Isa 35.6 and Isa 35.6 The lame shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing it is spoken of immediate strength and healing by the grace of Christ that as the Lord Jesus did heal men and with a word only and without means their feet and ankle-bones received strength and they did leap as a Hart and praise God so here they have immediate assistance as David had in the business of Goliah the spirit of fortitude came upon him for that service and the promise is Zac. 12.8 The weak shall be as David as full of courage in any difficult services that they should be called unto as David was when the Lord shall say to him that is of a fearful heart Be strong and it shall be so Esa 35.4 and so Mat. 10.19 It shall be given you in that hour Luk. 21.25 I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all your enemies shall not be able to resist for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you that as Samson was not acted by his own strength so neither did they speak by their own spirits but by an immediate assistance from the Spirit both directing their minds suggesting to them the matter and also guiding their tongues and directing them unto words what to say and how they ought to speak that as 't is said of the Prophets the Lord speaks in them Heb. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.1 for they are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were transported or carried by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.20 they were not acted according to their own spirits 2 Pet. 1.20 neither did they speak according to their own parts or light but as they were directed by the immediate assistance of the Spirit of God at the same time so there is an immediate assistance that the Lord hath promised unto his people when he doth call them forth unto any service wherein the immediate presence of God and power of the Spirit is necessary and required it is beyond the power or strength of a man and it is that which the Lord many times doth he will bring his people into such a condition that there shall be no means for them to look unto that they shall be wholly fatherless and have neither Sun-light nor Star-light in the creature receiving the sentence of death in themselves that they may look for Gods immediate appearing 2 Cor. 1.9 But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves that we could see no means to escape but now must have an eye to an almighty and immediate power of God that we might trust not in our selves but in God that raiseth the dead that our deliverance must be a kind of resurrection from the dead And the people of God if they have the means yet they look upon them as nothing We have no might against this great multitude but our eyes are towards thee and if they have no means they can look upon him that hath a creating power that can make waters to break out in the Wilderness and streams in the Desart and the parched ground shall become a Pool and the thirsty ground Springs of water in the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes that which only was fit and delightsom unto the Devil the Satyrs that shall be good for the glory of God and the use of man as it is Esa 35.7 8. 2. There is in the next place a mediate Providence and that is in the manner of Gods ordering of all things in the use of means and so all the means that the Lord does use are for the good of his people Rom. 8.28 All things work together for their good that though the Lord doth work by means and doth make use of second causes to produce their effects yet they do all concur in this that they do conspire for the good of the Elect of God Hos 2.21 22. I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth Hos 2.21 22. and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel the Lord doth work for the good of his people by second causes he doth not rain corn from Heaven as he did Manna in the Wilderness but the Earth shall hear the corn and he will give it them out of the earth and in all the actings of second causes it is the Lord that hath the great hand he doth make them to be a means of blessing or else they could never prove so to be it is the Lord that doth hear the Heavens it 's a mighty strain of speech that the Heavens and the Earth that were before deaf and dumb to them that took no compassion upon them in their necessity and answered them not now when they are reconciled are brought as it were to be humble suitors and petitioners for them the Heavens shall say Lord I would give my influence rain to refresh thy people and the Earth shall say Lord I would give my strength for the good of thy people also c. For as it is by virtue of the Covenant of the Saints that all the creatures stand so it is by their Covenant also that they do act it is by being betrothed unto God that all the creatures are in Covenant with them and it is for them that all means do act freely and all creatures willingly do serve for it 's their redemption that they wait for and long for but unto other men they are made subject not willingly but the Lord hath subjected them in hope Rom. 8.20 21. but their subjection is an act of Soveraignty and not of choice for they would not serve the lusts of ungodly men though they are willing to serve the necessities of the Saints therefore all the means that the Lord doth use are for the good of the Saints and it is for them that they work in all that they do 1. He it is that doth provide and appoint means there is in
MADAM Your Ladyships to honour and serve you in the Lord Theophilus Gale Newington March 26. 1678. A Summary of the Two Covenants THIS following Discourse of the two Covenants preached by that great Divine Mr. William Strong needs no Prologue to usher it into the World The Authors Character The Author was indeed as it is said of Augustin a Wonder of Nature for natural Parts and a Miracle of Grace for deep insight into the more profound Mysteries of the Gospel He had a Spirit capacious and prompt sublime and penetrant profound and clear a singular Sagacity to pry into the more difficult Texts of Scripture an incomparable Dexterity to discover the Secrets of corrupt Nature a Divine Sapience to explicate the Mysteries of Grace and an exact Prudence to distribute Evangelic Doctrines according to the capacity of his Auditors Are not the Ministers of Christ termed Stars in his right hand Rev. 1.20 Rev. 1.20 And was not this our Author one of the first magnitude O! what a glorious Star was he in the right hand of the Lord to reveal the resplendent light of the Gospel unto his Auditors What lights and heats of Divine Grace did he communicate unto others It 's prophesied of our Lord Hab. 3.4 Hab. 3.4 His brightness was as the light he had horns or rather beams coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power This brightness of Christs light must be understood of his Evangelic light whereby he as the Sun of Righteousness irradiates Evangelic Churches and by the Horns or rather Beams for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here must signifie coming out of his hand we must understand according to our Lords own interpretation Rev. 1.20 Evangelic discoveries by the Ministers of his Gospel those Stars in his right hand imployed by him for the irradiation and illumination of this inferior world and O! what an hidden power is conveyed together with this light And may we not conclude this our Author one of those Stars who diffused illustrious beams of Evangelic light from the right hand of Christ where was the hiding of his power And as he transcended the most of this Age in the Explication of Evangelic Verities so in his Intelligence and Explication of the two Covenants he seems much to excel himself this being the great study of his life and that whereon his mind was mostly intent And I can here truly apply that observation of the Queen of Sheba 1 King 10.7 touching the wisdom of Solomon to this our intelligent Author The Notices I received from his other Works gave me a great impression of his Divine Wisdom but what mine eyes have seen and my thoughts imbibed of his incomparable Intelligence from this his elaborate Discourse of the two Covenants assures me that not the half was told me by his Works formerly published He was indeed a Person intimely and familiarly acquainted with the deepest points in Theology but yet as to these that relate to the Covenant of Grace his Spirit seems to have been most deeply baptized and immersed into them which any judicious Reader may with facility perceive by a transient inspection into any part of the following Discourse Of what incomparable excellent Use this Discourse may be for the diffusing Evangelic Light and Truth no one can be ignorant The excellent use of this Discourse who is acquainted with the mind and intendment either of the Law or Gospel or sensible of those many dangerous errours which have of late sprung up from the ignorance of both How many have taken away the use of the Law thereby to advance as they conceit the Grace of the Gospel And have not too many on the other hand destroyed the Grace of the Gospel whiles they have endeavoured to exalt the letter of the Law as a Covenant Both these extremes our judicious Author has accurately obviated and avoided He has approved himself a good Advocate for the Law as it is a rule and instrument subservient to the Gospel but yet he gives the Gospel the principal place and preeminence as it is saiths magna Charta He has indeed exactly hit the difference between the two Covenants which argues his deep insight into both and surely they that rightly understand the Idea or Notion of the two Covenants attain thereby a clue of thread to lead them into the most intricate Mysteries of Evangelic Doctrines as on the contrary those who have not right sentiments of the two Covenants what hesitation and suspension if not errour and misapprehension do they fall under in the most momentous points of Religion Yea doth not the rectitude not only of our Faith but also of our Christian practice and conversation principally depend on the due notices of the two Covenants Are not these as the centre wherein all the lines of Divine Grace and humane Duty meet Are we not then greatly obliged to this our Author for his elaborate endeavours in this work He demonstrates 1 That God never did nor will deal with mankind meerly in a way of Dominion but also in a way of Covenant 2 That both Covenants are made with men not immediately but in and by some publick person 3 That it is Vnion with either of these publick persons that brings a man under their Covenant 4 That it is impossible for any man to be under both Covenants because the terms and conditions of the one destroy the terms of the other These with some other weighty Truths relating to the two Covenants in general he doth distinctly and fully explicate and demonstrate The Covenant of works and its curse Our Author begins his Discourse with the Covenant of Works and treats first of the Temporal Curse that attends the breach thereof and then of the Spiritual of which more fully in the Contents we shall only give some short and particular Reflections on and Notions of this first Covenant 1 The Covenant made with Adam was not particular with his person under a single capacity but with his nature as a common person or representative Head from whom all mankind were by natural generation to descend and herein the Covenant made with Adam differs from that made with the Angels which was particular and personal they being all created at once and existent when their Covenant was made Hence 2 In this first Covenant made with Adam all his posterity stand bound to God both naturally by virtue of their being created in him and voluntarily by virtue of his stipulation Whence 3 Every son of Adam falls under both the duties and curses of his Covenant for as the duties so the curses of Adams Covenant seized not meerly on Adams single person but on his nature and so on all mankind who are in him both legally and naturally Thence 4 No man can be freed from the curse of the Law that is not freed from it as a Covenant There is since Adams Fall an essential and inseparable connexion between
Woman accused And if she were guilty her belly should swell and her thigh rot and if guiltless she should conceive seed and become fruitful so that it was sometimes causless and yet a spirit of Jealousie might come upon a man A Wife made a Cross is the greatest cross and made a snare is the greatest snare and the most dangerous And when a man grows vile in the eyes of a Wife for any weakness in him either inward or outward as Nabal did His name is Nabal and folly is with him And Job said My breath is strange to my wife though I intreated for the childrens sake of my own body Job 19.17 Jealousie is the rage of a man it makes him bitter to her takes every thing in the worst sense not bearing with ordinary and common failings incident to persons in that state Bitterness in words sharp and piercing speechees and actions savouring of tartness and want of that tenderness and love that should be in a man towards his own flesh Gen. 3.16 Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband and he shall rule over thee The woman was created to be a help to the man and the woman created for the man and not the man for the woman and therefore a subordination and a kind of subjection there was before the fall but not such as now after the fall Indeed the Civilians say that Marriage is Perpetua quaedam servitus a constant servitude only before the fall as Austin says it was servitus dilectionis a servitude of love but since the fall it is servitus conditionis a servitude of condition Before the fall it was with much sweetness and love their wills never clashing they both joyned in the same good and will'd the same thing but now there is much opposition and much contrariety of will And yet it is the bondage that God has laid upon the Wife she must be subject to her Husband and have no will of her own but even her desire must be subject to him not only submit her actions but even her will also which is of all other the greatest subjection It 's said of Jacob though he was a holy man that God saw that Leah was hated by him which at best cannot be interpreted but of a less degree of love and that there was more sharpness in his carriage towards Leah than there was towards Rachel 2 When the Husband deserts and forsakes his Wife being ravish'd with a strange woman and imbracing the bosom of a stranger Prov. 5.20 And we read in Mal. 2.15 16. the great misery those poor women were subjected to for the Husband making use of that command of Moses which is not a toleration but a limitation not that putting away was lawful for the Lord hates putting away but for the hardness of their hearts seeing they did put them away for the womans discharge he was to give her a writing of Divorce But by this means their wives v. 13. cover'd the altar of God with tears so that when they came to offer Sacrifice that sin came up into remembrance before God that their Sacrifice could not ascend and the Altar was not cover'd with that but with the tears of their wives which they had in a cruel and wicked manner by their deserting them caused them to shed dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth she that is thy companion and the wife of thy Covenant They had great complaints against their wives and were able to find out many pretences to put them away when they had sinfully found out others that their lust carried them to and so they did cover violence with a garment But the Prophet bids them take heed to their spirits and look upon the falseness of their own hearts in it that they deal not treacherously and falsly and so break their Covenant with their wives even the Covenant of their God 3 By puting them upon occasions of sin and so they are made instruments to satisfie the lust of their Husbands What an occasion of sinning did Abraham put upon his beloved Sarah twice once before Pharaoh King of Egypt and another time before Abimelech King of Gerar by desiring her to say that she was his sister How was she drawn at his request to consent to a lye and to endanger her chastity amongst the Heathen In re illicita etiam consensus vitiosus est in an unlawful matter the very consent is unlawful The Apostle says 1 Cor. 7.34 The married woman takes care of the things of the world and how she may please her husband The Apostle does not only set this down as a duty what married persons should do in that condition to take care of the things of the family and how to please their Husband but as an ordinary temptation and corruption also that follows that state though as Calvin observes Hoc non est proprium conjugii malum sed ex hominum vitio provenire It is the common temptation and corruption that accompanies that state not only a moderate and a lawful but even an inordinate care also of the things of the world and how to please her Husband even with the neglect of the things of God and how to please him Ahab desires Naboths Vineyard and is sick for it and lays him down upon the bed and will eat no meat Jezabel his Wife comes to him and says Dost thou now govern Israel is this becoming the greatness of thy state to bear such a denial and affront Is not all the Kings and do not his people enjoy what they have by his leave and favour as a boon from him and shall any subject dare deny his King what he requests of him This is not to reign over them buâ— to be under them Imperatoris est leges dare non accipere c. And thus she reproves him and becomes a very fit instrument for the Devil Pet. Martyr I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth 1 King 21.7 4. Between Parents and Children 1. Children are curses to Parents Thou shalt be cursed in the fruit of thy body as well as in the fruit of thy land 1 By disesteem making them vile in a mans eyes Deut. 27.16 Cursed be he that sets light by father or mother and this proceeds further even to mocking and deriding Prov. 30.17 The eye that mockes at his father or mother the ravens of the vallies shall pick it out 2 By forsaking them 2 Tim. 3.3 without natural affections the word in the Greek is a similitude taken from a Stork which takes special care to provide for and maintain the Parent when it 's old But Mar. 7 11. they taught Children a way to cheat their Parents by dedicating their Estates to the Temple or the publick service and then when the Parent should stand in need of any part of it the child says it is Corban a thing dedicated and therefore he must not meddle with it and so do nothing for him 3 There is
and that denial increaseth to an oath and that swearing multiplies to cursings and to imprecations upon himself in the highest kind as the word is in the original as if he had wished Mat. 26 74. I would I might never find mercy at the hands of God or come where God hath to do that I might be separated from God eternally and damned body and soul if that I know the man And Isa 57.17 says God For the iniquity of his covetousness I smote him and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. Theodosius was an Emperour of a very meek sweet and gracious temper yet a Temptation so far got the head of him that upon an occasion of a Tumult in Thessalonia a servant of his that he had in a special manner respect for being slain he commanded an universal Massacre throughout the City that in a very short space 3000 men were slain by his command and that by a wile being invited to behold a Play for which cause the Emperour himself was by Ambrose kept from the Sacrament It were strange to consider unto what a height even the sins of godly men from the remainders of corruption that is in them may be improved 6. For the improvement of sins in godly men Satan may and commonly does make advantage of the Law of God and the commands and restraints thereof whereby sin will take occasion See it in King Asa the Prophet did prophesie and he put him into Prison because he shewed him his sin and instead of repenting for it he increased it for he was in a rage temptation had got hand over him and by the reproof Satan did stir up his lust And even the Gospel is by Satan turned into wantonness and all the Grace of it yea and all the glorious works of Grace upon a mans heart sin will take occasion from Gods drawing nigh and wax wanton under his love there is not any part of the Law of God or the Works of God or the Providence of God that Satan will not make use of and sin take occasion by to stir up and to improve corruption in a man even those remainders of sin that are in a Saint Quest § 4. If a godly man be under the irritation of the Law as well as a wicked man where then lyes the difference that a man in Christ is said not to be under the Law in this respect The difference lyes in these three things mainly Answ 1. An unregenerate man has no other use of the Law but this all the fruit that he has by it is to improve draw out and increase his sins but a godly man being under another Covenant as he has the Law written in his heart in his regeneration so he has by the Law Grace increased in the continued work of his Sanctification Joh. 17.17 there is in respect of his regenerate part a power of Sanctification and the whole Law of God tends to that end in him and this the Law works in him per se as he is regenerate though it works the other per accidens as far as he is unregenerate Grace receives strength by the Commandment according to the law of the mind as sin does according to the law of the flesh in the one sin is restrained and subdued in the other sin may be restrained but it is increased and as a damm set upon the waters which â—â—â—es them swell the higher 2. Through sin may â—â—â—e occasion by the Law in the regenerate yet this does not constitute sin in dominion it doâ—â— never rise up so high in a regenerate man as to amount unto a compleat raign and dominion as Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you so that a man should obey it in the lusts thereof for in the highest improvement of sin by the Law in the regenerate there is another law in the mind a spirit that lusts against the flesh that a man cannot be given up unto all iniquity it does never work in him all manner of concupiscence as it does in the unregenerate so as to make a man always go on in a presumptuous way of sinning but Grace and the spirit of Grace gives a check to it because a man loves the law of God and its precepts according to his inward man 3. Lastly it does never so far prevail in the regenerate as to bring forth fruit unto death as it does in the unregenerate Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin that were by the law wrought in me to bring forth fruits unto death But as the law is made a servant unto the Gospel so both the precept and the curse of the law is made subservient and subordinate this way for as the remainders of sin in the godly are sprinkled with the blood of Christ so are all the temptations of Satan and the improvements of sin by the law which is unto all unregenerate men a part of the curse of their Covenant sanctified unto the regenerate and are a means to shew them their own vileness and to humble them deeply before the Lord as we see it in Peter and David and to make them hate sin the more and to make them the more watchful over their own hearts and lay the faster hold upon Christ and the Grace offered in the Gospel by faith and to ply the Throne of Grace by constant and daily prayers and the more to long for their adoption and redemption and so this improvement of sin by the law does tend in the end to the further subduing of sin and at last to the utter abolishing of it that so the remainders of sin being wholly done away Satan may stir up sin and sin may take occasion by the Commandment no more And so as other fruits of the curse of the law are blessed and sanctified unto them as their afflictions their temptations and death it self so shall these fruits of the curse be also sanctified unto them and tend to their sanctification and end in the perfection of their holiness at the last So that as death is swallowed up in victory in a mans resurrection so is sin also in a mans perfect sanctification unto which through the Grace of the Gospel sin it self was over-ruled to be a means for as there are two ways of a mans pollution so there are also two means of a mans sanctification there are proper and natural means as Satan and a mans own lusts c. and there are occasional means as the law of God so there are of a mans sanctification the Word and the Spirit and the Ordinances and there are occasions which in their own nature do work no such thing but Grace takes occasion from the one as corruption does from the other the temptations of Satan and the improvement of sin by the law being sprinkled by the blood of Christ shall be as effectual to a mans sanctification as the other being not sprinkled with the blood of Christ
be a principle of flesh in you and this principle is sinful contrary to the Law and condemned by the Law yet it shall never prevail to condemn you though it will many times to defile you for you are not under the Law for condemnation they may be and will be matter of your trouble and affliction here but never the matter of your condemnation hereafter And so the meaning is that the godly that have received the spirit of Grace and submit themselves willingly to be acted and guided thereby though they have the remainders of sin in them that deserve death yet they shall never infer death because they are not for the condition of their persons under the Laws condemning power Rom. 8.1 Though there be in the Saints matter of condemnation yet there is in them no actual condemnation There is a second interpretation given of it and that is That though there be remainders of sin contrary lustings within you so that you cannot do the things you would do but all your performances 〈◊〉 blemished and defiled as a Collier and Fuller dwelling in the same house what the one whites the other pollutes Yet this shall not make your services hateful before God shall not hinder their acceptation for you are not under the rigor and conviction of the Law requiring perfect obedience or else it cannot be accepted as it is with all unregenerate men but you are not so under the Law neither shall this contrary principle be wholly able to hinder you in duties for you are not under the Law constraining you and forcibly compelling unto duty without giving you strength to perform it but you have a spirit within you as well as a rule without you the one directing and the other assisting and inabling Both these will make one compleat sense and are for consolation to the condition of those that are in Christ that though corruptions may remain in them yet they shall never prevail against them to their condemnation neither shall they hinder their acceptation with the Lord in the midst of all their failings We must consider that the dispensations of God to every man are according to the Covenant under which he stands and the administrations of both Covenants are ever since the fall in the hand of Christ as Mediator he dispenseth the Curse of the first Covenant as well as the Grace of the second and at the day of Judgment it is the Man Christ Jesus that shall say to the wicked Go you cursed as well as to the Saints Come you blessed c. Now for the administration of all things according to this great trust Jesus Christ as Mediator has received the spirit as a spirit of union and a spirit of unction and this spirit is the viceroy or prorex that works all the works and all the administrations of Christ in this great Kingdom only he dispenses this spirit to some as a Lord and to others as a head unto some only as a spirit of qualification for service unto others as a spirit of sanctification for their Salvation So that all that Christ does he does by the spirit and answerable unto the condition of the person so is the spirit that works in him all is wrought suitably unto the Covenant under which he stands if the man be under the first Covenant he is a bondman for his Covenant genders unto bondage and all the works of the spirit of God in that man are only the works of bondage and this spirit is a spirit of fear There is a double spirit by which wicked men are acted there is a spirit of the world that works effectually in the children of disobedience the strong man armed keeps the house and they are taken by him as beasts taken alive and led captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 and this spirit does act them wholly in most of the acts of their lives but God has reserved unto himself a Judicature in the man and that is Conscience but this commonly works not there is a fearedness a spirit of slumber and senslesness a being past feeling that sin has brought upon it but sometimes the spirit of God comes into the Court of Conscience and awakens it and then it speaks in Gods name unto the man and therefore it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience and it is always a co-witness Rom. 9.1 A renewed Conscience can never work of it self nor witness of it self neither does a natural Conscience but as it is acted by the spirit of God Now if the man be in the condition of a servant the spirit does witness unto him and speaks in his Conscience nothing but fear and bondage and therefore it is called answerable to the condition of the man a spirit of bondage But if the man be under the second Covenant and in the condition of a son then the spirit does speak peace favour and acceptance unto him and liberty and is a spirit of Sonship Not that in a godly man there is never any thing else spoken but from Rom. 8.15 where the Apostle says You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father I conclude The Spirit of God never speaks bondage to a godly man that he is in a state of bondage and death and binding a man over to wrath again though sometimes God leaving a man unto the spirit of Satan he may speak so in his heart and tell him he is unregenerate and then the darkness of a mans own spirit may be apt to gather such conclusions but the Spirit of God does never speak any thing unto a Saint concerning his eternal state but liberty after his translation out of the first Covenant Every regenerate man having received the Spirit of Christ and his Covenant being changed this spirit has undertaken to be dux viae his guide Joh. 16. to lead him on in his way till he comes to glory Now a man that is in Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ and is led by that Spirit Rom. 8.14 that man is not under the Law neither for condemnation nor for coaction therefore every man that is out of Christ and not led by this Spirit but has received a spirit of bondage he is under the Law both these ways § 2. Hence we observe Doct. Tom. 4. p. 87. That every man that is out of Christ is under the coaction and rigor of the Law Austin upon this place in the Galatians makes a fourfold state of man 1 Ante legem before the Law when a man did sin without the knowledg of sin and committed it without restraint or controul and so it is with many men that lay the reins upon their lusts necks 2 Sub lege under the law c. when a man does strive against sin his Conscience being convinced that it is sin but yet he is over-come though he does strive 3
in it from restraining Grace or renewing Grace Whether we do serve God in the newness of the spirit Rom. 7.6 or the oldness of the letter It was before conversion but a dead letter to him and did only command duty but it did no way transform the soul in the inward man but there is in a man being regenerate the newness of spirit that is a mans inward man being renewed by the Holy Ghost c. Now the rules of Trial are these 1. Let a man by the Coaction of the Law be put upon duty never so much and never so often yet it will never assist him nay the more he doth duty the less strength he shall have to do it the weakness of his nature will increase by it as the longer he does abstain from sin the more the lust will spread and the stronger it will grow the more he does pray the less love he shall have to the duty and though he may get a dexterity in the outward performance yet the less he shall be able to perform it in a saving and spiritual manner whereas renewing Grace gives a man strength a mans heart is prepared to pray and the spirit of Grace is a spirit of supplication a man has an Unction from the Holy Ghost that flows from his union with Christ and from the Holy Ghost and he has a strength in duties the more he does them the stronger he grows in all the ways of God The righteous shall grow stronger and stronger and he that has clean hands shall hold on his way Job 17.9 and shine brighter and brighter and grow stronger and stronger the more he knows the more he does follow on to know the Lord. And whereas another man has done duty many years and is grown more weary of it and more formal in it but knows no more what does belong to the spiritual performance of it now than he did when he began it and he does possibly abstain from sin but it is not from an inward principle and power of holiness but from an external motive which only keeps it under in the course of his life and therefore although by abstaining the lust may seem weakned and to decay by degrees yet really it grows and they prove more desperately wicked as appears by men that the unclean spirit is gone out of and returns with seven worse spirits and they that have made great and goodly shews of Holiness yet afterwards fall into the sin against the Holy Ghost 2. A man that does duty from the Coaction of the Law is partial in it and takes notice only of those duties to which he is constrained and where the law of God lays a strong hand upon him but as for other things he is not at all solicitous Herod will do many things but other things that either the Law does not so immediately and earnestly press upon him or his lust will not dispense with those he will leave undone But renewing Grace makes a man to have respect unto all Gods Commandments and to hate every false way it sets a man against every sin but specially against a mans own iniquity and those sins that are spiritual that are from Satan per modum imaginis as part of his image wherein they are most like the Devil 3. All that a man does from the Coaction of the Law will never last a man may abstain from sin a while but if a man have the nature of a dog he will return to his vomit and as a Sow will wallow in the mire still wash her never so clean yea he will return with the greater greediness by reason of the former abstinence and so a man may perform duty a while but as Job says Will the hypocrite pray always For he is but as a flag that cannot grow without mire and if once the fleshly respects of setting upon duty be taken away his duties will wither For either praying will make a man leave sinning or sinning will make him leave praying or if not publickly yet will at least kill all his secret duties and make those that are publick degenerate wholly into a form 4. Whatsoever a man does by Coaction of the Law a man has no sweetness in it it is with no delight and complacency for things forced are not pleasant let a man do the least service that he is forced to and it is a burden whereas let the greatest works in the world and the most toilsome be done if a man undertake them willingly he can find pleasure in them as we see men do in recreations running and wrestling c. So to a Saint the yoke of Christ is a pleasing yoke and his burden light a soul can dance under it and the thoughts of his leaving sin is very pleasant to him and when he does duty he delights in it according to his inward man and his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness he is then in his element when he is keeping the Commandments of God Set water over the fire and make it boil never so much yet take it off and it will return quickly into its former coldness and will be the colder for its former heating and so it is here it is not agreeable to nature and therefore can never be pleasing either for an unregenerate man to perform duty or for a regenerate man to commit sin 5. Whatever a man doth by the Coaction of the Law a man hath no communion with God thereby nor is he drawn nearer unto God A gracious heart is sensible of the want of God and therefore his end in all that he does is to seek God that he may find him and because in Ordinances God will be found and has there promised a special presence therefore he seeks him there and he labours to stir up his Graces in his approach to God and God does in mercy draw near unto him because what he does is from an inward principle of godliness but a man that does duty from a natural conscience only he does not draw near to God but his spirit draws back all the while and looks upon God as an enemy and therefore he has no fellowship with the Lord. The Law indeed puts him upon duty and as a task he doth it but he has no more experience of the approaches of God in it or his love or the power of his Grace the kisses of his mouth the stayings of God with flaggons and comforting with apples c. but a soul that does duties from a principle of godliness is sensible of his spiritual absence from God in duties and of his special presence and would not lose his communion with God in duties for a world but other men are satisfied in the duties meerly and their sinning and hearing is much alike to them and if they have done the duty conscience is satisfied and they have all they desire c. Vse 4 § 4. Here we see what a happiness it is to the
under his Covenant 1 John 5.11 God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he that has the son has life So that all the benefits of the Covenant are grounded upon our Union with him who is the Prince of the Covenant if you be Abrahams seed How shall that be Gal. 3. last By being Christs and then a man comes under Abrahams Covenant and thereby is a Son of Abraham and that is only by being in Christ They that are born after the spirit are Children of the freewoman Gal. 4.31 2 Cor. 1.20 that is they that believe and it is in him that all the promises are made unto us in him all the promises of God are Yea and Amen they have their truth and their certainty and stability in him and we are made the righteousness of God in him and we bear fruits in him for every promise does carry back the Soul unto his Union with Christ in the right whereof we do claim the promises which are made unto Christ in our behalf and unto us only so far as we are members of Christ as we are in him And from hence the point that I shall gather wherein this translation lies is this Doct. In a mans Vnion with the second Adam his translation out of the first Covenant does consist it is by a mans Vnion that his Covenant is changed § 2. In the opening of it there are three things to be cleared 1 To explain the nature of this Vnion 2 How it comes to pass that this Vnion should be a mans Translation 3 To shew how a man being united unto Christ the prince of the Covenant differs from what he was before his being translated and in what particulars this difference lies § 1. For the nature of this Union it is an Union with him as he is set forth by God publick person as a representative head as a second Adam Now as we were one with the first Adam and therefore said to be in him and to sin in him so we must be one with the second Adam and so are said to be in him also Now in the first Adam we are naturally as we partake of his Spirit every man by nature receiving the spirit of Adam as well as the Image of Adam and voluntarily every man by nature consenting to his Covenant and desiring still to be under it Gal. 4. And as Jesus Christ is become one with us so must we also become one with him Now he is become one with us naturally taking our flesh and voluntarily as entring into our Covenant so we must become one with Christ naturally by receiving his spirit and voluntarily by consenting unto his Covenant And these two are the branches of our Union without which it cannot be compleat and therefore our Union in Scripture is set forth by similitudes that express both parts naturally between the head and the body we are the members of Christ and he the head between the branch and the root he the root and we the branches between the meat and the body that is nourished by it when turned into juice and blood c. And also voluntarily between the Husband and the Wife they two making up one flesh Ephes 5.3 by mutual consent 1. There is a natural Vnion between Christ and the Soul As Christ taking our flesh becomes one with us so also we partaking of his Spirit become one with him As there are some that God has given unto Christ from eternity in his purpose and decree so he has appointed a time when they shall be actually united who though in the Purpose of God and Transaction between the Father and his Son are given unto Christ yet do for the present live without Christ in the World but though Christ in the Purpose of God was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world yet in the fullness of time only he took our flesh so though we were in the counsel of God given unto Christ before the world was yet there is a fullness of time appointed by the Father when he shall bestow upon us his spirit so that the first part of our Union is that we receive the Spirit of Christ for this Union begins on Christs part as he did unite himself unto us by taking our flesh so he does unite us unto himself by imparting of his spirit Phil. 3.12 That I may apprehend as I am apprehended Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He took hold of our nature flying from him So Oecumen We were no more able to lay hold upon Christ than to lay hold on the Sun in the Firmament This â—ending of his spirit makes us become one body with him as the head and the feet make up â—ne body because they are acted by the same soul Because you are Sons Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.9 1 Cor. 6.17 he has sent forth â—e spirit of his son into your hearts If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his â—e spiritual body so Pareus or mystical or in respect of the Copula as Beza as he that 〈◊〉 joyned to a Harlot is one flesh with her his bond is carnal so he that is joyned to the â—ord is one spirit and so a man becomes the Temple of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ dwells in a man and takes up his habitation there for ever never to forsake that man â—fterward There is the inhabitation and the operation of the spirit Jo. 15.26 2 Tim. 1.14 the Holy Ghost dwells â—here and works there for ever and so Christ and he having one spirit they are become one body Hence we see 1 this Union is real and not imaginary though Christ be in Heaven and we upon thâ— Earth yet the bond is real the same spirit in both as many members of one body acted by the same Soul and so though many members be scattered all the World over yet they make up one body for it is a spiritual body and a mysterious Union for â—he same spirit unites the members to the head and one to another for they all partake of â—he same spirit 2. It is a natural and not meerly a voluntary Union and therefore there are many simiâ—itudes some express it by a voluntary and some by a natural Union as the members â—hough they be naturally one and acted by the same spirit yet they are of different forms â—o it is here Christ and the Soul are not only one by consent but they are naturally one c. 3. The Union is not with the Gifts and Graces and Benefits of Christ though indeed the Communion we have is with these but the Union is with his person for Isa 9.6 To us a son is given John 1.14 The word was made flesh and dwelt among us And Psal 45.10 11 Hearken O daughter and consider and incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for
he is thy Lord and worship thou him And of Christ as man Ephes 5.30 For we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones And 1 Cor. 6.15 Know you not that your bodies are members of Christ There is also a voluntary Union between Christ and the Soul and so Cyprian does express it Nec miscet personas nec unit substantias sed affectus consociat confaederat voluntates and that is Ephes 3.17 That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith 2 Cor. 3.18 Christ then having thus propounded himself unto a man in the Gospel and a man beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord seeing the excellency of his Person and the all-sufficiency of his Goodness with a secret hint that all this may become ours if we accept it the spirit being in the heart of a man as the spirit of Faith does by an Almighty power overcome the Soul to consent and accept of Christ according to the terms and offers of the Gospel so that Christ dwells in a man by his spirit and this spirit being a spirit of faith does work a free consent that Christ should be to him as his Head and Husband for ever and this consent of the Soul unto Christ does compleat this Union So that if the Question be Is a man in Christ before he does believe The answer is His Union with Christ is before he doth believe and the Soul is as meerly passive in union as in conversion Christ must unite himself unto us before we can unite our selves unto him but the consummation of this Union is when we consent unto Christ to take him for our own as the Wife does her Husband in marriage c. This receiving Act we have set forth John 1.12 and Isa 1.19 2 Cor. 11.2 1. It is the Person of Christ that is the primary object of Faith and not his Benefits The first promise to our first Parents was of his Person Gen. 3.15 and not of his Benefits Gal. 3.16 To Abraham and his seed were the promises made c. All the Gifts of Christ are given as a dowry to the Soul that is married to Christ 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son hath not life 2. There can be no Grace that can be the bond of Union with Christ but Faith God offers his Son and that Grace that accepts of the offer that makes the Union is Faith And no grace doth accept of the offer but that which caries with it the consent of the whole Soul ex nolentibus volentes facit it makes men that are unwilling willing If a Woman love a Man never so dearly Rev. 22. yet if she care not to make him her Husband they become not one flesh Love is indeed affectus unionis an affection of union and there is a moral union or a union of friendship but a mystical union there is not yea cannot be by Love 3. All other graces are acted by Faith they are the handmaids thereof Faith works by love Gal. 6.5 2 Cor. 3.18 and therefore this is the grace that has to do with Christ immediately Faith is the eyes of the Soul that looks upon Christ in his Glory and 't is the mouth of the Soul that feeds upon Christ there the nourishment is prepared for the body and there is a distributive Power in Faith that gives every grace its portion For this grace of Faith is the steward of the new man and according to a mans faith so it is with every grace and herein lyes the excellency of Faith above all graces Gal. 2.20 Joh. 6.7 not as it is a quality but as an instrument as appointed by Christ to be that grace of Union between Christ and us And hence it is that being the instrument of Union it is that by which the grace of the Covenant is conveighed to us as the action or motion of the mouth in speaking and eating is not one better than another of it self but as the one is the means of conveying nourishment unto the whole body so the motion of the hand in working is as excellent as that of receiving but it is not so in respect of the instrumental nature of it but only as it receives what is for the good and support of the man So here other graces in themselves are as excellent as Faith but as God hath honoured Faith to have the immediate intercourse with Christ so as it is an instrument it is more excellent than all other graces as that which goes immediately to Christ draws virtue from him and supplies all other graces in the new man SECT II. Why God hath appointed Vnion to be the way of our Translation Q. 2. WHY hath God appointed our Translation or change of Covenant to be in a way of Vnion The grounds are these Reas 1 § 1. Because God will have Christ to be the second Adam a publick person as the first Adam was for God intending that the generations of men should exist successively and yet proceed all from one root and not be created all at once as the Angels were he made a Covenant with this first man that was to be the common root out of which all the rest should grow for all his posterity that were to proceed from him 1 How else could the corruption and depravation of the nature that he should convey to them become their sin It 's true the Socinians and some of the Arminians deny the first sins being by Adam upon all his posterity naturally and unavoidably propagated saying that it is not to be esteemed their sin at all but only to Adam a punishment of sin and unto them the condition of their present nature and so they say peccatum Adami sine reatu in prolem transiit propter conditionem naturae ejusdem quam ex Adamo peccatores trahunt that the sin of Adam doth without any guilt pass unto his posterity by reason of the condition of the same nature which sinners derive from Adam But that it is the condition of nature the punishment of sin and also a sin in it self all our Divines do affirm and approve For 1 where there is a Transgression of the Law there is sin but even in the corruption of nature there is an opposition to God and his Law in all things therefore there is sin for the Law requires a holy nature as well as a holy Life that we should Love the Lord our God with all our heart not only with all the strength we have but with all the strength that God did give man in his creation 2 That which conforms a man to the Devil in contrariety to God Joh. 3.8 that is sin he that committeth sin is of the Devil Now this can become our sin no otherwise than as Adam was a publick person and stood by a Covenant for himself and his posterity and was by that Covenant
mans God is to have an interest in infinite mercy and power and grace the God of my mercy and the God of my strength c. and have the Lord thine in a way of communion and fruition that the Lord will impart himself so as to become my portion the Covenant of Grace being a Covenant of Friendship and this is much more if we consider it is not in our own but in Christs right and therefore I having naturally no distinct title unto God yet being under his Covenant he is become my God as he is Christs God John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father my God and your God 2. This Covenant brings in a righteousness beyond that of the Angels 1. It is the righteousness of God Dan 9.24 and not meerly of a creature 2. It is a righteousness that sin can never spend an everlasting righteousness it is a Garment that will cover all the sins of the Elect of God a Sun of righteousness that though it enlighten all the Stars and the Earth yet every day it goes forth as a Bridgroom out of his Chamber as full of glory as ever it was 3. It is a Covenant by which Heaven is opened which was before shut against all the sons of men Heb. 10.20 we have access with boldness into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and a living way which he has consecrated through the veil c. when Heaven was shut by sin there was no way to open it but the Lord himself to descend from Heaven and to take upon himself a created nature so that the way to Heaven is by Christs Incarnation and Satisfaction in the Flesh and it is the way that Christ has made new because the old way was shut and man cast out of Paradise a Type of Heaven and it is a new way because it shall never wax old as the former Covenant did and a livingway because it gives life unto the Passenger that walks to Heaven in it and in the way of the Law there is no Life to be found but this is a living way a man finds life in it though the Law indeed was a way to Heaven but a man must bring life with him that will walk in it And by this opening of Heaven we have a double benefit 1 All good comes out of Heaven to us John 1. ult 2 We ascend up to Heaven to receive the mansions that are prepared for us and so Heaven is our home our House not made with hands and all by this Covenant 4 It is by this Covenant that a man hath the service of all the Angels and the inheritance of all the creatures it 's Christ whom the Angels serve and they ascend and descend upon the son of man there was no such thing under the first Covenant they were our fellow servants but our servants they were not till the grace of the second Covenant was made manifest it is first Christ that they serve the Lord bringing his only begotten Son into the world he saith Heb. 1.6 1 Cor. 3.21 Fidelibus est totus mundus divitiarum Jo. 5.22 and let all the Angels of God worship him and of all the creatures 't is said all things are yours for they are Christs Inheritance and ours only as we are in him there is dominium Politicum and Evangelicum a Politick and Evangelick dominion they have the use and the good of all the creatures 5 It 's by this Covenant that your Government of the World is changed and committed into another hand the Lord hath committed all judgement to the Son Christ is now King of Nations as well as of Saints and he has as Mediator a providential Kingdom as well as a Spiritual he is the Head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.22 a head of Guidance as well as of eminence the Keys of Hell and Death are committed to him the Government is upon his Shoulder as the great Officer that the Lord employs Esa 9.6 and it is our happiness that he that is our Head and Husband hath the rule of all things in his hand should the Lord have continued to have governed the world he must without a Mediator have destroyed it according to the first Covenant and the rules of his Government therefore the Lord saith I cannot go before you but I will send mine Angel take heed of him and obey his voice and it 's the happiness of the world that the Lord Christ raigns Let the earth rejoyce c. 6 It is by this Covenant that the world stands he upholds all things by the word of his power had not he put under his hand Heb. 1. the Earth had melted and come to nothing he establishes the earth for the curse of the first Covenant coming upon the creatures must have received them all Yet that 's not all but that the earth should stand firm and that by his word he shall raise the earth and elevate the creatures this is much more for there is an earnest expectation of all the creatures for a deliverance as well as of the Saints and hence we look for a new Heaven and a new Earth What change soever shall be made in the creatures at the last day whether in substance or in quality it shall be perfective not destructive for it is a promise that the Saints expect and pray for and all the creatures do groan and wait for when the glory of the Sons of God shall be made manifest Vse 3 § 3. It 's for consolation it is this in which the soul lives and the privation thereof is the death of the soul in Hell where it is utter darkness Now as in the first Covenant there is a life of Comfort in the duties of it he that doth them shall live in them Heb. 10.38 Gal. 2.20 so there is the second Covenant also and therefore the just is said to live by faith as the other by doing shall live in it so he shall by believing in believing he shall live not only a life of holiness but a life of comfort and therefore as the second Covenant is the better Covenant because it is established or founded upon better promises so the comforts that do flow from those promises are higher and more glorious consolations and therefore all the ordinances and promises of it are called the breasts of consolation Esa 66.11 Heb. 6.18 out of which a man may suck and be satisfied the comforts of the second Covenant are strong consolations that which is powerful and able to bear up the spirit in the greatest assaults of temptation either from sin or Satan 2 Thess 2.16 and it is everlasting consolation and good hope through grace and such were not the comforts and consolations of the first Covenant But the more immediate any mercy and comfort is and the nearer it is to the fountain of Consolation the sweeter it is now
promise higher things the Lord to be your God and Christ to be your head your Husband his Spirit to be the guide of your way and also the earnest of your inheritance a higher Righteousness a higher Sonship a nearer Union a fuller Communion as the Spouse of Christ and as his Members and a more exceeding eternal weight of glory being rewarded not according unto the Covenant of man but according to the Covenant of Christ 3 Better promises because of their assurance and stability the promises of the first Covenant might come to an end and be swallowed up in the Curse as they were but the promises of the second are the sure mercies of David for the righteousness of it is an everlasting righteousness and therefore the promises are eternal promises 4 But there is one thing as great as any of these and that is they are all of them the promises made unto Christ and by vertue of the Covenant belong unto him 2 Cor. 1.20 In him are all the promises yea and Amen That is they are made unto him and they belong unto us and unto us are fulfilled only by vertue of our Union with him as we live in him and dye in him so we receive promises in him and this is the sweetness of all Gospel promises they do every one of them carry a man to the fountain of his interest and that brings into the Soul infinitely the more sweetness As if a Wife take a favour from her Husband and look no further there is not so much in it but yet in every favour she is carried back unto the Marriage Covenant which assures her not only of this but also of all others whatever is his she has a right to because of the Covenant past between them this is sweet to her And so here it brings into the Soul the sweetness of all the promises together with the present mercy As to a wicked man in Hell that hath the terrors of God upon him every evil doth carry him unto the fountain of it and that is to the anger and hatred of God and the curse of the Covenant that he hath broken and this imbitters his misery a Thousand times more for now the Soul saith this is but a pledge of infinitely more wrath So it is here every promise carries him to the fountain and that assuring him not only of this supply but whatever else he can stand in need of for in a mans interest in Christ is infinite more sweetness than in any blessing or benefit we receive by him Now when a man shall look upon this promise not only as sweet but as his inheritance as he is a Son of Abraham and an Heir of Promise it brings with it infinitely more sweetness than the promises of mercy it self abstractly and in it self injoyed 5. For all the duties and obedience to the Covenant And this is commonly the great affliction of the people of God the Gospel requires obedience as well as the Law and there is a Law of Christ to be kept and there is a yoak of Christ to be born and Christ that hath abolished the Law as a Covenant and a Curse has established the Law as a rule of Gospel obedience and hath therein made it a hand-maid to the Gospel and therefore the Law upon Mount Sinai was given in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 And how shall we be able to perform this duty by the power of inherent grace It is impossible 1 from the remainders of sin Rom. 7. There is a law in the members rebelling against the law of the mind and the fulfilling of the Law requires a holy nature as well as a holy life 2 From the imperfections of Grace Says the Apostle Paul Not that I have already attained not that I am already perfect c. And how then shall a man appear before God Now comes in the Covenant of Christ and of this Covenant he is a surety Heb. 7.22 not only to pay the debt that we did owe under the old Covenant but also to perform the duty that is required of me under the new and therefore the Lord did lay help on one that is mighty we should have failed Psal 89. for we could neither pay the debt of the one nor do the duty of the other therefore the Lord hath laid all upon Christ and will expect all of him and he must present us unto his Father as a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle and what imperfection soever there be in our duties he must offer them pure before God with his odours and all this is from the Covenant made with him In him is our fruit found Rev. 8.3 6. The stability of the Covenant can never fail it is an everlasting Covenant and sure mercy 1 Upon the faithfulness of God it 's confirmed with an Oath 2 From the obedience of Christ who hath performed all that is required in this Covenant 3 From the promise made unto him for the Oath is made first to Christ Heb. 7. Psal 110. and if the Lord could fail with you he could not fail with him There are Three things that amongst men are in a special manner noted as the acts of the highest injustice and wickedness 1 To keep back the hirelings wages 2 Not to fulfill the will of the dead 3 The cry of innocent blood going unrevenged and all these the Lord abhors in men and they shall not be found in him Now Christ is Gods hired servant and his reward is Heb. 9.15 16. to see the travail of his soul it is his last Will and Testament when he died that by means of his death they that are called might receive the promise and it 's a blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel Adams Covenant did change because it was established with a mutable head And hence as the Lord doth make suppositions Isa 54.10 The Mountains may depart and the Hills remove if you can change the Covenant of the day and of the night then may the Covenant of my peace be broken And in assurance thereof the Saints do make supplications The Lord is our God we will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains cast into the sea Psal 46.1 2. And the root of all the stability of the Covenant lyes in Christ the foundation of the Covenant 7. The acceptation that you find with God is grounded hereupon 2 Cor 5.9 We labour whether present or absent to be accepted of him and there is a double acceptation one of persons and the other of services 1 Of persons as we find Gen. 4.4 If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted says God offer it to thy Prince will he accept thy person 2 Of services Mal. 1. Heb. 12.28 They are acceptable services As God delights in the plagues of wicked men Psal 120. Coals of Juniper which burn sweetly and fiercely so in the services of the
obedience the condition foederis praestiti Jer. 7.12 Jer. 11.5 They must obey that God may perform Esay 54.9 10. Jer. 32.40 and how many temporal afflictions were inflicted on them And so I may say to any soul that keeps Covenant with God thy sufferings will say to thee cavendae tempestates flenda naufragia Austin de Nat. Grat. cap. 35. And thus we should take heed of keeping the Covenant or else though the Lord continue faithful in reference to the promises of eternity because Christ is the surety yet in regard of temporal promises you may go without them and many of them never be performed unto you But you will say may a man that is in the Covenant of Grace break the Covenant may the Covenant of Grace be broken as the Covenant of Works was If it may not be broken to what end do you exhort us to keep it It 's true that the Covenant of Grace cannot be broken a man that is once in Covenant is ever in Covenant and the grounds of it are these 1. The Love of God that made the Covenant is an everlasting Love and therefore the Covenant it self is every where called an everlasting Covenant and the Lord saith If you can bring another flood upon the Earth and if you can stop the Sun in his course and change the Ordinances of Heaven then the Covenant might be broken that he had made with his people Therefore Rom. 8. the Apostle saies that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord for the Lord loves us with an everlasting Love 2. It is a Covenant made with the persons of men mens persons are first taken into Covenant and there is this difference between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works in the later Covenant the works were taken into Covenant first and then the person for the works sake and so long as their works continued holy so long their persons were to be accepted and find favour and honour with the Lord Gen. 4.7 If thou doest well there is an elevation and a lifting up of the face but if thou dost evil cursed is thy person for thy works sake and there is an ira redundans in personam wrath falling on the person that doth immediately follow thereupon but now in the Covenant of Grace it is quite contrary mens persons are first taken into Covenant and accepted and then their works for their persons sake the Lord had respect unto Abel and unto his offering and therefore till the person be in Covenant the works are abominable before God Now the works of the Saints may not always be accepted of God he may be and is often displeased with the acts of his covenant-people but yet their persons alwayes find acceptance with him their persons are the same I will visit their offences with a rod and their sins with scourges but my loving kindness I will not take from their persons my Covenant I will not break Psal 89. there is an ira simplex simple anger that doth reach to the sin but not to the person he is never a child of wrath more after his person is taken into a state of adoption with the Lord. 3. Their union with Christ is that which puts them into the second Covenant Gal. 3.29 as this union gives them interest in Christs righteousness and Sonship so it doth first state them in the Covenant which is the ground of all the rest the intendment of God was that the union between Christ and them should be the means to convey all this to their souls all comes in by Union Now so long as the Union between Christ and a soul continues so long the Covenant cannot be broken but this Union is indissoluble sin cannot nay death cannot separate between God and a soul in Covenant with him and therefore as they live so they dye in the Lord and sleep in Jesus 4. The righteousness of this Covenant is an everlasting righteousness Dan. 9. The Lord hath finished transgression and made an end of sin in the great condemning power of it and brought in everlasting righteousness such as sin could never spend for he is the son of righteousness the Lord of righteousness and therefore his Covenant can never be broken seeing the righteousness of the Covenant can never be expended 5. Christ is the surety of this better Covenant and therefore though we pay not the debt that we owe he hath undertaken it and the Lord will expect all of him and thence he is said to lay help on one that is mighty Psal 89. he will take your words no more but Christ is able to pay it as he did the debt of the first Covenant so he is able to perform the duty of the second the Lord hath ingaged him in it and he expects all from him as from the surety of the Covenant which he hath undertaken 6. Lastly This Covenant can never be broken because there is an everlasting principle of Grace begun in the Soul that doth always lay hold of the Covenant and cleave to it and consent to it and work towards it for it is incorruptible and immortal seed and therefore Jer. 32.40 This is the Covenant I will make with you I will write my law in your heart c. that you shall never depart from me In a Married condition there may be many failings in a Wife or a Husband as neglect disobedience c. but the Marriage Covenant is never broken till she take another Husband and the Covenant of Grace is a Marriage Covenant Now though there be many errors and failings in a Wife yet unless thou chuse another Husband and subject thy self to another Lord the Covenant between God and thee is not broken It is a matter of wonderful consolation that the Covenant between us and the Lord is a Covenant of salt that the sins of the people of God though they be many yet they cannot break the Covenant How should the consideration of this rich Grace and Mercy make the Saints triumph over Death and Hell O death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory blessed be God we are more than Conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord. But yet you had need be exhorted not to break this Covenant 1. By reason of the falseness of our own hearts Jer. 2.24 for we are like a wild Asse in the wilderness that doth traverse her paths that no hedges or fetters can hold her in so much that the Lord speaks it with admiration How weak is thy heart Ezek. 16.30 That it 's not able to hold out against any temptation not able to bear any one affliction but immediately it 's ready to depart from God Gen. 49.4 unstable as water there is a treachery and a perfidiousness of spirit in the best of us and therefore we had need be often called upon Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall and let us take
till then our iniquities are then perfectly blotted out when the time of refreshment shall come then a man shall be perfectly acquitted from all sin for ever and have an absolute sentence past upon him by God and in his own soul for ever As the Lord did give his Son by degrees and yet there is a further giving of him when he that is gone before shall come again and fetch you also there are degrees of giving of the Spirit and there is yet a further degree to come when the weak shall be as David so the Lord will be your God hereafter more eminently than he has been in giving you not only grace but glory Now as the Lord doth take up and possess the soul to himself as his habitation so he does more and more become a God to that soul who is never perfected till he come to glory till he enjoy him as he is Vse 1 § 4. 1. Look on the promises therefore as precious and store thy soul with them for they are all that you have to shew for an interest in God in this life that by which you hold your inheritance all is in promises the richest adornment and furniture that the soul can have in this life is grace and promises and therefore have thy inward man filled with them Vse 2 2. Upon all occasions stay thy sinking soul upon a promise for it 's as firm as the faithfulness of God and it 's grounded thereupon If there be any truth in the Covenant of Grace it lies in the promises of it on Gods part and we should observe the performance of promises as we do of prophecies Psal 144. as Austin says Ingrate Legis debitum cernis redditum non credis promissum Vngrateful wretch thou seest the debt of the Law paid and yet believest not the promise Vse 3 3. Look unto all the promises for their accomplishment The heirs of a promise have a great happiness that they have such an inheritance It 's â—er be as low as Hell with a promise Ego quidem sine Verbo ne in Paradiso optarim vivere at cum Verbo etiam in inferno vivere sacile est Luth. than with Adam in Paradise without it For it 's in the promises of the new Covenant in which the glory and the stability of the Covenant lies but if they be so sweet and precious in the contemplation and in the working of faith upon them while they are in hope only what must they needs be in the fruition The Wise man says The desire accompished is sweet unto the soul there is an unexpressible sweetness in it when the desire comes it's a tree of life it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitarum of lives there are all lives in it and it sets a man as it were in Paradise again And this is one thing that will make Heaven the sweeter because it is a perfect accomplishing of all those promises with which the soul was feasted and entertained here with the hopes of in its pilgrimage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom for Christ will be the sweeter when we come to Heaven because having not seen him yet we loved him here and we shall find him to be the same Christ in all things that before we heard him to be in the Gospel And so the society of the Saints Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the rest of the Saints in Heaven so much the more precious will they be by how much our hearts have been taken with any of them while they lived here and for this cause the promises may well be called precious 2 Pet. 1.4 2 Pet. 1.4 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies either precious or honourable to him that believes he is precious 1 Pet. 2. or an honour 1 as they are the price of his blood who was the Saviour of the World 2 as they are the evidences of our inheritance and all we have to shew for Heaven 3 as they are instruments of purification and sanctification 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 1.4 But 4 they are specially precious in this 1 that they are Gods part of the Covenant 2 this has been the happiness of the Saints and the contrary is noted as an imperfection in their condition here Heb. 11.13 These all dyed in faith not having received the promises it 's spoken of the ancient Saints of whom it 's said some of them attained promises and others of them received them not but only saw them afar off and saluted them c. and to attain promises is reckoned with stopping the mouths of lions and quenching the violence of fire and hereby there is more of God made known Exod. 6.3 By the name of Jehovah I was not known to them It 's spoken in reference unto the accomplishment of the promises and their attaining of them there is something further that God discovered and his name Jehovah further manifested to the Saints 3 specially in our times upon whom the ends or as some render it the perfections of the world are come for as the great harvest of the Church shall be in the latter days of the world so there shall be the great harvest both of prophecies and promises for the ancient Prophets did speak of good things to come but it was manifested unto them that they did not administer for themselves but for us 1 Pet. 1.12 they should be gathered to their Fathers and never live to see the good things that the Lord would do but should dye in the Wilderness as many of the ancient Saints of Israel did and never inherit the promised Land for all the things that the Lord hath spoken shall have their accomplishment at the sound of the seventh Trumpet shall the Mystery of God be finished Rev. 10.7 They are glorious things that the Lord has spoken of the latter days of the world and it 's a great unworthiness and lowness of spirit in Saints that they should be content and sit down satisfied whilst they go without any part of their inheritance and that they should think much of any thing they have attained si dicas sufficit c. It 's true that we are less than the least of all his mercies and we should think every one of them great to express our thankfulness but we should not think any of them great to nourish our slothfulness He that has an interest in the great God must strive to have his heart formed into a holy greatness of mind there is a lowness of spirit that does no ways become men that have high hopes and high expectations to be content to go without any thing that God has promised he has promised not only truth of grace but growth as the willows by the water-courses strength of grace strengthned with all might according to his glorious power comfort of grace as the Apostle has it to be filled with a spirit of consolation and to walk in the assurance
personal and real c. We have seen that the Covenant on Gods part does consist in promises and that these promises are either absolute or conditional either performed by God without any required condition in us not only citra meritum sed conditionem not only without merit but also condition or else performed by God upon a certain condition wrought in us as a preparation or a qualification of the subject to receive the promises And we find in the next place that these absolute promises are of two sorts answerable unto a twofold object of faith that the Scripture doth hold forth they are either personal or real either promises of persons or of things 1 Promises of things that are absolute and real and of these are chiefly four 1 Ezech. 36.26 I will take away the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh 2 Jer. 31.33 I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And these two are promises of conversion and of the power of God in Christ put forth upon the Elect of God 3 Esa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins And unto this belong many other promises of remission 4 There are also promises of perseverance Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me 2 There are also personal Promises and these are the great and leading promises of the second Covenant Here I will shew you 1 that there are such promises and 2 shew you the nature of them 3 the grounds of it why the second Covenant must have such promises as these 4 wherein the excellency of these promises doth consist 1. That there are some personal Promises in which all the three persons in the Godhead are made over unto the soul The first great promise was Gen. 3.15 personal it was of the seed of the woman that the Lord would give Jesus Christ his Son to be born of a woman and to take mans nature and pitch his Tent with us that he should take not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham c. and so Esa 9.6 To us a Son is given And when the Lord came to renew the Covenant with Abraham it is That he will be a God unto him and to his seed after him and that is common in Scripture for God to say Jer. 31.33 I will be their God and they shall be my people And there is a further discovery of the promise in Esa 44.3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring And so Joel 2.28 I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh So that these three are the great personal Promises of the Gospel and in these doth the main grace of the new Covenant lye 2. As for the nature of personal Promises they do import a gracious propriety in the persons which God doth by Covenant make over unto the creature The end of promises is to give a propriety and we know that a propriety amongst the creatures is nothing else but jus ad rem when a man doth claim such a thing as his own and has a power to use it and dispose of it in a lawful way for his own benefit and advantage as it seemeth good to him so that propriety as it were puts the thing into the mans hand to do with it what he pleaseth to make improvement and advantage of it that it may be for his own accommodation he may do what he list with his own c. As if a man hath a propriety in Lands or Houses he may either sell or let or give or leave or live upon them as he pleaseth Now as there is a real propriety that respects things so there is a personal propriety that respects persons which is grounded either in natural or voluntary relations as a Father has a propriety in his Son and the Son in the Father and the Husband in the Wife and the Wife in the Husband the Prince in the People and the People in their Prince and the intent of personal propriety is the same in its kind with that which is real that every person that has such a propriety in another should enjoy all benefits and advantages as they could in a way of equity expect or desire to do as the husband that hath a propriety in the wife if there were no sinful defects in the persons that are so appropriated should receive from her all manner of help and assistance as if he himself were the wife and his wife receive from her husband all that kindness and support as if she were the husband and as if all were in her own power to use And so it is in personal promises the intent of them is to make over the persons that when the Lord says I will be thy God the meaning is whatsoever is in me as a God shall be truly thine my infinite power my infinite wisdom and grace and mercy all shall be thine that the soul may lawfully lay claim to it and confidently expect it of him and that as truly as if the creature it self had infinite power and wisdom and mercy and all in his own hands So it is in giving the person of the Son that we should have a propriety and an interest in him as our Brother our Husband our Head and whatever is in him whether of grace or merit shall be as truly ours as it is his and as truly laid out for us as if we had it all inherent in our selves And so it is in giving the Spirit it is a propriety in the person so that the Spirit for conviction for conversion for sanctification for renovation for direction and for consolation doth as truly improve these for us as if they were our own and as if they were inherent in us or we could use and exercise them according to our own pleasure and they are these personal promises of the Covenant that do intitle the soul to such an interest in the persons 3. The grounds of them why must the second Covenant have personal promises The grounds of it are these 1. Man in his Fall had wholly lost God and therefore he is said Eph. 2. to be without God in the world one that had no relation to him one that had no interest in him It 's true that Adam before his Fall had a natural propriety in God both as his Creator and as his Father Luc. 3. ult Adam was the Son of God and so it 's true of the Angels they are called his Sons because they did bear his Image Job 1.6 which no other Creature did but after his Fall all Right unto God was forfeited and man could not look upon him in any relation either as a
Father Son and Spirit in one and the same essence and therefore if any man say a person is something or nothing I say it is something it is Essentia Divina cum proprietate sua hypostatica the Divine Essence with its relative propertie As what is the Father He is God begetting the Son and what is the Son He is God and begotten of the Father c. and so the Father is infinite and the Son infinite because they have all Three an Unity of Essence which is infinite and therefore there is no reason why there should be so much exception against the title of Person as some of the looser sort would seem to take it being a word that doth most fully that I know express the nature of the thing that we can have and most answers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Apostle Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high but call them either Persons or Subsistences so the thing be the same I shall not contend for the words 3 But suppose that the manner of it we were not able to express yet it is and should be enough unto us that the thing is clearly set down in Scripture and that we walk by grounds of faith and not by reason it is enough to us that there is but one God and yet that Father Son and Holy Spirit are three and are yet said to be one if we could not describe how three are one nor how one is three yet the deep things of God we must not bring unto the rule of our blind crooked and presumptuous reason a quomodo or how in the things of God is hateful unto God and not agreeing to the nature of faith Col. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is very unbeseeming Christians Take heed lest any man spoil you through philosophy the word notes to make a prize of you and carry you away as Pirates do another mans goods and so there is many a man made a prize of at this day Philosophy is nothing in it self but rectified and raised reason and res Dei ratio est Tertullian and whilst reason is subordinate unto Religion and a hand-maid it 's of excellent use but when it will step out of its place and will needs be a Judge in the things of God then it 's vain that man that will bring down the Scripture unto the rules of his own reason will quickly be made a prey of by any seducers Cum de rebus sibi subjectis pronunciat philosophia audienda est Daven sed cùm de rebus ad fidem spectantibus explodenda When philosophy judgeth of things that belong to her let her be heard but when she judgeth of things belonging to faith let her be exploded Dav. And this has heen the true ground of all these Heresies of Arminianism and Socinianism which have especially in these latter ages pester'd the world because they will arraign the highest Truths of God at the Bar of their own blind and presumptuous Reason and Understanding And this is that which in answer to it Justin Martyr often pressed De recta fidei confessione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 375. It becometh the Churches adherents to measure divine things not by humane reason but according to the intention of the Spirits doctrine So having in the same Book affirmed the Union of the two Natures of Christ he addes pag. 382. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you ask me the manner of this Vnion I am not ashamed to say and confess my ignorance therein but rather I glory in this that I do upon the authority of God believe that which my reason cannot comprehend nor my tongue express Vse 2 2. Exercise faith upon all the persons grounded upon these promises and walk in the love of them all and expect the sealing of them all and so much these promises will carry you unto Exercise faith upon all the persons grounded upon these promises they are the great and ultimate objects of faith now faith is imperfect that takes not in all the objects of faith and it 's a greater imperfection for a grace to fail in its object than to fail in any of the acts of it The Apostle 1 Thess 1. speaks of some defects in faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and truly these are the great defects there be abundance of objects of faith that faith doth not act upon because we know but in part c. nay the greatest suspicion that a man has of his faith lies in this if any object of it be willingly neglected as in a mans obedience it 's a great ground for a man to question the sincerity and the truth of it if the meanest duty thereof be willingly neglected so it 's ground enough to question the sincerity and truth of our faith much more if a man do observe the lesser duties of obedience and be precise in them but the great and weighty things of the Law are neglected by him so it 's here if a man take in lesser and inferiour promises but as for the promises of the persons which are the great things of the Gospel they are neglected and faith acts not upon them Here a mans faith should take in these particulars 1 That all the persons have a special hand in the salvation of a sinner and that by these promises every believer hath an interest in them all in reference unto these works Opera ad extra sunt indivisa It 's true they having one and the same nature and essence what the one of them doth the other doth also whatever thing the Father doth the same thing doth the Son likewise But yet though these be not opera propria proper works yet they are appropriata appropriate There are peculiar works attributed unto each person as 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Now suitable to these appropriated works so should a mans faith eye each of the persons and his interest in them When the soul is conversant about Election faith then must look upon God the Father and when about Redemption then faith must look upon God the Son and when upon Sanctification then faith must eye the Holy Ghost because these are the works that the Persons have undertaken under the second Covenant to accomplish in mans salvation and they are by promise made over to these ends 2 One main intendment of God in the Gospel is not only to advance the Attributes of the Divine nature to glorifie his Justice and his Mercy and Grace by making higher discoveries of them than ever could have been shewed forth under the old Covenant but it is also to
any one of them he may by consequence and by way of deduction conclude the Love of them all yet a man should expect to have it not only discursive but intuitive radio directo by a direct beam that a man may in Prayer from a principle of sealing cry to God Abba Father and may say I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and so the Soul may walk in the Love of them all distinctly though not severally and the Soul is never able to triumph and make his boast of God till he has assurance of his interest in all the persons and in all these respects we see that the great grounds of a Christians comfort lye in his interest in the persons and therefore it 's no wonder if the great promises of the Covenant to a Christian be personal promises CHAP. II. The Covenant of Grace makes God to be our God SECT I. The Covenant of Grace makes God ours and the Benefits hereof § 1. LEt us come more particularly unto the words of the Promise in which the main of the Covenant lyes on Gods part for we have heard it 's unfolded in promises or to use the Apostles word established in Promises Hebr. 8.6 and these promises Musculus calls Caput foederis the Head of the Covenant the chief and the bottom promise on which the Covenant stands is this I will be thy God and Pareus calls it anima foederis the soul of the Covenant for it 's the principal promise of the Second Covenant as in our part of the Covenant there is one great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart so there is in Gods part of the Covenant one great promise and that is that he will be our God and we shall be his people and therefore a great weight is to be laid upon it 1. For the opening of it we are to consider there are Two things to be distinctly considered in God 1. Essentia his Essence 2. Subsistentia his Subsistence 1. The Essence of God is but one pure and simple act of Being but yet cannot be comprehended as such by a finite understanding because it 's infinite therefore it is set forth unto us by several Attributes which though in God they be all one yet they are diversify'd according to the different objects upon which they are set and about which they are conversant and the different acts that they do put forth unto the Creatures and so when the Lord doth promise to be our God he doth make over unto the Creature by promise an interest in all the Attributes of the Essence and Divine Nature 2. In this Divine Nature there are three distinct subsistences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word used by the Apostle Hebr. 1.3 and why we should be offended as some of late at the word Person by which it is expressed I know not but from the novelty and curiosity of this last Age There is in the God-head Father Son and Spirit and these Three are One. Joh. 5.7 Now when the Lord doth promise to be a God to his People he doth make over his whole self God in Essence according to all the Attributes of his Nature and God in Subsistence according unto all the persons or subsistences in the God-head and it is very necessary that as in point of obedience we take in the whole latitude and extent of the Law for the Commandment is exceeding broad so in point of Faith also that we take in the whole latitude and extent of the promises that as in the one our hearts and desires in obeying may answer God's in commanding so in the other our hearts and desires in believing may answer God's in promising 2. To be a God implies a sufficiency 1 It is a term of Sufficiency and so it is here Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient he that is self-sufficient in himself is all-sufficient to his people What is there that can be necessary unto your happiness but it shall be had in me and therefore Psal 144. ult Blessed is the people whose God is Jehovah because in God there is an all-sufficiency that not only you shall have all happiness from him but you shall have all things in him so that as he is sufficient for himself of and from himself without going forth unto any other so shall you have all things in him immediately that you need look unto nothing else to make you happy for all the perfections of a God shall be yours 2 To be a God is a term of Soveraignty for he is the most high King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dan. 4.17 the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men and he is God over all Rom. 9.5 blessed for evermore Therefore to be a mans God is to undertake the rule and government over him and to rule and govern all things for his good that they may be all unto him a blessing Eph. 1. v. ult that as Christ is made the head of all things for the Churches sake so will the Lord rule over all things for his peoples sake rule all as a God as truly for their good as for his own glory 3. It points also to the manner of the fulfilling of this promise it shall be as becomes a God and in the way of a God and so much also A Lapide hints upon the place Ero tuus tuorúmque Deus ut à vobis solus colar I will be the God of thee and thine that I may be worshipped by thee Now there are two ways by which a people employ their interest in God 1 by way of Communion they come unto God and they draw near to him which are terms of Communion 2 by way of Fruition their happiness is in him and he will be their portion and reward in the land of the living When the Lord casts off a people from being a Church to himself he will own them in ways of worship no more he doth express it so Hos 1.9 calls them Loammi they are not my people I will not be their God he does not say You shall not have the creatures to be yours as the fruits of my bounty you shall not have respite of torment as the fruits of my patience but yet when you have all things here below you shall not have me in them all in ways of communion here or of fruition hereafter Doctrine 2 The main intendment of God in the new Covenant is this That he may become the God of his people Every man that is brought into the new Covenant doth change his God Jer. 2.10 it 's said Pass over to the Isles of Chittim and send unto Kedar and see if there be such a thing has any nation changed their God It 's looked upon as a strange thing in the world and yet this is the condition of all those that come under the second Covenant and therefore as the great Commandment to a people
fasten upon yet there is an attribute left which will be tabula post naufragium now expect the goodness of God to appear for thy succour in his putting forth of an attribute for none of them shall fail in their season there are no graces in the Saints but there is a season for their working Phil. 4.10 Your care for me says the Apostle Phil. 4.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth reviviscere it doth flourish or wax green again so that graces have their opportunity of working there is a spring-time Now we do not say that a tree is dead that bears not fruit always but that which doth not bring forth in the Summer which is the season of fruit and therefore I cannot but look upon it as an act of Soveraignty that of Christ's cursing the fig-tree Mark 11.13 for the Text says The time of figs was not yet come Mark 11.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some say that the fig-tree in this country did bear fruit all the year but that this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not bear for it is plain there was a season of the fruit of this Tree as well as of other trees Some say that the time of the ripening and the gathering of fruit was not yet but there might be expected green figs but there was no fruit nor hope of fruit for the Tree had leaves only Innuit Christum hoc facto altius quid significâsse ficum scil symbolum esse populi Judaici Kem. Christ hereby signified the Jewish Church from whom the Lord expected always fruit because the season of it was always and this was an act of absolute Soveraignty over the creature and he that created it might curse it at his pleasure but the Lord does never expect fruit but in the season of fruit at the season he sent to the Husband-men that they should give him of the fruit of his Vineyard Luk. 20.10 for that grace is not idle that doth not act at all times but Quae non operatur quando dabitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which doth not act when a season shall be offered So also there is a season an opportunity for the exercise of every attribute and as the Lord expects the one of us in its season so should we and we may with boldness and comfort expect the other from him in the season The Hebrews say In the mount will the Lord be seen If thou hast sinned at any time then expect that pardoning mercy shall be put forth say The Lord is the God of my mercy now pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy And if thou be at any time assaulted with temptation expect that the Power of God shall be put forth for thee and that the Lord shall say My grace is sufficient for thee If thou be at any time perplexed with difficulties and thou knowest not what to do now look up unto infinite Wisdom The Lord knows how to deliver the just out of adversity though I know not which way to scape yet say deliverance shall come from some other hand as Mordecai said though I cannot see from whence it shall come and I cannot in my wisdom see a way of deliverance yet it shall come now is the season for such an attribute to shew forth it self and therefore now I can look for the acting of it with comfort as having an interest in it God is a help found in the time of need he is a help promised before Psal 46.1 but he is never found so to be before the season when the soul is in trouble then he puts forth himself and makes bare his arm and therefore as the Apostle says He is as having nothing 2 Cor. 6.10 and yet possessing all things So the Saints they have them not in possession but they have them in their right of inheritance and for their use as their occasions and necessity do require that if it were possible for them to stand in need of the service of the whole Creation all the creatures should work for them and wait upon them in their necessity and look what experiences the ancient Saints have had thereof they in the like cases and necessity may expect if it stand with Gods glory and their best good the Moon shall stand still and the Sun shall go back and the Lyons shall stop their mouths the fire shall cease to burn and be a defence the Ravens bring meat the Heavens shall rain bread the Rocks shall give water c. and whatsoever attributes the Lord has at any time exerted and put forth for the Saints in the season of their need that you may expect grounded upon the same Faithfulness the same Covenant and Oath that was performed unto them and it 's the highest priviledge and happiness of the Saints to have the Attributes of God lye as a rescue for them Zac. 1.8 as the Angels did behind the Myrtle-trees in the bottom when there can be an expectation from nothing else in the world as David speaks of his enemies Psal 6.2 5. They did imagine mischief and consulted how to cast him down from his excellency whom God had exalted but says he My soul wait thou on God only my expectation is from him alone He can now look up to God and expect salvation from him when he can see no hope any other way As we are not the fountain of our own grace but it is laid up in Christ 1 Joh. 5.11 and we can expect that all the grace that is in Christ shall be put forth answerably unto our necessity in the season of it and therefore our grace shall abound as our trials and occasions do increase for suitable unto them shall our supplies of the Spirit be Phil. 1.19 says the Apostle For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ So the fountain of all our happiness is not in our selves but in our God and all the attributes that are in him shall be managed and put forth for us as our necessity shall require according to the Love Wisdom and Faithfulness of a God so that if thou couldst stand in need of infinite wisdom and infinite power and grace and mercy all of them should be put forth and exercised for thee not only a conspiracy and combination of all the creatures but also of all the Attributes of God all of them shall work together for thy good 5. Is not this a mighty ground of assurance that all the creatures shall be given you and that the Lord here will deny you nothing that may be for your good He that gives the greater will he deny the lesser He that makes over all that is in himself will he deny any thing that is in any of his works Surely it was a good saying of Bernard for the things of this life Qui dabit regnum non dabit viaticum c.
seek a sufficiency in themselves and too much omit fastning upon the Lord Jesus who is our Saviour to the uttermost c. Now we come to shew the evil of a self-sufficiency in both these more particularly 1. In respect of gifts for a man to look upon himself and grow in love with his own shadow and to depend upon them and glory in them consider the evil of it in these particulars 1 They are another mans goods they are not thine own men are ready to think so of riches and honours that which is without a man but as for the abilities of his own mind they think those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper goods if any thing be but yet as it is said of riches it 's true also of gifts and all those inward qualifications Luke 16. they are another mans and they are so in a double respect 1 Because they are given thee from another What hast thou that thou hast not received he that doth boast of 1 Cor. 4.7 or trust in any thing that he has received he doth thereby say that it is his own and that he has not received it for if thou hast received it then thy dependence is upon another and not upon thy self mendax de proprio loquitur cùm autem in bonis laudabilis vita ducitur Prosper ad Demest p. 866. Dei est quod geritur Dei est quod amatur 2 They are another mans as riches are for they are given thee mainly for the good of another grace is given a man for himself and is properly his own 1 Cor. 12.7 but gifts are given for the Church and for the edifying of others the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal and therefore thou art but as a steward of every gift and thou must dispense them and lay them out for the good of the family to give them their meat in due season and if not this will be the benefit that thou wilt have by thy gifts that thy account will be the greater and there will come a time that the same Spirit that is now thy Teacher will surely be thy Accuser Luke 16.1 for wasting thy masters goods Accepta bona dissipamus quando iis nec ad ipsius honorem nec proximi aedificationem nec ad propriam salutem utimur Stella There is a double difference between gifts and graces 1 Grace is for a maâ—â— own salvation but gifts are for the Churches edification and therefore they are but prâ— hoc statu for this state and there is an end the gifts that the Angels have are but for the edification of the Church Dan. 9.23 Rev. 19.10 1.4 He sent and signified it by the Angel unto his servant John and when the Elect of God shall be gathered and the Church of Christ perfected and the Kingdom given up to the Father then as the protection of Angels shall cease for there shall be no more use of it so these qualifications this influence of the Spirit of Christ upon the Angelical nature by way of gifts shall cease also 2 Some put this difference that the Spirit to some gives gifts as a Spirit assisting only but not dwelling there where he assists by gifts but where grace is there is a residence of the Spirit and that not only according unto the gifts and effects as in the other but according to the essence for we are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost Now to dedicate a Temple to another is to give Divine honour which is not to be done unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit for they are but creatures and therefore the Spirit doth not dwell in them barely by his gifts but according to his essence Habitat verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantùm per dona sed quoad substantiam neque sic dat dona ut ipse alibi sit sed donis adest creaturam suam conservando gubernando addendo The Spirit dwells in Believers not only by gifts but according to his essence neither doth he so give gifts as to be absent himself but he is present c. Luther 2 He doth give them unto wicked men and therefore there is no sufficiency to be placed in that in which God puts no difference Psal 68.18 Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also not only those that were rebellious and are now converted but those that live still in rebellion Christ received many gifts to dispense unto these Christ is in the Scripture set forth as a Head and as a Root he gives graces as Head unto the Church which is his body Joh. 15.1 2. the fulness of him that filleth all in all but as he is a Root he spreads himself into a visible Church upon Earth so he gives much sap and greenness unto those that bear leaves only and therefore it was a good saying of Luther in one of his Epistles Potentior est veritas quà m eloquentia potior spiritus quà m ingenium major fides quà m eruditio A little grace is to be preferred before abundance of gifts and a little of the Spirit of Sanctification above the fulness of the qualifications of the Spirit for the Lord doth cause this Sun to shine upon the evil and unthankful and doth continue it unto them for a while as a Spirit of Qualification to whom nevertheless he will be for ever as a Spirit of Condemnation hereafter 3 When a man depends upon these and places his sufficiency in them he serves Satan in the highest way that can be that is with the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God Mat. 12.44 45. we read Mat. 12.44 45. there is a house swept and garnished it 's the house that Satan will chuse to himself to inhabit above all other places in the world and therefore he places a strong garrison there of seven Spirits for there is no soul whom he takes so much delight in and in which he doth love so much to dwell as he doth in such a man and therefore it was a great speech of Austin of Licentius a man of a great wit but of an unsound mind Abs te ornari diabolus quaerit Accepisti à Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum in illo Satanae propinas teipsum The Devil seeks to be adorned by thee c. It was the abuse upon the vessels of the Temple that in Beltshazers time they must be brought forth and used in the worship of their gods which was but the Devil instead of a God the gifts that a man has are the utensils of the Temple of the Holy Ghost and therefore above all others Satan loves to be served with those and if the Devil do but puff a man up with either of these Luther Potentia justitia sapientia that 's the house he delights to dwell in now for a man to serve Satan with his wealth or his honour is a
Gospel are committed unto them and the Lord doth lay them up in them as in a common Treasury 2 Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels c. It is not committed to them for their own sakes or for their own use but it is for the good of the family and so Christ speaks unto his Disciples Mat. 13.52 they should be as a Scribe instructed unto the kingdom of God it was the office of the Scribes to teach the people the mysteries of the Word of God and to give the sense as Ezra the Scribe did and therefore Christ makes use of the word and applies it unto the Ministers of the Gospel and he must be endued with all sorts of knowledge he must have variety he must have old things which he has treasured up long for he is to be a Treasury of it the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge and also he must not be content with old things but he must seek after new discoveries new degrees of light he must grow in knowledge daily and therefore he must have new affections also and this he must not hide and reserve there but he must bring it forth it is what a godly man that is called by God to teach others should be affected with and afflicted for if he come short in any grace or gifts that some of his flock are eminent for Non quod ferre potes sed quod profers Cajet Esa 50.4 and all those that the Lord does call to this work he doth in some measure qualifie for God doth not send a Messenger and cut off his feet now all this is for the Churches for the Saints sake and for their good 1 Cor. 3.21 22. Let no man glory in man for all things are yours all for your sakes the highest offices and the greatest gifts and the greatest variety Paul Apollo and Cephas all is for your sake for your edification and salvation We preach not our selves but Jesus the Lord and our selves your servants for Jesus sake we are not Lords of your faith but helpers of your joy c. Eph 4.11 12. he gave gifts unto men to qualifie them for their offices and all is for the perfecting of the Saints 3. He puts into them suitable affections and inward dispositions of heart towards them Paul says I was amongst you as a Nurse with much pains and unweariedness 1 Thess 2.7 and with much patience and forbearance bearing with your frowardness and the crookedness of your spirits and dispositions Phil. 1.8 I long for you all in the bowels of Christ Phil. 1.8 bowels you know do signifie the tenderest affections 1 such as are not natural but wrought in me by Christ for I had them not of my self and so it notes causam efficientem 2 With great affections such as Christ their Saviour did bear to them having their names written in his heart even to lay down his life for them with such bowels do I long for you being willing to be sacrificed unto the service of your faith and so it notes causam exemplarem 2 Cor. 8.16 he put the same care into the heart of Titus Phil. 2.20 it is said of Timothy Phil. 2.20 he doth naturally care for your things ad animi sinceritatem refert Theodor. it is not from any outward respect or fleshly end but from a natural principle wrought in him by the Lord that he doth it naturally from an inward principle in nature as the natural affection of the father and mother is put into them for the good of the child so there is a natural principle put into them for the good of the Saints c. 4. He doth set them in their places stars they are and he doth appoint them their orbs where they shall shine for the seven Stars are the Angels of the Churches and are in the right hand of Christ are at his dispose who sends them to a people where they shall be fishers men do not know where the sholes of fish go for we fish under water but the Lord saith Go and speak to them for I have much people in this city and when he has gathered in the number of his Elect in any place then he takes away the Ministry from thence and when there are any to be gathered in then he doth bring them again This is the reason why he doth cause it to rain upon one city and not upon another also As he sets them in their stations so quoad protectionem he it is that doth preserve them from the rage of men which truly we know not how soon we may be exposed to for I fear the time draws near yet the witnesses shall not be killed till they have finished their testimony and it is not all the power of the enemy shall be able to remove them 5. He doth over-rule and order them in their Ministry for the good of his people sometimes the Spirit of the Lord comes upon them and they speak beyond their intentions or meditations Heb. 1.1 he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he orders their hearts and he doth over-rule their tongues he doth make discoveries unto them for the good of his people as sometimes he doth pour a darkness upon them for the sins of his people and sometimes God in judgment hides his truths from a Teacher because the people are not fitted to receive them It 's true not only of the Magistrates that the Lord gives them up to commit follies as he did David because he was provoked against Israel therefore he tempted David to number the people but also it is true of the Ministers Mic. 3.6 Pro divinatione erit caligo ye shall have darkness and the Lord will give no Visions unto the Prophets and though they seek it Esa 29.10 yet they shall have no answer from God he will pour out upon the Prophets and the seers the spirit of a deep sleep Now as the Lord doth sometimes hide his word from his Prophets and his Messengers of purpose in judgment unto the people that they that say to their Ministers Prophesie not the Lord says They shall not prophesie so he doth also give light unto them and answerable unto the good that he doth mean to do unto a people such is his presence and assistance with the Prophets that he doth imploy and all the discoveries of God in the Word shall be to them to whom he intends evil as the words of a sealed book that they shall say I cannot read it because it is sealed as the Lord opens the book in mercy to his people and to his Prophets so he doth seal it in judgment to other men that seeing they shall see and not perceive and hearing they shall hear and not understand Acts 18.5 Paul was pressed in spirit and testified unto the Jews pro violento impulsu ad solitum instinctum plus accessit fervoris Calv. There is sometimes a greater impulse upon the Ministers of
a while see what he can do with him 2 Sometimes in just judgment God doth it when his people sin against him and depart from him the Lord doth leave them in the hand of the Devil as a prisoner that he may correct them and so recover them as a father leaves his child in the hand of a servant to correct so as he stands by and sets the measure to it he shall but correct him in measure Rev. 2.10 He will cast them into prison for ten days as he did Paul he was buffetted by Satan to prevent sin he did leave him to correct his sin 3 In an ordinance of Excommunication 1 Cor. 5.5 being delivered to Satan he doth exercise tyranny over him to stir up the guilt of sin within him and to torment his conscience and God departs from him in point of comfort for 2 Cor. 2.7 it was that he might not be swallowed up with over-much sorrow therefore it is sorrow that is the fruit of this Ordinance c. 2. Yet all this doth the Soveraignty of God order and over-rule for the good of the Saints There are two things that the power of Satan is wholly exercised in temptation and affliction 1 He is a Tempter in us and that both as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clem. Alexandr speaks 1 He doth effectually stir up sin within us and he works effectually in the children of disobedience and 2 In any sin that is stirred up in us he is a worker together with us to bring it forth unto perfection for it 's not only to beget sin in us but to perfect it that he doth aim at 2 He is an Accuser of us unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser of the brethren Rev. 12.10 as Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satan doth plead against them before God and before men and in their own consciences also stirring up of guilt in them also and he hath his accesses unto Heaven and he doth put up his desires unto God against us and doth lay our sins unto our charge before the Throne of Justice and demands justice against us Zac. 3.1 2. for Zac. 3.1 2. Satan stands at his right hand which was to accuse for the Accuser stood at the right hand and it was to resist him the right hand being chiefly the instrument of action therefore it was to hinder him in the great service that he was now about to do and to object against him before the Lord his filthy garment with which he was cloathed at his appearance before the Lord. Now both these the temptations and the accusations of Satan the Soveraignty of God doth rule and over-rule for the spiritual good of the Saints which I shall make appear in these particulars and therefore Bernard calls him Malleus terrae and he saith Terit electos in utilitatem reprobos conterit in damnationem pag. 300. 1. There is a restraint upon him that he shall tempt them no more than is for their good He will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 It is true that Satan is subtle in his temptations and he doth take a measure of the spirits of men that so he may proportion his temptations unto them some spirits are too low for some temptations as their understandings are for some opinions Now Satan therefore doth not suggest such depths unto them but deals with them in a lower way but there are some temptations that would not take with some because their spirits and their understandings are above them and he deals with them in a higher and in a more ingenious way Now as Satan doth take a measure of the spirits of men in every temptation so doth God also take a measure of their grace that it shall be so much and no more for there are some temptations that the grace that is in some men could not bear and therefore the Lord doth proportion it in wisdom and in mercy it is true unto wicked men it is otherwise there is a power that is beyond the strength of the common works that are upon them an opportunity of temptation that turns them off as leaves that are shaken with the wind but it is not so with the Saints Ad mensuram permittitur tentare Diabolus sed qui dat Tentatori potestatem ipse tantato praebet misericordiam August tom 8. p. 435. 2. Satan shall tempt no further than it shall be for the subduing of corruption men are delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh but it is an over-ruling hand of the Soveraignty of God who doth temper such poyson into a wholesom medicine and what the enemy did intend should kill that shall be a means to cure And therefore Luther doth deride the Papists in this who having spoken in his Covent unto one of the Society of a Purgatory and they objected it against him that he did grant in his writings a Purgatory also he answers them That he doth grant a Purgatory but it is this of temptation only by which the Lord is pleased to purge the souls of his people and that makes them to come out the more refined hoc Purgatorium fictum non est c. Great hath been the gain that the people of God have had by their temptations this way yea even by those temptations in which they have been foiled Nescit Diabolus quomodo illo insidiante furente utatur ad salutem fidelium excellentissima Dei sapientia c. Aug. tom 3. p. 218. 3. It doth mightily improve their graces we see it in Job we know what the end was that God made with him as all afflictions improve graces and make the land fruitful as the rain doth though it make the way foul so there is not a greater affliction than temptation for a man to be left to be as the sink into which the Devil shall empty all the filthiness that is in that unclean spirit therefore this also shall turn into the increase of grace wherefore Luther's saying That there are three things make a Divine Meditation Oration and Tentation is most true for grace opposed is much improved a soul had never seen such high acts of grace had it not met with such high opposition It 's true in it self it doth not increase grace for it is opposite unto it but by an Antiperistasis it doth debemus esse Dialectici non pugnamus ut homines sed ut Christiani Luth. and therefore the Spirit of Christ will improve his own work in us by our temptations also 4. We have by this experience of the power of Christ in us Experimental knowledge is a knowledge upon tryal and such a knowledge a man can never have till he be brought unto a tryal there is many a man that doth presumptuously think that he can do much and resist much but when he comes to the tryal he is weak as
do the Saints that are of the same body with themselves for they do none of them live barely as private men though they are not all publick persons in respect of office and function yet they are in respect of their relation and they have all of them reference unto the body and they do pray as members of the body and have in all things respect unto the good of the body for as the Spirit that doth interpret the Scripture is not a private Spirit so the Spirit that doth act the Saints is not a private Spirit therefore as in the good of every member the body is interessed so also in the prayers of every one the body is interessed therefore as we are to look upon all the prayers of Christ not as the prayers of a private man but as put up by him who is the Churches Head so we are also to look upon the prayers of all the Saints not as of private men but also as under the relation of membership under which they stand in the body of Christ and as we are to look upon their sufferings as being of the body so are we also to look upon their services as being done by the members of the same body and all of them for the good and benefit of the body Moses obtained great benefits to the people of Israel by his prayers their blessings depended much upon his prayers Pardon them as thou hast done it from Egypt till now and the Lord answers I have pardoned them according to thy word and again Moses prays Go before them or carry us not from hence the Lord answers My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest The blessings that godly men attain are not barely the fruit of their own prayers and yet they that are godly do pray also but they are a concurrence of prayers and by them we do attain mercy yea sometimes when we are little able to pray for our selves when the spirit of prayer is low in its actings in us yet then the souls of some of the Saints are upon the wing and the Lord will have respect unto them for they are of the body As we rejoice not in the gifts of others because we look upon them as given unto other men and do not look upon them as a part of the body and so see our interest in them that they are given them for our good and therefore they are to us rather matter of envy than of rejoicing so we take no comfort in the prayers of the Saints upon this ground because we look not upon them as praying upon the same common interest with us and as praying for us as fellow-members who have with them an equal interest in the good of the body and its prosperity And as they obtain mercy so they keep off judgment if Noah Daniel and Job stood before me he speaks it as the most effectual way of prevailing with him and as that which he would least of all deny and yet the Decree being gone forth his heart could not be towards them The Saints have in their ages attained great mercy for the body and therefore Elijah is called the chariot of Israel and the horse-men thereof their main defence lay in him under Heaven they had not so great a one and therefore godly men in all ages have looked upon it as a great misery for the godly of the age to be removed as having their party and their interest upon earth weakned as if an eminent man of any party be taken away it 's looked upon as a great weakning to them and he is thereupon greâ—â—y bewailed by them Wherefore it is reproved as their sin Esa 57.1 That the righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart c. and Mic. 7.1 it is expressed by the Prophet as a duty and so it was with Austins mother he saies of her Orationibus vivebat and it was in answer to her prayers that he was new-born unto God Parturivit me carne ut in hanc temporalem corde ut in aeternam lucem renascerer Tom. 9. cap. 8. She travailed with me as in her flesh to bring me forth to a temporal life so in her heart to an eternal life he was an eminent instrument in the Church in the age in which he lived and mightily confuted the false Teachers of the time and did gloriously defend the truth and appeared for it and all this he did attain by the benefit of his mothers prayers And they do bring upon the Churches enemies very great and terrible judgments by their prayers there is a fire that comes out of their mouths and consumes their enemies and that not as they are theirs but as they are the Churches enemies And not only the prayers of the present age shall have power against Antichrist but the prayers of the former ages as to instance in the prayers of David taking place against Judas Act. 1. so there have been prayers for many years that have been going for the Reformation of England from Popery which have been answered eminently in our daies and will be more and more answered in succeeding generations the people of God pray continually for more degrees of grace and light Now it 's true that when men strike an Oak with many blows yet it doth not fall till the last blow and yet we say that it is not the last blow that fells the Oak but all that went before so 't is here as it was in the death of Christ his last act was the full payment but yet all his former obedience and sufferings did concur thereunto to all that full satisfaction that was given by him to the Father and it 's dreadful when the prayers of all the people of God do fall upon a man surely vengeance will overtake him as an armed man Look as all the prayers of the Saints do at the last day meet together in the Devils destruction so it shall be in the destruction of any great and eminent instrument of his as in attaining special deliverances the Lord stands upon number so it is in bringing in eminent judgments also and therefore Hezekiah sends for Isaiah and tells him That the children were come to the birth the promises did travail with deliverance but there was no strength to bring forth unless he would add his prayers also and so it is with the people of God it is much more to lose one praying man than a plotting or a fighting man and that is the meaning that great Babylon came into remembrance before God how was it it was from the Lords remembrancers for the Vials did come out of the Temple Rev. 16.1 all their prayers met together Rev. 16.1 and there is a full cry that the Lord is put in remembrance which by his long delay and forbearance he had seemed to neglect and forget 8. By their Faith the people of God attain much mercy to others as well as by their
hand c. 4 The Lord doth time the plot that it shall be at such a time when it is to accomplish his purpose and that it shall be for the good of the Saints My hour is not yet come says Christ Rev. 9.14 Loose the four Angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates which were prepared for an hour for a day and a month and a year to slay the third part of men they had designed it but it rested a great while and now it is revived again and so they plotted against Daniel when God did intend to exalt him and so that of Gog Thou shalt think an evil thing c. 5 The Saints are the more driven unto God by prayer Lord turn the wisdom of Achitophel into folly and they have the more need of the counsel of Jesus to be wise as serpents and they have the more experience of their interest in the wisdom of God which is made over unto them who in the things wherein the wicked deal subtilly will out-wit them There are two ways by which the enemy hath always set himself against the people of God 1 In a way of policy For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light 2 In a way of power they will be first as a Fox and then as a Lyon as the Pope said If Peters Keys will not do it give me Pauls Sword the same spirit there is in all wicked men their aim is to destroy the Saints but they are not willing to appear in it if it may be hid Neh. 4.11 the adversaries said They shall not know nor see till we come upon them in the middle of them and slay them and cause the work to cease They would fain accomplish their ends and effect their cruelty by a plot that they should never know who hurt them that 's their design As the Devil he will never appear as he is if putting upon himself the form of an Angel of light will do it so it is with the enemies unto the Church Jeroboam robs the people of their Religion but it was under a great shew of ease to them and for their worship at Jerusalem it was but a form they should have as good worship elsewhere and as holy as there and it was much more for their ease than to be in this manner scattered from their dwellings and Julian raised against the Church the bitterest Persecution but it was under the shew of a toleration let every man injoy the liberty of his own conscience he would have no man forced in his Religion and he doth encourage the Jews to build their Temple again and he doth himself favour the Gentiles in their worship and yet he can bear with the Christians also so the Donatists in Austins time 1 They did deny any to be a true Church but themselves 2 There should be no compelling of men to live holy coacta invita pietas 3 That the Magistrate is not to punish or restrain Hereticks and false Teachers in matters of Religion every man should be lest to his liberty 4 They did rebaptize men into their Church But this plot being laid facti insolentes vim orthodoxis inferebant insomuch that the Emperour Honorius was forced to send Dulcitius the Tribune with an Army into Africa to restrain their rage against the Orthodox Christians whom they would suffer to live in peace no longer than till they had got power in their hands Danaeus de haeresibus cap. 69. and then they would not yield unto them that liberty which before they pleaded for themselves And here I would observe from the Scripture 1 How wisdom and carnal policy is looked upon by God and what respect he hath unto it 2 Yet how all this wisdom in the exercise and the putting forth of it in plots and devices is by the providence of God turned unto the good of his people 1. What respect God hath to the wisdom of the flesh though never so deep never so profound 1. He saith That the wisdom of the flesh is vanity and folly the Lord knows the wisdom of the flesh to be but vain for it is foolishness with him 1 Cor. 3.19 20. take it in those two things that Solomon mentions Eccles 1.15 Eccles 1.15 1 In the defect of wisdom That which is wanting cannot be numbred there are many thousand conclusions in nature that the most exquisite understanding is not able to pierce into and there are many thousand turnings in providence that do amaze and non-plus the wisdom of the wisest men in the world and therefore in this respect God doth even charge his Angels with folly how much more men that is there is in them a negative ignorance which is folly if compared with the infinite wisdom of the great God 2 They cannot make a crooked thing straight that is they do meet with men of cross and perverse spirits which they cannot change and men of crooked dispositions and they do meet in the way of their wisdom also with many cross providences that all things do not succeed according to their plots and as they would have them and then they are put upon new plots and devices to rectifie the other and yet when they have done all their wisdom could not prevent it neither can their wisdom reform it that which is crooked will be crooked still and the men that oppose them will oppose them still and the stumbling-blocks that are in the wise mans way will be there still and all his wisdom cannot remove them 2. God looks upon the wise men of the world and their wisdom as enemies unto himself and the Lord hates as much to be opposed in a way of policy as in a way of power Rom. 8.6 their wisdom is enmity against the Law of God it is not subject neither can it be Aquinas observes That faith is more strange to a wise man and a learned man than it is uâ—to another that is more ignorant because he is able to raise more objections and doubts against it and the grounds of it than another man is and therefore if any man in the world stumble at the Word of God or the ways of God it is a wise man according to the flesh and he has much to say and strong reasons to object against it There are two things that must be exalted in the heart of the Saints in the Word of God 1 The holiness of the Word 2 The wisdom of the Word a man must look upon it as that which will be his wisdom also Now a man that is profane he is an enemy unto the word and is not subject to it because of the Holiness of it he must take more liberty than the Word will give him it is too strait and narrow a way for him and a wise man is offended at the Simplicity of the Word it doth not agree with his Wisdom he is ready to think he could