Gen. 4.14 Every one that meets me will kill me Now when men are acted by this spirit from day to day they are full of guilt and fear and all this does not awaken them to seek out for a remedy and to cry out unto Christ from day to day for a spirit of adoption the spirit of a child in Gods account they are well pleased with it and they desire it As a man that walks in the ways of sin and is acted by the spirit of the world and groans not under it but is willingly led captive by Satan at his will he desires to be acted by that spirit so a man that walks under bondage from day to day and sees not his misery desires to be led by the spirit of bondage which is the spirit of the first Covenant 2. This spirit has suitable fruits As the spirit of Adoption is a spirit of love and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost so it 's with men also that are acted by a spirit of bondage that spirit has its fruits also and they are commonly such as these three 1 They that are under this Covenant do place their Religion in outward performances There was a righteousness that the Pharisees had under which they rested and that was making clean the outside of the cup and platter as a whited wall as a painted sepulchre and their Consciences are satisfied with it as it was in Paul before the commandment came and sin revived he was as concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless 2 They do all their services without a Mediator they do not bring their sacrifice to the Priest the Lord Christ and they do not bring their Incense to be mixed with his odours but they come in their own names and offer services unto God immediately without a Priest and though they may talk of Christ yet they come not to him for acceptance and to have the iniquity of their holy things taken away but if the duty be done they expect it shall be accepted 3 They do all with a legal spirit performing it as a task and are glad it is over It is by the second Covenant that the yoke of Christ is easie it is otherwise such a yoke that man cannot bear Rom. 7.6 Men serve not in the newness of the spirit but in the oldness of the letter To serve in the newness of the spirit is to serve spiritu novo spontaneo with a new free spirit and therefore in the oldness of the letter that is in a slavish and a servile manner when a man only looks at the duty commanded without as a task as an act of obedience but not as an act of faith Heb. 8. It is the second Covenant that writes the Law in the heart and makes the duties sweet and pleasant unto a man by putting into a man an inward principle of love answerable unto the things that are required putting into a man an inward disposition answerable to the Law that a man delights in the Law according to the inward man and men living in the strength of a legal spirit contenting and pleasing themselves therein this is a plain argument that they are acted by the spirit of the first Covenant and bring forth the fruits thereof and their contentedness under it shews that they desire and love so to be SECT II. The Causes why men desire to be under the Law § 1. BUt how can this be that men knowing themselves sinners and under the curse of the Law and that unto justification by the Law a perfect obedience is required which it is no more possible for them to yield than it is to stay the Sun in its course or remove the Earth out of its place and therefore the life promised therein is unto man fallen upon an impossible condition because all the imaginations of his heart are evil and only evil continually and in his life there dwells no good thing and therefore it is said to gender to bondage and all that are under it are bondmen The case standing thus How comes it to pass that there should be in the heart of man a continual desire to be under this Covenant still The grounds of it are taken from a threefold principle that is in the heart of man A principle 1 of Ignorance 2 Of Enmity 3 Of Pride 1. From a principle of Ignorance and that 1 of the Law and the nature of the first Covenant and mens condition under it 2 Of the Righteousness of Christ and the Glory of the second Covenant 1. Ignorance of the Law and mens state under that Covenant 1 Men are naturally ignorant of Gods intent in giving the Law and therefore look upon it as a Covenant by which they should attain righteousness and life Mat. 19.20 Christ answers the young man according to his own principles Good Master saith he what shall I do to inherit eternal life Christ replys Keep the Commandments For he looked upon it as a way of obedience in which he should attain Salvation And so all men would work for life and that is given as the reason why the Galatians were so greatly bewitched by false teachers and drawn away from the truth of the Gospel to join something of the Law with Christ in the matter of Justification because they did not know wherefore the Law was given Gal. 3.19 20. They seeing a Covenant made with Abraham and a promise of free grace and of righteousness and life without works an inheritance by promise and 430 years after a Law given requiring works and promising life upon perfect obedience thereof they did not know how to conceive but that either God did repent of and revoke his former Covenant or else they must be both joined together in the matter of Justification and life now to answer this the Apostle acquaints them with the end why God did give the Law it was not to set it up as a Covenant alone that any man should attain righteousness and life thereby for unto man a sinner it is impossible and inexorable it can neither be obeyed nor endured but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was not given as a Covenant by which men should attain life as it was to Adam in the state of innocency as if God did intend any man should be saved thereby neither was it published to make void the Covenant of Grace but it was added not by way of opposition but subordination that it might be as Hagar to Sarah a handmaid to further the ends of the Gospel and to advance the grace of it that it might be as the avenger of blood to the City of refuge and make men look for the Law in the Ark Christ Who is the end of the law for justification and that it might be the perfect rule of the obedience of the Gospel This men being ignorant of they look upon the Law as a Covenant of works and all that they do in obedience thereunto is to gain
their much speaking and stand upon their justification I fast twice in the week and pay tythe of all that I possess says the Pharisee The Apostle Rom. 9.31 says They followed after the righteousness of the Law by their own performance of the works of the Law And to this end because they could not rise up to the spirituality of the Law they did therefore bring down the Law by their interpretation unto their own obedience and all was to make their own righteousness available for justification Therefore Paul saith Concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless Phil. 3. The young man says All these have I kept from my youth Therefore the Papists teach That men may perfectly fulfill the Law Bellar. de Justific l. 2. c. 2 3. and do also some works of Supererogation over and above the Law that the formal cause of Justification is inherent righteousness though Christs righteousness is the meritorious cause Christ having merited that our righteousness may justifie c. And though not works by nature yet by Grace even Faith it self as a work is that which God accepts being performed by us instead of all the righteousness required in the Moral Law These and many more are the ways by which men seek to establish their own righteousness in matter of Justification 2 As for Salvation also All men would be working and doing something for Heaven Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life What shall we do to work the works of God Joh. 6. They were all upon a way of doing they did expect a reward for all They had a high esteem of their own services and therefore they did boast themselves and glory in them it 's the law of saith only excludes boasting Rom. 3.27 The Creature being sinful is lifted up by works proud of a little God knows And therefore Jehu says Come see my zeal for the Lord of hosts and there is nothing in the world that the pride of man will appear more in than in righteousness for pride is an overweening apprehension of a mans own excellency and the higher the excellency the greater the pride Rom. 7.9 I was alive says Paul without the Law alive in performances and alive in presumptions he thought he had done much for God and therefore his zeal did rise to a madness in persecuting of the Church It 's a hard matter for a man to be a painful Preacher a zealous professor a faithful Statesman or a man that has laid out himself for the publick any way but his heart will swell with privy pride therein yea even though he do profess to despise and to disesteem the praise of men § 3. But now more particularly so far as any man does not submit unto the righteousness and the grace of the second Covenant so far he manifests his desire to be still under the first Covenant but all men by nature refuse to submit to the righteousness and the offers of the second Covenant and therefore they desire to continue under the first The Scripture speaks of mens actions and dispositions many times interpretatively not as they are in the intention of the sinner but as they are in truth and in the interpretation of God Prov. 8. ult Men are said to love death all those that hate wisdom and despise Christ and live without him love death Now men will all say that they do hate death but yet in Gods interpretation they hating the only way and means to life they do all of them love death So we read in Ezech. 8.5 They did these abominations that I might go far from my sanctuary It was not their intention in so doing actually and formaliter but interpretative it was because they had set up an image of jealousie in the Sanctuary which would provoke God to remove and yet if they had been asked they would all have said they would by no means have the glory of the Lord to remove So men do not actually desire to be under the first Covenant but yet so long as they reject the offers and the grace of the second so long in Gods interpretation they do desire to be under the Law still and their rejection of the better Covenant offered argues they like and love that under which they are and reject the righteousness of God which is the same which is called the righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of faith as the Apostle says Phil. 3.9 Not having my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of God by faith And it 's called the righteousness of God partly because it is found out by God and by God only imputed and therefore is only an act of free grace whereby God will make a sinner righteous before him Rom. 1.17 and partly because Christ offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God which is his own Divine nature and so unto all the actions and the sufferings of his Humanity the Godhead gave an efficacy and an excellency even from his person they being all the actions and sufferings of him that was both God and Man And unto this righteousness men through the pride and unbelief of their spirits and contrariety to the Gospel will not submit They have not subjected themselves unto the righteousness of God 1. All a man's sins do stand out and will not submit to the righteousness of God for whoever imbraces the offer of the second Covenant and the grace thereof must take Christ for Sanctification 1 Cor. 1. as well as for Justification for he is made both and he came with water and blood to answer those ways of legal purification and so he must come into every soul but above all sins a mans darling his right hand and his right eye must be parted with and therefore Christ says Joh. 5.44 How can you believe that seek honour one of another The power of any lust in the soul will keep it from believing and accepting of the grace and mercy that 's offered in the second Covenant And so through the power and dominion of sin men cannot submit to the righteousness of God And how miserably is many a man held in captivity this way we all see they are by the snares of darkness led captive by Satan at his will 2. All the gifts and abilities that are in a man are against it for faith is the highest self-denial 2 Cor. 8.2 and gifts do puff up and therefore not many wise are called The wisdom of this world is enmity against God and all their parts and learning their wisdom whether it be natural or acquired doth make them but the stronger enemies and set them the farther off from Christ Hab. 2.4 now this stands in the most direct opposition to faith for that soul that is lifted up his heart is not upright in him In troublesome times to have a mans heart born up by a fleshly prop
do him no good for they are all of them added unto the Covenant of Grace as signes and seals thereof In the ordinance of Baptism there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.21 an answer 1 Pet. 3.21 which I take to be an allusion to the ancient manner of John Baptist Luk. 3.10 the people asked him and what shall we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby implying a willingness to engage themselves unto those practices of repentance and those duties of reformation unto which John did baptize them whence arose that ancient form in the Church in baptizing persons by propounding unto them Questions concerning Faith Repentance renouncing the World the Flesh and the Devil and their solemn engagement and stipulation thereunto which if it were in truth and from a good conscience the person was truly baptized in the sight of God or else he was only baptized with water and no more So what was circumcision but a sign and a seal of the Covenant which if it did reach unto the heart it was circumcision Gen. 17.13 else their circumcision became uncircumcision for the men were not in Covenant with God therefore Jer. 9.25 I will punish all them that are circumcised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 9.25 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Omnes circumcises in praeputio so it is in the Original and so Montanus and others do render it all that are circumcised in uncircumcision Now it is by the Learned observed that the Nations there named did thus circumcise but being a people out of covenant with God it was no circumcision unto them and though they were circumcised yet they were in uncircumcision still and so the Jews they were circumcised and in an outward Covenant but yet their hearts did not consent and therefore though they were circumcised in flesh yet they were not circumcised in heart So for the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is the New Testament in the Blood of Christ Mat. 26. Zach. 9.12 and this blood is the blood of the Covenant and therefore if thou be a man out of the Covenant thou hast no right to it it can do thee no good but hurt all thy days As Cyprian de Lapsis hath a story of one that when the people of God were receiving the Sacrament came secretly in amongst them to receive it also Ausus est latenter accipere he durst take it secretly and having taken the bread in his hand Cinerem se ferre apertis manibus invenit opening his hand he found it turned into ashes and so Gratia salutaris in cinerem imo in venenum fugiente sanctitate mutatur the salutarie grace is turned into ashes yea poyson c. And therefore if such a man receive the Sacrament he takes the name of God in vain for in Gods account he did never receive it because it is a seal of the Covenant of Grace and he remains still under the covenant of works 4 All the motions of the Spirit of God as the giving of the Spirit doth belong to the second Covenant This is the Covenant says the Lord that I will make with them Isa 5.9 ult my spirit that is upon them c. And it is the Gospel that is the ministration of the Spirit for it is Christ the Prince of the Covenant that doth send the Spirit and what is the end of the Spirits coming it is only to advance the Covenant of Grace He shall take of mine says Christ and shew it unto you that he may bring you into Union with Christ and so into Covenant with God by him and therefore it is the Spirit of the second Covenant and the healing motions and strivings and impressions of the Spirit of God with man are all to this end to bring them within the bounds of the Covenant and though they may receive many gifts and common graces and common works yet the Spirit is grieved resisted and quenched if this great work be not wrought that the spirit may become a spirit of adoption and all those glorious works of the Spirit as a witness as a seal and as an earnest they do all come under the second Covenant and belong to the spirit as the spirit of the Gospel 5 If thou be not translated into the Covenant of Grace thou art left in a remediless condition for thy first Covenant being broken does bring thee under a curse and there is but one remedy against the sting of the Serpent and that 's the brazen Serpent there 's no avoiding the curse of the Covenant but by being translated out of it and this translation thou wilt not accept of therefore thou art in a helpless condition for thy disease is mortal of it self and thou wilt not accept of a remedy and so thou art left to the punishment of the first Covenants curse Joh. 3.33 He that believes not the wrath of God abides upon him not comes upon him only but abides upon him There is ira transiens and ira permanens transient wrath and permanent wrath All sin brings a man under wrath but there is no sin leaves a man under wrath but unbelief because a man will not accept of peace and reconciliation that is made to him And let me tell thee O soul whoever thou art in such a condition thy misery will be so much the greater that thou hast had a second Covenant offered and yet despisest it and in this Sodom and Gomorrah will come in against thee and will condemn thee for if they had had the offers that thou hast had they would have accepted of them yet thou hast rejected them nay the Devils themselves will be brought in against thee for thy condemnation and in this as thy sin is greater so will thy judgment be for they never had an offer of any terms of peace made to them they found themselves shut up under wrath without hope but thou hast had offers and hopes all thy days and this will be matter for that never-dying worm to feed upon at the last and great day when the soul shall reflect seriously upon its by-past life I neglected hopes and possibility and it 's now unrecoverable though there was a time that the offers of mercy were made to me and treaties of Grace made with me by the common works of the Spirit of God which I rejected mercy was upon her knees to me and I had as great possibility and probability to have found mercy as any other there are some that lived under the same Ordinances and offers of Grace with me and many of them had never the opportunities that I have had and yet I see them sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and I am left out And this will be the great misery of many I may say of most of the children of the Kingdom they that live in the Church at the last and great day § 3. We may hence see the
their labours and their works to follow them when a man has been under a hard master to be set at liberty is thâ— sweeter when a man out of a Prison comes to a Throne this I say makes him honouâ— that Spirit and keep close to him and cherish the motions of it ever after and be carefuâ— not to be led into the same darkness again The Spirit of Christ is a delicate Spirit and wheâ— it is grieved it withdraws from a soul and suspends the comfort and quicknings that it used to enjoy therefore the soul sets a high price upon the spirit of Adoption SECT III. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it restrains Sin § 1. HAving spoken of the Law in the first sense I now come to consider it in the second In the one it discovers judges and condemns sin and in the other 〈◊〉 checks and restrains sin Here are three things to be considered and cleared 1 That 〈◊〉 Law is as a bridle to check sin and to restrain it 2 In what respects it is said so to 〈◊〉 3 How in this also the Law is in the hand of a Mediator used as a servant or handmaid â— the Gospel 1. That the Law is as a bridle to check sin I desire you to observe three things 1. That sin hath in it a fierceness and unruliness and therefore men in it are compared unto the most raging and unruly creatures in the world Isa 57.20 It is compared to the Sea which is the most unruly and tumultuous and unquiet creature if there were never any wind without yet it is always unquiet from an inward principle in it self which you may explain by Jude v. 13. Jude v. 13. Jer. 2.23 Savage creatures and raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame And they are compared unto the wildest and most unruly of all the Creatures a Dromâ—dary Jer. 2.23 which some say is a She-camel others say it is Cameleo pardalis a creaturâ— of a mixed Generation and they are resembled unto this creature for its swiftness it is onâ— of the swiftest of all Creatures and the Female more swift than the Male as Franzius 〈◊〉 his Historia sacra animalium has well observed And a Horse is an unruly creature his mouth must be holden with bit and bridle a Horse prepared for the battel and being chafed to it of which the Lord says Job 29.19 That he hath cloathed his neck with thunder he mocks at fear and does not turn back from the sword he swallows the ground with fierceness c. And such is the fierceness of a sinner in his way Hos 8.9 Hos 8.9 A wild ass alone by himself in Scripture sinners are compared to the Ass for a double property 1 for his fierceness 2 for his folly as Job 11.12 Vain man would be wise though born like a wild Asses colt and for his fierceness a wild Ass in the wilderness Jer. 2.28 In a wilderness an Ass is alone by her self under no government no restraint no rider to rule or bridle her It 's better to meet a Bear robbed of her whelps than a fool in his folly as 2 Sam. 17.8 2 Sam. 17.8 The fierceness of this Creature is noted to be the greatest in Scripture Hos 13.8 I will meet them 〈◊〉 a bear bereaved of her whelps c. And by which the fierceness of Gods Judgements is â—et out I will meet them as a bear rob'd of her whelps c. and will rend the caul of his heart â—ow the same rage will a sinner be in when he is met and stopped in an evil way in any way â—f sin whatsoever There is an unruliness in sin beyond all this that neither the Bear nor â—y other fierce Creature can vent All the creatures have been tamed but man his tongue â—an no man tame Jam. 3. Now you may say why who sets bounds unto this Sea and who â—hall command and rule this swift Dromedary this chafed Horse this wild Ass and this beâ—aved Bear c. surely no natural power Thence 2. The Spirit of God doth aim in his dealings with man to keep under and restrain their â—sts Here you are to distinguish between what he doth per se and in his own proper nature â—d that which he doth per accidens and occasionally The aim of the Spirit of God in all his â—orks is properly and in its own nature to keep down the lusts of men but yet occasionâ—â—ly his dealing with man doth draw them forth the more as by sending an affliction the â—ord doth it to take away his sin but yet it does raise up his sin and so does the Law sin taking occasion by the Commandment and so the Ordinances of the Gospel also And this will appear Hos 2.6 I will hedge up their way with thorns and I will make a wall that she shall 〈◊〉 find her pasture He compares them to wild beasts that will not be kept within â—unds therefore the Lord made up a hedge of thorns against them that is a hedge of afâ—â—iction and if one affliction will not do it if they still break through the hedge he will â—ollow them with a wall and all this is to the end that she may not find her path that she may not go on and prosper in a way of sinning she shall meet with difficulties in sinful ways â—nd they shall also want success and labour in vain in them for though they do follow â—fter them they shall not overtake them disappointment in the way of sinning is the Lords â—im in all afflictions Job 33.16 17. it is To keep man from his purpose and to hide pride â—â—om his heart And Paul had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him that he might not be â—â—ted up through the abundance of revelation The aim of the Spirit of God is to restrain â—e lusts of men and this very restraining Grace is a great mercy There is a twofold reâ—â—raining Grace 1 Upon the actions of men Pharaoh he had a desire to the sin his lust â—s stirred up but says God Gen. 20. I with held thee 2 Upon the lusts of men says God Exod. 34.24 There shall no man desire thy land To have a mans lust restrained is a great mercy and it is only during the time of this life for afterwards God will let out mens lusts to the uttermost as he does the Devils and their sin shall have rationem poenae Oh unhappy men when God leaves them to themselves and resists not their fury wo be to them whose sin God connives at Luth. the nature of punishment as Aquinas observes after this life the demerit of sin ceaseth Quia pertinet ad damnationis poenam because it belongs to the punishment of damnation as obedience in Heaven belongs to the reward of blessedness Thus all restraining Grace shall cease as all natural affection shall and the Spirit of God shall only work wrath as a spirit of bondage in
liberty and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word and therefore Jam. 2.8 we are exhorted to fulfill the royal Law and to keep the precepts of the Law and to walk in them The whole Law as to its second Table is fulfilled in this one word Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and for this cause Christ in his first Sermon frees it from its corrupt glosses and interpretation of the Pharisees and restores it unto its spiritual sense because it was to be of a perpetual use in the Church of God and it is so perfect a rule that Christ added no new precept to it but only interpreted and expounded the Law and restored it unto its primitive and original glory 3. Christ has left us an example and he is unto us not only the principle of holiness from whence it is derived Mat. 11.29 Phil. 2.5 but also the pattern to which it is conformed Joh. 13.15 Now the acts of Christ were of two sorts 1 Acts of Office as he was a Mediator by which he merited of God the Father pardon and acceptation for us and so we cannot imitate him but there are 2 acts of Moral obedience which he did as our Mediator and as our Pattern and in these we are to follow Christ unto this day for his whole life was nothing else but a spiritual Commentary upon the Law of God and herein we must be followers of all men as they follow Christ because there is a defect in all mens conformity to the Law but so there was not in Christ Joh. 4.3 4. So far as we come short of it even the best of the Saints we sin for what is sin but a transgression of the Law therefore to the Saints the Law is a rule of obedience or else they should never transgress it and if a man would try and examine his ways he must bring it to the rule for it is a rule for examination Adam was bound to the Law and therefore his least transgression was a sin and we are bound as strictly as Adam was and so far as a justified person comes short of universal obedience unto the whole Law he sins as well as Adam in the state of innocency only in the Gospel by the Mediation of Christ the sin is pardoned Therefore under the Gospel there is no other rule of obedience but the Law of God and every sin is a transgression thereof Christ came into the world to be made a curse for sin but not a cloak for it the Saints are bound to the Law under the danger of committing sin though not under the danger of incurring death and therefore sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression and Christ when he would shew a sin has recourse to the Law and also in all his temptations and so Act. 23.5 some expound that of Paul I wist not brethren that he was the high Priest because it is written Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy people c. 5. The Law hath all the properties of a rule 1 It is recta right the Law of the Lord is holy and perfect Psal 19. 2 Nota known it is promulgated and made known in the authority of God himself I have written to them the great things of my Law and they have counted it a strange thing 3 Adaequata answerable unto the thing to be measured by it and so is this Law spiritual Rom. 7. and gives laws to the spirits of men and to their words and their actions there is no case can fall out that there is not a rule to be found for it in the word Psal 119.96 were our eyes opened to behold the wonders that are there I have seen an end of all perfections but thy law is exceeding broad In all the laws of men we can look beyond them but there is a latitude here Psal 119. that we cannot reach it was to David his counseller and it is such a counseller that you cannot put that case to it that it cannot resolve and fully clear if thou give ear unto it when thou walkest by the way it shall lead thee and when thou risest up it shall walk with thee as a friend and counseller 6. That is the rule of obedience to a man in this life by which God will judge him in the life to come and according to which he will reward him Rom. 2. They that have sinned under the law shall be judged by the Law as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse Joh. 12. There is one that judges you even Moses in whom you trust And Paul says The Lord will judge men according to my Gospel And the greater Grace there is rejected the greater shall their judgement be but the curse that is executed upon wicked men in Hell is the curse of the Law which the Lord Christ did undergo for those that are his and the reward both here and hereafter is very great in keeping of them there is great reward in this life the fruit is unto holiness and in the end everlasting life And though the Law be to all unregenerate men a Covenant of Works and a curse of the same Covenant made with Adam yet this is made a handmaid unto the Gospel and is the only rule of all Gospel or new obedience the strength to perform it is from the Gospel but the duties to be performed are from the Law the ability to walk is from the Gospel but the way in which we must walk is the way of the Lords precepts Objections answered § 3. There are some Objections against this that are necessary to be cleared not that I desire to enter upon a Controversie or a Polemical discourse but because it will help us to understand many Scriptures and so happily free us from many snares in which men are sometimes taken Object 1 Mat. 11.13 Luk. 16.16 It is said That the Law and the Prophets were till John since the Kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it therefore the Law was to last no longer and is not therefore as you say to be preached as a servant unto the Gospel because its service and its prophecie is ended for in John Baptists time it did expire it lasted so long and no longer Answ 1. It cannot be the meaning that the Law and the Prophets were to cease Luc. 16.17 and to be wholly abolished for Christ immediately confirms them and says Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than a tittle of the Law shall pass which words are added as Interpreters generally observe to prevent that objection against or misinterpretation of this Doctrine of Christ the Law and the Prophets were till John but yet mistake me not as if I would be understood acsi post haec lex in ecclesia exauctoratae esset as if henceforward the Law should be abrogated Cartwr for Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass than
did all by Covenant and Christ dying did give Legacies that by the means of death they that are called may receive the promise of eternal Life it is a Testament confirmed by the death of the Testator Surely it shall be performed for it is a Covenant made unto Christ and if you did love him your hearts would rejoyce more in the performance of it as to Christ than unto your selves § 3. I come now unto the fourth particular in the opening of the point That is the Terms of the Covenant as they did pass between the Father and the Son and are set forth in the Scripture A Covenant is an agreement upon certain Conditions unto which two persons or parties by mutual consent do freely bind themselves So that in a Covenant properly and so in this there are four things 1 The parties that make the Covenant must be free 2 The Articles or Terms must be propounded 3 There must be a mutual free and full consent 4 By this consent they are bound each to other 1. In a Covenant the parties must be free and in their own power and therefore in Vows to God or Covenants with men if one under the power of another do Vow or Covenant it is in his power under whom he is to disannul and make it void Numb 30. 4.8 And therefore Divines do here commonly observe two things 1 The difference between a Law and a Covenant a Law being the act of a Superior that hath power over another doth bind whether the party bound thereby doth consent or no for it is an act of the Will of a superior upon one that is subject to his will but it is not so in a Covenant it doth require consent in both parties 2 They distinguish between the Covenant that passed between the first Adam and that which God made with the second Adam The Covenant made with the first Adam was such that though his consent was necessary to make it a Covenant else it had been only a command yet unto this Covenant by the right of creation he was bound to consent and consenting it was but his duty and there was a duty which lay upon him antecedente◠to consent unto that Covenant and the terms that God should propound But it was not so in the Covenant that God made with the second Adam he was free to accept of the terms of the Covenant or no when God had propounded them so that there was no duty that lay upon him anteceeding his consent So that the Covenant between God and man is not properly such a Covenant as is between God and Christ and between man and man in which each party is free and not bound to any thing but by his own consent Now 1 consider God is free and a debtor unto none God the Father who hath the first and the great hand in the Covenant and in propounding the terms thereof is debtor to none For he that is the first cause and the last end of whom all things are and to whom they are he can be debtor unto none but so God the Father is of whom are all things And that is Aquinas's rule * Deus non est debitor quia ad alia non ordinatur sed omnia adseipsum Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 Rom. 11.36 2 Christ is free and in his own power 1 If we consider him as the Son the second person with whom properly the Covenant was made for God did agree with the Son that he should take the nature of man upon him and in that nature suffer and satisfie and his very taking of mans nature was an act of obedience and duty that was due from the Son by Covenant and he did it in reference to the will and command of the Father as he did all other things either doing or suffering in that nature John 1.2 The word is God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.7 and therefore is free even as God himself and is not bound unto any duty but by his own consent 2. If we consider Christ as man in that he was not free for he was bound unto the Law and to all the duties of it as he was a creature It 's true he having taken the nature of man was by his Covenant bound to offer that nature as a sacrifice for Gods satisfaction and for mans sanctification in that nature he was to be made sin and to bear our Curse If we do consider Christ as meer man then he was bound indeed unto the Law by right of creation as well as we but if we consider him as God and Man so we cannot say that he is bound for actiones sunt suppositorum And our Divines generally say that there is a communication of properties between the two natures so that he does offer himself by the eternal Spirit Heb. 4.14 All his actions and passions in our nature are not only humane but Divine being from him who was both God and Man and that he was no otherways bound to obey God in that nature than he was to assume the nature no Law did require that his obedience should be the obedience of God and that God should be satisfied by the blood of God and that he should suffer that did never sin this was from the Covenant of God the Father and the superabundan◠grace of God the Son And therefore when Christ saith that he received a commandment to obey it refers only to his obligation by covenant and not by any antecedent duty that he did owe his Father 2. The terms of the Covenant or Articles of agreement that did pass between the Father and the Son are contained in two things 1 Something that the Father did require of the Son 2 Something that the Father did promise the Son 1. There is a service that the Father doth propound unto the Son and that is double 1 That he should take upon him the form of a Servant The children being partakers of flesh and blood that he should take part of the same Heb. 2.14 Bernard Rom 3.26 He took not only the form of a Servant that he might be subject but also of an evil Servant that he might be beaten he was willing to take the body that the Father had prepared for him that he might be bruised by him 2 That in that nature he should perform whatever was necessary for the satisfaction of God or the sanctification of man and in all things he must be Gods servant do his will and serve his ends deny himself humble and abase himself that his Father may be exalted Isa 42.1 1. He did whatever is required unto the perfect satisfaction of God The Justice of God is twofold 1 Remunerative justice in reference unto the precept of the Law as man was a creature 2 Vindicative justice in reference to the curse of the Law as man was a sinner and he that shall give a perfect satisfaction to Justice must perform
Application of the point 1. The arguments and demonstrations for the proof of it are many 1 Cor. 15.47 Rom. 5.14 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the second Adam Adam is said to be the type of him that was to come Now wherein did this type lye The first Adam was a publick person a representative head and there were two things that made him so 1 He received a Covenant for his posterity the Covenant was made with them but with them in him therefore in him all sinned 2 There was an Image laid up in him not only for himself but for all his posterity and they did all bear the Image of the earthy so is Christ the second Adam being a publick and common person in both respects as he had a Covenant made with him and therefore as we are said to bear the Image of the heavenly Isa 49.8 1 Cor. 15.49 so he is said also to be given as a Covenant to the people Isa 42.6 Therefore as the first Covenant was made primarily and immediately with the first Adam so was the second Covenant made primarily and immediately with the second Adam also 2. How do all the Saints come into the second Covenant How does a man become a Covenanter here How does a man become a Covenanter in the first Covenant It is by Union with the first Adam we must be one with him before we can sin in him and therefore Angels are not guilty of Adams sin nor men of the Angels sin because they were not one with them they came not under their Covenant So all men do come under the Covenant of Grace as they are one with Christ the head of the Covenant Gal. 3.29 If you be Christs you are Abrahams seed and heirs also of the promise so that as there is not a new Covenant made with every man that is born into the world but the old Covenant made with Adam in his Creation stands still in force only as soon as a man is born and becomes a man he is one with the first Adam and is so reckoned and counted by God as under this representative head so there is not a new Covenant made with every believer for they all come under Abrahams Covenant and Davids Covenant even the same Covenant that was made with Christ only they become one with him as members of his body and so they are represented and counted by God as under this head and so under this Covenant therefore in Conversion there is a double change 1 Moralis moral which is a change of a mans Covenant because there is a change of a mans head and then 2 Realis real or a change of a mans Image because there is a change of a mans spirit and a man receives another spirit different from the spirit of this world but then there is this difference Our Union with the first Adam is natural and necessary we being originally contained and seminally represented in him but the other is voluntary and by consent as between a man and his surety who are one in conspectu fori in legal account by the mutual consent of both parties Christ out of his free love consenting to represent us and we by an Almighty Power the Spirit of God giving an effectual power to the will consent unto Christ to be one with him and to be represented unto God by him so then as Christ has the preheminence in all other things as he is first elected and we in him so he is primus foederatus the first federate and we in him and no otherwise in the Covenant but as we are one with him for if there be a Covenant made between two and yet afterwards another by consent of parties be taken into the same Covenant it must be granted that he was not first in the Covenant but came in by consent and at second hand 3. In whom the righteousness of the Covenant is with him primarily the Covenant was made but the righteousness of the Covenant is to be found in Christ alone he is made unto us of God Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 Heb. 7.22 Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and therefore he is the surety of the Covenant he is one that did strike hands with the Lord and did ingage himself for our debt Now in a suretiship there are two things 1 The principal one that is chiefly bound to pay the debt and of whom in a legal way the creditor will expect it 2. In case of failure of the party the surety is engaged for it as truly as if it were his own now in the first respect Christ is not so properly a surety for God did never make a Covenant with Christ with any intention to exact or expect any thing of us Psal 89.9 but I have laid help upon one that is mighty which is a word often used of Christ he is called the mighty God Isa 9.6 and Psal 45.3 Gird thy sword O most mighty as if the Lord had said I know that these will fail me and are every way unable to pay therefore I will lay it upon a substantial person one that has ability to give me satisfaction and of him will I expect the debt But in the second respect it is that Christ is said to be the surety as one that has undertaken to pay in our stead what we were never able neither could it be expected from us Christ became a surety of the second Covenant and every part thereof he did not only undertake to satisfie God in his Law and Justice both in reference to the Precept and the Curse that all lay upon him as his debt he being made sin for us and a curse for us and we by the imputation of it as being in him are excepted from it for in his justification we were justified also for he died as the surety of the Covenant and so he rose and therefore is said 1 Tim. 3.16 to be justified in the spirit as he is said to be quickened in the spirit 1 Pet. Heb. 9.14 to offer himself by the eternal spirit of the godhead and being raised thereby he is said in his resurrection to be justified because that did declare that the debt was paid and therefore God sent an Angel as a publick Officer and Minister of justice to roll away the Stone and to let him out of Prison and therefore 1 Cor. 15. the Apostle doth reason from the resurrection of Christ that if he be not risen we are yet in our sins but Christ being risen and thereby justified we also are justified and accepted because that did declare that the debt was paid by our surety and he receiving a discharge in him we are discharged also Moreover as the surety of the Covenant he hath not only undertaken to pay our debt but also to work in us whatever God requires of us should be done by us in the Covenant of Grace so Pareus says he was a surety spondens Deo
stead that what he did was accounted to be ours whether to righteousness and life or unto sin and death but yet so that had he stood the same obedience was in their own persons required of his posterity for themselves as was required of Adam though not with the same respect not as publick persons and representative heads so that if they had not performed it they had fallen for themselves though all mankind had not fallen if Adam had stood for the woman was first in the transgression 1 Tim. 2. Rom. 5.12 and yet though the woman fell first all mankind did not fall in her fall but by one man sin entred into the world and therefore it was not every sin of a particular person that would have destroyed all mankind but of their representative only But the second Covenant hath this in it that the first never had in Adam the second Covenant hath a surety and that is something more than a publick person that is one that represents another and stands in his place and is bound unto his debt so that if the person ingaged pay not the debt the surety must and so Adam was not the surety for all mankind that he would perform the debt or bear the curse for them all there was no Covenant that had a Surety but Christ and he was a surety of the first Covenant Gal. 4.4 made under the Law and of a better Covenant to perform all the duties of the Gospel So that all that is required is of Christ as the second Adam only in his publick capacity and representation the Law is required of us but if we perform it not we have a surety that has undertaken it Thus as the first Covenant was made with the first Adam and all his posterity so the second Covenant is made with the second Adam and all his posterity also 2. We read of a Covenant made with Persons and people and promised unto them as special mercies a Covenant made with Abraham and Isaac a Covenant made with David 2 Sam. 23.5 The Lord has made with me an everlasting Covenant in all things ordered and sure And there is a Covenant made with a people also Jer. 31.31 God made a Covenant with the house of Judah a Covenant that he would bring them under the bonds of the Covenant and Esa 55.3 Every one that thirsts come to the waters c. and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David and Ezec. 16. I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine and therefore Zac. 9.12 By the blood of thy Covenant I have delivered the prisoners out of the pit in which there is no water 3. Men are said to make the Covenant and to break it Hezekiah exhorts them 2 Chron. 30.7 8. to give the hand unto the Lord 2 Chron. 30.7 8. it 's an expression of entring into Covenant as striking the hand is in the Proverbs an expression of entring into suretiship for another there are four expressions of it in 1 Chron. 29.24 All the Princes and the mighty men and all the house of the Kingdom gave their hands unto Solomon it notes a military subjection by way of Covenant and agreement between them they did take an oath of Allegiance unto him And so that expression to joyn the hand Ezeck 17.18 He hath broken the Covenant after he had given his hand c. and Job 17.3 to strike hand is to enter into suretiship or to be engaged in a Covenant so the saints are said to enter into Covenant with the Lord by sacrifice Psal 50.5 Esay 56. and they are said to take hold of the Covenant again they are said to break the Covenant which could not be if the Covenant were not made with them and not to be faithful and constant therein Psal 25.10 Lev. 26.15 4. It will appear from the promises of the second Covenant though it 's true that they are all yea and amen in him yet are they properly and formally made unto us either the first promises of grace or else of reward unto grace Promises of grace are He will give his Spirit and will give repentance he will heal our backslidings c. and we have an unction from the holy one c. And reward of service done either in the inward dispositions Blessed are the pure in spirit blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness c. or in the outward action 1 Cor. 9.24 So run that you may obtain 1 Cor. 15. ult your labour is not in vain in the Lord. And though the Covenant be made only out of free grace yet the Saints do claim these promises not only out of mercy but from the faithfulness of God 1 Cor. 10.19 1 Jo. 1.9 2 Tim. 4.8 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able he is faithful and just to forgive us c. And what is the ground of this but the Covenant of God whereby his faithfulness is ingaged 5. The Covenant of grace is a Covenant in the hand of a Mediator and confirmed by the death of the Testator Heb. it 's not only a Covenant but it 's a Testament 1 Christ is the Mediator now no man is a mediator between God and himself a Mediator is not a Mediator of one it must be a third person a dayes-man that must lay hold upon both therefore there is a Covenant made with Christ and Christ is a Mediator for the establishment of the Covenant with us also And 2 Christ is the Testator he died and left his Legacies of all the promises to the saints now no man gives a Legacy to himself In the Covenant made between the Father and Christ Christ is a party and a publick person but in this Covenant between God and us he is a Mediator and the Testator by whom we receive all the Legacies and Inheritance that he has purchased for us and granted to us Rom. 4.11 6. The Sacraments are seals of the Covenant of grace Now if we look upon the Covenant made with Christ and consider that his faith was perfect in God and he knew the Lord would not fail him but saies He is near that justifies me who will contend with me he will not leave my soul in Hell c. But though Christ had a strong faith yet we have but a weak faith and therefore had need of Sacraments and outward signs to confirm it wherefore the Sacraments are not to confirm the Covenant made with Christ but the Covenant made with the Saints he to whom the Covenant is made unto him the seals are to be applied and it would seem unreasonable for the Covenant to be made unto one and the seals to be applied unto the other therefore there is a Covenant made with the saints and to this Covenant the Sacraments are added as seals 7. There is a double oath to confirm this
the bond-woman shall be born of the free-woman then can a man that is under the Covenant of works while he does so remain unbroken off be also under the Covenant of grace Answ 1 1. Of the Covenant of Grace there are two parts answerable to the two sorts of Promises that belong unto it as there are the Promises of this life and that which is to come so there are in the Covenant spiritual Priviledges and there are saving Graces and a man may be in the Covenant for the one and not for the other All that are truely converted they come under the Covenant in both respects but they that are onely so by Profession and outwardly they have it for the external Priviledges of the Covenant onely And this is clear from two places Rom. 3.1 he had shewed before that nothing but true faith and holiness gave a man an interest in the spiritual part of the Covenant it was not those outward things that a mans eternal happiness did consist in he is not a Jew that is one outwardly and although they be members of the Church of God as they are visible Professors Austin yet they are not partes sed pestes non membra sed ulcera c. as our Divines generally maintain it against the Popish Doctrine Vt Ecclesia catholica quam credimus ex solis constat electis Daven determ 46. And therefore these outward things avail nothing to the inward and spiritual part of the Covenant as before God but thy circumcision will be uncircumcision and the Lord saith Jer. 9.23 he will joyn them all together the circumcised with the uncircumcised for one is uncircumcised in flesh and another in his heart and therefore the Lord call'd them Rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrhae and their outward priviledges will serve to encrease their condemnation ripen their sins and hasten their ruine for he onely is in Gods account a Jew that is one inwardly Rom. 3.1 in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now he comes to propound this very question Rom. 3.1 What advantage then has the Jew or what excellency has the Jew more than others for so the word is used Math. 5. What excellent thing do you now he addes that unto them did belong the external priviledges of the Covenant who had nothing to do with the spiritual graces of the Covenant and he makes it not a small matter to be under or have a right unto these outward priviledges but much every way chiefly in that unto them is committed the Oracles of God that the Law of God was written unto them Hos 8.12 and that it should be call'd Your Law John 8.7 they had a peculiar interest in it above all other people of the world it was a Law written unto them and as a Depositum committed unto them to keep and so I conceive the word used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes namely credita vel concredita sunt not onely as Beza saith ut proprium ipsorum thesaurum notat As it notes their proper treasure but also as that which they were to be Stewards of Isa 2. and to convey and transmit unto other people for the Law was to come out of Sion and the Word of God from Jerusalem and in the latter days the water shall issue out of the Sanctuary also Ezek. 47.8 and from thence shall go into the East countrey into the desart and shall go forth into the Sea and thereby the waters shall be healed so Rom. 9.4 he doth recount the external priviledges of the Jewish Church and Members thereof and he doth reckon up eight very remarkable ones whose is the adoption not spiritual adoption Rom. 9.4 but the honour to be called the Sons of God and to be separated from all other people Deut. 14.1 1 Sam. 4.22 and Nations under Heaven by a Marriage-covenant Exod. 19.5 the glory the Ark was the special token of Gods presence and to them was given the Law the Worship of God Praesentiae Dei Symbolum the Promises of whom were the Fathers and of whom according to the flesh Christ came Now all these did belong to the body of the Nation as being taken into a Marriage-covenant and the external priviledges of it which did belong to them that should never have any spiritual and saving benefit by it It 's one thing to have an interest in the Covenant in reference to the spiritual and eternal mercies of it call'd the sure mercies of David by the Prophet and by the Apostle the holy things of David and another to have interest in the Covenant only in reference unto the temporal Promises and outward priviledges thereof and there is many a man that has interest in the one that neither hath nor ever shall have benefit by the other Therefore those that are the Elect of God when converted they are taken into the Covenant for both but all the seed of Parents in Covenant are taken into the outward Court the external part of the covenant the temporal Promises and outward priviledges of it and are to enjoy them and may claim them as their priviledge and right till by their sin they do deserve to be ejected and cast out of the Church and excluded from this priviledge which as a kind of a birth-right by grace does belong unto them * As there is a two-fold being in Christ so there is a two-fold being in Covenant with God Christ considered as a head in Heaven so he has none but living members but considered as a Vine spreading himself into a visible Church on Earth so he has many unfruitful branches 2. I do not only grant but teach that as there are two Covenants so all Mankind for the state of their persons come under one of these they are all of them children and sons of a covenant answerably to their union with the heads of the Covenants the first and the second Adam Therefore 1 Cor. 15.47 the Apostle Paul makes but two men in the world Adam and Christ for both of them are Heads of a Covenant they that are in the first Adam not yet translated who do yet bear his Image they stand under his covenant and they that are in the second Adam bear his Image they stand under his covenant Gal. 3.29 and if you be Christs you be Abrahams seed c. and it 's as impossible for a man for the state of his person to be under both covenants as it is for a plant to grow upon two roots or for a man to be born of two Mothers the heads of the covenants are so expressely contrary and the terms of these covenants so directly opposite that it can never be that a man can belong to them both he that is admitted into the covenant of Grace must of necessity first be cut off from the covenant of Works for he cannot live by
vent it upon all occasions but he cannot do it himself but it must be by Instruments as the Devil casts men into prison by Instruments Revel 2.10 now when he meets with fit Instruments for his work and God in judgement gives them over unto an efficacy of deceit that they do vent the Doctrines of Hell the depths of Satan then they do receive in judgement the Key of the bottomless pit to open it that the smoak of it may be let forth and the world receive its vent which before was shut up in Hell in the hearts of the Devils only but now it is let forth to over-spread the Earth and thereby the Sun and the Air is darkned so all the Truths of God are expressed it 's darkned as to all spiritual light for that Satan doth aim at Some do apply this to the Doctrines of Mahomet and some unto several abominations of that Idolatry that brake forth in the West about that time as Brightman understands it of both And out of the smoak came Locusts upon the Earth by Locusts in Scripture two things are commonly intended 1. That they are a devouring Creature and are therefore threatned as a judgement that they should seize upon all and destroy and devour all 2. They do go by great troops Joel 1. and strangely over-spread the Earth wheresoever they come and this some do understand of the followers of Mahomet and some of the Discipline of Antichrist as Paraeus but still Brightman takes in both and this I do assure you never doth the smoak arise out of the bottomless pit but it breeds Locusts there doth arise out of it abundance of wicked and worthless men that go by troops and would surely devour all and it 's Satans plot against the Church of God and therefore the most dangerous and that in which he doth put the most confidence he doth love to raise persecution and to roar like a Lion when he can but if that do not accomplish his end then he betakes himself unto this he casts a flood out of his mouth but still his end is the same that the woman that was not devoured by the great red Dragon might be carried away with the flood Austin hath given warning to the Churches of a three-fold Persecution that they should surely undergo Revel 12.17 Prima Ecclesiae persecutio fuit violenta per mundi principes secunda fraudulenta per haereticos tertia erit violenta fraudulenta simul c. The first Persecution of the Church was violent by the Princes of the world the second fraudulent by Hereticks the third violent and fraudulent also Objection Object Now they that deny the persons in the Trinity this Argument is very rife and common amongst them If there be Persons in the God-head they are either something or nothing either they are substances or they are accidents if something then there was something from eternity that was not God and if nothing that cannot be the ground of a distinction for Non entis nullae sunt affectiones that which is not has no affections and if finite then there is something in God that is finite and if infinite then there are three infinites which cannot be in one God the very Argument of Arius that he did use and was refuted by Athanasius and from him Socinus had it and there have been some in our Age that have asserted the same who are Stars fallen from Heaven to whom the Key of the bottomless pit is given in judgement to themselves I am sure and we may fear to the Nation who have not received the Truth in the love of it and therefore God gives up to the efficacy of deceit to believe a lye to whom I say this Key has been given to give vent to this smoak again in the world And this I pitch upon because it is the great Argument that they glory in Answer Answer For Answer to it I would first lay down these positions 1. It 's plain in Scripture that there is but one God and that an Idol is nothing in the world there is none other God but one as it is 1 Corinth 8.4 The Lord thy God is one Lord. 2. The Scripture speaks of Father Son and Spirit and they are said expresly to be Three and therefore are distinguished from one another 1 Joh. 5.7 For there are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are one 3. The God-head in Scripture is attributed to them all and the essential properties of an infinite being He is called God the Father John 1.1 1 Cor. 8.6 and the Word is God the same Word that was incarnate and was made flesh and this Word is God and the Spirit dwells in the hearts of the Faithful all the world over and that both in Heaven and Earth and therefore must be every where present changing the hearts of men which nothing but an Almighty and a Creating Power can do and doth know their hearts for he doth supply them with graces and influences daily and helps their infirmities and teaches them to pray c. all which can be done by none but he that is God and they are therefore said to be one because the God-head of the Divine Essence is but one 1 Joh. 5.7 4. There is something attributed unto one in the Scripture that cannot be said of another the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father the Father doth beget and is not begotten the Son is begotten of the Father and cannot be said to beget the Son is said to take flesh the Word was made flesh and so did not the Father the Son was said to be sent and so is not the Father therefore they are distinguished yet it 's plain that they are but one God this is plainly the Doctrine that is delivered unto the Saints Now let us apply this unto the Argument in hand and we will 1. Retort it they are Three Father Son and Holy Ghost these are either something or nothing they are substances or accidents they are finite or infinite and the same inconveniences will return upon themselves for they must assert them to be Three and yet one for a Trinity in Unity the Scripture doth clearly hold forth 2. It 's not strange even amongst the Creatures that the same person should be a Man and a Father yet as a Father distinguished from himself as a Man and a Son distinguished from himself as a Man therefore it 's not strange in this that the Father should be distinguished from himself as God and the Son also The Scripture does clearly speak to us of certain actiones ad intra which are in God which do not refer to the Creatures but to Father Son and Spirit amongst themselves as the Father does beget and the Son is begotten and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both and from these actions do arise the relative properties of
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
as the Saints love God and they love grace for Gods sake so the Devil directly hates God and he hates grace as being that by which God is most honoured therefore his greatest designs are to pervert grace in the Saints he will keep men as long as he can to stand out against grace and resist it as long as he can that the strong man armed may keep the house but if he cannot keep grace out of the heart then his next design is to advance grace above a creature and set it in the place of God and Christ and make grace it self to be an Idol and the man to place his sufficiency in it and his dependence upon it and he knows that God is engaged against the habits of grace in the man though they be the works of his own Spirit the Apostle saith that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an occasion that sin will take from the Law of God written in the book Rom. 7. and so it will from the Law of God written in the heart also and therein the devillishness and the wisdom of the flesh in a great measure lies that as the wise God doth make advantage by sin and temper the greatest poyson into the most wholesom Cordial as we see in Viper-wine if it be not well mixt it presently kills so the richest Cordial even the grace of God Satan tempers with his ingredients into the strongest poyson that it may be occultum profundum malum quòd homo non malus bonis operibus sese vestiat alat sed ipsius fidei titulo sese palpet venditet c. Serpentis antiqui caput hoc est Luther Luther Tom. 2. Thus as the Lord works by contraries bringing light out of darkness and the greatest good sometimes out of the greatest evil so doth Satan also work by contraries and delights to do it to bring darkness out of light and to bring the greatest evil out of that which is the greatest good even grace it self for quò quis sanctior eò pejor the better the worse if he place his sufficience and dependence upon the grace he has received for that is Idolum speciosissimum the most specious evil Now that I may take the Saints off from a dependence upon their own graces and that their sufficiency may be placed in God alone consider these particulars 1. Though grace be the best of all the creatures and the image of God and a new Creation wrought by the Spirit of Christ which the Lord takes more delight in than he doth in all the creatures and without which he can take no pleasure in any of them yet grace is but a creature and therefore the common nature of a creature doth belong to it and that is to be defectible and subject in its own nature to decay It 's true Eph. 4.24 Col. 3.10 that it is the same image that is renewed in us which we lost in Adam Now as the image in Adam was subject to decay so in its own nature this is also As it is with the Angels though they be confirmed in grace and can never fall away so it is with the souls of just men made perfect yet being creatures there is a defectibility in them a possible folly though not actual Job 4.18 he charges his Angels with folly c. and so there is in grace it self it 's true grace cannot decay but it is not properly from any thing that is in it self but from a double ground 1 Ex foedere gratiae from the Covenant of Grace in which the Lord has promised that he will keep them it 's an everlasting Covenant to put his fear in their hearts Jer. 32.40 that they shall never depart from him For we are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. and so we cannot fall away not ex interna renatorum constitutione not from the intern constitution of the renewed but because the faithfulness and thereby the power of God is engaged for their preservation 2 Ex fonte gratiae from the Fountain of Grace for the fountain of it is not in a mans self it is of his fulness that we receive grace for grace 1 Joh. 5 1◠it is the image of the Son and so it is not from God immediately but as being laid up in him So there is a great deal of difference between the image of God in Adam and in the Saints Gen. 11. as Austin has well observed De Corruptione Gratia there is non solùm posse quod volumus sed velle quod possumus if the fountain of it were in our selves it might decay but it being laid up in Christ and he being by virtue of the personal Union impeccable so long as grace in Christ doth not decay it cannot decay in the Saints for he has said Because I live Luther you shall live also Joh. 14.19 Quà m hominibus impossibile est mixtum fermentum à pasta separare tam impossibile est diabolo Christum ab Ecclesia separare Luth. therefore place not your sufficiency in a creature for grace received is no more 2. It is contrary to the very nature of grace to be made the ground of a mans dependence for grace in its own nature is properly to be dependent upon another and the fountain of its sufficiency is in another therefore God is called the God of all grace and the Sprit is the Spirit of grace the Spirit of faith and love and joy for all graces are fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. Joh. 3. and a man is said to be born of the Spirit upon this ground Christ is the root and we are the branches he is the head and we are the members and therefore the fountain of the life of grace is in him and not in us the fountain of our life is Christ and we live by union with him a life of holiness as well as a life of righteousness all is by union with him And therefore some very learned men have maintained That there are no habits of grace in us at all but that we live by an immediate influence from the Spirit of Christ which dwelling in us doth act our spirits sometimes in a way of faith sometimes in a way of love sometimes in a way of godly sorrow c. which I cannot consent to as being an extreme on the other hand we are said to be new creatures and created in Christ and we are said to have faith and hope as fruits of the Spirit dwelling in us and therefore we are exhorted to stir them up and to act them and to grow in them and they are said to decay in us and to increase in us which cannot be in respect of acts meerly by the Spirit of God working upon us but we have truly a life within us that is an inward principle that puts forth vital actions Gal. 2.20 but yet it is
in his Temple he rules in a more special manner and he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Therefore in the souls and in the hearts of Saints Christ hath a rule Rom. 14.17 Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace c. It is spoken here both of the kingdom of grace and of glory both which are commonly in Scripture called the Kingdom of God and the meaning is that the kingdom of grace doth not consist in these neither do these lead to the kingdom of glory or prepare the soul for it regnum gratiae in his non consistit per haec regnum gloriae non acquiritur but it is in righteousness and peace and joy and these are acts wrought upon the soul and the inward man and therefore the Kingdom of Christ the spiritual Kingdom is over the souls of the Saints and it 's a Throne erected in their hearts 2. Wherein doth this spiritual Kingdom consist which he doth exercise over the Saints It 's a Throne that Christ sets up in the Conscience which doth order and command the whole man and that in the name and by the authority of God There is a twofold Throne of Christ in the spiritual Kingdom 1 There is a Throne that he erects in his Ordinances Rev. 4.4 when all his people are gathered together about him all the Saints sit down at his feet Deut. 33.3 that they may receive a Law from his mouth as their King 2 There is also another Throne of Christ in the spiritual Kingdom and that is in the Conscience which is properly the Throne of God and therefore the great work of Christs rule is in the conscience of the Saints Acts 23.1 I have lived in all good conscience and my care is to keep a good conscience void of offence Acts 29.16 Heb. 13.18 We have a good conscience desiring in all things to live honestly It 's true that the Lord doth rule in the whole soul and there is no faculty that is not brought into subjection the understanding and the will there is not a thought or a reasoning any thing that is the issue of the soul 2 Cor. 10.5 2 Cor. 10.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leading captive every thought and we know captives were not only subdued by conquest but they were led in Triumph and they were afterwards made use of for service and so it is in the Kingdom of Christ in the inward man but yet the Throne is the Conscience it is true that the power of a King reaches throughout the whole Kingdom and they are all governed by him but yet the place of his residence and the Royal Seat is in some eminent place of the Nation and though Jesus Christ rules in the whole soul and dwells in the heart by faith yet the Throne is mainly in the conscience and therefore the assenting act of faith the accusing act of faith and the commanding act of faith is mainly in the conscience 1 Pet. 3.21 it is the answer of a good conscience by the Resurrection of Christ c. Now conscience what is it Est judicium intellectûs practici prout subjicitur judicio Dei It is the judgment of the practic intellect as subjected to the judgment of God It is this that hath the great command of the man that whatever he doth he is to do for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 and whatever he doth scruple or doubt of it should be for conscience sake 1 Cor. 10.25 for it speaks in the person of God unto the man and therefore even to go against an erring conscience is a sin because the authority of Christ is rejected in whole name conscience speaks it 's true that conscience is not the highest rule it is but regula regulata a rule ruled by the Divine love yet it is the highest rule in the man and it hath the power of subordination which Kings would fain take to themselves who pretend that they are subject to none but God and to give an account unto none else Magnus est Caesar sed solo Deo minor Tertul. This is true of conscience all the rest of the faculties are to give up their account unto the conscience it can call them all to an account but is subject unto no other thing in the man it is to give an account unto none but God and the Lord working upon men modo connaturali in a connatural way conscience being the leading power that God hath placed in man the Lord comes mainly into that and by it he doth rule and guide all the rest of the faculties and keep them in subjection and this will appear in two things 1 It 's conscience that doth receive the discharge for the man Heb. 9.9 therefore a man is said to be made perfect according unto the conscience so that when a mans conscience is acquitted from guilt and purged from pollution it 's then said to be made perfect and the man is perfected thereby and for this cause conscience hath an account to give of the man in reference unto all that office and authority in the man that Christ hath set him over Rom. 2.15 Their consciences accusing them it hath the power over the man in all persons it was in the Creation set over man by God but being renewed it is now set over the man by Christ and when he comes to give an account for we must all give an account of our selves to God Rom. 14.12 what is it in the man that shall give an account for him it is conscience that must make up our account at the last and great day and in the Saints then will the Lord pass a sentence in conscience and he will acquit it from its viatory office that hath a charge of the whole man It 's a great honour and a great trust and it is a great burden to take the charge of the man and make an account for all ordinances all mercies all motions of the Spirit of God all opportunities of service that the man has had in this life 2 Because the main guilt of the man is charged upon the conscience as that by which all sin came in it 's neglecting its duty and holding a league and a confederacy with sin Tit. 1.15 Their consciences are defiled and it is by this that sin comes in and for this cause the wrath that is poured upon the man will come in by his conscience it will be as it were the funnel by which God will pour wrath into the whole soul because thereby Satan poured sin into the whole soul and for that cause the torment for ever lies mainly in the conscience and it shall be the faculty that shall torment the whole man it 's the worm that never dyes it is only the acts of conscience the soul turning in upon it self and its former ways and past hopes for ever now that which was the great Officer here that shall give