wherein the Authority or Soveraignty of the Great King does appear for wherein does the authority of Princes lye but in their Laws and he is counted a rebell that does disobey them and that of the Apostle Rom. 2. Through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God and the Nomothetick power is that wherein the greatness and the height of Majesty lyes and this Law we are subjected to by bond of Creation as having received our being from the Lord and by a bond of Stipulation having given up our consent to the Law having given the hand unto the Lord c. and as being the rule by which the Lord will judge men at the last day and this kept Joseph in awe against the importunity of his Mistress How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God the Majesty and Authority of God is despised in it and the Soveraignty of the Law being exalted in his heart carried with it a kind of moral impossibility for there be natural and moral impossibilities as the Apostle in the 1 Cor. We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth And sometimes the people of God in the violence of a temptation have been forced to fly to the Commandment as in the point of self-murder one was fain to do the temptation was so impetuous that he was forced to repeat the Commandment for some hours together Thou shalt do no murder thou shalt do no murder 3. Sin is restrained from the Curse of the Law and the Judgements that it does denounce against offenders and the several examples of the executions of them says Job Chap. 31.23 Destruction from God was a terror to me and because of his highness I could not indure And 2 Cor. 5. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men And observing the several examples of Judgments and the Curse of the Covenant upon wickednesses which are wrought that others may see and fear and do no more wickedly When a man looks upon the Judgements that are abroad as the Curse of the Law executed a man should say I will not transgress It was the sin of Judah that at the Captivity of Israel she would not be warned and would not receive correction for that man that has the Law against him has God against him 4. Sin is restrained from the Harmony of the Law he that breaketh one is guilty of all c. This makes men stand in awe of the Divine Commands 5. From Gods love to the Law it being that which is so dear unto God Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not an iota of the Law which is dearer to God than Heaven and Earth The Saints are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they have a conformity unto God in all things they love what God loves and they hate what God hates Says the Psalmist I hate them that hate thee Psal 119.10.4 yea I hate them sore as if they were my enemies Through thy precepts I get understanding He says He did love the Law as his portion and inheritance as that which was sweeter to him than honey and his obedience unto which did bring him in all his comfort and therefore I have refrained my feet from every evil way this is my life and this is my wisdom in the sight of the Nations Lastly What authority and command the Law of God has in the hearts of men is that that Gods eye is much upon and with such men he is pleased and the power of Gods Grace is seen mainly in the awe of the Law upon their hearts and lives which other men despise and cast behind their back says the Lord To him will I look that trembles at my word Isa 66.2 And there is a man that fears an oath My heart stands in awe of thy Word else I had broken forth and given way to corruption but I durst not Isa 11.6 A little child shall lead him that which is most easily done and 2 Chron. 32.12 see the charge against Zedekiah for he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. If a man come to us from God and in the name of God if we despise him we despise the Lord. § 3. How is the Law from its restraint upon lust a servant and a handmaid unto the Gospel This will appear also in these Particulars 1. The great end of the Gospel is to establish the Earth and to continue the World for by sin an utter destruction should have come upon men and upon all the creatures for mans use only there is a stop put upon Justice for a time the change of the Covenant bringing in a change of the Government and the Kingdom that was before the fall administred by God immediately is now committed into the hands of the Son as he is God-man our Mediator So Psal 8. He has put all things in subjection under his feet Isa 49.8 and he has given him as a Covenant to establish the earth And it is upon this ground that those expressions are Psal 93. The Lord reigns he is clothed with Majesty the world is established that it cannot be moved And Psal 97.1 The Lord reigns let the earth rejoice All this is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ and his Government that is committed to him by the Father under the second Covenant and by vertue thereof since the fall And this the Lord doth by the restraint of the Law two ways 1 Hereby the lusts that are in a mans heart are kept under that they destroy not one another for lust is cruel see it in the second man that ever was in the world and he that first actually brought murder into the world and Nimrod a hunter of men before the Lord and as cruel to men as if they were beasts nay they are themselves Beasts and have the cruelty of Beasts and men would be as the fishes of the Sea the greater would devour the less they have no King over them and are acted by the spirit of the Devil and his name is Abaddon the destroyer his delight is wholly in destruction and if the Lord did leave men to the violence of their lusts and the impetuosity of temptation they would overflow as water over-running all banks and bounds and blood would touch blood where either as some say by blood is meant murder Hos 4.2 or all manner of horrible wickedness and so some take it so there is all manner of cruelty and all manner of unnatural wickedness even to the destroying of one another as we see it in Egypt every mans sword shall be against his brother and in the cruelty at the destruction of Jerusalem Now how comes it to pass that it is not so every where Only from the restraint of the Law laid upon the spirits of men and by this means the world is quieted as Luther in Gal. 3. hath observed Diâ—bolus regnat in toto orbe terrarum impellit homines
great evil but with the immediate works and gifts of the Spirit of God is a far greater provocation 4 That which you place your sufficiency so much in remember you cannot act without Divine aid a man that has received gifts cannot exercise and use those gifts that he has received The Apostle doth distinguish between all these three there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gifts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offices and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effects or Operations of the same graces now as the Spirit doth appoint every man his office and gives unto every man his gift so he doth give unto every man a success as it pleaseth him and therefore though Paul may plant and Apollo water yet it is God that gives the increase and the success is not always answerable unto the labour that is bestowed even in the best we see it in Christ himself he did spend his whole life and his very radical moisture in labour Esa 49.4 as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie and yet he doth himself complain That he had laboured in vain and spent his strength for nought c. So when the Prophets had received a Spirit of Prophecy and the Apostles a gift of Miracles yet notwithstanding they could not act it when they would but when the Spirit of the Lord came upon them as it was with Samson and therefore it 's a kind of a Proverb that Luther has in Gen. 4.4 Spiritus Sanctus non semper tangit cor Prophetarum The Spirit doth not always touch the Prophets heart so the Apostles had a gift of healing but they could not heal when they would and therefore when Epaphroditus had been sick and was nigh death also Paul who had the gift of healing for when they brought from him but handkerchiefs and aprons the diseases departed from them yet he cannot now heal him who was so dear to him and whose ministery was so useful it 's not in a mans power therefore to act his own gifts he cannot use his own abilities at his own pleasure as there is an ability in a man to gather and know much of God by his works that are in the world yet it is according as God did point and direct his understanding or else he could never do it Rom. 1.19 it is manifest in the creation of the world for God has shewed it unto them and to know what seed to sow and with what instruments to thresh and when the ground is fit for seed and when it is sufficiently plowed c. It is God that doth instruct him to discretion Esa 28.26 The men of might cannot find their hands they were men of strength and they were skilful in war but they could not use it at such a time they could not find their hands it is unto them as if they had no strength as if they had had no skill for they have no use of them therefore remember this when you place your sufficiency so much in these things 5 As they that have these gifts cannot act them of themselves without Gods assistance so neither can they give success to them or make them in any measure effectual the best men have but their measure Rom. 12.4 God has not given all gifts to one man and therefore the greatest and the best and most eminent member of the body shall have need of the gifts of the meanest there is a supply of every joynt unto the edifying of the body there is something in the meanest Saint that thou maist despise as weak-gifted yet it is wanting in thee and thou canst not give success to thy greatest endeavours but he that gives the gift must give the blessing mundus non potest esse sine personarum discrimine Luther there must be Princes and Rulers and Governors sed dona non sequuntur illas differentias c. and so it is here the effect doth not always follow the abilities but a man of lesser gifts shall bring forth more fruit to God than he that thinks himself most sufficient For the Lord resists the proud and gives grace to the humble he will give the success there where he may have the glory and many times a man of great ability is laid aside though he labours yet he brings nothing to pass and a man of lesser parts is blessed exceedingly and the reason is the one is too great in his own eyes or in the eyes of others and therefore the Lord cannot use him non patitur in regno suo superbiam God cannot bear pride in his Kingdom 6 When we place our sufficiency in them that will provoke the Lord to take them away from us there are two things that provoke God exceedingly one is being weary of our work as it was in Moses and the other is when we do exalt our selves in our work and put an excellency upon our selves for our own actings therefore says the Lord From him that hath not shall be taken away he will put thee out of thy stewardship if thou waste his goods to maintain thy own pride and there is nothing in the world doth blast the parts of men more and provoke God to take them away in judgment and the man dies besotted he withers in all the greenness that did appear so fresh in him Joh. 15.6 he doth in this saith Luther as Vespasian when he saw there was no way to take men off from seeking wealth In Gen. 4.4 aequo animo patiebatur eos ditari with a patient mind suffer men to be rich but he said Divites spongiam esse there would come a pressing time when men that gathered so much for themselves should go empty away remember this ye that forget the Lord and place a sufficiency in any gift that God has given you the Lord will certainly deprive thee of it and thy folly shall be made manifest 2. When men do place not only sufficiency in their gifts but in grace received which a man also is very apt to do and let me tell you it is the highest spiritual pride in the world and is an abuse of the highest gift and grace of God 1 Consider it is quite contrary to the nature of grace which is to live in another and to fetch all from another and therefore it is an unnatural sin 2 No man can act his own grace Deus agit immediaté 3 Grace is but a creature and may decay in the degrees of it and it doth oftentimes I and in the essence it would also if it were not preserved by an almighty power Rev. 2.4 for it is not in its own nature immortal seed 4 It doth make grace an Idol and so it provokes the Spirit to withdraw from his own graces so that he shall delight to see the ruine of his own workmanship Object But you 'l say Do not we read in Prov. 14.14 That a good man is satisfied from himself and that there is a sufficiency
never to expect the like again yea after the same manner as he did deliver them when they came out of Egypt in a miraculous way by signs and wonders so he will do again and the grounds of it is the same Hab. 3.9 Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the Tribes Hab. 3.9 even thy word Selah thou didst cleave the earth with rivers c. it is according unto the oaths that he swore unto the Tribes even his word the juramenta quae saepiùs repetita c. 2 When he doth work in an ordinary way according unto the course that he has set in nature and according unto the dependence that things have one upon another Hos 2.22 the heavens shall hear the earth and the earth the corn and the wine and they shall hear Jezreel c. there are the ordinances of Heaven of the Sun and the Moon and the Stars Jer. 31.35 that constant and established course that God has set amongst the creatures c. Now whether the Lord work by means or without means by his own immediate hand all is and shall be ordered and disposed for the good of the Saints all the governments that the Lord doth exercise in the world either of those ways 4. The Providence of God is either seen 1 in things necessaria which have a necessary dependence upon their causes and we may accordingly expect them as the Sun and Moon to shine or to be in their Eclipse as we say It will be foul weather to day for the skie is red and it will be fair to morrow for the skie is red which men do conclude of by their observation because they have a necessary dependence upon their causes Mat. 16.2 3. And as it is in natural things so it is in morals also there are signs of the times by which things may be as well known and as certainly concluded by an observing man a man may as well know the signs of the times as the Stork and the Crane and the Swallow know their times Jer. 8.7 8. or else why should they be blamed for it as being more unwise for themselves than the brute creatures are c. 2 There are some things that are accidentalia that are casual or fall out so as we can give no reason for them there is no expectation of it in man as the disposing of the minds of men the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as in King Ahasuerus in the business of Mordecai there was a concurrence of many things that were casual and so Prov. 16.33 The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing of it is from the Lord so that there is not the most casual thing that can be but it comes under a providence and in all these also it is for the good of the Saints as it 's said 2 Kings 3.22 a rumour Sennacheribs Army shall hear they shall have such an apprehension that because the Sun shines upon the water therefore the Kings have slain one another for this is blood c. 5. Providence is either circa bonum vel malum either 1 in all good so the Lord doth work and order the spirits of men for as every good gift is from above so every good work is from him that is the Father of lights and the Fountain of all goodness 2 Also of all the evil that is in man there is a providence for God would never have suffered sin to have come into the world if he had not known how to have wrought his own ends by it even by the vessels of dishonour he is served in his house 2 Tim. 2.21 he doth order and over-rule even the sins of men unto his own high and most glorious ends he doth uphold Pharaoh and let out his spirit but it is that he might shew his power in him Even the wrath of man shall praise him and the remainder he will and doth restrain and Gen. 20.3 I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her There is a letting out of sin and there is a restraint upon sin so far as it may serve to his ends Now all the providence of God whether it be for good or ill either permitting or disposing it is all of it for the good of the Saints 1. The Providence of God is circa maxima and that is for the good of the Saints and this I will reduce unto two heads 1 His government over the Angels 2 Over men in all the great turnings and changes in the world in the policies and in the governments thereof for it is the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men and all this is done for the Saints sake and all is ordered so as it shall be for their good 1. For the government of the Angels either good or bad it 's all for the good of the Saints 1. As for the good Angels it 's true they are part of the spiritual Kingdom and shall make up part of that great Church and body of which Christ is the head and therefore Heb. 12.22 we are said to be come unto them and therefore it is ordinary with the Fathers and the School-men as I told you to intimate that there are as many men elected as there were Angels that fell and that they are taken in to fill up that number qui locum illum supplerent ruinas Jerusalem restaurarent Bern. But they are also used by the Lord in the providential Kingdom and all is for the Saints good in their whole Ministry it is for the sake of them that are heirs of salvation Heb. 1.14 And Ezech. 1.5 c. Ezech. 1.5 c. we have the manner how the Lord governs all things in a threefold subordination there are the wheels and the living creatures that act them and one as the Son of man by whose command and by whose Spirit they do move in all their ways and the wheels by them 1 They do by a secret virtue work upon and over-rule the hearts and the wills of men and therefore the Trumpets and the Vials are given unto the hands of Angels that is they do fashion the hearts of men and stir up their spirits unto such a work and strengthen their hearts in it for as the Devil doth fashion the minds and wills of men and gives suggestions suitable to his designs so do the good Angels also and as Satan strengthens the resolution of wicked men so do the good Angels also for they have a power upon the soul also being Spirits and a more immediate work upon the minds of men as Ahabs false Prophets thou shalt perswade them and prevail there is an impression upon their hearts they have their arguments and suggestions and they follow them with reasonings till the men be overcome so do the good Angels also Rev. 2.10 the devil shall cast some of you into prison it 's Satans working powerfully in his instruments and upon
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
the Curse and Covenant the Curse naturally attends the Covenant every son of Adam necessarily falls under the former as well as the latter Mens natural desire to be under the first Covenant 5 All men naturally and ardently desire to be under Adams Covenant The natural blindness and pride of mens hearts strongly impels them to build a Spiders house of their own on which they may lean as Job 8.14 15. Are not all men by nature children of the bond-woman and so possest with a spirit of bondage Have they not a legal spirit answerable to the Covenant they are under And doth not this legal spirit bring forth suitable fruits Do not such as are informed and acted by it perform all services to God in the oldness of the letter in a formal servile legal manner without regard to Christ the Mediator Yea is not this legal spirit whereby those under Adams Covenant are acted full of enmity and opposition against Christ his Righteousness and all the terms of his new Covenant Doth not such mens rejecting the terms and grace of the second Covenant argue their strong propensions yea vehement impulses towards Adams Covenant Are not all their spiritual Gifts common Graces legal Righteousnesses as well as all their sins imployed to oppose the Grace and Righteousness of the second Covenant And if their consciences be at any time awakened and their sins set in order before them in all their bloody aggravations yet what a difficult thing is it to bring them off from the old Covenant What hard black scandalous thoughts of Christ are they filled with How do their hearts sink under unbelieving despondences and base jealousies of Christ And doth not all this argue mens vehement desires to be found under the first Covenant 6 The more the glory of the second Covenant is revealed to such as are under the first The rejection of the second Covenant the greater efforts and more vehement opposition they put forth against it The more mens natural reason is elevated by supernatural common illumination the more stout-hearted they are against the terms of the new Covenant all their moral righteousnesses serve only to set them farther off from the righteousness of faith their good deeds as well as their bad fortifie them against the embracement of the new Covenant because it would spoil them of their own righteousnesses which they have wrought so hard for all their days and subject them to the righteousness of God Do we not find all this greatly exemplified in the Pharisees and legal Jews who having espoused to themselves the old Covenant rejected Christ and his Righteousness 7 For men thus electively to put themselves under the first Covenant and reject the grace of the second is a sin of the first magnitude and deepest aggravations Hath not the great God exalted the second Covenant above the first Is it not then an high injury against him to bring down that Covenant God has exalted and to exalt that which he has made null above it Is not Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant the greatest gift that ever God vouchsafed mankind God justly leaves such to the Covenant they desire Oh! then how injurious is it to God to reject so great a gift and the grace offered by him 8 It is therefore just with the righteous God to leave men to stand or fall by that Covenant under which they so strongly desire to be Doth the holy and blessed God do the sons of Adam any wrong in leaving them under his Covevant unto which they have such a strong impulse and desire If he hereby gives them but the desire of their heart what cause have they to complain against him And will not his procedure at last day appear to be most just and rational in judging men according to the tenure of the first Covenant unto which they had so strong a desire May not God justly lay to their charge every the least sin and make them bear the burden of it seeing they have put themselves under a Covenant that admits not any Mediator Whom have they to represent their persons to bear their sins to pay their debts to endure their curse to perform their duties seeing they reject the Mediator of the second Covenant This leads to the second general Head The misery of such as are under the first Covenant The deplorable and miserable state of such as are under the first Covenant 1 Is it not a deplorable case for men voluntarily to elect their own ruine Was it ever known that men did contentedly yea chearfully sit down under a state of most miserable bondage when full liberty was offered to them by a benign gracious Prince Doth it not argue a spirit immersed in the basest servitude to take complacence in its chains and fetters And yet is not this the very case of all such as desire to be under the first Covenant 2 Is it not a miserable thing for a man to be on the very brink of ruine and yet not sensible of it yea under a fond presumption of a blessed state For a man to go as an Ox to the slaughter adorned with a garland made up of the fading flowers of his own righteousnesses what folly and madness is this And yet is not this the very case of all Pharisaic spirits who live and die under the first Covenant Is not a good conceit of a bad state most dangerous and miserable To be alive in carnal presumptions self-flattery and self-sufficiency and yet spiritually dead in Divine estimation is it not the worst of deaths Are not such next degree to falling into Hell who fondly flatter themselves that they can stand longer and surer than others by their own forces 1 Cor. 10.12 And are not such as put themselves under the first Covenant guilty of all these pieces of folly 3 Is it not a sad case for sinners to put themselves under a Covenant which neither gives or admits a Mediator To have none to represent their persons but to be left standing before the righteous holy God in their own names bearing their own sins expecting to be justified by their own works to pay their own debts or to endure their own punishment what greater misery can there be 4 To be under a Covenant that neither promises nor gives nor accepts of Repentance but leaves men to live and die in their sins without the least drop of the blood of Christ to wash them away what a sad case is this Must not such expect that as soon as they peep out of the grave and lift up their traiterous heads their own consciences as also Divine Justice condemn and pursue them unto all eternity 5 Is it not also a most wretched forlorn case for men to have their persons hated yea loathed by the God of all love and mercy and thence their best services rejected for the least failings in them And is not this the case of all such as stand under
of this life the Princes robes and the beggars rags lie down together but the difference in their spirits is eternal and therefore the blessing or the curse upon the soul is much more than that on the body or the estate many of these being but for the time of this life 3 Sin is chiefly an act of the soul The sin of the soul membra sunt arma the members are but weapons it 's the soul that 's the hand and the chief cause of enmity lies therein and therefore the chief vengeance lights upon that God will punish sin not only here but eternally Therefore as the greatest blessing is upon the soul so the greatest curse also And as the School-men say of Glory so we may say of Wrath it is Radicaliter in corde redundanter in corpore radically in the heart but redundantly in the body the main object of wrath and curse is the soul 2 Pet. Mat. 16. 4 The great evil that sin does a man it fights against his soul and the great loss that it occasions is the loss of the soul men do often complain of losses but they may be all made up in this life as Job's were or if not yet the afflictions of this present life are not worthy of the glory that shall be reveal'd they work for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and Quaedam amittere ut majora lucreris non amissio est sed mercatura to lose some things that thou maist gain better is not loss but a thriving trade But the loss of the soul is the great loss that can never be made up and therefore the curse of the soul is the great curse 5 The curse of the soul being taken off all other curses are taken off also as the curse remaining on the soul all blessings are turn'd into curses they may be blessings in the thing but they are curses to the man So on the other side all cursings are turn'd into blessings they may be curses in the thing but they shall prove blessings to the man To the unclean all things are unclean for their minds and consciences are defiled Tit. 1. When once Grace comes into the soul malediction goes out all things shall work for your good and the curse is taken off from all the Creatures for your use Life is yours and death is yours so that as the precept of the Law is made a servant to the promise of the Gospel for it was added by way of subordination and subserviency thereunto so the curse of the Law is made a servant to the Grace of the Gospel also and a Saint has a sanctified use of that as a blessing which is in it self a curse 6 The chief satisfaction that was given for sin has reference to the soul In the sacrifice there was offred the life and the blood but it was the blood that made an atonement for the soul and without shedding of blood there is no remission And when Christ came to stand in our stead as a surety the main of the sufferings he endured were in his soul Isa 53.10 God made his soul an offering for sin Christ did as our surety and therefore he put his name to our bond and was made under the Law Now being our surety he was to pay our debt and that was mainly in the soul The Sacrifice that was to be accepted of God was to be a whole burnt-offering now if Christ had but suffered in his body it had been but a half burnt-offering He offered himself Heb. 9.10 therefore it must be his whole manhood and before his bodily suffering came while he was in the Garden he says My soul is heavy unto death Mar. 14.33 amazed or astonished the word is rendred a failing of spirit his spirit died even within him his thoughts were wholly abstracted from all things else and the wrath of God that lay upon him did wholly fill up his soul c. Now in all these respects the curse upon the soul which is spiritual death is the greatest part of the Curse far greater than that upon the body upon Creatures or Relations § 2. And now let us come to consider wherein this Curse upon the Soul lies 1. It lies in this That a man has forsaken God as his chief Good and as his utmost End Man in his Creation was carried towards God as that chiefest Good wherein his happiness consisisted and acted towards God as him to whom all his actions were refer'd and wherein his blessedness lay and therefore Augustin speaking from a spirit renew'd and having the same principle begun in him says Omnis copia quae non est Deus inanis egestas est All plenty that is not God is poverty And Bernard says Animam Dei capacem quicquid est Deo minus non implebit nothing less than God will fill the soul capable of God Man having all in God must needs do all for him and refer all to him for he that is the chief Good must needs be also the utmost End Now the death of the soul lies mainly in this first it 's taken off from God as the chief Good for that 's the first thing sin does Jam. 1.14 it draws a man away from God who was the Center where the soul rested Psal 116.7 Return to thy rest O my soul They have forsaken their resting place they have wandred upon every mountain And therefore Jude v. 18. all the lustings and inclinations of the soul they are call'd ungodly lusts because they have nothing else in them that being the main bent in them all to take off the soul from God and carry it away from him Jer. 2.13 It 's forsaking the fountain of living water And Heb. 3.12 It 's departing from the living God And hence it is that repenting is call'd returning because we have departed from him and conversion is nothing else but returning to God as a mans chief Good And man being thus departed from him God is not in all their thoughts for they look for no good from him their good lies not in him and therefore they live without God in the world they know him not they love him not they expect nothing from him it 's to them as if there were no God to judge nor reward and hence it is that men can live without the favour of God all their life-long and never be troubled because they have not made it their happiness But take a man that has set up this as his happiness a frown is to him as the messenger of death and not to see the Kings face puts him into the shadow of death for he can breath in no other air as Absalom said He could not live unless he saw the Kings face And so David God had hid his face which made him like to them that go down into the pit Man in his Creation as he was wholly of God so he was wholly for him and so it is when the Image
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
then from the condemnation of the Law and the sentence of it there is no appeal or redemption CHAP. III. How and whence it is that sin is irritated by the Law Rom. 7.8 But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence SECT I. How sin takes occasion and is irritated by the Law § 1. WE have seen that to be under the first Covenant though broken is unto every man in a state of nature a desirable thing though formally indeed men desire it not for they will all disclaim it but interpretatively and by consequence they do desire it as Prov. 8. ult it was finis operis though not operantis it was the end of the work Ezek. 8.3 though not of the worker and so men going about to establish their own righteousness and not submitting unto the righteousness of God and being contented to be acted by a spirit of bondage which is the spirit of the first Covenant which doth produce in them fruits answerable to the Covenant under which they stand this is in Gods account and in the censure of the Scripture an argument of an inward desire and contentment to be under this Covenant still Now because men do look upon it as a desirable condition let us examine what this condition is of a man fallen to be under the first Covenant as broken Divines do commonly say that a man that is in Christ is freed from the Law he being dead to the Law and the Law being dead unto him in some respects as was mentioned at first 1 For Irritation the Law hath not this power in men to irritate and exasperate and enrage their lusts by the restraint and the prohibitions of them and so they apply that place Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law That is saith Beza He exhorts them to Sanctification Let not sin raign in your mortal bodies and he does promise them sin shall not raign under the Law only forbidding sinning and thereby provoking and increasing lust but you are under Grace strengthning against sin and healing it and hence it is concluded from several other Scriptures that a man in Christ and under Grace is freed from the Law and irritation of it 2 For Co-action to keep them from sin by force for fear simply of the curse of the Law and to compell them to duty as a task-master against their wills when the Law they hate and the duty that is required of them that they hate and wish there were no Law and look upon it as a yoak and a burden insupportable for as a godly man says of sin so a wicked man says of duty that which I hate that do I. And it requires of him perfect obedience as a task-master he must work brick but gives no straw requires the full tale of duty but gives no strength nor assistance The Apostle says Gal. 5.8 if you be led by the spirit you are not under the Law the spirit that is in you is the spirit of the second Covenant a spirit of Adoption a spirit of liberty a free and a Princely spirit which enables you to perform duties out of an inward principle of love to them and delight in them unto them the yoak is easie and the burden is light for it 's their happiness and honour and meat and drink to do the will of their Heavenly father And so that place I conceive is to be understood 1 Tim. 1.9 The Law was not made for a righteous man that is neither in the restraining act of it or keeping from sin only for fear of the curse because he has an inward principle that lusts against it and as a fountain casts out the mud an inward antipathy a spirit lusting and rising against it that though there were no curse yet he would hate it and endeavour to avoid it nor in the constraining power of it to force to duty only as that which his soul hates and he comes hardly off too in any measure to do that which is required but he has a spirit within the Law written in his heart an inward principle suitable to what the Law requires of him as it is said of Christ in respect of that great Commandment was laid on him Joh. 10.18 This Commandment have I received of my father for of that I think he speaks lo I come to do thy will thy law is in the middle of my bowels I have power to lay it down and to take it up again He had an inward principle that made him ready and willing and chearful in it and in this respect the Law was never made for them as the only principle upon which they should act 3 For condemnation so as to be able to lay upon a man the guilt of his own sin and condemn him for it for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law there is a destroying power in sin and this it has from the condemning power of the Law do but take away the condemning power of the Law and the sting of death that is that power that it has to destroy the soul is gone because the guilt is taken off the sinner Now Gal. 3.13 He has delivered us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us And so Gal. 5.23 Against such there is no Law It is not spoken against such works but against such persons there is no Law partly because the Law is against none but those that transgress it and partly because those being the fruits of the spirit do argue and clear to a man that his Covenant is changed because he is acted by the spirit of the second Covenant and therefore he may thereby receive an evidence to himself that the condemning power of the Law is not against him any more Rom. 4.6 4 For Justification For blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works That no man is justified by the Law is evident Gal. 2. ult If righteousness be by the law then Christ is dead in vain And from hence I argue that if they that are in Christ and under the second Covenant are freed from the Law in all these respects then all those that are out of Christ are under the Law still in all those respects and therefore every unregenerate man is under the Law as a Covenant of works and under this Covenant he desires to be now the Covenant being broken he is under it for Justification Irritation Coaction and Condemnation Daven de luâ—ut actuali p. 397. which when we have lookt over it will appear that this is no such happy condition that a man should desire it In being freed thus from the Law the main part of a Christians liberty consists yet there is this difference the two last refer unto a person and state and in those his liberty is perfect and he is wholly freed from the Law
man to seek out curious ways of sinning against it to avoid the power of the law as we see in Gaming c. sin takes occasion by the Commandment that it may sin more artificially and such men are hardly convinced 2 The Law discovers sin and men will not see it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment and vents it self by refusing knowledge And they stop their ears that they may not be charmed by the voice of the charmer Joh. 3.20 c. 3 Sin takes occasion from hence in that men hate the light of the law and they wish that there were no such law in the world He that does evil hates the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest and reproved As the law discovers that to be evil in which the soul placeth its greatest good so this discovery draws out a hatred in the soul a-against that law which does as a glass discover the spots which the sinner would have hidden 2. The law does restrain sin and puts a stop to it and shuts up the sinner as we may read Gal. 3.23 Whence sin breaks forth more violently men being prone to sin and cannot live without it for the comfort of their life comes in by it The Law may restrain and keep in lust for a while Mat. 12.43 but it breaks forth as fire when you suppress it outwardly it burns the hotter within and spreads the more by a restraint 1 It spreads the more in the man by the restraint of the Law a man that hath forborn a sin long there comes seven worse spirits at the last and makes him more the child of the Devil than he was before the former restraint that was upon him makes his inward man the more exceeding sinful As it was with Judas a Devil though a Disciple The restraint of sin by the Commandment causes it to defile his inward man the more 2 The more sin is enraged as Psal 2. They say let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Chains put not a fierceness into a beast but yet it does outwardly draw forth that fury that was in its nature As a potion in some diseases given for the cure irritates the peccant humour and kills the man the sooner not that it puts a new sickness in but only the humours being stirred are the more enraged 3 So in this case it does not only enrage sin and so make it more fierce but it improves it by this enraging as the presence of an injury doth heighten a mans anger as we see Goliah did David s his brags drew forth David's courage and it rose to the greater height and so any difficulty would Alexander's so that it was an exploit fit for Alexander if none else would undertake it and so a damm in the water it does cause it to swell and foam the more and the coldness of the circumstant air in the winter does not put more heat into the fire and yet by an Antiperistasis it excites it so that it is felt the more And therefore men living under the clearest discoveries of the Law their sins do rise to the greatest height men by the light of nature cannot sin against the Holy Ghost the great and the unpardonable transgression but this sin is by Gospel-light and this draws forth to direct enmity a mans spirit against the light so that he sins wilfully after that he hath received the knowledge of the truth and with despight for it is this being under the irritating power of the Law that is the great occasion of the sin against the Holy Ghost 3. There is a condemning power of the Law it passes a sentence upon a man and upon his estate and let 's into his soul by the spirit of bondage fear of death and dreadful apprehensions of wrath fearful expectations of judgment and of violent fire to devour him And from this also sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrours that a man should destroy himself and become the instrument of his own mercy and be his own executioner as Judas and Achitophel and many others have done And 2 hence sin takes occasion to drive them to despair and draws it forth fastning their eyes upon the vengeance of God and never shewing them the remedy and the pardon and then with Cain men say mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven 3 Hence follows a giving up themselves unto all excess of riot there is no hope and therefore I will enjoy the good things that are present and not have a Hell here and hereafter too And therefore they refrain not from any evil way but resolve to take their fill of sin while they are here for they are sure they can be but damned as many a wicked wretch when he is condemned to die he cares not what he does then for he knows he can be but hanged Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 4 The rage of their spirits does rise from hence even to blasphemy and revenge against God He saith O that I were above God! for I know that he will not have mercy upon me And so the Damned in Hell do blaspheme God by way of revenge because they are shut up under wrath and know that there is no mercy for them And this is the ground also of the great rage and revenge against God that is acted by the Devil ever since the fall Thus men seeing themselves condemned by the Law and being in a continual expectation of this wrath the revenge and rage of their spirits against God is by this means drawn forth and in all these respects sin does take occasion by the Commandment and becomes the more exceeding sinful SECT II. Whence it is that the Law exasperates and encreases Sin § 1. LET us now come having proved the Point to look into the grounds of it How it should come to pass that that which discovers sin and forbids it should exasperate and increase it and that that which is a means to lead the people of God into ways of holiness and to sanctifie them converting the soul making wise the simple should occasion sin and death to others We must lay this as a ground That the cause is not in the Law the Apostles care is to remove any blemish that may be cast on the Law of God as if God had given a Law to this end to add unto the sin of man whereas indeed before the Law sin was in the world and it was out of measure sinful but it did not appear so without the Law There is a twofold cause that the Apostle does here point us unto 1 There is causa per se a formal cause which does of it self and of its own nature properly produce the effect from some inward and intrinsecal power and efficiency and so the Law is not the cause of sin in a man neither is there any thing in the Law that should
shall be effectual to a mans pollution Vse 1 § 5. See here the malignity and the vile nature of sin and what a deadly disease it is when that which God did give of purpose to destroy it will increase it We say that is a very deadly disease that you can apply no physick but it does stir up the disease and it 's increased by it and all that you can take feeds the disease so here sin must needs be a deadly thing that the law should increase it which in its own nature should abate it There are two truths that should be always in a mans eye God to be the chiefest Good and Sin to be the greatest Evil. There is no one thing that does set forth the evil of sin more than this that the Commandment of God which doth forbid it curse it condemn it should improve it It 's no wonder then if mercies make men more wicked and if crosses add to mens sins for the very Law of God and his threatnings and restraints thereof will do it if any thing make sin appear to a man to be out of measure sinful and a disease incurable in it self this will 2. See hereby the vanity of that Doctrine that says Moral perswasion is sufficient unto conversion God enlightning of a mans mind and shewing him what is his duty and what is required of him and perswading of his will it is according to these able to imbrace it and so turn unto God and duty and herein is the drawing of God the Father when as we see that when God does set a mans duty before him in the Law with all the threatnings of it and all the promises of it this is so far from converting the man that it improves his sin sin and makes it the more to rage against God and become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore there is an inward work of God an Almighty Power put forth in changing the heart and converting of the will Moral perswasions may make a man more wicked but they will never convert him or make him the more holy without this inward work put forth by God in changing the heart 3. See here what is the proper rise and ground of that unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost It is by a curse of the first Covenant coming upon to the word of God that it is an occasional means lust opposing it to make sin rise the higher and first it brings forth in a man sins against knowledge and afterwards sins with malice and despight If the Law had never been revealed again but man had been left as many of the Heathens are who have but that small glimmering of light which some do call the remainders of the Law within them which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 2. They shew the works of the law written in their hearts this sin had never been heard of in the world it is a sin proper unto the Church of God and cannot be committed out of the Church where men are enlightned in the truth and sin takes occasion from the Law to break forth into despight against it 4. See what a vain thing it is for a man to glory in any Church-priviledge The Jews did stand much upon it and doubtless it was a great mercy that unto them did belong the giving of the Law and the Promises and unto them were committed the Oracles of God and therefore they rested in and made their boast of the Law c. Rom. 2.18 19. And what fruit had most of them by the Law it did aggravate their sins in the guilt of them and drew forth their sins in the power of them unto the greater height and in many of them even to the sin against the Holy Ghost And so it does many men that live under the Gospel at this day they have no other fruit by their ordinances and of the word of God amongst them but to make them more exceedingly wicked 5. See what a misery it is to be in a state of unregeneracy he that is so is wicked by nature and every thing wâ—â— make him worse See also what a mercy restraining grace is to a man that is unregenerate when we read of Judas and how Christs reproof did heighten his malice and of the Pharisees how by Christs Sermon their rage was drawn forth and they gnashed their teeth upon him c. What a mercy is it should every soul say that all the Sermons that ever I have heard of Christ c. should not have wrought the same effects in me long ago Luther saith that reading that place Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and understanding it only de justitia activa scilicet punientè of Gods punishing justice Non amabam imo odiebam justum punientem Deum tacitaque si non blasphemia certe ingenti murmuratione c. odi istud vocabulum poenitentiae I did not love but hate the just and punishing God and by a silent great murmur if not blasphemy I did hate that word Repentance Now that it has not been so to every one of us and we sinned against the Holy Ghost and in the highest acts of direct enmity that there had been no hope of mercy seeing that we cannot say that we have done it ignorantly Oh what a mercy is restraining Grace 6. Lastly how should it engage the people of God to thankfulness that God has freed them from this great misery that now the Law should subdue their lusts and not enrage them and if it does at any time yet it 's not to bring forth fruit unto death not to have a full dominion over them how should it make them fear when they read or hear the Law lest it should add to the disease Oh! how ought people to pray and Ministers pray that they may not be a curse and that the word which they hear and preach may not ripen their sins and draw out and improve their corruptions but their graces and make them holy CHAP. IV. The Rigor and Coactive power of the Law Gal. 5.18 But if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the Law SECT I. Wherein the Coactive power of the Law consists § 1. THere is a double sense of these words given by Interpreters and both may very well be put together The Apostle having said before That in a godly man there are two contrary principles flesh and spirit and they lust and act one against another so that they cannot do the things they would but when they would do good evil is present with them he adds here a consolation to bear up their hearts in this which is the greatest conflict upon earth between flesh and spirit in the same heart and that which made them to look upon themselves as miserable men all their days Rom. 7.24 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law that is though there
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
a principle of life within or else a principle from without either weights or springs as it is in Clocks or Watches which makes the motion so many men may move to duty and abstain from sin not from an inward principle of life in the one or the other but from a weight without 5. There is in every unregenerate man a sinful and unrenewed heart deceitful above all things Jer. 17.10 and desperately evil a heart fully set in him to do evil and because this is natural therefore his heart is fully bent to go this way so that let him be constrained to do duty yet he will hate the duty that he does and count it a weariness and look upon it as a burden Mallet non facere si posset impune and say When will the Sabbath be gone And let him be kept from sin yet he will love it still if you chain up a Beast from the prey yet his inclination will be after it and keep the stone from the Center and force it up into the air as often as you will it will still return and when it comes down to the earth and can descend no further yet it will have a tendency thereunto So Conscience thâ—â— is meerly natural counts it its misery and affliction to be kept from sin for restrain it from sin never so much it will at last break these bounds and will be carried on with the greater fury greediness and violence because of the former restraint that was put upon it and the Devil will enter with seven worse spirits the dog will return to his vomit and the latter end will be worse than the beginning it had been better that man had never known the way of righteousness for he will be more wicked than if he had never known it Thus let the man have a heart set upon lust and let the power of the Law come into his Conscience acted by the Spirit it 's no wonder if it so far over-awe the man as to restrain him from sin and constrain him to duty § 2. But is a godly man that is under the Covenant of Grace wholly freed from the Coaction of the Law Answ This distinction was laid down in the beginning that though the main part of our Christian Liberty consists in being freed from the Law yet this liberty is in this life either inchoata or perfecta in respect of justification and condemnation A godly man is perfectly freed from the Law as a Covenant but in respect of Irritation and Coaction he is freed from these effects of it only in part We have seen how far the Irritation of the Law remains even in the regenerate and it is like lime which does quench those fires sometimes kindles 〈◊〉 Sin while it does remain and is acted by Satan may take occasion by the Commandment and produce woful effects even in the Saints so for the Coaction of the Law they are not wholly freed from it so far as they are unregenerate and the law of the flesh remains in their members the Law is of use to them and a handmaid to the Gospel and they do and ought to make use of legal motives to constrain to duty and to restrain from sin and the Law is to be preached to the regenerate to this purpose Heb. 11.25 1. To constrain to duty many times The Saints are to make use of the Law and the good things thereof so did Moses he had respect to the recompence of reward and the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.9 We labour whether present or absent that we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ and knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Again Heb. 12. ult Let us have grace to serve him acceptably for our God is a consuming fire These be the helps that the Lord has given us and it were our sin not to make use of them there is no man but he finds so much deadness and backwardness in his flesh that he shall be forced to call in this help many times Mark 9.44 2. And to restrain a man from sin also Christs exhortation is Cut off your right hand and pull out your right eye for it 's better to go to heaven maimed than having two eyes to be cast into hell where the worm dies not c. And if Adam in the state of Innocency had need of the threatning of the Law to deter him from sin much more a godly man that is holy but in part Yet there is a great deal of difference 1 in a godly man this is not the only principle that acts him as it is in the unregenerate for an unregenerate man would never do duty while he lives were it not from this Coaction of the Law out of a principle of self-love and natural conscience for he does duties as a godly man commits sins and he must say that which I hate do I but in a godly man there is another principle also there is a law of his mind an inward disposition the law written in his heart a new and divine nature and his obedience to God is natural to him as it is for a tree to bring forth fruit in its kind and a fountain to cast out mud and to work out any thing that is contrary to it 2 As this is not the only so it is not the main principle that works in them but there is the Spirit of Christ that dwells in them and leads them and there is a law of love that does mainly act them in all they do 1 Joh. 5.3 they abstain from Sin as from Hell and that which they see all evil in and as that which is dishonourable to God and defiles their own beauty for Sin is the souls deformity as Grace is the ornament of the soul and he does duty from an ingenuous and free spirit And therefore Christ says Take my yoke upon you for it is easie Whence so far as a man is regenerate he is a law unto himself and he would be kept from sin and carried on to duty if neither of these were but only from a principle within 3. The more a regenerate man is acted by legal principles and the less love he has to spiritual duties the less spiritual he is and therefore his desire is always to be led by the Spirit of God and he always prays to God for his free Princely Spirit SECT III. The APPLICATION § 1. WE may hence learn what a miserable estate a man is in being under the first Covenant every thing is a burden to him because it is a constraint upon his spirit the thing he does he hates he has a contrary principle within him which he would indulge and gratifie Now there being in a man the same nature and the command of God lying upon a man this may and this does commonly put a force upon him to perform duties of the law but that
Saints that they are freed from the Coaction of the Law that they are not so under it as unregenerate men are For 1 they do no good by constraint The regenerate man is always ready to obey the will of God he is a man that acts from an inward principle and therein lives above the Law he that is born of God never sins but always obeys God 1 John every thing that the Law commands is pleasant to him and the Commandments of God are not grievous Cant. 3.10 as Christs Chariot in which he comes to us is paved with Love so is our way to Christ paved with Love and hence a man is never weary but the longer a man continues in the ways of God the more he is satisfied with them because where is a suitableness there is no weariness the Sun is not weary with shining nor the fire weary with burning nor are the Angels in Heaven ever weary of beholding God for ever because their happiness is perfected by it nor are the Saints in earth weary of doing the will of their Heavenly Father neither doing-work nor suffering-work to bear Christs Cross is not grievous to them to be reproached for his name's sake is counted all joy they despise the pleasures of sin for a season living in the sure hope of their enjoying rivers of pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore CHAP. V. All those that are in Christ are translated from under the first Covenant Col. 1.13 Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son or the Son of his Love SECT I. A Scriptural account of this Translation § 1. NOW we come to speak of the last Branch considerable in this Covenant and that is a mans translation out of it Wherein there are four things to be considered 1 That all that are in Christ are translated out of the first Covenant and under it no more 2 The nature and manner of this Translation 3 The abolishing of the first Covenant by a mans translation out of it and the introduction of a second by which the former is made old 4 The subserviency and subordination of this first Covenant in many respects unto the Covenant of Grace as Hagar even then when under the notion of a Covenant it is abolished to Believers The first of these we shall deduce out of these words when we have opened them unto you In the latter part of this Chapter there are mainly two things we are to consider 1 The honour of our Redeemer 2 The manner of our Redemption The honour of our Redeemer is set forth from vers 15 and the manner of our Redemption vers 13 14 and that in many particulars Here we may observe 1 The condition wherein the people of God are before their Conversion 1 They are under the power of darkness 2 They are out of the Kingdom of Gods dear Son 2 Their condition after Conversion They are freed there is deliverence c. and there is translation unto the Kingdom of his Son 1. By nature every man is under the power of darkness even the Elect of God as well as others The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does properly signifie right and authority over any thing Man did by the first temptation sell himself to the Devil and as it were made a vertual covenant and compact with Satan and as it 's said of Ahab Quod venditur transit in potestatem emptoris He sold himself to work iniquity so it is with all by nature And therefore God in judgment gave man over unto the power of Sin and therein to the dominion of Satan and then Satans godship came in and he became the god of this World and the Prince of the power of the air By darkness is meant in Scripture ignorance sin and misery and of all this darkness Satan is the Prince and has the power he is the ruler of the darkness of this world Ephes 6.12 Condemnandi dominandi This power of darkness is double there is a condemning power and there is a ruling power that makes a man do the works of the Devil and that brings forth fruit unto death Now how comes Satan to have a condemning power the power of death it is by sin and how came sin to have a condemning power it is by the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 that is Heb. 12.14 the Law as a Covenant So that all the power Satan has it is by sin and the power that sin has it is from the Law as a Covenant being broken So that every Elect child of God is by nature under the Law as a Covenant for condemnation and irritation and by this means is under the power of sin and under the dominion of Satan Now a mans deliverance from this is by conquest and by power for it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deliver a man by force and set him free Rom. 7.24 When man had no strength to deliver himself but must have lain and perished under this power for ever yea had not so much as an ability of will to desire deliverance and when all the powers of darkness were put forth to keep a man under and Sin and the Law and Satan did their utmost the strong man armed kept the house then Christ a stronger than he breaks in destroys sin and death and him that had the power of death that is the Devil and by this means the Law has no power Sin has no strength Death has no sting and Satan has no dominion But man being under the power of darkness he is out of the Kingdom of Christ which is a Kingdom of Righteousness and free Justification Rom. 14.17 He is free from this for he is under the power of darkness or condemnation because under the power of the Law and under the dominion of him that has the power of death that is the Devil and Christs Kingdom is a Kingdom of light and holiness but they are under the power of darkness sin having by their Covenant dominion over them and they being by Satan led captive at his will and being acted by the spirit of the power of the air c. But all that are converted are under the Kingdom of Christ as it is a Kingdom of Righteousness for matter of Justification and as it is a Kingdom of Grace for the matter of Sanctification and Life and whoever comes under this Kingdom it is by Translation and they are thereby delivered from the power and the authority of the one as they are translated into the other and the word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does signifie to put a man out of one condition into another and to change a man from his former state in which he was as Luk. 16.4 My master puts me out of the stewardship c. And the Septuagint do use it commonly for transplanting a man out
nor under the curse Now hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit if any man has not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Now wheresoever the spirit of Christ is it is a spirit of mortification as Rom. 8.10 for Christs Spirit had the same end that Christ had 1 Joh. 1.8 1 A mans darling lust is mortified for a man converted hates every sin but especially these as a Deer that is shot is not quiet till the Arrow that has wounded him be taken out Psal 18.23 Hos 14.3 and the Psalmist says I was also upright before him and I kept my self from my iniquity There is no greater sign that a man is acted by the spirit of the Devil than indulging this way of sinning 2 A man conflicts specially against spiritual sins for those sins make a man most conformable to the Devil as for gross sins restraining grace and a natural conscience will go far to keep them under all sins are from the Devil either per modum servitutis or imaginis in a way of servitude or image Pride and contempt of God and drawing others to sin and delighting in it hating godliness in others obstinacy and impenitency c. these sins argue whose children we are That we are of our father the Devil for his lusts we do c. Spiritual lusts are his image 2. Where the Spirit of Christ dwells the spirit of the second Covenant he is a spirit of Sanctification Joh. 3â—6 there is a renewing of the inward man that which is born of the spirit is spirit the spirit of God is not only water but fire which turns all into it self it is a spirit of Wisdom and a spirit of faith love meekness and of a sound mind conforming the outward man making him follow the Lord fully he is willingly ignorant of no truth he does not hide his eyes Numb 14.24 nor stop his ears from hearing of it nor does he imprison any truth in unrighteousness he will walk up to his light in every thing though duties be difficult to honour God and own his people before the world as we may live to see it a crime to countenance a profession of godliness yet this man that has received another spirit as Caleb had can let the world see that all his delight is in the Saints and though he should be reckoned singular and go alone with Athanasius and Luther yet he still keeps on his way notwithstanding all opposition and lays out all that is in him and dear to him for Christ and if he perish in a way of duty he perishes Luk. 11.21 he will venture life and all for God as Nehemiah and Hester did Vse 2 § 2. Hence we may see the sinfulness of an unregenerate state in this That all of you that are so are strangers to the Covenant of promise and this is set forth by the Apostle as that state of sin in which the Gentiles lay before their conversion Chrysost Chrysostome says that they were not only separated from this Covenant and without it but wholly strangers to it and though as to the terms of the Covenant we be not so great strangers now because the Gospel of Grace is made known to us yet all they that do not accept of the terms of the Covenant but do stand out in their unbelief and do not imbrace the Lord Christ offered in the Gospel they are as truly in Gods account still strangers unto the Covenant of Promise as the Gentiles were before the Gospel was preached unto them and let no man say What are we all Heathens will you put us into the same condition with them Let me tell you the Covenant of Grace has been offered unto you and the terms of it plainly set before you And they are 1 God will be yours if you will be his he will be wholly yours so as you must be wholly his Cant. 6.2 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Bernard says Mea non placent nisi mecum Christ will neither marry a Widow nor a Harlot Lev. 21.14 he will have the first Love and the whole Love Hos 3.3 Thou shalt be unto me alone and unto none other 2 Thou shalt give all that is thine unto him and he will give all that is his unto thee thou shalt have an interest in what is his but so as Christ will have an interest likewise in all that is thine He â—hat does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple thou must follow the lamb whithersoever he goes thou must forget thy own kindred and thy fathers house forsake yea hate thy â—wn life if it come in competition with thy duty and love to Christ for a man to be willing 〈◊〉 reserve any thing at his own dispose that he may enjoy a-part from Christ it is a token 〈◊〉 a false heart and the Lord abhors it To do as Ananias and Saphira did keep back part 〈◊〉 the price reserve something that they would not give up and yet pretend to give up all â—is abominable to God and that man that does not consent unto the Covenant upon these â—â—rms does not give the hand unto the Lord and subscribe with his hand unto the Lord 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 30.8 he that is not willing to come and take of this water of life Isa 44. Rev. 22. his name shall â—e blotted out of the book of life c. If he do not accept of nor consent to the Covenant â—â—at man though he live in the Church he is in Gods account as a Heathen and a stranger 〈◊〉 the Covenant of Promise as truly as they that live at the furthest ends of the earth to â—hom the offer of a second Covenant never came and in some respects are worse than they â—â—erefore we read that David calls the Ziphims though they were the Inhabitants of Judah Ezek. 16.3 Hos 12.7 Amos 9.7 Isa 1.10 â—â—rangers and Sauls Courtiers that were wicked men and persecutors of him he called Heathens and Saul himself he calls Cush and that as one well observes not without some â—llusion unto his fathers name Cush an Ethiopian Psal 7.1 and it 's said Rev. 11.2 The â—utward Court shall be trodden down of the Gentiles which is meant of those that receive the â—ark of the Beast and bear his image for Popery is nothing else but Paganism under a â—orm of Christianity and therefore such are Gentiles in Gods account and the Lord meaâ—â—res all with one line He will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised Jer. 9. ult 8. 9. â—gypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moah and all that are in the â—â—ermost corners that dwell in the wilderness for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all 〈◊〉 house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart c. The misery of not being translated into the second Covenant has been
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
they grow above ground the more they spread under ground lop them continually that they grow not above and they will by degrees wither and die Grace doth grow by the actings of it and so does sin and if a man should have Grace in his heart and yet never bring forth fruit though it could not wholly die because it it an immortal seed upheld by the Spirit of Grace yet it would never thrive There is a double way that the Devil takes to increase sin in a wicked man 1 He doth infuse all the devillishness into them that he can the Devil entred into Judas and put it into his heart to betray Christ the wicked one toucheth them 2 All that wickedness that is in them he does act and draw forth to the utmost And there is a double way of the decay of Grace 1 By stirring up and strengthning the contrary principle of sin 2 By hindering Grace from acting in all things and so though it be immortal seed yet in the degrees of it it will decay So it is here the Spirit of God infusing a new principle and restraining and hindering the actings of the old by this means sin dies by degrees and the heart is weaned and taken off from it and this is done by the Law SECT IV. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it is a Rule § 1. WE have thus far considered the Law as it is in its subservience to the Gospel as a glass discovering sin and as a bridle restraining it now we come to the third Consideration as it is a Rule to guide and direct a man in all the ways of obedience and it is a Rule within and a Rule without 1. It is a Rule within that is the Spirit of God given by the Gospel or the second Covenant doth make use of the Law of God as an Instrument of Conversion and so plants in a man a rule of holiness and obedience in his own heart a principle of conformity unto the will of God in all things The Law indeed cannot do this of it self looked upon as a Covenant alone for so it is a dead letter but as it is in the hand of the Spirit Rom. 7.9 The saving knowledge of the Law is brought in by a secret and yet sacred blast of the Spirit of God breaking in and blowing when he listeth Now that the Law is an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the conversion of souls is plain 1 Every part of the Word of God has a converting power if the Spirit of God be pleased to concur with it for every part of the Word of God is seed to beget as well as milk and strong meat to nourish if any part of the Word of God be ingrafted in the heart it will change the stock of what nature soever 2 It is that which is attributed to the Law Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Indeed there is some difference about the word converting some say it is reviving or returning the soul when going down to the pit thou sayest Return again but it is returning from sin as well as sorrow and therefore Act. 7.38 called verba viva vivificantia living and life-giving oracles which give life here and bring to life hereafter 3 That is the promise of the new Covenant I will put my Law into their hearts and write it in their inward parts for no man has by nature the Law of God in his heart for the image of sin and the law of sin is upon the heart of man by nature Gen. 6.5 Rom. 12.2 1 The Law of the Lord is by sin blotted out of the hearts of men that image of God and conformity unto his will is taken away which they had at first and they have a new law the law of sin there 2 It is the Law put into the heart by the Spirit of God that is the rule of all a mans inward obedience and conformity unto God Adam had the Law written in his heart not only a Law without but inward dispositions conformable to it within and when man had blotted it out God wrote it in tables of stone but now he will put it into the hearts of men so that they shall have an inward principle answerable to the Law-rule without and whatever he does require in the Law something within shall answer to it but this Law is put in by the hand of God 3 In Conversion God does put in the whole Law into the heart of man what Law is it but the Moral Law that which is a Rule of a mans way without is the Rule of a mans heart within and God will put it so therein that it shall never be blotted out again by sin for he will write it there that it may remain Litera scripta manet c. but more particularly observe 1. That no man hath in him the Law of God by nature but all are enemies unto the Law in their minds they are not subject unto it neither can be and therefore the Apostle says Rom. 8.7 When the Commandment came c. it was a coming Commandment not of his own fetching it is therefore said to be a voice crying behind us This is the way walk in it for every man by nature hath another law the law of sin the law of his members which stands in opposition to the law of his mind the image he has upon him is the image of the Devil and he has contrary dispositions in his inward man unto God and to the will of God in all things not formed by the word Rom. 12.2 2. That which is written there is the Moral Law There are two great principal parts of a mans holiness Faith and Obedience and because the ground of Obedience is Faith therefore it is commonly called in Scripture the Obedience of Faith and answerable unto these are the two great principal parts of the Word there are the precepts of the Law and the promises of the Gospel and both these the Lord makes an ingrafted word the foundation of a mans faith is the Promise and thereby a man is made partaker of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and the foundation of a mans obedience is the Precept for in the regeneration we are renewed after the image of him that created it therefore writing the Law in the heart is a renewing of the image of God which in Adam we had lost and that was a knowledge of the whole will of God in whatever concerned Gods glory and his own duty and he had an inward ability and disposition of soul in all things to submit himself thereunto with cheerfulness So that in the fall the Law of God that was written in our hearts that was stamped upon us and concreated with us was utterly blotted out and now the renewing of this Law in our inward man is our regeneration a putting the same dispositions within us that were
it by and by but to come into bond to do it hereafter and in the mean while to stand in our stead and to be looked upon as ingaged unto God for what we did owe this still was a far greater condescension in Christ For to bring in the Covenant of Grace that it might take place for us he must come under another Covenant and into that also upon the worst terms that could be 4thly When the Lord had brought in this second Covenant by coming under the first fulfilling it and thereby abolishing it cancelling the hand-writing that was against us and nailing it to his Cross Now had he in the second Covenant only undertaken the commanding part which is that which is honourable in it and laid upon us the others that we had stood bound unto God to obey and so have left us under a better Covenant the former being taken out of the way it had been less but in this new Covenant he must undertake all and be all in all in the Covenant not only that he undertakes to dispense all from God unto us and is the great steward therein the sun of righteousness for God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son John 5.11 but as all the glory that God will bestow he doth dispense by Christ so all the duties that we owe to God Christ hath undertaken for even both parts of the Covenant his faithfulness is ingaged to us that we shall have acceptance with God and all blessingâ—â—â—om him and unto God he is ingaged that he shall have all duties and therefore we beâ—â— fruit in him Joh. 15.5 and without me you can do nothing I can do all things through Christ strengthening me Phil. 4.13 He works in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure Hos 14.8 and upon him is all our fruit found And he hath ingaged himself to work all your works in you and for you Our duties are his though we do them for he inables us to do them we move but as we are moved we act but as we are acted the duty is ours but the efficacy is his from him alone we have the supply of the spirit that inables us to bear fruit unto God and he is ingaged to present us unto his Father without spot or wrinkle because he doth give up his Kingdom unto the Father that God may be all in all Heb. 7.22 Thus Christ is the surety of a better Covenant 3. Hence believers should learn to know their place and station under the second Covenant that they come in only as accessories into this Covenant only at second hand under the grace and favour and acceptance of another and no otherwise We commonly through our ignorance of the Covenant of Grace do think that when the first Covenant was broken Christ did come and pay the debt and satisfie the Curse for us and as a Mediator did procure God to make a new Covenant with us as if we were the persons with whom this Covenant was made and to whom the grace mercies priviledges and promises of the Covenant do belong only Christ as Mediator by satisfying of the debt of the first Covenant and taking it away did procure it for us But we are herein utterly mistaken for he hath so brought in a second Covenant that he himself is the primus foederatus the first federate therein and hath the same place as the second Adam that the first Adam had in the first Covenant it was made primarily with him and it comes upon all his posterity in the Curse of it only as they are in him in him all have sinned Rom. 5 2. So all the Saints are said to be the seed of Christ the second Adam and the Covenant is made with him and all the graces of the Covenant and the promises of the Covenant are made unto him as unto the head and unto us only as we are in him and no otherwise so that it is by our Union that we come under Christs Covenant and thereby have a right and title unto all the promises of the Covenant Gal. 3. last 2 Cor. 1.20 and priviledges thereof In him are all the promises of God yea and Amen and your duties and obedience are no further accepted than as they are done in him we have access in the beloved we are justified and sanctified in him accepted and glorified in him even our glory in Heaven is not properly our own we enter into our Masters joy Matt. 25.21 And it is of great concernment that we should know our place in this Covenant 1 that we may give Christ the Glory which is part of that name above every name that God hath given him Phil. 2.9 Isa 28.16 2 Tim 2.19 that he should be the Prince of the second Covenant the second Adam that he should be the foundation of foundations The foundation of God remains sure that is the election of God as he hath chosen us in Christ who is the foundation upon whom all the building of the Church is laid and therefore is the corner-stone in a double sense 1 Lowest as that which bears the stress and weight of the whole building as it is Isa 28.16 1 Pet. 2.6 And 2 as it is the top of the building and so in the resurrection Psal 118.22 he is glorified and manifested to be the head of the corner It hath been the great thing that the Lord aims at in all things That men might glorifie and honour his Son as they honour the Father This is Gods great purpose in the Covenant of Grace that in every thing Christ might be exalted if there be any duties to be done the Soul is to look upon Christ as ingaged in it and it belongs unto him only as he is one with Christ and therefore the strength and supply must come from him alone and therefore behold the man whose name is the branch If any service be to be accepted Zach. â—â— 12. it belongs unto Christ and it is accepted of us no otherwise but as it comes out of the Angels hand and if it be never so mean yet as it comes from Christ it shall be accepted though but a Cup of cold water if offered in the name of Christ and by his hand unto the Father And if any promise be to be fulfilled the Soul looks upon Christ and his worthiness and Gods ingagement to him for its performance it is in him that all promises are accomplished and this hath made Christ all in all so sweet unto all the Saints God would have us look on him as all in the new Covenant and to give him the honour and the preheminence which we shall never do unless we know our own place and station 2 This is the only way to abase us and to keep us low in our own eyes Consider thy place and tenure in the second Covenant thou holdest by another and comest in under this
there is many a man that goes back from â—â—is ingagement to God long and per poenitentiae poenitentiam Diabolo satisfaciet Tertul. By repenting â—f his repentance he will satisfie the Devil But a heart that is sincere with God will renew â—t again and he would not have his ingagement broken he still cries out Lord I am thine and thou art the Lord my God surely thou art our Father and thy compassion does not fail but thou renewest it upon us every moment Therefore I come again to give the hand to the Lord and renew my Covenant with him 3. By reason of the falseness of our hearts there is so much treachery of spirit that we are not easily kept within bounds our purposes are easily broken and men draw back from the Lord by reason of the falseness of their hearts and the treachery that is in them Ezech. 16.30 How weak is thy heart unstable as water and it is said that water hardly contains it self within its own bounds And therefore it was Chrysostoms complaint once Gen. 49.4 and since it has been the complaint of many others after him That a Minister did never find his â—ork as he left it and so does a Christian complain he does seldom find his heart as he left 〈◊〉 Now that a mans heart may be fixed therefore the Lord takes his people into Coveâ—ant with himself and they bind themselves much in Covenants 4. They renew their Covenant that by often repeating and renewing it it may be set on upon their spirits the more and lay the greater ingagement upon them for surely the more frequently we bind our selves the faster we are bound and every renewal of our Covenant doth intend and strengthen the obligation and makes the deeper impression upon the heart and therefore Deut. 6.7 the Lord commands Israel to teach them diligently unto their children the word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to sharpen them as you do a Knife saepius ad cotem impellendum the way to make it take the deepest impression upon the soul is to set it on by often and frequent repetitions because of the deadness of our hearts and inadvertence of spirit we are apt to forget the Covenant of the Lord Deut. 4.23 and when men are apt to forget a thing they had need have it repeated often to them 5. By reason of the forgetfulness of the heart there is nothing that the ungodliness of a mans heart is more prone to than to forget his ingagement unto God and therefore was that strict charge laid upon them Deut. 4.23 Take heed to your selves lest you forget the Covenant which the Lord your God made with you and make you a graven Image c. The happiness of the Angels lies in this that they both know all the duties of their Covenant and have them alwaies in mind for where there is no sinfulness there is no forgetfulness but the misery of man lies in this as to the ingagement of this Covenant in many things he is ignorant of it so also is he unmindful of it and thence the Apostle saith Heb. 2.1 2. Lest we prove leaking vessels c. or as some will derive the word Heb. 2.1 2. charta bibula quae Scripturam non bene continet the word is written there as in sinking paper and the Ink runs abroad that afterwards when you have writ it you cannot read it now things that we are willing to remember we repeat them often and do thereby keep them in mind as the remembrance of the creation the mercy the Lord would not have forgotten and for this cause he has appointed a weekly remembrance and the death of Christ he would not have to be forgotten and therefore he appoints us to remember it often do this in remembrance of me because it would else quickly wear out of our minds mercies and duties being for the most part written in our hearts as letters written upon the water no sooner in but out and therefore we read in Esay 48.8 when the Lord would have a thing take deep impression upon them he bids them to remember it yea bring it again to mind O ye transgressors not only remember it once but often bring it again to mind c. Now there is a double curse upon the memory of man 1 There is a natural weakness that it is like a Sieve that lets pass all the Corn and retains nothing but the Chaff 2 There is a weakness that is below nature As there is a strength unto good that is supernatural when a man is immediately acted by the Spirit of God that there is in him more than the strength of a man so there is also in wayes of sin when a man hath an immediate concurrence of the spirit of the Devil Rev. 2.10 Joh. 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and his lusts ye will do and the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that is wicked men acted by the spirit of the Devil and so Rev. 12.11 the Dragon is the Heathen Roman Emperours but it is as they are acted by Satan and therefore it is said to be the old Serpent and Satan in them for the Devil hath not in himself ten horns it is the Devil working in them and acting them so there is also a weakness below nature men are apt to forget the word and their duty which they learn out of it but Satan comes and as an Harpy snatcheth away the word that is he adds a weakness below the nature men are apt to forget it sooner than otherwise they would have done by putting into the heart contrary impressions the things that we regard and take care of we are apt to remember but the things that we care not for we are apt to forget quae curant senes meminerunt old men remember what they care for Now the heart of man is least set upon Covenant duties of any thing and therefore had need to have its memory helped with continual and frequent repetitions of them 6. By reason of the ignorance and blindness of the mind of man we had need to be remembred of our Covenant and to renew it often we are all narrow mouthed vessels and receive all things from God but by drops and light comes in upon us but by degrees in several beams and a man looks often upon it before he can understand it and therefore the Lord gives unto us line upon line and precept upon precept Esay 28.10 And thence the Saints of God read over the same things and be content to hear the same things again because they have a new view of them they have a farther light into and farther discoveries of them Psal 25.14 Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him the word in Hebrew signifies mysterium arcanum a secret is something that cannot be known unless it be by revelation that a man by all
1 Joh. 4.24 and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and truth 5. That the great motives unto duty and the great restraints from sin be taken from these It 's a matter of great consequence not only that we do the duties that God requires but also what motives they are that fill the sails in our performances For a man to perform high duties upon low motives argues a heart full of flesh to preach the Gospel is a high service but to do it to serve a mans belly or his pride to gather Disciples after him that he may have the credit of a Teacher of others and be cryed up amongst them this doth in a great measure blast all his service therefore let men look to their motives in their performances And so for sin it 's not enough to abstain from sin but a man is to have an eye upon the principle that lyes the restraint upon him what it is many a man may be kept from sin for fleshy aims as Haman refrained himself till he came home and so King Joash during all the days of Jehoiada the fear of man will restrain lust many times where there is no fear of God There are as it were several topicks from which the arguments and reasonings of the soul are taken for the Word of God is quick and powerful c. Heb. 4.12 the one refers to principles for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the seat of principles and the other to the dianoetick faculty a mans arguments and reasonings from those principles and there are some high and noble motives suitable to the nature of grace and there are some low and sinful motives agreeable to the nature of flesh and the Word of God is a curious discerner of both and it 's a great matter from what topicks a man doth take the argument that does mainly act his spirit in duty and as the highest rule of duty is to be found in the attributes of God so the noblest motives unto duty are to be found in them also Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God for he is merciful and gracious he is long-suffering slow to anger and of great kindness who knows if he will return and repent And Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be upright There are arguments enough to be taken from God and those of the highest kind to quicken a soul in all duties required of him And so it is also as to restraint from sin Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness Heb. 12.29 Let us have grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Exod. 34.14 Thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God 6. That they may be unto the Saints the ground of prayer and that is in three things 1 They desire that God would manifest his attributes it 's something of God that they would have discovered therefore they cry out with the Psalmist Psal 57.3 O send out thy light and thy truth send forth thy mercy and thy truth it is the discovery and manifestation of an attribute that is the great thing the people of God do beg in all their prayers Num. 14.17 Let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast said 2 It 's the great argument that they use in prayer the main argument of faith is from an attribute and a mans interest therein Remember me O Lord for this and pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy Nehem. 13.22 Psal 115.1 2 Chron. 14.11 for thy mercy and for thy truths sake And Asa argues from the power of God It 's all one to thee to save with few as with many 3 They do come to God under such an attribute suitable to the mercy that they beg and their faith is staid thereupon and 't is a great matter to look upon God under an attribute that answers our necessity as Christ when he would speak of Judgment Mat. 11.24 Joh. 17. Num. 14.14 and give God thanks for it he call him righteous Father and when he begs Sanctification for his people he calls him holy Father and so when Moses prays for the pardon of sin he calls him the Lord merciful and gracious 7. That they may admire and adore the Lord for the excellencies that are in his Divine Nature and that they may give him the glory of every attribute Glory is but the shining forth of an excellency the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effulgence and brightness of it Heb. 1.3 and our giving glory is but the reflexion of this excellency Now we give God the glory of his works and of his going forth unto the creature but we should not only give him the glory of these but also of the excellency of his own nature there is none holy as the Lord who is a God like our God pardoning iniquity If we had hearts truly spiritual we would admire God more for the excellencies that are in himself than for all his goings forth to the creature and so the Saints and Angels in Heaven do 8. That in the manifestation of every attribute and the working of it for his people the Saints may rejoyce and particularly give God the glory of that attribute which he hath now so eminently put forth for them and that they may glory in their inheritance thereby Psal 21.13 Be thou exalted O Lord in thy own strength so will we sing and praise thy power I will sing of thy power Psal 59.16 17. and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble To thee O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and the God of my mercy Rev. 4.8 and so do all the Saints holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which is and was and is to come The attributes of God are the last city of refuge that the Saints can flye unto Prov. 18.10 even the Name of the Lord is their strong tower and when the Lord doth make bare his arm and takes to himself his great power and sends forth his mercy and relieves his people in their distresses Oh! how then do the Saints triumph and rejoyce in him The last refuge is in God and the highest triumph is in God and these are the glorious ends for which God has made over his attributes unto the Saints § 3. See the glory of this inheritance that of the creatures is indeed glorious and that of promises is more but the foundation of all and top of all lyes in attributes It 's of no small concernment for a soul to know the glory of his own inheritance partly because there is a prophaneness of heart in all men that do undervalue spiritual things as well spiritual priviledges as spiritual truths or spiritual graces with
us Kings and Priests unto God and the Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever c. They have each of them their peculiar glory of the distinct works that they themselves have wrought and all of it is grounded upon this distinct interest that the Lord doth promise to the Saints that he will be their God 5. When the Saints come to glory their communion with all these glorious persons shall be perfected they shall not only have perfect sanctification but communion and as their communion in this life is not with God only but with all the persons distinctly having hearts affected with love and sensible of the communion of them all so it shall be much more in Heaven for the communion here that we have shall be perfected Now in Heaven we shall have not only the vision of God that is of his Essence but also of all the persons we shall see God in Trinity as well as in Vnity for what we have here by faith we shall have there by sight but here we have that by faith therefore we shall see them there or else we cannot see him as he is and according to our vision so shall our communion be but we shall have a distinct fellowship and sweetness in the Father Son and Spirit for ever Now the grounds of it are these 1. That our happiness might appear to consist in the vision and fruition of them all therefore they are all of them distinctly made over by Covenant to us we shall not only see God in his Unity but in his Trinity also not only the glory of the Divine Essence but the excellency of each of the persons This is a mystery now that is inconceivable unto us which we are not to pry into which the Angel in a vision told Austin while he was studying and did endeavour to comprehend he did but attempt to empty the Sea with a spoon into a pit Scrutator Majestatis opprimitur à gloria This Mystery is here discovered only to the faith of the Saints but that revelation which is in this life imperfect shall be perfected in Heaven and our knowledge which in a way of faith is imperfect for faith is a grace that doth suppose imperfection that shall be perfected in vision for in Heaven whatever doth suppose sin or implies imperfection shall be done away therefore the Father as distinguished from the Son and the Son from the Father the nature of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost which now we have only revealed unto us that it is so the nature and the manner of it we shall understand so far as the creature is capable of such glorious and inconceivable mysteries and then in them all shall our happiness consist and our soul is to have its portion in them all 2. That the soul may honour them distinctly for the aim of God in the new Covenant is not barely the glory of the Divine Essence and to exalt in the hearts of the Saints the Attributes of the Nature but the excellency of the persons also that they may honour the Son Joh. 5.23 as they honour the Father that they may give glory to the Father Son and holy Spirit and may cry always day and night Holy holy holy Rev. 4.8 repetitâ acclamatione unum Jehovam celebrant quem etiam trinum agnoscunt Bright And the Lord doth in Scripture exceedingly stand upon a distinct glory and to that very end requires not only a general and confused but a distinct acknowledgment not only that we should know God to have all goodness and all sufficiency in him but the particular attributes and excellencies that are in God and not only to know Christ to have all fulness in him but that the soul see the several offices and the particular excellencies that are laid up in Christ as the Church doth Cant. 5. for as else a man can never give God glory till his particular excellencies be known and discovered so a man will never be in his own soul affected with it for they are particulars that do affect as whilst the Queen of Sheba heard but a general report of the wisdom of Solomon she was so far affected as that she was moved to come a great journey even from the farthest parts of the Earth to hear his wisdom but when she saw his wisdom in the particulars of it when he had answered all her questions and she had seen all his glory there was no more spirit left in her 1 King 10.5 they were the particulars that did affect his wisdom and his house and his servants c. As it 's in confession they are not generals that do affect it 's a small thing for men to say That they are all sinners and they have broken all the commands but when a man sees his sins in the particulars set down in order before him then is his soul amazed and he doth abhor himself never till then and so it is in thanksgiving also Now because that all the persons shall be glorified and they shall all have great glory therefore it must be distinct and that it may come from a heart truly affected with it also therefore he must give unto each person his distinct glory 3. That a man in this life may exercise distinct acts of faith upon them all Joh. 14.1 You believe in God believe also in me not only to the glory of God the Father but of the Son and Spirit also that faith may have an eye unto God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as Eph. 1.14 and unto Christ as the Son in whom he is well pleased as Mat. 17.3 therefore he is in the bosom of the Father able to reveal all his Fathers counsels unto the Saints and interceding as he is the Son and therefore is very powerful with him Joh. 3.16 he cannot deny the cry of a Son Heb. 7. ult Though Christ as he is God cannot pray because he can stand in need of nothing that he should go out of himself for for he is God all-sufficient 1 Cor. 3.11 Rev. 4. yet it is the Godhead that gives an efficacy to all that is done in the humane nature There are two things Christ does as he is a Priest 1 His Satisfaction and the sufficiency thereof is put upon the Godhead in the Scripture Acts 20.28 The blood of God and We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and Heb. 9.14 He offered himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God 2 His Intercession and though he doth intercede by the power of his satisfaction for he doth enter within the most holy place and doth sprinkle the blood with the incense his blood is a speaking blood yet the prevalency of his Intercession is commonly put upon the strength of the relation between God and him Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son c. Ask of me and I will give thee
that they have not their appropriata any peculiar works appropriated unto them but whatever is done is done by the Godhead joyntly and the same thing that is said to be done by the Father is said to be done by the Son also that as God the Father is said to create all things so is the Son also Joh. 1 3 4. All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made and so it is said of the Spirit also Gen. 1.2 The Spirit moved upon the face of the waters Job 26.13 By his Spirit he has garnished the heavens which doth not note the instrument or the minister by whom the Lord wrought but only the order of the working in the Trinity for the order of working is answerable to the order of subsisting the Father works by the Son and the Son works by the Spirit and therefore Job 33.4 The Spirit of God made me and the breath of the Almighty has given me life It 's attributed unto the Spirit alone and not only in the work of Creation but also in the upholding of the things created for Joh. 1.3 4. In him was life that is omnia per ipsum sustentari c. which is expounded by that in him we live and move and have our being and that Col. 1.17 By him all things consist as well as were made by him and in a more special manner the image of God in which man was created was from them all Gen. 1.26 Let us make man in our own image which was but one and the same of all the persons for it is added in the image of God created he him Joh. 1.4 the life is the light of men which is as much as to say hominem per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad imaginem Dei creatum as Chemnitius Thus under the first Covenant all things were carried on by the Godhead joyntly and whatever was done is said to be done by them all without any appropriation of any thing unto one person more than another But when we come to a second Covenant then though God works all in all yet there is a special kind of appropriation of the actions some more peculiarly unto one person and some unto another vel quoad agendi modum vel quoad actionis terminum in quo se unius personae operatio potissimùm elucet c. Med. p. 37. Synops purior c. p. 103. In which though there be a joynt concurrence of all the persons by way of consent for they have all but one will yet they may be in a special manner so appropriated unto the one as they cannot unto the other so the Father is said to send his Son and the Son cannot be said to send himself and so the Son is said to be incarnate the word was made flesh and to take upon him the form of a servant which cannot be said of the Father and so the Father and the Son are said to send the Comforter which cannot be said of the Holy Ghost Mat. 1.20 and the Holy Ghost is said to form Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary the holy thing conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost is the bond of Union between the two Natures and the bond of Union between Christ and us which cannot be said of the Father or the Son though there be a consent of will and so a concurrence of all the persons unto every action that doth tend unto our salvation for having one and the same Essence they have all of them one will also yea they have so taken upon themselves the special offices and acts that per solennem quandam appropriationem by a certain solemn appropriation some of them are said so to be done by the one as that they cannot be said to be done by the other and it is according unto these appropriated Acts that the persons are made over unto us under the second Covenant for though the will of the Father and the Son be one and the same because the Essence is but one yet as the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father so eadem voluntas distinctè appropriat se alteri ut donanti mittenti alteri ut dato misso Cocceius de Testament Dei Disput 9. Thes 92. The same will doth distinctly appropriate it self to one as the giver and sender and to the other as given and sent Now answerable unto this consent of will such are the offices that they have undertaken and such are the actions and operations that they do put forth and by this distinct consent of will unto the several actions which in the Scripture we see they do appropriate unto themselves for it is the Word of God and the Lord speaks it of himself and not any man according unto these do they under the second Covenant make over themselves to the Saints that answerably to these several acts and offices they may be able to look upon each person to whom in Scripture they are appropriated and from that person in faithfulness to expect the accomplishment of them because they have each of them undertaken it speaking so of themselves in the word as if such acts did properly belong unto them and thereby manifesting the distinct appropriation of their wills unto each of them This being premised let us now see how each person has made over himself unto Believers in reference unto the second Covenant 1 As a distinct object of their faith for there are distinct acts of faith to be exercised upon all these persons answerable unto their appropriated acts Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God says Christ believe also in me for though the ultimate object of faith be God for by Christ the Mediator we believe in God yet the several persons are to have faith distinctly exercised upon them 1 Pet. 1.21 answerable unto that distinct revelation of themselves Joh. 5.23 Rev. 1.4 2 As a distinct object of worship That every man might honour the Son even as they honour the Father Grace and peace from him that is and was and is to come and from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne 3 As distinct grounds of their consolation for though God be the God of all consolation yet there is a distinct consolation comes from each person answerable unto their appropriated acts which is the ground of a distinct communion 4 For their salvation each of the persons having their proper work in bringing many sons to glory but it has been shewed that these appropriated acts which I called Acts of Office are but for a time taken up with reference unto the mediatory Kingdom and when that shall be ended and all the Saints perfected and glorified and the Kingdom again given up into the hand of the Father then God shall be all in all and the persons shall act joyntly without any such appropriation for ever and look what the Spirit in
is the visible Church and the labourers are the officers and the workmen that do labour therein and they are said to be hired 1 ratione pacti because there doth as it were a bargain and an agreement pass between God and them for answerable unto a mans end such is the implicite agreement that he makes with God and answerable unto that so God will give a man a reward if a man do it for profit he shall have it but then he is said not to serve Christ but his own belly and if he do it for praise of men Christ saith They have their reward c. 2 Ratione praemii in regard of reward because there is no man that shall labour in Christs Vineyard but he shall have his reward answerable unto the penny that he himself did agree for for no man doth labour there in vain there is a certain wages promised him c. And this belongs unto God the Father there is not a man whose gifts you injoy and whose labours you have and do prize but he is hired by the Father and he it is that gives him his hire Now we know that labourers in the vineyard have been very precious to the Saints and are the glory of the Churches a Crown of twelve Stars Rev. 12.1 they are all of them hired by him that is the Husbandman and the Lord of the Vineyard c. 4 It 's the husbandman that waters the vineyard and the vine that he himself has planted as it 's said Esay 27.3 I will water it every moment and there is a double watering sometimes he does it by the dew Hos 14.5 I will be as the dew to Israel and he shall grow as the lily c. that is in a secret silent and insensible way as the Manna fell in the dew without any observation there is a secret River that doth refresh the City of God Psal 46.5 and the Church is secretly refreshed and supported no man knows how and it 's also watered by the rain the former and the latter rain in a more glorious way Psal 68.10 the Lord comes in and doth revive the Church and all men shall see that it is his work and that it is from Heaven only and both put together as the dew and as showers upon the grass Mic. 5.6 which tarrieth not for man it waits not for the sons of men the Lord doth wait for no humane concurrence or the joyning in of any of the creatures but he doth water his own vine himself that it doth flourish and grow and these waters are all the gifts and graces of the Spirit which the Father doth send for the giving of the Spirit is called the promise of the Spirit Acts 1.4 for the succus vitalis the vital juyce of this Vine is the Spirit 5 He pruneth it as he is the Husbandman the unfruitful branches he takes away Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away but yet there is the skill of the husbandman in it who will have in his Church no unfruitful branches though for a while they may continue yet he will gather out of his Kingdom whatever doth offend and whoever works iniquity and he prunes it in the fittest time in its season when it may be best for the vine It may be some do wonder that the Lord lets wicked men alone to continue in the Church so long why they are not immediately cast out truly if the Father be the Husbandman let us leave it to his pruning for it 's his work and he will do it in his time and season we must not undertake to direct him which season is best he keeps it in his own power and he doth it at the fittest time so that after this pruning the other branches may grow better and the Father hath undertaken it and though there may be some hypocrites that may a long time escape the eyes of men and the censure of the Church yet they shall not escape the Fathers eye who is the Husbandman There is a spiritual Excommunication that goes forth against them from him and he will surely cast them out as dead branches and he hath provided a fire for them and they are burnt and there is no man that burns so fiercely in Hell as such dry wood prepared for the fire for all the vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction as well as the vessels of mercy are prepared for glory 6 The fruitful branches he doth purge as the husbandman that they may bring forth more fruit and in this are the two parts of Sanctification 1 The destroying of the old man for the Lord Jesus Christ hath as well bought off in our Redemption the power of sin as the guilt of sin Tit. 2.14 he hath redeemed you from all iniquity that he may have the more communion with you Jam. 4.8 and that he may fit you the more for use 2 Tim 2.21 If a man purge himself c. and also that your services may be the more pleasing unto him Mal. 3.3 1. He doth it by Ordinances Eph. 5.2 6. He doth cleanse them by the washing of water through the word and they are clean through the word that he doth speak unto them 2. Sometimes by the inward motions of the Spirit discovering the filthiness of sin and stirring up a mans heart to hate it and himself for it that a man shall make it his business to mortifie sin and as Christ suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin so he doth arm himself with the same mind his resolution is the armor that strengthens and establishes his heart therein 3. Many times the Lord doth it by shedding abroad his love in the soul so that the sense thereof makes a man to purifie himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit as the exhortation also is 2 Cor. 7.1 Having this hope such exceeding great and precious promises let us perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 The reviving of the new man it 's the Fathers end that they may bring forth more fruit for they are ordained to bear fruit a vine is of no worth if it be not fruitful therefore Col. 2.19 they are said to increase with the increase of God 1. Some say the increase of God is a great and glorious increase as the mountains of God and the Cedars of God Col. 2.19 and the wrestling of God 2. Some say it is the increase of God quae est à Deo tanquam à primario efficiente which is from God as the prime efficient Paul may plant and Apollo water but God gives the increase therefore we should honour the Father in the work of Sanctification as well as we honour the Father in his Election 3. Some say the increase of God is ad Deum tanquam finem ultimum is to God as the last en◠And when doth a man bear more fruit 1 When he doth the duties that he did formerly neglect and
The soul is to rest upon all the promises that in Scripture are made concerning these persons there are promises that have a peculiar respect unto them all 1 There are promises that specially concern the Father which though they be formally made unto the Son yet it is with special respect unto the Saints as the promise of giving Christ unto their souls and nourishment and life by him for he says Joh. 6.32 Moses gave you not the bread that came down from heaven my Father gives you the true bread promises of justification by him Esa 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many that is as much as to say as many as believe in him shall receive remission of sins and a promise of guidance Exod. 23.20 Behold I send my Angel before you They were in a strait for they were in the wilderness where there was no way now the Father doth promise the Son should undertake their guidance and it is not a promise that is peculiar unto those times only though there was something peculiar in it And there is a promise of gifts Acts 1.4 Wait for the promise of the Father The extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost that were to be poured out to fit men for office in those times it 's called the promise of the Father and the promise also of preservation and perseverance My Father that gave them me is greater than all Joh. 10.29 and no man can pluck them out of my Fathers hand 2 There are some promises that do more especially belong unto the Son as that of grace and a continual supply he shall go in and out and find pasture and says Christ I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly and a promise of a constant presence I will dwell in them and walk amongst them Joh. 10.9 10. what concord hath Christ with Belial I am with you to the end of the world that he will beautifie his Church and sanctifie it and cleanse it that he may present it unto himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 6.26 27. and that he will subdue our enemies Esay 63.3 4. I will take them in my arms and keep them from their enemies fury their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment for the day of vengeance is in mine heart and the year of my redeemed is come he shall be cloathed with a garment d pt in blood and his name shall be called the word of God Rev. 19.13 3 There are some promises that in a more special manner respect the holy Spirit he has promised them a spirit of sanctification and he will purge the filth of the daughter of Sion by a spirit of burning Esa 4.4 promises of direction The Spirit shall lead you into all truth Joh. 16.13 he shall undertake to be the guide of your way and you shall hear a voice crying behind you This is the way walk in it a spirit of liberty also you shall have 2 Cor. 3.17 for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and a spirit of victory Esa 59.19 when the enemy doth break in as a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him so that they shall conquer not by might nor by power but by my Spirit Zac. 4 6. Now all these lead a man unto the person of the Spirit and his interest in him as so many lines into a centre for as all the promises do lead a man to union with Christ by which means he becomes an heir of promise so do all the promises lead a man to an interest in his person without which he can lay no claim unto the promise that is made by any of the persons for they are not universal and made unto all but as the promises of Christ belong unto those that are one with him so all the promises of the persons belong only unto those that have an interest in them and therefore we are to cast our selves upon the persons for the accomplishment of the promises 3 Faith is to rest upon the love of them all for though they are essentially one and therefore have but one will yet as they are personally distinguished so they are three and have distinct wills and distinct loves and therefore Christ distinguishes between his will and the Fathers will I am come not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me not my will but thy will be done essentially his will and the Fathers are one but they are personally distinguished so they have essentially one love but if we look upon them as persons so they have each of them his own proper and peculiar love He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him if any man love me my Father will love him Joh. 14.21 c. so that faith is not only to close with the love of God in general as it is an Attribute of the Divine Nature as his Wisdom and Holiness Mercy and Power are but faith is also to close with the love of each of the persons as they are relatively distinguished one from another the love of the Father and the love of the Son and Spirit and as it is the love of God essentially that is the ground of all that God has wrought for us it was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.4 and though Esau was Jacobs brother yet I loved Jacob Mal. 1.2 so it is the personal love of all the persons that is the ground of all those workings of the persons for us and therefore you are to take in that love also as an object of your faith 4 Faith should rest upon the appropriated acts of each of these persons and rely upon them for the performance of them We have formerly heard that each person hath undertaken some special and peculiar acts for mens salvation as 1 the work of Vocation Adoption Justification Preservation Glorification for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdom they are all of them undertaken by God the Father And 2 the work of Satisfaction Presentation Oblation Intercession Conquest Judgment all these the Son has undertaken 3 The work of Sanctification Direction Consolation Supplication they are all of them undertaken by the Spirit Now we are not only to rely upon the essential faithfulness of God for the performance of it Heb. 6.17 but upon the personal faithfulness of each of these undertakers for they are all of them ingaged in it and here is a farther and higher consideration to be taken in the acts of the persons and they are of two sorts 1 Acts ad intrà internal acts and they are acts of nature which are acts one towards another as the generation of the Father in respect of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost as from them both 2 There are acts ad
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
Christ himself tells us That he hath received such a commission from the Father not only to govern the Church but to rule and to order all things in the world for their sake Joh. 3.35 The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand that is in his power under his government and at his dispose as Gen. 24.10 all the goods of his Master were in his hand under his power and authority and at his dispose and so Job 1.12 the Lord saith unto Satan concerning Job Behold all that he hath is in thy hand he did not give this to Satan as by commission but by permission he left all the goods of Job in the Devils power Joh. 5.22 to do with them what he would and Joh. 5.22 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son there is indeed a Kingdom which belongs unto Christ as he is the second person in the Trinity a Kingdom which is regnum naturale a natural Kingdom wherein Christ is equal with the Father and a Kingdom that he doth not receive from the Father neither is he subordinate unto the Father in it he is not the Fathers servant as he is in the mediatory Kingdom for this is the same to all the persons Father Son and Spirit and the Son hath the same dominion and is equal with them all but this cannot be the Kingdom that is here spoken of for it cannot be delegated by God because it is natural and he cannot put the Kingdom out of himself neither can it as a gift be received by the Son because it is natural unto the Son as it is unto the Father it 's his own proper right but the Kingdom that is here spoken of is a power given unto the Son in which he is the Fathers servant and subordinate unto him and therefore it 's not spoken of the nature of the essential Kingdom the government which belongs unto Christ as God but as Mediator only and by Judgment Interpreters generally understand pro imperio administratione rerum omnium in coelo in terra Chemnit so that the government of all things is in the hand of the Mediator for it is a power that is given by the Father unto the Son which could not be unto him simply as God but as Mediator only 6 The Spirit of Christ doth rule act and order all things in the Providential as well as in the Spiritual Kingdom as we see it Ezech. 1.12 20. Ezech. 1.12 20. there is Christ set forth as ruling all things in heaven and earth and it is not spoken of Christ as he is the second person but as he is Mediator for it 's spoken of him as having a dominion given to him as he is the Son of man the Angels move the wheels and the Spirit acts the Angels Now how doth Christ as Mediator govern It is by the guidance of the Spirit and this Spirit moves both the Angels and the wheels it is not spoken of those spiritual acts of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of the Saints but of the ordinary dispensations of Providence ordering all things here below so as the ends of Christ may be attained It is the Mediator therefore that doth govern all things and the motions and impressions that are made both upon the Angels and the wheels they are from the Spirit of the Mediator who makes the Spirit to be the Viceroy in the providential as well as in the spiritual Kingdom as the Father makes the Mediator to be in them both and as the Father doth not divest himself of power but keeps the original of it in himself that we may still say to him Thine is the kingdom only he doth it by the Son who doth exercise it so it is true of the Spirit also the Son hath the power he governs all he doth it immediately by the Spirit the immediate execution and administration of it is in the hand of the Spirit in the one Kingdom as well as in the other 7 This will further appear by the session of Christ at the right hand of the Father for it doth import potestatis Majestatis plenitudinem a plenitude of power and Majesty 1 The highest Majesty and glory for it is the highest degree of his exaltation Heb. 8.1 therefore called the right hand of Majesty in the heavens 2 It is the highest Authority and Soveraignty for sitting at his right hand implies that all things are put under his feet as it is Psal 110.1 1 Pet. 3. ult sitting down upon his Throne Angels and Powers being made subject unto him Eph. 1.20 22. all things put under his feet which is the highest Soveraignty and the greatest subjection that can be for all to be his servants his vassals and therefore Rev. 1.18 when he is in heaven he is said to have the keys of hell and of death keys are an ensign of authority and so are used in the Scripture the keys of the kingdom of heaven are his and the keys of death and hell are his all authority in this world and the world to come and therefore Mat. 28.17 immediately before his ascension he saith All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth it 's true that he had it given him from the Fall and he did exercise it by virtue of the Covenant that was passed between him and the Father for his Kingly Office and his Priestly Office in the efficacy of them began together but yet he did not actually reign as Mediator that is as God-man till in our nature he ascended up on high and sate down in heaven with the Father upon his Throne and though quoad potestatem judiviariam according to his judiciary power all things are now put under his feet for the administration of all things are in his hand yet quoad executionem actualem as to actual execution so it is not there are many things that seem to oppose him and to be enemies unto his government therefore he must reign till he hath put all his enemies actually under his feet 1 Cor. 15.15 so then he that sits at the right hand of God rules the world but Christ as God doth not sit at the right hand of God and as he is the second person therefore it is as he is Mediator that he sits at Gods right hand and so all judgment and authority are executed by him 8 If this be made as the ground why all authority is in the hand of Christ because he is the Son of man then he hath this authority over all things not as he is the second person only but as he is Mediator as he is God-man but this is the reason and the ground of it Joh. 5.17 He hath given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man Joh. 5.27 which hath several interpretations given of it all will prove the thing 1 Because he is the Son of man that is
and they are cast out as a branch and wither but during the time of their continuance in this kingdom till he has cast them out for their rebellion there is a government that the Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth exercise towards them and over them for the good of his Saints And this will appear by the expressions that we meet with in Scripture 1 They are his servants Joh. 8.35 the Church is compared to a house a family as it 's called the family of God and the house of God and of this family Christ is the Master now there is a special imployment that he has for every one of his servants and they are under his special command and dominion it is true this family is made up of servants and of sons and the servants may have a greater rule in the house than the sons but yet both under the authority of the housholder only he rules over the one as a Master and over the other as a Father but both are in subjection Cant. 6.8 there are in the Church sixty Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number some are truly married unto Christ and have a true right and authority in the family by their marriage-union with the King for the woman shines by the beams of her husband but there are Concubines that came in only for lusts sake and that did bear fruit but it was never from a marriage state and there were Virgins that were companions only that were not married neither did they in a manner bear fruit but were for attendants only and the King has a special rule and dominion over all these c. 2 The Church visible is compared to a great House 2. Tim. 2.20 some expound it de mundo but contextus nos ducit ut de Ecclesia intelligamus non de extraneis disputat Apostolus sed de ipsa familia Dei Calv. there is not a vessel but it has its use though all have not the same use nor of the like honour yet all are for use and all are for the Masters use so that there is a special dominion that is exercised over them all as well the vessels of wood and stone as those that are of gold to imploy them where he will and as he will in what service he pleases for it is his will that makes their use to differ it is for the Saints sake that he makes use of them so that all Gods dispensations towards unregenerate men in the Church is for their sakes all the husbandry that is exercised about the unfruitful branches is for the sake of those that have a blessing in them for the wicked shall have no benefit by it in the great day of the Lord the greater rule the Lord has exercised towards men the greater will their abhorring be the nearer they have been to him the further off shall they be from him the higher they have been exalted to heaven the deeper shall they be cast down to hell Mat. 11.23 there is utter darkness for the children of the kingdom Mat. 8.12 And this we may reduce unto four Heads 1 their graces 2 their gifts 3 their services 4 their sins and in all these the dominion of Christ over them is for the good of the Saints 1. Their graces are ruled by Christ for the Saints there are common graces which the Lord doth give unto unregenerate men in the Church common illuminations by which they see much glory and beauty in spiritual things and yet had never their eyes anointed with eye-salve and there are many common works upon the wills of men letting in a taste of the goodness of spiritual things so that the heart is much taken with them and makes out after them and there are many tendencies to the new birth Hos 13.13 we see them set forth to us Heb. 6.3 4. which is meant of the common graces of the Spirit of Christ under the Gospel which he works upon the souls and consciences of unregenerate men which are only from the Spirit assisting and not from the Spirit informing which flow not from union but from conviction and therefore from which in time they will surely fall away there is a great beauty that the Spirit of God in such common works doth put forth upon the souls of unregenerate men though it be but as the Sun shining upon a mud-wall or as a curious robe put upon a dead carkass it cannot keep it from stinking because there is not a principle of life in it 1 Hereby the Lord restrains their spirits There is a restraint without by a power that is upon the Devil by which he is restrained from doing the mischief he would else do but there is a restraint within upon the lusts of men and that is by some special works of the Spirit of God upon them Exod. 34.24 No man shall desire thy land c. and the Spirit restraining is for the Saints sake as well as the Spirit renewing Psal 76 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee Psal 76.10 and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accinges thou shalt gird up sometimes the Lord lets mens lusts loose and sometimes he does gird them up as he doth the Sea in a girdle of sand or else the Saints of God who are always as sheep amongst wolves would surely be devoured by them for their soul is amongst lyons Now they are common works that do exceedingly restrain the sins and the rage of unregenerate men and bind up their spirits both in reference unto persecution and the wrongs done by them as also in reference to corruption and the evil example given by them also 2 Hereby the Lord doth fit them for service for even the vessels of dishonour are for service in the house also though they be but of wood and stone c. Now though gifts do immediately qualifie them yet they are common works that do make them to exercise those gifts and are unto them as oyl to the wheels in the use of them as a temporary Believer he may be an eminent Professor and the house that such a one builds is far more glorious in outward shew than that of a Saint for they are both called builders Mat. 7.7 and many men do service for God but they are cold in it because they are acted only from without Rom. 16.18 whose God is their belly Non ità glacies frigus sicut Elcius alii sed ego rem seriam agebam ut quòd diem extremum horribiliter timui c. Luth. and this will make a man seem to act from an inward principle as if he had received life from the Spirit and were made alive from the dead and thereby even ungodly men do many times give a great testimony unto the principles and the practices of the Saints that they acknowledge them and seal unto them and yet nevertheless there is in them a principle to hate them
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
them to have the Remainders of sin in them in this life and they shall never be freed from it till their dissolution We shall easily see that he as the Lord of all has ordered this by his Sovereignty and Supremacy for the good of his people and that it was for their sakes 1 That hereby he may exalt the Grace of Justification unto the Saints for God to pardon sins past it were rich mercy infinite mercy but for the Lord to leave sin remaining in a man and while he is conflicting with it and fears he shall be overcome with it every moment sees himself still to remain a sinner and yet the grace of Justification still to hold out that as there is in me a Fountain of sin so God is the Father of mercies and he doth not only pardon at first but when I sin and endeavour to make a breach upon my Justification again he shews mercy still and doth multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 this exalts the Righteousness of Christ imputed in justification for tolle morbos tolle vulnera nulla erit medicinae causa Dam. Therefore a man doth daily wash his feet and sees the Sun of Righteousness to rise upon him daily that he may be justifi'd not only from the Acts of sin but also from the remainders and Reliques of sin that are in him Joh. 13.10 And this also doth exalt the grace of God the Father justifying When the Apostle had had more than ordinary experience of the remainders of corruption in him and was much afflicted looking upon himself as a miserable man by reason thereof and judging himself worthy to be destroy'd for it and might by reason thereof have expected the sentence of death every moment now he looks upon the grace of the Gospel as justifying and he finds a new sweetness in it there is now no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 Not only the sins committed before Conversion but the sins remaining after do justly make the soul liable to condemnation but such is the grace that justifies us that there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus 2 That there may be a continual Conflict kept up in us our life is a Warfare and therefore Job 14.14 it is said all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the days militiae meae of my warfare this is not against enemies without against spiritual wickednesses in high places only but against enemies within in a special manner the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and by this means the war is maintain'd The Lord will have the time of this life to be tempus militiae a time of warfare and the other life laetitiae of triumph as Bernard speaks this laboris of labour that mercedis of reward and there is no conflict in the world like unto this to have two contraries in the same place each of them striving to destroy one another and yet neither of them compleatly and totally prevailing for they are contrary Gal. 5.17 and there is a greater opposition against sin than there is against the Devils themselves or any enemies without there are the sorest battels fought between flesh and spirit in the same soul and with greater displeasure and indignation against them than Saints against the Devil himself for this is the greatest evil to them because it is in them and because the Lord will have a conflict that so the graces of his People may be both exercised and also tryed and improved the power of Grace and the truth of it would never have been so gloriously seen if there had not been such a principle of corruption drawing it forth daily 3 That he may keep his people humble there is no one thing that the Lord takes more care of than that the Saints should not be lifted up it is the end of Affliction to hide pride from their hearts and of temptations and desertions in the flesh that they might not be lifted up in themselves and exalted above measure Now it 's true it 's matter enough to humble one if duely considered to call to mind what he has been as it did Paul I was a persecutor and a blasphemer and injurious 1 Tim. 1.13 As some of the Heathens having risen to be Kings from small beginnings would keep something still to put them in mind of their Original as one being a Potters son would be served only in Earthen Vessels all his life-time The remembrance of what is past might humble a man to say Such were some of you such were ye but it is much more effectual to humble a man to consider that very iniquity is not fully purged unto this day but there are still some remainders of it upon me there is still a law in my members that rebells against the law of my mind that when I would do good evil is present with me and this makes me to look upon my self as a wretched and a miserable man and makes me to loath and abhor my self the same sore is running upon me still I am sensible I have the leprosie and therefore I can take no pleasure in my self the Devil comes and hath something in me there is a Principle that is prone to close with any temptation there is a sea of corruption that doth but wait for a wind nay if the Devil should never disquiet it yet it is a Fountain that will cast mire out of it self c. 4 That the Saints may be exercised in Prayer and Repentance daily Now it is that which the Lord requires of them every day Pray without ceasing and a man is Nulli rei nisi poenitentiae natus c. Now that there may be something that we may ask of him daily to give us that is a further degree of Grace a greater measure of purging and that we may apply the Righteousness of Christ for to mortifie sin in us as well as to satisfie God for sin and that there may be always something that we may confess and bewail before God and repent of and mourn for this sin is still left in us And look what benefits the people of God do receive from these constant and daily exercises all these do flow from the Sovereignty of God towards them in leaving of the remainders of sin in them and by this means we come to have a part in that great honour which belongs to Christ and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking away of sin It 's true Christ only doth it by way of satisfaction and he is the only original of our sanctification but yet we do it as having our spirits also acted by the Spirit of Christ and so our wills and desires joyning and concurring with him in that work therefore we are said to mortifie the deeds of the body and to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts to purge
of our proneness to all sorts and all ways of sin that as patience so repentance may have its perfect work for as to humble the soul sin is left in it so also the breaking forth of sin into act discovers our natural weakness and is in wisdom permitted because the Lord will have his people to perfect their repentance as well as their faith while they do live here 6 That the soul may be willing to put off the body as it is an instrument and a servant to the soul in sinning I am shortly saith the soul to put off this tabernacle and I am the more willing to do it because my members are weapons of unrighteousness I shall then never sin more no more be subject unto the bondage of corruption to serve the lusts of men it shall be the glory of the body to serve the graces but never the lusts of the soul any more but perfect sanctification shall be in it 4. The Soveraignty of God is seen in the breaking forth of scandalous sins there are but two sorts of sins that godly men are freed from the sin against the Holy Ghost and final impenitency because they are delivered from the wrath to come and being in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation unto them Rom. 8.1 but else there is no sin either in judgment or practice from the danger of which they can assure their hearts be it never so foul never so hateful before God or man and therefore when we look upon the naufragia shipwracks of the Saints who can if God should withdraw his suitable assistance secure themselves or promise unto themselves freedom If we consider the idolatry of Solomon and that as gross as any that we shall read of 1 King 11.4 8. and the persecution of Asa 2 Chron. 16.10 and the Apostasie in Peter and that the grossest with a denial nay an abjuration Mar. 14.71 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound to abjure Christ Mar. 14.71 and to wish unto him a curse but most do say it was wishing a curse and an Anathema upon himself Grotius makes it the same with that Act. 23.14 They bound themselves with a curse diris se obligavit c. of whom Bernard saith Peccavit grande peccatum fortassis quo grandius nullum est c. Now seeing that there is in them a sea of corruption a body of death it is only an act of the Soveraignty of God that restrains the winds that they blow not upon this sea Rev. 7.1 There are Angels that hold the winds of commotions that they break not forth and Jer. 49.36 Dan. 7.2 3. that they shall break forth in their season so he doth also hold the winds of temptation that they do not blow upon the sea of corruption and by this means the mire and dirt is not discovered but let but the wind blow upon it and it is full of unquietness and rage immediately 2 Sam. 12.4 there came a way-faring man unto the rich man concupiscentiam viatorem vocat aut peregrinum Pet. Martyr 1 It is not a friend or a servant it is not one that is ordinarily accustomed to the house there are some sins that are daily in a man constant inmates but there are great sins that da rise in a man but now and then 2 Lusts are travellers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heart of man doth coast and wander all the world over to see what will become of it and where it may be able to make advantage unto it self 3 It comes upon a man suddenly and unexpectedly as a stranger or as a traveller useth to do 4 Yet when it comes it looks for entertainment and it doth so ordinarily find it the man will make provision for it Now this traveller goes not where or when he pleases but according to the Soveraignty of God in the ordering the going forth of the lusts of men it is a messenger of Satan there is a time appointed for the opening of Hell for the sending forth the messenger of Satan upon the soul the letting forth of the smoke Rev. 9.1 The Lord doth in his Providence turn this unto good 1 Unto a new conversion Luk. Luk. 22.32 22.32 Christ said to Peter after his first conversion when he foretels him of his scandalous fall When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren there is a double conversion 1. From a state of sin Acts 3.19 2. From some particular gross acts of sin because that doth make a breach upon a mans justification 1 A damp upon grace which there is upon the committing of such sins Create in me says David a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me 2 There is a suspension of all the comforts of grace he is as the leper and he doth as Zanchy saith quodammodo excidere à gratia he hath no comforts in the promises and the priviledges of the Saints 3 There is a change of all the dealings of God with him Esa 63.10 he became their enemy and fought against them by spiritual judgments upon them vers 17. he shall have broken bones and his moisture shall be dryed up Gods wrath shall fall upon him for there is a temporal wrath there is filius sub ira c. Now here seems to be a particular Conversion by laying of all anew in the Soul as if nothing were true before he must repent anew and believe anew that as Zach. 1.17 the Lord 's returning unto a people after eminent displeasure is called a new Election so also this is a new Conversion 2 Hereby the Soul hath experience in himself of the strength of Sin the power of Temptation and of Christs Intercession 1 He has experience of the Strength of sin for sin is but too powerfull in the best Gen. 49.6 7. it is said of the Sons of Israel Simeon and Levi Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruel and David put the Ammonites under Saws and Harrowes and Jonah 4.9 he justifies himself against the debates of God with him and saith that he doth well to be angry unto the death 2 The Soul experiences the power of Temptation what there is in the winnowings of Satan if the Lord should leave a man to the power which he hath already received he would soon work all good out of his soul for Satan is the ruler of the Darkness of this world Ephes 6.12 and he hath not only a great power over wicked men as Darkness it self for they are led captive at his will and he doth work effectually in them but even upon the darkness that is in the Saints also he can stirr up that darkness in them that it shall endanger to over-spread all that there shall seem little difference between them and ungodly men for the time that it doth prevail upon them 3 The Soul experiences the power of the Prayer of Christ Luk. 22.32 I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail