Faith and Perseverance compare this with Rom. 8.32 My Brethren 't is the same All or World that Christ promised that he would draw to him and that he takes away the Sin of Moreover if he had reconciled the whole World to God he would have prayed for the whole World but that he saith he did not yet he prayed for all he died for III. Because the Gospel discovers the Meritorious Cause or Foundation of our Reconciliation viz. the Death of Christ this was that Sacrifice that turned away God's Anger and Vindictive Wrath and Vengeance He saw the Travel of his Soul and was satisfied IV. Because the Gospel contains mutual Reconciliation not only an account of God's Reconciliation to us but also our Reconciliation to him which is through the receiving the Atonement God is reconciled in Christ by his Wrath-appeasing Sacrifice but the Gospel shews that Sinners are not actually reconciled to God until they are by the Spirit united to Christ and believe in him having that Natural Enmity removed that is in their Hearts against God V. The Gospel is the instrumental means through the Spirits Operations of the Sinner's Reconciliation to God We pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God It is called the Power of God to Salvation because therein the Righteousness of God is revealed Vers. 17. It is my Brethren an Instrument of his Power or a powerful means ordained of God to this purpose it having an excellent and efficacious Influence attending it through the Spirit where it is proclaimed and received My Brethren Faith Regeneration Convertion or Holiness do not reconcile us to God no no nothing doth that but the Blood of Christ. And this I might make appear 1. Because our Reconciliation on God's part is by the Death of Christ For when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Hence we are said to be Justified by his Blood that is Meritoriously yet Materially it is by his Active as well as his Passive Obedience 2. Because our Reconciliation on God's part I mean his being Reconciled to us is antecedent to Faith Regeneration c. your Faith doth not make your Peace tho it be an Instrument by which you receive that Atonement that Christ hath made 3. Faith c. is an effect of our Reconciliation that we may be actually acquitted and saved from Sin and Wrath in our own Persons and have it evidenced to our own Consciences it is our receiving that of Christ which he received for us upon his Discharge as our Head and Surety Much more being now Justified by his Blood we shall be saved through him Therefore Christs Blood must be the appeasing Sacrifice that delivers us from the Wrath we lay under 4. Nay my Brethren Justification is the Effects of Reconciliation for had not Christ satisfied Divine Justice for us we had not been pronounced Just or Righteous in him the Prisoner is acquited as the Effects of the Payment of his Debts his believing his Debts are paid and the Law and justice satisfied doth not pay his Debts tho a Sinner is not in his own Person actually discharged until he doth believe or leastwise in his own Conscience True Jesus Christ as Mediator doth both these i. e. he pays our Debts and knocks off our Chains he makes the Atonement and sprinkles the Blood upon our Consciences by his Spirit if Reconciliation was the bending of our Hearts to God to believe in him and love him why should Faith and Sanctification be laid down as the End and Effect of this Reconciliation Yet now hath he reconciled in the Body of his Flesh through Death to present you Holy and Vnreprovable in his Sight VI. A Proclamation discovers or reveals who they are that shall receive the Blessings of that Peace which is made and upon what Terms So my Brethren the Gospel makes known who they are that are comprehended in that Peace our Lord Jesus Christ had made viz. all that God hath Elected or Chosen in Him or all his Seed or all that the Father hath given to him or if you please all that do believe in him and also it shews upon what Terms viz. wholly of meer Grace and Favour By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God not of Works least any Man should boast not by any Act of the Creature not by his Faith and sincere Obedienceâ— nor by Works of Righteousness that we have done either in Obedience to Law or Gospel See Rom. 11.6 the Terms are without Money and without Price VII Some Proclamations proclaim Peace so my Brethren the Gospel Proclaims our Peace with God Peace Peace to them that are afar off and to them that are nigh It proclaims Liberty to the Captives c. Hence our Lord saith to his Disciples That which ye have spoken in the Ear shall be proclaimed on the House Top And came and preached Peace or proclaimed Peace to you which were afar off and to them that are nigh And hence the Gospel also comes so to be called for what is Gospel but glad Tydings good News Peace on Earth good Will to Men It is called the Joyful Sound Blessed is the People that know the Joyful Sound c. Not they that only hear it but that know it it is that which when known and received pacifies a Wounded Conscience VIII A Proclamation of Peace and Pardon is that which a Self-condemned Traytor takes hold of and presently submits himself with Tears and falls down at his Sovereign's Feet being broken to Pieces at the Thoughts of his Prince's Clemency and Free Pardon Also it gives an Assurance to all such of Pardon and Peace So my Brethren the Gospel is that which Sin-convicted and Self-condemned Sinners and Stubborn Rebels against God takes hold of and it is this that breaks and melts their hard Hearts What hear that their Peace is made and God reconciled Nay and that he has Sacrified his own Son to this very end this breaks the Heart of Stone and brings the Rebel to lay down his Arms and to take hold of Pardon And it gives to each poor Sinner also an assurance of Mercy he brings the Proclamation as it were to God and pleads his Pardon Where the Word of a King is there is Power The King's Word and Promise saith the Soul is passed in his Proclamation that I shall have Free Pardon and here it is IX A Proclamation is Written nay Printed that it may be read and known of all Men so God in his Providence hath caused his Gospel to be Printed that it may be read and known to all to whom it is sent it was first Written as Holy Men speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and since it has been Printed also X. A Proclamation is set up in the Market-place
II. A seasonable Covenant in respect of the Revelation or Manifestation of it even just as Adam had sinned and when Divine Justice was ready to lift up his direful Ax of Divine Vengeance How seasonable is it for a poor condemned Criminal to hear of a Pardon just when he is brought to the place of Execution and the Halter is put about his Neck or the Ax lifted up to Cut off his Head III. It is a seasonable Covenant in respect to the application of the blessings thereof to a poor Sinner 1. 'T is by the Spirit applyed when the sinner sees he is Condemned being under the sense of Sin Wrath and Condemnation beholding himself just dropping into Hell then this Covenant is opened and the blessing of free Justification and Pardon is applied 2. When the Soul and Conscience of a sinner is wounded and his wounds bleed then is the Balm of the Covenant applied to heal him 3. When the Sinner sees he is pursued by the Avenger of Blood and sees no way to escape then his Eyes are opened and he is directed to fly to the City of refuge the way being made plain and easie and the Holy Spirit directs the Soul to Christ and crys Refuge Refuge 4. When the Sinner sees he is so sick that he can't live even then the Physician provided in the Covenant comes immediately and pours in his Oyl and Wine When I passed by and saw thee polluted in thy Blood I said unto thee live Ye I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine Eighthly It is a Sure Covenant Ordered in all things and sure Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your Souls shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David I. It is a sure Covenant because it is made with such a Surety as Jesus Christ is it is not made primarily with us but with Christ for us and with us in him the sure mercies of David That is our Lord Jesus Christ he is the true Antitipical David Sure because they are Mercies granted to us thro' Christ's suretiship and when a Sinner is brought into the bands of the Covenant God is said to make this Covenant with him i. e. he actually entering then thro' Christ into Covenant with God but our standing then in it is upon the account of Christ's Covenant with the Father for us II. It is a Sure Covenant because it stands upon the absolute purpose and unchangeable Decree and Councel of God My Mercy will I keep with him and my Covenant shall stand fast with him My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Hence the absolute Decrees of God are compared to mountains of Brass Zach. 6.1 Denoting how unmovable stedy and unchangable his Councels are nay Tho' the Mountains should depart and the Hills be removed yet saith the Lord my loving kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed c. All Covenant-Mercys are according to God's Eternal purpose which be purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord The Covenant stands not only as the act of God's Eternal Wisdom but as his Eternal Decree and Purpose before all Worlds III. The Covenant of Peace is sure because it is confirmed by the witness of the Holy Ghost 1. The Spirit of God was a witness to the Covenant when it was made 2. Moreover it was confirmed in the promulgation of it by the Holy Ghost by wonderfull Miracles for what served all those Miracles more clearly for than to confirm the Authority of the Mediator and the verity and stability of the Gospel Covenant IV. Furthermore The Covenant was as you heard confirmed by the Blood of Jesus Christ therefore it is a sure Covenant V. The Covenant is sure because it is confirmed by the Promise and Oath of God Once have I sworn by my Holiness that I will not lye to David his Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before me This is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I will not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee compared with Heb. 6.13 16 17 18. VI. It is a Sure Covenant to all Gods Elect because the Execution of it is put into Christ's own hands he is the Executioner of his own Will and Testament for tho Christ was dead yet he is alive I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore Christ sees his last Will and Testament fully executed by his Spirit Ninethly It is a Covenant of Peace this is the Name that is given to it in my Text which also shews it is of an excellent and precious nature I. 'T is a Covenant of Peace with God God is hereby reconciled to us and we to him and that for ever II. Hereby we come also to have peace in our own Souls or peace of Conscience nor indeed can we ever have true peace any other ways For can your repentance give you peace of Conscience Can Tears of Blood apease Divine Wrath or satisfy Divine Justice Can Reformation of life give you Peace or your inherent Sanctification or pious and religious duties Do you fetch your peace from thence If you do your peace will be turned into trouble and anguish of Spirit or can your lively and spiritual Frame give you true and lasting peace I affirm 't is a false peace that is simply grounded on a lively and Spiritual Frame or disposition of Heart for there can be no true peace of Conscience but by Jesus Christ thro' the Blood of the everlasting Covenant He is our peace c. He will speak peace to his People Not as the World giveth give I unto you Dare a Man plead his Faith or good Duties to Justifie him and so from thence fetch his peace and comfort alas What unrighteousness cleaves to our righteousness what doubtings attend our Faith and what wandrings of heart attend us in our best Duties nay may we not find some Hypocrisie in us also tho in the main we are sincere our peace is only had in Christ. III. 'T is only by the peace made by Christ as is revealed in this Covenant that a poor wounded disparing and distressed Soul comes to have peace I once cited a passage out of Dr. Owen being pious Anselem's directions to a poor tempted Soul on a Death-Bed let me repeat it here once again Minister Dost thou believe thou canst not be saved but by the Death of Christ. ' Sick-man Yes I do so believe Minister Then let it be said unto thee go and whilest thy Soul abideth in thee and put all thy confidence in Christ's death alone place thy trust in no other thing commit thy self wholly to
as the Glory of Christ and of the Holy Spirit therefore let him primarily have the Honour of our Peace and Salvation O how did Love and Bowels move towards us in the Heart of God the Father from everlasting III. Exhort Also be exhorted to prize and highly esteem of the Lord Jesus Christ from what you have heard concerning the Covenant because Christ is the Sum of the Covenant I will give thee for a Covenant to the People 1. Christ is originally and fundamentally the Covenant saith a Worthy Writer he is the Original Root out of which this Covenant sprang and he is the Foundation upon which it is grounded Behold I say in Zion for a Foundation a Stone a tried Stone a precious corner Stone a sure Foundation c. God fixt his Eye on Christ and entered into Covenant with him he is the Foundation Stone of this Covenant had there not been a Mediator found there had been no Covenant of Peace ever made nor any Redemption for poor Sinners 2. When it was first revealed it was expressed by his Person viz. The Seed of the Woman nothing else is mentioned there yet this contains the first Revelation of this Covenant to Fallen Man And what was the Covenant of Grace as revealed to Abraham but Jesus Christ In thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed Thus Christ is represented as the Sum of the Covenant 3. Christ is the Covenant primarily as the same Author notes and by Propriety As Fire is hot for it self and all things hot for it and by participation With Christ the Covenant was made as the chief Party with Believers it was made in Subordination to him with him it was made at first Hand with us at second Hand Now Brethren this certainly is true therefore all Promises were made first to Christ and first fulfilled to him and all Acts of God's Love terminate first upon him and come to us through him Who has made us accepted in the Beloved Had not God's Love been fixt first on him as Mediator it had never run out to us all Covenant-Blessings are in him Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus Christ as our Head is the Repository or Seat of all Divine Blessings Christ is the Jewel the Riches or the Sum of all things in the Covenant as Life Righteousness Pardon Peace c. And he that receives this Jewel receives all things with him From hence he is compared to a Cluster of Camphire 4. Jesus Christ saith the same Author is the Covenant eminently because he is the chief Blessing of the Covenant there is not such another Promise in all the Bundle of Promises contained in the Covenant If thou knowest the Gift of God c. Christ is the Gift of God yet certainly our Author forgot that God the Father and the Holy Ghost are given as well as Christ in the Covenant but when Christ is given God the Father and the Holy Spirit is given He that has the Son has the Father also All other things in the Covenant are saith he but as the Garnish of this Jewel 5. Christ is the Covenant virtually he is the just value of all the Bargain he is of as much worth as all that is promised If you would know the worth of the Covenant consider the worth of Jesus Christ. Moreover my Brethren they that have Christ have all that is promised in the Covenant 6. Jesus Christ purchased all that good which is in the Covenant when we say God is our God we must say he is our God in Christ or by Christ or through his Redemption and Procurement 7. Christ is the Covenant comprehensively or summarily he is the very Compound or Abridgment of the Covenant he is the whole Covenant by way of Stipulation on our part c. 8. Jesus Christ is the only way of Conveyance of all Covenant Blessings through whom we receive all we need or that is Communicaed unto us Moreover the Tender of the Covenant and Interest in it is contained in the free Tender of Christ and Interest in him Get Christ be but in Christ and thou art in the Covenant Sirs when God gives Christ to a Sinner the whole Covenant is performed to that Person and he that receives not Jesus Christ shall never have one saving Benefit or Blessing thereof And thus may Christ be called the Covenant But IV. From hence also we may infer the wonderful worth that there is in the Blood of Christ It is not only precious Blood in respect had unto his Person whose Blood it is viz. the Eternal Son of God but also in respect of that Atonement it hath made and that Wrath it has appeased and that Peace it has procured and in regard of those Infinite Blessings and Priviiedges it hath merited for us and that precious Soul it Sanctifies O prize this Blood What will become of them that contemn and slight this Blood and the Vertue and Efficacy that is in it Or account it as the Blood of another Man or as an unholy and unprofitable thing it had been better for such if they had never been Born V. We may moreover from hence see the absolute necessity there is of the Work and Office of the Holy Spirit in order to the Application of the Blood of the Covenant and all Covenant Blessings unto us The Holy Ghost deserves my Brethren equal Glory with the Father and the Son The Holy Spirit must plant Grace in our Hearts or be a Vital Principle in the Soul it is he which infuses sacred Habits from whence all Vital Acts proceed by the Spirit we come to have the root of the matter in us from whence all Spiritual Fruit flows 't is the Spirit that draws us to Christ that unites our Souls to him without it the Death of Christ profits no Man it is he which sprinkles his Blood on our Consciences O let our Mediations swim in the unlimited Ocean of Love and Divine Goodness and magnifie all the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity VI. We may furthermore learn from hence to see what absolute necessity there is of the Revelation of this Mystery through the Word or Holy Gospel what signifies all Natural Religion doth naturally light in Man discover any thing of our Redemption and Reconciliation by Jesus Christ And from hence let us be moved to abhor those New and Cursed Notions which at this Day so much prevail which tend to raze the very Foundation of the true Christian Religion for such that contemn all revealed Religion contemn the Christian Religion From hence also VII We may perceive the Necessity of True and Saving Faith and likewise the Excellency thereof no Man is possessed of this Peace that has not the Faith of God's Elect He that believeth not is Condemned already and shall be Damned unless
hath Mercy on thee This shews that the Covenant of Peace was founded for poor Creatures who were in Misery or in a deplorable Condition Man before his fall needed not Gods Mercy he was the Object of Gods Love and Favour but not of his Mercy For Mercy extended to any Person denotes he was in a forlorn and Miserable Condition before and at that Time when Bowels of Pity and Compassion were moved towards him V. We have here also the Stability of the Promise the Mountains that stand so fast shall or may sooner depart and the Hills be removed than this Covenant of Peace can be broken or he removed nay and he that saith this is the Lord the faithful and true God that cannot lie but to make it yet more firm he hath sworn to his Promise for as I have sworn that the Waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I would not be Wrath with thee nor rebuke thee that is not to forsake her utterly So much shall suffice as to the Parts and Explanation of the Words of our Text. I shall only raise and prosecute one Point of Doctrine from hence viz. Doct. That there is a Covenant of Peace made or agreed upon and it stands firm ui behalf of all Gods Elect. In the speaking unto this Proposition I shall take this Method following viz. 1. Lay down eight Explanatory Propositions by way of Premise 2. I shall endeavour to open the main or chief Transactions about the bringing in and establish-of this Covenant of Peace 3. I shall open the Nature of this Covenant of Peace 4. I shall shew you what is contained granted or given in this Covenant 5. Shew the Nature of the Peace comprehended in this Covenant 6. Apply it Proposit. I. That God foresaw from Eternity that Man would fall from that happy and blessed State in which he was Created and that a fearful Breach would arise betwixt himself and Mankind Thereby Had it not been thus there would have been no room no need no occasion for God to enter into a Covenant of Peace with his own blessed Son in behalf of Mankind without a War foreseen there could I say be no occasion of a Covenant of Peace and Reconciliation II. Proposition That this Covenant of Peace was entered into between the Father and the Son before the World began Hence the Apostle saith aluding to this Covenant God hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the World began Moreover Our Lord Jesus saith that he was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was That is ordained substituted and anointed to be the great Representative and Covenanting-Head in behalf of all the Elect of GOD. III. Proposition That the Breach which God foresaw would arise would be very great or a most amazing or fearful Breach betwixt himself and lost Mankind and that it was so might abundantly be demonstrated It was a Breach occasioned by Sin God did not first fall out with us or proclaim War against Mankind but we first broke that League and Covenant of our Creation with God Man rebelled against his Creator casting off his Obedience and Allegiance and subjected himself to Sin and the Devil Lo this only have I found that God hath made Man upright but they have sought out many inventions Tho all the Wickedness that is in Man's Heart that Deceit Hypocrisie and streams of Filthiness that is there Solomon the Wisest of Men could not find out Yet this he had discovered viz. the Fountain of it namely Original Sin or what it was that first caused that Breach and War which is between God and all Unconverted Men or all ungodly Ones in the World And now That it is a fearful Breach appeareth 1. In that Man run away from God and hid himself And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him Where art thou And he said I heard thy Voice in the Garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self That God who was before the Object of his Love and Delight was now become Terrible unto him because of his horrid Sin and Guilt which lay upon him 2. It was an unreasonable act of Disobedience and most horrid Rebellion considering what God had done for Man and how Great Noble and Honourable God had made him he formed Man in his own Image and made him capable of enjoying sweet Fellowship and Communion with his Creator he made him Lord and Governour of all things on Earth and gave him a lovely beautiful Spouse to be a sit help meet for him he gave him power to stand in that happy Estate tho he left him in a possibility of Falling to prove his Fidelity and Obedience to his Maker But Man cast horrid Contempt upon God by his Unbelief He disbelieved the true and faithful God and believed the Devil that Father of Lies and so gave more Glory to Satan than to his blessed and most rightful Sovereign 3. The Dismal Nature of this Breach further appears on Man's part by considering of that vile and abominable Enmity which is in the Hearts of all Mankind who abide in that old Nature against God as the effects of that first Sin The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject unto the Law of God neither indeed can be he doth not say it is an Enemy but in the abstract it is Enmity an Enemy as one observes may be reconciled but Enmity can never be reconciled Man by this Sin came to be alienated in the highest degree from God having the Vnderstanding darkned being alienated from the life of God And in another place saith the same Apostle And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled 4. This still further appears In that all Men naturally resist God and his good Spirit they fight against God Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye Nay they are called haters of God The haters of God saith David should have submitted themselves Ye have both hated me and my Father saith our blessed Lord. What can render Sin more evil or Man more vile than to be called a Hater of God they are haters of God and despightful Their soul saith the Lord abhorred me and my Soul loathed them Moreover They are said to be Contemners of God they even dare God to his Face and harden their Hearts against him Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He saith in his heart thou wilt not require it They fear him not they atheistically deny his Providence nay his very being or wish at least there was no God And all this is the fruit and
through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works to serve the Living God And in Heaven also he eminently intercedes for us Seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them and that his Atonement might be efficacious to us He now appears in the Presence of God for us therefore it is said That We are come to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaketh bitter things than the Blood of Abel Come to Jesus c. that is to a clearer knowledge of his Work and Office Sirs all Christ's Satisfaction and Priesthood would be ineffectual for our good if he did not continue in the exercise of it in Heaven by his Intercession for it is by virtue of his Intercession that all his Merits are applied to us for if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son or God was reconciled to us for it is that which the Holy Ghost intends much more being reconcil'd we shall be saved by his Life the design of this Office therefore was to make our Peace or our Reconciliation to God by a Price paid and to apply that Atonement that it might be effectual and continued unto us for ever Christ doth not reconcile God to us as a King but as a Priest and it is not done by what he works in us but by what he hath done for us II. As Christ is a Priest so also he is a King He is I say invested with Kingly Authority as he is Mediator Yet have I set my King upon my Holy Hill of Sion His Kingdom as one observes is not Regnum naturale which he hath as God co-essential with the Father but Regnum Oeconomicum which he hath by Donation and Vnction from his Father it is given to him as Mediator Moreover his Power as King is very great He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate 1. King over Sin which as a Tyrant hath long Reigned 2. King over Devils and all the Powers of Darkness 3. King over Death that King of Terrors the Keys of Hell and Death are given to him 4. King of Saints he being the Universal Head of the Church and King of Nations 5. Nay he hath Kingly Power and Headship over the Holy Angels He is the Head of Principalities and Powers yea his Power is over all Creatures God hath put all things under his Feet His Kingship and Authority is therefore Universall All Power is given to me in Heaven and Earth And hence There is nothing which he as Mediator God-man cannot do Now the Work of Christ as King 1. Is to subdue all our Enemies for us which indeed he hath effectually already done Sin the World Devils and Death being all brought under his Feet 2. To give us Laws Statutes and Ordinances for as he is Mediator he is our Law-giver but he doth not give us Laws that by our Obedience to them our Peace should be made and we be Justified In this Sense Christ is no Law-giver no to make our Peace that appertains partly to his Priestly Office as I have shewed you before and partly to his Suretiship for so he paid both our Debt of perfect Obedience and our Penal Debt also and merited all Grace and Glory for us for tho Christ is a Priest yet he is more than a Priest viz a Surety also but he gives us Laws as we are his Free-born Subjects whom he Redeemed by his Blood that we might know how to Honour and Live under him that died for us and rose again 3. His Work as King is to govern his Church and every Member thereof moreover his Laws in the New Testament do contain all those Rules for the Constitution of a Gospel-Church and also all the Rules of the Government and Discipline thereof 4. Christ's Work and Office as King is to subdue all the Elect unto himself I mean to work Grace in them and to change their Hearts and vanquish the Power of Sin and Satan for this is and must be done by that Almighty Power which he exerts by his Spirit in their Souls and so takes possession of them as King and Supream Ruler whom as a Priest he purchased by his Blood and all this as he is Mediator of this Covenant of Peace That Christ may dwell in our Hearts by Faith or sway the Scepter there 5. Moreover Christ as King will exercise his Kingly Office in taking to him his great Authority and Regal Power and Reign over all the Earth For his Right is Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thy Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession Thou shalt break them in pieces like a Potters Vessel The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever And of the increase of his Government there shall be no end upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it and to establish it with Justice and with Judgment from henceforth and for ever All the Kingdoms under the whole Heavens shall be given unto him And he shall possess the Gates of his Enemies This will be made good more fully and visibly upon the going off of the Fourth-Monarchy and upon the passing away of the second Woe or Mahomitan Power and downfal of the Beast and Mystery Babylon which is now at the very Door when Christ will save his Church from all her Enemies III. Christ as Mediator is a Prophet A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me He as Prophet is the Minister of the New Covenant or the chief and great Ambassador of Peace the chief Shepherd of the Sheep and Bishop of our Souls His Work as a Prophet 1. Is to reveal the Will Purpose Counsel and Design of God unto his Chosen and this he did in the Days of his Flesh in his own and in his Apostles Ministration revealing That My-Mystery that was hid from Ages and Generations He was indeed a Teacher that came from God as Nichodemus saith My Doctrine saith he is not mine but the Father 's that sent me For I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me gave me Commandment what I should say and what I should speak denoting that he received his Mission his Doctrine and his Authority to Preach from the Father as he is Mediator As a Prophet he gives the knowledge of Salvation to his People for without his Divine Revelation Mankind could not arrive to the knowledge of it for the Light that is in Man naturally reveals nothing of the Mystery of Redemption of the Covenant of Peace and Mediation of Jesus Christ. 2. Nor can any savingly know this but as Christ reveals it by his Spirit as the great Prophet
suffered as our Head and Representative in our stead or room the Just for the Vnjust or the Surety for the Principal or for the Sinner and this according to the Terms agreed upon in the Covenant of Peace and not simply for our good any otherwise God being in his own Nature Just as well as Gracious could not without Wrong or Injury to his Justice Holiness and the Sanction of his Law Acquit Justifie and Pardon any Sinner without a full Satisfaction to both Law and Justice and this must either be done by us or by our Surety for us 2. We affirm that the Law of Perfect Obedience results from the Holiness Purity and Rectitude of God's Nature and therefore it stands as a perpetual Law and can never be abolished as a Rule of Life tho it be taken away as it required perfect Obedience of us or as a Law of Works to be fulfilled and satisfied for in our own Persons in point of Justification Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law because by Christ we attain a perfect Righteousness being interested in his most compleat and perfect Obedience to the Moral Law and by his Spirit to live in more exact Conformity thereunto My Brethren Is it not our Duty still and as much as ever it was To love the Lord our God with all our Hearts with all our Souls and with all our Strength and our Neighbour as our selves not only sincerely but perfectly nay to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect Tho we are not able to do this yet the Moral Law still remains and requires us thus to do true we shall not be Damned for want of this perfect Obedienc because Christ hath in our Nature and stead kept the Law perfectly for us and so he is the end of the Law in respect of Righteousness to all that believe Christ did not come to engage or undertake as a Mediator that we should perfectly in our own Persons keep the Moral Law and so be Justified in God's Sight nor did he come to undertake that we should sincerely keep any other Law to that end much less leave us to the exercise of our Natural or Spiritual Abilities to keep such a Law as the Condition of our Justification and Acceptation with God but he came to procure for us such a Righteousness by his own Obedience and Suffering that the Holiness Justice and Law of God doth require of us if we are Justified with God for what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sent furth his Son c. T is a hard case my Brethren that these degenerate Presbyterians or any pretending to be Gospel-Preachers should deny Christ to be a Common Head and Surety for the Elect for he that dies in the stead and room of others is by the consent of the Law-giver substituted in their Law place and so takes upon him the Capacity of a Surety Representative or common Person undertaking to do and suffer what others should but these Men deny this Relation or Capacity of Christ as a Surety in this Sense and therefore deny he obeyed and died in our stead And from hence it follows also that Christ did not do that for us which our own Perfect Obedience did do whilst Man stood and would have done had he not sinned i. e. Justified him or have given him a Title to Life 3. Moreover if Christ was not put in our Law place as our Representative and Surety Why was he made of a Woman and made under the Law Was it not that the Law might reach him 1. As to its commanding Power as our Surety to pay the Debt of Perfect Obedience thereunto 2. And as a Sinner in a Law Sense to die or be made Sin for us that is by Imputation for had not he been under the Law the Law could not have reached him in either sense i. e. either to do or suffer and had not he took our Law place upon him we could not have been the better for what could his taking our Nature on him have profited us had he not been substituted in our room But as we were obliged by the Law Justice and Holiness of God to keep the Law perfectly so he was made under the Law to keep it for us and as we were sinful Men and liable to the Just Sentence of the Law for our Violation of it so he was made under the Law and as our Representative and Surety to die and to satisfie Divine Justice for our Transgressions that were against it He was made under the Law i. e. under the Preceptory part of it to fulfil and establish that he satisfied for that part of the Law He was under the Law as being liable to the Punishment or Penalty of the Law that he might answer and fulfil that and for ever deliver us from the Punishment thereof and all this as our Surety standing in our Law place Reproof This may tend severely to reprehend those new and erroneous Notions that so prevail amongst us concerning Christ's Work and Office as Mediator we say and prove that by Christ's Active and Perfect Obedience to the Law we are justified and delivered from Wrath and Condemnation or that by Christ's Righteousness imputed Believers are perfectly Justified and freed from the Curse of the Law and are certainly entituled to Eternal Life 1. But our new Work-mongers assert That our Justification or Right to Life dependeth wholly upon our Obedience to the Gospel as a Law as the Condition to which it is promised Therefore as one observes it puts us into a Condition of Life imperfect and subject to change as Obedience it self is and that we are not perfectly Justified till our Obedience is perfected Thus Mr. Clark of High-Wickham and others Take Mr. Clark's Words viz. Our Justification at present while we are in this World is but Partial Imperfect and Incompleat Ans. Now say I this confounds Justification with Sanctification and as I have told him then it also follows that Believers are partly justified and partly condemned i. e. we are not acquitted from the guilt of all Sin whilst in this World and so Christ's Dove is not Vndefiled Lord what an Age do we live in 2. We say that we are made Partakers of Christ's Righteousness and the Benefits of it by our Union with him through the Spirit by which means Faith is wrought in us by which we apprehend him and we say that Faith is an Instrument whereby we receive him Faith only Justifying us objectively i. e. It is not Faith but Jesus Christ that Faith takes hold of that doth Justifie us in the Sight of God But they say That Faith in its whole Latitude is our believing and obeying the Gospel that is Faith and all the Fruits thereof or Faith and Obedience or if you please Faith and Gospel-Works For Mr. Clark says That
God What the Law could not do God sent his own Son i. e. we could not keep it perfectly nor satisfie for the breach of it therefore Christ died not only nostro bono for our good and profit as the Socinians and our Work-Mongers say but nostra vice in our room he died for his Church for his Elect as he died not for the Holy Angels yet he died for their good and for the whole Creation in some sense he is the Head and Confirmer of the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is instead the Sufferings of the Saints are for the good of the Church but they are not substituted to obey and die in the stead of others A Surety to obey and die for others as one hath abundantly proved is to obey and die in their stead or room 8. A Surety having paid all and fully satisfied for Debtors it follows that neither the Creditor nor the Law can exact Satisfaction of the Debtors and also that the Debtors for whom Satisfaction is made shall be delivered out of Prison and be actually discharged and acquited according to the Time and Terms agreed on between the Creditor and the Surety God will not cannot in point of Justice and Righteousness exact Satisfaction of any Sinners for whom Christ became a Surety and hath safied for i. e. they cannot suffer in Hell but shall all in due time be actually discharged and acquited and the Law Sentence taken off of them For no sooner are their Eyes opened or are illuminated by the Spirit but they plead that their Surety hath paid all for them he hath paid their Debt of perfect Obedience and hath also born all that Vindictive Wrath and Vengeance that was due to them for their Sins Who was delivered for our Offences and was raised again for our Justification The Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all II. Why did-Christ become a Surety for us and put his Hand to the Covenant 1. Because his Love and Bowels were such to God's Elect his Love constrained him thus to do 2. Because he would readily comply with his Father's Will Design and Purpose herein which was to exalt his Infinite Grace and Divine Goodness to Mankind 3. It was to raise the Honour or cause all the Divine Attributes to shine forth in their equal Glory and meet together in his Work and Undertakings as Mediator and Suretiship in sweet harmony 4. Because he would magnifie God's Law and make it honourable But more of this hereafter 5. Because he knew God would not otherwise enter into a Covenant of Peace to save lost Sinners Man being weak and unable to answer what both Law and Justice required in order to our Peace and Reconciliation with God Whatsoever the Law exacted on us he engaged and condescended to do as our Surety he promised and struck Hands to satisfie whatsoever the Law I say could demand of God's Elect. See Heb. 9.15 Rom. 3.25 Heb. 10.5 7. III. What was Christ to do and we receive by vertue of his Mediation and Suretiship First Whatsoever Christ as Mediator Covenanted with the Father to do that he considered as the Surety of the said Covenant engaged to perform 1. To vindicate the Honour of God in all the Perfections of his Nature particularly to preserve the Justice and Veracity of God and Sanction of his Holy Law 2. He engaged as the Surety of the Covenant to restore to Man or to all God's Elect that Righteousness which Man lost that as we were made Sinners by Adam's Disobedience so by his Obedience we should all be made Righteous that as the Sin of the first Adam was imputed to our Condemnation so his Righteousness as our Covenanting Head might be imputed to all his Seed and all this according to the Contrivance of God's Infinite Wisdom and to answer the Design Purpose and Proposal of God the Father in the Council of Peace 3. And seeing Man was a Rebel and in Arms against God and filled with Rage and Madness and having Enmity in his Mind against God Being alienated from the Life of God Jesus Christ as our Surety engaged to change the Hearts of all he undertook for and bring them to accept of Terms of Peace through the Blood of his Cross I say he ingaged to God to bring home all that were given to him Hence he says Them I must bring and they shall hear my Voice He must bring them because of the Covenant he had made with God the Father and upon the Consideration of that Obligation he laid himself under as their Surety He must Circumcise our Hearts to love the Lord our God for Christ also hath once suffered for Sins the Just for the Vnjust that he might bring us to God From hence it appears that Christ by virtue of these Articles of Peace as our Surety engaged to open Blind Eyes and to bring the Prisoners out of the Prison-house and to set at liberty those that were bound or by the Blood of his Covenant to send the Prisoners out of the Pit where there was no water for this was agreed should be the Effects of his Undertakings See Zech. 9.11 Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath Anointed me to Preach the Gospel to the Poor he hath sent me to heal the Broken-hearted to Preach Deliverance to the Captives and recovering of Sight to the Blind and to set at liberty them that were bruised He engaged to take away the Heart of Stone and to give us a Heart of Flesh to give a new Heart for this the Father promised in the Covenant and what he promised Christ ingaged to do for us for without Almighty Power this cannot be done He works all our Works in us and for us He engaged to subdue Satan and divest him that strong Man Armed of all his Power In a word Christ as the Surety of this Covenant engaged to Renovate our Hearts Regenerate our Souls or to Create the Image of God again in us And that from his Fullness we should all receive Grace for Grace And indeed to this end it pleased the Father that in him should all Fullness dwell 4. Jesus Christ as our Surety engaged to make good another Article in this Covenant which was to preserve all his People in a State of Grace not only to bring us into a State of Grace but to preserve us in the State or to preserve Grace as a Vital Principle in our Souls That as all the Promises of God are made to us in Christ so Christ hath engaged that we should persevere in Grace and Holiness and that we shall never finally depart from God any more He that hath begun a good Work in you will perform it to the Day of Christ. It is not said he will finish it but he will perform it which denotes his Covenant as when a Faithful Man hath engaged to do a piece of Work
for us by the Death of Christ for as you heard Christ did more than pay our Debts V. Christ's Death was the Pacifying or Atoneing Sacrifice his Precious Blood quenched the Fire of God's Wrath and so it is the only way by which we come to be delivered from Hell Our Jonah was cast over-board to make a Calm and caused the Storm of Divine Vengeance to cease VI. And more directly to our present Purpose I say again the Death of Christ was to ratifie and confirm the Covenent VII Moreover the Death of Christ was not only to confirm the Covenant of Peace it self but to confirm all Covenant Grants Covenant Blessings and Covenant Promises also for had not the Testator died none could sue for any Legacy therein bequeathed to them Furthermore also the Holy Ghost is appointed to be the Executioner of this Covenant or of the Last Will and Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself to God Purge your Consciences from Dead Works to serve the true living God It is the same Spirit of Jesus that offered up his Body that applies his Blood and makes it efficacious to us and also puts us into the Possession of the Inheritance purchased for us And for this Cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of Death that they which are called might receive the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance That is through his Intercession and the Agency of the Holy Spirit the Effects of his Sacrifice might become effectual to all the Elect viz. to their Justification Vocation Sanctification and Glorification If the Will of Man had been left or substituted to be the Executioner of Christ's Last Will and Testament not one Soul might have been saved or if otherwise yet all the Glory would not have then redown'd to Jesus Christ but one great part thereof to the Creature But thus it is not left 'T is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth No no it is wholly committed to the Blessed Agency of the Holy Ghost who doth and must bow and bend the Will of Man unto God But more of this hereafter My Brethren It is very remarkable what Knowledge some of the Ancient Jews had of the Messiah Rabbi Hadars as I find him quoted by a Worthy Divine speaks thus viz. God treating with the Messiah said Righteous Messiah Those who are hid in thee are such whose Sins in time shall bring thee to Grief thy Ears shall hear Reproaches thy Tongue cleave to the Roof of thy Mouth thou shalt be wearied with Sorrows The Messiah answered Lord of the World I joyfully take them upon me and Charge my self with their Torment but upon this Condition that thou shalt quicken the Dead God saith this Rabbi granted him this and from that time the Messiah charged himself with all kinds of Torments VSE I. From hence we may infer what horrid Evil there is in Unbelief or the Shamefulness of Unbelief and O what Ignorance there is in Men of this Covenant Agreement God is pacified and reconciled but Sinners will not believe it and from hence retain frightful Thoughts of God 2. We infer That our Salvation stands upon a sure and certain Foundation and that the Elect shall be saved 1. They are the Seed of Christ and are given to him tho never so unworthy in themselves 2 In regard of the firmness of the Covenant of Peace you hear how and by what it is confirmed 3. In regard Jesus Christ hath done his Suffering Work his Bleeding Work his Dying Work confirming his Covenant and he is bound to do all the rest in us and for us and the Spirit is the Executior Christ tho he died is alive and dies no more and therefore can and will see his own Will fully executed 4. Because God hath link'd in this Covenant his own Glory and our Good together II. Contemplate on the Love of your dying Friend Shall the King Immortal become a dying Testator O search into this Will to find your Names and see what vast Legacies are bequeathed therein to you Moreover you see that your Right to Grace and Glory is a Testimentory Right the Covenant betwixt God and Christ is turned into a Testament between him and you My Peace I leave with you He hath paid dear for it III. Sinners will you by Unbelief make void if it were possible this Covenant or not sue out by Christ's Blood your Pardon but think to get it some other ways Sirs all 〈◊〉 saving Grace is comprehended in this Covenant IV. What are all Earthly Legacies to those Christ hath left in his Last Will and Testament V. Terror Let all such tremble that turn Christ's Last Will and Testament into a Law of Works or into a Conditional Covenant or that give the Glory to their Faith to their Obedience or to the Creature and let all such fear likewise that venture to alter any thing contained in Christ's Last Will and Testament Lastly Do not forget your dying Friend O keep up his Remembrance in those Holy Signs of his Death and Suffering which he hath left in his word This do in remembrance of me I shall now proceed to the next thing proposed under this General Head Fourthly After a Covenant of Peace is ratified and confirmed it is proclaimed and so it is here also this is the next thing God assisting I shall speak to And now as Peace among Men is commonly published by a Proclamation so hath God graciously ordered this Peace to be published by a Proclamation Also And in speaking to this I shall 1. Shew you what is the Proclamation of this Peace 2. Who they are that God hath authorized to Proclaim it 3. Open the Nature of the Proclamation 4. Open the Terms upon which it is proclaimed The Proclamation of this Peace is the Gospel of Jesus Christ Hence the Gospel is called The Word of Reconciliation and the Gospel of Peace I. Because the Gospel only shews us how Reconciliation is made between an offended God and offending Creatures and no otherways is this revealed or made known to Men. II. Because God my Brethren is hereby declared to be reconciled or pacified towards Sinners even in Jesus Christ To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them Some would have this extend to all the World universally but then all would be saved for if all were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son they shall much more be saved by his Life for so Paul argues in respect of all them that God by the Death of his Son was reconciled to For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life If God gave us the great Gift he will much more give the lesser Gift i. e.
My Brethren observe that the Salvation 〈◊〉 by Christ was antecedent to our Faith and both were to be performed for us by our Surety that is he was as much obliged to give us Faith or by his Spirit to apply his Blood as to pour it forth upon the Cross for us tho he has ordained the Preaching of the Gospel as an Instrument in and by the Spirit to work it in our Souls Secondly This Proclamation it is an Universal Proclamation 1. Peace and glad Tidings is to be preached or proclaimed to all the World Go ye therefore into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every Creature What is this Gospel why Peace by Jesus Christ or that God is reconciled his Justice satisfied and his Wrath appeased by the Sacrifice and Obedience of his Son that being the meritorious or procuring Cause thereof and Christ requires them commandeth them to believe this Believe what Why that God in Christ through his Death was reconciled to us when we were Ungodly not that God will be reconciled and appeased if we Repent Believe are Regenerated and Baptized c. That which remains to be done which he will also begin and perform for all the Elect is the Sinners believing what Jesus Christ hath done 't is to receive the Atonement or to stretch out the Hand of Faith to receive the Pardon procured by Christ's Blood not that any Sinner can believe until the Spirit as a Vital Agent infuses Grace into him the Seed must be sown before the Fruit can appear Christ gives the Sinner Grace that he may be reconciled unto God as God in him is reconciled See Paul's Word And all things are of God who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the Ministry of Reconciliation vers 18. to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation vers 19. Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as tho God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled unto God God by the Blood of his Son was reconciled to us that being the Meritorious Price or Atoning Sacrifice and by the Spirit his Blood is actually applied and made effectual or efficacious unto us to our Reconciliation to God We pray you be ye reconciled c. that is we pray you to receive the Atonement Christ hath made or believe the Record God hath given of his Son i. e. believe there is Life in him that God is satisfied in him and reconciled in him if this my Brethren be not the Nature of the Gospel or of this Blessed Proclamation I profess I know not what it is II. And as Peace is Universally to be proclaimed to all Nations or in all Parts of the World whither God by his Providence is pleased to send the Gospel So also in respect to all sorts of Sins and Sinners i. e. Pardon is proclaimed of all kind of Sins and free Forgiveness and Peace in Christ is offered to all manner of Sinners Rebels and Traitors to God whatsoever they are not one Sin excepted save only the Sin against the Holy Ghost in some Proclamations or Acts of Indemnity many Crimes are excepted as Murther High-Treason Fellony and the like but it is not so here for whosoever they are tho never such horrid Blasphemers haters of God Traytors to him and Rebels against him if they come in and accept of Peace and lay hold of the King's Grace humbly believing in Jesus Christ or throwing themselves at his Feet all their Treasons Murthers Fellonies Blasphemy Adultery Drunkenness Swearing Idolatry Heresie Sodomy Incest Buggery Covetousness Lying Thieving Back-biting Cheating Backsliding or whatever else they have done all shall be forgiven forgotten and passed by for ever as I told you before yea tho they have done all the evil things as they could Will he reserve his Anger for ever will he keep it to the end behold thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest Tho this People had committed Adultery Idolatry and had rejected the True God and worshipped Idols and dealt most treacherously with the God of Heaven and Earth yet see what the Lord says Go and proclaim these Words towards the North and say Return thou Backsliding Israel saith the Lord That is Believe plead your Pardon in and by the Blood of my Son and I will not cause mine Anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep Anger for ever God out of Christ is a consuming Fire but in him a reconciled God only acknowledge thine Iniquity What Proclamation can be more free or universal than this is Object If Christ is to be offered to all or Peace proclaimed unto all is there then not Vniversal Redemption purchased by him 1 Answ. Redemption is a Word that denotes Persons were in Slavery or Bondage for whom a Price is paid and they therefore are set at Liberty Suppose Ten Men were Slaves in Algier and a Thousand Pound was paid down to Redeem them all and yet but four were actually Redeemed is it true to say all the Ten were Redeemed So here Is it true to say That the Redemption by Christ is Universal when the greatest part of the World were never Redeemed but remain under the Power of Sin and Satan That Redemption which is by Jesus Christ is from Sin from the Guilt Power and Punishment thereof And are all Men in the World thus Redeemed 'T is not a Redemption only from the Curse of the Law and Wrath of God but also fom all Iniquity Who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of Good Works And are all thus Redeemed 2. If Christ laid down his Life to Redeem every Man and Woman in the World hath he his whole Purchase A Man would think himself cheated or strangely deceived that laid down a Thousand Pounds to Redeem Ten Men when he finds there are not above Three or Four indeed actually Redeemed this renders Christ's Blood spilt in vain for the greatest part for whom it was shed or whom he intended to Redeem thereby and so he is deceived or disappointed 3. There can be no Universal Redemption unless Christ were a Universal Redeemer but Christ is not a Universal Redeemer Millions of Souls are left under the Power of Sin and dominion of Satan 4. Will a Man lay down Ten Thousand Pounds to purchase such or such an Estate and will he refuse to part with Ten Pounds to take up that Estate to make it sure to himself Brethren the Gift of Christ for us i. e. his laying down his Life is far the greater Gift and will he do this and not give the Gospel to many Nations nor Faith to believe and receive him and yet died for them all See how
Blood was shed for shall have the Vertue thereof applied to them whatsoever is not efficient is not sufficient to attain the End thereof See a late Treatise Object If this be so why is the Proclamation so Vniversal 1 Answ. Because no sort of Sins nor Sinners by Name are excepted or exempted Who can say he was not included in this Covenant of Peace to whom the Gospel comes 2. Because Ministers know not but that every one to whom they Preach may be comprehended in this Covenant or in the Election of Grace 3. Because if any sort of Sinners were excepted unless God should discover them by Name who were included Multitudes might utterly despair 4. The Proclamation doth not run to all otherwise than thus viz. He that Believeth he that comes to Christ c. or that believes the Record God hath given of his Son or that receives the Atonement or believes the Testimony of the Gospel See Mark 16.16 Joh. 3.36 This brings me to the next thing Fourthly What are the Terms upon which Peace is offered and proclaimed The Terms on which Peace is proclaimed run thus viz. 1. That whosoever it is that believeth shall be saved True if Faith was not the Gift of God but the Condition agreed on as required of the Creature by his own power to act and exercise it would not only be hard but impossible because Faith must be wrought in our Hearts by the same Power that raised Christ from the Dead but he that calls dead Lazarus to rise from the Dead is able to quicken and by his commanding Voice to raise the Soul dead in Sins and Trespasses The Gospel in the Hand of the Spirit is a mighty Instrument of Christ's Power in the begetting or working of Faith in poor Sinners 2. The Proclamation runs to him that thirsteth Oh every one that thirsteth come to the Waters c. Jesus stood up and cryed If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink This thirsting may refer to thirsting after Happiness desiring to be saved yet others think it is a Thirst begotten in the Soul by the Spirit from the sight and sense of the Excellencies that Siners see in Christ and the Necessity of him they desire and thirst after him Faith draws Vertue from Christ but the Branch cannot draw Sap from the Root until it is grafted into the Stock Faith is the Fruit of the Spirit therefore the Seed must be first sown in our Hearts And this originally proceeds from our foederal Union with Christ in the Covenant of Peace And Secondly by our Mystical Union with him by the Spirit for it is hereby Faith is wrought Can any thing but evil Fruit grow out of a wild and evil Stock and Root all Works before Grace are Dead Works and profit us not 3. The Terms are to look to Christ Look to me and be saved all ye Ends of the Earth This is all one with Believing the Israelites that were stung with Fiery Serpents were to look to the Brazen Serpent so Christ is lifted up that whosoever looketh to him or that believeth on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life 4. 'T is made to all them that come to Christ Come to me all ye that labour and are heavy laden c. All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out 5. It runs to every one that hears but it is to such that hear Christ's Voice Hear and your Souls shall live The Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God It is also to every one that will and whosoever will let him take the Water of Life freely Whosoever God hath inclined their Will or made willing to accept of Peace by Jesus Christ If any Soul believes in Christ thirsteth for Christ looketh to Christ or cometh to Christ and yet Christ rejecteth him then charge him with Injustice But where lives that Man tho he was never so Vile and Ungodly that did thus but he found Mercy O see how Free and Universal the Proclamation is Object 'T is not so Free but Vnbelief puts in a Bar. Answ. A Sinful State is no Bar to the Power of God for what tho some believe not shall their Vnbelief make the Faith of God of none Effect God forbid Object But Men must be humbled first before they come and they must renounce their Idols c. Answ. Grace only humbles They shall look to me whom they pierced and shall mourn But God first pours upon them the Spirit of Grace before they can thus look or mourn See Zech. 12.10 all previous Qualifications before Grace are abominable to God because the State of the Soul is such and all such things that proceed not from Faith God abhorreth 't is but a working for Life and not from Life Is the Improvement of Common Grace the Foederal-Condition of geting Special No surely APPLICATION 1 Infer From hence we may infer That in the Covenant of Peace the Promises of God are Absolute and that this Absoluteness implies that all the Conditions that are required on the Creature 's part Grace is promised to them to perform them on God's part Who works in us to will and to do of his own good Pleasure 2. This Proclamation is not so Universal but that it wholly dependeth upon God's Sovereign Pleasure who shall reap the Benefit of it 'T is sent to one Nation and not to another God is not obliged to send it to all Kingdoms and Nations nor to all in that Nation whither he is pleased to send it but if Christ died for all I mean in the stead of all to satisfie Divine Justice for every individual Person then he would be Unjust in not sending the Gospel to them all But he must Call all and be sure he would give all the lesser Gifts as well as the greater viz. the Gospel and Faith c. to all as well as his Son to die for them all and not let them perish in their Sins and Unbelief for whom Christ died for without Faith all Adult Persons must perish And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher 3. This Proclamation offers Free Pardon of all Sins both past present and to come to all that believe in Jesus Christ And therefore a final Deliverance from the Curse of the Law and the Wrath of God Rom. 8.1 4. Free Justification by Christ alone is therein offered also 5. With a Supply of all Grace to the End to all them that are in Jesus Christ Phil. 4.19 6. It proclaims God to be our Father and we his Sons and Daughters upon receiving Jesus Christ. 7. Moreover where any Elect Sinners are or dwell thither the Proclamation shall and must go to bring them all into the Bonds of the Covenant 8. And also whosoever receive this
wellcome News shall be saved from Hell and be Crowned with Glory in Heaven for ever and ever 9. O Bless God for the Gospel for the News of Peace and you Sinners see that you attend upon the Preaching of the Word of Reconciliation for this way he has ordained to work Faith in you O! Cry to him to pour out his Spirit and help you to believe never rest till you have got a Heart a Will to take of the Water of Life 10. Terror But tremble you that reject these Tidings this Grace for such that finally do so shall never have a share of that Peace Christ hath made by his Blood for on such the Wrath of God abides and will for ever Moreover he will also make it appear that Man's Destruction is of themselves tho their help is only in him Dread least God gives you up to blindness of Mind and hardness of Heart nay leave you also to Temporal Plagues and Judgments as he dealt by the Jews of old 11. Comfort Moreover here is Comfort to Believers who have heard and do know the Joyful Sound 1. They have Interest in this Peace and have a Title to Heaven by Christ's Righteousness alone 2. It is also a sign they were beloved from Everlasting because drawn to Christ or were Elected before time because called in time therefore let all such praise the Holy God To whom be Glory now and for ever Amen SERMON VIII Shewing when the Covenant did Commence also the Nature of the Covenant opened ISA. Liv. x. Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Doct. THAT there is a Covenant of Peace made or agreed on and stands firm in the behalf of all God's Elect. The next thing under the General Head I am upon I shall as it were but mention which is the Sixth thing proposed viz. Quest. When did the Covenant of Peace Commence and who are included in it and what is required in order to their actual Possession of the Peace and Blessings thereof 1. The Covenant was made in Eternity but the time of its first Commencement was after our first Parents had violated the Law of the first Covenant 2. But it did not so fully commence in the actual dispensation thereof until Christ put an end to the Covenant of Works then it was as you have heard established He took away the first that he might establish the second II. As to those who were included in it they were all the Elect or all the Seed of Christ or all that he as a publick Head represented and no more True the whole World receives many external Blessings by virtue of it for the Elect sake for Jesus Christ is their Great Landlord and Glorious Sovereign The World is upheld by a new Title i. e. from Christ as Mediator for had not he interposed between God and it the whole visible Fabrick doubtless had been dissolved and the whole Race of Mankind lost for ever III. That which is required in order to actual Interest in and Possession of the Sacred Blessings of this Covenant and the Peace thereof is Union with Christ I will cause you to pass under the Rod and bring you into the Bonds of the Covenant Under the Rod God brings Sinners under Convictions that wounds like a Rod and makes them pass under the Yoke i.e. he Marries them to his Son and so brings them into the Covenant Sinners by Faith take hold of this Covenant and Christ being given to them they also give themselves to him to be his and no more their own but the Lords they take God to be their God and Christ to be their Saviour and so come to possess the Blessings of the Covenant and the Peace thereof But no more as to this I shall proceed to the third General Head Thirdly My Business and Work is now to open the Nature of the Covenant of Peace 1. I shall God assisting shew you what a kind of Covenant it is or explain the Properties of it 2. Apply it I. The Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace But pray observe that the Covenant of Peace may be considered as twofold or a mixt Covenant 1. As it refers to Christ or to his part and Work therein and as thus it was a Conditional Covenant Christ receives all for us wholly upon the account of his own Desert or Merits 2. But whatsoever we receive by virtue of this Covenant it is wholly in a way of Free Grace and Favour through his Merits or through that Redemption we have by his Blood But take it either ways 't is of Grace First As to the Rise Spring or Efficient Cause thereof it was God's Infinite Love and Free Grace to his Elect This moved the Fato send his Son to be our Mediator and to accept of him as our Surety to do and suffer for us and in our stead I have before shewed God was no more obliged to enter into a Covenant of Peace with Christ for us or any of Adam's Off-spring than he was to reconcile himself to the Fallen Angels for they were his Creatures and more glorious in their first Creation than Mankind were The Surety of the Covenant was alone of God's finding he procured him He hath devised means that his Banished might not for ever be expelled from him For the Lord hath ransomed Jacob and he sent Jesus What could be an Act of higher or greater Grace and Favour than for God to vouchsafe or provide such a Mediator and Surety for his Enemies One so Great Glorious Worthy and Able and one so willing to undertake to make our Peace and bring us again home to God Secondly And then as to us this Covenant God entered into with Christ for us must needs be of God's Free Grace For as I have before hinted I. It was not of Constraint I mean there was no Necessity laid on God or Jesus Christ thus to Love Redeem and Save us in respect of Motive there was nothing in Man I say that could move the Affections of God thus to do and much less was there any thing in us in respect of Merit we deserved no such Love either absolutely or comparatively because we were not only undeserving but an ill-deserving nay Hell deserving Creatures being Rebels to God Vile Contemptible and Base Creatures even as loathsome as filthy Worms What is Man that thou art mindful of him What is his Deformity his Polution his Filthiness And O! What Cursed Enmity was there in our Carnal Mind Yea how much like to the Devil were we by Nature II. In that God hath manifested his Love and Mercy to so many this shews his Infinite Grace to us-ward Object May be you will say Why not to more Nay Why not to all Answ. I answer Why to so many Nay why to any at all Or Why to such that are called Why to us and not rather to those
hear it and do it But what saith the Lord to them O that there was such an Heart in them He knew well their great Inability and Averseness to do whatsoever he required But the Covenant of Grace is an absolute Covenant as to us as I have and shall further shew you by and by IV. The Covenant of Works tho it required perfect Obedience Personally to be performed by the Creature yet it gave no strength to perform what it commanded 1. But in the Covenant of Peace whatsoever God's Law required of us to our Justification in his Sight Christ covenanted and performed it for us and we in him Hence the Apostle saith That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us In us Christ and Believers are here represented but as one Person because what he did we are said to do in him Paul can't refer in this place to our inherent Sanctification for so no Believer can fulfil the Law because his best Works and Sanctification are imperfect 2. Moreover whatsoever Duties God requires of us as to our actual Justification in our own Consciences and as to our Sanctifica-also he hath promised to give us his Spirit to perform and work in us 1. He commands us to Believe and he hath promised to give us Faith so to do For Faith is not of our selves it is the Gift of God to you it is given not only to believe c. 2. He hath commanded us to make us a new Heart and he hath promised to give us a new Heart and to put a new Spirit into us 3. He commands us to love him c. and he hath promised to Circumcise our Hearts so to do c. V. The Covenant of Works laid all that broke it under God's denounced Wrath and Curse and admitted of no Mercy of no Forgiveness Heb. 10.28 In the Covenant of Grace Christ hath born that Wrath and Curse He hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us No doubt but under the Law he that was Hanged on a Tree was not made a Curse only Politically but also Typically as signifying that Curse Christ should be made on the behalf of the Elect. And by being made a Curse for us he bore the Punishment due to us for our Sins and satisfied Divine Justice so that all our Sins who do believe in Jesus are in the Covenant of Grace forgiven for ever VI. The Covenant of Works as to the Tenure of it runs thus i. e. Do this and live but the Covenant of Grace runs thus in the Tenure of it i. e. Believe and be saved Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved The One puts Men upon working or doing for Life the other puts them upon believing and working from Life The first promises Rewards for the Creatures Obedience and threatens Wrath and Death for the Creatures Disobedience The second promises Rewards of Grace to Believers for what Christ hath done or through his Merits and threatens Wrath for not believing or for non-receiving of Free Justification through Christ's Obedience or for refusing the only Remedy or for neglecting that great Salvation purchased and merited by the Lord Jesus VII The Covenant of Works represents God an Angry God an Incensed Judge or as a Consuming Fire But the Covenant of Grace represents God in Christ a Reconciled Father This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Fury is not in me There is no Fury in God no Wrath no Condemnation to any that believe or that are in Jesus Christ. VIII The Covenant of Works consisted all in Precepts in Commands which were partly Moral and partly Ceremonial the latter being numerous some speak of more than three Hundred Precepts that were injoyned on the People for tho the Ceremonial Law shadowed the Gospel yet Paul counts it part of the first Covenant See Heb. 9.1 Yet I deny not but that there was much Grace held forth in it But the Covenant of Grace as to us consisteth only of Free Promises Hence the Elect are called The Children of the Promise Vnto Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made Now we Brethren as Isaac was are Children of the Promise And hence the Covenant of Grace is called The Covenants of Promise Note 'T is called Covenants in respect of the divers Revelations or Declarations of it as to Adam Abraham David c. and as revealed in the Gospel tho it is but one and the same Covenant True it may differ in some Accidents but in Substance it was the same viz. Jesus Christ promised and Free Justification through him Is the Law against the Promises That is Is the Law as given in Mount Sinai against the Covenant of Grace No but given in Subserviency thereunto or as leading to it by discovering the Evil of Sin and the absolute Necessity of Christ's perfect Obedience thereunto in our stead IX The first Covenant required perfect Obedience to the Law in every Man 's own Person in respect to their Justification at God's Bar by which means through Man's Weakness and Inability to perform it 't is called The Killing Letter The Letter kills for Sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and by it slew me Sin revived and I dyed That is as to any hope of Life by the Law But the Covenant of Grace admits of a Substitute or of a Surety to keep the Law for us and God accepteth of his Obedience and Suffering as imputed to us to our free Discharge and Justification in his Sight And hence the Gospel is called The Ministration of the Spirit and Life Thus the Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace 1. As considered in it self 2. Comparatively or in opposition to the first Covenant or Covenant of Works Thirdly The Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace appears in that 't is an absolute Covenant I. It is not made on Conditions to be performed by us i. e. which being performed gives us a Right unto the Reward promised thereupon because our Right and Title to Heaven is only by the Righteousness of Christ through his perfect Obedience to the Law c. The Nature of the Covenant of Grace saith a Worthy Divine is Absolute or a Covenant of Promise notwithstanding all the Conditionalty contained therein 1. In respect of the Original Proposer of this Covenant it came from the Free and Absolute Will Grace and Purpose of the Father 1 Tim. 1.9 The Covenant of Peace was not purchased by Christ I mean the Covenant it self tho the Blessings in it were Christ's Purchase 2. The Covenant is Free and Absolute as to the Elect Personally considered because the whole of the Foederal Conditions lay upon their Head as undertaking for them II If we consider the Covenant saith he in respect to its Application or its being actually applied to the Elect
This God is our God for ever and ever and he will be our Guide even unto Death This Grant will never be revoked by the Giver nor can it be forfeited by the Receiver you have heard how sure and firm the Covenant is by which we hold the Inheritance he is our Father our Friend our Portion our Strength our Help our Riches our Honour and our God for ever Secondly Jesus Christ is given to all Believers in this Covenant this is a glorious Gift or Grant O! how great and how comprehensive is this Gift God is not our God till Christ is ours O! consider every Saint may say with Thomas My Lord and my God Christ is not only a Saviour but a Believer may say my Saviour he is not only a Redeemer but my Redeemer not only the Life of the World but my Life When Christ who is our Life shall appear c. Christ is not only Light but our Light and not only a Peace-maker but our Peace He is our Peace that hath made both one He is not only a Bridegroom but our Bridegroom my Beloved is mine not only a Physician but our Physician and not only a Shepherd but our Shepherd The Lord is my Shepherd yea and our King our Priest our Prophet he is our Righteousness our Strength our Food our Cloaths our Foundation who of God is made to us Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption In a word Christ in this Covenant is all in all Where there is neither Greek nor Jew Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond nor Free but Christ is all and in all Thirdly The next great Gift that is given in this Covenant is the Holy Ghost Isa. 59.21 the Holy Spirit is given to unite us to Christ to quicken us to illuminate our Minds and to renovate our Soul to be our Guide our Comforter and to dwell in us for ever and to seal all Covenant Blessings to us Fourthly All Grace is given in this Covenant Faith Repentance a pure Heart Love Hope Humility Patience Charity Temperance Meekness c. But to every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ and not only Grace but all Spiritual Gifts also yea Sanctified Gifts thus many great Gifts are given Fifthly Consider what other Grand Blessings and Priviledges are also given and granted by vertue of this Covenant viz. 1. Adoption to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God 2. Righteousness and Justification from all things 3. Sanctification 4. Pardon of all Sins and that for ever and not only forgiven for ever but they also are forgotten for ever 5. Peace 6. Communion with the Father and the Son 7. Godly Zeal 8. Spiritual Strength and Courage 9. All Ordinances are given yea Fat and Green Pastures Bread and Water of Life 10. The Ministers of Christ are given Whether Paul or Apostles or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's They have a Right and Title to all things that are good 11. All the Promises of God are given in the Covenant Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious Promises Promises that suit every State and Condition that we are or may be in great as to their Quantity and precious as to their Quality All the Promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen unto the Glory of God the Father Moreover all Gospel Ordinances are given 12. Yea a Right to Eternal Life also is given and granted to all in this Covenant even a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away a Kingdom a Crown and a Throne is given To him will I grant to sit with me in my Throne 13. Final Perseverance is given by this Covenant Lastly A Free Trade to Heaven is granted or free access to the Father But to this I shall more largely and distinctly speak at another time O stand and Wonder O what Gifts Grants Blessings and Priviledges are procured in the Covenant of Peace Happy are they that are taken into it But I shall go no farther at this time SERMON XII Shewing that as God in the Covenant of Peace is our God so we also are his People opening what this denotes i. e. our being God's People 2. How this appears to be a Covenant Priviledge And 3. Also what a Wonderful Blessing it is ISA. Liv. x. Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee THE last Day I shewed you what wonderful Gifts Grants Blessings and Priviledges are contained in the Covenant of Peace particularly that God gives himself and his Son Jesus Christ to all that are brought into it he has promised to be our God c. But to proceed There is yet one great Blessing which is included in the former viz. That as God gives himself to be our God so he hath promised we shall be his People this Grant and Priviledge is in the Covenant And I will be their God and they shall be my People compared with Heb. 8.10 And I will be a God to them and they shall be a People unto me First Let me by way of premise Note here four or five Things 1. That this is a most gracious high and sublime Priviledge viz. God to be our God is the first and this is comprehended in it also as the second and next in order to be esteemed by us i. e. we shall be his People 2. That this is granted only as an Act of God's Free Grace and Sovereign Goodness through Jesus Christ Brethren it is not upon Condition of our doing this or that that we procure this Blessing 't is not as the Promise run to the People of Israel under the first Covenant But 't is an absolute Promise if there is any such in all the Word of God I will be your God and you shall be my People Men nor Devils Ungodly Relations our own evil Hearts nor our great Unworthiness shall ever hinder us from being God's People 3. That God's giving himself to us is the Spring the Cause and Reason why we become his People we have not God Christ and the Holy Spirit because we are Believers or Penitent Persons but he first gives himself his Spirit c. God first gives himself in working of Faith saith Reverend Cotton before Faith can be there Therefore Faith is called The Fruit of the Spirit Man is passive in Regeneration or in God's infusing the first Principle Root or Habit of Faith and of all Grace in him 4. This implies that we were once not actually God's People notwithstanding the Design and Purpose of Grace that was in his Heart concerning us I will call them my People which were not my People and her Beloved that was not Beloved
have not only Crucified the Flesh or are become dead to Sin but have Crucified the World also But God forbid that I should Glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the World is Crucified unto me and I unto the World The World careth not for them and they care not for the World they are dead to the Honours Pleasures and Riches of the World Moses contemned all the Glory of Pharaoh's Court yea all the Pleasures of Sin and Riches of Egypt and so do all God's sincere People contemn this World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 3. They that are God's peculiar People are become dead to the Law to that cruel Husband and to all their own Righteousness accounting it but Dung or a dead Carkase or Dogs-meat in comparison of Christ Ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ c. The Union with that Husband is dissolved they seek not Life and Justification by the Law or are not in love with Self-Righteousness but dead to it whilst others make an Idol of it and trust in it 4. They have renounced themselves also and confess they are not their own but that their Souls their Bodies their Substance their Graces their Gifts their Time their Strength their Lips and their Lives are all the Lord's and for him for as all that God hath which is communicable is theirs or freely imparted to them and for them so all they are and have they account it is the Lord's they being but only Stewards of all they have and do possess Shall such think that they are the Lord's who live to themselves seek themselves or only bring forth Fruit like empty Vines to themselves No they that are the Lord's People esteem all they have to be his and for his Service and are willing to render it up to him when he calls for it Nay they have given God their Hearts not their Lips only or their Tongues nor their Ears nor their Substance but their Hearts also My Son give me thy Heart God complains of some that drew near to him with their Lips and sate before him as his People sate and with their Tongues shewed much kindness but saith he their Hearts went after their Covetousness after the World these God's Soul abhors and he will not own them to be his People Some give their Hearts to Pleasures to strange Women and to Vanity and to meer Folly and others give their Hearts to Riches but God's Covenant-People give their Hearts to him not a part of the Heart but their whole Heart they love the Lord their God with all their Hearts with all their Souls and with all their Strength Others have their Hearts divided between God and the World between God and their Lusts but such that love not God with their whole Heart hate him for the lesser Love is accounted Hatred in Scripture II. They that are God's peculiar Covenant-People are Begotten and Born of God for they this way as you heard become his Children there are none my Brethren that are the Lord's People by Adoption but they are his also by Regeneration they have his Image formed in them they are like to their Father in Holiness Heavenliness in Humility Mercy Meekness Love Goodness Charity c. they partake of the Divine Nature every one resembles the Son or Daughter of a King Then said he unto Zeba and Zalmunna What manner of Men were they whom ye slew at Tabor And they answered As thou art so were they each one resembled the Children of a King They are nobly descended they have sublime Spirits Holy Hearts Desires Aims and Ends in all they do they are not meer Dunghil-Rakers like the Men of the World but far excel all others The Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour he has an excellent Spirit Life and Principles in him III. They that are God's Covenant-People Trust in him as their God as well as Love him as their God all People trust in their God tho it be a God of Gold or Silver a Worldly Man's strong Confidence is his Wealth he makes Gold his Hope So they that have God to be their God trust in him depend upon him They that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee They trust in the True and Living God God is their Hope their Confidence they rely upon his Power his Mercy his Love his Faithfulness his Covenant and on his Blessed Promises and this at all times in Afflictions Desertion Temptations c. and when called to any hard Service in Prosperity and in Adversity in times of Want and Necessities and in Times of Fulness in Life and also at the Hour of Death This tends my Brethren to the Glory of God and by this they shew what a value and esteem they put upon God How often does David say he trusted in the Lord and because God was his God O my God I trust in thee Job says Tho he slay me yet will I trust in him Tho they see not feel not or have no sensible Comfort or Relief yet can and will trust in God tho God hides his Face or they walk in Darkness and have no Light IV. God's peculiar People highly love value and prize the Lord Jesus Christ They can say with David Whom have I in Heaven but thee Neither is there any on Earth that I desire besides thee They have tasted how good the Lord is and beholding his Beauty can say He is the chiefest among Ten Thousand they live upon Christ fetch all their Comfort and Hope of Salvation from him and rejoyce in him alone Serving God in Spirit and have no Confidence in the Flesh. Moreover when they have done all things that Christ hath commanded they look upon themselves Unprofitable Servants they live in him to him and by him their living in him shews Christ is their Life their living to him shews Christ is their ultimate End their living by him shews Christ is their Strength they receive the Spirit and so live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit they bring up the bottom of their Lives to the top of their Light they do not only know what is to be done but do what they know the Darkness of Carnal Professors will be the blackest because their Light seemed to be the clearest but these are better inwardly in substance than outwardly in appearance in a word they are as much in love with the Imployment of Holiness as with the Injoyment of Happiness or to be Holy here as well as Happy hereafter or to live to God on Earth as well as with him in Heaven V. God's Covenant-People ascribe all the Glory to him and take all the Shame to themselves Both Riches and Honour come of thee the Power the Glory and the Victory is thine and of thine own have I
't is great gain every ways profitable at all times in all States and profitable to the Soul and Body too 7. The Things that Believers Trade in are the best Things of Heaven the best Things of God he has no better Things to bestow as you have heard all good is comprehended in these Riches and hence these Things are only given to his own People to his Beloved ones as a Pledge of his Eternal and Special Favour in Christ. What exceeds himself His Son his Spirit his Love his Grace his Peace Peace with God Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Holy Ghost and Eternal Happiness in Heaven 8. They are Eternal Things The Things that are seen are Temporal but the Things that are not seen they are Eternal These are Everlasting Wares you shall carry them out of the World with you These things have I spoken that my Joy might remain in you and that your Joy might be full O! what a Trade by this Peace is opened to Believers Thirdly This is the best Trade in respect of our Blessed Correspondent whom we Trade with or who manages all our Affairs at the Court of Heaven namely Jesus Christ. I. Consider that the Father hath put the Management of all our Affairs into Christ's Hands as our great Trustee Moreover every true Believer has committed himself and all his Concerns to Jesus Christ The Poor committeth himself unto thee II. Consider his Power he is the King of Heaven and Earth All Power is given to me in Heaven and Earth he is the Mighty God this made Paul say For I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that Day I have committed my self to him my Soul to him my Life and all I have and hope to receive to him and I doubt not of his Power and Ability to keep it III. Consider of his Faithfulness other Correspondents oftentimes deceive and prove unfaithful Stewards but Jesus Christ is Faithful he never failed any one poor Soul that truly trusted in him God is Faithful and Christ is called A Faithful High Priest c. IV. Consider of that great Price he gave for all those Things which we Trade with him for Moreover and that he bought them for us and has opened a Blessed and sure way of Conveyance of them and besides he hath obliged himself by Covenant to give them down to us as we need them V. Consider of that Relation Believers stand in to him and of his Infinite Love and Affections to them he Trades or Intercedes for his Friends for such he ransomed with his own Blood for his Spouse whom he hath betroathed to himself for ever VI. Consider what Returns he makes some venture much and that which is great in worth but hardly sometimes have returns of the full intrinsical value again but thus doth not Jesus Christ deal with us First Christ makes great and vast Returns 1. To appoint them that mourn in Sion to give them Beauty for Ashes Beauty especially Spiritual Beauty is a precious Thing but what are Ashes worth What are our Duties Our Fastings and Prayer and Humiliations Why of no more worth then a little Ashes Yet here is Beauty returned for Ashes yea Beauty on the Soul Glorious Beauty 2. And the Oyl of Joy for Mourning we mourn and weep for our Sins well and pray what are a few Tears good for Are these of any worth in themselves No certainly Yet Christ makes returns of the Oyl of Joy for this Mourning or in lieu of these Tears even the Holy Spirit which fills the Soul with Joy and Comfort 3. And the Garment of praise for the Spirit of Heaviness Christ approves of Sadness of Heart that rises from that Sense we have of that Unworthiness that is in us and of that Dishonour which is done to him But how little Worth is there in this Heaviness as in it self But he returns the Garment of praise i. e. he cloaths the Soul in Beautiful Garments all these Expressions shew that whatsoever we receive is in a way of Free Grace and that there is no Worth in our Duties and also that Christ in a way of Grace will make Blessed Returns My Brethren Rewards of meer Grace are far greater than those of Debt as I have often told you But further 4. He that gives or ventures a Cup of cold Water to a Disciple in the Name of a Disciple shall not lose his Reward This is a small thing indeed yet here is a great Return for this when given to a right Object and to a right End and if he that gives or ventures a Cup of cold Water has such Returns what shall he have that ventures his All yea his very Life 5. And every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father and Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Name sake shall receive an hundred fold now at this time and in the World to come Eternal Life An hundred fold is a wonderful Return as when a Man that ventures one Pound to Sea to India or to any other place and receives a Hundred Pounds in lieu of it 't is a mighty Return but this is more in Quantity and better in Quality and that in this Life an Hundred fold here and a Crown of Glory in the Life to come Who would not Trade with such a Correspondent or not enter into such a Calling Will you not this Day become Spiritual Merchants What do you say II. He will fill our Treasures and that with Riches and Honours yea with durable Riches and Righteousness That I may cause them that love me to inherit Substance and I will fill their Treasures III. He hath promised to return Glory in Heaven for Sufferings on Earth For I reckon the Sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in us Let us weigh one against the other and see what a vast difference there is For our light Afflictions that are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory But did I say these Returns are for what we venture No no not for but in venturing in keeping Christ's Precepts there is an exceeding great Reward For all Returns are in a way of Free Grace 't is a Free Trade 1. Without Money and without Price without Money or Monies worth We Trade for nothing receive nothing for what we had or give for it as you have heard 'T is true Buying denotes our parting with something that is our own that we may have that we want But what is ours which we must part with Is it of any worth We must 1. Part with all our Sins Evil Courses Evil Habits and old Companions 2. With our old Hopes of Heaven 3. Our own Righteousness in respect of
Trust and Dependance And what is that but filthy Rags We have nothing to part with but cursed Filth and Pollution 2. Sirs whatsoever you have which is good it is his own Of thine own have we given thee saith David 'T is true we must give him the Glory of our External and Internal Riches Gifts Grace Righteousness but this is but to give him what is his own If thou art Righteous what givest thou him Or what receiveth he at thine Hand 3. He gave us Grace from whence our Tears of Sorrow proceeded Christ Reaps nothing but what he first Sowed it was his Grace his Spirit that broke our Hearts it was his Spirit that created Faith Love Hope Humility c. in us we only Trade with Christ's Money Secondly Christ makes sure Returns certain Returns 1. They that Sow in Tears shall Reap in Joy Again he saith Your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. 2. Christ is our great Insurer he keeps an Insuring Office in Heaven and hath ingaged his Faithfulness and Holiness to make us sure and certain Returns you shall not go forth Weeping but he assures you that you shall return Rejoycing and bring your Sheaves with you Thirdly Jesus Christ makes quick Returns 1. Nay we sometimes meet with Returns when 't is in our Hearts to Trade with him before we venture out in Trading Before they call I will answer and whilst they are yet speaking I will hear Object But sometimes we do not presently receive what we ask of God in Christ's Name 1 Ans. God answers us sometimes tho not in that manner or in that thing we request of him yet he gives us that which he sees is better for us 2. He gives us always quickly or right early that is when he sees the Fruit is ripe and good for us or in the proper Season Vnripe Fruit is not good 't is hurtful you know 3. When we are fit to receive the Mercy desired and know how to improve it to his Glory and our Profit then we shall have it and would you have it sooner 4. He may forbear sometimes to give us what we ask because we ask amiss or to try our Faith Love Patience c. but God must be Judge and not we of what is best for us and of the time when given to us also APPLICATION 1. Bless Christ for the Covenant of Peace upon the account it opens such a happy Trade or procures for us such free access to God 2. We infer that Sinners are wofully blind that so few will study this Trade they will not Trade to Heaven nor deal in Spiritual Things 1. Satan has blinded their Minds And 2. The World is got into their Hearts they are for present Things for sensual Things sensual Pleasures Profits Honours 3. They know not the way how to Trade Christ is the Way but they know him not they will Trade in forbidden Goods even with their own Money c. They think by their Tears by their Repentance by their own Faith Righteousness and Obedience to procure all things they want even both Justification and Eternal Life 3. Train up your Children in this Trade labour to instruct them into the Knowledge of Jesus Christ bring them up in the Way that they should go 4. This also reproves such that grow weary of this Holy Calling or that decay or waste their Stock and grow poorer and poorer every Day 1. The Price of Heavenly Commodities are fallen in their Esteem Prayer Reading Meditation Christian Converse Church Communion Peace with God and Peace of Conscience too is but of little worth now with them 2. Their Faith is low their Love to Christ his Truth and People is decay'd their heat of Zeal is gone 3. They are but little at Home do not watch their own Hearts or are more abroad to find faults in others and spying the Moat that is in their Brother's Eye Quest. Can 't Men Break that follow this Trade Answ. False Traders false Professors may nay will Break and come to nothing 1. They Set up without a Stock I mean without true Saving Grace 2. They Trade with their own Money or have Confidence in the Flesh and trust in their own Strength which had almost undone Peter 3. They are far in Debt and see not the way of coming out they do not see that all their Debts are paid by Jesus Christ. 4. They Trade not alone in Christ's Name nor are they strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 5. They look one way and Row another look Heavenward but their Hearts are Earthly 6. They prize Earthly Riches above Heavenly Things so that 't is no wonder if these Break but no true Christian I have proved can ever Break or be Undone 5. Be exhorted to Trade for Heaven and to buy of Christ Buy of me Gold tried in the Fire c. Buy the Truth and Sell it not Do not only Cheapen his Wares but resolve to buy Do you not love Gold O! Buy presently you hear how without Money What are all Things here free And yet do you not like the Terms Alas Proud Man would fain pay for all he has this Plague reigns amongst those of this Generation Directions to Trade to Heaven 1. Trade with God by Christ make use of this Blessed Correspondent come to God by him or you will get nothing obtain nothing Hitherto you have ask'd nothing in my Name and therefore received no more 2. Know and be assured that by the Peace Christ has made you may freely Trade and come to God but be sure see that 't is in Faith you come to him or you will never speed plead the absolute Promises 3. Observe the Motions of the Spirit Mariners set out with the Wind and Tide so must you The Wind blows where it listeth God's Spirit will not always strive with Men. 4. Mind the Exchange-time Merchants will not fail here O! see you do not neglect God's Publick Worship no lose not one Opportunity if it be possible one Neglect in this case had almost ruined Thomas When Ministers Preach you ought to hear nay you must hear 5. Be sure you keep up Closet Prayer much of this Spiritual Trade lies in this Duty also you must labour to pray in Faith and also fervently cold Prayers will never prevail with God 6. Keep up your Acquaintance with Jesus Christ you that are Believers see to this and you that are Sinners see that you get Union with him Acquaint thy self with him and be at Peace thereby good shall come to thee without Union there can be no Communion with Christ Brethren here is great Complaint of Badness of Trade may be 't is a Judgment because this Trade is slighted or so much neglected O! remember this is your general Calling and it must have the perferance whatever business is neglected this must not How did God blast the Jews in
Trading because his House lay waste They minded not this Trade Also know the more you venture the greater Returns you will have the more you do or suffer for Christ the greater your Reward of Grace will be They that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for evermore There are no doubt degrees of Glory in Heaven Quest. Who are Rich Traders Rich Christians Answ. All Believers are rich yet some are richer than others richer in Faith Love and Holiness than others 1. They that can Trust most are rich Dealers the Poor you know can't Trust they live upon their Labour so some too much fetch their Comforts from their liveliness in Duties and lively Frames or from their own Labour but this is not to live by Faith but such are rich that can Trust or Believe tho they with Thomas see and feel not 2. Such that are rich live high they keep a Noble Table I mean eat the fat and drink the sweet of the Ordinances and of the Promises and also they dwell above they dwell on high or enjoy Blessed Communion with the Father and the Son 3. They that are Spiritually poor poor in their own Eyes are rich I know thy Poverty but thou art Rich. 4. Such that are more Heavenly than others are the richest Saints 5. Such that are most rich in good Works 6. Such that can best bear Burdens when Taxes or Burdens are laid on poor Men they can't bear them but the Rich can 7. Commonly the Rich are envied so Satan and wicked Men envy such Christians that are most rich Thieves seldom beset a poor Man's House the more thou art tempted O Soul the greater sign it is that thou art rich 8. Rich Men feed others they feed the Poor so such that are rich in Grace and Experiences feed other Christians The Lips of the Righteous feed many 9. The Rich are better cloathed and adorned than others so rich Believers are more Holy more Humble Meek and Lowly than others are But I cannot enlarge on these Things but must leave what I have said to the Blessing of God SERMON XIV Opening the Nature of the Peace made by vertue of this Covenant ISA. Liv. x. Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee I AM this Day to conclude with this great Subject The last Thing I told you that I should do was to open the Nature of that Peace which is made by vertue of this Covenant The Method I shall take in speaking unto this shall be First To give you a short Summary Account of what we have said as to what is requisite to this Peace with God c. Secondly Shew you the Nature of this Peace Thirdly Apply the whole we have said on this Subject First I have shewed you that Jesus Christ alone is the great Peace-maker between God and Man I. You have heard that we can have no Peace with God until he is Reconciled and this Christ has done God in Christ is Reconciled his Justice is satisfied and his Wrath by Christ's Obedience and Sacrifice is appeased II. Sinners must also we have shewed you be Reconciled to God We pray you in Christ's stead be ye Reconciled to God Tho Sinners Peace may be made with God by Jesus Christ yet that Peace may not be accepted of by them or they may not be reconciled to him true we have proved that Jesus Christ undertook to do both these for all God's Elect as hath again and again been hinted 1. You have heard that Christ died on the Cross so making Peace by satisfying Divine Justice 2. He also as our Blessed High-Priest sprinkles that Blood upon our Consciences I mean applies the vertue of it to our Souls By the first Act he removes all Obstacles out of God's way and by the second he removes all Obstacles out of the Sinner's way so that the Reconciliation becomes Mutual Now that which is requisite on the Sinner's part in order to Peace and Reconciliation to God 1. Is that his Eyes be opened to see his wretched State and Condition by Nature i. e. that he is a Sinner an Enemy to God a Rebel yea a Cursed and Condemned Creature in the first Adam Yet 2. That God in Christ is well pleased or as I have shewn is reconciled by his Wrath-appeasing Sacrifice as the Way Means or Meritorious Cause thereof and that that Enmity which is naturally in the Sinner's Heart must be removed also 3. He must believe or come to Christ resting alone upon him for Justification Pardon Peace and Eternal Life being convinced there is no other way to obtain these Blessings but by him only 4. And the Grace of God being thus poured forth upon the Soul by the Spirit Faith is wrought in him to look to Jesus Christ and so seeing and admiring the rich Bounty Pardon and Unwordable Clemency of his offended and provoked Soveraign this works Repentance or Godly Sorrow for Sin in every such Person by which means he mourns and is more or less in great bitterness of Spirit in beholding how hateful Sin is to God and also what Sorrows his Sins brought upon his Blessed Saviour Hence it is called A mourning for him Zech. 12.10 For saith the Soul now I see that my Sins Crucified my dear Lord and let out his Hearts Blood and thus was my Peace made 5. Upon this the Believing and Sin-loathing Sinner resolves to lay down his Arms and never any more to fight against God Shall I saith he thus receive a Free Pardon of all my by-past Treasons Sins and Rebellion against my most Gracious Sovereign refuse to lay down my Arms Shall I continue in Sin because Grace has abounded God forbid Brethren if Grace be infused into the Sinner's Heart it will Teach him to deny all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts And not only to deny it to leave it but also to loath it it changes the Mind yet Repentance is not the Condition of Peace with God but an effect of it or of Christ's Merit a Broken Heart being one Promise in the Covenant 6. A Sinner hath not cannot have actual interest in the Blessings of this Covenant or have Peace in his own Soul without Union with Christ which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit and Faith of the Operation of God first of all whereby it is that the Soul is transplanted out of the first Adam that dead stock into the second Adam that quickning Spirit Moreover know that the Real and Relative Change is at one and the same time and certainly all that deny that there is a Change of State as well as a Change of Heart err exceedingly 1. Because the Word of God positively declares That by Nature the Elect are Children of Wrath as well as others therefore more than under Wrath in their own Conscience for in their own Consciences they may not apprehend they are the
himself What is the Lord of Heaven and Earth Born of a Woman The Ancient of Days became a Child of a Day old He that was in the Form of God found in the Form of a Servant Shall God purchase his Church with his own Blood This is amazing to think upon 4. We infer from hence also how wonderfully God hath hereby exalted and magnified Man Christ is a Man truly Man tho God as well as Man he that is God is a Man Forasmuch as the Children are made Partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same and by this means we are nearly related to God he is our Kinsman the nearest of Kin had under the Law the Right of Redemption to raise up Seed to the Dead Christ is our Kinsman our Brother and by this means the Inheritance even God and all he hath is setled on the whole Heavenly Family or on all his Seed or Elect What can exalt Man more than this O what greater Honour could be conferred on our Nature then for the Son of God to assume it into Personal Union with the Godhead 1. Hereby we are made near to God even nearer than the Holy Angels Verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Angels are not the Spouse of Christ they are not Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh but Christ is flesh of our Flesh and Bone of our Bone and hereby also we have a nearer Union with God than Adam had in Innocency nay as I said nearer than the Angels have for Believers are Christ's Mystical Body Christ is the Head of the Church For both he that Sanctifieth and they who are Sanctified are all of one for which Cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren 2. Our Nature hereby as one observes is the Store-house or Treasury of all that good which God intends to dispense to Men and Angels Moreover Angels and Men Worship God in our Nature that is Jesus Christ God-man And how astonishing is this 3 Moreover God in our Nature shall be the Judge of Men and Angels the Man Christ is God's Equal God's Fellow And 4. What Dignity and Honour is it then to be espoused to such a Prince 5. This speaks great comfort to Believers Christ who is Mediator is near unto God and as near unto us the Father hath Called Chosen Anointed and Accepted of him in our behalf he can sympathize with us he knows our Infirmities and he hath always God's Ear and God's Heart and represents us and our Cause to the Father Exhortation Sinners Will not you accept of Peace 1. Shall such a Mediator make your Peace nay die to make your Peace with God and shall any refuse to accept of that Peace which he hath made 2. The Terms are not hard but easie it is to believe in him to trust in him to believe he hath made your Peace or that God in him is reconciled 't is to sue out your Pardon through Faith in his Blood Take a few Motives to stir you up thus to do 1. Consider that you cannot have Peace with God any other ways There is no other Name given under Heaven whereby you can be saved 2. That whosoever cometh to him receiveth him believeth in him resteth upon him shall not Perish but have Everlasting Life 3. Consider how able he is to save He is able to save all that come to God by him and to save them to the uttermost tho they are never such great Sinners abominable Sinners prophane Sinners 4. Consider the Necessity of the Application of his Blood or of that Atonement which he hath made He that Believeth not shall be Damned if ye believe not that I am he that is that I am the only Messiah the only Mediator the only Saviour and that I am able to save you Ye shall die in your Sins 5. Consider the woful Condition of such that reject Jesus Christ or lay not hold on his Strength or that slight his Mediation or that think to find Peace some other way some think to have Peace by the Law by the Moral Law either as it is written in the two Tables or as it is written in the Hearts of all Men or by the Light of their own Natural Conscience others by a new Law turning the Gospel into a Law and so bring in and seek to establish their own Righteousness Alas If there had been a Law as Paul shews that could have given Life then Christ is dead in vain These cast great Contempt upon the Mediation of Jesus Christ nay strive to frustrate the grand Design of God in contriving our Salvation by his Son Jesus Christ which was to magnifie his own Free Grace alone and to abase the Creature that no Man might boast or glory in himself but that all might be ashamed and confounded for ever Question What Offices doth Jesus Christ exercise as he is Mediator 1 Answ. I answer Divines generally assert That he exerciseth a threefold Office and this every one ought to know and also the Work of Christ in respect had unto each Office or what peculiarly relates to his Priestly Office and what to his Kingly Office and what to his Prophetical Office c. A little to each of these 1. He is a Priest and as a Priest he is the Propitiation for our Sins he hath satisfied Justice by a condign Price the Price of the Blood of him who is God he paid our Debts to the last Farthing as a Priest he laid down the atoning Sacrifice and thereby quenched the Flames of God's Divine Wrath and Vengeance which ootherways would have fed on us to an endless Eternity 2. And as a Priest he interceeds now in Heaven that all those for whom he died may be called and have the Merits of his Blood applied to their Souls and that all that are called and do believe may have all that Grace which they need bestowed upon them to help them to resist Temptations and to be supported under all Trials and Afflictions and be enabled to perform all Holy Duties and have all their Sins pardoned If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous he presents his Righteousness the Deserts Merits and Satisfaction of his Blood for Remission of all their Sins neither can Sin be charged at any time upon any Believer as to that Vindicative Wrath which is due to it because he pleads the Satisfaction of his own Blood as their full Discharge from the Guilt and Punishment thereof for ever for otherwise Justified Persons might again come under Condemnation which they cannot For there is now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. And thus was Christ a Priest i. e. On Earth he eminently Sacrificed and Offered up himself to God How much more shall the Blood of Christ who