of the heart proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and defile the man c. for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Mat. 12.34 Now how comes it to pass that now one sin riseth in the heart and sometimes another sin when there is an equal propension unto all sin it riseth out of the heart but there is a Soveraignty of God that doth order these motions and desires in the heart permitting such motions and stirrings of heart now which he had not before Jam. 1.15 Lust conceiveth and brings forth sin there is original sin the root of corruption which is called Lust Jam. 1.15 and that is the mother of all sin and it is said to conceive when it is formed into motions reasonings consultations and desires and consents but yet there is many a lust conceived that never is brought forth into act and the permitting the rising as well as of the being of lust depends upon the Dominion and the Soveraignty of God As there came into the heart of Esau such a resolution when my father is dead I will slay my brother Jacob so there came a motion into the heart of Judas to betray Christ and thereupon he consulted how to do it with the greatest advantage and how to take the fittest opportunity to bring it to pass so a thought came into Davids heart to number the people Satan stirred it up but God in judgment giving him over that it should be at this time when God was angry with Israel and Ezech. 38.10 It shall come to pass at the same time that things shall come into thy mind and thou shalt think an evil thought a thought that he did not think before the time of his destruction was near then such motions shall arise as it did in Ahab Is not Ramoth in Gilead ours c which was the occasion of his destruction There is a providence even in the rising of lusts in the hearts of his own people that this lust at this special time and another lust at another time should rise in them it is the same Soveraignty of God that doth draw forth gracious desires in the Saints and doth permit corrupt desires in them also God is not the Author but the orderer of them and yet even in this also the Soveraignty of God is exercised for the good of the Saints and that many ways 1 In this that all lusts break not forth in the soul continually for lust that is the mother of all sin original sin stands equally prepared unto all sin at all times and therefore that all lusts be not stirring in the heart together is from a glorious act of the soveraign restraint of God Hos 4.2 By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out c. erumpunt it is taken from waters that have been hid or from fire shut up in an oven or a furnace Hos 7.6 sometimes it breaks forth into thoughts in the soul and sometimes into acts in the life Now there is a double restraint that the Soveraignty of God has over mens acts and over their lusts and it 's a great mercy to have acts of sin restrained as it was in Abimelech Gen. 20.6 his lust was let out but God restrained the act and it is a greater mercy to have the lust restrained than the act as the Lord said They shall not desire thy land Now the Lord doth restrain the Devils acts but for his lusts he doth let them range and so he doth very far also restrain the acts of wicked men when he sets no bounds unto their lusts next to being freed from the being of sin it 's a mercy to be delivered from the rising of sin and in that there is a special manifestation of the Soveraignty of God for if the rising of one sin be so troublesom unto a godly man that he strives and prays and wrestles with it and it is unto him as the thorn in his flesh he cannot be quiet in himself by reason of it how miserable and continually unquiet would the heart of a godly man be if he should have many such strangers and way-faring men come to him as it was said of the lust that came into Davids heart how should a godly man be able even to stand under the burden of them therefore even this restraint of the rising of some lusts is a special mercy that Josephs lust should not rise and conceive in him at such a time and when he had such an opportunity And it is the greater because I conceive the Spirit of God by a peculiar work and not a common doth restrain the lusts of the Saints It 's true that there is restraining grace both unto the godly and the wicked but not both from the same principle but the Spirit having once taken possession of a godly man for his own house and Temple he doth never work common works in that man more as a Spirit assisting barely but as a Spirit inhabiting 2 There is a great deal of mercy in the Lords ordering of the rising of lust when lust doth not rise when the object is present there is the object and the opportunity but the lust is past away as Ruth lay at Boaz his feet all night yet no lust ariseth towards her and David had an opportunity of killing Saul but yet when Saul was in his hand and he was stirred up to it by his servants also yet God restrained his lust it did not rise in him which we may see by the contrary in other men as soon as the object is offered the lust is up in the young man Prov. 7. he met a harlot and he went after her straight-ways and there is a man that no sooner sees his neighbours wife but he doth lust after her his lust riseth as soon as the object is presented and so it was with Achan I saw and I coveted and I took and so it is with many a man let the least shew or provocation be given and his spirit is on fire immediately but it was not so with Abraham though he was the better man and had a better right than Lot yet in the contention the lust of pride and passion did not arise in him Let there be no strife between me and thee for we are brethren A man of understanding is of a cool spirit he doth not take fire immediately that lust should rise at one time and not at another it can be attributed unto nothing but the Soveraignty of God ordering and over-ruling and restraining it c. 3 The Lord doth let some lusts at this time arise that it may shew a man that such a sin is in his nature which formerly he haply never considered never particularly repented of and never saw the fruit of it breaking forth in his life Now to lead a man
And therefore the Sun was withdrawn at the death of Christ not that it could not behold such a horrible sight as some do express it but it was in wrath to shew that he was under the displeasure of God to whom he crys out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and all his Disciples forsook him and fled and not an Angel lookt out of Heaven to comfort him 3 The Creatures that men have in their possession are cursed there is a curse upon them which blasts them that they are subject unto vanity and are become vanity of vanities Eccles 1.2 There is an universal decay by reason of Gods curse come on all things that are for mans use but many times there is also a particular curse that does haâ—â—en their decay sooner than else it would have been as it is in Estates Hos 5.12 á moth and rottenness and a lion enters into families And we read of a flying Roll Zach. 5.2 3 4. that 's the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth and it enters into the house of the thief and the swearer and consumes the stones and makes holes in the bottom of the Bag Job 20.28 the substance of his house shall depart his honour and memory shall be gone and so their names are written in the earth the name of the wicked shall rot God does many times rot mens names presently that they perish they are consumed as in a moment 4 Whatever they have by the Creatures shall be with much toil labour and weariness In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread We see how much toil and labour the Husband-man has to put some life into the dead earth all things are full of labour Eccles 1.8 man cannot utter it and how much weariness there is in every calling and condition of life nay even in our very Recreations how much pains there is to extract a poor small contentment that even the pleasure of it does nothing recompence the labour to get it God having made the Creatures even like to Paracelsian Physick a little spirit mixt with a great deal of unprofitable matter a great deal of dross with a little gold and much chaff with a little corn and a great deal of labour before a man can beat it out Every condition of life is full of labour 5 Even those Creatures that a man is acquiring for his good become instruments of vengeance for his destruction for all the Creatures are arm'd against a man The Stars in their courses fight against him Exod. 23.25 the Heaven that sends down destroying influences the Sun that scorches the Earth and destroys all the labours of man and the Rain that drowns the World and the Earth that opens its mouth to swallow him up and the meanest of the Creatures flys and lice destroy him and a mans meat and drink become his bane God curses his bread and water and it shall bring diseases on him The Angels they keep you out of Paradise with terrour Gen. 3. destroy whole Armies meet men with a drawn sword as they did Balaam Sometimes a man is eaten with worms as Herod was and sometimes God fights against us as he did against Cambyses and the Devil doth possess our bodies and destroy our goods as he did Job and he waits but for a commission to hurry us to Hell and to be the instrument to convey us thither upon all occasions as being Satan our adversary § 2. The curses upon a mans body are various and great As 1 Continual weariness and wasting and sickness and a disorder and jarring between the humours of a mans body Deut. 28.21 and old age which is a continual disease though indeed it 's true as Solomon says Gray hairs are a crown if found in the way of righteousness And it 's an honour with Mnason to be an old Disciple but yet it is in it self a fruit of the curse that bringeth with it the decays of nature for man if he had not fin'd should never have waxed old nor had any deformity for he was created at first a very glorious Creature and had no blemish from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot but now there is not the fairest face but it has some blemish and there is a strange ugliness and deformity come upon men though upon some more than others The botch of Egypt the Itch the Scab that shall not be healed c. We read in Eccles 12.2 3. a description of those evil days wherein all the comforts of a mans life are taken away a man cannot say he has any pleasure in them in which he is much disabled for service to God and man by reason of his weakness and infirmities All things that are comfortable in this life do decay and it is with a man as in Winter-weather when a shower or two does not cleanse the sky but the end of one misery and disease is the beginning of another And there is a more particular description of the miseries â—hat attend man in his age in the third verse of that Chapter The keepers of the house the 〈◊〉 and hands are weak the defence that God has given this house of clay they through â—â—â—â—ness and palsie do tremble and the legs and thighs the poor pillars and supports of 〈◊〉 house do buckle through weakness and bow the grinders cease because they are few and the eyes that look out at the windows are weakned and the doors shut in the streets and the mouth closed And he desires not company because he is unfit for it he keeps home and sits alone and his sleep does easily depart from him at every noise he rises up at the voice of a bird c. and desire fails to any of the pleasures of this life We see a Comment upon much of it in the 2 Sam. 19.35 and then death comes and there is a dissolution of this house of clay and after death the dust returns to the earth as it was and this glorious body of man so curiously fed and so sumptuously cloath'd must become food to the worms and rot in its own filthiness and putrefaction and in all these respects the body is become a vile body corruptible mortal a body of death and it lies down in dishonour in the grave 2 And there is this great curse also upon the body of man it is become an instrument of sin to the soul and so an instrument for the devil to use Sin indeed is not properly and formally in the body but in the soul Mich. 6.7 and therefore it is properly call'd the sin of the soul for it 's the soul that is the arch-rebel sin is formaliter in corde redundanter in corpore formally in the soul but by redundance in the body But yet there is this curse come upon the body and the members of it that it 's imploy'd as a servant to the soul in sinning and
when God leaves him under that Covenant and deals with him according to the terms of that Covenant under which he desires to be In a word if God hate their persons and impute their sins reject their services despise their image curse their blessings give them neither grace restraining nor renewing if he leave them to wrestle under temptations by their own might and to resist sin in their own strength and be defiled and as they offer to God unsanctified services so God gives them unsanctified rewards and as their services are seemingly services but really sins so Gods blessings be seeming blessings but really curses When they shall come and plead with God at the last day they shall be made speechless in this for God shall let them see that in all his dealings with them he has proceeded with them in all things according to the terms of the Covenant under which they stand Vse 2 § 2. We may by this see what a miserable state a state of sin is and wherein the great danger and misery of it lies it makes a man perfectly miserable in all things but it makes him also insensible of this misery and makes it a desirable condition unto him which he is still willing and content to be in And here observe these three things 1. See here the compleat raign and dominion of sin which it has over men who are yet in their sins in a state of sin which consists in two things 1 In power and authority to command 2 In a ready and willing subjection thereunto Rom. 6.19 when men do yield themselves servants to sin as it is in respect of acts of sin men please themselves in them and they cannot forsake them they are the joy of their lives their sweet morsels which they hide under their tongues and they keep them and will not forsake them so also in respect of a state of sin which they are in under their Covenant as the servant that would not go free Exod. 21.5 Now when it is so that men are content with the bondage of the first Covenant and the second Adam is offered to them and they will not be delivered this shews that they are perfectly under the bondage of sin that not only they are with pleasure held under the acts of sin and cast fire-brands and say am I not in sport but they are held under a state of sin also and will not accept deliverance will not go free 2. See here also the folly of sin and the sinner even the highest rank of men civil men and formal professors temporary believers that have oyl in their lamps and go forth to meet the Bridegroom and yet the Holy Ghost says they are foolish Virgins because men do not judge of the danger of their estates by reason of their Covenant but go on as the Ox to the slaughter yea they cleave unto this Covenant and see not the misery that they are in under it and though the great work of the Spirit of God is to convince a man of his estate of sin in this that he is under the first Covenant and out of Christ Joh. 16.8 yet men go on and will not see it and yet walk with a great deal of confidence in hope of an everlasting reward 3. See here how Satan blinds the eyes of them that believe not and how the Lord gives them up to blindness in judgment that live under the Gospel they have the offers of the second Covenant made known to them they are under the Law and they do hear the Law that they are by nature bond-men and can from this mother expect no inheritance but as bond-men to be cast out of the house for ever and yet they cleave unto this and the more the glory of the second Covenant is offered unto them the more violently they do oppose it because it would spoil them of their own righteousness and subject them unto the righteousness of God Thus we see it in the whole people of the Jews but eminently in the Pharisees this Covenant they had chosen unto themselves and they did desire to be under the Law and they thought themselves very much enriched with the righteousness of the Law so that Christ preaching the second Covenant unto them and the grace thereof their desire to establish their own righteousness did raise up the malice and rage of their spirits unto such a height that they broke forth into the unpardonable sin even the great transgression and there is the same devilish principle in us all if the Lord restrain us not that in opposition to the grace of the Gospel we should oppose it even to the unpardonable sin Vse 3 § 3. It is an Exhortation to several Duties but specially three 1. Labour for a work of humiliation for this sin and to be rightly convinced of it for surely the nature of man is deeply leavened with it There is a double conviction of sin 1 Rational when a mans reason is overcome by the Word that a man cannot deny nor dispute against the truth of it and yet his heart is not affected with it Joh. 16.8 2 There is a spiritual Conviction when the Lord comes in with an irresistible light and discovers the sin and causeth the heart to own it and stoop to it and be affected with it with shame and sorrow and this is that conviction of the soul that does lead unto conversion whereas the other many times doth and may lead unto condemnation And this sin will be set upon the soul with these Considerations 1 It is a sin against the Gospel and the foundation of all the grace thereof now this is an aggravation If the word spoken by Angels were stedfast c. Heb. 2.2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation If it be so dangerous to break the first Covenant what is it to despise the grace and offers of a second 2 It doth reject the grace of God the Father who had the first hand in the second Covenant for he might have dealt with us as he dealt with the lost Angels he did not catch after them when falling Heb. 2.16 Now for the Lord to give you a second offer of grace when he let the Angels go and you to despise this grace and whereas God had multitude of thoughts concerning this Covenant and the grace thereof for you to make all these thoughts of God of none effect by desiring to establish the first and by rejecting the Grace of the second Covenant is a great transgression 3 Hereby a man is very injurious to the Lord Jesus Christ Joh. 4.10 who is the greatest gift of God and the main of the excellency of this gift lies in this that he is given as a second Adam as a Mediator of the Covenant the surety of the Covenant Heb. 7.22 Isa 42.6 Heb. 8.6 the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.6 by whose blood the Covenant is sealed and
even in all his temptations of the Saints as well as wicked men to touch them Jon. 6.7 Job 5.19 and to leave in them an impression and stamp of his own devilishness and therefore the more men sin against knowledg and with despight and disaffection unto God the more he is pleased with it for as God loves holiness in the spirituality of it and the nearer a man comes unto conformity to God the more God delights in him so Satan loves sin in the spirituality of it and the nearer a man comes in conformity unto Satan the more spiritual his wickedness grows and Satan delights to act that man of all other 2 The dearer any thing is unto God the more Satan delights to abuse it unto this end and the more God hath set up any thing against sin the more Satan does endeavour to make that a means to draw men unto sin sometimes he seeks to abuse the Creatures of God and stir up lust by them as when a man looks upon the Sun when it shines and his heart is enticed thereby sometimes he looks upon a Woman and lusts after her sometimes he looks upon the Wine when its colour looks red in the glass and thus the Creatures of God are abused by Satan to draw out the lusts of men and whatever is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the ey and the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.15 16. Sometimes he abuseth the servants of God he will enter into Peter and he shall become a tempter unto Christ that he saith Get thee behind me Satan and the woman that God gave man to be a help she shall by Satan be made a dart and sometimes the Law and the Gospel which specially God has set up as a remedy against sin shall act it and improve it and draw it forth Now God leaving a man under the power and dominion of Satan the God of this world who works effectually in the children of disobedience he is as a conquerour over them and triumphs in this that he has made use of the Law of God and the Gospel of God that is made against sin to increase and ripen it yea even the motions and common works of the Spirit of God the heart of man rising and making head against them are the great means by which Satan draws men to the great transgression even to sin against God with despight and revenge § 3. But here is a question Question Are believers who are engrafted into Christ and come under him as a father as the second Adam that is have their Covenant changed as well as their image are these wholly freed from the law in respect of the irritation of it Rom. 6.14 it is said Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law but under grace Which as has been declared is not to be referred unto a mans justification as being freed from the Law for righteousness and life and from the curse of the law for death and condemnation but it is spoken of a mans Sanctification a man is not under the Law as irritating sin and increasing it but under grace not only pardoning but sanctifying and subduing it and in this respect the dominion and the ruling power of sin is taken away in the godly though the being of it remain The Apostle speakes wholly in this place in reference to a mans state of unregeneracy Vers 5 When we were in the flesh the motions of sin that were by the law c. And he speaks this in reference to his own estate before conversion I was alive without the law once and I had not known sin but by the law nor lust to be a sin and the danger of it but that the Law of God discover'd it unto me and so in my former state Sin took occasion by the Commandment and wrought in me c. The word in the Greek signifies to work a thing throughly and effectually and to work it out Phil. 2.20 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling And Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but to perform or go through with the work I find not a power to do it And so sin by the Commandment wrought in him effectually or wrought in him which we heard before all manner of Concupiscence all lust was thereby drawn out Hath the law of God no such work upon a regenerate man one that is a believer does not sin in a regenerate man take occasion by the Commandment Is a Believer as perfectly freed from the Law for irritation as he is for condemnation Answer Christ says If the Son make you free you are free indeed and the special part of our liberty with which Christ has made us free is in being freed from the Law as a Covenant Some as Paraeus and others do distinguish thus Liberty from the Law is twofold 1 Perfect in respect of justification and condemnation that their perfect obedience to the Law is no way required for the one neither shall any of the transgressions of the Law be imputed for the other 2 Inchoate which is but begun in the Saints and shall be perfected and so they are delivered from the Law only for irritation and coaction but so long as sin remains in them so long they shall never be perfectly delivered from the Law in either of these But to make this plain and bring it down in the particular branches of it unto the meanest understanding There are many things to be considered which I shall now proceed to lay down to make out this general and received Doctrine that is so commonly delivered by our Divines 1. There are remainders of corruption in the best of the Saints Grace destroys the reigning of sin but not the being of it You read how that Abraham the father of the faithful had his unbelief and Moses the meekest man in his generation had his passion and provocation and spake unadvisedly with his lips David a man after Gods own heart yet he complains of his secret sins and Paul that great Apostle had the law of his members rebelling against the law of his mind 2 Cor. 7.1 There is a filthiness of flesh and spirit that is to be purged out as there is something wanting in their Graces and therefore they have a daily growth in Sanctification so there is something remaining of their corruption which requires a daily growth in their mortification therefore they are compared to the Moon Cant. 6.10 which has some spots in it because not wholly enlightned by the Sun they do defile themselves and therefore had need daily to wash their feet Joh. 17.10 2. These remainders of sin in them as they are promoted by Satan so they give Satan an access unto their spirits and are as the seed for him to work upon they are to him a seminary and so much as Satan has in a man so much power he has over him says Christ
do him no good for they are all of them added unto the Covenant of Grace as signes and seals thereof In the ordinance of Baptism there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.21 an answer 1 Pet. 3.21 which I take to be an allusion to the ancient manner of John Baptist Luk. 3.10 the people asked him and what shall we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby implying a willingness to engage themselves unto those practices of repentance and those duties of reformation unto which John did baptize them whence arose that ancient form in the Church in baptizing persons by propounding unto them Questions concerning Faith Repentance renouncing the World the Flesh and the Devil and their solemn engagement and stipulation thereunto which if it were in truth and from a good conscience the person was truly baptized in the sight of God or else he was only baptized with water and no more So what was circumcision but a sign and a seal of the Covenant which if it did reach unto the heart it was circumcision Gen. 17.13 else their circumcision became uncircumcision for the men were not in Covenant with God therefore Jer. 9.25 I will punish all them that are circumcised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 9.25 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Omnes circumcises in praeputio so it is in the Original and so Montanus and others do render it all that are circumcised in uncircumcision Now it is by the Learned observed that the Nations there named did thus circumcise but being a people out of covenant with God it was no circumcision unto them and though they were circumcised yet they were in uncircumcision still and so the Jews they were circumcised and in an outward Covenant but yet their hearts did not consent and therefore though they were circumcised in flesh yet they were not circumcised in heart So for the Sacrament of the Lords Supper it is the New Testament in the Blood of Christ Mat. 26. Zach. 9.12 and this blood is the blood of the Covenant and therefore if thou be a man out of the Covenant thou hast no right to it it can do thee no good but hurt all thy days As Cyprian de Lapsis hath a story of one that when the people of God were receiving the Sacrament came secretly in amongst them to receive it also Ausus est latenter accipere he durst take it secretly and having taken the bread in his hand Cinerem se ferre apertis manibus invenit opening his hand he found it turned into ashes and so Gratia salutaris in cinerem imo in venenum fugiente sanctitate mutatur the salutarie grace is turned into ashes yea poyson c. And therefore if such a man receive the Sacrament he takes the name of God in vain for in Gods account he did never receive it because it is a seal of the Covenant of Grace and he remains still under the covenant of works 4 All the motions of the Spirit of God as the giving of the Spirit doth belong to the second Covenant This is the Covenant says the Lord that I will make with them Isa 5.9 ult my spirit that is upon them c. And it is the Gospel that is the ministration of the Spirit for it is Christ the Prince of the Covenant that doth send the Spirit and what is the end of the Spirits coming it is only to advance the Covenant of Grace He shall take of mine says Christ and shew it unto you that he may bring you into Union with Christ and so into Covenant with God by him and therefore it is the Spirit of the second Covenant and the healing motions and strivings and impressions of the Spirit of God with man are all to this end to bring them within the bounds of the Covenant and though they may receive many gifts and common graces and common works yet the Spirit is grieved resisted and quenched if this great work be not wrought that the spirit may become a spirit of adoption and all those glorious works of the Spirit as a witness as a seal and as an earnest they do all come under the second Covenant and belong to the spirit as the spirit of the Gospel 5 If thou be not translated into the Covenant of Grace thou art left in a remediless condition for thy first Covenant being broken does bring thee under a curse and there is but one remedy against the sting of the Serpent and that 's the brazen Serpent there 's no avoiding the curse of the Covenant but by being translated out of it and this translation thou wilt not accept of therefore thou art in a helpless condition for thy disease is mortal of it self and thou wilt not accept of a remedy and so thou art left to the punishment of the first Covenants curse Joh. 3.33 He that believes not the wrath of God abides upon him not comes upon him only but abides upon him There is ira transiens and ira permanens transient wrath and permanent wrath All sin brings a man under wrath but there is no sin leaves a man under wrath but unbelief because a man will not accept of peace and reconciliation that is made to him And let me tell thee O soul whoever thou art in such a condition thy misery will be so much the greater that thou hast had a second Covenant offered and yet despisest it and in this Sodom and Gomorrah will come in against thee and will condemn thee for if they had had the offers that thou hast had they would have accepted of them yet thou hast rejected them nay the Devils themselves will be brought in against thee for thy condemnation and in this as thy sin is greater so will thy judgment be for they never had an offer of any terms of peace made to them they found themselves shut up under wrath without hope but thou hast had offers and hopes all thy days and this will be matter for that never-dying worm to feed upon at the last and great day when the soul shall reflect seriously upon its by-past life I neglected hopes and possibility and it 's now unrecoverable though there was a time that the offers of mercy were made to me and treaties of Grace made with me by the common works of the Spirit of God which I rejected mercy was upon her knees to me and I had as great possibility and probability to have found mercy as any other there are some that lived under the same Ordinances and offers of Grace with me and many of them had never the opportunities that I have had and yet I see them sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and I am left out And this will be the great misery of many I may say of most of the children of the Kingdom they that live in the Church at the last and great day § 3. We may hence see the
at first created with us 3. The finger that writes it is the Spirit or the writer is Christ and the ink is the Spirit and the table is the heart in which the Spirit works the habits of all Grace De spiritu litera Cap. 3. Austin has decided it against the Pelagians that there must not only be freedom of will in men and a teaching and a moral perswasion from God which they hold and the Papists and Arminians since but there must be an almighty work of the Spirit of God upon a man creating in him a new nature and putting into a man inward dispositions answerable unto what the Law of God doth require and that by a hand without and so writing does signifie something wrote in a man from without and that I conceive to be the meaning of Rom. 2.15 Rom. 2.15 The work of the Law written in their hearts all the outward acts of obedience that they do and their Consciences accusing or excusing them all those are but the fruits of the work the efficacy of the Law that is written in their hearts We do not read that the Law is said to be written in Adams heart only God created man righteous but writing notes rather an act from an extrinsecal hand And therefore I should rather conceive those practic notions Rom. 2.15 to be written in man by the common work of the Spirit of Christ than to be left in him after the fall not the dross of the old Adam but the foundation of the new c. so that the Spirit of God has his works wrought in both only in the one by a common hand in the other by a saving work 4. The thing that the Spirit of God doth write there is the whole Law he doth write the Gospel and all the Promises thereof he doth take of Christ and shew it unto you Joh. 16. he reveals his glory to you and the preciousness of Gospel-promises and priviledges and a man does believe them and is transformed into them He does also shew a man the Law of God and a man is transformed into the likeness thereof even the whole Law so that a man has respect unto all the Commandments there is an universal change for there is not any part of the Law but it is written within him Civil men may have something of the Law put into their hearts as the Heathen had and they may shew forth something of the work of the efficacy of this Law in their hearts and in their lives also but they have but half the copy but where the Spirit of God does write the Law savingly he writes the whole Law 5. The Law is written in the heart as it is written in a Proposition that which is written in the greatest Letters in the Law hath the greatest Characters in a mans soul and that which is most often repeated in the Law that is most often repeated in the heart and therefore Rom. 6.17 Rom. 6.17 There is a form of doctrine into which you were delivered as into a mould Now in a thing cast into a mould as there is not the least scratch in the mould but it will appear in the thing moulded thereby so answerable unto the impression in the mould will the impression be in the thing and if it be deeper in the one it will be deeper in the other now to know God and to fear him to cleave unto the Lord Christ and honour him and obey him these are the great things of the Law of God wherefore for men to neglect these and have their hearts much taken up though about truths yet things of less consequence and lay out the whole intention of their spirits in these to tythe mint and cummin and to be all in meat and drink and neglect true godliness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in which the Kingdom of God consists mainly this is an evil sign and an argument there is not the right moulding of the Law in the heart 6. Lastly It notes an abiding and continuing of the Law there as things written are for continuance and for after times So Jer. 17.1 The iniquity of Judah is written with the pen of iron that is they are so set upon sin and so hardened in it that there is little or no hope of their repentance their sin is written in the stains and the guilt of it upon their souls So Prov. 3.3 we are exhorted To write the Law upon the tables of our hearts that is by constant observation and meditation to fix them and to imprint them So that the Law is said to be written in our hearts for continuance the Law that was concreated with us in Adam Satan has blotted out but when the Spirit of God does write it there again by the finger of God surely it is that it may be never more obliterated or blotted out Mat. 11.30 Christ saith Mat. 11.30 Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easie so that Christ suffers not his people to go without a yoke he is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawless as to his actions he is not a son of Belial which Glassius saith signifies a man without a yoke and this yoke is the obedience which in the Gospel the Lord requires and that is nothing else but the obedience of the Law for though Christ hath fulfilled it yet it lies upon us still as a duty though not by way of satisfaction to be performed and this yoke is mainly upon the souls and the spirits of men Now writing the Law in the heart is a perfect conformity of a mans inward man unto the Law of God and all duties that the Lord requires and this is it that makes the yoke easie because it is become another nature an inward principle and what a man does so work from is not burdensome there is a potentia visiva a visive power in the eye therefore it is not weary of seeing and there is a principle a law of motion in the nature of the Sun and therefore it is not weary of motion because it works from an inward principle Men do evil with both hands earnestly and are never weary the reason is because they work from an inward principle And in this conformity unto the will of God which is taking up the yoke 1 There is obedientia voti the obedience of desire when a man desires to obey God in all things and has a careful respect unto all the Commandments and desires to make his heart perfect with the Law of God 2 Obedientia conformitatis obedience of conformity when a man does in some measure answer the Law of God in his actions and in the workings of his inward man 3 Obedientia resignationis obedience of resignation when a man can wholly give up himself to it as to the perfect Law with joy and delight love the law and finds sweetness in it and sees a goodness in whatever it requires and
of grace that all the persons have undertaken peculiar offices for the good of men and no men have benefit by them but they that are brought under this Covenant it is for their sake that the Father has given the Kingdom into the hand of his Son and what benefit other men have by it it is but as the beasts have and in some respect as the Devils have they have some less degree of torment and that 's granted them for their sakes who are heirs of promise and for their sake the spirit is the prorex and has undertaken to rule under Christ all the Offices of Christ are for their sake and for their good and all the Offices of the Spirit either inlightning convincing sanctifying or comforting they are all for their good and the common works of the Spirit that do fall upon any wicked men in the world is by the Saints Covenant or else you should have no more of them oh hear all you wicked ones than the Devils and damned in Hell have at this day Now the great plot of the Gospel in the new Covenant is not only to honour the Attributes of the nature but also to honour the Persons in the hearts of men this was the way for the Persons to undertake certain appropriated works in the dayes of the Gospel in the administration of the Covenant and all the parts thereof Now as you will have no benefit by the attributes of the divine nature but they all make against you and will at last day bring in their several charges against your souls that are out of this Covenant not only the Holiness and Justice of God but even the Mercy and Patience of God will cry against you Justice Lord for Mercies sake so you will have no benefit by the Offices of the persons but they will all of them be used against you and bring in their several charges against you Christ as a King a Prophet and a Priest will charge thee then shall the King say Go ye cursed and the Spirit of God as a Spirit that has been convincing thee and inlightning thee in thy life time shall condemn thee and Christ as a Judge will condemn thee and the Spirit of Christ as a Spirit of Bondage will in Hell perfectly torment thee for as in Heaven the Spirit shall be perfectly a Spirit of Adoption so he shall be in Hell perfectly a Spirit of Bondage for ever 3. Unless thou art in Covenant this way the Lord regards thee not nor any thing that thou dost an instance of it we have Heb. 8.9 There are Gods own people whom he took into Covenant with himself and for the outward part of the Covenant they did enter into Covenant with him but yet their hearts did not consent unto the terms of the Covenant and therefore they brake the Covenant The meaning is not that ever they were truly and indeed spiritually in Covenant for then the Covenant could never have been broken but they were only in the Covenant externally but their hearts did not come up unto the spiritual part of the Covenant and therefore the Lord saies I regard them not I took no care for them I made no account of them at all whatever became of them it was all one to me as it is with us of things that we have no regard of and for God not to regard a man or a people is the sum of all Judgement whatever did befall them the Lord pitied them not assisted them not c. But in the place whence it is taken Jer. 31.33 there is something more in it it is I Lorded it over them when I consider how the name Baal is used Hos 2.16 he did exercise his Lordly authority over them when they would not be ruled by him as a Husband he doth then lay Judgement and Chastisement upon them as a Lord he did not regard their persons whereas precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints yea he puts their Tears in his Bottle c. and he does pour out their blood as dust and their flesh as dung and he regards them not Psal 49. but man though in honour if he understands not becomes like the beasts that perish Without that Covenant he may be compared to the Beasts that perish pardon the expression but it 's suitable unto the intention of the Holy Ghost he is unto God counted no better than a Dog that dyes in a ditch And as it is for their persons so it is for their services also a man that is out of Covenant the Lord accepts nothing that he doth unto Cain and his offering he had no respect But a man in Covenant with God the words of his mouth the meditations of his heart find acceptance with God and be to him incense of a sweet savour their persons and their services their smell is as the Wine of Lebanon Hos 14. according to the promise of acceptation but all the services of men out of the Covenant are abominable to God as the Grapes of Sodom all the acts performed by them that are in Covenant are as the Grapes of Lebanon your works are very acceptable The Sun of righteousness shall rise upon you with healing in his Wings but for all others that are not in Covenant with him the Lord does not respect their offering or take it with good will at their hands but he saith Mal. 2.13 To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices Incense is an abomination unto me it is a burden even your solemn assemblies are an offence to me I will not smell in them I am weary to bear them and when you kill an Ox it is as if you killed a man Isa 66.3 and he that burns Incense as if he blessed an Idol because you have chosen your own wayes therefore the Lord abhors you 4. This is a matrimonial Covenant and it is a Covenant of friendship it is of this Covenant that the Lord saith I will betroath you to me for ever Hos 2. and it is the same Covenant which when God had entred into with Abraham he doth call him Abraham my friend Wife and Friend are two of the sweetest and highest relations if any could prevail it would be the Wife of thy Bosome or thy Friend which is as thy own soul Deut. 13.6 Now in this Covenant a man enters into both these relations with God there is the nearest union with him he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit with him there is the interest love of the persons one to another they are most precious one to another and all the world besides are but as Pebbles to Diamonds which outshine all other stones and they are still prizing the love one of another how excellent is thy loving kindness O God! it is better than life because he has set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him and love him at all times and in
personal and real c. We have seen that the Covenant on Gods part does consist in promises and that these promises are either absolute or conditional either performed by God without any required condition in us not only citra meritum sed conditionem not only without merit but also condition or else performed by God upon a certain condition wrought in us as a preparation or a qualification of the subject to receive the promises And we find in the next place that these absolute promises are of two sorts answerable unto a twofold object of faith that the Scripture doth hold forth they are either personal or real either promises of persons or of things 1 Promises of things that are absolute and real and of these are chiefly four 1 Ezech. 36.26 I will take away the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh 2 Jer. 31.33 I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And these two are promises of conversion and of the power of God in Christ put forth upon the Elect of God 3 Esa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins And unto this belong many other promises of remission 4 There are also promises of perseverance Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me 2 There are also personal Promises and these are the great and leading promises of the second Covenant Here I will shew you 1 that there are such promises and 2 shew you the nature of them 3 the grounds of it why the second Covenant must have such promises as these 4 wherein the excellency of these promises doth consist 1. That there are some personal Promises in which all the three persons in the Godhead are made over unto the soul The first great promise was Gen. 3.15 personal it was of the seed of the woman that the Lord would give Jesus Christ his Son to be born of a woman and to take mans nature and pitch his Tent with us that he should take not the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham c. and so Esa 9.6 To us a Son is given And when the Lord came to renew the Covenant with Abraham it is That he will be a God unto him and to his seed after him and that is common in Scripture for God to say Jer. 31.33 I will be their God and they shall be my people And there is a further discovery of the promise in Esa 44.3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring And so Joel 2.28 I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh So that these three are the great personal Promises of the Gospel and in these doth the main grace of the new Covenant lye 2. As for the nature of personal Promises they do import a gracious propriety in the persons which God doth by Covenant make over unto the creature The end of promises is to give a propriety and we know that a propriety amongst the creatures is nothing else but jus ad rem when a man doth claim such a thing as his own and has a power to use it and dispose of it in a lawful way for his own benefit and advantage as it seemeth good to him so that propriety as it were puts the thing into the mans hand to do with it what he pleaseth to make improvement and advantage of it that it may be for his own accommodation he may do what he list with his own c. As if a man hath a propriety in Lands or Houses he may either sell or let or give or leave or live upon them as he pleaseth Now as there is a real propriety that respects things so there is a personal propriety that respects persons which is grounded either in natural or voluntary relations as a Father has a propriety in his Son and the Son in the Father and the Husband in the Wife and the Wife in the Husband the Prince in the People and the People in their Prince and the intent of personal propriety is the same in its kind with that which is real that every person that has such a propriety in another should enjoy all benefits and advantages as they could in a way of equity expect or desire to do as the husband that hath a propriety in the wife if there were no sinful defects in the persons that are so appropriated should receive from her all manner of help and assistance as if he himself were the wife and his wife receive from her husband all that kindness and support as if she were the husband and as if all were in her own power to use And so it is in personal promises the intent of them is to make over the persons that when the Lord says I will be thy God the meaning is whatsoever is in me as a God shall be truly thine my infinite power my infinite wisdom and grace and mercy all shall be thine that the soul may lawfully lay claim to it and confidently expect it of him and that as truly as if the creature it self had infinite power and wisdom and mercy and all in his own hands So it is in giving the person of the Son that we should have a propriety and an interest in him as our Brother our Husband our Head and whatever is in him whether of grace or merit shall be as truly ours as it is his and as truly laid out for us as if we had it all inherent in our selves And so it is in giving the Spirit it is a propriety in the person so that the Spirit for conviction for conversion for sanctification for renovation for direction and for consolation doth as truly improve these for us as if they were our own and as if they were inherent in us or we could use and exercise them according to our own pleasure and they are these personal promises of the Covenant that do intitle the soul to such an interest in the persons 3. The grounds of them why must the second Covenant have personal promises The grounds of it are these 1. Man in his Fall had wholly lost God and therefore he is said Eph. 2. to be without God in the world one that had no relation to him one that had no interest in him It 's true that Adam before his Fall had a natural propriety in God both as his Creator and as his Father Luc. 3. ult Adam was the Son of God and so it 's true of the Angels they are called his Sons because they did bear his Image Job 1.6 which no other Creature did but after his Fall all Right unto God was forfeited and man could not look upon him in any relation either as a
he is not the God of thy mercy and his patience and long-suffering thou hast no claim to but all these Attributes shall joyn also with Justice in their pleas against thee what is there that can stand in the way to hinder the fulness of wrath from falling on such a soul 4. The perfection of this misery thou wilt never know till thou comest unto Hell as the fulness of this promise can never be known by the Saints till they come to Heaven here you may enjoy your inheritance in creatures and promises but thou that art a Saint shalt enter one day upon the inheritance of Attributes more fully than can be enjoyed here there where they all shall be set forth gloriously for thee in their full lustre to make thee happy in the Lord so also it shall be a mans utmost misery when he comes to Hell that all the Attributes of God shall be in his utmost extremity turned against him for ever and thou shalt know God to be perfectly an enemy unto thee and all that is in God as he is the God of his people all that is in him is for them so all that is in him is against thee And then every Attribute shall act to the full for ever Here in this life Justice doth not act its utmost and God does not stir up all his wrath there is by the Kingdom of Christ not only a benefit comes upon all the creatures for they all stand and continue in their being by it but there is a suspension upon the workings of all the Attributes of God towards wicked men that though they have an evil eye at them from day to day as 't is said God is angry with the wicked every day yet he does not immediately break forth against them but when the Kingdom shall be given up unto God the Father and God shall be all in all this restraint upon the Attributes in the actings of them shall cease and every Attribute shall have its perfect work against thee for ever and then he will shew his power upon the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Vse 2 2. Take comfort in the Attributes of God look upon these as the main of thy inheritance and shelter and shrowd thy self under them from day to day for this is your strong hold you are prisoners of hope and this is the desire of the Saints As Bernard de Amore Dei cap. 1. speaks in reference unto Christ he would not only touch him with Thomas and put his finger into his side c. sed totus intrem usque ad ipsum cor Jesu c. in sanctum sanctorum I would enter wholly even into the very heart of Jesus c. into the holy of holies So should the soul wholly hide it self in these Chambers this secret of his Pavilion 1. In the middle of all creature-comforts and inward consolations of thy Spirit let thy heart rise from them and say Surely this is not my portion there is indeed a great deal of sweetness in this but yet there is much more in that which is my portion a gracious heart should rise in this manner and please it self with thinking if there be sweetness on Earth much more in Heaven Si adeò splendeat terrestris Roma saith Fulgent So we should rise from our priviledges and comforts below and our inheritance in them to that in God and so as Christ comforts himself in this Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance 2. If at any time God takes away the creatures from thee retire unto him and say Lord my portion was not in them I can stand upon the ruines of the world and can say I have lost nothing for the time will come when God will put an end unto all creature-comforts and he will supply all immediately in himself and therefore so he give thee more of himself it 's no matter what thou dost lose of all things else Christ says Mat. 21.22 that man hath a treasure Now where there is so there are some Exchequer-days when the Treasure comes in a worldly man that has his treasure and portion in this life when God takes away the creatures his soul dyes within him that 's the best day to him that brings in most of that treasure but he that has his portion in the Lord can rejoyce in his income that way even when he is deprived of the creatures and it 's a disparagement unto God not to rejoyce in him alone as if there were not enough in him as Elkanah told his wife Am not I better to thee than ten sons Cannot all my comforts be supplied in thee 3. Do not unworthily fear the fear of man it is true that they do speak high and they will threaten much and the people of God are apt sinfully to fear because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready to destroy and so by and by are apt to say a confederacy with the wicked O! should you fear who have infinite wisdom and infinite power of your own either to disappoint or to resist it doth plainly argue that you are not acquainted with and do not make use of your interest in the Attributes of God in Covenant Should such a man as I fear and should my heart quail and fear in the evil times Let us never profane the name of the Lord our God in this manner Mark 8.17 18. says Christ Why reason you because you have no bread perceive you not have you your hearts yet hardned when I brake the five loaves c It 's the most unworthy thought that could lodge in you after so much experience of my power and provision for you to think you should want consider you have had so much experience of my power and infinite wisdom that has wrought for you when your own reason was at a non plus and infinite power when your hands did hang down and your knees feeble consider the setting forth of every Attribute of God and delight your souls in it Hos 13.3 He will scatter them as smoak out of a chimney A man should look upon them and laugh them to scorn from a high assurance Luther that vincet mea audacia in Christo this raiseth in the soul only true courage and a holy greatness of mind 4. Look upon the Attributes as having an interest in them and as in a strait you eye a promise and expect its accomplishment do the same with attributes also and thereby honour them by taking hold of them if thou sin eye mercy the Lord merciful and gracious pardoning iniquity transgression and sin if thou want wisdom look on him as the Father of lights and if power be strong in the Lord and the power of his might c. And sometimes thou mayst have no creatures no hills to look to then look towards God when thou knowest not what to do it may be there are no promises that thy soul can
a nearer union with the Father and with the Spirit also and herein lyes the greatest exaltation 2 There is more in union with the persons than there is in all other benefits whatsoever and all other interests as there is more in the person of Christ than there is in all the benefits of Christ so there is more in giving of the person of Christ than in giving of all the benefits that he bestows Thus there is more in our title to the persons than in all other interests whatsoever whether we have an interest in promises in creatures in ordinances nay it is more in some respect than an interest in Attributes for under the first Covenant the Attributes were after a sort made over to Adam that they should all work for him they were his portion but under the second Covenant it is that the interest in the persons comes in for if Adam had stood he had had an interest in God in common whatever was in the Nature of God all the Attributes of his Nature should have been his but it is the second Covenant that brings in union with the Son of God that gives us a distinct union with the Father and with the Spirit and therefore it is a personal interest that is the great mercy and glory of the new Covenant 3 It is our title unto the person that gives us a title unto all the benefits as it is in our union with Christ 1 Joh. 5.12 He that has the Son has life it 's our union with the Son that gives us a title unto life for him for the Covenant is matrimonial and it is the union with the person only that intitles the woman to her husbands honour and estate so it 's in this also having an interest in all the persons gives a man a title unto all the promises and unto all the priviledges of the Saints and therefore the jus haereditarium of the Saints unto all other good things from God lyes in this that they have an union with all the persons for they that are not intitled unto the persons do in vain hope to intitle themselves to the benefits 4 This gives a man a threefold title and interest 1 in all the Attributes 2 in the Divine Nature 3 in their actings for as they are all made over unto the Saints so they know that all these attributes are to be found in all the persons There is in the Father infinite wisdom and infinite power and infinite mercy and infinite grace c. so there is in the Son also for the attributes of the nature are in common to them all they having all of them but one and the same simple and undivided Essence and it is glorious to a Saint to see all the attributes in them all and thereby he is assured that in all the actings of the Father he will improve all the attributes and so it is in all the actings of the Son and the Spirit also and so they become ours in the actings of them by reason of our interest in all the three persons 5 This is the proper ground of our communion with God wherein lyes the sweetness of a Christians life here but mainly in that fellowship that he hath with God that he walks with God and that he is not alone but the Father is with him c Now all communion is personal and is a mutual intercourse between persons 1 Joh. 1.5 Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ And there is a fellowship of the Spirit 2 Cor. 13.14 It 's true we have an inheritance in attributes and in promises but we cannot properly be said to have fellowship with him but in regard of the persons Adam had in his creation an inheritance in all the creatures but yet he could not have communion with them there was none meet for fellowship with him but Eve so it 's here there is nothing but a person that a man can have communion with It 's true our communion is in things as we have communion with Christ in his righteousness and in his priviledges in his graces in his victories that is we have a share together with him in them all and they are as truly ours as they are his according unto our necessity but yet remember our communion is with the person of Christ not with the benefits so it is in this also we have a communion with Father Son and Spirit in the attributes of the Nature so that they are as truly ours according to the tenour and for the ends of the new Covenant as they are his but still our union and communion is with the persons in them therein doth properly the foundation lye as if a husband marry a wife she shall have a communion with him that is a common share in his honour and in his estate in whatever is his but yet the communion that she hath is with the person of her husband 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now man being a sociable creature we know what sweetness there is in fellowship with the persons of men to have the communion of those he takes most delight in as nature doth inable a man to taste the sweetness of that fellowship so doth grace being a Divine nature and fitting the soul for communion it doth inable a man to taste the sweetness that is in fellowship with the Divine nature with all the persons in whom only there is all fulness and joy unspeakable and full of glory 2. If there be such an interest in the persons to be had then let every man examine himself whether he have such a title unto the persons or no. In all other titles we do use to try because we would not be deceived and upon the tryal of a title a man doth conclude it is good illud certum quod ex dubio certum that is certain which out of doubtful is made certain Let us therefore examine our title which we have so much the greater cause to do because there is this vanity in the heart of a man that it 's very apt to suppose a title here without trying and this is the overthrow of many a soul the foolish Virgins did suppose that they had been espoused unto Christ and should have gone unto the marriage with him as well as the wise c. as men do in the benefits of Christ they are willing to suppose that their sins are pardoned and their persons are accepted and so they deceive their own souls there is a fallacy when a man disputes ex falsis suppositis from false suppositions and then all the conclusions that he doth build upon them are unsound and that 's the very condition of most Christians they argue ex falsis suppositis from false suppositions all their life time Jam. 1.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 's the fallacy spoken of Jam. 1.22 But be you doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own souls
and they are cast out as a branch and wither but during the time of their continuance in this kingdom till he has cast them out for their rebellion there is a government that the Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth exercise towards them and over them for the good of his Saints And this will appear by the expressions that we meet with in Scripture 1 They are his servants Joh. 8.35 the Church is compared to a house a family as it 's called the family of God and the house of God and of this family Christ is the Master now there is a special imployment that he has for every one of his servants and they are under his special command and dominion it is true this family is made up of servants and of sons and the servants may have a greater rule in the house than the sons but yet both under the authority of the housholder only he rules over the one as a Master and over the other as a Father but both are in subjection Cant. 6.8 there are in the Church sixty Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number some are truly married unto Christ and have a true right and authority in the family by their marriage-union with the King for the woman shines by the beams of her husband but there are Concubines that came in only for lusts sake and that did bear fruit but it was never from a marriage state and there were Virgins that were companions only that were not married neither did they in a manner bear fruit but were for attendants only and the King has a special rule and dominion over all these c. 2 The Church visible is compared to a great House 2. Tim. 2.20 some expound it de mundo but contextus nos ducit ut de Ecclesia intelligamus non de extraneis disputat Apostolus sed de ipsa familia Dei Calv. there is not a vessel but it has its use though all have not the same use nor of the like honour yet all are for use and all are for the Masters use so that there is a special dominion that is exercised over them all as well the vessels of wood and stone as those that are of gold to imploy them where he will and as he will in what service he pleases for it is his will that makes their use to differ it is for the Saints sake that he makes use of them so that all Gods dispensations towards unregenerate men in the Church is for their sakes all the husbandry that is exercised about the unfruitful branches is for the sake of those that have a blessing in them for the wicked shall have no benefit by it in the great day of the Lord the greater rule the Lord has exercised towards men the greater will their abhorring be the nearer they have been to him the further off shall they be from him the higher they have been exalted to heaven the deeper shall they be cast down to hell Mat. 11.23 there is utter darkness for the children of the kingdom Mat. 8.12 And this we may reduce unto four Heads 1 their graces 2 their gifts 3 their services 4 their sins and in all these the dominion of Christ over them is for the good of the Saints 1. Their graces are ruled by Christ for the Saints there are common graces which the Lord doth give unto unregenerate men in the Church common illuminations by which they see much glory and beauty in spiritual things and yet had never their eyes anointed with eye-salve and there are many common works upon the wills of men letting in a taste of the goodness of spiritual things so that the heart is much taken with them and makes out after them and there are many tendencies to the new birth Hos 13.13 we see them set forth to us Heb. 6.3 4. which is meant of the common graces of the Spirit of Christ under the Gospel which he works upon the souls and consciences of unregenerate men which are only from the Spirit assisting and not from the Spirit informing which flow not from union but from conviction and therefore from which in time they will surely fall away there is a great beauty that the Spirit of God in such common works doth put forth upon the souls of unregenerate men though it be but as the Sun shining upon a mud-wall or as a curious robe put upon a dead carkass it cannot keep it from stinking because there is not a principle of life in it 1 Hereby the Lord restrains their spirits There is a restraint without by a power that is upon the Devil by which he is restrained from doing the mischief he would else do but there is a restraint within upon the lusts of men and that is by some special works of the Spirit of God upon them Exod. 34.24 No man shall desire thy land c. and the Spirit restraining is for the Saints sake as well as the Spirit renewing Psal 76 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee Psal 76.10 and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accinges thou shalt gird up sometimes the Lord lets mens lusts loose and sometimes he does gird them up as he doth the Sea in a girdle of sand or else the Saints of God who are always as sheep amongst wolves would surely be devoured by them for their soul is amongst lyons Now they are common works that do exceedingly restrain the sins and the rage of unregenerate men and bind up their spirits both in reference unto persecution and the wrongs done by them as also in reference to corruption and the evil example given by them also 2 Hereby the Lord doth fit them for service for even the vessels of dishonour are for service in the house also though they be but of wood and stone c. Now though gifts do immediately qualifie them yet they are common works that do make them to exercise those gifts and are unto them as oyl to the wheels in the use of them as a temporary Believer he may be an eminent Professor and the house that such a one builds is far more glorious in outward shew than that of a Saint for they are both called builders Mat. 7.7 and many men do service for God but they are cold in it because they are acted only from without Rom. 16.18 whose God is their belly Non ità glacies frigus sicut Elcius alii sed ego rem seriam agebam ut quòd diem extremum horribiliter timui c. Luth. and this will make a man seem to act from an inward principle as if he had received life from the Spirit and were made alive from the dead and thereby even ungodly men do many times give a great testimony unto the principles and the practices of the Saints that they acknowledge them and seal unto them and yet nevertheless there is in them a principle to hate them
A DISCOURSE OF THE Two Covenants WHEREIN The Nature Differences and Effects OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS AND OF GRACE Are distinctly rationally spiritually and practically discussed together with a considerable quantity of Practical Cases dependent thereon By WILLIAM STRONG LONDON Printed by J. M. for Francis Tyton at the Three Daggers in Fleet-street and for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chapel 1678. TO THE HONOURABLE THE LADY ELIZABETH RICH. MADAM ALbeit I am no friend to Epistles Dedicatory because they too frequently prove to use the Cynick's Phrase but mellifluous snares yet because common Justice obligeth me to return unto every man his own I find my self under an essential Obligation to prefix Your Ladyships Name to the ensuing Noble Discourse and that not merely by reason of the Trust you were pleased to commit unto me for the Publication thereof but rather because Divine Providence has made Your Ladyship the Midwife to conduct this Noble Birth into Light which otherwise must necessarily have layen buried in the womb of Darkness And Madam give me leave to speak it Your Honour is herein the greater in that you undertook this service so laborious and difficult which no other mortal as I am assured was in a capacity to perform You being the only Person who very opportunely were instructed in that Character wherein the Original Copy was writ Madam I am not of those who admire Titles of Honour further than they are shadows of Virtue but rather am of the opinion of the morose Philosopher that Honours without Virtues are but the Masques of Vices yet Your Ladyship will be assured that the Honour You have acquired by this generous Vndertakement is far more illustrious than that which Nature has conferred on You. Solomon gives us an excellent Character of an Honourable Lady Prov. 11.16 Prov. 11.16 A gracious woman retaineth honour and or a ד vertitur ut Jun. as strong men retain riches With what force do persons strong in wisdom and power retain their acquired Riches And doth not the Gracious woman with an equal force retain her Honour And what greater Honour can be acquired and retained than that which is acquired by the service of Christ and his Churches What more Honourable than for a creature to be immediately employed in the service of his Creator Doth it not speak a Mind descended from on High and truely generous to be inspired with a divine Ambition of being engaged in service for the King of Kings Is man ever greater than when greatly serviceable to his Lord Was it not a great effate of the Moralist That he who will be truly Free and Noble must serve Philosophy What Liberty then and Nobility do they acquire who serve Theology What is b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Definit Platon Nobility according to the Platonick Definition but a Virtue of generous Manners and Services And who are invested with this Virtue if not they who are employed for the improvement of Divine Knowledge the most sublime and generous Science Are not all Honours measured by approach unto the Fountain of Honour And who approach nigher unto the Fountain of all Honour than such as are most deeply engaged in the Service of the Supreme King The common Title of Honour given to Courtiers among the Persians as also the Jews was Men of Presence And who are the Men of Gods presence but such as are engaged in the service of his Church And do we not find Memoires in Scripture of many both Hebrew and Christian Women very Honourable for their service in and for the Church â—xod 38.8 Is it not recorded Exod. 38.8 as the great Honour of those devout Women that they assembled by troops at the door of the Tabernacle and consecrated their Looking-glasses for the making the Laver of Brass What more valued by some than their Looking-glasse How much pretious time is spent thereon Yea do not some spend more moments in poring on their Looking-glasse than on their Souls Yet lo these Virtuous Women part with their Looking-glasses which had been of so great use to them and now resolve to spend their time to a better account at the door of the Tabernacle in Fasting and Prayer and other parts of Divine Service And O! what a lustre of Divine Honour remains on them to this very day Again there is an Honourable mention made of other virtuous Women who employed their time and labours in the service of the Church Exod. 35.25 26. And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands and brought that which they had spun both of Blue and Purple and Scarlet and fine Linen as an Offering to the work of the Tabernacle Whâ—â— greater Honour could have been affixed to these wise-hearted Women And how far Your Ladyship may claim an interest in this Title of Honour the World at least the Church may judge Have you not indeed spun with your hand a fine thread both of Blue and Purple and Scarlet and fine Linen for the Tabernacle of the New Jerusalem So likewise in the New Testament what Honourable mention do we find of virtuous Women eminently useful in the Service of the Church Is it not an illustrious Title of Honour that Paul gives Phâ—be Rom. 16.2 3. Rom. 16.2 That she was a succourer of many and of himself also The Grecanic c Non dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adjutrix sed magnifico planè titulo eam exornans dixit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Patronam Grot. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Magnific title and signifies not merely an Assistant but a Patron for so the Athenians termed the Defensors of Strangers and Plutarch renders the Latin Patron by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What greater Honour may a poor Mortal expect than to be a Succourer and Patron of the Churches or Ambassadors of Christ The like Honour also he reflects on Priscilla the wife of Aquila v. 3. whom he styles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Helpers or Co-workers in Christ To be any way Assistant in promoving the Doctrine of the Gospel or in drawing men to the embracement thereof what an high piece of Honour is it These Instances Madam I have given Your Ladyship and the World the mention of to let You see what an Honour it is to be in any way or measure assistant in and for the Church of Christ and all that I shall subjoin is That as Your Ladyships hand has been so happy an Instrument in transcribing so Noble a Work so my Prayer for you is that the divine Hand would so far favour you as to transcribe those great Truths contained therein over and over in more visible Characters on your Soul 2 Cor. 3.3 that so you may be more perfectly the Epistle of Christ written with the Spirit of Christ Which will give You a greater Capacity of Service for your Lord and Me of being as I ought really
do all the Issues of grace in this Covenant flow but from Gods tender bowels of mercy Was it not by meer grace that this Covenant of Grace fell from God Yea is not Christ himself as Mediator of this Covenant an admirable instance and effect of Gods free Election and Grace It 's true Christ as God falls not under an act of the divine Will because then he were not God but yet as Mediator he doth Was not his first Designation to office an act of soveraign grace Did he not also become Incarnate by an act of free Grace Is not the Hypostatic Union thence termed the Grace of Vnion Do we not also find mention of the Grace of Vnction whereby the Father qualified him for his Mediatory Office Is not the Oyl of Gladness wherewith he was anointed above his fellows an Oyl of Grace also or an infinite effusion of the Spirit of Grace on his humane Nâ—â—â—re Were not likewise all the Merits of Christ the effect of free Grace Whence hâ—â—â—â—â— his assistances for the doing and suffering his Fathers will but from his Father as Isâ— 42.4 And when Christ had obeyed and suffered to the full was not God the Fathers Acceptance of all an act of free Grace It 's true Christ paid a valuable price for all the mercies he purchased for sinners but yet whence comes it that all this should be made over to us what made way for the commutation of persons that the Righteousness of Christ should become ours and our sins by Imputation become his was not this all from free Grace Has not Augustin in his incomparable Tractate Of the Predestination of Saints excellently well demonstrated this that Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant fell under the free Election of God Now if the Election of the Head and Prince of the Covenant who is God Man was an act of free Grace then will it not necessarily follow that all the Federates Conditions and Effects of this Covenant can flow from no other fountain than the sovereign Grace of God 2 Another Difference between the first and second Covenant may be taken from the generic Idea of both what was the first Covenant but a Covenant of Friendship between the Creator and the Creature where neither part was at variance but what is this second Covenant but a Covenant of Reconciliation between a sin-revenging God and rebellious sinners 3 Do not also these two Covenants greatly differ in their Terms and Conditions What is there to be found in the first Covenant but conditional Promises to Grace but are there not in this second Covenant absolute Promises of Grace Was not the Righteousness of the first Covenant to be in our selves without the least imputation from any other but is not the Righteousness of this second Covenant to be found in Christ only and so made ours by Imputation Did not the first Covenant require perfect Obedience as a Condition antecedent to the acceptation of the person But doth not this second Covenant accept an imperfect evangelic Sincerity as a consequent of the persons being accepted In the Covenant made with Adam was not the Acceptation of his person grounded on the Acceptation of his works but in this second Covenant is not the person first accepted and then the works for the persons sake Is not this fully exemplified in the different acceptation of Cain and Abel Gen. 4.4 c. the former standing on the first Covenant and the latter on the second 4 To pass by other Differences as to the object foundation and duration are not these two Covenants greatly different as to their effects The first Covenant discovers what we are to do but the second enables us to do it the first is a glass to discover our sin and misery but the second is a glass that discovers the remedy as also applyes the same Of what use is the first but to declare men guilty and cursed but doth not the second pronounce pardon and blessing Was not the first given and continued to discover sin but is not the second given to cover it Doth not the first wound and terrifie but doth not the second heal exhilarate and chear Is not the first the Ministration of death and a killing letter but is not the second the Ministration of the Spirit and that which makes alive 2 Cor. 3.6 7 Why was the first given but to check restrain and humble the old man but is it not the principal Intendment of the second to conserve and quicken the New man Doth not the first accuse and condemn but doth not the second excuse and absolve In the first Man is bound to God but in the second God is bound to man the first generates bondage but the second Liberty And is there not a spirit of bondage suitable to that state in all such as are under the first Covenant but O! what a spirit of Liberty belongs to all such as are under the second Covenant and what different effects attend these different spirits Doth not the first Covenant make a legal spirit upon any great discovery of God to flie from him as an enemy but how doth the second Covenant cause an evangelic spirit under all the great discoveries of God to flie unto him Yea doth not the legal servile spirit who longs to be under the first Covenant secretly wish there were no law to rebuke him no hand of Justice to punish him but doth not the Evangelic spirit who hath by means of the second Covenant the Law writ in his heart delight therein as a Rule though he hates to be under it as a Covenant How sour and disgustful are all divine services to a legal spirit but how sweet and pleasant are they to an evangelic spirit Legal spirits give God much service for Quantity but how little for Quality and Spirituality But the Evangelic spirit gives peradventure not so much for Quantity but yet much more for Quality and Perfection Lastly the legal spirit makes all his good Offices matter of vain-glory and fuel for his pride but the Evangelic spirit sees cause to be humbled and self-abased for his best services Such are the different spirits effects and fruits that grow out of those two opposite roots the Old and the New Covenant which greatly demonstrate the boundless differences between the two Covenants 2. 2. The excellence of the second covenant Hence we may take just measures both comparative and absolute of the incomparable excellences of the second Covenant The first Covenant informs us what we are by Nature but the second what we are or may be by Grace The Law was given that men might more studiously seek after Grace Lex data est ut Gratia quaereretur Gratia data est ut Lex impleretur August but Grace is given that men might be enabled to fulfill the Law And what is the supreme ingredient of the Covenant of Grace but the free Grace of God Is not this Covenant then the Believers Great
From the Soveraignty of God in the Law ibid. 2. From natural conscience ibid. 3. From the Spirit of God in conscience ibid. 4. From a principle of self-love in men desiring good and fearing evil ibid. 5. From the unrenewedness of the heart which is fully set to do evil Pag. 56 Quest Is a godly man wholly freed from this coaction Pag. 56 57 The Doctrine applied Pag. 57 58 59 60 61 CHAP. V. Col. 1.13 A scriptural account of this translation Pag. 61 Doct. All in Christ are translated out of their former Covenant Pag. 62 1. Such a translation proved from Scripture Pag. 62 63 2. The necessity of such a translation 1. From the nature of the Covenant as it is broken 1 It promiseth no life but upon perfect obedience 2 It is without a Mediator 3 There is in it no promise of pardon 4 No promise of any grace 5 Every sin breaks it 6 It cannot quiet the conscience Pag. 63 64 2. Without this translation no man can receive benefit by the second Covenant Pag. 64 3. God still deals with man in a way of covenant and stipulation 1 Because the first Covenant stands in force upon all out of Christ unto eternity 2 Because all under this covenant must perish 3 All mercies and deliverances that God hath given his people have been by covenant ever since the fall Pag. 65 66 4. No man for the state of his person can stand under both Covenants because one makes void the other 1 The righteousness of the first is in our selves but that of the second in another 2 In the first works are first accepted and then the person in the second the person first and works for the persons sake 3 The first is without a Priest but the second hath one 4 In the first there is matter of glorying in a mans self but in the second all is of grace Pag. 66 Quest May not a man so far as he is flesh be under the covenant of works and so far as regenerate under the covenant of grace Pag. 67 Answ 1 A double image may stand together but two covenants necessarily destroy each other ibid. 2 The change of a mans covenant is a legal act and so is perfect and may be at once but the change of a mans image is perfected by degrees Pag. 68 The Doctrine applied Pag. 68 69 70 71 72 How a man may know whether his covenant be changed Pag. 68 The sinfulness of an unregenerate state Pag. 68 69 The misery of not being translated into the second covenant Pag. 69 70 71 The happiness of those in Christ Pag. 71 72 CHAP. VI. A Mans Translation out of the first Covenant is by Union Gal. 3.29 How our translation is by union with the nature of this union Pag. 73 1. God deals with all men in a way of stipulation ibid. 2. The two Covenants were neither of them made with all men immediately but with a representative head ib. 3. A mans union with either of these heads brings him under either covenant Pag. 74 Doct. A mans Translation out of the first Covenant consists in his Union with the second Adam ibid. The nature of this union explained 1 It is a natural union Henc◠2 Real not meerly voluntary but an union with his person Pag. 75 Quest Whether a man be in Christ before he believe Pag. 76 The reasons why God hath appointed our translation to be in a way of union 1 Because God will have Christ to be the second Adam 2 Because our happiness lies in it 3 Because God cannot enter into covenant immediately with sinners without forfeiting the truth of his threatning Pag. 76 77 78 A mans condition is much changed by this translation 1 God looks upon him no more as the son of Adam 2 He is no more under the rigor of the Law 3 Nor under the curse of the Law 4 He is become heir of the promise 5 God is reconciled 6 His sufferings and services are accepted 7 All things work together for good 8 Sin hath no condemning power 9 He hath communion with God 10 And is of the same body with the Saints Pag. 78 79 The way of obtaining this union is 1 By a work of conviction 2 Of humiliation 3 By a glorious work of revelation Pag. 79 80 Hence the soul resolves to take 〈◊〉 other way of salvation Pag. 81. There is an instinct put into the soul after union with Christ ibid. The soul accepts Christ upon his own terms ibid. CHAP. VII How the Law as a Covenant comes to be abolished Gal. 2.14 Blotting out the Hand-writing c. The words explained Pag. 83 The manner how the Law as a covenant comes to be abolished 1 Christ himself was made under the Law as a covenant of works 2 He hath fully satisfied all this covenant required of us 3 He hath brought in a covenant of grace and reconciliation Pag. 84 85 Hereby the infinite goodness and wisdom of God is discovered Pag. 85 86 CHAP. VIII Gal. 3.17 To all in Christ the first covenant made subservient to the second Pag. 86 The Law taken in Scripture two ways 1 Largely for all the doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai with the promises and precepts thereof And so it is a covenant of grace 2 Strictly as setting down an exact rule of righteousness and promising life upon perfect obedience And so it is a covenant of works Pag. 88 Mount Sinai's covenant the same for substance with that made with Adam but in many circumstances different Pag. 88 89 A threefold use of the Law as subservient to the Gospel 1 It is a glass to discover sin original actual Pag. 90 91 92. 2 It 's a Judge to condemn it and therein it advances the ends of the Gospel Pag. 93 94 95 96 3 As a bridle to restrain sin Pag. 96 97 98 How the Spirit makes use of the Law for the restraining of sin Pag. 98 99 How herein it is an hand-maid to the Gospel Pag. 99 100 101 102 How the Law is subservient to the Gospel as it is a Rule 1 Within as an Instrument of Conversion in the hand of the Spirit 102 103 104 105. 2 Without to guide and direct men in their way of duty Pag. 105 106 Objections against this Answered Pag. 106 107 108 The great End of God in publishing the Law was for the Saints and their good only Pag. 108 109 Those that cry down the preaching of the Law guilty of folly Pag. 109 Ministers must preach the Law as revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator ib. That God hath made the Law a servant to the Gospel is the greatest ground of Comfort and the greatest gift of God next unto Christ and the second Covenant Pag. 110 111. BOOK II. Of the Covenant of Grace CHAP. I. The Author and Fountain of this Covenant Gen. 17.2 THis Covenant was made with four eminent publick persons in Scripture 1 Adam darkly 2 Noah 3 Abraham 4
That they may stand in aw of the threats of God under the second covenant Pag. 164 The difference between the covenant made with Christ and with us lies in these things 1 It was made with Christ primarily as a publick person for the Elect but it is made with every one of us in the second place as we are members of Christ 2 It is made with Christ immediately and for his own sake but with us mediately in him 3 The promise made unto Christ was from everlasting but the covenant is made with us when we believe 4 All the promises of the second covenant belong unto Christ as his purchase and unto us of promise 5 Christ as to his covenant hath no surety but we have a surety of ours ibid. It is the duty of every one to enter into this covenant with the Lord. 1 If they come not under this covenant they have no interest in God 2 It is only in this covenant that all the persons have undertaken peculiar offices for the good of men 3 Otherwise God regards them not nor any thing they do 4 This is a matrimonial covenant and it is a covenant of friendship 5 God and the soul know not how to live asunder 6 This covenant is the last that God ever intends to make with mankind Pag. 165 That we enter into covenant with God it is required 1 That we hear the words of the covenant and know aright the terms of it 2 That we deny our selves 3 Bear his yoke 4 Not shrink at the cross but take it up Pag. 168 God requires of all those that enter into covenant with him that they should make conscience to keep it Pag. 171 Saints have many promises of the second covenant not accomplished to them in this life because they walk not exactly according to the rules of this covenant Pag. 172 A man once in covenant is ever in covenant 1 Because the love of God that made the covenant is everlasting 2 Because it is made with the persons of men 3 Because union with Christ puts them into this covenant and that is indissoluble 4 Because the righteousness of this covenant is everlasting 5 Because Christ is the surety of it 6 Because the everlasting principle of grace in the soul doth always lay hold of and cleave unto the covenant Pag. 173 Saints are yet to be exhorted not to break the covenant 1 Because of the falseness of their hearts 2 Because of the slothfulness and heedlesness of their spirits in whatever is good though bound by many bonds 3 Because thereby they may be quickned to seek to God for grace to keep it 4 Fear those sins which come nearest covenant-breaking Pag. 174 That Saints may keep covenant they must 1 Get a true heart 2 A stablished and fixed heart 3 Exercise faith upon the grace of God in this covenant Pag. 175 Saints being entred into covenant ought to improve their interest in it in all their ways 1 In reference to themselves 2 In reference to God Pag. 177 A fourfold relation is the necessary result of this covenant hereby Christ becomes 1 our Father 2 our Husband 3 our Friend 4 our Lord. ibid. Saints hearts should be always in such a frame as to receive the mercies of the covenant which consist 1 In a believing heart relying upon the grace of the covenant notwithstanding seeming impossibilities 2 In a continual expectation of the promise And yet 3 A resigning it unto the will of God whether he will bestow it in this life or no. 4 In desiring mercy no further than it may make them holy Pag. 179 Saints in this covenant ingage themselves that whatever God bestows in mercy they will return again in duty Pag. 180 Saints having given up their names to God in this covenant they ought often to renew it 1 Because of the unbelief of their spirits 2 To manifest the sincerity of their hearts 3 Because of the falseness of their hearts 4 Because thereby they lay the greater engagement upon them 5 Because of the forgetfulness of their hearts 6 Because of their ignorance and blindness Pag. 184 He that renews covenant must 1 Be deeply sensible of breach of covenant 2 Resolve to break all other covenants 3 Consider the terms of the covenant anew 4 Do it with a free and full consent 5 Be willing to bind himself in the highest way to obedience thereto 6 Do it with earnest desire to God for grace to keep it Pag. 186 The times and seasons of renewing are 1 After an eminent falling into great sin 2 In time of publick humiliation 3 Of publick reformation 4 After special deliverance or mercy as a testimony of thankfulness 5 When the heart is bent to back-slide 6 At the Lords Supper Pag. 188 The benefits of this renewing covenant are 1 It is a testimony of the truth of repentance 2 It 's the foundation of consolation 3 It 's a means to establish the heart 4 It brings mercies 5 It improves graces 6 It fortifies against temptations 7 It strengthens union with Christ 8 It is a door to communion with God 9 It keeps from or recovers out of back-sliding 10 It is the spring of duty and action Pag. 190 CHAP. IV. The Covenant of Grace is referring to the Seed of the Faithful Gen. 17.7 The Covenant that God made with Abraham is the same that all the Faithful stand in unto the worlds end Pag. 193 Though in the manner of its administration there is a great deal of difference yet as to the substance of the covenant the Confederates are the same and taken in upon the same grounds ibid. That the children of believing Parents are taken into the same covenant with them is a point of great concernment and ought earnestly to be contended for because 1 It exceedingly advances the grace of God unto parents and makes much for their consolation 2 It is one of the great arguments the Scripture useth to draw men in to believe 3 It is the only difference God hath put in his word between the children of believers and strangers 4 It is the only ground believers can have for the salvation of their children that die in their infancy Pag. 193 Ever since the Fall God hath taken children into the same covenant with their parents Pag. 195 When parents are cast out of covenant the children are also Pag. 196 Children of believing parents are members of the visible Church ibid. Thence there is a holiness comes upon those children ibid. God hath made glorious promises to the posterity of the Saints Pag. 197 That children are so taken in is Gospel and to be believed as any other part of the covenant ibid. God will take children into the same covenant with their parents 1 To shew the extent of the grace of the second covenant 2 Because a great number of the Elect are the children of Saints 3 To shew his peculiar love to their seed 4 This is the surest
as it is the misery of the Creatures to serve the lusts of men so it 's the curse upon the body to be an instrument to serve the lusts of the soul there is a fitness in it for the service of sin Rom. 6.13 They are weapons of unrighteousness As grace in the soul does fit the members that a man is prepared to every good work so does sin also prepare to every evil work The beam in the eye is but a part of the grown wood that is in the heart Davids's grace made his tongue as the pen of a ready writer and Doeg's sin made his tongue cut as a sharp razor There is a fitness in the members to evil there is a readiness and proneness in the members to sin as there is a backwardness in them to whatever is good Luk. 24.25 Slow of heart to believe and dull of hearing a heavy ear and a blindness So they are prone to evil the poison of asps is under their tongue they have it in a readiness and their feet are swift to shed blood very ready to be sent on such a message and imploy'd in such a business c. Moreover there is a greediness even in the members to sin 2 Pet. 2.14 They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease to sin it was as a spring tide that over flowed all Act. 13.10 A facility to evil and they ran greedily after the error of Balaam Jude v. 11. They were as a swift dromedary c. All these expressing the readiness and greediness even of the body to be an instrument to the sin of the soul 3 There is an universal frustrating of all a mans labours Eccles 9.11 I saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong There is nothing that a man does shall prosper he shall reap no fruit of all his labour for he has but laboured for the wind Jer. 22.30 Write this man childless a man that shall not prosper in his days It 's the happiness of a godly man as in Joseph whatever he doth the Lord makes it to prosper But it 's the misery of a man under the curse that nothing he does shall prosper Psal 1. ult God turns their way upside down they hatch a Cockatrice egg and they weave a spiders web which never becomes a garment § 3. There is also a curse of God upon a man in reference to his name and reputation amongst men and that also in many Particulars 1 A man shall be famous for wickedness and for that get to himself a name which is a great curse upon a man Gen. 6.4 From those unlawful Marriages between the sons of God and the daughters of men there were born Giants which were in those days men of renown In sua truculentia celebres Par. it being an expression taken in the worse part for men notoriously wicked It 's an observation of Mr. Medes that from these Hell had its first and ancient name Prov. 21.16 The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in Câ—tu Gigantum in the congregation of Giants And Prov. 11.18 Her house inclines unto death and her paths ad Gigante to the Giants And so it had its name from these men that were the first eminent and famous inhabitants of it and yet in their life-time these were men of renown The same thing is too common in all ages men are famous as they do some eminent evil as Augustin says Pudet non esse impudentem it is a shame not to be impudent 2 When a man shall not have a name answerable to his desert Eccles 9.11 There shall not be favour to men of skill but folly is set in great dignity As Chap. 10.5 i. e. Men of weak abilities and low parts are advanced to great honour and rule in the Commonwealth and men of great ability and fit for publick Employment sit in a low place in a mean and obscure condition men of no note in the world those that no man look after servants are on horse-back men of servile parts and spirits that a man would look upon them as men ad mancipium nati born to vassalage and yet they are brought to great honour and Princes 〈◊〉 Princely spirits do lacky it on foot by them We read Eccles 9.14 There was a little 〈◊〉 and few men in it and there came a great King with an Army against it and besieg'd it but a poor wise man deliver'd it but he was rewarded with disgrace disrespect and forgetfulness no man regarded him Yea even the Saints of God of whom the world is not worthy yet they are counted the scum of all things and men do cast out their names as evil It was part of the sufferings of Christ the reproaches that he was loaden withal a part of the curse that he did undergo for us Psal 22.6 I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people all they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip and shake the head c. They say He is a Traytor a Drunkard a Conjurer and one that did cast out Devils by the power of Satan a Blasphemer c. All this is indeed to the godly turn'd into a blessing and addes to their glory but yet it is in it self a â—urse as all other afflictions are and a part of this death which is the curse of the Covenant 3 When a man has gotten to himself a name and honour and repute it proves his snare and he is lifted up by it Pulchrum est digito monstrari and it shall be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosthenes and then the man is so exalted in himself that the earth cannot bear him Nebuchadnezar was come to be one of the greatest Monarchs of the Earth Isa 14.13 Thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God c. and Ezech. 28.2 His heart was lifted up and he said I am a God and I sit in the seat of God yet thou art man and not God though thou set thy heart as the heart of God And Herod when the people exalted him in that blasphemous speech It 's the voice of God his heart was lifted up and the Angel smote him So I have read of a Doctor that read excellent Lectures concerning the two Natures of Christ and was much admired by his Auditors and then the blasphemy of his heart brake forth Quantum mihi debes Jesu c. How much dost thou owe unto me Jesus c. There is many a man whose head is very giddy by the wind of honour and he is as a Boat that is sunk by his own sail 4 When men have gotten great honour then shall they by some means or other blemish it and God will give them over to dishonourable lusts Eccles 10.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As a dead fly causes the
They may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly proceed nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly divide and so by doctrine and example they may hurt souls Ezech. 13.18 20. and their trading may be as that of Rome for the souls of men The Apostle says there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a craftiness to deceive and draw disciples after them And the Father says There is a bait of heresie something that the flesh of man is taken with 3 They may stir up great divisions and contentions in Churches and States There was a contention begun amongst the Disciples which of them should be the greatest And by Diotrephes from love of Preheminence He prates against us with malicious words and he neither receives the brethren 3 Joh. v. 10. and forbids them that would casting them out of the Church And in the Revelations they go forth together with the Kings of the Earth to the great battel of Armageddon Therefore Nazianzen bitterly bewails the contentions between the Ministers in his time If I saith he be the cause of this division if I be the Jonas then cast me out And he makes that as his last request to Theodosius the Emperour That he would compose those divisions telling him This should be as the ornament and glory of all his former Victories and Trophies 4 They may be a means to ripen the sins and to hasten the Judgment of God upon a people Isa 6.10 Heb. 6.8 and increase their condemnation Go make the heart of this people fat c. And the ground that drinks in the rain and bears briers and thorns is near to cursing If I had not come and spoken to you you had had no sin but now there is no cloak for your sin c. 2. There is a Curse that comes upon the Ministers by the peoples sin 1 For the peoples sins God does many times hide his face and his truth from their Ministers Psal 74.9 Ezech. 26. There is not a Prophet there is none can tell us how long I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth and thou shalt be dumb and not be a reprover to this people The Sun shall go down upon your Prophets and the day shall be dark over them c. For they do receive Truths as stewards to dispense them and when God will punish the family then he does straighten the stewards and hides his face from them 2 For the peoples sins God does many times give the Ministers up to errours and delusions that as the people are such also shall the Priest be They love lies and say prophesie and declare to us smooth things prophesie deceit therefore if any man will prophesie of wine and strong drink he shall be a Prophet for this people Ahab's sin did provoke God to send the Devil to be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the Prophets And 2 Thes 2.10 11. the people not receiving the truth in the love of it the Ministers were given over to that efficacy of deceit and the people were ensnared by it that all they might be damn'd that had pleasure in unrighteousness and had not pleasure in the truth 3 The people are many times a continual grief to their Ministers I was amongst you as a nurse and therefore did bear with much frowardness and perverseness in the people to the grief of his soul if you will not hear my soul shall weep in secret for your pride saith Jeremy And how much bitterness of spirit the Ministers of God have felt by the perversness of the people is known to God and their own souls 4 They many times make them to prophesie in sackcloth and ashes in a poor low afflicted and contemptible condition look upon them as the scum of the world and the off-scouring of all things It has in all ages been the portion of the Witnesses that God has stir'd up to be lookt upon as enemies to men because they tell them the truth and therefore there are snares laid for them to reprove in the gate And though the Lord says they should be counted worthy of double honour that labour in the word and doctrine yet amongst the generality of men they that labour most shall be honour'd least And though the Lord says Let him that is taught in the word make him that teaches partaker in his good things yet men are willing to make them partakers in nothing and yet if they sow to you spiritual things is it a great matter that they reap carnal things from you Yes men think it great and look not upon it as a duty but give it with the same repining that nigards give an alms at their door c. 3ly The Curse is also come upon the relation of Husband and Wife 1 When a Wife shall become a snare to a mans soul and be to him but one of the Devils darts a Serpent in his bosom 'T is said in 1 King 21.20 There was none like Ahab who sold himself to work wickedness whom Jezabel his wife stir'd up To have a Wife instrumental to further the lust of her Husband in what kind soever what a snare is that for her to entice him to the worst of evils Idolatry c. as Deut. 13. 2 When a Wife shall be false to her Husband in the Marriage bed Thy wife shall be a harlot in the middle of the city is threatned as the Husbands Curse Amos 7.17 And Job 31.10 Let my wife grind to another man c. And for a man to mistrust his Wife Keep the door of thy lips from her that lies in thy bosom 3 When a Wife shall be an enemy to Religion and a scoffer as Michal How glorious was the King of Israel to day when he was uncovered before the maids And for Job's Wife to joyn with his friends yea with Satan against Dost thou still retain thy integrity curse God and die It 's question'd why the Devil should spare Job's Wife when he took away his Goods and Children there is surely more comfort in a Wife than in all things in this world The reason given is because he did intend to make her an instrument to perswade her Husband to curse God hoping to conquer him by her And how this evil in a Wife imbitters the spirit of a Husband and what animosity it raises in him against her and what suspicious thoughts and what estrangement this does usually work in their minds one from another we many times by experience find And the Husband also becomes a Curse to the Wife 1 By a spirit of jealousie over her which though sometimes it may be upon just ground and cause given in the Wife yet sometimes it may be causless as appears Numb 5.12 13. We see what great care the Lord did take of Marriage-Chastity it being his own Ordinance he did appoint an Offering and a water of Jealousie the one to be offered to the Lord and the other to be drank by the
Woman accused And if she were guilty her belly should swell and her thigh rot and if guiltless she should conceive seed and become fruitful so that it was sometimes causless and yet a spirit of Jealousie might come upon a man A Wife made a Cross is the greatest cross and made a snare is the greatest snare and the most dangerous And when a man grows vile in the eyes of a Wife for any weakness in him either inward or outward as Nabal did His name is Nabal and folly is with him And Job said My breath is strange to my wife though I intreated for the childrens sake of my own body Job 19.17 Jealousie is the rage of a man it makes him bitter to her takes every thing in the worst sense not bearing with ordinary and common failings incident to persons in that state Bitterness in words sharp and piercing speechees and actions savouring of tartness and want of that tenderness and love that should be in a man towards his own flesh Gen. 3.16 Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband and he shall rule over thee The woman was created to be a help to the man and the woman created for the man and not the man for the woman and therefore a subordination and a kind of subjection there was before the fall but not such as now after the fall Indeed the Civilians say that Marriage is Perpetua quaedam servitus a constant servitude only before the fall as Austin says it was servitus dilectionis a servitude of love but since the fall it is servitus conditionis a servitude of condition Before the fall it was with much sweetness and love their wills never clashing they both joyned in the same good and will'd the same thing but now there is much opposition and much contrariety of will And yet it is the bondage that God has laid upon the Wife she must be subject to her Husband and have no will of her own but even her desire must be subject to him not only submit her actions but even her will also which is of all other the greatest subjection It 's said of Jacob though he was a holy man that God saw that Leah was hated by him which at best cannot be interpreted but of a less degree of love and that there was more sharpness in his carriage towards Leah than there was towards Rachel 2 When the Husband deserts and forsakes his Wife being ravish'd with a strange woman and imbracing the bosom of a stranger Prov. 5.20 And we read in Mal. 2.15 16. the great misery those poor women were subjected to for the Husband making use of that command of Moses which is not a toleration but a limitation not that putting away was lawful for the Lord hates putting away but for the hardness of their hearts seeing they did put them away for the womans discharge he was to give her a writing of Divorce But by this means their wives v. 13. cover'd the altar of God with tears so that when they came to offer Sacrifice that sin came up into remembrance before God that their Sacrifice could not ascend and the Altar was not cover'd with that but with the tears of their wives which they had in a cruel and wicked manner by their deserting them caused them to shed dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth she that is thy companion and the wife of thy Covenant They had great complaints against their wives and were able to find out many pretences to put them away when they had sinfully found out others that their lust carried them to and so they did cover violence with a garment But the Prophet bids them take heed to their spirits and look upon the falseness of their own hearts in it that they deal not treacherously and falsly and so break their Covenant with their wives even the Covenant of their God 3 By puting them upon occasions of sin and so they are made instruments to satisfie the lust of their Husbands What an occasion of sinning did Abraham put upon his beloved Sarah twice once before Pharaoh King of Egypt and another time before Abimelech King of Gerar by desiring her to say that she was his sister How was she drawn at his request to consent to a lye and to endanger her chastity amongst the Heathen In re illicita etiam consensus vitiosus est in an unlawful matter the very consent is unlawful The Apostle says 1 Cor. 7.34 The married woman takes care of the things of the world and how she may please her husband The Apostle does not only set this down as a duty what married persons should do in that condition to take care of the things of the family and how to please their Husband but as an ordinary temptation and corruption also that follows that state though as Calvin observes Hoc non est proprium conjugii malum sed ex hominum vitio provenire It is the common temptation and corruption that accompanies that state not only a moderate and a lawful but even an inordinate care also of the things of the world and how to please her Husband even with the neglect of the things of God and how to please him Ahab desires Naboths Vineyard and is sick for it and lays him down upon the bed and will eat no meat Jezabel his Wife comes to him and says Dost thou now govern Israel is this becoming the greatness of thy state to bear such a denial and affront Is not all the Kings and do not his people enjoy what they have by his leave and favour as a boon from him and shall any subject dare deny his King what he requests of him This is not to reign over them buâ— to be under them Imperatoris est leges dare non accipere c. And thus she reproves him and becomes a very fit instrument for the Devil Pet. Martyr I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth 1 King 21.7 4. Between Parents and Children 1. Children are curses to Parents Thou shalt be cursed in the fruit of thy body as well as in the fruit of thy land 1 By disesteem making them vile in a mans eyes Deut. 27.16 Cursed be he that sets light by father or mother and this proceeds further even to mocking and deriding Prov. 30.17 The eye that mockes at his father or mother the ravens of the vallies shall pick it out 2 By forsaking them 2 Tim. 3.3 without natural affections the word in the Greek is a similitude taken from a Stork which takes special care to provide for and maintain the Parent when it 's old But Mar. 7 11. they taught Children a way to cheat their Parents by dedicating their Estates to the Temple or the publick service and then when the Parent should stand in need of any part of it the child says it is Corban a thing dedicated and therefore he must not meddle with it and so do nothing for him 3 There is
a seeking their Fathers life as Absalom did David's Vse the young man well for my sake says the father but when Hushai said We will smite the King only the saying pleas'd Absalom well And the son shall betray the father to death Sennacherib was slain by his two Sons 4 The parting with Children at death and not knowing in what condition a man shall leave them is a great part of a mans vexation In this life it 's a great part of the Curse His Sons come to honour and he knows it not they are brought low and he considers it not c. That was Luther's comfort in his Will Lord thou hast given me Wife and Children and I give them to thee again Qui pater es pupillorum judex viduarum which art the Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widows But the contrary is a very great affliction unto the hearts of Parents and a great part of a mans misery that Children must suffer for the Parents sins and God may visit the iniquity of Parents upon Children to the third and fourth Generation 2. Parents also are a Curse to their Children 1 The sins of Parents are transmitted to the Children We see Adam did bring a Curse upon himself and all his posterity and the infants of Sodom were involved in the punishment of the sins that they were not in themselves guilty of Ezech. 4.25 God reserved the punishment of the Fathers for their Children for three hundred and ninety years together Chams sins and Canaans is punisht nine hundred twenty-five years after and Gehazi his Leprosie cleaves to him and his posterity and the Jews in Crucifying Christ say his blood be upon us and our children and so wrath is come upon them to the uttermost for many Generations 1 This is a punishment upon the Parent and a testimony of great wrath that not only Judgment comes upon himself but upon his posterity 2 It 's only in Temporal things for an Eternal Curse never comes upon Children but for their own sins but for Temporal Curses they are dispens'd in a way of prerogative and the Lord will lay those Curses upon Children which the Parents did deserve and they are gone down to Hell to receive 2 Parents prove snares and plagues to their Children by betraying their liberties losing of their priviledges Rom. 3.2 Vnto them were committed the Oracles of God Now when they shall forfeit them and part with their priviledges by little and little What a curse is this The Ordinances and the Truths of the Gospel are the greatest trust committed to Parents but when they provoke the Lord to call them Loammi and to cast them off then they are forfeited As Rom. 11. the natural branches are broken off and their posterity are cast out as an abominable branch only the Lord will in time graft them in again So many a Father does lose glorious priviledges and opportunities for his Children Saul did divest himself of the Kingdom and all his posterity Now would I have established the Kingdom to thee c. 3 By an evil example 1 Pet. 1.18 corrupting them by their vain conversation received by tradition from their Fathers Jer. 44.17 We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven as we have done we and our fathers our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Judah c. 4 The Father may forsake his Son yea he may forget When my father and mother forsake me says the Psalmist the Lord takes me up And the Father may betray the Son to death as we see Saul did Jonathan if he will not comply with his lusts he shall not live he throws a Javelin at him to kill him c. SECT III. Spiritual Death § 1. WE have thus far considered the first Branch of the Covenant's Curse and that consists in Temporal death Now let us come to consider the second Branch of it which is Death Spiritual and that is All the spiritual evil that can befal the soul of man in this life whether of sin or sorrow And it 's as possible for a man to weigh the fire and to measure the wind and number the stars or count the sand upon the sea-shore as to reckon the particulars wherein this Death consists Godly men that study the evils of their own hearts all their days yet cry out The heart is deceitful above all things who can know it Jer. 17.10 The word signifies an incurable disease it s only the Lord that can cure and search it and know the malignity of it And as it is said of Vertue and the beauty of Holiness if it could be seen with bodily eyes Mirabilem excitaret amorem sui it would stir up a wonderful love of it self so could the death of the soul and the evils of it be seen it would stir up hatred and amazement above all things in the world A godly man that sees but a little of it when God opens his eyes he abhors himself and loaths his own soul Job 42.6 And Luther blessed God that he did not shew him sin all at once but by degrees it would have sunk him with the apprehension of it This will be the study of men in Hell to all eternity to rake into this filthiness of the soul and the death thereof for Hell is the grave of the soul and the rottenness of it shall be studied there for ever And this shall be the work of that never-dying worm the souls reflection upon it self and its own loathsomeness and to loath it self for ever Consider 1 the soul is the darling and therefore the beauty of a man and the worth of the man lies in the hidden man of the heart which is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3.3 and therefore the deformity of the soul is the greatest The worth of the man is from the worth of the soul Prov. 10.20 The heart of the wicked is little worth His Lands and his Honour and his Cloaths may be worth much in the esteem of the world but his soul is worth nothing Therefore the value of a man is in his spirit though there be other things that we commonly prize men by yet those that judge aright count the Saints upon this account the excellent ones Psal 16.3 and all others to be vile men how great and rich soever Dan. 4.17 Psal 15. And a man does prosper truly as his soul prospers 3 Joh. 2. and not as his body prospers or as his estate prospers Therefore a man is filthy if his soul is filthy and vile as his soul is vile and he decays as his soul does from day to day 2 The great difference between men and men lies in their spirits Caleb had another spirit Numb 14.24 Our distinctions for the present are but for a time and death will make all equal that as we were all made of one body so we shall all be dissolved into the same dust they are all but for the time
of this life the Princes robes and the beggars rags lie down together but the difference in their spirits is eternal and therefore the blessing or the curse upon the soul is much more than that on the body or the estate many of these being but for the time of this life 3 Sin is chiefly an act of the soul The sin of the soul membra sunt arma the members are but weapons it 's the soul that 's the hand and the chief cause of enmity lies therein and therefore the chief vengeance lights upon that God will punish sin not only here but eternally Therefore as the greatest blessing is upon the soul so the greatest curse also And as the School-men say of Glory so we may say of Wrath it is Radicaliter in corde redundanter in corpore radically in the heart but redundantly in the body the main object of wrath and curse is the soul 2 Pet. Mat. 16. 4 The great evil that sin does a man it fights against his soul and the great loss that it occasions is the loss of the soul men do often complain of losses but they may be all made up in this life as Job's were or if not yet the afflictions of this present life are not worthy of the glory that shall be reveal'd they work for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and Quaedam amittere ut majora lucreris non amissio est sed mercatura to lose some things that thou maist gain better is not loss but a thriving trade But the loss of the soul is the great loss that can never be made up and therefore the curse of the soul is the great curse 5 The curse of the soul being taken off all other curses are taken off also as the curse remaining on the soul all blessings are turn'd into curses they may be blessings in the thing but they are curses to the man So on the other side all cursings are turn'd into blessings they may be curses in the thing but they shall prove blessings to the man To the unclean all things are unclean for their minds and consciences are defiled Tit. 1. When once Grace comes into the soul malediction goes out all things shall work for your good and the curse is taken off from all the Creatures for your use Life is yours and death is yours so that as the precept of the Law is made a servant to the promise of the Gospel for it was added by way of subordination and subserviency thereunto so the curse of the Law is made a servant to the Grace of the Gospel also and a Saint has a sanctified use of that as a blessing which is in it self a curse 6 The chief satisfaction that was given for sin has reference to the soul In the sacrifice there was offred the life and the blood but it was the blood that made an atonement for the soul and without shedding of blood there is no remission And when Christ came to stand in our stead as a surety the main of the sufferings he endured were in his soul Isa 53.10 God made his soul an offering for sin Christ did as our surety and therefore he put his name to our bond and was made under the Law Now being our surety he was to pay our debt and that was mainly in the soul The Sacrifice that was to be accepted of God was to be a whole burnt-offering now if Christ had but suffered in his body it had been but a half burnt-offering He offered himself Heb. 9.10 therefore it must be his whole manhood and before his bodily suffering came while he was in the Garden he says My soul is heavy unto death Mar. 14.33 amazed or astonished the word is rendred a failing of spirit his spirit died even within him his thoughts were wholly abstracted from all things else and the wrath of God that lay upon him did wholly fill up his soul c. Now in all these respects the curse upon the soul which is spiritual death is the greatest part of the Curse far greater than that upon the body upon Creatures or Relations § 2. And now let us come to consider wherein this Curse upon the Soul lies 1. It lies in this That a man has forsaken God as his chief Good and as his utmost End Man in his Creation was carried towards God as that chiefest Good wherein his happiness consisisted and acted towards God as him to whom all his actions were refer'd and wherein his blessedness lay and therefore Augustin speaking from a spirit renew'd and having the same principle begun in him says Omnis copia quae non est Deus inanis egestas est All plenty that is not God is poverty And Bernard says Animam Dei capacem quicquid est Deo minus non implebit nothing less than God will fill the soul capable of God Man having all in God must needs do all for him and refer all to him for he that is the chief Good must needs be also the utmost End Now the death of the soul lies mainly in this first it 's taken off from God as the chief Good for that 's the first thing sin does Jam. 1.14 it draws a man away from God who was the Center where the soul rested Psal 116.7 Return to thy rest O my soul They have forsaken their resting place they have wandred upon every mountain And therefore Jude v. 18. all the lustings and inclinations of the soul they are call'd ungodly lusts because they have nothing else in them that being the main bent in them all to take off the soul from God and carry it away from him Jer. 2.13 It 's forsaking the fountain of living water And Heb. 3.12 It 's departing from the living God And hence it is that repenting is call'd returning because we have departed from him and conversion is nothing else but returning to God as a mans chief Good And man being thus departed from him God is not in all their thoughts for they look for no good from him their good lies not in him and therefore they live without God in the world they know him not they love him not they expect nothing from him it 's to them as if there were no God to judge nor reward and hence it is that men can live without the favour of God all their life-long and never be troubled because they have not made it their happiness But take a man that has set up this as his happiness a frown is to him as the messenger of death and not to see the Kings face puts him into the shadow of death for he can breath in no other air as Absalom said He could not live unless he saw the Kings face And so David God had hid his face which made him like to them that go down into the pit Man in his Creation as he was wholly of God so he was wholly for him and so it is when the Image
's utterly defaced and a new Image is now stampt upon us We are all by nature the children of the Devil and there is an image that 's earthly which we do now bear 1 Cor. 15.49 therefore we must be renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created us for all knowledge and inward abilities of mind either to know God or the Creature is lost and the soul is darkness it self Ephes 4.18 dark in its principles and dark in its reasonings his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is darkness and though Divines do commonly say that there are some common notions as fragments of the former image I conceive we are beholding to the Covenant of Grace for them and that they are preserved in us by Christ as our lives are and the support of the Creatures for our use and whatever does tend to our comfortable being whatever is on this side Hell we have not as a part of the first Image and from the first Covenant but as an overflowing of the Grace of the second Covenant by which I say the world stands for surely man fell in lutum lapidosum into a stony mire as Bernard the one blotted out the image of Holiness and the other brake in pieces all his natural abilities It 's laid for a ground that Original sin is alike in all now how comes it to pass that it has not the same punishment and power upon all Take a natural fool and the veriest idiot and every one of us was as guilty of Adam's sin as he now why are those common notions blotted out in him and preserved in us surely it is from the different dispensations of the Mediator into whose hand the government and administration of all things are committed and it 's said Joh. 1.9 That he enlightens every man there is not only a supernatural light from Christ to all the Elect but there is some kind of light that even all mankind has from Christ by vertue of the second Covenant that it 's not destroy'd it is from him and that glorious freedom of Will is wholly lost that though man acts as a free-willer because he does it answerable to the dictates of Reason yet it is libertas adulterina an adulterine liberty and that which has a shew of liberty but is only bondage for surely that libertas contrarietatis velle bonum vel malum is not liberty for that 's a perfection and so is not the other neither can there be liberty in Heaven then but now the soul is wholly servile because it can will nothing else but evil Phil. 2.13 he must work the will c. Facit ut velimus praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati Aug. 4. The Soul has lost all fellowship and communion with God Adam could walk with God and enjoy fellowship as a friend with God and so do the Saints that have this image renewed but it 's grace only fits a man for fellowship Being made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 And so for glory also Col. 1.12 Ephes 4.18 Estranged from the life of God So call'd either because it 's wrought by God as the righteousness of Christ is call'd the righteousness of God it's God that lives in the soul by his spirit and it 's the life of God by way of eminency and excellency for things excellent are call'd the things of God and it 's the life of God because it does fit a man to walk with God and to live to God Now from this life men are strangers Isa 44.20 they live a natural life and they feed upon the carnal comforts that are below that nature desires and seeks after and they live a civil life they converse with men in civil affairs but for a godly life a life to God to walk with God converse with him in all their ways this they are strangers to this is only the life of Saints But men live the life of satan he lives in them being the spirit of this world and he acts them and with him they converse and his lusts they do As Augustin says of himself speaking of the lusts of his youthful time Hi sunt amici quibus acquievi consules quibus credidi aves quibus cohabitavi But for God they have no acquaintance with him in all their ways 5. The Soul is at enmity with God Col. 1.21 Enemies in our minds and this enmity is twofold either direct or collateral enmity as when mens lusts run out to the Creatures and the using of them loco mariti in the stead of an husband it 's an enmity unto God though we intend it not but Jam 4.4 only pleasure in the Creature carries us on and we prove adulterers therewith when mens spirits are carried unto several lusts for pleasure sake and profits sake c. and so it 's enmity against God but indirectly and men say they never meant God any evil I never intended it as they in Ezech. 8.3 They set up the image of jealousie to provoke me to go far from my sanctuary that was finis operis the end of the work though not operantis of the worker But there is a kind of direct enmity which carries a man on unto that which is simply evil and that for no cause but because it does displease and dishonour God as in swearing a sin wherein is neither pleasure nor profit there is no ground for it but barely because God is dishonoured by it We read Heb. 10.29 there is a despighting of the spirit of Grace there is an enmity to do evil for no other end but to despight the spirit of Grace which is the great transgression Psal 19.13 There is an inclination in our nature to this great offence unto which not only presumptuous sins but even secret sins are steps and degrees Men reject the Soveraignty of God and scorn his Laws and despise his power and judgments deny his being and exalt themselves above him saying there is no God 6. The Souls death lies in this mainly that it hates and is an enemy to all those ways that might bring him back unto God again resists whatever may reconcile God and his soul let but a good thought of God come into their head and they hate it Rom. 1.28 We naturally like not to retain God in our knowledge let any thing be offered unto us that exalts God and we reject it we are enemies to all righteousness Take but the offers of Christ and the grace of the Gospel there is nothing that the heart rises so much against and opposes because it 's the way that brings us to God they will find out another of their own they desire to be under the Law go about to establish their own righteousness and not submit to the righteousness of Christ This will be the great condemnation of the World Nay even in a godly man let but a little of God be set upon his soul presently flesh lusts against it Gal. 5.17 and would
whereas men would turn away their eyes from their sins the Spirit of God does hold them upon it and set them in order before them and whereas men would have slight apprehensions of sin and wrath the Spirit of God does give a man great apprehensions and dreadful thoughts of them and as in Heaven the spirit of Adoption shall be in perfection so in Hell the spirit of bondage shall be in perfection also 4. God gives a man up unto the power of sin and the dominion of it that a man is not his own but yields up himself and his members instruments to unrighteousness Rom. 6.18 He gives over himself to obey sin and the lusts thereof man sells himself to sin sinfully and God sells him judicially c. That as a godly man is not his own so neither is a wicked man For his servant a man is to whom he obeys whether it be of sin unto death Rom. 6.16 or of obedience unto righteousness and therefore they are the servants of sin Now sin has a double power 1 of a Lord as it reigns over men which unto godly men is taken away 2 As a Huâ—band Rom. 6.14 that 's a power of love that it can command and a man has an inward affection to obey it as it is said of Ahab he did sell himself to work wickedness Rom. 7.3 and then God sells a man to wickedness and the man is become wholly the servant and the creature of such a lust Every man by nature indeed does sin freely but some men are left to a judiciary freedom in sinning that as they cannot restrain themselves so God will not restrain them from sinning but they shall pour out themselves to all iniquity with greediness Jude v. 11. they shall be as wicked as they will that so they may fill up their measure of sinning as Christ said of the Pharisees Fill up the measures of your fathers it 's spoken by way of wrath and vengeance the Lord did give them up to the power of sin to the uttermost Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still This permission is the highest and forest affliction And there the Church leaves them that are obstinately ignorant and resist instruction 1 Cor. 14.38 He that is ignorant let him be ignorant Now for a man to be thus given up by God and his Church is a most desperate condition As it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God so it 's a fearful thing to be given up to his own hearts lust To be given up to sin is a just punishment of sin for the ways of sin as well as the wages of sin is death It 's a dreadful thing for the Lord to say of a people appointed to wrath Jer. 15.2 Let them go forth such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine but it is more dreadful for God judicially to say let them go forth such as are for drunkenness unto drunkenness and such as are for uncleanness unto uncleanness as much as sin is a greater evil than affliction and as much as it is better to suffer than to sin 5. God gives a man up to the power of Satan and his own will 2 Tim. 2.26 The Devil is compared to a hunter and men are by him taken alive as we do beasts in a snare and then carried whither the hunter will though God be not the author of sin yet he is the orderer of it as well as of suffering and as he sets bounds unto Satan in our affliction as Job 1.12 All that he has is in thy hand only upon himself lay not thy hand so he does in our temptations also He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able 1 Cor. 10.13 Satan would indeed tempt you above what you are able but God will not suffer you so to be tempted It 's a fearful thing for God to give a man either in his body or estate over to the will of the Devil as we see in Job how sad was it with him in that regard but much more for God to give over a mans spirit to Satan to carry a man unto what sins he will then I am sure he will be boundless in his sinning as well as in his suffering It 's an observation of Damascene that it 's only by sin that Satan has access to the spirits of men and therefore he did tempt Adam and Christ himself by outward objects only presented to the senses which is a great argument that he could not have access to their spirits Joh. 14.30 The Prince of this world says Christ comes and has nothing in me The more Satan has in a man the more immediate access he has to him and the greater power over him therefore the less of Satan there is in a man surely the less power he has over him But besides the possession and dominion that sin has given him there is a delivering a man unto Satan a kind of spiritual excommunication by God himself as Christ by a sop gave Satan full possession of Judas Joh. 13.27 and though before the sop he had it may be some reluctancy to that damned business yet after it Satan had full power over him and he goes on with a resolution and an impudent boldness and says Whom I kiss he it is for he was delivered over to the will of Satan to carry him unto what sin he would And so we may observe of the false Prophets in Ahab's time and them also that are mentioned in 2 Thes 2.12 and such men as Tertullian observes he raises to a higher degree of wickedness the Devil vouchsafed them greater and fuller power he speaks it of Marcion Valentinus and other Hereticks Satan brings them to those sins against God that he himself cannot commit 6. All Providences and Ordinances and Operations of the Spirit become a curse to them and a snare to their souls Prosperity makes them full and deny the Lord and poverty makes them steal and take the name of God in vain Prov. 30.8 If a man be raised from a low estate as Saul and Hazael it is in wrath and if he be preserved in a common judgment it is in wrath as God raised up Pharaoh That he might shew his power on him and send all his Plagues upon his heart and if there be a Prophet sent to Jeroboam a judgment lights on him in his way back because he was disobedient to the word of the Lord 1 King 13.33 yet thereupon Jeroboam turns not from his abomination Every act of Providence is to them for evil and a snare to their souls and all the Ordinances that they do enjoy do but ripen their sins Amos 8.7 there is a fullness of curse as well as of blessing in the Gospel and it 's a favour of death as well
as of life and all the works of illumination humiliation seeming conversion and reformation do make them but the stronger enemies to God when they fall from them all they do but prepare a habitation for seven worse spirits for the dog to return to his vomit again as we read such a story of one Eustathius who was first an Arian and then afterwards was converted and subscribed the Articles of the Council of Nice and was a man imployed by the Church and endured a great Persecution with Basil and divers other godly men and yet afterward he turned again into the former Doctrine of Arianisme and never returned And so we read of Alexander in Act. 19.33 and afterwards of his Apostacy and these works do qualifie men for the sin against the Holy Ghost and make them more conformable to the Devil than otherwise they would be 7. There is a giving a man up to Spiritual judgments which are of all plagues the greatest Exod. 9.14 As spiritual sins are the greatest sins so are spiritual judgments the greatest plagues and there is no plague like that of the heart 1 King 8.38 and we have so much the more cause to observe them because God did formerly under the Old Testament punish with outward and temporal punishments but those that live under the Gospel are specially punished with Spiritual judgments as the mercies of the Gospel are more spiritual so are the punishments also and they are 1 a hard heart which implys three things 1 Insensibleness of sin and judgment 2 Taking no impression either from the Word or Spirit and the touches of both 3 Inflexible as an Adamant that you cannot bow nor break it and that heart that is a flint to God is wax to Satan no command nor judgment of God will break it for it 's possest with an iron sinew bray a fool in a mortar yet his folly will not depart 2 There is a spirit of slumber that a man is sensible of nothing no danger can wake him for sleep is the binding up of all the spiritual senses Their eyes are closed and they cannot see their ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken let them be smitten and they cannot feel it and nothing does awaken them neither the loudest cry of the Word nor the judgments of God a deep sleep is upon them and they fear no evil 3 A seared Conscience 1 Tim. 4.2 the word signifies to sear with a hot iron and to make insensible to have no feeling or else to cut off by searing so that men walk as if they had no Consciences left 4 An injudicious mind God gives them over to a reprobate mind Rom. 1.28 an injudicious mind is taken with envy error with every vanity and is able to judge aright of nothing 5 Vile affections the basest and most dishonourable lusts even sins that are below a man as brute beasts therein to corrupt themselves and that makes them hateful and abominable to all the world 6 A final impenitency a heart that cannot repent Heb. 6.4 and it 's impossible for them to be renewed again by repentance § 4. Having spoken of Temporal death and Spiritual death we should now come to consider Eternal death which as it is said of the Glory of the Saints Neither eye has seen nor ear has heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive c. it is as true of this Eternal death no ear has heard what it is it is called perdition and destruction the second death And as Heaven is set out by some resemblances of the glory of the things in this life so is Hell in respect of the miseries of this life but all these are but shadows of the one and of the other Psal 90.11 Who knows the power of thy wrath as is thy fear so is thy wrath that is the wrath of God in the dreadful effects of it is such that it passes knowledg and it passes fear The heart of man is able to conceive vast fears as it has vast desires but whatever we can fear there is something in the wrath of God answerable to all But having spoke of this more largely elsewhere I shall but touch upon it at present In this death there is something essential which befalls all that suffer these torments and is inseparable from it as they do fall upon such a subject the essential part of this death the Scripture makes to be of two parts there is punishment of Loss and punishment of Sense There is a loss and a separation of a man from all good things whatsoever there is no man but has some good thing in possession and he has something of which hope gives him a reversion but in this death he shall be separated from them both and this is the privative part This poena damni punishment of loss is double as Durandus has observed pag. 210. either in amissione boni habiti vel nondum habiti in the amission of some good possessed or hoped for Now by this death men shall be shut out from both First they shall be shut out of the presence vision and fruition of God for ever there shall pass upon him an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Divines did anciently call it an eternal excommunication or a non-communion as their spiritual death did consist in an estrangement from God in holiness so their eternal death shall consist in an eternal separation from God in happiness They shall be punished with eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.9 and this was the great torment that Christ does complain of Mat. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and yet it was only substractio visionis a substraction of vision And this is the great affliction of his people here on earth if the Lord hide his face David says Hide not thy face from me lest I be like to them that go down into the pit and yet this is but a hiding of his face as an Eclipse of the Sun for a day he will but hide his face for a little moment but he will have mercy on thee with everlasting loving kindness how much more when God shall cast a man off in wrath for ever and never have an eye upon him more and therefore the Fathers do generally say that the greatest torment of Hell is this of Loss Absentia Dei quoad visionem omnia alia tormenta superat Augustine and Chrysostom in Mat. 7. Mille Gehennae paenas and there is nothing so dreadful as to be separated from God and to be hated by him CHAP. II. How and why men naturally desire to be under the Law Galat. 4. 21 Tell me you that desire to be under the Law do you not hear the Law SECT I. How men naturally desire to be under the Law § 1. THis Text tells us how men are naturally affected with the Covenant under which they stand They still desire to be under it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
then from the condemnation of the Law and the sentence of it there is no appeal or redemption CHAP. III. How and whence it is that sin is irritated by the Law Rom. 7.8 But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence SECT I. How sin takes occasion and is irritated by the Law § 1. WE have seen that to be under the first Covenant though broken is unto every man in a state of nature a desirable thing though formally indeed men desire it not for they will all disclaim it but interpretatively and by consequence they do desire it as Prov. 8. ult it was finis operis though not operantis it was the end of the work Ezek. 8.3 though not of the worker and so men going about to establish their own righteousness and not submitting unto the righteousness of God and being contented to be acted by a spirit of bondage which is the spirit of the first Covenant which doth produce in them fruits answerable to the Covenant under which they stand this is in Gods account and in the censure of the Scripture an argument of an inward desire and contentment to be under this Covenant still Now because men do look upon it as a desirable condition let us examine what this condition is of a man fallen to be under the first Covenant as broken Divines do commonly say that a man that is in Christ is freed from the Law he being dead to the Law and the Law being dead unto him in some respects as was mentioned at first 1 For Irritation the Law hath not this power in men to irritate and exasperate and enrage their lusts by the restraint and the prohibitions of them and so they apply that place Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law That is saith Beza He exhorts them to Sanctification Let not sin raign in your mortal bodies and he does promise them sin shall not raign under the Law only forbidding sinning and thereby provoking and increasing lust but you are under Grace strengthning against sin and healing it and hence it is concluded from several other Scriptures that a man in Christ and under Grace is freed from the Law and irritation of it 2 For Co-action to keep them from sin by force for fear simply of the curse of the Law and to compell them to duty as a task-master against their wills when the Law they hate and the duty that is required of them that they hate and wish there were no Law and look upon it as a yoak and a burden insupportable for as a godly man says of sin so a wicked man says of duty that which I hate that do I. And it requires of him perfect obedience as a task-master he must work brick but gives no straw requires the full tale of duty but gives no strength nor assistance The Apostle says Gal. 5.8 if you be led by the spirit you are not under the Law the spirit that is in you is the spirit of the second Covenant a spirit of Adoption a spirit of liberty a free and a Princely spirit which enables you to perform duties out of an inward principle of love to them and delight in them unto them the yoak is easie and the burden is light for it 's their happiness and honour and meat and drink to do the will of their Heavenly father And so that place I conceive is to be understood 1 Tim. 1.9 The Law was not made for a righteous man that is neither in the restraining act of it or keeping from sin only for fear of the curse because he has an inward principle that lusts against it and as a fountain casts out the mud an inward antipathy a spirit lusting and rising against it that though there were no curse yet he would hate it and endeavour to avoid it nor in the constraining power of it to force to duty only as that which his soul hates and he comes hardly off too in any measure to do that which is required but he has a spirit within the Law written in his heart an inward principle suitable to what the Law requires of him as it is said of Christ in respect of that great Commandment was laid on him Joh. 10.18 This Commandment have I received of my father for of that I think he speaks lo I come to do thy will thy law is in the middle of my bowels I have power to lay it down and to take it up again He had an inward principle that made him ready and willing and chearful in it and in this respect the Law was never made for them as the only principle upon which they should act 3 For condemnation so as to be able to lay upon a man the guilt of his own sin and condemn him for it for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law there is a destroying power in sin and this it has from the condemning power of the Law do but take away the condemning power of the Law and the sting of death that is that power that it has to destroy the soul is gone because the guilt is taken off the sinner Now Gal. 3.13 He has delivered us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us And so Gal. 5.23 Against such there is no Law It is not spoken against such works but against such persons there is no Law partly because the Law is against none but those that transgress it and partly because those being the fruits of the spirit do argue and clear to a man that his Covenant is changed because he is acted by the spirit of the second Covenant and therefore he may thereby receive an evidence to himself that the condemning power of the Law is not against him any more Rom. 4.6 4 For Justification For blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works That no man is justified by the Law is evident Gal. 2. ult If righteousness be by the law then Christ is dead in vain And from hence I argue that if they that are in Christ and under the second Covenant are freed from the Law in all these respects then all those that are out of Christ are under the Law still in all those respects and therefore every unregenerate man is under the Law as a Covenant of works and under this Covenant he desires to be now the Covenant being broken he is under it for Justification Irritation Coaction and Condemnation Daven de luâ—ut actuali p. 397. which when we have lookt over it will appear that this is no such happy condition that a man should desire it In being freed thus from the Law the main part of a Christians liberty consists yet there is this difference the two last refer unto a person and state and in those his liberty is perfect and he is wholly freed from the Law
man to seek out curious ways of sinning against it to avoid the power of the law as we see in Gaming c. sin takes occasion by the Commandment that it may sin more artificially and such men are hardly convinced 2 The Law discovers sin and men will not see it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment and vents it self by refusing knowledge And they stop their ears that they may not be charmed by the voice of the charmer Joh. 3.20 c. 3 Sin takes occasion from hence in that men hate the light of the law and they wish that there were no such law in the world He that does evil hates the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest and reproved As the law discovers that to be evil in which the soul placeth its greatest good so this discovery draws out a hatred in the soul a-against that law which does as a glass discover the spots which the sinner would have hidden 2. The law does restrain sin and puts a stop to it and shuts up the sinner as we may read Gal. 3.23 Whence sin breaks forth more violently men being prone to sin and cannot live without it for the comfort of their life comes in by it The Law may restrain and keep in lust for a while Mat. 12.43 but it breaks forth as fire when you suppress it outwardly it burns the hotter within and spreads the more by a restraint 1 It spreads the more in the man by the restraint of the Law a man that hath forborn a sin long there comes seven worse spirits at the last and makes him more the child of the Devil than he was before the former restraint that was upon him makes his inward man the more exceeding sinful As it was with Judas a Devil though a Disciple The restraint of sin by the Commandment causes it to defile his inward man the more 2 The more sin is enraged as Psal 2. They say let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Chains put not a fierceness into a beast but yet it does outwardly draw forth that fury that was in its nature As a potion in some diseases given for the cure irritates the peccant humour and kills the man the sooner not that it puts a new sickness in but only the humours being stirred are the more enraged 3 So in this case it does not only enrage sin and so make it more fierce but it improves it by this enraging as the presence of an injury doth heighten a mans anger as we see Goliah did David s his brags drew forth David's courage and it rose to the greater height and so any difficulty would Alexander's so that it was an exploit fit for Alexander if none else would undertake it and so a damm in the water it does cause it to swell and foam the more and the coldness of the circumstant air in the winter does not put more heat into the fire and yet by an Antiperistasis it excites it so that it is felt the more And therefore men living under the clearest discoveries of the Law their sins do rise to the greatest height men by the light of nature cannot sin against the Holy Ghost the great and the unpardonable transgression but this sin is by Gospel-light and this draws forth to direct enmity a mans spirit against the light so that he sins wilfully after that he hath received the knowledge of the truth and with despight for it is this being under the irritating power of the Law that is the great occasion of the sin against the Holy Ghost 3. There is a condemning power of the Law it passes a sentence upon a man and upon his estate and let 's into his soul by the spirit of bondage fear of death and dreadful apprehensions of wrath fearful expectations of judgment and of violent fire to devour him And from this also sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrours that a man should destroy himself and become the instrument of his own mercy and be his own executioner as Judas and Achitophel and many others have done And 2 hence sin takes occasion to drive them to despair and draws it forth fastning their eyes upon the vengeance of God and never shewing them the remedy and the pardon and then with Cain men say mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven 3 Hence follows a giving up themselves unto all excess of riot there is no hope and therefore I will enjoy the good things that are present and not have a Hell here and hereafter too And therefore they refrain not from any evil way but resolve to take their fill of sin while they are here for they are sure they can be but damned as many a wicked wretch when he is condemned to die he cares not what he does then for he knows he can be but hanged Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 4 The rage of their spirits does rise from hence even to blasphemy and revenge against God He saith O that I were above God! for I know that he will not have mercy upon me And so the Damned in Hell do blaspheme God by way of revenge because they are shut up under wrath and know that there is no mercy for them And this is the ground also of the great rage and revenge against God that is acted by the Devil ever since the fall Thus men seeing themselves condemned by the Law and being in a continual expectation of this wrath the revenge and rage of their spirits against God is by this means drawn forth and in all these respects sin does take occasion by the Commandment and becomes the more exceeding sinful SECT II. Whence it is that the Law exasperates and encreases Sin § 1. LET us now come having proved the Point to look into the grounds of it How it should come to pass that that which discovers sin and forbids it should exasperate and increase it and that that which is a means to lead the people of God into ways of holiness and to sanctifie them converting the soul making wise the simple should occasion sin and death to others We must lay this as a ground That the cause is not in the Law the Apostles care is to remove any blemish that may be cast on the Law of God as if God had given a Law to this end to add unto the sin of man whereas indeed before the Law sin was in the world and it was out of measure sinful but it did not appear so without the Law There is a twofold cause that the Apostle does here point us unto 1 There is causa per se a formal cause which does of it self and of its own nature properly produce the effect from some inward and intrinsecal power and efficiency and so the Law is not the cause of sin in a man neither is there any thing in the Law that should
shall be effectual to a mans pollution Vse 1 § 5. See here the malignity and the vile nature of sin and what a deadly disease it is when that which God did give of purpose to destroy it will increase it We say that is a very deadly disease that you can apply no physick but it does stir up the disease and it 's increased by it and all that you can take feeds the disease so here sin must needs be a deadly thing that the law should increase it which in its own nature should abate it There are two truths that should be always in a mans eye God to be the chiefest Good and Sin to be the greatest Evil. There is no one thing that does set forth the evil of sin more than this that the Commandment of God which doth forbid it curse it condemn it should improve it It 's no wonder then if mercies make men more wicked and if crosses add to mens sins for the very Law of God and his threatnings and restraints thereof will do it if any thing make sin appear to a man to be out of measure sinful and a disease incurable in it self this will 2. See hereby the vanity of that Doctrine that says Moral perswasion is sufficient unto conversion God enlightning of a mans mind and shewing him what is his duty and what is required of him and perswading of his will it is according to these able to imbrace it and so turn unto God and duty and herein is the drawing of God the Father when as we see that when God does set a mans duty before him in the Law with all the threatnings of it and all the promises of it this is so far from converting the man that it improves his sin sin and makes it the more to rage against God and become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore there is an inward work of God an Almighty Power put forth in changing the heart and converting of the will Moral perswasions may make a man more wicked but they will never convert him or make him the more holy without this inward work put forth by God in changing the heart 3. See here what is the proper rise and ground of that unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost It is by a curse of the first Covenant coming upon to the word of God that it is an occasional means lust opposing it to make sin rise the higher and first it brings forth in a man sins against knowledge and afterwards sins with malice and despight If the Law had never been revealed again but man had been left as many of the Heathens are who have but that small glimmering of light which some do call the remainders of the Law within them which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 2. They shew the works of the law written in their hearts this sin had never been heard of in the world it is a sin proper unto the Church of God and cannot be committed out of the Church where men are enlightned in the truth and sin takes occasion from the Law to break forth into despight against it 4. See what a vain thing it is for a man to glory in any Church-priviledge The Jews did stand much upon it and doubtless it was a great mercy that unto them did belong the giving of the Law and the Promises and unto them were committed the Oracles of God and therefore they rested in and made their boast of the Law c. Rom. 2.18 19. And what fruit had most of them by the Law it did aggravate their sins in the guilt of them and drew forth their sins in the power of them unto the greater height and in many of them even to the sin against the Holy Ghost And so it does many men that live under the Gospel at this day they have no other fruit by their ordinances and of the word of God amongst them but to make them more exceedingly wicked 5. See what a misery it is to be in a state of unregeneracy he that is so is wicked by nature and every thing wâ—â— make him worse See also what a mercy restraining grace is to a man that is unregenerate when we read of Judas and how Christs reproof did heighten his malice and of the Pharisees how by Christs Sermon their rage was drawn forth and they gnashed their teeth upon him c. What a mercy is it should every soul say that all the Sermons that ever I have heard of Christ c. should not have wrought the same effects in me long ago Luther saith that reading that place Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and understanding it only de justitia activa scilicet punientè of Gods punishing justice Non amabam imo odiebam justum punientem Deum tacitaque si non blasphemia certe ingenti murmuratione c. odi istud vocabulum poenitentiae I did not love but hate the just and punishing God and by a silent great murmur if not blasphemy I did hate that word Repentance Now that it has not been so to every one of us and we sinned against the Holy Ghost and in the highest acts of direct enmity that there had been no hope of mercy seeing that we cannot say that we have done it ignorantly Oh what a mercy is restraining Grace 6. Lastly how should it engage the people of God to thankfulness that God has freed them from this great misery that now the Law should subdue their lusts and not enrage them and if it does at any time yet it 's not to bring forth fruit unto death not to have a full dominion over them how should it make them fear when they read or hear the Law lest it should add to the disease Oh! how ought people to pray and Ministers pray that they may not be a curse and that the word which they hear and preach may not ripen their sins and draw out and improve their corruptions but their graces and make them holy CHAP. IV. The Rigor and Coactive power of the Law Gal. 5.18 But if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the Law SECT I. Wherein the Coactive power of the Law consists § 1. THere is a double sense of these words given by Interpreters and both may very well be put together The Apostle having said before That in a godly man there are two contrary principles flesh and spirit and they lust and act one against another so that they cannot do the things they would but when they would do good evil is present with them he adds here a consolation to bear up their hearts in this which is the greatest conflict upon earth between flesh and spirit in the same heart and that which made them to look upon themselves as miserable men all their days Rom. 7.24 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law that is though there
be a principle of flesh in you and this principle is sinful contrary to the Law and condemned by the Law yet it shall never prevail to condemn you though it will many times to defile you for you are not under the Law for condemnation they may be and will be matter of your trouble and affliction here but never the matter of your condemnation hereafter And so the meaning is that the godly that have received the spirit of Grace and submit themselves willingly to be acted and guided thereby though they have the remainders of sin in them that deserve death yet they shall never infer death because they are not for the condition of their persons under the Laws condemning power Rom. 8.1 Though there be in the Saints matter of condemnation yet there is in them no actual condemnation There is a second interpretation given of it and that is That though there be remainders of sin contrary lustings within you so that you cannot do the things you would do but all your performances 〈◊〉 blemished and defiled as a Collier and Fuller dwelling in the same house what the one whites the other pollutes Yet this shall not make your services hateful before God shall not hinder their acceptation for you are not under the rigor and conviction of the Law requiring perfect obedience or else it cannot be accepted as it is with all unregenerate men but you are not so under the Law neither shall this contrary principle be wholly able to hinder you in duties for you are not under the Law constraining you and forcibly compelling unto duty without giving you strength to perform it but you have a spirit within you as well as a rule without you the one directing and the other assisting and inabling Both these will make one compleat sense and are for consolation to the condition of those that are in Christ that though corruptions may remain in them yet they shall never prevail against them to their condemnation neither shall they hinder their acceptation with the Lord in the midst of all their failings We must consider that the dispensations of God to every man are according to the Covenant under which he stands and the administrations of both Covenants are ever since the fall in the hand of Christ as Mediator he dispenseth the Curse of the first Covenant as well as the Grace of the second and at the day of Judgment it is the Man Christ Jesus that shall say to the wicked Go you cursed as well as to the Saints Come you blessed c. Now for the administration of all things according to this great trust Jesus Christ as Mediator has received the spirit as a spirit of union and a spirit of unction and this spirit is the viceroy or prorex that works all the works and all the administrations of Christ in this great Kingdom only he dispenses this spirit to some as a Lord and to others as a head unto some only as a spirit of qualification for service unto others as a spirit of sanctification for their Salvation So that all that Christ does he does by the spirit and answerable unto the condition of the person so is the spirit that works in him all is wrought suitably unto the Covenant under which he stands if the man be under the first Covenant he is a bondman for his Covenant genders unto bondage and all the works of the spirit of God in that man are only the works of bondage and this spirit is a spirit of fear There is a double spirit by which wicked men are acted there is a spirit of the world that works effectually in the children of disobedience the strong man armed keeps the house and they are taken by him as beasts taken alive and led captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 and this spirit does act them wholly in most of the acts of their lives but God has reserved unto himself a Judicature in the man and that is Conscience but this commonly works not there is a fearedness a spirit of slumber and senslesness a being past feeling that sin has brought upon it but sometimes the spirit of God comes into the Court of Conscience and awakens it and then it speaks in Gods name unto the man and therefore it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience and it is always a co-witness Rom. 9.1 A renewed Conscience can never work of it self nor witness of it self neither does a natural Conscience but as it is acted by the spirit of God Now if the man be in the condition of a servant the spirit does witness unto him and speaks in his Conscience nothing but fear and bondage and therefore it is called answerable to the condition of the man a spirit of bondage But if the man be under the second Covenant and in the condition of a son then the spirit does speak peace favour and acceptance unto him and liberty and is a spirit of Sonship Not that in a godly man there is never any thing else spoken but from Rom. 8.15 where the Apostle says You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father I conclude The Spirit of God never speaks bondage to a godly man that he is in a state of bondage and death and binding a man over to wrath again though sometimes God leaving a man unto the spirit of Satan he may speak so in his heart and tell him he is unregenerate and then the darkness of a mans own spirit may be apt to gather such conclusions but the Spirit of God does never speak any thing unto a Saint concerning his eternal state but liberty after his translation out of the first Covenant Every regenerate man having received the Spirit of Christ and his Covenant being changed this spirit has undertaken to be dux viae his guide Joh. 16. to lead him on in his way till he comes to glory Now a man that is in Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ and is led by that Spirit Rom. 8.14 that man is not under the Law neither for condemnation nor for coaction therefore every man that is out of Christ and not led by this Spirit but has received a spirit of bondage he is under the Law both these ways § 2. Hence we observe Doct. Tom. 4. p. 87. That every man that is out of Christ is under the coaction and rigor of the Law Austin upon this place in the Galatians makes a fourfold state of man 1 Ante legem before the Law when a man did sin without the knowledg of sin and committed it without restraint or controul and so it is with many men that lay the reins upon their lusts necks 2 Sub lege under the law c. when a man does strive against sin his Conscience being convinced that it is sin but yet he is over-come though he does strive 3
in it from restraining Grace or renewing Grace Whether we do serve God in the newness of the spirit Rom. 7.6 or the oldness of the letter It was before conversion but a dead letter to him and did only command duty but it did no way transform the soul in the inward man but there is in a man being regenerate the newness of spirit that is a mans inward man being renewed by the Holy Ghost c. Now the rules of Trial are these 1. Let a man by the Coaction of the Law be put upon duty never so much and never so often yet it will never assist him nay the more he doth duty the less strength he shall have to do it the weakness of his nature will increase by it as the longer he does abstain from sin the more the lust will spread and the stronger it will grow the more he does pray the less love he shall have to the duty and though he may get a dexterity in the outward performance yet the less he shall be able to perform it in a saving and spiritual manner whereas renewing Grace gives a man strength a mans heart is prepared to pray and the spirit of Grace is a spirit of supplication a man has an Unction from the Holy Ghost that flows from his union with Christ and from the Holy Ghost and he has a strength in duties the more he does them the stronger he grows in all the ways of God The righteous shall grow stronger and stronger and he that has clean hands shall hold on his way Job 17.9 and shine brighter and brighter and grow stronger and stronger the more he knows the more he does follow on to know the Lord. And whereas another man has done duty many years and is grown more weary of it and more formal in it but knows no more what does belong to the spiritual performance of it now than he did when he began it and he does possibly abstain from sin but it is not from an inward principle and power of holiness but from an external motive which only keeps it under in the course of his life and therefore although by abstaining the lust may seem weakned and to decay by degrees yet really it grows and they prove more desperately wicked as appears by men that the unclean spirit is gone out of and returns with seven worse spirits and they that have made great and goodly shews of Holiness yet afterwards fall into the sin against the Holy Ghost 2. A man that does duty from the Coaction of the Law is partial in it and takes notice only of those duties to which he is constrained and where the law of God lays a strong hand upon him but as for other things he is not at all solicitous Herod will do many things but other things that either the Law does not so immediately and earnestly press upon him or his lust will not dispense with those he will leave undone But renewing Grace makes a man to have respect unto all Gods Commandments and to hate every false way it sets a man against every sin but specially against a mans own iniquity and those sins that are spiritual that are from Satan per modum imaginis as part of his image wherein they are most like the Devil 3. All that a man does from the Coaction of the Law will never last a man may abstain from sin a while but if a man have the nature of a dog he will return to his vomit and as a Sow will wallow in the mire still wash her never so clean yea he will return with the greater greediness by reason of the former abstinence and so a man may perform duty a while but as Job says Will the hypocrite pray always For he is but as a flag that cannot grow without mire and if once the fleshly respects of setting upon duty be taken away his duties will wither For either praying will make a man leave sinning or sinning will make him leave praying or if not publickly yet will at least kill all his secret duties and make those that are publick degenerate wholly into a form 4. Whatsoever a man does by Coaction of the Law a man has no sweetness in it it is with no delight and complacency for things forced are not pleasant let a man do the least service that he is forced to and it is a burden whereas let the greatest works in the world and the most toilsome be done if a man undertake them willingly he can find pleasure in them as we see men do in recreations running and wrestling c. So to a Saint the yoke of Christ is a pleasing yoke and his burden light a soul can dance under it and the thoughts of his leaving sin is very pleasant to him and when he does duty he delights in it according to his inward man and his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness he is then in his element when he is keeping the Commandments of God Set water over the fire and make it boil never so much yet take it off and it will return quickly into its former coldness and will be the colder for its former heating and so it is here it is not agreeable to nature and therefore can never be pleasing either for an unregenerate man to perform duty or for a regenerate man to commit sin 5. Whatever a man doth by the Coaction of the Law a man hath no communion with God thereby nor is he drawn nearer unto God A gracious heart is sensible of the want of God and therefore his end in all that he does is to seek God that he may find him and because in Ordinances God will be found and has there promised a special presence therefore he seeks him there and he labours to stir up his Graces in his approach to God and God does in mercy draw near unto him because what he does is from an inward principle of godliness but a man that does duty from a natural conscience only he does not draw near to God but his spirit draws back all the while and looks upon God as an enemy and therefore he has no fellowship with the Lord. The Law indeed puts him upon duty and as a task he doth it but he has no more experience of the approaches of God in it or his love or the power of his Grace the kisses of his mouth the stayings of God with flaggons and comforting with apples c. but a soul that does duties from a principle of godliness is sensible of his spiritual absence from God in duties and of his special presence and would not lose his communion with God in duties for a world but other men are satisfied in the duties meerly and their sinning and hearing is much alike to them and if they have done the duty conscience is satisfied and they have all they desire c. Vse 4 § 4. Here we see what a happiness it is to the
happiness of all those that are in Christ even in this that their Covenant is changed and it was unto David the ground of all his comfort that God had made with him this Everlasting Covenant and well it might be for it was the foundation of all his happiness and his salvation But you 'l say Wherein lies the glory of this condition of a souls being translated from their former root 1. Being translated into this Covenant God is reconciled to thee for the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Peace and Reconciliation so that the enmity between thee and God is taken up and he looks upon thee as an enemy no more 2. Being taken into Covenant with God again there do many sweet relations grow out of the Covenant for the Lord saith I will be their God and they shall be my people and the Lord is not ashamed to be called their God he is our father and husband and our friend we have as truly by Covenant an interest in all that is in God for our best good as the Lord himself hath for his own glory his power is made over to us as truly as if we had infinite power and his mercy as if we had infinite mercy and grace and wisdom c. 3. Being once in Covenant he becomes the son of God a mans Covenant is a Covenant of Sonship I will be their God and they shall be my sons and daughters c. 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of love the father hath shewed unto us that we should be called the sons of God Gal. 4.18 and if sons then heirs in all the inheritance of Christ Being sons of the free-woman it is thereby that we become heirs of the Promise the inheritance is not by the Law but by the Gospel if they that are of the Law be heirs then Christ were dead in vain 4. Hereby a man has a ground for his faith upon all occasions and a bottom for his prayers it is the Covenant that is unto faith the Magna Charta where all the priviledges and liberties of a Believer are found and this Covenant is sure God is a faithful God a God that will not lye that cannot deny himself Jer. 31.18 Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Lord do not abhor us for thou art the Lord our God Jer. 14.21 And the Psalmist hath respect unto this Covenant For all the earth are full of the habitation of crueltieâ— Isa 64.9 Remember not our iniquities for ever behold we beseech thee we are all thy people And take them in the worst terms and when a man has even suffered shipwrack yet the Covenant is tabula post naufragium a plank after shipwrack by which the soul is kept from sinking see it in our Lord Christ himself in that hour of the power of darkness My God my God c. how did Christ call the Lord his God for as Christ is God so he has the same essence with the Father and he thought it no robbery to be equal with Him but as Mediator he is God the Fathers Servant and so the Lord is his God by Covenant Psal 89.36 Christ says Thou art my Father and my God And Joh. 20.17 And he is no other way Christs God and Father but by Covenant for Christ took a new Covenant-right unto God as Mediator And as we come under the Covenant so doth the Lord in him become our God also and we have a right unto him and by looking unto God in Covenant the spirit of a Christian is upheld in the greatest sense of wrath when the Lord did bruise and grind him to powder making his soul an offering for sin A man out of this Covenant has no ground for his faith nor bottom for any of his prayers 5. It is a Covenant that can never be broken an Everlasting Covenant a Covenant of salt Heb. 7. a Covenant that has a surety Christ says If he fail in any thing put it upon my account And Isa 56.7 I know I shall not be ashamed One sin did break the first Covenant and it being broken could never be made up by one offence condemnation came upon all but by the free gift righteousness comes upon all for many offences to justification because the righteousness of the Covenant is a perfect and an everlasting righteousness and upon this is a godly mans comfort mainly grounded David by his sin foresaw that he had undone his Family the Lord threatned him by the Prophet That the sword should never depart from his house yet he comforts himself in this that his Covenant remained sure A godly mans comfort mainly comes in by his state much more than by his actions and he comforts himself in the one when he abhors himself for the other and though God will judge for both yet he will judge of mens actions according to their states Therefore whatever you do give diligence to make your calling and election sure which can never be without a Translation into the Covenant of Grace CHAP. VI. A Mans Translation out of the first Covenant is by Vnion Gal. 3.29 And if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and heirs according to the promise SECT I. How our Translation is by Vnion with the nature of this Vnion § 1. HAving thus far opened the necessity of a Translation the change of a mans Covenant as well as of his Image we come now unto the Second Head propounded and that is Wherein this Translation doth consist For which I have chosen this Text Gal. 3.29 And if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams seed and heirs according to the promise In the opening hereof there are Three things that I must lay down as grounds 1. That God will deal with all men not only in a way of Dominion but in a way of Stipulation So that men in Covenant with God are of two sorts either regenerate or unregenerate Sons or Servants Children of the bond-woman or of the free and they that are unregenerate â—emain under the Covenant of Works they that are regenerate are under a Covenant of Grace There is a twofold universal Covenant made with all mankind which Divines do call faedus universale one made with Adam before his fall and with all man-kind For the Curse of his Covenant transgressed coming upon all does plainly prove that the blessing of â—he Covenant should have belonged unto all if it had been observed and the blessing and â—urse of the Covenant does come primarily upon none but those with whom the Covenant â—as made There is another universal Covenant made after the fall made not only with â—an but with all flesh even with every living creature that is upon the earth oâ— Foul and â—attel and every Beast of the earth and it contains in it two Branches 1. That all â—sh shall be no more cut off by the waters or a flood 2. That while the earth remains Sâ—ed-time and Harvest
creatures because they cannot all expiate it Chrysost and make satisfaction for it These things the power of nature can never discover no though a man hath the letter of the Law but the Spirit of God makes use of these ends that the â—race of the Gospel may be the more glorious and the blood of Christ the more precious â—hich can purge such hellish stains as these and take away that evil that else were impossible 〈◊〉 be done away § 2. The Law is a Judge it has an accusing power as it is a witness against a man Joh. 5.45 Ezek. 22.2 and as a Judiciary power Wilt thou judge them son of man wilt thou judge them So that Miâ—â—sters pronouncing the sentence of the Lord in the Law are said to pass a sentence upâ—â— the actions and states of men he is convinced of all and he is judged of all 1 Cor. 14.24 And therefore â—â—e Apostle argues from the word and the judgment thereof unto God whose word it is and â—â—o shall be our Judge at the last day The Word is a curious discerner Heb. 4.12 As a man that is skillâ— in any Languâ—â—â— and able exactly to judge of the idiome and properties thereof and can â—â—â—cern any absurdity impropriety and incongruity in speech we say he is a Critick and â—â—t which one man may think an elegancy he thinks to be an impropriety so it is with the â—ord of God and the reason is because all things are naked unto that God that Judge with â—â—m in this Law we have to do and therefore when this Word is brought home to the â—â—nscience in a convincing way that the soul cannot deny it it is said to be a receiving of â—â—gement in a mans own heart before that great and dreadful day come Heb. 10.27 Now 〈◊〉 judgment of the Law is seen in these three Particulars 1 It revives sin 2 It conâ—â—â—ns the sinner 3 It does make a man stoop to and own this condemnation and lye â—â—n under it as his portion from which no man no power on earth can acquit 〈◊〉 1. The Law has this use as a Judge to revive sin Rom. 7.9 Rom. 7.9 Here is a double state that â—â—e Apostle mentions that he was in 1 He was alive I could do any duty and I thought â—tept the Law perfectly and also in presumption I thought my self in a good estate Phil. 3.7 and all â—â—y duties I counted gain such as should bring me in gain such as should bring me in great 〈◊〉 comes of glory at the last day and all this while sin was dead it was to me in respect of â—y present sense and sting as a dead thing and I was no more troubled at it nor affected â—â—th it than if there were no such thing sin was in its proper place and therefore seemed â—â—t heavy as Philosophers say That Elements are not heavy in their proper place though in â—â—â—mselves they are so So also whilst the strong man armed keeps the house all that he â—â—ssesses is in peace 2 But here is another state of Paul that is sin revived in the guilt and 〈◊〉 condemning power thereof the Law shewed him that there was a sting yet in it that â—â—â—ld be his ruin if it were not taken out of the way and that though the door was shut yâ—â— sin lay at the door of his Conscience Conscience is a door that will open Gen. 4.7 and being once opened either by the Ministry of the Word or by death and the presence of the Lord sin which now seems to be dead will in the guilt of it break in again What a miserable thing 〈◊〉 it to have such a door-keeper And then I died that is I saw my self to be a dead man Luther and 〈◊〉 a state of death wrath and condemnation and that death was my portion and Hell my â—roper place How was this change wrought that sin was thus revived that was dead when 〈◊〉 â—aul was without the Law and yet was alive when the Commandment came Paul was â—â—rn a Pharisee and therefore never without the Law in the literal sense of it he had the â—â—ter of the Law and he was according to that in the righteousness of the Law blameless â—â—â—t the Commandment came in the life and power in the spiritual sense and in the efficacy thereof set on by the Spirit of Christ making it a servant to the Gospel by this it was that sin was revived For without the Law sin is dead Rom. 5.13 Rom. 5.13 Before the Law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no Law The meaning is not that men were not esteemed sinners and punished as sinners or that all men were righteous before the Law was â—iven upon Mount Sinai for death as well as sin raigned from Adam till Moses but it must be either understood comparatively in respect of God that is God did not impute it so much or as so great a sin because they sinned against a dimmer light and a darker discovery of the will and mind of God or else which I rather conceive not imputed by their own Consciences they did not lay it unto their own charge as so great and so hainous because the abominable nature thereof was not so clearly discovered and therefore the Law entred that the offence might abound as the light discovers spirits as Index peccati non genitrix the Index of sin not the parent So that though men be sinners Ambros and very great and hainous sinners yet they do not charge themselves with it nor impute it unto themselves neither are they affected with it but walk cheerfully under the burden of it as if it were nothing Satan has by nature in every man a Kingdom and he does there most of all desire a peaceable and a quiet government and therefore he sets up that lust as Prorex and the Vice-roy in the man that is most affected in the soul in which the man takes most satisfaction and contentment that thereby he may keep the whole man in peace and therefore Mat. 12.45 though he go out of the man and be not cast out and does it for a further end going out in some bodily lust yet he walks in some dry places seeking rest and finding none he loves not to be disquieted in his government though he does many times make an improvement of it to bring into the man seven worse spirits And it is strange for a man to consider what a power the Devil has over men in this particular to keep all quiet There is a deceitfulness and a bewitching nature in every sin that a man is hardened by it there be strong holds Heb. 3.13 Isa 28.15 2 Cor. 10.5 strong reasonings for it and there are thick bossed bucklers for resistance Job 15.26 that men may not feel it there is a hardness of heart a feared Conscience there is a custom in sinning and
under the sense â—reaking the Law The Law holds a man under this conviction and self condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a man cannot 〈◊〉 off from it that a man shall say with David Psal 51. My sin is ever before me And 〈◊〉 3.2 3. here we are all compared unto prisoners I am shut up under the Law it is my 〈◊〉 and if that be not enough to manifest that our bondage under it is sure and there 〈◊〉 way to escape he says we have a garrison to attend us as the word signifies 1 Pet. 1.5 the same â—â—d is used of Gods keeping of us to salvation So that the soul is kept under by it and alâ—â—â—s poring upon its misery and cannot look off it it is shut up under it and this is meant â—he spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word in the Greek is used partly for the Holy Ghost self and partly for the inward dispositions that it works in the hearts of men as a spirit â—â—ve and fear and joy that is such a temper and frame of soul wrought by the Holy â—â—â—ft and foâ—t is the Spirit of God by the Law working upon a man such a frame of heart â—â—â—r of sorrow or fear Hos 4.12 A spirit of whoredom is in the middle of them c. â—â—s they were bent to backsliding So when a man cannot cast off his fears and the bondage 〈◊〉 own heart then a man is said to be under a spirit of bondage and a spirit of fear and â—â—â—e sinners are all their life long by fits Heb. 2.15 The soul of man desires nothing 〈◊〉 than the pleasure of sin and peace in it and therefore it does as a Deer when it is wâ—â—â—ded it runs and leaps and does all that possibly it can but haeret lateri lethalis aerundo â—â—â—â—â—rtal arrow sticks in the side A man runs to the pleasures of sin to his old companions as â—â—re to King Jareb for help and if that will not do then he runs to Duties and the man â—â—ys and crys and all will not heal the man and he cannot cast the sight of his sin behind back and it is as gastly and as unwelcome even as Hell it self A man is under Conviction 〈◊〉 a wild Bull in a Net full of the fury of the Lord and he beats every way but the â—â—e he strives the more he is ensnared till at last his soul lyes down under the apprehensiâ—â— of it and does possess the sins of his youth Joh 13.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the thoughts of a mans heart called the possessions of his heart for all that a man does possess is by thoughts and that 〈◊〉 which a mans thoughts dwell most that a man is said to possess most Job 17.11 Now the man crys 〈◊〉 What fruit have I now in those things whereof I am ashamed Oh wretched man that I 〈◊〉 who shall deliver me from the body of this death And his soul lyes down in his shame and â—â—ths and abhors himself continually is afraid at the shaking of a leaf expects daily when â—â—e instrument and messenger of vengeance shall come for him and Job 31. His life draws â—â—er to the destroyers and he doth seem to smell the savour of death and of unquenchable fire Lex est carcer spiritualls verè infernus Luth. â—â—d his soul is continually filled with horrour and amazement the terrors of the Almighty set him round about he is so fast in prison that he cannot get forth he is under the wrath 〈◊〉 God as Christ is said to be in prison and David so speaks of himself also § 4. Now how doth the Law in all this advance the ends of the Gospel how is it as â—agar added because of transgression 1. It prepares the soul and the Spirit thereby works those qualifications required to be 〈◊〉 the soul that comes to Christ for Christ will not come into an unprepared soul his subâ—â—cts are a people prepared for the Lord. He sent John Baptist before to prepare his way for there are valleys to be filled Mat. 11. and there are mountains to be laid low Come all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you take my yoke having had experience of the iron yoke of sin 2. The Law prepares the soul by making the opinion of a mans own righteousness die and letting him see a perishing need of Christ Phil. 3. that what was before gain he may now count loss therefore there is hereby wrought in the soul a longing for Christ and an instinct of Union with him the Law is as the avenger of blood unless it did pursue many men would never regard to fly to the city of refuge 3. It will make the Grace of God the more glorious and the blood of Christ the more orient and Salvation the more acceptable when in such a time of extremity the Lord brought light out of darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 and then a man says I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And therefore there be several dispensations of God some have less of those breakings by the hammer of the Law than others have for the Lord is a free agent but there are no men in the world that prize Christ and exalt his righteousness and relie more upon his Grace 1 Tim. 1.13 14. than they do that have lain under most of these breakings and have been longest in this wilderness 4. It makes a man fear sin ever after that which he hath had so great a smart for when he was under the hammer of the Law Psal 85.8 he will speak peace to his people and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly Hos 3. ult When a man shall remember the bitterness of his spirit in times past and call to mind the gall and the wormwood then sin is loathed by him David commits Adultery no more Paul Persecutes no more Peter denies Christ no more c. 5. It makes a man pliable to do whatever God would have him Lord what wilt thou have me to do A little child shall lead them Isa 11.6 Disobedience is grounded in pride My soul shall weep in secret for your pride Jer. 13.17 And there is nothing breaks a mans pride and make a man walk more humbly with God than this does Mic. 6.8 6. This makes a man to set a high price upon the spirit of Adoption that enables him to cry Abba father after he has had experience of a spirit of bondage The bread in his fathers house had never been so pleasant to the Prodigal had he not been in want and tasted husks Heaven is never so sweet as it will be after the trials of this life when men have comâ— out of great tribulation and made their garments white in the blood of the Lamb then to be gathered into Abrahams bosom it is much the sweeter to rest from
their labours and their works to follow them when a man has been under a hard master to be set at liberty is thâ— sweeter when a man out of a Prison comes to a Throne this I say makes him honouâ— that Spirit and keep close to him and cherish the motions of it ever after and be carefuâ— not to be led into the same darkness again The Spirit of Christ is a delicate Spirit and wheâ— it is grieved it withdraws from a soul and suspends the comfort and quicknings that it used to enjoy therefore the soul sets a high price upon the spirit of Adoption SECT III. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it restrains Sin § 1. HAving spoken of the Law in the first sense I now come to consider it in the second In the one it discovers judges and condemns sin and in the other 〈◊〉 checks and restrains sin Here are three things to be considered and cleared 1 That 〈◊〉 Law is as a bridle to check sin and to restrain it 2 In what respects it is said so to 〈◊〉 3 How in this also the Law is in the hand of a Mediator used as a servant or handmaid â— the Gospel 1. That the Law is as a bridle to check sin I desire you to observe three things 1. That sin hath in it a fierceness and unruliness and therefore men in it are compared unto the most raging and unruly creatures in the world Isa 57.20 It is compared to the Sea which is the most unruly and tumultuous and unquiet creature if there were never any wind without yet it is always unquiet from an inward principle in it self which you may explain by Jude v. 13. Jude v. 13. Jer. 2.23 Savage creatures and raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame And they are compared unto the wildest and most unruly of all the Creatures a Dromâ—dary Jer. 2.23 which some say is a She-camel others say it is Cameleo pardalis a creaturâ— of a mixed Generation and they are resembled unto this creature for its swiftness it is onâ— of the swiftest of all Creatures and the Female more swift than the Male as Franzius 〈◊〉 his Historia sacra animalium has well observed And a Horse is an unruly creature his mouth must be holden with bit and bridle a Horse prepared for the battel and being chafed to it of which the Lord says Job 29.19 That he hath cloathed his neck with thunder he mocks at fear and does not turn back from the sword he swallows the ground with fierceness c. And such is the fierceness of a sinner in his way Hos 8.9 Hos 8.9 A wild ass alone by himself in Scripture sinners are compared to the Ass for a double property 1 for his fierceness 2 for his folly as Job 11.12 Vain man would be wise though born like a wild Asses colt and for his fierceness a wild Ass in the wilderness Jer. 2.28 In a wilderness an Ass is alone by her self under no government no restraint no rider to rule or bridle her It 's better to meet a Bear robbed of her whelps than a fool in his folly as 2 Sam. 17.8 2 Sam. 17.8 The fierceness of this Creature is noted to be the greatest in Scripture Hos 13.8 I will meet them 〈◊〉 a bear bereaved of her whelps c. And by which the fierceness of Gods Judgements is â—et out I will meet them as a bear rob'd of her whelps c. and will rend the caul of his heart â—ow the same rage will a sinner be in when he is met and stopped in an evil way in any way â—f sin whatsoever There is an unruliness in sin beyond all this that neither the Bear nor â—y other fierce Creature can vent All the creatures have been tamed but man his tongue â—an no man tame Jam. 3. Now you may say why who sets bounds unto this Sea and who â—hall command and rule this swift Dromedary this chafed Horse this wild Ass and this beâ—aved Bear c. surely no natural power Thence 2. The Spirit of God doth aim in his dealings with man to keep under and restrain their â—sts Here you are to distinguish between what he doth per se and in his own proper nature â—d that which he doth per accidens and occasionally The aim of the Spirit of God in all his â—orks is properly and in its own nature to keep down the lusts of men but yet occasionâ—â—ly his dealing with man doth draw them forth the more as by sending an affliction the â—ord doth it to take away his sin but yet it does raise up his sin and so does the Law sin taking occasion by the Commandment and so the Ordinances of the Gospel also And this will appear Hos 2.6 I will hedge up their way with thorns and I will make a wall that she shall 〈◊〉 find her pasture He compares them to wild beasts that will not be kept within â—unds therefore the Lord made up a hedge of thorns against them that is a hedge of afâ—â—iction and if one affliction will not do it if they still break through the hedge he will â—ollow them with a wall and all this is to the end that she may not find her path that she may not go on and prosper in a way of sinning she shall meet with difficulties in sinful ways â—nd they shall also want success and labour in vain in them for though they do follow â—fter them they shall not overtake them disappointment in the way of sinning is the Lords â—im in all afflictions Job 33.16 17. it is To keep man from his purpose and to hide pride â—â—om his heart And Paul had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him that he might not be â—â—ted up through the abundance of revelation The aim of the Spirit of God is to restrain â—e lusts of men and this very restraining Grace is a great mercy There is a twofold reâ—â—raining Grace 1 Upon the actions of men Pharaoh he had a desire to the sin his lust â—s stirred up but says God Gen. 20. I with held thee 2 Upon the lusts of men says God Exod. 34.24 There shall no man desire thy land To have a mans lust restrained is a great mercy and it is only during the time of this life for afterwards God will let out mens lusts to the uttermost as he does the Devils and their sin shall have rationem poenae Oh unhappy men when God leaves them to themselves and resists not their fury wo be to them whose sin God connives at Luth. the nature of punishment as Aquinas observes after this life the demerit of sin ceaseth Quia pertinet ad damnationis poenam because it belongs to the punishment of damnation as obedience in Heaven belongs to the reward of blessedness Thus all restraining Grace shall cease as all natural affection shall and the Spirit of God shall only work wrath as a spirit of bondage in
ad omnis generis flagitia sicut ergo hominibus obsessis vincula catenae injiciuntur ne quem laedant sic toti mundo qui est obsessus a diabolo adest Deus legibus cohibens manus pedes ne praeceps ruat in omnis generis flagitia 2 The Lord has set bounds unto the sins of the World as well as unto the sins of particular persons and Nations which when they have by degrees filled up judgment shall come upon them to their destruction As there was a fulness of sin when the Flood came upon the world and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth so there is a fulness of sin when the World shall be burnt and when all the wicked have filled up their measure then shall the fire of Gods wrath be kindled upon the World unto which it is reserved Only then when the World was drowned because there was a holy seed remaining upon the earth the Lord did spare the earth for Noahs sake because there was a blessing but when all the Elect of God shall be translated from this earth to Glory then there shall be an utter destruction and the earth shall be burnt up at least refined by fire Now if there should not be a restraint laid upon the lusts of men every one that is now a Serpent would become a Dragon and they that now sin as men would act like Devils and the measure of mens lusts would be quickly fulfilled and the end of the World would be suddenly hastned Now because God has appointed a time that the World shall stand for Gospel ends and to shew forth the Grace of the Gospel that mercy may rejoice and triumph over judgment therefore he does restrain the lusts of men that the fulness of the sin of the World may be filled up by degrees 2. It does exceedingly exalt the Gospel and the Grace thereof that it does make such a use of the Law as is unto man fallen above the nature of the Law and contrary to the use that sin does make of the Law 1 It is above the power of the Law unto man a sinner for the Law is become weak through the flesh Rom. 8.4 as we see they that know the Law yet pour out themselves to all excess of riot and give themselves over unto all manner of abominations He that says thou shalt not commit adultery doth himself commit adultery c. All this shews that the Law of it self is weak it can forbid sin indeed but it cannot restrain it as it can require duty but it cannot enable a man thereunto but as Bernard has observed It commands without grace and it punishes without mercy Restraining Grace in respect of sin and assisting Grace in respect of duty comes not from the Law but from the Spirit that is given in the Gospel working with it 2 It is contrary to the use that sin makes of the Law for sin takes occasion by the Commandment and the Law is so far from being a means of restraining lust that by the Commandment corruptions are improved and increased Rom. 7.8 11. the flood rises the higher by the damm that is made against it and there is this devillishness in sin that it does take occasion by the Commandment to deceive a man that is it does work in a man a greater apprehension of the sweetness of it and a greater desire to it and longing after it because it is in the Commandment forbidden and from the very prohibition does arise the strength of the temptation a man should never have had his heart so much carried out after it if the Lord had not forbidden it and then a man says Stollen waters are sweet and the bread of deceit is pleasant Now when Satan and sin shall take occasion by the Commandment to improve corruption and to draw it forth that the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel should make a quite contrary use of it to restrain it and bind it up it does much exalt the power of the Gospel and the spirit of the Gospel which works with this Law 3. Restraining Grace which the Spirit of God does work in a man by the Law is of great use and does mightily exalt the Grace of the Gospel in preserving from open violences and immoralities 1 In reference unto the Saints that they are not destroyed for they are sheep in the midst of wolves their souls are amongst lions and therefore it is a wonder that they are not destroyed it is God that lays a restraint upon their enemies lust sometimes and they desire it not and sometimes upon their acts and they cannot effect it Abimelechs lust was restrained in reference to Abraham I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her And as to Laban God laid a charge upon his spirit and so it was with Herod in reference unto John the Baptist and it is by this restraint laid upon the hearts of wicked men that the lives and liberties of the people of God are preserved and this is every day as great a miracle in some respect as to set bounds to the Sea that it do not overflow and as to stop the Lions mouths or to hinder and restrain actum secundum the second act of the Fire in the Babylonish Furnace that it did not burn so much as the garments of the three Children and that your peace and prosperity and that the progress of the Gospel is not interrupted that the Devil does not cast some of you into prison and seek your blood as in time past it is not that he is not as truly the Destroyer still as in times past but the Lord restrains the lusts of men that he cannot act them and draw them forth as he has done formerly 2 In reference unto wicked and ungodly men that live in their sins and perish in them Though it is true while the corrupt will prevails and a mans enmity to God remains so long is a man a sinner before God in every thing because he is in his habitual frame of heart an enemy unto all righteousness Austins Epist 144. But it is a great common mercy that wicked men have by the Gospel that their lusts are not let out to the uttermost and the greatest judgment that men can be given over to is to be given up to their own hearts lusts delivered over unto the power of sin and to be acted by Satan to the highest and the utmost as Judas the Devil entred into him it was but a higher degree of acting of him in a way of wickedness The restraint that is acted upon them lessens the guilt and does not spread so much in the defilement the act of sin does intend the habit Nor is it so dangerous and infectious unto others for sinners in their actions are corrupters and by their example taint many with evil ways and words the more their restraints are the less will their judgement and condemnation be and
they shall have this fruit by it which will be a great one hereafter Seeing that all men are sinners in Adam alike and sin in one man is as much improved as in another that all men are not alike sinful in this life and alike miserable in the life to come for there be degrees of wrath and that all men do not sin against the Holy Ghost and are not by Satan hurried on to the great Transgression it is no thanks to the man but merely to restraining Grace So in Mar. 10.21 the young man that came to Christ Mark 10.21 Christ is said to love him he was proud and stood upon his own righteousness and he was covetous and did part with Christ to reserve to himself an Estate and went away from him as being offended at his Doctrine and never returned again and yet it is said that Christ loved him what was there lovely in such a man Here Interpreters distinguish 1 of the act 2 of the object 1 Of the Act they say there is a double love of Christ so Cartwright Quia illi grata est humani generis conservatio ideoque politicas virtutes amare dicitur Tenues paulatim per se evanescentes imaginis suae reliquias Beza a Humane and Divine a Divine love that is to Salvation so he loves only the Saints but there was a humane love and so he loved his friends and kindred according to the flesh who yet did not believe in him And some say there is a double love of God and of Christ as God there is a peculiar and a fatherly love and this he bears only to his own people but there is also a common love whereby he loves whatever is of his own in any of the Creatures So Beza and Calvin But I should rather call them the common works of the Spirit of Christ dispensed unto unregenerate men under the Gospel 2 They distinguish of the Object he â—oved the remainder of his own Image or rather the works of his own Spirit in him though they were common that he was preserved unchangeable in tanta morum corruptela where there was such a general and universal overspreading of wickedness and this was Donum Dei gratuitum naturale illam pravitatem non quidem immutantis sed in quibus illi placet paulatim reprimentis Bernard i. e. Not mortifying but restraining sin So that all this was grounded upon the restraining Grace the Lord did vouchsafe unto him in his younger years for to be preserved is a good thing a great gift it is a great mercy not to be tainted with the common corruption and not to wallow in the common mire of the times nor to be given over thereunto 3 In reference unto godly men before and after their conversion 1 Before a mans conversion so it was with Paul Phil. 3. who was concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless and one that did not sin against his Conscience even then when he persecuted the Church Act. 23.1 because there is the greater guilt and horror upon a mans Conscience having so highly dishonoured God the greater bitterness to a man having insnared and corrupted others by his example and the greater matter of temptation Satan representing unto a man anew the sweetness that a man has tasted in former sins and his former experience of it does exceedingly strengthen the temptation and make a mans heart to hanker the more earnestly after them 2 After conversion restraining Grace is a mercy Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19.13 Also the word does signifie to restrain or keep a man back or with-hold him as with a bridle the same word is used in Gen. 20. I with-held thee from touching her And so David Set a watch before the door of my lips So that though lust will be in a mans heart and though it will sometimes arise and all the power of Grace cannot keep it under yet to have it restrained that it shall not break forth and a man not to be hurried upon sinful actions is a great mercy After conversion for the lust of Adultery to be up in David and he desired her and yet if he had been kept from the act it had been a great mercy and so in numbering the people his lust was up and to have been kept from the act would have been a great mercy as we see it in the case of Nabal his lust was up but how does David bless God that it did not break forth into acts but that the lust was restrained before-hand and so do all the Saints of God bless the Lord that sometimes by his Law and sometimes by afflictions and by the admonitions of friends or by the reproach of enemies any lust is kept within its bounds from breaking forth or that there is a restraint of it in any measure that a man doth not pour out himself upon it with greediness that a man is not wicked in the highest degree and that carnal fear doth not prevail upon him as it did upon Peter and carnal love as it did upon Sampson or Solomon and passion as it did upon Asa c. 4. By the Gospel lust is subdued and mortified and that is one great end of the Gospel That we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.13 14. And having these promises should purifie our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 And he that has this hope does purifie himself even as God is pure But the Spirit of God doth make use of the Law even to this end also and the restraints thereof There is a double way for the mortifying of sin 1 By infusing a new principle of Grace 2 By restraining the old principle of sin 1 There must be a new principle of Grace infused which will work out the contrary and hinder the actings of it the spirits lusting against the flesh We are not under the Law but under Grace therefore sin shall not have dominion over you Rom. 6.12 Not under the Law strengthning and irritating sin but under Grace subduing it the Spirit of God-working in a man a new and another nature Joh. 3.6 which is contrary unto sin and is like unto that spirit of holiness that works it That which is born of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3.6 and it cannot sin because it is born of God 2 There is a power of the same Spirit of God restraining and keeping under the lusts of men Psal 19.13 and thereby destroying them With-hold from me presumptuous sins in me they are and I find in my self a proneness to them but keep them under With-hold me from the actings of them lest they grow upon me and get the dominion over me As by the exercise of sin it does increase so by the restraining of it it does die and is brought to nothing It is as fire if it be covered and have no vent it will go out and as Trees the more
unnecessary He that appointed the city of refuge did as necessarily appoint an avenger of blood to pursue or else men vvould not have fled unto that city Will you say this is preaching damnation and driving men to despair vvas it not preached by Christ whose heart was so full of love and thoughts of Grace and who wept over Jerusalem he preached the Law and published it for his seeds sake Truly when we preach the Law we preach Salvation and not damnation intentionally the Lord did deliâ—er the Law for Salvation to serve the ends of the Gospel and so we do preach it and â—et if it proves not so it is by accident by reason of the corruption of the heart of man â—he damnation that it meets withal is thence Therefore see your folly and be ashamed of your ignorance It is a high act of Grace and one of the greatest priviledges that Believers have by Christ that the Law is a servant to the Gospel and yet that Mercy you despise and that Grace you do not love you are to be ashamed of your folly and unthankfulness herein 3. It should teach Ministers that the Law must be preached to the same intent that it was revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator and to the ends of the Gospel and that not only the curses and threatnings of the Law but the precepts and duties of the Law also In the curses and threatnings of the Law our Divines have usually sent men to Christ to bear those but duties have been pressed though not without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian Orat. 17. but that a sufficiency is to be had in him and acceptance from him yet not laying Christ as the foundation of duties as he should have been in time past but men have been prest to duty without a through discovery of a mans Union with Christ as the ground of his assistance and acceptance as there should have been and so men have been put upon duties in a Moral or Legal way as if they had wrought them by their own strength and had a power in themselves though without Christ by reason of their imperfection they could not be accepted and so the way of the Gospel hath not been so clearly discovered and the subserviency of the Law unto the Gospel-grace as it should When the Law is so preached that men are stirred up to seek for Grace in another and to obey him and when the Grace of the Gospel is thus offered as that it inables a man to walk in the way of the precepts of the Law this is indeed to preach the Gospel when a man does so publish the Grace thereof that he does also publish the Law as a servant thereunto 4. See how the heart of God is much in the Salvation of Sinners and to exalt the Grace of the Gospel and honour and magnifie Mercy Isa 53.10 it is now that he would force men to accept of it If men were left unto themselves Christ should never be accepted but die in vain and not a man ever be saved though there were a city of refuge unless there were also an avenger of blood it is not enough for to offer mercy a moral perswasion will not do it but there is without a Law compelling breaking and within there is a spirit drawing and the drawing of the Father Joh. 6.44 lyes in a great measure in this work of the Law the Lord bringing the soul so low that the Blood of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel is precious and a man will accept him upon his own terms and say This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners Thus is the Son a servant unto the Father Isa 42.1 and the Law also a servant to the Son and put into his hand and this shews how much the heart of the Lord is on this work and next to the subjecting of his Son is the subserviency of the Law thereunto Vse 2 It should stir us up to make use of the Law in subserviency to the Gospel for so long as we are in this life the ends of the Gospel are not accomplished there is still sin to be discovered and restrained and condemned there are inward principles the Law in the heart to be perfected and there are duties in which men are to be directed in their whole course and so long as the ends of the Gospel are not attained so long the Law is still to be used and this is that mentioned 1 Tim. 1.8 1 Tim. 1.8 The Law is good if a man use it lawfully that is when it is used by us as it was delivered and published by Christ not for Justification so as to exact righteousness and acceptation from it not to set it up against Christ and the Grace of the Gospel to make the way of the Gospel void as the Jews did Rom. 10.3 but in the hand of a Mediator and for the ends of it and they are the great things of the Law it is the Royal Law and therefore it is a dangerous thing to abase it and therein to take the name of God in vain And as to neglect the Salvation of the Gospel so to despise the convictions or instructions of the Law When the Law is used to discover sin and to keep a man always low and humble in the sense of his own vileness it makes him set a high price upon Christ and the Mercy and Grace of God in him and makes him to keep close to him to keep in the city of refuge because the avenger of blood is without the gate to expect him and that which did at first bring a man in will keep him in for Christ is made a curse for us There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And when a man comes once to delight in the Law of God it is sweeter to him than honey and dearer to him than thousands of Gold and Silver upon this ground because it furthers the Salvation of the Gospel as Paul says I delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man so far as a man hath an inward principle of conformity to the Law and is regenerate so far the Law is his delight the more a man is sanctified Mat. 11. ult the more precious and sweet it is to him the Commandments of Christ are not grievous but he doth willingly take up the yoke of Christ because it is sweet and light and profitable There is a sweetness in obedience as vvell as an ease and there is a profit also for there is a fruit unto holiness here as vvell as the end everlasting life and vvhen the Lavv does bring a man dovvn to follow the Lamb whither soever he goes and to vvalk humbly vvith his God and say Lord what wilt thou have me to do this is properly for a man to use the Law lawfully for the Law
sent which is a term of Office the Father sends the Son and the Son from the Father sends the Spirit Joh. 14. When the Comforter is come which I will send from the Father Now Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant Heb. 12.24 and the Spirit the seal of the Covenant Ephes 1.13 the Covenant is the Covenant of Promise and the Spirit of the Covenant is the Spirit of Promise and the Person that transacts all from each Person within us in reference to this Covenant as Christ does all with God without us in reference to this Covenant Thence in Prayer we are said chiefly to pray to God the Father and Christ teacheth us to say Our Father c. not that we are not to pray to all the Persons but because the other Persons have undertaken their peculiar Offices in reference to the Prayers of the Saints the Spirit within us as a spirit of supplication indites our Prayers and stirs up affections answerable to our Petitions and groans unutterable and Christ as our High Priest receives this Incense and offers it and as the great Master of Requests tenders our Prayers unto the Father and they are received out of the Angels hand therefore in Scripture we are chiefly directed to pray unto the Father so though all the Persons Father Son and holy Spirit do enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the Covenant in Scripture is said to be chiefly made with God the Father because of the Offices that the other Persons have undertaken in the administration of this Covenant and the Grace thereof 3. It will appear by this because all things in this Covenant are from him and the other Persons in all the Offices that they undertake do it by his appointment the original of all is in the Father 1. The plot and the project was his to reconcile sinners to himself by a second Covenant and all that the Son does therein is not his own will but the will of him that sent him and it is by this will of the Father that we are sanctified the original and foundation of all the benefits that we have from Christ in this Covenant is from this will of the Father Heb. 10. the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do The plot and platform was by him laid and as with reverence be it spoken David said the platform of the building of the Temple was shewed unto him and the design was his though Solomon his Son built it so it is here the plot and the form was laid by the Father but it was the Son that did build the Church 2. The Person with whom he would make this Covenant he did design Joh. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me And he shall give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me Rev. 13.8 2 Tim. 2.19 And therefore there is Gods book of Life and the Lambs book and they do exactly answer one another the latter being but a transcript only out of the former The foundation of the Lord remains sure and hath this seal c. 3. He doth appoint how much Grace and how much Glory he will dispense unto every one of them by this Covenant the Lord has made Christ the Treasurer 1 Joh. 5.11 and as it were a Feoffee in trust Ephes 4. but Christ does not dispense Grace unto all alike there is a fulness of the age of the stature of Christ but all Saints do not attain to the same stature in Grace neither shall they in Glory the difference is in the appointment of the Father for in dispensing of Grace as well as in meriting of the same Christ is but the Fathers servant and does his will To sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father 4. It was the Father that employed Christ in this great work to be the Mediator of this Covenant he did not take it of himself and of his own motion but as the Father enters into Covenant so he appoints the Mediator of the Covenant Isa 49.8 He gives him as a Covenant and he did call him to be a Priest therefore you read Mat. 12.18 My servant whom I have chosen 5. He did confirm this Covenant by an Oath and thereby made it unchangeable or else it could never have been And there is a double Oath 1 An Oath to Christ Psal 110.4 making him a Priest by an Oath 2 An Oath to all his federates Heb. 6.17 18. 6. He has delighted in this Covenant and spent infinite thoughts upon it and it is therefore called the pleasure of the Lord. Isa 53.10 How many are thy thoughts to us ward c. Psal 40.5 it is the speech of Christ unto his Father as appears afterwards If I should speak of thy thoughts unto us they are more than can be expressed and all these thoughts are in reference unto this Covenant and his thoughts of peace towards the Elect which he delighted in from everlasting And by all this it will appear that though all the persons be in Covenant with the Saints under the second Covenant yet it is chiefly God the Father § 2. God will after the fall deal with his people in a Covenant-way though mankind did prove unfaithful and break the Covenant of their Creation and so should have perished for ever under the curse of it Covenant breaking being the great aggravation of all transgression and therefore though it was an act of grace and meer goodness before yet now a man would have thought the Lord should have tried man in a way of Covenant no more but only have ruled him in a way of Soveraignty and given him a command and if he did not obey to have taken him away as he saw good but God will deal with man in a Covenant-way Mic. 7. ult Rom. 15.8 1. The Lord will do it thereby to make known his mercy and his truth and he doth manifest both these in the Covenant there is mercy in making the Covenant and mercy infinitenitely the more because it is now with a perfidious and sinful people whose hearts have not been stedfast with the Lord and there is truth and faithfulness in keeping it and there was no way for God to shew forth his faithfulness but this by continuing a Covenant and to be constant in it from a mans conversion unto his glorification for spiritual mercies and for temporal Psal 111.9 he is always mindful of his Covenant he has commanded his Covenant for ever that is to stand fast for ever his Faithfulness is as the Mountains and as the Ordinances of Heaven and you may as soon change the one as the other and this Faithfulness under the second Covenant is so much the more seen because of our unfaithfulness unto him when the unfaithfulness of man cannot make the faithfulness of God of none effect 2.
Because the Lord will honour his Son as the second Adam and the glory of the first Adam was a Covenant and an Image and so shall the second Adam be And he must have a seed also to whom these shall be conveyed Isa 53.8 The word signifies generation In whom he shall see his seed and prolong his days as Psal 72. and Christ is his Son in both generation and succession naturally as they bear his Image and legally as they stand under his Covenant and the Lord will honour the second Adam as he did the first in both these the Lord having made Adam the type of him that was to come 3. That hereby the Lord might honour the Creature the Covenant is the staff of beauty because it is the great beauty and glory of any people that God hath taken them into Covenant Zach. 11.10 specially if we consider the second Covenant to be Matrimonial and the Lord doth thereby betroth him unto himself in loving kindness and mercy and faithfulness as Hos 2.18 the great honour of the people of Israel Deut. 26.18 was that they were a people peculiar unto God thence he is called the God of Israel and this is the great honour of the Saints which makes them more excellent than their neighbours because they have God so nigh them to be their God in Covenant 4. That it may be the greater obligation unto men to obedience Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant with thee thou shalt therefore keep my Covenant And it is the great answer unto all Temptations I am in Covenant with the Lord as a woman that is married it is a sufficient answer unto all other suiters I am already married unto another Je◠13.11 As a girdle to the loins of a man so have I caused the whole house of Israel to cleave unto me that they might be unto me for a name and for a praise The Lord bound them to him by Covenant and it is a great aggravation of sin that the Lord loves us and we forget the Covenant of our God therefore Adultery is aggravated above all other sins Hos 3.2 A woman beloved of her husband yet an adulteress how abominable is it 5. To sweeten obedience and make it the more free and voluntary when a man takes it upon himself and gives the hand to the Lord 2 Chron. 30.7 8. which was the custom amongst men when they entred into Covenant Ezek. 17.18 and that men might see that their good always goes along with their duty and that God that did command to obey did promise to reward and therefore did it not ex indigentia sed potentia out of indigence but from power Christs goodness extends not unto God as munificentia by way of munificence Austin puts the difference between man and God in this as the Earth drinks up the water so doth the Sun-beams also one out of its own necessity but the other out of its power so God requires duty out of bounty for your good always that he may reward it Grace does not destroy but raise and rectifie self-love Christ in his obedience had a glory set before him and so had Moses a respect to the recompence of reward There is a love of reward which is lawful when it is not this that is the only thing that lancheth a man forth in a duty but only fills his sails but when it is mercenary love and has respect to nothing in the duty but the loaves this is sinful and it is this Covenant that makes the yoke of Christ easie and profitable having an eye to the exceeding great and precious promises which engages a man to have respect to all the Commandments for the Lord doth delight to allure men into ways of holiness and duty Hos 2.14 Lastly the Lord will have it so 1 That by the promises of this Covenant he may sanctifie a man change his image and make him partaker of the Divine nature and that every one of them may carry the soul continually to Christ as streams to the fountain 2 Pet. 1.4 in whom they are Yea and Amen 2 That this may be the ground of a working faith and a lively hope and a fervent prayer all which are grounded only upon the promises of this Covenant for had there not been a Covenant between God and us there had been no place for faith no ground for hope and no room for the prayer of faith which only is bottomed upon a promise 3 Whatever is done in this Covenant it is God that has the first and chief hand therein and we do not enter into Covenant with him but he enters into Covenant with us first though the Covenant be mutual yet it is called the Lords Covenant as Christ faith unto his Disciples Joh. 15.16 You have not chosen me but I have chosen you they did chuse Christ as every believing soul doth but the love first began on Christs part and so it does also in this Covenant 1 Joh. 4.10 Not that we loved him but he loved us and me love him because he loved us first so we do not begin the Covenant with God but the Lord doth begin with us and the motion came from him alone God the Father is not passive in it but active he was content that Christ should reconcile us to him As it was to David an acceptable service of Joab in reconciling his Son Absalom to him because his heart did run out to him so God the Father is active in this work he is in Christ reconciling the world and all that Christ does is by the Fathers appointment and he is his servant in it and it is the pleasure of the Lord and he doth love to have it so and had not he imployed Christ in this work there had never been a reconciliation between God and man As it is true by our Union with Christ we are joined to or as the word signifies glewed to the Lord yet the Union doth begin on Christs part first and Christ unites himself to us by the Spirit before we can by our faith be united to him so it is in the Covenant also it does begin on Gods part and as it was the Womans great dishonour to be first in the transgression so it is the Lords great glory to be first in the reconciliation And therefore when Adam after his fall stood trembling and could expect nothing but a sentence of condemnation the Lord was pleased to reveal a new Covenant to him for the Text saith he was afraid and he hid himself so unto Abraham the motion of a Covenant was from the Lord and not from Abraham There is a Grace preceding which works Grace and there is also a Grace co-operating that acts Grace but it is preventing Grace that is the first § 3. The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us which will appear if we consider the particulars of it 1. The Purpose and intention of
Mountains and the Kingdoms of the earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord. And Zach. 6.8 There is a spirit that in a way of providence will never leave stirring up the spirits of men till this great work be effected For the Lord hath said Sit thou at my right hand till I have made thy enemies thy footstool And he shall have a name written upon his right hand and forehead King of Kings and Lord of Lords 2 On Christs part if he might disregard us now he is in Heaven yet his Covenant and ingagement is unto the Father of Heaven he hath promised and vowed obedience and therefore as he hath as our surety performed all that which he was bound to in his state of humiliation so he will also do in his state of exaltation and glory apply all the benefits of his death and attain all for you that he hath purchased for you and will come again to fetch you for he arose as your surety and he is exalted as your representative and is gone to Heaven as your forerunner and therefore he vvill surely gather in his Saints compleat their number and perfect their Graces and their light The light of the moon shall be as that of the sun and the weak shall be as David for courage and boldness in the cause of God and the stronger Christian that was before as David Zach. 12.8 Heb. 12.27 shall have even the courage of an Angel of God before him 5. When you see God making good his Covenant unto Christ in any of the parts of it rejoyce in it If you loved me you would rejoyce because I go to the father Love does divide griefs and multiply joys He is your Husband your Head your Friend and Surety in the good that is bestowed upon him you may have a share Now when the Lord plucks down Enemies defeats Counsels shakes Mountains out of their places works great changes in the earth the foundations are cast down all this is but to make a place for the throne of Christ that he may be exalted in the earth and that this Stone may fill the earth Rev. 11.16 17. There be great breaches made by God in the World but the Saints do rejoyce in them as Paul did though he Preached the Gospel in much affliction yet so Christ be Preached and exalted whatever become of me I do and will rejoyce So though I undergo never so much yet all this while God is performing his Covenant unto Christ for his sake we should be glad Vse 6. Pray unto God that he would perform his Covenant to his Son Phil. 2.5 The things of Christ are and should be very precious to a gracious Soul and a man should seek unto God for the accomplishment of all things concerning his Son and there are no Prayers that come up unto the Lord with so much acceptation as those do If you desire to know whether Christ prays for you in Heaven and takes care for you see what affections he works in you to pray to God for the accomplishing of the promises made unto Christ while he was upon the earth his great care was for you when his death drew near yet he takes care to comfort you John 14.1 And when he was near his sufferings yet he lays up prayers for Peter beforehand and now he is in Heaven he is not so taken up with his own glory but that his care is towards his people he hath seven eyes and seven horns Rev. 5.7 perfection of wisdom and power for your good Now as he lays out himself for you so do you for him also and press God with his ingagement to his Son and he can deny thee nothing let thy prayers be for the Kingdom of Christ and the accomplishment thereof say Thy Kingdom come Let the Lord reign and let his name be exalted Psal 7.2 and let his comeing in glory be hastened when he shall be made glorious before men and Angels let us always say Come Lord Jesus come quickly SECT II. The Covenant of Grace made with Christ as the Churches Head § 1. THat the Lord Jesus Christ is the person with whom primarily and principally the second Covenant is made must be considered two ways 1 In respect of the Office that he hath undertaken 2 As he is the head of the Church and makes up one body with them And these two are to 〈◊〉 distinguished and have in the Covenant distinct considerations for there are some promises that belong unto Christ alone as made unto his office the promise of bringing Jacob to him of assistance and acceptance in the work of justification by his righteousness and the honour of having a name above every name and the Angels of God to worship him of a resurrection from the dead without seeing corruption which though promised unto David yet never was fulfilled unto any of the Types but in his own person as the Apostle sets it forth Acts 13.36 37. For David saw corruption And there are other promises that are made unto him as he is our Head and to us in him in which together with him we have a share and are made partakers And there are some acts of office which belong unto him alone which though we have benefit by yet we have no share in for redemption belongs unto him alone and there is no other name given under Heaven but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and as there is but one Mediator for satisfaction so but one for intercession also for none hath to do with the Censer to offer Incense upon the Golden Altar that hath not also to do at the Brazen Altar to offer sacrifice and though in our justification Justitia Mediatoris the righteousness of the Mediator is imputed unto us yet not Justitia Mediatoria not the mediatory righteousness The righteousness of the Mediatorship belongs to him alone who is Jehovah our righteousness Jer. 23.6 Therefore this first branch of the Covenant though it were made with Christ for us for whatever he was and whatever he did was for us for us he descended into the lower parts of the earth and for us he ascended far above all Heavens yet it was not a Covenant made with us formally for the acts were to be performed by him without us and the promises made unto him though for our good yet were not made unto us But the Covenant that now we are to speak of is the Covenant of Grace made with us but with Christ primarily and principally and with us in him as he is the head and we his members Doct. The Covenant of grace made with the Saints is primarily and principally made with Christ as he is the Churches head and the second Adam In the opening of this Doctrine I will 1 give you some Demonstration for the proof of it 2 Give you the Reasons or Grounds of it 3 Answer some Objections that may arise against it 4 Make
populi nomine fidem obedientiam So that the righteousness of the Covenant being only to be found in him and to be made ours by imputation and a gracious acceptation as we are one with him thence it doth plainly appear that the Covenant is made with him in the first place and we come to have an interest in the everlasting righteousness of it at second hand as we are one with him and so we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. last Quest But is not the righteousness of the Covenant required of us also Answ It is true that perfect obedience in nature and life is required of us as well as of Adam in the state of innocency and so far as we come short of it we sin but yet in the Covenant of Grace it is not required as the righteousness of the Covenant and as that righteousness by which I am to stand righteous before God as afflictions in the Covenant of Grace are not laid upon the Saints for satisfaction to God but for correction c. but it is required and that perfectly 2 Cor. 7.10 That we should cleanse our selves from all filthiness and perfect holiness in the fear of God to manifest the truth of our union with Christ The branch cannot bear fruit of it self Joh. 15.5 without me saith Christ you can do nothing and you do hereby manifest that you are one with me As James 2.24 Abraham was justified by works according to James a man is justified not by Faith only and yet Paul saith that a man is justified by Faith alone without the works of the Law Rom. 4. A mans faith doth justifie his person before God and a mans works do justifie his faith before men and it is that we may shew forth the vertues of him that hath called us 1 Pet. 2.9 and that it may appear that our union with Christ is not a notion and no more but that it is real and powerful and our Faith is lively because it is a working Faith and this righteousness now imputed unto us as we are in him he will never leave till he hath perfected in us Ephes 5.27 That he may present us unto himself without spot or wrinkle this is a work that he hath undertaken unto his Father but yet so as the righteousness of the Covenant is to be found in him alone and made to be imputed only as we are one with him in Gods account and acceptation so that still the Covenant is made with him primarily because in him only the righteousness of the Covenant is to be found and comes unto us at second hand 4. All the promises of the Covenant are made unto him primarily and unto us only at second hand and as we are one with him they are made first unto him and therefore they are called the sure mercies of David and Ephes 1.3 Isa 55.3 God has blessed us with all spiritual mercies in heavenly places in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 they are made in him that is unto us as we are in him and so they are accomplished If the promises of God were by deed of gift only from the free grace of God they might be made unto us immediately for God may give to whom he will but they are all of them a jointure or an endowment upon a Marriage which can neither be either rationally or legally claimed without an interest in the person All the Promises are as the lines and circumference they all meet in union with Christ as the center for they are all made unto Christ and unto us only so far as we are members of Christ Gal. 3. last Being Christs we are become heirs of the Promise and no otherwise God deals with a people in this as a Father takes an inheritance of a Child in his infancy or it may be unborn and he keeps it in his own hands for him till he comes to years and then puts him into possession thereof So it is with the Saints they are maintained a long time in the womb of Gods election before they are brought forth in a work of calling and regeneration and being called they are not capable of receiving of many of the promises they are in their infancy but yet these promises are conveyed from God to Christ as an inheritance which he receives as a publick person a common Father in their behalf which in Gods time he will put them also in possession of 5. All the graces of the Covenant be first bestowed upon him The Spirit as the Oil is poured first upon the head and afterwards it runs down upon the skirts of his garments Psal 133.2 So Psal 45.7 He is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows and 1 John 2.20 We receive an unction from the holy one Joh. 1.16 Of his fulness we receive grace for grace 1 Joh. 5.11 God has given us eternal life and that life is in his son It is laid up in him as in a common treasury even the whole Image of God that he doth intend to bestow upon us in grace and glory it is given unto us and laid up in him for us but yet it is in him and not in us he has received the spirit without measure he is the Son of righteousness Isa 6.57 and our healing is in his wings There are as you may see three steps or degrees of conveyance in this life 1 The living Father as the fountain 2 Christ saith I live by the Father And it is given him to have life in himself as the chanel or way of conveyance 3 You live by me All the graces of the Covenant do actually belong unto him and unto us as we are one with him and therefore it is commonly called the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as that which is originally in him as in the fountain or principle and conveyed unto us only by union as we are members of his body so we have an influence from him as the head and no otherwise 6. All the priviledges of the Covenant do primarily belong to him and unto us only as we are in him he is the Son and from him we receive power to become the Sons of God he is the heir Jo. 1.12 Psal 8.4 Heb. 2. and we co-heirs with him Rom. 8.17 He has put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen c. This is spoken primarily and principally of the man Christ Jesus he is called Gods servant and in him we are servants also he is a King and a Priest and we are made by him Kings and Priests unto God the Father Rev. 1.6 he is the first beloved and we in him he first accepted and we in him he first justified and we in him he first overcomes and we in him we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our Testimony we sit together in heavenly places He judges the world and we in him and when we come to
us also that we are to admire honour and exalt the Lord Jesus given as a Covenant to the Nations 1st That he would consent thereunto for whatever Christ is made for us and whatsoever he is given to us is by his own consent and there is a concurrence of his will with God the Father 's therein for as he is the Son he is God equal with the Father and thought it no robbery so to be Phil. 2.7 8. and therefore he cannot come under an act of Gods will but by his own consent whence in the very election of Christ there is a concurrence of the will of Christ unto it Christs generation is an act of nature but his election is an act of will and as Christ is God he cannot come under an act of Gods will without his own consent He is said to be foreknown 1 Pet. 1.20 Heb. 1.2 and foreordained before the world began and to be appointed heir of all things God having an absolute dominion over us we being in his hand as clay in the hand of a Potter our election is meerly an act of his sovereignty God having absolute power to appoint us to what end he will as well as to give us what being he will but it is not so in the election of Christ nor in any of the consequents of his election he coming not under an act of Gods will but by his own consent Hence that Christ should come under this Covenant and be made a Covenant unto us doth exceedingly exalt the Lord Jesus We look upon it as a great condescension in God the Father that when he had made his creature he would be bound to him and not only be his God by creation but also by stipulation he pays debts that owes none he forgives debts as not valuing them But the condescension of Christ is exceeding great to enter into Covenant by way of obedience and subjection and this honours God more than the obedience of all the creatures in Heaven and Earth that his Son should be in subjection to him and this honours the Law more than any thing else that he that is the Lord of the Law should be made under the Law and that he that was equal with God in nature should come under the counsel of his will it is much more than for all the creatures to obey him that did owe all that they were by the right of their creation for all the Stars to vail their faces before the Son it 's nothing but for one Sun to be willing to be Eclipsed that the other may shine for all the Subjects in Kingdom to serve a Prince is nothing but for a Prince equal with himself in state and honour to come and be a Servant and wait upon him on his knees and be at his command honours him more 2dly That hereby you should have the benefit of this eternal transaction between the Father and the Son before the World began and of that mutual agreement that was between them for the whole Covenant was in reference unto you Christ came into the World under an ingagement and therefore he saith Lo I come to do thy will and the Lord calls him his Servant I will bring forth my righteous servant the branch and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many and it was a service undertaken and consented unto and that which he was appointed before the world began 1 Pet. 1.20 Titus 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 And of this I conceive these places of Scripture are to be understood John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me And Rev. 3.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not writen in the lambs book c. It cannot be spoken of election for though election being an act ad extra is common unto all the persons and therefore the Son and Spirit had a hand in the choice as well as the Father I know whom I have chosen yet that is an act of Christ as God but this is spoken of him as he is the Mediator as he is the Lamb so he hath a Book of life which can be understood no otherwise but in reference unto the Covenant that the Lord did work with him as Mediator and in reference to the Souls that the Lord did then indent with him for to save all those that he had chosen unto life that were in the Covenant between Christ and him and he did give unto Christ by Covenant and Christ did therein transcribe their names out of the Lords Book of election into the Lambs Book which is a meer transcript of the Father's Book of life And thus you have the benefit of this great transaction between the Father and the Son by vertue of this Covenant and thereby you become part of Christs care and have your names written in his heart from all eternity and thereby have as it were a being in Christ before you had a being in your selves he bore you in his bosom had your names in his Book before the World was 3dly That to introduce this Covenant of Grace Mercy and Reconciliation for it was not to take place till after the fall he should put himself under another Covenant and that upon the worst terms a Covenant broken and so he must not only come under the duty but also under the curse of it be made under the law Gal. 4.4 to redeem us that were under the law To undertake the duty had been much to fulfill all righteousness but to bear the curse to be made a curse for us was more But above all to lye under the guilt as an offender that was the greatest abasement to be reputed a sinner by men and to have sin imputed to him by God to be made sin and to confess your sins as his own Psal 40.2 2 Cor. 5.21 to be circumcised and stand in the Temple for purification as if he were born in sin and for the iniquity of us all to meet upon him is a greater condescension Isa 33.6 Had Christ undertaken to have been when that Covenant was broken but a Mediator by way of intercession and intreaty being beloved of God and powerful with him as the Woman of Tekoah was with David for Absolom and the Saints are so Ministers one for another pray one for another that you may be healed yea and the Angels also for they are Interceders with the Lord in the behalf of his people Dan. 4.17 had the Lord Christ but improved his power and interest with God that when we had broken the first Covenant he would have tried us with a second to see if we would be more â—aithful unto God in that than we had been in the first it had been a great mercy and a wonderful act of love so far to have appeared for us but for the Lord Christ to become a surety that is a Mediator of satisfaction to pay our debt and not to do
but made with us as in him and for his sake as fire is hot in it self and the Sun light in it self and all things else by participation as they receive from these so Christ is the Covenant because it is with him in himself originally and with us but as we are one with him 2 Because all parts of the Covenant lye upon him whatever is to be done in it if the Covenant be to be made he is the Mediator of it if it be to be confirmed he is the witness of it Isa 55.4 if to be published he is the Angel and if to be performed he is the surety And he is not a surety as other sureties are that enter into one and the same bond so as the creditor may seize on whom he will the debter or the surety and on the debter first for him we commonly call the principal but in this Covenant God takes Christs single bond for us all that so he might be sure of satisfaction and therefore he is said to lay help upon one that is mighty one able to pay and so to discharge us so God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 not imputing their trespasses 2. If you have not an interest in this Covenant you are undone for all the happiness that the antient Saints had was by an interest in that Covenant and all the glory that they or we shall have is by vertue of this Covenant All the benefits of this Covenant are branched into these three sorts 1 Promises and they belong to none but the heirs of promise 2 Graces 3 Priviledges Gal. 4. we read there of a company of men that are Abrahams seed the children of the free-woman that are begotten under the Covenant of Grace and there is no promise or grace or priviledge whether in this life or the life to coâ—â— that belongs unto any but those that are in the Covenant and have accepted it as it appears in the matter of the Sacraments in that of the Lords Supper for a mans self and that of Baptism for his child if a man be not himself within the Covenant the seal can do him no good no more than if a man that had gotten the writings of an heiress should conclude that he should inherit the Lands because he hath the writing whereas the ground thereof is interest in the person first and being made one with her then he doth seize upon the Land by a legal title and never till then so they are Abrahams seed to whom the Sacraments do belong And for that of Baptism the Lord gives a title from the parent to the child he doth not so in the other Acts 2.39 And the thing signified in Baptism the Soul being passive in a Child hath as good ground by Gods Covenant as by the mans profession yea better the mans profession being fallible than he can have any other way and it is a mans own interest in the Covenant that gives him title unto all those priviledges There are indeed membra praesumptiva of the Church of God to whom these priviledges do in appearance belong but not in truth and in reality unless they are within the Covenant 3. This is not a Covenant that is conveyed by nature but by consent Consider here 1 that there is a twofold Union the one natural and the other voluntary and by way of suretiship now we come under Adams Covenant by nature our union with him being natural for we are born under it but the Covenant of the second Adam is not so and therefore we come under Christs Covenant freely and by consent for our new birth is voluntary and our consent is free we are drawn and yet we come for Gods drawing makes men willing to come and therefore faith is commonly expressed by consent who ever will let him come Rev. 22. There is therefore no way of getting into Christs Covenant but by our consent by laying hold of his Covenant Esa 56.4 Esay 56.4 and this is that I would exhort you to the word in the original signifies to take fast hold of a thing and that strongly and with all a mans might as in Job 2.3 it is said of Job Job 2.3 that he did hold fast his integrity Satan and his friends would have plucked it from him and have made him to conclude against himself that he was an Hypocrite and his heart unsound before God but he yet held it and said I will not part with my integrity till I die and so Job 8.15 it 's said of a Hypocrite that made himself a house of gifts and common graces Job 8.15 and outward performances and upon this house he leans puts all his confidence and when God by the way comes and shews him the deceit of it and that it is but a sandy foundation upon which it is built the self-flattery of his own spirit and that it is but a Castle in the Air and will do him no good in the evil day the storm will overflow his hiding place yet the man holds it fast he will live and dye with them and will not cast away his own righteousness it is such a taking hold of the Covenant that is here meant with all a mans heart and might But you 'l say What is it for a man to take hold of Christs Covenant We have formerly heard that there are two wayes of conveyance either by way of gift or by way of dowry The promises and all the graces of the Covenant yea the Covenant it self is not bestowed upon us as a man would give a gift to another without any farther relation but it is by way of a dowry which you cannot have without the person so it is here Christ in the Covenant is a common person a second Adam and if we have an interest in him and be represented by him the Covenant belongs unto us but there can be no benefit in his Covenant without interest in his person As we see the ground and intendment of union is 1 John 5.11.12 that there may be a communion and a communication and all communion is grounded upon union and is the fruit of it Gal. 3. ult it 's our union with the first Adam that brings us under his Covenant wherefore as soon as a man becomes a man his Covenant and the curse of it takes hold on him and therefore Infants die so it was the union of Christ with us that brought him under our Covenant he was made of a woman under the Law Gal. 4.4 had he not been one with us he could never have stood in our stead living and dying so it is our being one with him that gives us an interest in his Covenant and brings us under it 2. The terms and condition of this union is that you shall receive and accept him and give up your selves to him I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine Cant. 6.3 you must cut off
mans God is to have an interest in infinite mercy and power and grace the God of my mercy and the God of my strength c. and have the Lord thine in a way of communion and fruition that the Lord will impart himself so as to become my portion the Covenant of Grace being a Covenant of Friendship and this is much more if we consider it is not in our own but in Christs right and therefore I having naturally no distinct title unto God yet being under his Covenant he is become my God as he is Christs God John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father my God and your God 2. This Covenant brings in a righteousness beyond that of the Angels 1. It is the righteousness of God Dan 9.24 and not meerly of a creature 2. It is a righteousness that sin can never spend an everlasting righteousness it is a Garment that will cover all the sins of the Elect of God a Sun of righteousness that though it enlighten all the Stars and the Earth yet every day it goes forth as a Bridgroom out of his Chamber as full of glory as ever it was 3. It is a Covenant by which Heaven is opened which was before shut against all the sons of men Heb. 10.20 we have access with boldness into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and a living way which he has consecrated through the veil c. when Heaven was shut by sin there was no way to open it but the Lord himself to descend from Heaven and to take upon himself a created nature so that the way to Heaven is by Christs Incarnation and Satisfaction in the Flesh and it is the way that Christ has made new because the old way was shut and man cast out of Paradise a Type of Heaven and it is a new way because it shall never wax old as the former Covenant did and a livingway because it gives life unto the Passenger that walks to Heaven in it and in the way of the Law there is no Life to be found but this is a living way a man finds life in it though the Law indeed was a way to Heaven but a man must bring life with him that will walk in it And by this opening of Heaven we have a double benefit 1 All good comes out of Heaven to us John 1. ult 2 We ascend up to Heaven to receive the mansions that are prepared for us and so Heaven is our home our House not made with hands and all by this Covenant 4 It is by this Covenant that a man hath the service of all the Angels and the inheritance of all the creatures it 's Christ whom the Angels serve and they ascend and descend upon the son of man there was no such thing under the first Covenant they were our fellow servants but our servants they were not till the grace of the second Covenant was made manifest it is first Christ that they serve the Lord bringing his only begotten Son into the world he saith Heb. 1.6 1 Cor. 3.21 Fidelibus est totus mundus divitiarum Jo. 5.22 and let all the Angels of God worship him and of all the creatures 't is said all things are yours for they are Christs Inheritance and ours only as we are in him there is dominium Politicum and Evangelicum a Politick and Evangelick dominion they have the use and the good of all the creatures 5 It 's by this Covenant that your Government of the World is changed and committed into another hand the Lord hath committed all judgement to the Son Christ is now King of Nations as well as of Saints and he has as Mediator a providential Kingdom as well as a Spiritual he is the Head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.22 a head of Guidance as well as of eminence the Keys of Hell and Death are committed to him the Government is upon his Shoulder as the great Officer that the Lord employs Esa 9.6 and it is our happiness that he that is our Head and Husband hath the rule of all things in his hand should the Lord have continued to have governed the world he must without a Mediator have destroyed it according to the first Covenant and the rules of his Government therefore the Lord saith I cannot go before you but I will send mine Angel take heed of him and obey his voice and it 's the happiness of the world that the Lord Christ raigns Let the earth rejoyce c. 6 It is by this Covenant that the world stands he upholds all things by the word of his power had not he put under his hand Heb. 1. the Earth had melted and come to nothing he establishes the earth for the curse of the first Covenant coming upon the creatures must have received them all Yet that 's not all but that the earth should stand firm and that by his word he shall raise the earth and elevate the creatures this is much more for there is an earnest expectation of all the creatures for a deliverance as well as of the Saints and hence we look for a new Heaven and a new Earth What change soever shall be made in the creatures at the last day whether in substance or in quality it shall be perfective not destructive for it is a promise that the Saints expect and pray for and all the creatures do groan and wait for when the glory of the Sons of God shall be made manifest Vse 3 § 3. It 's for consolation it is this in which the soul lives and the privation thereof is the death of the soul in Hell where it is utter darkness Now as in the first Covenant there is a life of Comfort in the duties of it he that doth them shall live in them Heb. 10.38 Gal. 2.20 so there is the second Covenant also and therefore the just is said to live by faith as the other by doing shall live in it so he shall by believing in believing he shall live not only a life of holiness but a life of comfort and therefore as the second Covenant is the better Covenant because it is established or founded upon better promises so the comforts that do flow from those promises are higher and more glorious consolations and therefore all the ordinances and promises of it are called the breasts of consolation Esa 66.11 Heb. 6.18 out of which a man may suck and be satisfied the comforts of the second Covenant are strong consolations that which is powerful and able to bear up the spirit in the greatest assaults of temptation either from sin or Satan 2 Thess 2.16 and it is everlasting consolation and good hope through grace and such were not the comforts and consolations of the first Covenant But the more immediate any mercy and comfort is and the nearer it is to the fountain of Consolation the sweeter it is now
11.5 as the Lord says Obey my voice according to all that I command thee so shall you be my people and I will be your God and I will perform the oath that I swore to your Fathers and the Prophet did answer Amen O Lord c. so should our souls do take heed of the treachery that is in your spirits that you behave not your selves unfaithfully in the Covenant for though it is true that the Covenant cannot be broken by your unfaithfulness because the Lord hath laid help upon one that is mighty who is the surety of your Covenant yet remember that Covenant-breaking is a great aggravation of every sin on your parts and there is a quarrel of the Covenant that the Lord will certainly avenge and the stripes even of a God in Covenant are terrible even our God is a consuming fire Lev. 20.25 Vse 2 § 2. Having entred into Covenant with the Lord let me now exhort you to make Conscience to keep it let thy heart be faithful and stedfast in the Covenant It is that which the Lord requires of all those that do enter into Covenant with him Exod. 19.5 If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant you shall be unto me a peculiar treasure Mal. 3.17 my Jewels above all people in the world therefore being taken into Covenant he doth expect you should observe the breach of it and be careful to avoid it 1. From the nature of a Covenant and the ends thereof it is vinculum conservandae fidei the great bond and engagement that men lay upon themselves for the being faithful in the promises that they make each to other And therefore Ezech. 20.37 it is called the bond of the Covenant because by it a man is bound unto the terms thereof and therefore if men keep not their Covenants it destroys their end and makes them of none effect and it is an obligation that a man takes and lays upon himself by his own consent for every Covenant must be free and voluntary Voluntas est spontanea the will is most free And therefore it being free and voluntary afterwards for us to recede and go back is the greater abomination Ezek. 17.18 He despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant after he had given his hand and therefore they say Let us bind our selves in an everlasting Covenant Jer. 50.5 never to be forgotten And for a man to be unsteady and depart from his ingagement in which he hath freely bound himself is the greater evil but always Covenants have amongst men been counted sacred and nature has taught men to keep them inviolable if it had been but a mans Covenant Gal. 3.18 no man would disannul or add thereunto and it was looked upon as the binding that men could not go back from although it were never so much against their hearts to keep it it is sanctissimum humani pectoris bonum Seneca de benefic l. 5. to 10. and therefore perfidi lege Aegyptiorum capite plectebantur quòd duplici tenerentur scelere quòd pietatem in Deos violarent fidem inter homines tollerent Diodor. Sic. l. 1. to 6. Tholos de rep l. 8. Perfidious persons were by the law of the Egyptians beheaded because they were guilty of a double crime impiety towards God and unfaithfulness to man Now if there be so much respect unto Covenants between man and man how sacred should the Covenant be between God and man the holy Covenant 2. It is a Covenant made unto God and there is no going back for 1 God knows it if he falsifie the Covenant in the least God will find it out There is a great deal of falseness of heart within us this way Our righteousness is like unto the morning dew and as an early cloud we promise and go back from our purposes and promises and our purposes are broken off we repent and repent of our repentance we vow Prov. 20 25. and after our vows we make enquiry we come out of Sodom and yet with Lot's wife we look back we are brought out of Egypt and yet our hearts turn back into Egypt again Now our Covenant being made with God he will observe it though the treachery of our Spirits be carried never so secretly and therefore Psal 44.21 the Psalmist says God would search it out If we have forgot thy name and stretched out our hands to any strange God God will find it out for he knows the secrets of our hearts and this Covenant is a Marriage Covenant and therefore the Lord looks upon the breaches of it with a jealous eye which is exceeding quick-sighted there is no disguising of ones self from a true Lover he observes every motion and out-going of the heart and will not admit the least deviation from the royal Law of Love And our God is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity he trys the heart and the reins by him actions are weighed 2 God hath declared that he hates Covenant-breaking and unsteadiness of spirit therein and he will certainly punish it There is not only the mercy of the Covenant but there is the quarrel of the Covenant I 〈◊〉 â—eal with thee says the Lord as thou hast done Lev. 36.25 Ezech. 16.59 for thou hast despised the Oath in brâ—â—â—ng the Covenant That is he would deal with them in judgment as they had dealt with him in a way of sinning Quis miles a regibus hostibus stipendium captat nisi planè transfuga desertor Tert. de praescript c. 12. For a man that is a subject to one king to be a Pensioner to an enemy we judge it very hateful amongst men that wear the Livery and take the Wages of one Master and do the work of another A subject to Christ and a pensioner to Satan is exceeding hateful to the Lord. And therefore when the Lord would express the worse sort of sinners the Apostate Jews that did joyn with Antiochus the Vile Dan. 11.30 Jer. 34.18 he calls them those that forsake the holy Covenant God will surely avenge the breach of humane Covenants as we see in the story of Zedekiah because he falsified his oath he had sworn by God much more will he avenge the holy Covenant when that is broken by any and therefore it being a Covenant made unto God there is no dallying it is one of the great things of God and if we despise it and cast it behind our back the wrath of God will surely overtake us 3. We have the highest patterns for our imitation the glorious Angels they abide in the truth they never left their first habitation they have alwaies kept their Covenant and they stand before God to this day in the Covenant of their Creation And consider your own Prayers Tert. you do pray that the will of God may be done by you on earth as it is in Heaven do not therefore perseverante iracundia orationem perdere will you
there is many a man that goes back from â—â—is ingagement to God long and per poenitentiae poenitentiam Diabolo satisfaciet Tertul. By repenting â—f his repentance he will satisfie the Devil But a heart that is sincere with God will renew â—t again and he would not have his ingagement broken he still cries out Lord I am thine and thou art the Lord my God surely thou art our Father and thy compassion does not fail but thou renewest it upon us every moment Therefore I come again to give the hand to the Lord and renew my Covenant with him 3. By reason of the falseness of our hearts there is so much treachery of spirit that we are not easily kept within bounds our purposes are easily broken and men draw back from the Lord by reason of the falseness of their hearts and the treachery that is in them Ezech. 16.30 How weak is thy heart unstable as water and it is said that water hardly contains it self within its own bounds And therefore it was Chrysostoms complaint once Gen. 49.4 and since it has been the complaint of many others after him That a Minister did never find his â—ork as he left it and so does a Christian complain he does seldom find his heart as he left 〈◊〉 Now that a mans heart may be fixed therefore the Lord takes his people into Coveâ—ant with himself and they bind themselves much in Covenants 4. They renew their Covenant that by often repeating and renewing it it may be set on upon their spirits the more and lay the greater ingagement upon them for surely the more frequently we bind our selves the faster we are bound and every renewal of our Covenant doth intend and strengthen the obligation and makes the deeper impression upon the heart and therefore Deut. 6.7 the Lord commands Israel to teach them diligently unto their children the word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to sharpen them as you do a Knife saepius ad cotem impellendum the way to make it take the deepest impression upon the soul is to set it on by often and frequent repetitions because of the deadness of our hearts and inadvertence of spirit we are apt to forget the Covenant of the Lord Deut. 4.23 and when men are apt to forget a thing they had need have it repeated often to them 5. By reason of the forgetfulness of the heart there is nothing that the ungodliness of a mans heart is more prone to than to forget his ingagement unto God and therefore was that strict charge laid upon them Deut. 4.23 Take heed to your selves lest you forget the Covenant which the Lord your God made with you and make you a graven Image c. The happiness of the Angels lies in this that they both know all the duties of their Covenant and have them alwaies in mind for where there is no sinfulness there is no forgetfulness but the misery of man lies in this as to the ingagement of this Covenant in many things he is ignorant of it so also is he unmindful of it and thence the Apostle saith Heb. 2.1 2. Lest we prove leaking vessels c. or as some will derive the word Heb. 2.1 2. charta bibula quae Scripturam non bene continet the word is written there as in sinking paper and the Ink runs abroad that afterwards when you have writ it you cannot read it now things that we are willing to remember we repeat them often and do thereby keep them in mind as the remembrance of the creation the mercy the Lord would not have forgotten and for this cause he has appointed a weekly remembrance and the death of Christ he would not have to be forgotten and therefore he appoints us to remember it often do this in remembrance of me because it would else quickly wear out of our minds mercies and duties being for the most part written in our hearts as letters written upon the water no sooner in but out and therefore we read in Esay 48.8 when the Lord would have a thing take deep impression upon them he bids them to remember it yea bring it again to mind O ye transgressors not only remember it once but often bring it again to mind c. Now there is a double curse upon the memory of man 1 There is a natural weakness that it is like a Sieve that lets pass all the Corn and retains nothing but the Chaff 2 There is a weakness that is below nature As there is a strength unto good that is supernatural when a man is immediately acted by the Spirit of God that there is in him more than the strength of a man so there is also in wayes of sin when a man hath an immediate concurrence of the spirit of the Devil Rev. 2.10 Joh. 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and his lusts ye will do and the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that is wicked men acted by the spirit of the Devil and so Rev. 12.11 the Dragon is the Heathen Roman Emperours but it is as they are acted by Satan and therefore it is said to be the old Serpent and Satan in them for the Devil hath not in himself ten horns it is the Devil working in them and acting them so there is also a weakness below nature men are apt to forget the word and their duty which they learn out of it but Satan comes and as an Harpy snatcheth away the word that is he adds a weakness below the nature men are apt to forget it sooner than otherwise they would have done by putting into the heart contrary impressions the things that we regard and take care of we are apt to remember but the things that we care not for we are apt to forget quae curant senes meminerunt old men remember what they care for Now the heart of man is least set upon Covenant duties of any thing and therefore had need to have its memory helped with continual and frequent repetitions of them 6. By reason of the ignorance and blindness of the mind of man we had need to be remembred of our Covenant and to renew it often we are all narrow mouthed vessels and receive all things from God but by drops and light comes in upon us but by degrees in several beams and a man looks often upon it before he can understand it and therefore the Lord gives unto us line upon line and precept upon precept Esay 28.10 And thence the Saints of God read over the same things and be content to hear the same things again because they have a new view of them they have a farther light into and farther discoveries of them Psal 25.14 Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him the word in Hebrew signifies mysterium arcanum a secret is something that cannot be known unless it be by revelation that a man by all
his wisdom and industry could not find out And what is that secret of the Covenant The Covenant is the secret and it is with them that he may make it known unto them therefore there is a mysterie in the dutys of the Covenant that is not revealed unto all but it is unto them that fear him and the Lord will do it suitably unto our frame as our grace comes in by constant supplies of the Spirit of God so doth our knowledge also and all by a daily increase of light from the Spirit and this is by a frequent repetition of the same act of faith and therefore the people of God love to repeat it and thereby they see farther into these mysteries from day to day and they do the more exceedingly prize the mercy of the Covenant as the greatest mercy they can injoy 3. How is this work to be done and what is it for a man to renew his Covenant 1. He that will renew his Covenant with God must be deeply sensible of the breach of Covenant and of the unfaithfulness of his heart therein It should deeply humble us to consider that no bonds should hold us If there were no other tye upon us but that of our creation that we had our being from him and that out of nothing but when unto this natural and necessary bond we have added a voluntary and have consented unto the Lord yet now for us to forget the Covenant of our God and prove perfidious to him and draw back is this your return unto God for his Grace in taking you into Covenant and who doth always remember Covenant mercies for you even then when you forget duty to him Is this your requital of the Lord who in the performance of the Covenant did not spare his Son when he cryed that he might be saved God was so resolved upon his Covenant with you that the death of his Son was a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and he was delighted in it in performance of the grace of the Covenant made with you And also the Lord Christ met with variety of discouragements not only the weight of sin in the guilt of it which he complained of as his own though he knew no sin Psal 40.12 but the wrath of the Father the rage of his enemies the hour and the power of darkness the falshood of his Disciples and yet when he was tempted to come down from the Cross he doth hold it out that he might thereby shew that he loved you to the uttermost and would save you to the utmost And now for you Prov. 20.25 after vows to make inquiry whenas no man doth receed or go back from the Covenant in which he hath ingaged himself without infamy and it 's as odious as for a man to prove false to his friend and betray him and as unfair dealing it is as for a Servant to run away from his Master or a Soldier from his Commander and as David says by way of reproach he hath broken his Covenant and laid his hand upon him that was at peace with him yea for the Wife of a mans bosom to betray a man and to forget the Covenant of her God for a man to forget his Oath that he took at his Baptism and as the Jews did labour to make their circumcision uncircumcision and to do this unto a God that was never a Wilderness to you nor ever gives you cause to repent of your ingagement surely hereby you see not only your perfidiousness and unthankfulness but also fully to make forfeiture of all Covenant mercies to bring upon your selves all the curses of the Covenant Gen. 2.28 Num. 14.34 and to put God upon breach of Covenant with you who have behaved your selves so unfaithfully towards him and thereby you acknowledge though you have subscribed your names in the register of Zion yet you deserve unto your perpetual ignominy to have them expunged thence and to be written in the earth and given up to an everlasting forgetfulness So it was with Josiah when he made his Covenant his heart was tender and he did humble himself before the Lord for their Covenant-breaking 2 Chron. 34.27 31. Neh. 10. And Ezra 10. it doth follow upon a great humiliation a man that is not sensible of and his heart not affected with the breach of Covenant that man is not fit to renew his Covenant with the Lord. 2. It must be with a resolution of heart to break all other Covenants men are said Isa 28.15 To make a Covenant with death and hell that is they were as secure Isa 28.15 and as fearless of it as a man that hath a person in Covenant with him whom he looks upon as his friend and fears him not and thus they make a Covenant with sin and ingage themselves to serve other gods and so when the people renewed the Covenant in Joshuah's time you see the Command you have chosen the Lord to serve him Josh 24.22 put away therefore your strange gods and so the command was to put away their strange wives Ezra There are cords of vanity and there are bonds of iniquity by which men do bind themselves Now all these Covenants must be broken if a man come to renew his Covenant with the Lord for the answer you must give to the Covenant must be the answer of a good conscience and that Conscience that reserves to it self any league with sin unbroken 1 Pet 3.21 is not a good conscience before God a Covenant that is sinful is in it self void and a nullity because in every such ingagement there is dolus deceit and error which are destroying to the nature of a Covenant which should be free and deliberate and therefore it is in all such Covenants as with Herods Oath they bind to nothing but repentance for Juramentum non est vinculum iniquitatis and therefore a man must resolve to break Covenant with all sinful ingagements if he do intend to renew his Covenant with the Lord. 3. A man must know the terms and read over the Articles of the Covenant anew for no wise man will set his hand to an obligation of which he is not well acquainted with the condition and if there were no other cause nor ingagement upon man to know the will of God and their own duty this were enough they have bound themselves to serve him and therefore by the same Covenant they are bound to know the rules by which he will be served for Deo serviendum non est ex arbitrio sed ex imperio so doth Josiah 2 Chron. 34.30 he caused to be read in the ears of the people all the words of the book of the Covenant and then he stood up and made a Covenant before the Lord to perform all the words of the Covenant written in the Book 4. It must be with a free and full consent of heart for the Covenant in the renewing of it must
other sort of people in the world for the great gifts that come from Christ as ascended are upon the visible Church of God yea the thorns and briars in the Church have the rain and influences great and many common works of the Spirit raising and elevating and improving nature the least of which works and motions is more worth than the world it is so in the things though it prove at last a curse to the man 7 They by this means come under the care of the Church and under the power of the Keys under the prayers and under the censures of the Church which do restrain them and are many times blessed to bring men in as the Apostle says We judge them that are within 1 Cor. 5.11 8 They attain many temporal blessings and are delivered from many temporal afflictions thereby Ismael had many outward blessings by Abrahams Covenant the external blessings of the Covenant are made good to them God will not destroy Jerusalem and the judgment came not upon King Hezekiah for David my servants sake and I will not rent from Rehoboam because I will not put out the light in Israel There are two arguments that I would insist on 1 A visible Membership is promised as a very special mercy 2 The contrary to be cast out of it is threatned as a great judgment 1. Gen. 9.27 A visible Membership is promised as a special mercy Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet c. Noahs family was the Church of God but he did foresee a defection or an Apostasie that should befal the posterity of Cham and Japhet and that the visible Church of God should only be continued a long time in the posterity of Shem but yet he doth foretel that though Chams posterity should be for ever cast off yet there should come a time when the posterity of Japhet tandem redirent ad unitatem Ecclesiae Pareus should at length return to the unity of the Church Now we read Gen. 10.5 that by the posterity of Japhet the Isles of the Gentiles were overspread this is therefore a Prophecy of the bringing in of the Gentiles into the number of Gods people and they shall become a visible Church unto God for coming into the Tents of Shem is being made members of the visible Church There is a double conversion of the Gentiles which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 11.12 If the fall and diminishing of the Jews be the riches of the Gentiles how much more shall their fulness be If upon their breaking off the Gentiles were gathered in and inriched with their Church priviledges how much more when they shall be called and come in in their national fulness shall the Gentiles be inriched by them Rev. 7.3 4. This is prophesied Rev. 7.3 4. Hurt not the earth c. and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel c. It cannot be spoken of the Church of the Jews for it is set after the seals as a Prophecy that ushers in the Trumpets and as the seals refer unto Rome Pagan so do the Trumpets unto Rome Christian Now there were four winds that were to blow upon the earth and by their blasts they would hurt the earth and the Sea for there was power given to them by God unto that end the winds do signifie motus bellicos and impetus hostiles c. warlike commotions as we read in Jer. 49.36 Vpon Elam I will bring the four winds and I will scatter them and there shall be no nation whither the out-casts of Elam shall not come Dan. 7.2 3. Dan. 7.2 3. The four winds contended upon the great sea so that hereby is meant the incursion of all the barbarous People and Nations with their power and might upon the Roman Empire but in this general invasion there are some that the Lord would specially protect upon whom these destroying winds should have no power and that is meant by sealing of them Glass Amoris singularis curae symbolum sigillum est The sealing is a symbol of singular love and care and yet when it is spoken of the Church of God of the Gentiles in the Roman Empire upon whom these storms should fall and over whom these winds should have power they are said to be of the Tribes of Israel There were sealed 144000 of all the Tribes of Israel whereas Israel was cast off and dispersed upon all the four winds long before and God had wholly cast off the care of them and reputed them as a people to himself no more why then are the Gentiles called the Tribes of Israel The reason is this Quia in Israelis vicem successerit fuitque Israel surrogatus They were surrogated Israel they are Japhet brought into the Tents of Shem that is become the Church of God and had all the Priviledges of the Church stated upon them instead of the Jews and therefore their sealing is called the sealing of the Tribes of Israel But there is yet another call of the Gentiles spoken of Rev. 7.9 Rev. 7.9 And after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number out of all nations and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white robes and palms in their hands c. that is afflicto Ecclesiae statui succedit amplissimus foelicissimus ejusdem status This is to be referred unto the time of the seventh Trumpet when the Jews shall be called and new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of Heaven when the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains and all Nations flow in unto it when the Gentile Churches shall be given unto the Church of the Jews for daughters Ezech. 16. and they exalted as the Mother-Church over all the world when the Nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory and honour to it Rev. 21.24 and I conceive it 's to be understood of taking of both Jews and Gentiles into a visible Church by a first and second conversion and it is unto both promised as a special mercy it 's made also a special mercy by the Apostle Rom. 11.17 24. Rom. 11.17 24. and that both in reference unto Jews and Gentiles 1. For the Gentiles Thou being a wild olive-branch for that must be the meaning as Beza observes art made partaker of the root and fatness of the olive-tree c. By the Olive-tree is meant the Church of Israel Jer. 11.16 the visible Church Jer. 11.16 The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree fair and of goodly fruit and the Lord did thus honour it because this is one of the most excellent of all the trees the Fig-tree the Olive and the Vine and that 1 for its greenness for it doth flourish and is always green 2 for its
a man is delivered to Satan left under his power and kingdom a man without the Church is under the care and inspection of the Church no more but even left to the Devil to hurry him into all manner of wickedness or despair as he did endeavour to do the incestuous person and there was none of the Saints that might bear the burden with him 1 Cor. 16.22 such a person is said to be Anathema maranatha a man delivered by the Church of God as incorrigible until the coming of the Lord we can do no more with him and therefore hereby he is bound over to answer it before the Judgment-seat of Christ 2 It 's the highest degree of temporal wrath upon a people Hos 1.7 Hos 1.7 there is a pedigree of judgments set down but yet the highest is Loammi and this breaking off of the Jews the natural branches Hos 2.2 and saying of your mother she is not my wife is wrath that comes upon them to the uttermost and then a people may be truly said to be utterly destroyed or brought unto an end 1 Joh. 2.18 1 Pet. 4.7 this is the last hour the end of all things is at hand the end of your Worship and Temple and Ordinances and Services and so the end of your Church and Common-wealth doth now draw near it 's not meant of the end of the world and that 's the end that Christ speaks of Luk. 21.9 Luk. 21.9 Ye shall hear of wars and commotions but the end is not by and by Therefore when the Lord doth once unchurch a people the end of all things is at hand with them there is nothing but utter destruction remaining for such I say when the Lord doth thus he doth cut them off by the root as we see in the Churches of Asia What a miserable condition have they been in ever since the Lord removed the Candlestick from them and of all the enemies of God the Antichristian Church is the greatest and is reserved unto the greatest judgments and though it is true it doth fall by degrees yet as soon as it became a mystery Babylon the great the mother of Harlots and spiritual Egypt and Sodom ever since the Lord hath been pouring out vials of wrath upon her by degrees which will at last sink her as a mill-stone into the Sea and her plagues shall come upon her in one day suddenly and irresistibly and the Lord will deal with her as a Harlot and one to whom he hath given a bill of divorce to the amazement of all the Christian Churches and it will be easier for her by all her art to weigh the fire to measure the winds to call back the day that 's past and to restore the verdure of the withered grass than to reverse the sentence that 's written against Babylon She is fallen is fallen it is become a habitation of devils and a cage of all unclean and hateful birds 2. Now the particulars wherein this great Priviledge consists are many 1. They have by this means the offers of the highest mercies they are the children of the Kingdom and the guests that were first invited unto the wedding and therefore it was necessary Act. 13.46 says the Apostle that the word of God should be first preached unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was a double priviledge that the Jews had before Christs coming they were soli alone there was a partition-wall between them and all other people but this being taken away yet being the people of God to whom belonged the adoption it 's necessary that they should be primi the first to whom the Gospel was offered And the great mercies of our lives be offers of grace and they are such as being neglected all the world cannot redeem and these many an ungodly man hath in a glorious manner made unto him that he doth never accept but doth as the Jews did put it from him and thereby judge himself unworthy of eternal life and the grace that is offered him in such offers of the Gospel 2. They have the most glorious presence of God of any people in the earth they are a people near to God the Tabernacle of God is with men and he dwells with them he has promised Rev. 21.3 Ezech. ult ult I will dwell in them and walk amongst them the Lord walks in the middle of the golden Candlesticks he goes down to the gardens to gather lilies Jehovah Shammah Jer. 13. Even as a girdle doth cleave to the loyns of a man so have I caused this people to cleave unto me even the whole house of Israel the Lord is in the middle of her Christ sits there upon a glorious Throne and they are all gathered together round about him after the manner of their pitching in the Wilderness where all the Tribes did pitch and incamp round about the Tabernacle and therefore they are said to incompass the Lord about 3. They have the most glorious influences it 's true that Christ as Mediator hath a providential Kingdom as well as a spiritual a Kingdom of Providence as well as of Grace Ezech. 1.10 and both are administred by the Spirit They have quieted my Spirit Zac. 6.8 but he hath a spiritual Kingdom in the Church which is therefore called the Kingdom of Heaven and all the members of it whether they be regenerate or unregenerate are called Children of the Kingdom and upon those the Spirit of Christ hath great works for the foolish Virgins have oil as well as the wise and they have many excellent gifts Mat. 12.43 44. the unclean Spirit goes out of the man when he returns he finds the house swept and garnished for there is a great diversity of gifts but the same Spirit and what is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those gifts only the Church 1 Cor. 12. for they are all for the body and therefore they fall from them when they depart this life as Elijahs mantle did when he went to Heaven for then Prophecy shall cease and knowledge shall vanish away and they have glorious common graces restraining sin and are Virgins that have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ and the house is swept and the Devil is gone out and thereby men are restrained from those lusts which they dearly love and forced to an external conformity when they have no inward principles to support them and common graces elevating improving and sublimating nature as we see Heb. 6.7 Heb. 6.7 The ground that drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it there is a rain of Influences as well as Ordinances and by this means nature is strangely raised and improved and yet the man continues in a state of unregeneracy still and is nearer to cursing for it in the end 4. They have very great temporal blessings when Israel was taken into a marriage-covenant with God the Lord says I entred into covenant
his promises and thereby we put his bonds in suit before the Throne of his own grace so doth Jacob Lord this is that which thou hast said Return into thy own country and I will do thee good and so doth Nehemiah Neh. 1.8 This is that thou hast promised unto thy servant Moses A soul that can bring unto God his own promise and can plead it before God has a certain argument that it shall be fulfilled It 's the great ground of the prayer of Christ and of his Angels and Saints in Heaven for the Angels do pray and so do the Saints in Heaven the souls under the Altar cry Dan. 4.16 17. Zac. 1. How long Lord Rev. 6. and they have no ground to offer a prayer to God but meerly the promise of God and therefore all their prayers are prayers of faith to this day § 3. The promises of God in Scripture are of two sorts some are absolute some conditional and the grounds of these distinctions of promises are these 1. There is a twofold love of God unto the creature 1 antecedent Love that is set upon the creature for love sake and out of his own free choice and election Rom. 9.18 he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and upon this are grounded all absolute promises 2 there is a consequent Love as the Lord delights to crown the acts of his own Love in the creature having wrought his own image he doth love it and delight in it more than in all the rest of the works of his hands and this is the ground of all conditional promises 2. Absolute Promises are not formally made unto us though they be fulfilled in us but unto Christ for no promise can belong unto him that is not an heir of promise and though a man be so in the Election of God yet he is not actually so till he be united unto Christ and therefore it is unto him that all the absolute promises do belong If we look upon man in a state of Nature so there are absolute promises of grace for a mans conversion but look upon a man in a state of Grace and so there are conditional promises that do belong unto him for his consolation and salvation 3. In absolute promises the creature is meerly passive and there is no prerequired condition in the creature for the accomplishment of it it 's perfectly an act of Gods grace to the creature to promise him to be his God to pardon his sin and take away his heart of stone there is no concurrence of the endeavour of the creature in it for all the works of God in this kâ—l are a new creation but in conditional promises there is a condition prerequired in the creature and there is an actual concurrence of the creature to their performance without which God will never perform the condition he that converts thee without thee will not save thee without thee we must be built as living stones in the Church of God 4. There is a double state of Faith a state of Recumbency or Affiance and a state of Assurance and the promises of the Gospel are suited unto both these states A man that can see no grace in his own soul he comes to the promise for grace and resolves to cast himself upon it he does â—e to Christ that he may have life and casts himself upon the promise that his sins may be pardoned and the truth is in this doth properly the application of faith in a mans first conversion lye in leaving a mans soul with the promise that he may receive grace and pardon not in believing that Christ is mine but in relying upon him and giving up my self to him There is a kind of personal Application and that is direct and there is an axiomatical Application of faith when the soul being in Christ and having received grace is able to see and to conclude its own interest Unto faith of Recumbence the absolute promises do fitly suit But there is a state of Assurance when the soul looks into his own heart and finds the image of Christ written there and sees promises made to a broken and a believing heart one poor in spirit and he finds the condition in himself and now all the conditional promises come in with comfort to him who before could taste no sweetness in them because he could not find in himself the condition 5. There are two ways of assurance answerable to the twofold witness of it there is a witness in Heaven and there is a witness also in the heart 1 There is an immediate testimony Rejoyce in this that your names are written in heaven saith our Lord again the Lord says to a man Be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee and thou art greatly beloved Such immediate testimonies there have been given to the Saints and surely the bowels of the Lord are not straitned 1 Joh. 5.7 Thus there is a testimony of the Spirit that is distinct from the witness of water and blood the Spirit is the seal in both but in the one he is the seal of his Office and in the other the seal of his Officers a particular seal and a privy signet in the one he testifies the love of all the persons and there is testified that his own love and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart there is illuminatio quaedam è montibus aeternis an illumination from the eternal mountains as Gerson speaks 2 There is an Assurance that comes from the witness of a mans own graces the Spirit of God witnessing with our spirits Now the first assurance is in an absolute promise I am thy God thou art greatly beloved thy sins are forgiven thee and the latter kind of assurance is in a conditional promise the Lord discovering to a man the signs of grace in his own soul and the glorious works of the Spirit of Christ upon his inward man conforming him to the image of Christ 6. The great difference between the first and second Covenant lay in this the promises of the first Covenant were all of them conditional being given unto grace received and did suppose grace in the person to whom they were made but there were no absolute promises to give grace that Covenant did suppose grace but it did not give grace But under the Gospel as there are promises of reward of grace received so there are promises of giving grace where there is no grace and herein lies the great glory of the promises of the new Covenant and the grace of them it gives grace and then it crowns grace and therefore they are said to be better promises 7. Absolute promises have their degrees of accomplishment as well as conditional though a man has a right to them all at once yet the Lord doth perform them by degrees to us there is no promise that is fully and perfectly accomplished till we come to Heaven our justification is not perfect
Creature or as a Son for now he is not the Creature that God made him your spot is not the spot of his children for you bear not his Image or Similitude Now in the second Covenant the Soul has his relation unto God and propriety in God that was his happiness in his Creation and if ever he be made happy again his propriety unto God must be restored Therefore that is the purpose and intendment in the Second Covenant to restore that which is lost by the breach of the first Covenant and our great loss by the Fall was the loss of God and a propriety in him though we also lost the Creatures and forfeited our lives and souls lost our selves yet our great loss was the loss of God and if the Lord should have restored unto Man the inheritance of the Creatures again yet all this would never have repaired his loss unless he had found out a way for to make over himself again 2. Without this the Creature could never be happy for wherein doth happiness consist but in these two things There must be Proportion and Propriety a good that must fill up all the desires of the Soul and a man must have an interest in it Now if the Lord should give a man all the Creatures they are not a proportionable good because they are finite and they are without Propriety in them they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a proper good it will be therefore another mans and may remain unto another And though it is true that God is a proportionable good as he is also unto all even the Devils and damned Spirits so as to make them happy for he is an infinite good yet they cannot be made happy by him because they have no propriety in him these two must concur to the happiness of the Creature Now if when Man had fallen God should have restored him unto his Inheritance in the Creatures again yet they could never have made him happy because they wanted these two ingredients his happiness therefore consists mainly radically and fundamentally in his personal interest and propriety and there was no way left to make him happy the former way being made void but by a free and a gracious promise God by Covenant and Gift made himself freely over to him that is all the persons in the Trinity unto the Creature for his happiness and therefore we may see that was the great intendment in the Gospel of Grace for that which is ultimum in executione last in execution is primum in intentione first in intention The highest happiness of Man in Glory is the injoyment of God when God is all in all to him and the full fruition of Christ and the Spirit for therein is the last and great accomplishment of all these personal promises as we shall see afterwards now in this consisting the happiness of man this was the great and first intendment of the Gospel to make over God to him in all the persons for his highest advancement and perfection 3. These Promises are the grounds of our Union with all the persons in the Trinity That there is such a Union between Christ and the Soul is plain and that it is not only unto Christ as Man but unto Christ as God-man and there is a Union that we have after a sort therefore with the Godhead of Christ and there is a Union with the Spirit which also is clear 1 Corinth 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit and by this means there is a Union also with the Father John 17.21 I would that they might be one as we are one not only one in themselves but one with us after a resemblance of that unspeakable Union that is between the Father and the Son and therefore God is said to dwell in us 2 Corinth 6.16 we are said to dwell in him 1 Joh. 4.16 the Church is said to be in God and the Faithful to be in Christ Jesus 1 Thess 1. and to work in God John 3.21 most of their works are wrought in God and this Union is begun in this Life and so far as it is wanting so far is the Creature imperfect it 's the perfection of this Union in Heaven that is the full happiness and perfection of the Creature and it 's by vertue of these promises that this Union between God and the Creature is begun and Heaven that is the perfection of this Union is nothing else but the accomplishment of these promises the Promise in the fulness of it makes Heaven 4. It is in this Union that the foundation is laid of all Communion Communion is properly of persons though it be in things Men can with things have no fellowship this must be properly between persons 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ and there is a fellowship of the Spirit also now all fellowship is grounded in Union and the very Communion of Saints that they have with all the persons doth prove that they have a Union with them also Now it 's an interest you see in the person that 's the ground of fellowship as the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Friendship and it 's likened to a Marriage Covenant Now all matrimonial Communion is grounded upon the interest that they have in the person each of other so that the Husband is not his own and the Wife is not her own they have by their own consent freely made over the interest and propriety of themselves unto each other that now they are not at their own dispose wthout the mutual consent each of other and so it 's in this also it 's our Union with the person that is the ground of our Communion and all our personal interest in any of the persons is grounded upon these personal promises by which the persons are made over to the Saints and it is in these personal promises that the Glory of the second Covenant does consist it 's said to be established upon better promises Hebr. 8. The first Covenant did promise Life and Happiness which could not be without God and the injoyment of God for the Life promised must be answerable to the death threatned which is an eternal separation from God and from all Communion with him in Hell therefore the Life promised must be a fruition of God in all ways of Communion in Heaven But yet there is something more in these particular promises of the Gospel Covenant 1. It 's true that Adam had a personal interest in God but yet not such an interest as the Saints now have for the Lord was a God to Adam to reward him persevering in ways of obedience here and to be himself his reward in Heaven but it was but while he continued in ways of obedience God was not made over to him therefore he did not say I will make over to thee my Mercy to pardon thee if thou sinnest and my Grace
to heal thee but there is something of God made over in the personal promises of the Gospel that never saw light before and that is Mercy and Grace which is the Glory of the Gospel an Attribute that was never known but under the second Covenant And as all Gods Attributes were not made known to Adam by his personal interest so neither were all the persons unto those perfect high and compleat ends that now they are unto the Heirs of Promise The Lord did give Adam an interest in his Son but not his Son to take the Nature of Adam to be made lower than the Angels for the suffering of death He gave him also an interest in his Spirit but not to heal his corruption and to perfect his Graces or help his infirmities or be an Advocate to plead his Cause before God and his own Soul also for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifies an Advocate as well as a Comforter Christ is an Advocate without us and the Spirit within us inabling us to plead for our selves before his Throne Now in these respects though Adam had personal promises yet these of the Gospel are now more glorious and of a higher nature and of a larger extent and therefore they are better promises 2. The greatest Gift that ever God did bestow upon a Creature is a Person and therefore the giving of Christ is call'd by way of excellency The gift of God Joh. 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God And unto us a Son is given It was a great gift that the Lord should give to Adam the Lordship of the whole world the inheritance of all the Creatures but there is no excellency in Creatures in comparison of the glorious persons in the Trinity Answerable to the excellency of the thing given we do rightly value the gift and answerable unto the gift of his Son we may also conclude of the Father and the Spirit for the gift of the Son is upon that ground so great because he that has once attain'd an interest in the Son the whole God-head is become his 3. All the interest that a Soul has in the blessings of God and benefits by him have their foundation in our interest and propriety in the persons themselves they are made over to us by these personal promises and a man can have no more benefit by God than he has interest in him as the Psalmist having spoken of all the benefits and blessings that they have by God he comes at last to shew the title and the conveyance of them all Psal 144. ver the last and that is Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah The ground of all our benefits by Christ is our Union with him and the intendment of Union is Communication and till a man become one with him he can savingly have no benefit by him as 't is said 1 Cor. 3.22 All things are yours and you are Christs it 's your interest in his person that gives you a title to his inheritance as the Wife can have no claim to the estate and the honours of her Husband but by her Union with him and interest in his person and answerable unto mens interest in persons such is their title unto benefits by them and they that have no interest in God can have no title to any of the blessings of God and therefore the fundamental promises and mercies are those that are personal He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh. 5.12 there is no life from the Son but by Union with him you must eat his flesh and drink his blood which are terms of Union if ever you hope for everlasting life by him 4. From our interest in the Persons the personal promises give us boldness and access to him we have says the Apostle boldness and access to come to God by Christ Ephes 3.12 Now a Child comes to the Father with boldness because he has an interest in his person as a Father and a Wife has access unto her Husband with boldness because she has an interest in him whereas all ungodly men are strangers to God and therefore cannot ingage their hearts to draw near to him for they have no interest in him and therefore must stand without and can have no access 5. The great promises to Christ as Mediator lye in this that he has an interest in persons and by personal promises they are made over to him Psal 89.26 He shall call me my Father Psal 16.5 my God and this Christ glories in the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup and it is this Christ takes hold of in his desertion my God my God that high speech of Faith taking hold of these personal promises It 's a glorious inheritance that God has given to Christ for he hath made him heir of all things but yet his inheritance in all the Creatures is nothing in comparison of the inheritance he has in the Lord as he is his God Joh. 3.35 and in the Spirit which is therefore called the Spirit of Christ because he received not the spirit by measure As the great delights of the God-head from everlasting were in the persons one of another Prov. 8.30 I was by him as one brought up with him and I was his delight daily so the great delight of Christ is in his interest in the person of the Father He has also a great delight in the Saints because they are his Seed and his Spouse and therefore he doth rejoyce over them as a Bridegroom over his Bride but yet the main delight of Christ as Mediator doth lye in his interest in the person of the Father and of the Spirit and as God made over his person first unto Christ by the Covenant of Redemption so by that Covenant in him he made it over unto us for he is Christs Father and our Father he is Christs God and he is our God Joh. 20.17 I ascend to my Father and your Father my God and your God 6. The main comfort of a Christian comes in from personal relations of the Covenant and they are all of them grounded in personal promises He is our Father and our Husband and our Friend and all of these are personal relations and speak an interest in the person and the great support of Faith in the worst times lyes in this as we see in the Church Isai 63. doubtless thou art our Father When the Lord was displeased with them and had hid his face and poured upon them spiritual judgments hardned their hearts from his fear and variety of temporal judgments for the Adversary had trodden down their Sanctuary yet now when they have nothing else to lay hold of it is upon a personal relation that they pitch doubtless thou art our Father and it 's according to our relation to his person that the Lord exhorts us to come to him All our Prayers when we pray is Our Father
glorifie the three Persons in the Trinity in the hearts of Believers and this appears plainly by Eph. 1.3 7 13. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus in whom we have redemption through his blood and have attained unto an inheritance in whom after you believed you were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise So that to honour the Persons and to exalt them in the hearts of Believers is one great and main intendment of the Gospel and therefore if your faith close not with them you cross one great and main end of the Gospel of grace and that must be done not only in receiving of blessings and benefits from the Trinity in common but that a man take special notice of the distinct works of them all what is done by the Father and what is done by the Son that in that blessing the person from whence it comes may be highly exalted in the soul therefore we do read of distinct acts of faith exercised upon the Son Joh. 14.1 Joh. 5.23 and the Father You believe in God believe also in me that all men may honour the Son even as they honour the Father 3 As the order of their working doth follow the order of their subsisting as the School-men observe the works of the Father being first and then the works of the Son so it 's in the work of grace and all the benefits of it attributed to God the Father are first in order of Nature and then those that are attributed to the Son and therefore Adoption being the act of the Father is by some asserted to be first in order of all spiritual blessings that we receive by grace before Redemption which is an act of the Son and of Sanctification Forbes of Justification p. 28. which is an act of the Holy Ghost and this very consideration will give a man great light into the order of all spiritual blessings that we receive by virtue of the new Covenant for the order of the blessings are answerable to the order of the workings of those persons from whence they flow 1 Joh. 4.16 2. Believers should exercise love towards all three Persons God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwells in God and God in him There is a walking in love and a dwelling therein as a man dwells in his own house there is not only a love of the Son as says Christ Joh. 15.9 So I have loved you continue you in my love but there is a love of the Father also that the soul is to look upon as distinct Joh. 14.23 Joh. 16.27 If any man love me and keep my words my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you becaâ—â—â— you have loved me 1 It is a great comfort and honour unto the Saints that they are come unto the innumerable company of Angels and unto the Souls of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And the promise is made good to them Zac. 3.7 They have places or galleries to walk in amongst them that stand by and that they can walk in the love of Angels and of the general Assembly of the Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven but much more to walk in the love of all the Persons that they are come unto Jesus they are come to the Mediator of the new Covenant to the blood of sprinkling and unto God the Judge of all and so can walk in the apprehension of the love of them all and it 's a great comfort that they can go to them all in prayer grounded upon the particular love of them all the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit Rev. 1.4 5. Grace and peace be with you from him that is and was and is to come and from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne and from Jesus the faithful and true witness And the soul tastes the love of the Father in giving his Son and the love of the Son in that he loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 2 That we might testifie our love to each Person distinctly and suitable unto the love with which they have loved us 1 let us fear to offend them all not only fear to offend God the Father because our God is a consuming fire and it 's a great and terrible name Ezech. 21.10 the Lord our God but also fear to offend God the Son our Saviour Take heed of him obey his voice provoke him not for my name is in him it is the rod of my son which it contemneth as every tree c. And Eph. 2.4 30. fear to grieve or quench the Spirit or resist his motions 2 Perform duties by arguments and motives drawn from the love of them all Joh. 14.23 If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will make our abode with him he that has my commandments and keeps them he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him 3 Give glory unto them all being affected with their love particularly that the soul may say Glory be unto the Father Son and Holy Ghost according to the intent of the Gospel that as we were baptized in the Name of them all so we may give glory to them all in a Gospel-sense And the truth is as this should be the great and principal object of our faith so it should be of our love also the highest love we can love God with is to love him for himself we may love God for his benefits and his blessings but yet that is not true love unless the highest love be set upon the persons Plus diligere famulum quam sponsum meretricis amor est Aust To love the servant more than the Bridegroom is adulterous love 3. As in the work of Faith the Soul is to be exercised upon all the Persons so also in the point of Assurance which is an addition unto Faith we should wait for the Witness and the sealing of them all because all of them set their seals unto the Evidences of the Saints The scope of the Epistle of John is 1 Joh. 5.7 that the Saints may know that they have Eternal Life and there are Witnesses some in Heaven and some in Earth but yet the Testimonies that these give all of them are in the heart of a Believer for so it is said He that believes hath the witness within himself the Father the Word and the Spirit Vers 10. and these three persons in Heaven give a distinct witness unto the assurance of the Saints in their own hearts there are three seals that are set unto it though it 's true that a man knowing the Love of
Idols of silver and gold unto the moles and to the bats It 's not honourable for the great God to put himself upon a people to be their God against their will and therefore there goes forth an illumination upon the hearts of his people by which they chuse him for their God and they will own no other and this mutual consent between God and them doth compleat their interest and propriety in him How did Dagon become the God of the Philistins and Apis the God of the Egyptians and Chemosh the God of the Ammonites it was because they chose them unto themselves to worship them and there is no means to set up a God over a people and to intitle them to him but by their own consent and so it is with the God of Israel it is because they yield themselves to give the hand to the Lord 2 Chron. 30.8 They gave themselves first to God says the Apostle Paul and then to us by the will of God 2 Cor. 8.5 And by this means it is that he that is taken into covenant with God doth change his God and take the Lord for his God The Lord doth make over himself unto him in the Covenant to be his God and he does consent to it and says This God shall be my God for ever and ever and I will have no other God but him Vse 1 § 2. First see here the miserable condition of all those that are out of covenant with God for they that are strangers to the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2.12 they are without God in the world and that will appear 1. in this it 's the greatest sin to live without God it 's against the great Commandment of the Law and against the grand promise of the Gospel the great Commandment of the Law is Thou shalt have Jehovah for thy God and thou shalt love the Lord thy God If he that loves his wife loves himself much more he that loves his God must love himself most for he is as the School-men speak intimior intimo nostro more intimate than our most intimate part he is nearer unto a man than a man is to himself and therefore conversion being a writing the Law in the heart this being the great Commandment this is specially written there to love the Lord our God with all our heart and the truth is upon this all the other Commandments do depend on this hang all the Law and the Prophets and therefore Austin well observes Qui non diligit Deum non diligit proximum quia non diligit seipsum He that loves not God loves not his neighbour because he loves not himself A man ought to love his neighbour as himself but he that loves not himself cannot love his neighbour and he that doth not love God neither doth he nor can he love himself he hates his own soul and as this command to love God is the greatest it is the grand promise of the Gospel that the Lord will be our God Now in a mans conversion as the precepts are written in the heart as soon as he is new-born to God as the rule of his obedience 2 Cor. 3.2 3. so also are all the promises written in his heart as the ground of his faith Ye are says the Apostle the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God in the fleshly tables of your heart And therefore as it is in vain for a man to speak of obedience unto lesser precepts if the great Commandments be wanting so it 's in vain to claim an interest in inferior promises if the great promise I will be thy God thou hast no part in 2. The baseness and unworthiness of a mans spirit is seen in nothing so much as in this that a man can take any thing for a God The Lord doth justly deride his own people that they turned their glory into shame Jer. 2.11 12. they changed their glory for a thing of nought the word in the Hebrew is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To worship the true God is a mans glory and to have an interest in him he is said to be the glory of his people Israel Psal 62.7 nihilitates nothingnesses and the Heathen man could well scorn the Egyptians for that porrum caepe nesas violare frangere morsu Men commonly count it a great matter what servants they have and much more what yoke-fellow they take as the companion of their lives or what Prince they subject themselves unto but here is the baseness of the spirit of man that he cares not what God he hath but he is contented to worship the creatures which God has subjected to him as servants nay to honour the Devil as a God who is his enemy and cursed above all creatures and yet all men that have not the God of Heaven for their God they worship the God of this world the Prince of the air the Devil Therefore to be mistaken in a mans God and to joyn himself unto a strange God Hos 9.10 is the greatest reproach that can befal a man It 's said of Israel That they joyned themselves unto Baal-Peor and separated themselves unto that shame and they were abominable secundum amorem eorum according to their love that is as the Gods that they loved as God is called the fear of his people 3. It is more to lose God than to lose all blessings that come from God And therefore Hos 1.9 that 's made the top of the judgment Lo-ammi it 's more than Lo-ruhamah for to have God is more than to receive any mercy from God and therefore this is the true difference between an hypocrite and a gracious heart one is content with what comes from Gods hands the other can be satisfied with nothing but God Sicut mea tibi non placent nisi mecum sic tua non satiunt nisi tecum c. As my good works please not thee without my self so thy good things please not me without thy self Bern. Let a man tender to God thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oyl yet all this doth not please God unless we give our selves to the Lord and so it is with the Saints of God Should God bestow all the creatures upon them in Heaven and in Earth yet all this would never make them happy without God himself Now if the Lord should strip you naked of all the comforts of the creatures Luk. 16.25 as one day he will all ungodly men for it shall be said Son remember in thy life time thou hadst thy good things you should neither have bread to eat nor cloaths to warm you nor the Sun to give you life If the fig-tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vine you would think your selves miserable men to want all these Now the people of God can rejoyce in the want of these can rejoyce and triumph
1 Joh. 4.24 and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and truth 5. That the great motives unto duty and the great restraints from sin be taken from these It 's a matter of great consequence not only that we do the duties that God requires but also what motives they are that fill the sails in our performances For a man to perform high duties upon low motives argues a heart full of flesh to preach the Gospel is a high service but to do it to serve a mans belly or his pride to gather Disciples after him that he may have the credit of a Teacher of others and be cryed up amongst them this doth in a great measure blast all his service therefore let men look to their motives in their performances And so for sin it 's not enough to abstain from sin but a man is to have an eye upon the principle that lyes the restraint upon him what it is many a man may be kept from sin for fleshy aims as Haman refrained himself till he came home and so King Joash during all the days of Jehoiada the fear of man will restrain lust many times where there is no fear of God There are as it were several topicks from which the arguments and reasonings of the soul are taken for the Word of God is quick and powerful c. Heb. 4.12 the one refers to principles for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the seat of principles and the other to the dianoetick faculty a mans arguments and reasonings from those principles and there are some high and noble motives suitable to the nature of grace and there are some low and sinful motives agreeable to the nature of flesh and the Word of God is a curious discerner of both and it 's a great matter from what topicks a man doth take the argument that does mainly act his spirit in duty and as the highest rule of duty is to be found in the attributes of God so the noblest motives unto duty are to be found in them also Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God for he is merciful and gracious he is long-suffering slow to anger and of great kindness who knows if he will return and repent And Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be upright There are arguments enough to be taken from God and those of the highest kind to quicken a soul in all duties required of him And so it is also as to restraint from sin Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness Heb. 12.29 Let us have grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Exod. 34.14 Thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God 6. That they may be unto the Saints the ground of prayer and that is in three things 1 They desire that God would manifest his attributes it 's something of God that they would have discovered therefore they cry out with the Psalmist Psal 57.3 O send out thy light and thy truth send forth thy mercy and thy truth it is the discovery and manifestation of an attribute that is the great thing the people of God do beg in all their prayers Num. 14.17 Let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast said 2 It 's the great argument that they use in prayer the main argument of faith is from an attribute and a mans interest therein Remember me O Lord for this and pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy Nehem. 13.22 Psal 115.1 2 Chron. 14.11 for thy mercy and for thy truths sake And Asa argues from the power of God It 's all one to thee to save with few as with many 3 They do come to God under such an attribute suitable to the mercy that they beg and their faith is staid thereupon and 't is a great matter to look upon God under an attribute that answers our necessity as Christ when he would speak of Judgment Mat. 11.24 Joh. 17. Num. 14.14 and give God thanks for it he call him righteous Father and when he begs Sanctification for his people he calls him holy Father and so when Moses prays for the pardon of sin he calls him the Lord merciful and gracious 7. That they may admire and adore the Lord for the excellencies that are in his Divine Nature and that they may give him the glory of every attribute Glory is but the shining forth of an excellency the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effulgence and brightness of it Heb. 1.3 and our giving glory is but the reflexion of this excellency Now we give God the glory of his works and of his going forth unto the creature but we should not only give him the glory of these but also of the excellency of his own nature there is none holy as the Lord who is a God like our God pardoning iniquity If we had hearts truly spiritual we would admire God more for the excellencies that are in himself than for all his goings forth to the creature and so the Saints and Angels in Heaven do 8. That in the manifestation of every attribute and the working of it for his people the Saints may rejoyce and particularly give God the glory of that attribute which he hath now so eminently put forth for them and that they may glory in their inheritance thereby Psal 21.13 Be thou exalted O Lord in thy own strength so will we sing and praise thy power I will sing of thy power Psal 59.16 17. and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble To thee O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and the God of my mercy Rev. 4.8 and so do all the Saints holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which is and was and is to come The attributes of God are the last city of refuge that the Saints can flye unto Prov. 18.10 even the Name of the Lord is their strong tower and when the Lord doth make bare his arm and takes to himself his great power and sends forth his mercy and relieves his people in their distresses Oh! how then do the Saints triumph and rejoyce in him The last refuge is in God and the highest triumph is in God and these are the glorious ends for which God has made over his attributes unto the Saints § 3. See the glory of this inheritance that of the creatures is indeed glorious and that of promises is more but the foundation of all and top of all lyes in attributes It 's of no small concernment for a soul to know the glory of his own inheritance partly because there is a prophaneness of heart in all men that do undervalue spiritual things as well spiritual priviledges as spiritual truths or spiritual graces with
pleasure riches honours whom you have chosen and let them deliver you and then also the Devil will deride your folly as what is sweeter than revenge to evil Spirits and what will insult more over a person in misery a great part of revenge lies in this to laugh at our destruction for when revenge is once entred and has taken possession of a breast pity never returns there the Devil mocked the King of Babylon Esay 14.9 10. How art thou fallen from heaven O great Lucifer son of the morning he that gloried in the greatness of his power c. And the same God who doth beseech you here Psal 2. as if he had need of you he will deride and scorn you hereafter that God that doth laugh here at wicked men though Princes when they are engaged against his people and cause in the world the same God will also laugh at their misery and confusion in the life to come Therefore as it is a folly here to despise or deny Christ because you shall meet him one day For there is a day appointed when he shall judge quick and dead and we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ and then they that have despised him here shall be despised by him in that day for Christ says He that is ashamed of me before men of him will I be ashamed before my Father and before the holy Angels The same thing I say concerning God do not place your happiness and portion in another for the time will come that you must return unto God and if he be now rejected by you he will surely then reject you and say Depart from me I know you not And this doth absolutely set forth the folly of those that live without God and who have their portion in this world because God doth fill their bellies with his hid treasures Psal 17.14 by hid treasures he means exquisitas non vulgares delicias exquisite and not vulgar delices Mol. not only the common contentments and comforts of this life that other men have but the richest and choicest comforts that the world can afford God bestows upon them but it is only to fat them up unto the day of slaughter to fill their bellies that the fatting may go before the killing-time therefore he doth feed them as a Lamb in a large pasture § 2. Their misery also is very great who place their happiness in any thing else but in the Essence of God for they that do so live without God in this world 1. Their portion of creatures that they have chosen will fail them and I tell thee O man or woman that hast so done thou art but a steward and it 's but for a time that these things are put into thy hands thou must lay them down the Princes Robes must be laid down as well as the beggars rags the candle of the wicked shall be put out and you shall lye down in sorrow you have something now to supply you and bear up your spirits which are the creatures whom you have chosen for your gods your portion they are but that candle that you make so much of though it may burn long yet it will be put out at the last but the happiness that the godly man has chosen is the Sun it will not be put out 2. If thou be without God and placest thy happiness in any thing else all things that thou dost enjoy and place thy happiness in are given thee for a curse and for a plague as Saul gave his daughter Michol to David to be a snare to him and that which is thy sin shall be thy punishment you will have your portion in this life so you shall you have lost God in his image in his favour in his fellowship and in his fruition as Christ made that their punishment they will not come they shall not taste of my supper Sin cannot have a worse punishment than it self nor a worse name than it self so if you will not have your portion in God you shall not for ever but shall be without God here and without him hereafter when God shall be all in all 3. Your misery will be the greater that it was your own mercy that was offered to you you might have had I am for your portion now to see Abraham and Isaac sit down in the Kingdom of God and your selves shut out Oh what a misery will it be to reflect then upon those creatures that stole away your hearts from your Creator and one that offered to be a Redeemer This is the worm that will gnaw thee for ever to think I might have been as happy as any of the Saints in glory but I withstood my own happiness and am undone for ever and thus the miserableness of thy condition will be unutterable that the tongues of men and Angels are not able to express it And as men can never know what it is to have their portion in the Essence of God till they come to Heaven for hac in re cognitio nostra penè tantùm Grammatica est so a man can never tell what it is to lose a mans portion in God till he come to Hell And if a man could before-hand lay an ear unto that bottomless pit and but hear how the misery of this loss is set out there with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth it would cause a mans heart to fail and fall asunder within him as drops of water But because the way of the working of the Spirit in this life is by the Word and if men hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they believe if one should come from the dead again therefore this is the way that we must attend upon But more particularly his misery that loseth the chief good is unspeakable in these particulars 1. From the capacity of the soul of man The Lord did make himself to be the portion of his people and he created all souls capable of so high a happiness and glory as himself and his own Essence for they are all created for the enjoyment of God himself other creatures were created to enjoy a good within the compass of their own nature and therein did their perfection consist but man was created to enjoy a good above his own nature and in his enjoyment of it he was to be perfected and so long as he falls short of this he falls short of his perfection therefore when souls come to Heaven and enjoy God in his Essence they are called Souls made perfect Heb. 12.23 and all other perfections that men have are grounded upon this and do flow from it namely the perfection of their faculties graces and comforts Now of this capacity all the souls of men were created there is not the wickedest man in the world even such as perish for ever but they have souls created capable of God and of a happiness in his Essence and they can be happy no other way Now
a restless life is a miserable life it was that which David did groan under Psal 55.6 Oh that I had wings like a dove then I would flye away and be at rest and there is no unquietness like to that of the soul a restless spirit is one of the greatest miseries that can befal a man Eccles 2.23 speaking of men labouring in the creatures he saith his heart takes no rest at night even when he is taken out of the mill of his calling and his body is laid down to rest yet has the man a restlesness all the while and therefore it is that Christ speaks Mat. 11.29 and promises as the great inducement Come unto me all that are weary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and you shall find rest unto your souls Psal 38.8 I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart A mans heart trades up and down amongst the creatures and he is always driving on such troublesom trades that he is never at rest in his own spirit and therefore a man by believing is said to enter into rest and the greatest judgment that can befal a man is Heb. 4.3 that God should swear in his wrath against him that he should never enter into his rest it is not spoken of Heaven any otherwise than as faith gives a man an interest here for we that believe are entred into it because it is faith gives a man an interest in God and bottomes his soul upon him and upon nothing else for there is a threefold rest there spoken of in that Chapter 1 A rest of the Sabbath that men did enter into according to Gods institution when he ended his works which is one of the strongest places against the imaginary anticipation of the Law of the Sabbath that is in the Scripture for then men entred into this Sabbath when God ended his works but that was from the foundation of the world 2 There is a rest of Canaan into which Joshua brought them and they were entred in Davids time therefore that cannot be meant for then he would not have spoken of another rest Now 3 what rest is it then that remains yet for the people of God That rest is a ceasing from their own works from all their sinful cares labours practices and supplies which are to be had in the creature and a quieting and resting the soul in God which is our salvation and answerable unto a mans enjoyment of God Inquietum est cor donec requiescat in te such will this rest of his soul be and when he doth perfectly enjoy God then shall his rest and the Sabbath of the soul in glory be fully perfected 2. He that hath not the Lord for his portion will chuse unto himself any thing else and set his heart upon it and it 's the greatest misery of all unregenerate men that they have their portion in this life Now what is a mans portion Psal 14. but that which he chuses unto himself and that in which his soul rests and receives satisfaction that is the mans portion and this all men that are unregenerate have in the things below something that is not God though it be the works of God it 's not the Essence of God and the greatest spiritual judgment that can befal a man in this life is this to be given up to the ungodliness of a mans own spirit to have his portion in any thing else in that which is not God this is to lay out his money for that which is not bread whereas a gracious heart saith Thou art my portion O Lord. And Esay 57.6 Lam. 3.24 Esay 57.6 Amongst the smooth stones of the streets is thy portion They did use by the rivers to worship their Idols and to build Altars to them there as well as upon the mountains and under every green tree and because they could not all of them have smoothed stones fitted for it therefore they made choice of the fittest they could find the smooth stones of the brook which the water by its continual running had smoothed and in these you have placed your portion and the happiness that you expect is to come in by these and seeing you have chosen it you shall be sure to have it and Ipsi erunt sors tua ut non nisi lapides inutilia saxa possideas Forer They shall be thy portion thou shalt possess nothing but stones And by this means a man turns his glory into shame Phil. 3.19 God is a mans glory and it is highest honour to have an interest in him or have any relation to him though it be but by way of office much more is it an honour to have a portion in his Essence and therefore the Lord calls himself their ornament as Jer. 2.32 Can a maid forget her ornaments but they have forgotten me their ornament days without number and they turned it into shame all Idols are so called they offered sacrifice unto that shame it 's spoken of Baal-Peor that which is filthy in it self and so is matter of shame Hos 9.10 which is malum turpe and that which is dishonourable unto the man and therefore truly his shame which is nothing else but the apprehension of an excellency abased Now the greater the excellency the greater must the shame be and the confusion in the apprehension of the abasement thereof 3. For a man to have no recompence for all his labours but barely creatures and the comforts of them is a great misery It 's true that the Saints may lawfully have respect to the recompence of reward Heb. 11.26 so had Moses and so had Paul We make says he things not seen our scope and aim in all our labours and endeavours 2 Cor. 4.18 and so did Christ For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross and despised the shame It 's true there is a recompence in obedience Psal 19.11 in the keeping of Gods commandment is great reward the excellency and honour of the work is a sufficient reward for the worker though there were no reward afterwards to come Now Christ having bought all the services of the creatures he doth imploy them all in his Kingdom they are all sent by him to work in his Vineyard and there is no man shall labour for Christ one hour in vain but as ungodly men do perform to him unsanctified services so they shall have unsanctified rewards and as their services be seemingly services but really sins so shall their rewards be seemingly blessings but really curses And as Christ said of the Pharisees they fasted and they prayed and gave alms but they had a reward here below only they did it to be seen of men to be well spoken of for it which they obtained now to have a mans reward in any thing that is below God that 's a mans misery But the recompence of the Saints reward lies in God himself when he will take from
about it and so desirous to give a man ground of fulness of assurance that if there had been a greater God would have sworn by it but because there was no greater he swore by himself and so it 's here in this particular also the Lord is desirous to shew his Love unto his Saints to the utmost and Love is mainly seen in the bounty of it Now if there had been a greater gift than himself he would have bestowed it but because there was no greater he gave himself and made over his own Essence to them which is not only a strong ground of assurance that you shall be happy for he is the blessed God and his blessedness lies in himself and he is his own blessedness but that he shall according to the possibility of the creature become thy happiness also and it 's a sure ground that he that gives himself will deny nothing that may conduce to bring thee unto that glorious end which is the vision of Gods own Essence in which the height of his Love and of thy happiness 〈◊〉 and therefore Psal 84.11 He will be a sun and a shield he will give grace and glory and he can withhold or hold back nothing non prohibebit c. He that has given himself and could not withhold himself and his own Essence surely there is nothing else that he can withhold from thee that lovest him Vse 5 5. Admire the happiness of the Saints blessed men that you are who have your portion in the Lord Psal 144. ult O the blessedness and the infinite happiness of that people who have as their trust so their portion in God alone O happy must that creature be that hath his happiness in an infinite Being It is the glory of the righteousness of the Saints that it is setled in another and not in themselves and therefore the Saints should glory in their portion and make their boast of God Psal 34. My soul shall make her boast of God in God we boast all the day long The word in the Original is laudabit se shall praise it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admire its own happiness and blessed condition every man answerably unto what he places his happiness in so he doth solace himself and glory in it Psal 44.8 Rich men boast themselves in the multitude of their riches and praise their condition as the only happy men in the world but this doth properly belong unto the Saints and therefore though thou art in never so mean a condition below though thy commons be short and thou art fed in the world as a Lamb in a large place yet thy happiness ends in God and that doth please thee more than all the corn and wine and oyl in this world as it did Christ Psal 16. the Lord is my portion the lot is fallen to me in a fair ground I have a goodly heritage Who is able to measure that happiness that lies in an infinite Essence and an infinite goodness I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandments are exceeding broad so say all the Saints nothing is to be compared with a God Vse 6 Lastly If this be the happiness of the Saints then look through all the means that lead unto this end and let this be the great thing in your eye for Christ and Promises and Ordinances all of them are but to this end to bring you to God therefore look through them all to a further end Christ himself is but a medium thereunto and therefore for this happiness sigh and groan and be not satisfied with any thing else no not with the graces of God and communion with Jesus Christ but consider the enjoyment of the ultimate object of faith is God and then will our happiness be compleated when we shall be ever with the Lord then and not till then CHAP. IV. In the Covenant of Grace God makes over all the Persons in the Trinity SECT I. The distinct Offices and Acts of each Person in the Trinity in this Covenant § 1. I Now come unto the third Head in this great and glorious Promise and that is When the Lord doth promise to be the God of his people he doth make over to them in Covenant all the Persons in the Divine Nature for they had all of them a hand in the making of the Covenant and therefore all the promises of the Covenant come from them all they all of them do make over themselves unto the Saints and this will appear 1 by looking upon them all as free Agents and those that are absolute Lords and have dominion over their own acts and they have all given themselves 1 God the Father has made over himself I will be unto him a Father it 's spoken of Christ and therefore he is called by the Apostle the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and by this means he is our Father my Father and your Father my God and your God say Christ Joh. 20. Esay 9.6 2 He gives the Son unto us Unto us a Son is given and therefore he is called by way of eminency the gift of God Joh. 4.10 Rom. 8. He that spared not his own Son but gave him to death for us all And yet the Son is not so given by the Father but he doth also freely give himself for he saith I and my Father are one not only one in essence but also one in will Joh. 10.30 in reference unto the great work of Redemption and therefore God doth â—o sooner make the motion to him Psal 40. it is brought in as the consultation held in Heaven before the Lord dispatched Christ into the world but Christ saith Lo I come to do thy will O God Psal 40. Joh. 10.18 I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me There is none that takes away my life but I lay it down of my self 3 And the giving of the Spirit it 's sometimes said to be the gift of the Father and therefore called the Promise of the Father which they were to wait for Acts 1.8 and sometimes the gift of the Son I will send the Comforter again Joh. 14.26 The Comforter that I will send you from the Father Joh. 15.26 and the Comforter whom the Father will send in my name Which is not to be interpreted as a promise only of the gifts and graces of the Spirit to come in but at second hand but as the giving of the Son is a giving of his person and giving us an interest therein so giving the Spirit is a giving of the person of the Spirit also and giving us a personal interest in him and as the Father and Son are one so is the Spirit also one with them and therefore has the same will with them and doth freely bestow himself upon the Saints for their portion as the Son doth to accomplish the great designs of the Gospel 2. This will
of promise who is the earnest of your inheritance And so 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God through the sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ therefore by reason of the special interest that they have given unto the Saints in themselves they have undertaken distinct offices and this is plain in Son and Spirit which are terms of office He that is sent doth imply as much as to be imployed in the business of another and to receive his commission from another This will appear 1 in the work of Conversion and Election the Father begets calls draws For no man says Christ can come to me except God the Father draws him Christ he receives men but he receives none but those that the Father has given him he gives him the souls that he must save and they that come to him are so given him of the Father these shall come and none else he will in no wise cast them off And as Christ receives them so the Spirit unites God and the soul for he is the bond of union between them and their Head he that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit and we are one Spirit baptized into one body and therefore in the work of Election each of them have their distinct acts and office 2 In all the duties of the Saints they have their proper and distinct works as in hearing it is God the Father whose the truths are that they hear Eph. 3.9 they are a mystery hid in God from ages and from generations The book of his counsels are in the hand of him that sits upon the Throne who is the Word of God that is the Interpreter of the Fathers mind as the word of a man is of the mind of a man which I conceive is the proper meaning of that expression and so Joh. 1.17 The law came by Moses but grace and truth by Jesus Christ meritoriously for there is not a truth revealed but cost the blood of Christ and it is as the Lamb that was slain by virtue of his Priesthood that he doth open the book Rev. 5. And so the Spirit is the Eye-salve that gives us an understanding to receive the truths that are revealed and doth ingraft the word into the heart so in prayer also Joh. 5.20 the Father is prayed unto and therefore Christ teaches us in our prayers to look up unto God and to cry Our Father not but that Christ and the Spirit may be prayed to for they are God they are believed in and therefore are to be prayed unto but yet because of the different offices of the persons in this work of prayer therefore we are mainly directed to pray unto the Father so that he hears prayers and the Spirit indites them Rom. 8.26 and the Son he offers them with his own odours Rev. 8.3 3 It will appear also in the sealing of the Saints which I conceive is not the working of grace as some say and so the allusion is of a seal modo naturali and so the Spirit in working an impression of the image of Christ upon the soul is said to seal it leaving the like impression in the man but it is after a man believes Eph. 1.13 and I conceive that sealing is used in Scripture chiefly in a metaphorical sense to assure and to mark out a person as it 's said Ezech. 9. They were sealed that is set apart for it and seal the stone that is to make it sure to ratifie and confirm it Now there are the distinct seals of all the persons unto the evidences of the Saints they have all of them a distinct witness 1 Joh. 5.7 The Father the Word and the Spirit and they three agree in one they do all of them testifie the same thing but yet they do all of them give a distinct witness in the hearts of the Saints as they did witness unto Christ the Father from Heaven and the Son in his Baptism and the Spirit descending as a Dove so they do also unto the souls of the Saints and therefore Sacraments are called Seals not that they do work the righteousness of faith in any man for they do not work grace but strengthen and witness grace but because they do assure it unto the man that doth receive them and for that cause are said to be sealing Ordinances § 2. Now these distinct acts of office they do perform are grounded upon the distinct interest that the Saints have in them all and I call these acts of Office upon a double ground 1 Because they are but for a time during the present administration of the mediatory Kingdom which shall have its period and then the Father will draw souls to Christ no more the Son will present sacrifice to God no more 1 Cor. 15.24 the Spirit will no longer assist call purge sanctifie seal but all the graces of the Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ shall be perfected and all Gods ends in the Covenant of grace attained and then the offices that were undertaken but for the accomplishment of these ends shall be laid down 2 Because there is a personal glory that doth redound unto each person by these offices there be natural acts that do add to the essential glory the glory of the nature but acts of Office being personal they add unto the glory of the persons that do perform them 1 Cor. 5.17 18. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself the Father hath the glory thereof and the Son he hath taken the form of a servant and paid the service and made a purchase and he has the glory thereof all Nations are given unto him and the honour of it in the hearts of all the Saints Joh. 5.23 That all men may honour the Son c. And the Holy Ghost he works all in the hearts of the Saints he begins the good work Phil. 1.6 and he perfects it for all the graces of the Saints are but fruits of the Spirit and therefore he has a distinct glory also The great end and intent of God in the new Covenant was not only to shew forth the Attributes of his Nature and to glorifie them in a higher way than ever they were formerly under the first Covenant discovered as we have formerly seen but also to exalt the glory of all the persons in the hearts of the Saints that they might with hearts ravished with the love goodness and the offices of them all cry out Glory be unto the Father Son and holy Ghost and pray unto them all Rev. 1.5 6. Grace be unto you and peace from him which was and is and which is to come and from the seven Spirits before the Throne and from Jesus the faithful and true witness the first begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth who has loved us and washed us from our sins by his own blood and has made
but Rev. 14.1 they have the Fathers name also written in their foreheads Rev. 14.1 It was an ordinary manner in those parts that servants should receive the name of the master for a mark of the person for whom they lived and Souldiers the name of their General or chief Commander c. and this mark was sometimes in the right hand and sometimes in the forehead so that they are professed servants not only of Christ but of God the Father also whose servant Christ is in all that he doth and therefore Rev. 11.16 17. The kingdoms of the earth are said to become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ not only Christs Kingdom but the Fathers Kingdom also though it 's true that the actual and immediate administration of it is in the hand of the Son Joh. 5.23 The Father judges no man yet in the Son the Father reigns There is a time for the regress of Christs Kingdom into the hand of the Father that he may immediately administer it again as he did from the beginning and that I conceive is meant by the subjection of the Son 1 Cor. 15.28 Then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him 1 Cor. 15.28 c. He is subject during all the time of his Kingdom for he does rule but as the Fathers servant and he says As the Father gave me commandment even so do I but there is a greater subjection that yet Christ must shew unto the Father 1 He is now the Fathers servant and yet so as he rules the world and therefore as you have heard he is called God the Fathers King but after the day of Judgment having put down all rule and all authority and power that was substituted by him he shall give up his government into the hand of the Father and he shall rule the creatures as Lord of all things as Mediator no more but having brought them under his government unto the Father he together with that great Church and general assembly of the first-born shall come under the immediate government of the Father for ever 2 He is now the Fathers servant and subject to him but it is in a secret and unobserved way the government is in his hand though the Father rules in him but then he shall lay down all at the Fathers feet before men and Angels and become subject to the glory of the Father § 3. God the Father stands unto Christ in the relation of a Friend or a Companion and so he calls him Zac. 13.7 the word there doth properly signifie two things Zac. 13.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Socium a mans companion one that he doth enjoy intimate communion and fellowship with 2 Amicum sive proximum a friend Christ is one that is near to God the Father one with whom he doth enjoy the most intimate society and so much the expression of his being in the bosom of the Father doth intimate Joh. 1.18 Joh. 1.18 for there are three things which it notes 1 arctissimam conjunctionem the nearest conjunction 2 ardentissimam dilectionem the most ardent love 3 secretissimorum communicationem Jam. 2.23 the communication of the deepest secrets it is used of wives Deut. 13.6 and of friends Luke 16.23 Now there are four great acts of friendship as the Philosopher has observed 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benevolence Arist Ethic. l. 9. c. 9. Deut. 13.6 a true well-wishing desiring his good as the good of his own soul as we read thy friend which is as thy own soul Thus as the Son seeks the glory of the Father so does the Father seek the glory of the Son as truly as his own glory so Joh. 14.13 That the Father may be glorified in the Son and therefore he saith He that honours not the Son honours not the Father Joh. 5.23 so he doth seek the salvation and good of the Saints even as his own glory for as he will be glorified in the Son so he will also be glorified in the Saints and therefore though the Lord Jesus Christ be in glory already yet he is not satisfied with his own glory but takes care that his friends may be partakers of it and therefore he will leave Heaven once more that he may come again to fetch you for his glory is not perfect without you and this he doth as he is the Fathers servant also because the glory of the Father as manifested is not perfected till all the Saints be brought home to him and are glorified with him 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concord friends have one mind idem velle idem nolle est firma amicitia to will and nill the same thing is firm friendship Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth chuse the same things so it is with Christ Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one that is we have the same will and we act in the same time we carry on the same design and so it is with the Saints also and therefore he doth by an almighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Isa 56. subdue their will unto his will that they chuse the things that please him and they say always Not my will but thy will be done and therefore Salvian makes this the happiness of the Saints Lib. 1. de guber Dei p. 8. quia ex voto agunt humiles sunt hoc volunt pauperes sunt pauperie delectantur sine ambitione sunt ambitum respuunt c. because they live by prayer they are humble c. 3 In friendship there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beneficence a readiness and a willingness to do all good unto the party beloved so is God the Father a friend to Christ he gives him glory he sets him at his own right hand and gives him dominion over the works of his hands and has put all things under his feet Psal 8. And so he is a friend unto the Saints also for he has made them heirs of all things and has given them all things necessary unto life and godliness the most precious things he bestows upon them himself and his Son and his Spirit his Grace the ministry of Angels and he has subjected all the actings of his Providence unto their prayers and they all work together for their good he doth imploy them in the highest and most honourable services and he doth bestow upon them the greatest rewards 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All friendship is in communion Arist Eth. 1. so the Father is a friend to Christ Joh. 5.20 The Father loves the Son and shews him all things that he himself doth Abraham is called the friend of God and therefore there is such a fellowship that the Lord has with him that he cannot hide from Abraham the thing that he means to do and so there is a communion that he has with the Saints a constant communion they come and sup with him and
is the visible Church and the labourers are the officers and the workmen that do labour therein and they are said to be hired 1 ratione pacti because there doth as it were a bargain and an agreement pass between God and them for answerable unto a mans end such is the implicite agreement that he makes with God and answerable unto that so God will give a man a reward if a man do it for profit he shall have it but then he is said not to serve Christ but his own belly and if he do it for praise of men Christ saith They have their reward c. 2 Ratione praemii in regard of reward because there is no man that shall labour in Christs Vineyard but he shall have his reward answerable unto the penny that he himself did agree for for no man doth labour there in vain there is a certain wages promised him c. And this belongs unto God the Father there is not a man whose gifts you injoy and whose labours you have and do prize but he is hired by the Father and he it is that gives him his hire Now we know that labourers in the vineyard have been very precious to the Saints and are the glory of the Churches a Crown of twelve Stars Rev. 12.1 they are all of them hired by him that is the Husbandman and the Lord of the Vineyard c. 4 It 's the husbandman that waters the vineyard and the vine that he himself has planted as it 's said Esay 27.3 I will water it every moment and there is a double watering sometimes he does it by the dew Hos 14.5 I will be as the dew to Israel and he shall grow as the lily c. that is in a secret silent and insensible way as the Manna fell in the dew without any observation there is a secret River that doth refresh the City of God Psal 46.5 and the Church is secretly refreshed and supported no man knows how and it 's also watered by the rain the former and the latter rain in a more glorious way Psal 68.10 the Lord comes in and doth revive the Church and all men shall see that it is his work and that it is from Heaven only and both put together as the dew and as showers upon the grass Mic. 5.6 which tarrieth not for man it waits not for the sons of men the Lord doth wait for no humane concurrence or the joyning in of any of the creatures but he doth water his own vine himself that it doth flourish and grow and these waters are all the gifts and graces of the Spirit which the Father doth send for the giving of the Spirit is called the promise of the Spirit Acts 1.4 for the succus vitalis the vital juyce of this Vine is the Spirit 5 He pruneth it as he is the Husbandman the unfruitful branches he takes away Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away but yet there is the skill of the husbandman in it who will have in his Church no unfruitful branches though for a while they may continue yet he will gather out of his Kingdom whatever doth offend and whoever works iniquity and he prunes it in the fittest time in its season when it may be best for the vine It may be some do wonder that the Lord lets wicked men alone to continue in the Church so long why they are not immediately cast out truly if the Father be the Husbandman let us leave it to his pruning for it 's his work and he will do it in his time and season we must not undertake to direct him which season is best he keeps it in his own power and he doth it at the fittest time so that after this pruning the other branches may grow better and the Father hath undertaken it and though there may be some hypocrites that may a long time escape the eyes of men and the censure of the Church yet they shall not escape the Fathers eye who is the Husbandman There is a spiritual Excommunication that goes forth against them from him and he will surely cast them out as dead branches and he hath provided a fire for them and they are burnt and there is no man that burns so fiercely in Hell as such dry wood prepared for the fire for all the vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction as well as the vessels of mercy are prepared for glory 6 The fruitful branches he doth purge as the husbandman that they may bring forth more fruit and in this are the two parts of Sanctification 1 The destroying of the old man for the Lord Jesus Christ hath as well bought off in our Redemption the power of sin as the guilt of sin Tit. 2.14 he hath redeemed you from all iniquity that he may have the more communion with you Jam. 4.8 and that he may fit you the more for use 2 Tim 2.21 If a man purge himself c. and also that your services may be the more pleasing unto him Mal. 3.3 1. He doth it by Ordinances Eph. 5.2 6. He doth cleanse them by the washing of water through the word and they are clean through the word that he doth speak unto them 2. Sometimes by the inward motions of the Spirit discovering the filthiness of sin and stirring up a mans heart to hate it and himself for it that a man shall make it his business to mortifie sin and as Christ suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin so he doth arm himself with the same mind his resolution is the armor that strengthens and establishes his heart therein 3. Many times the Lord doth it by shedding abroad his love in the soul so that the sense thereof makes a man to purifie himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit as the exhortation also is 2 Cor. 7.1 Having this hope such exceeding great and precious promises let us perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 The reviving of the new man it 's the Fathers end that they may bring forth more fruit for they are ordained to bear fruit a vine is of no worth if it be not fruitful therefore Col. 2.19 they are said to increase with the increase of God 1. Some say the increase of God is a great and glorious increase as the mountains of God and the Cedars of God Col. 2.19 and the wrestling of God 2. Some say it is the increase of God quae est à Deo tanquam à primario efficiente which is from God as the prime efficient Paul may plant and Apollo water but God gives the increase therefore we should honour the Father in the work of Sanctification as well as we honour the Father in his Election 3. Some say the increase of God is ad Deum tanquam finem ultimum is to God as the last en◠And when doth a man bear more fruit 1 When he doth the duties that he did formerly neglect and
quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.5 they are made alive unto God 3 There is a death in sorrow and under misery as the Jews were in their Captivity they were dry bones dead and their restoring of peace and comfort was a resurrection from the dead Ezech. 37.12 and so Heman is free amongst the dead as they that are wounded and lye in the grave c. and in opposition thereunto there is a life of consolation 1 Thess 3.8 1 Thess 3.8 Now we live if you stand fast in the Lord that is this will be one of the greatest comforts of our lives our happiness our glory and crown of rejoycing c. Rom. 7.9 Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the law once alive in performances and alive in presumption alive in comforts alive in confidences and that is the meaning of Hab. 2.4 The just shall live by his faith Hab. 2.4 and in the same sense it is used Heb. 10.38 He that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.38 now the just shall live by his faith There is a double sense of these words 1 In matter of Justification Gal. 3.11 No man is justified by the law it is evident for the just shall live by faith 2 In matter of consolation in any affliction and so faith doth not only make a man live keep body and soul together but it makes a man live a comfortable and a chearful life also non est vivere sed valere vita c. 4 There is a death eternal which is an everlasting separation from the vision and fruition of God who is the fountain of life and so we read of the second death and so there is a life of glory Joh 3.36 He that believes not in the Son of God shall not see life but the wrath of God abides upon him and Heaven is commonly in the Scripture called everlasting life c. Now in all these respects the Son lives by the living Father and they that are one with him do live by him 1. Christ as Mediator receives from the living Father a life of justification he was made under the Law and under the curse 2 Cor. 5.21 it pleased the Father to make all our sins meet upon him he did bear the sins of many he did appear the first time of his coming into the world loaden with transgression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he shall appear the second time without sin Heb. 9.28 and this was by the Fathers imputation Hostilem incursum designat c. and his voluntary susception but when he arose from the dead he is acquitted by God the Father and therefore is said to be justified in the Spirit i. e. by his own Godhead and 1 Pet. 3.18 he is said to be quickned by the Spirit that is he raised up himself by the power of his own Godhead so being raised he is justified that is he is acquitted from the guilt of all the sins that he did before lye under and so he is taken from prison he did not break prison but he was released and had a fair discharge and the judgment that was past upon him he was absolved from Isa 53.8 Now as the sentence of his condemnation came forth from the Father so must also his justification and as he says Joh. 16.10 Ye see me no more to note that his death should fully satisfie and his sacrifice be perfectly offered as for other Priests they came often to present their Sacrifices which were imperfect and the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin off the sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. He received from the living Father a life of holiness and sanctification Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell What fulness is here meant Plenitudo gratiae habitualis an habitual fulness of grace Joh. 1.16 Of his fulness we have all received grace for grace as he was anointed by the Father he received not the Spirit by measure Joh. 3.34 for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him It 's true that grace in the humane nature of Christ which is the subject of habitual grace is not infinite for that only belongs to the Holiness of God but yet there is all fulness in it because it 's laid up in him that he might dispence it and there is a sufficiency and there are supplies of the Spirit for all the Saints and therefore he is called Dan. 9.24 The most holy Dan. 9.24 or holiness of holinesses the humane nature is capable of more grace and therefore of greater glory by reason of its personal union than all the creatures in Heaven and Earth either men or Angels for he is the Son of Righteousness 3. He received from the living Father a life of consolation It 's true if we look to his condition amongst the creatures so he was a man of sorrows but if we respect his communion with the Father and the fulness of the consolation of the Spirit for where the Spirit is truly a Spirit of Sanctification there also he is in perfection a Spirit of Consolation so he is said Psal 45.7 To be anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows his blessed Soul had experience as of greater and higher priviledges so of far greater comforts than of the creature men or Angels and though it 's true that when he bore the sins of men and the wrath of God there was substractio visionis and therefore he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as extra confortium vivere Mar. 14.33 to live without society he was to be sequestred as in a wilderness and set apart unto grief and to nothing else yet it was but for a short time for as the Sun did recover its light again so did his Spirit also and his Soul was filled with unspeakable joys as he before under-went unutterable sorrows therefore he says Joh. 15.10 I kept my Fathers commandment and abide in his love my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth c. Psal 16.11 4. He received from the living Father a life of glory Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and therefore Rev. 3.21 Rev. 3.21 He that overcomes I will grant to sit with me upon my Throne even as I overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne c. Jesus Christ has a Throne on which he now sits ruling the Nations having received a Kingdom from the Ancient of days and he has a Throne in the Church a Throne is set in Heaven Rev. 4.2 and there is a more glorious Throne to be erected at the last and great day when he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory c. but all this while Heaven is the Fathers Throne and when the works of God are
perfected here below the Kingdom shall be given up into the hands of the Father again and thus Christ as Mediator as sent by the living Father so he received from him a fourfold life and therefore may be fitly said to live by the Father Joh. 5.26 But it may be objected from Joh. 5.26 As the Father hath life in himself so he has given to the Son to have life in himself How is it said that Christ hath life in himself when he receives his life from the Father I answer Christs meaning is this he did publish himself to be the fountain of life and he doth commonly tell you that there is a double fountain of life 1 there is the living Father but so life could not have been derived unto us being dead for there is no way to receive any thing from God but by the hand of a Mediator therefore the Father hath appointed another fountain of life and that is his Son and in him he hath laid up life as in a common Treasury though as Mediator the fountain of his life be in God yet in reference unto us the Father hath given him to have life in himself it 's not spoken of him as he is man but as he doth raise the dead by an Almighty power and they shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live as he is an everlasting Father and begets souls unto the Lord and as it is given unto him and therefore it must belong to him as Mediator and not as God and it is said He has given this power to him because he is the Son of man therefore the meaning is that God the Father being the fountain of life man being fallen and separated from God and dead in trespasses and sins now if the Lord will convey life unto us it must be by another hand and therefore he hath made the Son the fountain of life and the fulness thereof to dwell in him and so the Son has life in himself as the Father has life in himself the Father conveys it to the Son and the Son receives it of purpose to derive it unto us 3. Having seen what the life is that the Son receives from the living Father and how he lives by the Father let us in the next place consider how we that are members live by the Son also and it will appear that answerably to the life that Christ received from the Father so is he the fountain of life unto the Saints 1 A life of Justification for he is become Jehovah our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 2 Cor. 5.21 we are made the righteousness of God in him so that there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus for the debt is paid and the bond is cancelled for the Lord hath brought in an everlasting Righteousness and such as sin can never spend Thus we live by him a life of Justification he is made unto us of God wisdom and righteousness 2 We have from him a life of Holiness and Regeneration we are dead in our trespasses and in the uncircumcision of our life till by him we are quickned and therefore 1 Cor. 15.44 it 's said The first man Adam was made a living soul that was his state in his creation and God did breathe into him the breath of life and he became a living soul that is such a nature as he had such he could propagate unto his posterity and so from the first Adam we are made living souls but if they were dead Adam could not revive and quicken them again and therefore that belongs to the second Adam he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in spiritum vivificum for a vivifick spirit we have the unction from the holy One 1 Joh. 2.20 and therefore the Spirit that we receive and that dwells in us is the Spirit of the Son he is the head from whence our influences come and he is the root from which all our sap is derived it is of his fulness only that we receive grace for grace 3 We receive from Christ a life of consolation for he it is that sends the Comforter the message is Esay 61.2 he is sent to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captive and to publish the acceptable year of the Lord the year of Jubilee the time of rejoycing Isa 57.15 his work is to revive the spirits of the contrite ones he gives them strong consolation and good hope through grace Hab. 3.2 and that 's the meaning of that place Hab. 3.2 Revive thy work in the middle of the years The Church was then in captivity and in great affliction and they were as dead men under the hand of God it is such a reviving that they beg and all the incomes that the Saints have from the Spirit of consolation it is a life that is derived unto them from the Lord Jesus Christ from whom the Spirit of Sanctification comes from him comes also the Spirit of Consolation 4 We receive from Christ a life of Glory he is gone to Heaven as our Fore-runner and having prepared a place for us he will come again and fetch us we can never be received up to glory if Christ had not been first received and then he receives us also into the same glory we enter into our masters joy it is his by a personal purchase and propriety it is ours by our mystical union and fellowship with him only and therefore it is said That he doth raise us up at the last day And Phil. 3.21 He shall change our vile body that it may be like to his glorious body and when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.3 so that our life is hid with Christ in God but when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory Col. 3.3 4. God the Father is the fountain of life unto the Saints and that two ways 1 as he is the fountain of life unto Christ and as he lives by the Father 2 As by the Fathers appointment and decree he is made the fountain of life unto us 1 As the Father is the fountain of life unto Christ for Joh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live if he did not give himself we could not live by him Now Col. 3.4 And when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in glory Christ is our life causativè non essentialiter c. and he gives us life because he hath life in himself but that is given him from the Father there is a righteousness in him by which we are accepted and the fulness of habitual grace in him by which we are sanctified all this is laid up in him by the Father it is upon this ground only that he is the fountain of life unto us because he himself lives by the Father therefore in all the glory of Christ Rom. 5.10 the Father should be honoured
so to all those that wait for them the Father will say I am thy Father and the Son say I am thy Saviour and the Spirit I am thine therefore exercise faith upon your interest in all the persons and in particular upon your interest in God the Father and be much in communion with the Father seeing communion is personal and there is a distinct interest in all the persons therefore a distinct communion that which was the happiness of these persons communion and the infinite satisfaction that they took one in another that shall be thy happiness and thy portion for ever § 3. We are to exercise faith upon all the persons in this manner made over under the second Covenant and to live upon this principle in all our ways 1 That they are all of them objects of faith is clear for the ultimate object of faith is God 1 Pet. 1.21 Now as we are to take in the whole Scripture as objectum immediatum the immediate object and every part of the Scripture is to be believed as an object of faith so the whole Godhead all the attributes of God and all the persons in the Godhead are by faith to be rested upon for there are 1 Thess 3.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defects of faith so long as faith takes not in its whole object it hath not its perfect work Jam. 1.3 2 We are to worship them all though not as apart one from another yet as in our apprehension distinguished and we are to give unto them distinct worship as Christ says Joh. 4.23 The time cometh that you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father he that will worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship him c. Now worship is twofold either cultus naturalis qui ex ipsa Dei natura pendet natural worship c. There is no man that did ever worship a God but he did acknowledge that this God he was to believe in and hope in love and pray to and to hear and obey him in all things and there is a cultus institutus qui ex liberrima Dei voluntate pendet c. instituted worship which depends on the will of God Now the highest act of worship is in believing and it 's unto this that all the Institutions which are but media cultûs means of worship are properly subordinate for cultus institutus medii locum tantùm supplet ad cultum primarium being to worship the persons we must give to each of them that which is the main of worship and that is to believe in them 3 It is from the objects of faith that the life of the soul comes in Esa 38.16 By these things men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit for the Prophet Esaias had said Take a lump of figs and lay it upon the boil and he shall recover by this promise I shall live and many others that come after shall live upon the promises by this experiment that I have had and found of them for faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mouth and eye of the soul Now the delight of the eye in seeing comes from the object and the nourishment of the body comes in by the mouth and therefore it 's said Eccles 6.7 That all the labour of the man is for his mouth it 's from the meat that a man eats that the strength of his body is derived and therefore Christ as the object of faith saith That his flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed it notes strength and nourishment comes from the object of faith and the way of conveyance is by union it is by sucking the sap and the sweet of it crede manducâsti and if any object of faith do not contribute its part and the soul lives not upon it it will in its strength decay and therefore we live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 because it is from the direct acts of faith that life comes in and here are two things to be spoken to 1 What the objects of faith are that the soul is to take in in the making over of each person under the second Covenant 2 What acts of faith the soul is to put forth upon them 1. The objects of faith that the soul is to take in in each of the persons are these 1 The persons themselves we are to believe the record of them all 1 Joh. 5.10 Joh. 5.45 we are to hear and learn of the Father and we are to believe in the Son To him give all the Prophets witness 1 Joh. 5.6 Act. 10.43 that whosoever believes in him shall have remission of sins Joh. 3.16 and we are to believe in the Spirit it is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth and so we are to come unto them in duties in prayer and hearing and in all acts of worship and the ground of it is because we are to believe in him for they cannot pray to him in whom they have not believed Rom. 10.14 Rom. 10.14 Now though the benefit that we have by all these persons is exceeding great the Father adopts and justifies us by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the remission of sins and the Son is Jehovah our righteousness and he gives us power to become the sons of God and the Spirit is the bond of our union the principle of our sanctification and the guide of our way yet the ground of all this interest in their benefits is our interest in their persons so that as our interest in the Mediator and union with his person is far greater than all the benefits that we receive by him because it is the fountain from which they do all flow and the root upon which they do all grow 1 Joh. 5.12 so it 's here also interest in the persons is the foundation of all our interest in their benefits for if we had no title unto the persons we could have no benefit by them or any part thereof and therefore as they are personal promises that are the great promises of the Gospel so they are personal interests that are the great priviledges of the Gospel and that in which the main of the life of a Saint lyes so that as when Christ is set forth by God the Father as a propitiation lifted up in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.25 the soul by the recumbency of faith casts it self upon him leaves it self with him Psal 10.14 so the Father and Spirit are set forth in the Gospel as the God of consolation and the soul is to rely roll and cast it self upon them and as we are not barely to look upon the benefits that come by Christ so neither are we to the benefits that come by them but it is their persons ens incomplexum not things that the soul is to rest upon 2
is something wanting in him that must be supplied by the creature and so as Salvian saith of the Name of Christ Dicimur Christiani in opprobrium Christi We are called Christians to the reproach of Christ it is true that the name of God is called upon us but it is unto Gods dishonour the Lord takes it as a high dishonour done unto him when his people dig to themselves broken cisterns and forsake him that is the Fountain of living water when they shall do suit and service to another god and stretch out their hands unto a strange god the Lord will search it out it 's a dishonour and will be a great provocation to him whereas they that have an eye to him alone they do honour him Daniel who said Psal 18.31 The God whom I serve is able to deliver me from the den of lyons and David who says There is no god save the Lord and there is no rock save our God these honoured God in advancing him above all things it 's true that men do fancy to themselves other Rocks to flye unto but it is but in vain for there is no other Rock these are but the imaginations of men but in truth and reality there is no such thing there is no Rock but our God and Paul having nothing but yet possessing all things and so did Habakkuk 3.17 For it was a true way of reasoning that Elkanah used when Hannah was sad and discontented for the want of a son he took it to be as a disparagement to him that she thought not her self so happy in him and in his love as sometimes she had professed and he conceived it was her duty to do she should have counted him beyond ten sons so doth the Lord reason with you when your hearts go out to the creatures and you are troubled in the getting of them and disquieted in the losing of them it is because you do not think him better than a world for if you did you would not go out so unto these things with such intenseness of spirit and affection We read Gen. 20.16 the husband is said to be unto the woman the covering of her eyes not only that she lift them not up wantonly unto another man but also that she should look upon no other for protection and for provision if a woman should wait upon another and apply her self wholly to another man and neglect to please her husband and to be a help unto him might he not look upon it as a dishonour and say to her Is it not because there is something in me wanting towards you that I cannot protect you and provide for you and therefore you go out in your heart affection and observance to another man he looks upon it as the greatest dishonour that his wife could do him Mat. 22.32 Mat. 22.32 Christ proves the living of the souls of the Saints in statu separato after death and a resurrection from that place I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac it 's a great question wherein lies the fulness of the argument I conceive it to amount unto thus much If God be of infinite power and goodness then they that have an interest in him and stand in a peculiar relation to him they must have from him whatever is necessary to their happiness it were else every way unworthy of God and that upon which ground no man would seek or prize an interest in him but happiness without life there can be none and therefore if he will be the God of his people he must be happiness to them and if so he must give life to them also for he cannot be the God of the dead but of the living To make a people to have a special interest in him and to say that they are dead for all their interest in God and that he is the God of the dead is a thing every way unworthy of him and dishonourable to him 2. As it dishonours God so it doth dishonour us also for all the creatures were given unto man in his creation as servants and he had dominion over them they were all put under his feet Gen. 1. therefore God brought them all unto man in their creation as the lord of them he gave them their names now for a man to put his neck under the yoke of a servant and to lay down his soul on the ground unto them that went over it doth argue a great baseness in a man and is a great dishonour to him it 's true the creature will invite a man as the bramble Judg. 9.13 Come and put your trust under my shadow place your confidence in me now would it not be a dishonour for a man to go and put his trust in the shadow of the bramble And so are all the creatures in reference unto shelter and defence if a Senator of Rome did marry a servant and not a free woman he did subire maculam infamiae incur infamy so it is when the soul will be married unto the creature which is but the servant there is a blemish that lights upon that man And much more when it is done from a low spirit and the soul doth chuse it that shews that he is ad mancipium natus as when a servant amongst the Jews would not go free his ear was bored Exod. 21.6 not only as a token of perpetual servitude which as Cajetan observes was not only done in perpetuam servitudinem sed in poenam ignominiam neglectâ libertate When the Lord has set mens spirits at liberty from the creatures and if they will not go free but they will be in bondage to their own servants still it 's a great reproach to them and a sign of great baseness of mind whereas the Spirit of Christ in his people is a princely Spirit and that saith 1 Cor. 6. I will not be brought under the power of any thing and therein properly doth a mans liberty consist when he looks upon God only as necessary and all things in the world tanquam adiaphora as things indifferent that he can enjoy them or go without them for his happiness is not in them 3. Consider the creatures unto whom thou flyest for sufficiency they can do neither good nor evil it 's spoken of Idols and all creatures in which we look for a sufficiency they are but Idols and we are exhorted Jer. 10.5 6 7. Be not afraid of them for they can do no evil neither is it in them to do them good for as much as there is none like unto thee O Lord for thou art great and thy name is great in might who will not fear thee If the creatures could do us good they might be sought unto and they might be feared if they could do us hurt but it is not in the creature to do either if they do us evil it is because the Lord has bid them as it 's said of Shimei The Lord
has bid Shimei curse and if Job lose all that he has though by the hand of creatures yet he saith The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away there is no evil in the city that the Lord has not done and therefore Christ saith Thou couldst have no power over me unless it were given thee from above Now as you look upon them as vain that worship an Idol and stand in fear of it though you know they do but bow down to the stock of a Tree yet a deceived heart has turned him aside c. that he cannot discern the deceit and say Is there not a lye in my right hand Esa 44.20 so when men fear creatures it is but as if a man feared an Idol that can do him no hurt and they can do you no good though every man seeks the face of the Ruler and they think that he is able to shew them much favour in judgment yet let him do what he can Prov. 29.26 Psal 33.15 and intend never so much good to you all that is good to you is from the Lord in his judgment He doth fashion the hearts of men and he considers all their ways c. they have the same apprehensions that he gives them and the same affections and intentions if they do thee any good it is because the Lord has assisted and touched their hearts for they have but such a fashion as he gives them therefore he is said to ascend and descend Prov. 30.2 3 4. it 's conceived by some to be an expression taken from Jacobs Ladder in which there were Angels ascending and descending as it is Joh. 1. ult but yet in all the administrations of the best of creatures it is he that ascends and descends for all the good of the creature is at his dispose and he must give the creature a commission to do good as well as to do us evil and will you flye unto that for sufficiency that can neither do good nor evil 4. Will you place your sufficiency in the creature when it cannot reach unto that which is best in the man Every holy man doth take a measure of all things as they relate unto his soul and that which doth his soul most good that he judges best for him and that which doth the soul most hurt that he judges worst for him for Saints measure all prosperity by that of the soul but all creature-comforts are but food that perishes and therefore we are exhorted not to labour for them for they will all die unto us Joh. 6.27 and therefore that men might not dote upon carrying them with them into another world consider we brought nothing into this world 1 Tim. 6.7 neither shall we carry any thing out of this world as soon as we have put off this Tabernacle all the necessary supports thereof will be of use to us no more for they are all in reference to the Tabernacle it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He only can cure the heart that formed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys de poenit hom 4. when God establishes the heart in peace no creature can move it 5. The creatures have no good in them but what is borrowed All the good that is in the creatures is either real or apparent 1 If there be any real good in any creature it is derived unto it from God they are all cyphers and they have no good in them of themselves but what is put into them if God will put much of his Spirit into a Magistrate as he did into Moses the abilities of many men shall be in that one man he shall rule his people with great success and if the Lord will afterward take it away and divide it amongst men it is as he will dispose of it whether to fill the vessel or empty it and if the Lord will create the fruit of the lips peace a Minister shall be able to speak peace and administer a word that shall be in season unto him that is weary but else though he speak with never so much eloquence it will be to no purpose there is no more in it than God puts into it 2 There is appearing good and that is put into the creatures by the subtilty of Satan and by the lusts of men 1 By the subtilty of Satan for he intending to make use of the creature to betray the soul of a man doth put a fair gloss upon it and a varnish as we see he did to Christ when he represented to him the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them in a moment of time so doth Satan represent the creatures to us in his own glass and deceives us with the apparent good that is in them 2 There is also something that the lusts of men do add and that is a conceit that there is some such excellency in it Prov. 18.11 it is a strong hold and a high wall it 's desirable for food and pleasant to the taste but it is but in his own conceit and all the pomp of the world is but fancy and all the great things of the world are not great in reality but only that great affection and the high apprehension that men have of them makes them seem so to be Psal 36.9 but with God only is the fountain of life by life is meant all good and it is in God originally as in a fountain it is in the creatures but derivatively as in a stream and therefore it 's the greatest folly for a man to leave the fountain to go to the streams and to forsake the Sun to take our light from the Moon and the Stars which shine only by a borrowed light and upon this ground the Saints are not much troubled at the miscarriages in creatures when they promise fair but by and by their hopes are nipt and it brings not the work to perfection therefore they regard it not and say it is but a bucket broken and a stream dried up a pipe stopped but there is as much water in the fountain still as ever and unto that he has immediate recourse 6. A man's retiring unto creatures in any of his straits is that which doth cause God to leave him for no man is to have a double dependence because that argues a double heart God will be all in all for supports and supplies as well as Christ will be all in all for righteousness and salvation 2 Chron. 26.15 and therefore it is said That Vzziah was helped till he was strong he was marvellously helped but then his heart withdrew from God unto his own supports and then the Lord left him to them which proved his overthrow for with him only the fatherless find mercy they that are truly so in their own esteem and account and have none to look to or make provision for them any more than fatherless children have it is in him that they shall find mercy but they that say unto
seek a sufficiency in themselves and too much omit fastning upon the Lord Jesus who is our Saviour to the uttermost c. Now we come to shew the evil of a self-sufficiency in both these more particularly 1. In respect of gifts for a man to look upon himself and grow in love with his own shadow and to depend upon them and glory in them consider the evil of it in these particulars 1 They are another mans goods they are not thine own men are ready to think so of riches and honours that which is without a man but as for the abilities of his own mind they think those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper goods if any thing be but yet as it is said of riches it 's true also of gifts and all those inward qualifications Luke 16. they are another mans and they are so in a double respect 1 Because they are given thee from another What hast thou that thou hast not received he that doth boast of 1 Cor. 4.7 or trust in any thing that he has received he doth thereby say that it is his own and that he has not received it for if thou hast received it then thy dependence is upon another and not upon thy self mendax de proprio loquitur cùm autem in bonis laudabilis vita ducitur Prosper ad Demest p. 866. Dei est quod geritur Dei est quod amatur 2 They are another mans as riches are for they are given thee mainly for the good of another grace is given a man for himself and is properly his own 1 Cor. 12.7 but gifts are given for the Church and for the edifying of others the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal and therefore thou art but as a steward of every gift and thou must dispense them and lay them out for the good of the family to give them their meat in due season and if not this will be the benefit that thou wilt have by thy gifts that thy account will be the greater and there will come a time that the same Spirit that is now thy Teacher will surely be thy Accuser Luke 16.1 for wasting thy masters goods Accepta bona dissipamus quando iis nec ad ipsius honorem nec proximi aedificationem nec ad propriam salutem utimur Stella There is a double difference between gifts and graces 1 Grace is for a maâ—â— own salvation but gifts are for the Churches edification and therefore they are but prâ— hoc statu for this state and there is an end the gifts that the Angels have are but for the edification of the Church Dan. 9.23 Rev. 19.10 1.4 He sent and signified it by the Angel unto his servant John and when the Elect of God shall be gathered and the Church of Christ perfected and the Kingdom given up to the Father then as the protection of Angels shall cease for there shall be no more use of it so these qualifications this influence of the Spirit of Christ upon the Angelical nature by way of gifts shall cease also 2 Some put this difference that the Spirit to some gives gifts as a Spirit assisting only but not dwelling there where he assists by gifts but where grace is there is a residence of the Spirit and that not only according unto the gifts and effects as in the other but according to the essence for we are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost Now to dedicate a Temple to another is to give Divine honour which is not to be done unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit for they are but creatures and therefore the Spirit doth not dwell in them barely by his gifts but according to his essence Habitat verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantùm per dona sed quoad substantiam neque sic dat dona ut ipse alibi sit sed donis adest creaturam suam conservando gubernando addendo The Spirit dwells in Believers not only by gifts but according to his essence neither doth he so give gifts as to be absent himself but he is present c. Luther 2 He doth give them unto wicked men and therefore there is no sufficiency to be placed in that in which God puts no difference Psal 68.18 Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also not only those that were rebellious and are now converted but those that live still in rebellion Christ received many gifts to dispense unto these Christ is in the Scripture set forth as a Head and as a Root he gives graces as Head unto the Church which is his body Joh. 15.1 2. the fulness of him that filleth all in all but as he is a Root he spreads himself into a visible Church upon Earth so he gives much sap and greenness unto those that bear leaves only and therefore it was a good saying of Luther in one of his Epistles Potentior est veritas quà m eloquentia potior spiritus quà m ingenium major fides quà m eruditio A little grace is to be preferred before abundance of gifts and a little of the Spirit of Sanctification above the fulness of the qualifications of the Spirit for the Lord doth cause this Sun to shine upon the evil and unthankful and doth continue it unto them for a while as a Spirit of Qualification to whom nevertheless he will be for ever as a Spirit of Condemnation hereafter 3 When a man depends upon these and places his sufficiency in them he serves Satan in the highest way that can be that is with the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God Mat. 12.44 45. we read Mat. 12.44 45. there is a house swept and garnished it 's the house that Satan will chuse to himself to inhabit above all other places in the world and therefore he places a strong garrison there of seven Spirits for there is no soul whom he takes so much delight in and in which he doth love so much to dwell as he doth in such a man and therefore it was a great speech of Austin of Licentius a man of a great wit but of an unsound mind Abs te ornari diabolus quaerit Accepisti à Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum in illo Satanae propinas teipsum The Devil seeks to be adorned by thee c. It was the abuse upon the vessels of the Temple that in Beltshazers time they must be brought forth and used in the worship of their gods which was but the Devil instead of a God the gifts that a man has are the utensils of the Temple of the Holy Ghost and therefore above all others Satan loves to be served with those and if the Devil do but puff a man up with either of these Luther Potentia justitia sapientia that 's the house he delights to dwell in now for a man to serve Satan with his wealth or his honour is a
great evil but with the immediate works and gifts of the Spirit of God is a far greater provocation 4 That which you place your sufficiency so much in remember you cannot act without Divine aid a man that has received gifts cannot exercise and use those gifts that he has received The Apostle doth distinguish between all these three there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gifts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offices and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effects or Operations of the same graces now as the Spirit doth appoint every man his office and gives unto every man his gift so he doth give unto every man a success as it pleaseth him and therefore though Paul may plant and Apollo water yet it is God that gives the increase and the success is not always answerable unto the labour that is bestowed even in the best we see it in Christ himself he did spend his whole life and his very radical moisture in labour Esa 49.4 as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie and yet he doth himself complain That he had laboured in vain and spent his strength for nought c. So when the Prophets had received a Spirit of Prophecy and the Apostles a gift of Miracles yet notwithstanding they could not act it when they would but when the Spirit of the Lord came upon them as it was with Samson and therefore it 's a kind of a Proverb that Luther has in Gen. 4.4 Spiritus Sanctus non semper tangit cor Prophetarum The Spirit doth not always touch the Prophets heart so the Apostles had a gift of healing but they could not heal when they would and therefore when Epaphroditus had been sick and was nigh death also Paul who had the gift of healing for when they brought from him but handkerchiefs and aprons the diseases departed from them yet he cannot now heal him who was so dear to him and whose ministery was so useful it 's not in a mans power therefore to act his own gifts he cannot use his own abilities at his own pleasure as there is an ability in a man to gather and know much of God by his works that are in the world yet it is according as God did point and direct his understanding or else he could never do it Rom. 1.19 it is manifest in the creation of the world for God has shewed it unto them and to know what seed to sow and with what instruments to thresh and when the ground is fit for seed and when it is sufficiently plowed c. It is God that doth instruct him to discretion Esa 28.26 The men of might cannot find their hands they were men of strength and they were skilful in war but they could not use it at such a time they could not find their hands it is unto them as if they had no strength as if they had had no skill for they have no use of them therefore remember this when you place your sufficiency so much in these things 5 As they that have these gifts cannot act them of themselves without Gods assistance so neither can they give success to them or make them in any measure effectual the best men have but their measure Rom. 12.4 God has not given all gifts to one man and therefore the greatest and the best and most eminent member of the body shall have need of the gifts of the meanest there is a supply of every joynt unto the edifying of the body there is something in the meanest Saint that thou maist despise as weak-gifted yet it is wanting in thee and thou canst not give success to thy greatest endeavours but he that gives the gift must give the blessing mundus non potest esse sine personarum discrimine Luther there must be Princes and Rulers and Governors sed dona non sequuntur illas differentias c. and so it is here the effect doth not always follow the abilities but a man of lesser gifts shall bring forth more fruit to God than he that thinks himself most sufficient For the Lord resists the proud and gives grace to the humble he will give the success there where he may have the glory and many times a man of great ability is laid aside though he labours yet he brings nothing to pass and a man of lesser parts is blessed exceedingly and the reason is the one is too great in his own eyes or in the eyes of others and therefore the Lord cannot use him non patitur in regno suo superbiam God cannot bear pride in his Kingdom 6 When we place our sufficiency in them that will provoke the Lord to take them away from us there are two things that provoke God exceedingly one is being weary of our work as it was in Moses and the other is when we do exalt our selves in our work and put an excellency upon our selves for our own actings therefore says the Lord From him that hath not shall be taken away he will put thee out of thy stewardship if thou waste his goods to maintain thy own pride and there is nothing in the world doth blast the parts of men more and provoke God to take them away in judgment and the man dies besotted he withers in all the greenness that did appear so fresh in him Joh. 15.6 he doth in this saith Luther as Vespasian when he saw there was no way to take men off from seeking wealth In Gen. 4.4 aequo animo patiebatur eos ditari with a patient mind suffer men to be rich but he said Divites spongiam esse there would come a pressing time when men that gathered so much for themselves should go empty away remember this ye that forget the Lord and place a sufficiency in any gift that God has given you the Lord will certainly deprive thee of it and thy folly shall be made manifest 2. When men do place not only sufficiency in their gifts but in grace received which a man also is very apt to do and let me tell you it is the highest spiritual pride in the world and is an abuse of the highest gift and grace of God 1 Consider it is quite contrary to the nature of grace which is to live in another and to fetch all from another and therefore it is an unnatural sin 2 No man can act his own grace Deus agit immediaté 3 Grace is but a creature and may decay in the degrees of it and it doth oftentimes I and in the essence it would also if it were not preserved by an almighty power Rev. 2.4 for it is not in its own nature immortal seed 4 It doth make grace an Idol and so it provokes the Spirit to withdraw from his own graces so that he shall delight to see the ruine of his own workmanship Object But you 'l say Do not we read in Prov. 14.14 That a good man is satisfied from himself and that there is a sufficiency
that the Saints should seek in themselves Answ 1 Remember this is not in opposition to God or apart from God but in subordination to God 2 There is a double sufficiency 1 Not receiving an addition of good so God only is sufficient 2 As containing all things necessary and so there is a sufficiency in grace for it brings all things into the soul and fills it 1. There is a great proneness in the best men unto this great evil that having received grace they place their sufficiency in it and that for matter of strength and matter of comfort 1 As to matter of strength a man that has received grace is apt to think that he being made alive from the dead is able now to perform those vital actions that flow from this life surely now I can hear I can pray and can perform the duties of godliness as becomes a living man or if by the power of sin and the strength of temptation the outward act be hindred and interrupted yet they cannot hinder the inward workings of the Spirit and as I am able to do that which is good so I shall be able to resist that which is evil so that as grace is in me a well of water springing up to everlasting life in the duties of holiness so also it will of it self work out the mud of corruption that Satan and the old man doth cast into it from day to day and we see this in Peter he had received a principle of grace and his heart was warmed with a true fire the principle of the love of Christ whom he loved so greatly that he thought it impossible that he should so far forget it as to deny him and therefore he speaks for himself after the resolution or presumption of his heart Whatsoever other men do yet though I should stand by him alone come what will come I will confess him in the face of danger I will never deny him and so many a man doth by the strength of grace received promise himself security from some sins and therefore they are secure in themselves and exceeding censorious of others It is true men will say I cannot resist rovings of heart and vain desires and sinful love and carnal fear and inordinate passions c. but for drunkenness and adultery murder persecution of the Saints or Apostasie from Religion and the Truths of God I hope I am secure from these and the man walks not in fear of them and it 's very common for young and weak Christians so to do and they are exceeding bitter and censorious against other men and they immediately question their estates whom they see do fall into these sins which they ignorantly conceive that the very being of grace secures them from And so it is in respect of duties having received grace he doth conceive that he can pray and hear and perform the duties of Gods worship in another manner than a natural man can for he has received a new principle and therefore having done a duty at one time having trusted God or shewed forth an act of love to God he thinks he can do the same at another time and by this means a man is the less solicitous for an immediate supply for the discharge of such duties as he is to perform he thinks that he has received a stock sufficient to defray the charge It is true says he if I am put upon a greater temptation or upon the performance of any higher duties then I shall see reason to go unto Christ for a supply but as for these ordinary things in both kinds the grace that I have already received is sufficient for it according unto that ordinary and natural way of concurrence of God with his own grace which doubtless he will delight in as he doth concur with the creatures in the common actions of their lives and so a mans sufficiency in point of strength is much in reference unto the strength of grace that he has received either to perform duties or to resist sin And 2 as it is for matter of strength so it is for matter of comfort also having received grace from God men turn in upon themselves and by a reflection upon their own graces they think to raise their spirits under any desertion or dejection whatsoever and therefore when they walk in the dark at any time they are immediately poring upon their own graces to see what witness their own spirits will give unto them and by the evidence of their own hearts they conceive that they can comfort themselves at any time when they are in a doubt in the matter of their estates towards God Principale speculum ad videndum Deum est animus rationalis inveniens seipsum hoc speculum verus poenitens non cessat quotidie inspicere Bernard de inter Domo The principal glass of seeing God is the rational soul which a true Penitent inspects daily Now a man looks into his own spirit and sees his own face in this glass and upon this glass he that should see God sees himself and by this means thinks to raise and quicken and comfort himself from day to day which is the true reason why most Christians spend much more time in looking upon the witness of water than upon that of blood or of the Spirit on the witnesses upon Earth much more than to the witnesses in Heaven 2. There is a great policy of Satan therein if it were in the power of the Devil man should never receive any good from God for he that envied the good estate of man at first in which he was created touched him with the same devillishness that was in himself and thereby became a murderer from the beginning for he left no good in the man In me Rom. 7. that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing and he doth as truly desire and endeavour from the same principle of envy to keep out all good as at first he did to cast it out but if the Lord will sow wheat and the envious man cannot prevent the seed-time then he will take the opportunity to sow tares also with the wheat that he shall dishonour God with the grace that he has received from him and with it sacrifice unto himself who is under Satan the great Idol and by honouring himself he doth sacrifice unto Satan all the while and so a man placing his sufficiency in grace received even grace it self if it were possible should tend unto his destruction that was a special grace and with special and eternal love was given for his salvation for Satan looks upon grace in the Saints as being the image of God and as his greatest enemy and that which he hates more than he does the souls of men or any thing in the world for his main malice is at godly men only because they bear Gods image for his hatred is directly against God it is unto us but collaterally and in the second place
ground of a double fear that is in the Saints they fear the Lord and they fear sin which provokes God to depart from them and therefore Chrysostome speaks it of Paul and it was the same Spirit that is recorded to be in himself and therefore he did intimate it de laudibus Pauli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore it was the same message that he sent to Eudoxa when she breathed out threatnings against him and sought his life tell her that I fear nothing but sin and therefore Rom. 8. If God be with us who can be against us All the creatures are reconciled when God is reconciled and they can do neither good nor evil but as they are acted by him and therefore the creatures are never against us till God arm them against us for they are all of them at his dispose and it 's no matter who is against us if God be with us for they are but as the briars and thorns in battel against the fire walking in the middle of stubble and truly this is the very condition of Saints in this world when God is with them there is a fire that goes out of their mouths and destroys their enemies Rev. 11.6 and he that will hurt them must in this manner be killed they are never in any danger while their portion is with them but wo to them when the Lord departs from them therefore all their care is to keep with God 4. They are not much troubled with the loss of all other things It 's true they know that they must part with them and they can do it with comfort when it is to enjoy God A man that has a yoke-fellow that is truly the wife of his bosom whom he loves as his own soul in whom he delights above all creatures both in her person and in her graces yet he saith Farewel I can part with you with joy as the Martyr said My Christ is dearer to me than all if I were to live here I would chuse you above all the creatures but now my portion is in him that is all in all farewel A man can with joyfulness bid an everlasting farewel to many comforts here having his heart born up with his interest in God and his alsufficiency whereas other men if you take away their estates and creature-comforts you take away their hearts also Gen. 44.30 for as it was said of Jacob That his life was bound up in the life of the lad so it is with them if a friend be taken away they sorrow as men without hope and will go down to the grave mourning but it 's not so with a Saint when he lives upon his portion he considers when he loses a creature-comfort there is a bucket broken indeed but the fountain remains the way of conveyance is changed but the same God that was all to me in that comfort will be the same to me in another and therefore his soul is not troubled much at the loss of any of the creatures for his portion lies not in them he is as rich as he was before for they are no part of his treasure his treasure is in Heaven Luther Mat. 6.21 Moritur tibi pater filius uxor amittis rem gloriam sed non Christum quid magni est quòd uxor quòd liberi perierint cùm non periit Deus And therefore when a soul comes to dye his eye runs unto the recompence of reward the glory that is set before him and that makes him forget that which is behind and what he doth leave behind also the sight thereof is so alluring and ravishing to his soul that it 's a small thing to part with any thing for it he that can sell all for Christ with joy when the glory of Christ is discovered in the Gospel surely much more can he with joy part with all when he has the glory of God set before him and is now about to enter into his masters joy 5. Do not envy at the prosperity of the men of the world for he that doth envy another mans condition it argues he is not content with his own it 's true there is a spirit in us that doth lust unto envy Jam. 3. and it may prevail far upon a godly man as we see it did upon the Psalmist Psal 73. Because waters of a full cup are wrung out to him and therefore many godly mens hearts are bitter because of the prosperity of the wicked Now compare thy portion with theirs as it 's said Two Ambassadours met the French and Spanish and one boasting of the greatness of his Masters Dominions he was King of Spain and King of Arragon Catalonia Portugal the other answered to them all That his Master was King of France implying that there was more worth and wealth in his one Kingdom than in all the Dominions of the other set them all together and so it is here one man hath wealth but I have God saith the Saint and he hath honour and esteem here in the world but saith the Saint I have God there is no compare between the portion of the wicked and the portion of the godly nay we should rather pity them in two things 1 They have their portion here they have received their consolation it is all that ever they are like to have from the Lord as when you see a young man have a portion of money left him and he flaunts it out and is in all his glory you say it will be spent and he hath no yearly income this is all it hath no root that it may grow again as all the contentments of the Saints have 2 To have a fulness of all things here and to have their eyes closed up by the creatures and their spirits drowned in them to go out of a great estate to meet nothing and leave all behind them as Dives from all his riches to want a drop of water to go from all his glory to shame and everlasting contempt to say as Adrian the Emperour did Animula vagula c. what a misery is it and it is a token of a mans content when he would not be in anothers condition but thinks his own to be best as Paul said to Agrippa when he stood to be judged he did not wish himself in the Kings condition but the King in his as the greatest Kings will do one day O that I might dye the death of the righteous 6. Rejoyce in God Phil. 4.4 bless your souls in your choice let thy soul go out to him with a holy kind of complacency from day to day As a man that hath chosen a yoke-fellow and is pleased in his choice he can delight himself in her she is to him as the young Hind and the pleasant Roe Prov. 5.19 so it is with God much more a Saint takes more comfort in the thoughts of God and meditation of him than in all the comforts of the creatures in Heaven or
because he is the Son of man that was foretold Dan. 7.13 14. Dan. 7.13 14. to whom the kingdom should be given by the Ancient of days and therefore is given unto him all government because he is the person that was foretold to whom it should be communicated 2 Because he is the Son of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred quatenus and so it is by Beza that is he hath all power given unto him and all judgment not only as he is God as he is the second person but as he is the Son of man quatenus homo c. non tantùm secundùm naturam divinam sed etiam humanam and so Chemnit doth from hence infer humana natura in Christo assumpta est in communicationem gubernationis rerum omnium praecipuè verò regno Deo in Ecclesia 3 It is by many others interpreted by that place Phil. 2.10 Because he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a servant therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name that to the name of Jesus every knee should bow c. that is this is the reward that the Father hath given him for his obedience in his humiliation taking upon him our nature the form of a servant therefore he is exalted unto the highest pitch of Majesty and of Authority to be next to God himself Now which interpretation soever we take of these it will appear that this power is given unto him not only as he is God but as he is Mediator and that the formalis ratio of giving it unto him is as he is the Son of man and not as he is God for as he is God he had an equal hand in the Soveraignty of all things and an equal right to it with the Father and the Spirit and so it could not be said to be given to him but it is given him as the Son of man and as a reward of his obedience because he became the Son of man But to answer an Objection or two about this 1. It is objected It appears plainly by Scripture and is by you granted That there is a double Kingdom of Christ the one belonging to him by nature and the other given to him by the Father the one proper only unto Christ the Mediator the other common to the Father and the Spirit as well as to the Son the one to be exercised for ever and the other but for a time wherefore there are two distinct Kingdoms of Christ why therefore may we not say that as he is the second Person he rules in the world and as he is the Mediator he rules in the Church only Answ I do confess there are two Kingdoms and these are really distinguished one from another that Christ as God hath an essential Kingdom equal with the Father and a Kingdom which he doth receive by donation from the Father as he is God-man but I say That the exercise and administration of both Kingdoms are now in the hand of the Mediator and shall be unto the time of the restitution of all things for the Father judges no man Joh. 5.22 that is natura divina absolutè sine Mediatore judicium sive totam administrationem dedit Filio Mediatori incarnato c. Chemnit i. e. totius mundi imperium c. The Divine nature hath committed all judgment to Christ c. so that the spiritual Kingdom is administred by the Spirit in the ordinances of the Gospel and the providential Kingdom by the power of his Spirit working without ordinances who orders and disposes of all the creatures unto their several ends but yet all this is by the hand of the Mediator and he doth not simply as he is God rule in the providential Kingdom only for all judgment is committed to him that is the government of all things as he is the Son of man as he is the Son of man so he rules the Angels and they act the wheels and as he is the Son of man so he is appointed Heir of all things and as he is the Son of man so all things are put under his feet all sheep and oxen and the beasts of the field c. therefore it 's but a conceit to say That Christ doth rule the world indeed as he is God but he doth rule the Church as he is Mediator for it appears plainly That both of them are acts of his Kingly Office as he is Mediator as the judging of the world will be at the last day and he tells us that God gave him all this power for this end That he might give eternal life unto as many as the Father had given him Joh. 17.20 he doth rule all things in the world so as he makes them serviceable unto spiritual ends but it 's done by him not simply as God but as Mediator and so much Mr. Gilespy cannot but grant out of Calvin in Aarons Rod pag. 203. that all things are put under the feet of Christ the Mediator not only in respect of glory and dignity but in respect of his power and over-ruling providence whereby he can dispose of all things so as they make most for his glory c. which is all that I assert and that the Mediator is not barely Gods servant in the spiritual Kingdom but in the Kingdom of Providence also is plain from Psal 8.6 Eph. 1.22 Object 2. But Christ as Mediator is King Priest and Prophet but he is not so any where but in his Church therefore to say that Christ as Mediator doth it is as much as to say he doth it as King Priest and Prophet and so he shall be made a King Priest and Prophet unto the Pagans and unto all other creatures even to the Devils c. Answ It 's not necessary that whatever he doth as Mediator must flow from all his Offices for he doth many things as he is King that he doth not as he is a Priest or a Prophet he is unto the Angels a King and that as he is the Son of man for he is the Head of all Principalities and Powers and yet he is not unto the Angels a Priest yet as Mediator he rules them and they do belong unto his Kingdom as Mediator and as he is King so he shall judge the world also at the last day so he shall judge the Heathen he shall judge the Devils and so he doth rule them now and over-rule them for the good of the Church and yet he is not unto the Heathen a Priest nor a Prophet neither is he so unto the Devils But his rule and dominion over the works of God is as truly part of his Kingdom as his rule and dominion over the souls of the Saints the Mediator is not a Priest and a Prophet to every thing to whom he is a King and yet he is a King as Mediator and so far as any thing relates unto his Kingly Office so far it may be said to
without a yoke and consider that they have no Law but the wills of the flesh and of the mind the Law of sin and death we shall all say O blessed is the man whom the Lord rules and reigns over the Lord rules and reigns let the Saints rejoyce c. 7 In his government they do behold him in his glory for he that doth rule in them doth also dwell in them as in a Temple and he walks amongst them continually Esa 33.17 Thine eyes shall see the King in his glory Now there are many men that are ruled by Kings that never see them but this is a Court where they may see their King and it is the Palace of the great King where he is always to be seen by his Subjects the meanest as well as the greatest non factio sed curia dicenda est Cyprian It 's not a government at a distance in remote parts but so as he takes up his dwelling place there and they are joyful in their King let the children of Zion be joyful in their King always but never so much as when they see him in glory 8 They have a communion with his person all the while there are many that have a benefit by his government that have no fellowship with his person but the Queen the Bride the Lambs wife she has the fruit of his government and communion with his person and delights in his love and in his glory also and the King sits at his round table and we eat with him we sup with him and our souls rejoyce in his salvation his left hand is under our head and his right hand embraceth us he brings us into his banquetting-house and the banner of love is over us as a Bridegroom over his Bride while he rules us as a King he doth delight in us and we have communion with him as a husband continually § 2. There is an external part of the Covenant and so there is of the Kingdom which is the rule and the government that Christ hath over the spirits of those that are under the spiritual kingdom by profession only unregenerate men that joyn to the Church and are with them under the dew and influence of the Ordinances and of the common works of the Spirit of God in them for Rev. 4.5 Rev. 4.5 There are burning before the throne seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God the Throne is an expression of Majesty and government for unto the King belongs the Throne the Scepter and the Crown they are properly insignia regia c. and by the seven Spirits is meant the Holy Ghost that 's clear from Chap. 1.4 where he wisheth grace and peace from the seven Spirits of God by which surely is meant the Holy Ghost for we are to make our prayers unto God only but yet it is seven Spirits because of the variety of graces and gifts which he doth pour out upon the Church of Christ in his administration and government and here we may observe two things 1 That the spiritual kingdom of God doth not only extend to his rule over the Saints which are his subjects by election and regeneration but also that there is a great deal of dominion which he has even over them that are the subjects of this kingdom only by profession 2 That the rule and dominion that Christ doth exercise over these is for the sake and for the good of the Saints and that they themselves have no benefit by it in the end but all doth turn unto the advantage and the spiritual improvement of them that are heirs of salvation so that the administration unto unregerate men as members of the Church visible is for the good of those that are members of the Church invisible 1. The spiritual kingdom of Christ doth extend even unto unregenerate men who are the subjects of it by profession only where we are to take notice That there are many give their names unto Christ who never give their hearts who have the name of Christ written in their foreheads which have not his image instamped upon their souls 2 Cor. 9.13 there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a profession which is not always accompanied with a real and spiritual subjection unto the Gospel 2. These are all the while subjects to another kingdom for till vocatio alta secreta there be a deep and secret vocation a man is never translated Col. 1.13 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is è natali solo c. a man is actually under the kingdom of Satan still for while a man is of the world though he be in the Church he is of the worlds kingdom for they are not all of us that are amongst us not all Israel that are of Israel there are some do say that they are Jews and are not but do lye but are of the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2.9 for the world lies in wickedness in aliquo positum esse est in ejus esse potestate as Cameron hath observed there are many enemies that live in a kingdom against which they conspire and endeavour to destroy it Jesus Christ after this life shall rule over his enemies but in this life he rules in the middle of them Psal 110.2 3. Yet while they do live and in outward shew continue the subjects of this kingdom so long they are to be looked upon in outward shew as subjects and the priviledges of subjects belong unto them they are servants Joh. 8.35 But the servant abides not in the house always there will come a time when the Lord will say Cast out the bond-woman and her son Gal. 4. but yet while they are in the house they do enjoy many priviledges and benefits by being in the family they partake of the sap and the fatness of the good olive Rom. 11.17 and yet be afterwards broken off 4. But they shall not continue subjects of this kingdom always though for a season the tares and the wheat the sheep and the goats may stand together till the day of separation good and bad be in the net together till the one be gathered into the vessel and the bad be cast away for though the spiritual kingdom in respect of Christ shall have no end but Christ shall be so a King in glory that he shall never cease to be a head of eminence or of influence or of guidance for the mystical Union shall never be broken no more than the hypostatical yet his kingdom in respect of those that profess it is but for the time of this life natural worship shall be in glory and they are only Saints that worship Christ therewith but there is instituted worship that is only for the time of this life and it is in this that they worship him and become subjects to him Mat. 8.12 but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out at the last Joh. 15.2 there are branches that bear no fruit in this Vine
Gospel are committed unto them and the Lord doth lay them up in them as in a common Treasury 2 Cor. 4.7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels c. It is not committed to them for their own sakes or for their own use but it is for the good of the family and so Christ speaks unto his Disciples Mat. 13.52 they should be as a Scribe instructed unto the kingdom of God it was the office of the Scribes to teach the people the mysteries of the Word of God and to give the sense as Ezra the Scribe did and therefore Christ makes use of the word and applies it unto the Ministers of the Gospel and he must be endued with all sorts of knowledge he must have variety he must have old things which he has treasured up long for he is to be a Treasury of it the Priests lips are to preserve knowledge and also he must not be content with old things but he must seek after new discoveries new degrees of light he must grow in knowledge daily and therefore he must have new affections also and this he must not hide and reserve there but he must bring it forth it is what a godly man that is called by God to teach others should be affected with and afflicted for if he come short in any grace or gifts that some of his flock are eminent for Non quod ferre potes sed quod profers Cajet Esa 50.4 and all those that the Lord does call to this work he doth in some measure qualifie for God doth not send a Messenger and cut off his feet now all this is for the Churches for the Saints sake and for their good 1 Cor. 3.21 22. Let no man glory in man for all things are yours all for your sakes the highest offices and the greatest gifts and the greatest variety Paul Apollo and Cephas all is for your sake for your edification and salvation We preach not our selves but Jesus the Lord and our selves your servants for Jesus sake we are not Lords of your faith but helpers of your joy c. Eph 4.11 12. he gave gifts unto men to qualifie them for their offices and all is for the perfecting of the Saints 3. He puts into them suitable affections and inward dispositions of heart towards them Paul says I was amongst you as a Nurse with much pains and unweariedness 1 Thess 2.7 and with much patience and forbearance bearing with your frowardness and the crookedness of your spirits and dispositions Phil. 1.8 I long for you all in the bowels of Christ Phil. 1.8 bowels you know do signifie the tenderest affections 1 such as are not natural but wrought in me by Christ for I had them not of my self and so it notes causam efficientem 2 With great affections such as Christ their Saviour did bear to them having their names written in his heart even to lay down his life for them with such bowels do I long for you being willing to be sacrificed unto the service of your faith and so it notes causam exemplarem 2 Cor. 8.16 he put the same care into the heart of Titus Phil. 2.20 it is said of Timothy Phil. 2.20 he doth naturally care for your things ad animi sinceritatem refert Theodor. it is not from any outward respect or fleshly end but from a natural principle wrought in him by the Lord that he doth it naturally from an inward principle in nature as the natural affection of the father and mother is put into them for the good of the child so there is a natural principle put into them for the good of the Saints c. 4. He doth set them in their places stars they are and he doth appoint them their orbs where they shall shine for the seven Stars are the Angels of the Churches and are in the right hand of Christ are at his dispose who sends them to a people where they shall be fishers men do not know where the sholes of fish go for we fish under water but the Lord saith Go and speak to them for I have much people in this city and when he has gathered in the number of his Elect in any place then he takes away the Ministry from thence and when there are any to be gathered in then he doth bring them again This is the reason why he doth cause it to rain upon one city and not upon another also As he sets them in their stations so quoad protectionem he it is that doth preserve them from the rage of men which truly we know not how soon we may be exposed to for I fear the time draws near yet the witnesses shall not be killed till they have finished their testimony and it is not all the power of the enemy shall be able to remove them 5. He doth over-rule and order them in their Ministry for the good of his people sometimes the Spirit of the Lord comes upon them and they speak beyond their intentions or meditations Heb. 1.1 he speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he orders their hearts and he doth over-rule their tongues he doth make discoveries unto them for the good of his people as sometimes he doth pour a darkness upon them for the sins of his people and sometimes God in judgment hides his truths from a Teacher because the people are not fitted to receive them It 's true not only of the Magistrates that the Lord gives them up to commit follies as he did David because he was provoked against Israel therefore he tempted David to number the people but also it is true of the Ministers Mic. 3.6 Pro divinatione erit caligo ye shall have darkness and the Lord will give no Visions unto the Prophets and though they seek it Esa 29.10 yet they shall have no answer from God he will pour out upon the Prophets and the seers the spirit of a deep sleep Now as the Lord doth sometimes hide his word from his Prophets and his Messengers of purpose in judgment unto the people that they that say to their Ministers Prophesie not the Lord says They shall not prophesie so he doth also give light unto them and answerable unto the good that he doth mean to do unto a people such is his presence and assistance with the Prophets that he doth imploy and all the discoveries of God in the Word shall be to them to whom he intends evil as the words of a sealed book that they shall say I cannot read it because it is sealed as the Lord opens the book in mercy to his people and to his Prophets so he doth seal it in judgment to other men that seeing they shall see and not perceive and hearing they shall hear and not understand Acts 18.5 Paul was pressed in spirit and testified unto the Jews pro violento impulsu ad solitum instinctum plus accessit fervoris Calv. There is sometimes a greater impulse upon the Ministers of
them to have the Remainders of sin in them in this life and they shall never be freed from it till their dissolution We shall easily see that he as the Lord of all has ordered this by his Sovereignty and Supremacy for the good of his people and that it was for their sakes 1 That hereby he may exalt the Grace of Justification unto the Saints for God to pardon sins past it were rich mercy infinite mercy but for the Lord to leave sin remaining in a man and while he is conflicting with it and fears he shall be overcome with it every moment sees himself still to remain a sinner and yet the grace of Justification still to hold out that as there is in me a Fountain of sin so God is the Father of mercies and he doth not only pardon at first but when I sin and endeavour to make a breach upon my Justification again he shews mercy still and doth multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 this exalts the Righteousness of Christ imputed in justification for tolle morbos tolle vulnera nulla erit medicinae causa Dam. Therefore a man doth daily wash his feet and sees the Sun of Righteousness to rise upon him daily that he may be justifi'd not only from the Acts of sin but also from the remainders and Reliques of sin that are in him Joh. 13.10 And this also doth exalt the grace of God the Father justifying When the Apostle had had more than ordinary experience of the remainders of corruption in him and was much afflicted looking upon himself as a miserable man by reason thereof and judging himself worthy to be destroy'd for it and might by reason thereof have expected the sentence of death every moment now he looks upon the grace of the Gospel as justifying and he finds a new sweetness in it there is now no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 Not only the sins committed before Conversion but the sins remaining after do justly make the soul liable to condemnation but such is the grace that justifies us that there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus 2 That there may be a continual Conflict kept up in us our life is a Warfare and therefore Job 14.14 it is said all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the days militiae meae of my warfare this is not against enemies without against spiritual wickednesses in high places only but against enemies within in a special manner the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and by this means the war is maintain'd The Lord will have the time of this life to be tempus militiae a time of warfare and the other life laetitiae of triumph as Bernard speaks this laboris of labour that mercedis of reward and there is no conflict in the world like unto this to have two contraries in the same place each of them striving to destroy one another and yet neither of them compleatly and totally prevailing for they are contrary Gal. 5.17 and there is a greater opposition against sin than there is against the Devils themselves or any enemies without there are the sorest battels fought between flesh and spirit in the same soul and with greater displeasure and indignation against them than Saints against the Devil himself for this is the greatest evil to them because it is in them and because the Lord will have a conflict that so the graces of his People may be both exercised and also tryed and improved the power of Grace and the truth of it would never have been so gloriously seen if there had not been such a principle of corruption drawing it forth daily 3 That he may keep his people humble there is no one thing that the Lord takes more care of than that the Saints should not be lifted up it is the end of Affliction to hide pride from their hearts and of temptations and desertions in the flesh that they might not be lifted up in themselves and exalted above measure Now it 's true it 's matter enough to humble one if duely considered to call to mind what he has been as it did Paul I was a persecutor and a blasphemer and injurious 1 Tim. 1.13 As some of the Heathens having risen to be Kings from small beginnings would keep something still to put them in mind of their Original as one being a Potters son would be served only in Earthen Vessels all his life-time The remembrance of what is past might humble a man to say Such were some of you such were ye but it is much more effectual to humble a man to consider that very iniquity is not fully purged unto this day but there are still some remainders of it upon me there is still a law in my members that rebells against the law of my mind that when I would do good evil is present with me and this makes me to look upon my self as a wretched and a miserable man and makes me to loath and abhor my self the same sore is running upon me still I am sensible I have the leprosie and therefore I can take no pleasure in my self the Devil comes and hath something in me there is a Principle that is prone to close with any temptation there is a sea of corruption that doth but wait for a wind nay if the Devil should never disquiet it yet it is a Fountain that will cast mire out of it self c. 4 That the Saints may be exercised in Prayer and Repentance daily Now it is that which the Lord requires of them every day Pray without ceasing and a man is Nulli rei nisi poenitentiae natus c. Now that there may be something that we may ask of him daily to give us that is a further degree of Grace a greater measure of purging and that we may apply the Righteousness of Christ for to mortifie sin in us as well as to satisfie God for sin and that there may be always something that we may confess and bewail before God and repent of and mourn for this sin is still left in us And look what benefits the people of God do receive from these constant and daily exercises all these do flow from the Sovereignty of God towards them in leaving of the remainders of sin in them and by this means we come to have a part in that great honour which belongs to Christ and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking away of sin It 's true Christ only doth it by way of satisfaction and he is the only original of our sanctification but yet we do it as having our spirits also acted by the Spirit of Christ and so our wills and desires joyning and concurring with him in that work therefore we are said to mortifie the deeds of the body and to crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts to purge
our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 which we do by his Grace yet there is a concurrence of ours therein 5 That the Patience and forbearance of God even towards the Vessels of mercy may be so much the more exalted Num. 14.17 Moses says Let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken the Lord long-suffering and of great mercy even his forbearance is an act of his power it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is an impotency in a man that he cannot forbear if he be injured it is utterly a fault amongst you but it is not so with God it is his Power that he can forbear 't is the patience of his power and therefore we are not consumed when we daily provoke him the imagination of a mans heart being continually evil he is God and not man Gen. 6.5 Gen. 8.21 Hos 11.9 therefore Gen. 6.5 and 8.21 they do seem to cross each other in the first place 't is said the Lord will destroy man because the imaginations of his heart were evil and in the other I will not again curse the ground for mans sake for the imaginations of his heart are evil from his youth it seems to be given as a reason of two contraries he will and he will not every imagination of the heart of man is evil therefore I will no more curse the Earth for his sake it seems strange reasoning it is by the Jesuites and Arminians looked upon as an extenuation of Original sin There is now that infirmity come upon him which was in Adam indeed a sin but now it is become a disease an infirmity a condition of Nature and therefore humanae infirmitatis miserebor I will pity humane infirmity so A Lapide and others who make the being of sin in us to be no sin but there is quite another sence of the words the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken either causativè or adversativè and so it is rendred sometimes quia because and sometimes quamvis although Glass Rhet. pag. 606. Our translators take the first for the imaginations of the heart or because the imaginations of the heart of man are only evil and so Brentius Pareus c. Si vellem semper genus humanum diluvio punire c. If I should always bring upon them a flood for their iniquity I should not leave a man upon the earth all man-kind would be destroy'd for the imaginations of his heart are evil from his youth and therefore now having smelt a savour of rest from a sacrifice I will not for this cause destroy them any more by a flood But many of the learned render it adversativè and so it is although so Exod. 13.17 The Lord led them not thorough the land of the Philistins although that was near it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 34.19 Let my Lord I pray thee goe amongst us for it is a stiffe-necked people that is although it be a stiffe-necked people and so it is an expression of the wonderfull patience of God that though men provoke him daily and all the imaginations of their hearts are evil continually yet hoc non obstante I will shew my patience towards them and will no more curfe the ground for mans sake c. and it is spoken of all men not only wicked men but godly men for whose sake the Lord doth spare the creatures for it is for the Saints sake that the world stands and that the earth is not destroyed and yet the imaginations of their hearts are evil from their youth and by this the patience of God towards the vessels of mercy as well as towards the vessels of wrath is very highly exalted 6 That the Lord may hereby shew how great a grace that donum perseverantiae gift of perseverance is and what an almighty power doth concur thereunto Adam had no sin and yet he fell from his first state how then shall we stand that have in us nothing else but sin something of the venom of the old Serpent that is ready to open unto him upon every suggestion and ready to take fire by every temptation a sin that doth easily beset us or compass up about Heb. 12.21 And the great aim of Satan without and sin within is to extinguish grace that this seed may dye in the man but it is maintained and there is an almighty power that does it therefore 1 Pet. 1.15 We are kept by the mighty power of God through saith unto salvation or else we should perish every day and this exalts the grace of the second Covenant unto the souls of the Saints because there is not only a grace of conversion but of perseverance also the Spirit of Christ having once taken possession of the soul takes possession for ever never to leave it again if Christ hath cast out the strong man he will never himself be cast out till Satan be stronger than he which is never possible 7 That the souls of the Saints may be kept here in a continual longing and a groaning condition for glory there is nothing so great an evil as sin and therefore nothing should make the soul weary of this life so much as sin because it cannot end but with our life and this is one blessed fruit of it Rom. 8.13 We groan for the Adoption but why do we groan 2 Cor. 5.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there are many burdens that the people of God are under in this life but there is no burden like unto that of the body of death that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weight indeed Heb. 12.1 and they groan therefore to put off this tabernacle because without it there is no putting off this body of sin but by being freed from this prison we are so apt to be in love with this present life that we had need of something that might be bitterness to us and imbitter it to us so that we take not up our rest here but that the soul may look for and hasten to the coming of the day of God and may rejoyce to put off this Tabernacle be willing that the flesh should be destroyed that thereby there may be the destruction of the body of sin in us also And thus we see the Soveraignty of God working for the Saints in this great state of the being of sin in the Saints in this life bringing much good unto them as well as much glory unto himself thereby § 3. 2. As the being of sin comes under the Soveraignty of God so doth the rising of it in the heart which doth never break forth into act it is true that the heart of man is an evil treasury and it is an evil fountain but though it be always issuing yet it doth not vent it self the same way but sometimes in this kind and sometimes in that Seneca in omnibus omnia vitia sunt licèt non se exerunt c. Mar. 7.21 22 23. For out
but when once they began to turn the head of their policy against the Saints they did very speedily find their ruine therein the Lord did go beyond them and they were taken in their own craftiness For when Satan has ingaged their spirits against the Saints Satan never leaves but he makes them restless raiseth up in them both great plots and great hopes and so they never cease till they meet with the Church as a burdensom stone at which they will always be lifting till they be broken therewith for in their very policy they do perish and in their own plots as in the net which they had privily laid is their foot taken Zac. 12.1 2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and Jerusalem 2. How doth the Lord turn these plottings of wicked men be they never so deep unto the good of his people 1. God doth set Divine wisdom on work for them for they have an interest in all the Attributes of God and they shall be put forth for them as their necessities do require Psal 119.120 It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy law The Saints may desire God to put out an Attribute then and they do flye unto their strong hold unto their chambers as Esa 26. as when the power of man is exalted against them now it is time for them to say We have no might against this multitude but our eyes are upon thee it is all one to thee to save with few or with many so when carnal wisdom is exalted now is the time for God to put forth his wisdom for them that are his people for they say We have no wisdom against this wise and subtle generation but our eyes are upon thee and in thee is our wisdom laid up Herod had a plot against Christ and he will come and worship him that is he would come and destroy him and the Wise-men also that came to seek him now is the wisdom of God put forth for Christs preservation one is sent into Egypt and the other are admonished by God and they return into their own country another way And the people of God have more benefit by seeing the wisdom of God acting for them than they can have disadvantage or discouragement by seeing all the wise men of the world against them O great is the sweetness that the people of God have by seeing any Attribute act for them and for their good that by this means they may come to understand their inheritance in Attributes which is far beyond that of creatures or promises as a father his bowels are moved for a child when he sees him in danger and then his affections do discover themselves so do the Saints expect that the Lord shall fulfil his relation in that respect when dangers are pressing upon them c. 2. In the middle of all their plots they comfort themselves in this that they shall take no effect against them till they have done the service which the Lord hath appointed them unto Luke 13.32 they told Christ that Herod had a plot upon him to kill him he saith Go tell that Fox Luk. 13.32 behold I cast out devils and I do cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Franc. in his History Animalium gives us three properties of a Fox he is animal dolosum crudele gulosum subtle and deceitful all for death cruel and all for the prey and there is a double property of him as deceitful 1 Noctu prorepit he only goes forth in the night doth all things secretly and so do Plotters they must not be seen and a great part of their wisdom is to be undiscovered 2 Nunquam rectis incedit itineribus sed ambagibus He doth never go right on but always he hath his windings and turnings so Politicians they love to walk unseen and they never love to go in plain paths but in secret ways to ensnare men But Christ when they told him of the design of this Fox Herod he comforts himself with this there is a set time for my work and then when that is done my service is perfect then shall I dye and I know all his policy shall be able to avail nothing against me till I have finished the work that the Father has given me to do And so may all the Saints comfort themselves against all the plots of wicked men against them they shall finish their work notwithstanding 3. This shall sometimes make way for their service in a wonderful manner the Jews had a plot against Paul and they had taken an oath That they would neither eat nor drink â—ill they had killed him this occasioned his being sent unto Caesarea first and afterwards to Rome where the Lord told him he must bear witness of him also and glorious was the service that he did there and the souls that he converted were many and in a special manner even in Caesars family there were souls brought home unto the Lord Phil. 4.22 All the Saints salute you chiefly those that are of Caesars houshold it was Nero that opprobrium humani generis and yet the Lord had some to pluck out there and the Lord made the plot which they had against him the occasion of all this great work what loser was Paul by it nay how much honour did it bring unto tâ—â— Lord and how great thanksgiving was given unto God by these pâ—or converted souls who came unto the knowledge of the Gospel and the way to life by this means 4. What they do plot to hinder shall by their very plots be advanced Esa 44.25 he turns wise men backward that is they shall see a quite contrary effect unto that which by their wisdom they intended to bring to pass against the Jews and the raising persecution against the Christians since was to hinder the Gospel and to suppress it but this did further the Gospel for it did occasion their going forth unto the Gentiles and by this means the sound went forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world and 〈◊〉 the casting off of the Jews became the inriching of the Gentiles by this means which else had never been so gloriously and fully done and I do not doubt but the very opposition that is against the Ordinances of the Gospel shall establish them in the Lords time and the opposition against any truth hath ever established that truth for they are but as winds that root the trees by shaking of them they fasten Jer. 20.10 Report say they and we will report it the wicked plot to take away the good names of the Saints by casting out slanders against them as if they were the vilest wretches upon earth but there is not such a way to bring an honour upon them and to cause the Lord to make their light to break forth out of darkness unto after generations as to reproach them 5. Hereby they have experience of those glorious promises that God has made to his people of frustrating the plots of their enemies Esa 8.10 Consult but it shall come to nought speak the word but it shall not stand for God is with us Prov. 6.14 Frowardness is in his heart he devisâ—th mischief continually he sowed discord therefore shall his calamity come suddenly suddenly shall he be broken without remedy and Psal 19.21 Many devices are in the heart of a man but the counsel of God that shall stand Psal 64.6 7. They search out iniquity they accomplìsh a diligent search the inward thoughts of every one of them and the heart is deep but God shall shoot at them with an arrow and suddenly shall they be wounded Hereby the Saints flye unto those promises and they have experience of their interest and the prayers of the ancient Saints against all the enemies that ever plotted mischief against the Church as the instance of Judas they are answered in after-generations and there is a Communion of Saints that the people of God have with Saints departed upon this ground also they have a benefit by the prayers which they did put up upon earth which are accomplished upon the enemies of the Church and people of God in after-ages Lastly They have experience of strange secret and glorious deliverances by this means and truly experience of God in any kind is no small advantage to the Saints they make much of their own experiences and live upon them afterwards Possidon tells us in the Life of Austin that as he was travelling there were certain of the Donatists whom he calls Circumcelliones that did lay wait for him armed to kill him obvenit Dei providentia sed ductoris errore but he missed the way per hunc errorem manus impias evasit and so escaped This drew forth in him and in many others of the people of God many praises unto God for so great and unknown deliverance and I did the rather insist upon this because the enemies of the people of God are very busie in plotting against the Saints and we have cause to fear the fraud of the enemy as well as their force though if hand joyn with hand yet the wicked shall not be unpunished and the God that has delivered will again deliver These things may one day be worth thinking of when we are cast upon such providences that we know not what to do then the Lord will arise for the help of those that wait on him FINIS
might cause his power to be acknowledged 2. God hath made over his attributes to his people that they may take from them all grounds of faith with an assurance that they shall be all exercised for them according unto their necessities Psal 13.5 so the Mercy of God I have trusted in thy mercy my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation Here is mercy the object of faith and an assurance that this attribute shall shew forth it self in a work of salvation and deliverance for him I have trusted in the mercy of God for the bringing me out of this and another affliction and I have been delivered Psal 52.8 therefore I will always exalt the mercy of God So for the Power of God the soul can argue from thence Dan. 3. when men threaten and Devils rage and the fiery furnace may be heated seven times hotter to consume the soul that has no help amongst creatures yet says Daniel and the three Children the God whom we serve is able to deliver us And the Lord encourages the soul from the assurance of his power Is my arm shortned that I cannot save is any thing too hard for the Lord is there any restraint to omnipotence And so also Christ puts them upon it in this With man it 's impossible but with God all things are possible it 's spoken in reference to a work of Sanctification when the Disciples said Who then can be saved Esay 26.4 Esay 27.5 So for the Eternity of God Trust in the Lord for ever for the Lord Jehovah is a Rock of Ages and so men are said to take hold of the strength of God And so of the Holiness of God I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lye unto David and therefore Psal 23.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life And so Abraham believed God was able to raise him up again from the dead if it might stand with his glory he did not question his will but that his power should be put forth for the accomplishment of his promise We know that the ultimate object of faith is God through Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.21 our faith and hope is in God now the highest object of faith in God is the attributes of God that he has discovered for we can believe in him no otherwise than we know him and as he has revealed himself and the way of Gods revealing himself unto his people in this life is only by his back parts which are his attributes and therefore this is the way of the acting of faith in this life and all the promises of God and the precepts and the threatnings of God are all of them founded on his attributes and in these doth the strength and stability of them lye because the Lord Jehovah is a rock of ages As it is in ends all intermediate ends work in the strength and the power of the utmost end so it is in objects also Objectum mediatum fidei movet in virtute objecti ultimati ab eo perfectionem accipit The mediate object of faith moves in the virtue of the ultimate object and receives perfection from it Eph. 4.18.23.24 3. That from these the soul may receive all principles of grace grace is called the Life of God and the Divine Nature the Image of God created in the soul it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according unto God Now in an image there are two things required 1 Proportion or similitude and resemblance 2 There is a deduction or a derivation it must be taken from it As there is a resemblance of the nature of God so there is a derivation of it from God Now though the incommunicable attributes of God are so called because there are in the creatures no footsteps or resemblances yet there are of the attributes that are communicable from them the image of God is derived unto us and we are made partakers of his holiness holy as he is holy Heb. 12.10 Jam. 1.5 and merciful as he is merciful and wise as he is wise If any man want wisdom let him ask it of God as all of them shall be employed for man without him so all of them shall work in man an image or a resemblance of himself within him that a man beholding the glory of the Lord is transformed thereby into the same image And this is to be made the rule to judge the measure of our graces by for primum est mensura reliquorum c. The first is the measure of the rest in that kind So far as they do come short of bearing a resemblance with the communicable attributes of God I say of bearing a resemblance for they are in God by nature but in us by grace and by new creation they are nature in him they are not so in us so far we are to bewail the defects of our graces and so far grace is the image of God in us but in part a good work begun and no more and it is a discovery of his attributes which are the original pattern that doth perfect his image in us which is but the counterpane and therefore we shall be perfectly like him when we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.3 4. God hath in Covenant made over his Attributes that from these the soul may take all rules of duty and as the highest objects of faith are in God so from him are the highest rules of duty and therefore Eph. 5.1 the exhortation is Be ye imitators of God 1 Pet. 1.15 and be you holy in all manner of conversation because he is holy and so from the Soveraignty of God it 's the ordinary argument thou shalt do thus and thus for I am Jehovah thy God And David takes his rule from this in the preparation he made for the Temple the house must be exceeding magnificent and therefore all his preparation though the wealth of a Kingdom was but an act of his poverty for it is for the Lord who is a great God and dwells not in Temples made with hands c. And it 's the argument that he himself useth as the rule unto them in their performances Mal. 1.13 I am a great King and my name is dreadful amongst the Heathen As the soul is never rightly bottomed upon a promise till it is carried out into that attribute upon which the promise doth depend so the soul is never grounded in duty till it looks beyond the precept and sees the attributes in God which are the foundation of the duty and this is properly to walk worthy of God Col. 1.10 That ye may walk worthy c. It doth not note exactam proportionem Daven sed quandam decentiam convenientiam not an exact proportion but a certain decence and convenience when a mans duties are done by rules taken from so great a God and proportionable unto the nature holiness and excellency of that God God is a Spirit