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
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
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
c. Thou art Christ the Son of God it 's the confession of Peters faith and is also called the Foundation of the Churches faith 1 Cor. 3.11 And so there is Divine Worship given to Christ as Mediator they worship the Lamb this is by reason of union and yet it is evident Rev. 4. that the humane nature remains a creature after its union and therefore it is as he is the Son and so is coessential with the Father this is the formalis ratio the proper cause of this Divine Faith and Worship and so the Holy Ghost also he is to be believed for himself and his own testimony the Spirit is truth 1 Joh. 5.6 and the Scriptures are to be believed only for the testimony of the Spirit 2 Pet. 1.21 But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost therefore we are commanded to hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches he is called therefore the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 4. That we may honour them in our prayers distinctly for whomsoever a man is to believe in him he may pray unto Rom. 10.14 How can they call on him in whom they have not believed And therefore in our prayers we are not only to go unto God but unto each of the persons with distinct petitions suitable unto the acts that they have undertaken and the offices in which they have made over themselves unto the Saints under the new Covenant Christ he prays to the Father Holy Father righteous Father I will that those that thou hast given me be with me sanctifie them by thy truth And Stephen at his death Lord Jesus receive my spirit And the Disciples Lord increase our faith And so doth the Church Tell me where thou feedest c. The Apostle commonly speaks of them all together The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you And Rev. 1.5 6. Grace 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 as it is a mans duty to believe in the Son as well as the Father so it is to pray to the Son distinctly as also unto the Father for as our faith must distinctly take in all the objects of faith or else it is imperfect for there are two things that tend to the perfection of any grace 1 When it takes in all the objects in their extent and latitude 2 When they do put forth compleat and perfect acts upon these objects thus I say as faith must take in all its objects or else there is something wanting in it as the Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wants of faith so must faith give unto each of these their due and proper glory and Christ being to be believed in he may be prayed unto nay it 's an honour that belongs unto him and therefore our faith must give it to him 5. That the soul may have a distinct fellowship and communion with them all and there is a fellowship with the Spirit 1 Joh. 1.3 we are by the Gospel brought into communion with God and it 's a distinct fellowship and communion that we are to have with all the persons our communion is as large as our relation and the soul is to look upon himself as reconciled to them all and therefore all of them are become our friends and we have a particular and distinct interest in them all Now how is a man said to have fellowship with God or to walk with God it is when the thoughts of a mans heart are taken up with God and he has an eye unto him and unto his glory from day to day As a man is said to have communion with the Devil when he walks with his temptations and the desires and thoughts of his heart do run out towards the unfruitful works of darkness a man has fellowship with the Devil in all things as it is said Prov. 6.22 The law shall talk with a man waking and keep him when he is asleep and lead him when he goes how is this is it is but in the thoughts and the meditations of a mans own heart by the suggestions and directions thereof where it doth richly dwell so it is in this also it is communion with God and Gods dwelling in the soul animus ascendit frequenter c. the soul frequently ascends there is gratiarum decursus recursus a flowing down and reflowing of graces and in this doth our communion lye Now a man having an interest in all the persons all of them having undertaken something for a mans good by way of office and a man receiving something from them all and returning praise to them all there is in the soul a distinct fellowship to be exercised with them all sometimes the thoughts of his heart being drawn out to the Father and sometimes unto the Son and sometimes unto the Spirit and observing the witnessing of them all and the sealing of them all unto the evidences of the Saints sometimes we walk with the Father and sometimes with the Son and sometimes with the Spirit and the more distinct a mans communion is the more sweet it is 6. That a man may draw arguments and motives unto duty and against sin from them all and a mans interest in them all We are said to be baptized in the name of them all Mat. 28.20 Mat. 28.20 Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Now what is it to be baptized into the name of the Father it's conceived to be taken from the manner of marriage wherein the wife doth transire in nomen in familiam c. into the name and family of the husband or of servants who had their masters name called upon them 1 Cor. 1.13 and therefore no man might be baptized in the name of a creature it is that which Paul detests that he should baptize in his own name and therefore the meaning is to be baptized in fidem in cultum into the faith and worship of God and so you are unto them all and give up your names unto them all and therefore unto each person we owe both faith and worship distinctly all manner of duty and obedience because we are distinctly baptized unto the faith of them all to believe in them and worship them and a man should draw arguments to keep him from sin from them all and his interest in them all the Father is greater than all and it is by his will we are sanctified If we call him Father who without respect of persons judgeth every man according to his works Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.15 And he says of Christ I send my Angel but take heed of him obey his voice provoke him not for my name is in him And grieve
because all the fulness of Christ he doth receive it from the Father Therefore whensoever we have recourse unto Christ for righteousness holiness and comforts and see him to live by the Father in all these and when we look up unto him who is our Head and see him exalted above all Principalities and Powers and that he lives by the power of God now say Christ lives by the power and the glory of the Father and the life that I live is by the faith of the Son of God 2 As by the Father he is made the fountain of life unto us for the Father did give eternal life unto us when he laid it up in the Son therefore it is said That they killed the Prince of life Joh. 5.11 Acts 3.25 as he is the King of Righteousness and the Prince of Peace it is said Moses was a man of peace but he could not command peace in the mutinous and murmuring people but if he had been a Prince of peace he could and so Christ as a Prince of life can convey life and dispense it Rev. 22.14 We having fallen and forfeited Paradise and the Tree of Life we were secluded from it Now God the Father hath appointed another Tree of Life which is the Lord Jesus Christ and he will give unto men a right or a priviledge to eat thereof also which they were formerly shut out of So that you see it is the Father that hath given him power to quicken whom he will to have life in himself and to give eternal life to as many as believe in him SECT IV. Our Covenant-Interest in Offices Acts and Relations of the Trinity applied Vse 1 § 1. HAving finished the doctrinal part and seen how God the Father makes over himself in the Covenant of Grace to the Saints for their portion lyes in God not only in the Attributes of the nature but in an interest in the persons also and we have an interest in all the actions that the Father appropriated whether they be eternal or in time and those whether terminated in Christ immediately or in us and we have seen how we have an interest in all the personal relations of the Father that in the same relations he stands to Christ in the same he stands to us also he is his Father and our Father his God and our God he is our Father our King our Friend our Husbandman and the Fountain of our life for he hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son Now we come to apply all this to our selves and it shall be 1. for Information that so in so great a truth as this we may not be mistaken And here we are to consider 1 that a man hath interest in all the persons at once they all be given together a man hath not first an interest in the Father and then in the Son and then in the Spirit but having an interest in one he hath an interest in them all he that hath the Son hath the Father also he hath the Father and the Son Joh. 2.23 Joh. 2.9 And by this we may see what a glorious change there is in a man when he is converted and made one with Christ he hath an interest in all the Attributes of God It 's true that they do all act for him afterwards successively and according to a mans necessity at several times they work for his good sometimes an act of mercy is put forth for him sometimes an act of power sometimes wisdom sometimes patience but yet the soul comes to have an interest in them all at once and at the same time and when he is intitled to the one he is intitled to the other even to them all and so it is with the Persons also the title Believers have to them begins at once As a man hath interest in Christ the Mediator it 's true that Christ doth exercise all his Offices for his spiritual good successively and he is now to him a Priest to offer his Sacrifice and to bear his iniquity now he is a Prophet to teach him now he is a King to govern him and there are distinct acts of all these offices but yet the soul hath an interest in them all at once As it is in all grace it 's true that the graces of Gods Spirit do all of them act in their places 2 Pet. 1.5 for we are to add to our faith vertue and to our vertue knowledge c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is taken ab iis qui choros ducunt from such as lead the dance in which every one keeps his own place and acts his own part for grace brings the most glorious order into the soul that can be but yet all grace is wrought together even the whole new man is begotten at once And so for all the creatures of God it is true that they do all in their places act for the Saints the Stars in their courses do fight against Sisera but yet a man comes to have jus haereditarium an hereditary right to them all at once And this is the glory of the change at a mans first conversion which a man may admire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man that had before no interest in any Attribute of God in any person in the Godhead or any of the Offices of Christ or any grace of the Spirit or any promise of the Gospel or in any creature of God yet at once in the very same instant he comes to have a title unto all these that though all the promises be fulfilled by degrees and in their time yet the soul hath a title unto them all and that as true and as great as he shall have when he comes to Heaven 1 Cor. 13.10 11. for it is by the same title that he shall injoy Heaven for this is but our nonage and childhood yet a child hath the same title to the land his father left him as when he comes to be a man only he hath not the possession of it and so the title by which you shall injoy God for ever is begun in this life only there are two great changes you must pass through the first is conversion the second is death by the one the soul is intitled to his heavenly inheritance and by the other he is fully put into possession 2. Though the interest of Gods people begin at once in all the persons yet the Lord would have us take notice that there is a distinct interest in them all to be attained unto for the more distinct our apprehensions are the more glory we give unto God and the greater will our own comfort be God delights not in generalities neither in general confessions nor in general apprehensions or thanksgivings As it is in the Attributes of the Nature of God though a soul that hath an interest in God in Covenant hath a title to them all at once yet they are all of them as so many
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
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
nor under the curse Now hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit if any man has not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Now wheresoever the spirit of Christ is it is a spirit of mortification as Rom. 8.10 for Christs Spirit had the same end that Christ had 1 Joh. 1.8 1 A mans darling lust is mortified for a man converted hates every sin but especially these as a Deer that is shot is not quiet till the Arrow that has wounded him be taken out Psal 18.23 Hos 14.3 and the Psalmist says I was also upright before him and I kept my self from my iniquity There is no greater sign that a man is acted by the spirit of the Devil than indulging this way of sinning 2 A man conflicts specially against spiritual sins for those sins make a man most conformable to the Devil as for gross sins restraining grace and a natural conscience will go far to keep them under all sins are from the Devil either per modum servitutis or imaginis in a way of servitude or image Pride and contempt of God and drawing others to sin and delighting in it hating godliness in others obstinacy and impenitency c. these sins argue whose children we are That we are of our father the Devil for his lusts we do c. Spiritual lusts are his image 2. Where the Spirit of Christ dwells the spirit of the second Covenant he is a spirit of Sanctification Joh. 3â—6 there is a renewing of the inward man that which is born of the spirit is spirit the spirit of God is not only water but fire which turns all into it self it is a spirit of Wisdom and a spirit of faith love meekness and of a sound mind conforming the outward man making him follow the Lord fully he is willingly ignorant of no truth he does not hide his eyes Numb 14.24 nor stop his ears from hearing of it nor does he imprison any truth in unrighteousness he will walk up to his light in every thing though duties be difficult to honour God and own his people before the world as we may live to see it a crime to countenance a profession of godliness yet this man that has received another spirit as Caleb had can let the world see that all his delight is in the Saints and though he should be reckoned singular and go alone with Athanasius and Luther yet he still keeps on his way notwithstanding all opposition and lays out all that is in him and dear to him for Christ and if he perish in a way of duty he perishes Luk. 11.21 he will venture life and all for God as Nehemiah and Hester did Vse 2 § 2. Hence we may see the sinfulness of an unregenerate state in this That all of you that are so are strangers to the Covenant of promise and this is set forth by the Apostle as that state of sin in which the Gentiles lay before their conversion Chrysost Chrysostome says that they were not only separated from this Covenant and without it but wholly strangers to it and though as to the terms of the Covenant we be not so great strangers now because the Gospel of Grace is made known to us yet all they that do not accept of the terms of the Covenant but do stand out in their unbelief and do not imbrace the Lord Christ offered in the Gospel they are as truly in Gods account still strangers unto the Covenant of Promise as the Gentiles were before the Gospel was preached unto them and let no man say What are we all Heathens will you put us into the same condition with them Let me tell you the Covenant of Grace has been offered unto you and the terms of it plainly set before you And they are 1 God will be yours if you will be his he will be wholly yours so as you must be wholly his Cant. 6.2 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Bernard says Mea non placent nisi mecum Christ will neither marry a Widow nor a Harlot Lev. 21.14 he will have the first Love and the whole Love Hos 3.3 Thou shalt be unto me alone and unto none other 2 Thou shalt give all that is thine unto him and he will give all that is his unto thee thou shalt have an interest in what is his but so as Christ will have an interest likewise in all that is thine He â—hat does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple thou must follow the lamb whithersoever he goes thou must forget thy own kindred and thy fathers house forsake yea hate thy â—wn life if it come in competition with thy duty and love to Christ for a man to be willing 〈◊〉 reserve any thing at his own dispose that he may enjoy a-part from Christ it is a token 〈◊〉 a false heart and the Lord abhors it To do as Ananias and Saphira did keep back part 〈◊〉 the price reserve something that they would not give up and yet pretend to give up all â—is abominable to God and that man that does not consent unto the Covenant upon these â—â—rms does not give the hand unto the Lord and subscribe with his hand unto the Lord 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 30.8 he that is not willing to come and take of this water of life Isa 44. Rev. 22. his name shall â—e blotted out of the book of life c. If he do not accept of nor consent to the Covenant â—â—at man though he live in the Church he is in Gods account as a Heathen and a stranger 〈◊〉 the Covenant of Promise as truly as they that live at the furthest ends of the earth to â—hom the offer of a second Covenant never came and in some respects are worse than they â—â—erefore we read that David calls the Ziphims though they were the Inhabitants of Judah Ezek. 16.3 Hos 12.7 Amos 9.7 Isa 1.10 â—â—rangers and Sauls Courtiers that were wicked men and persecutors of him he called Heathens and Saul himself he calls Cush and that as one well observes not without some â—llusion unto his fathers name Cush an Ethiopian Psal 7.1 and it 's said Rev. 11.2 The â—utward Court shall be trodden down of the Gentiles which is meant of those that receive the â—ark of the Beast and bear his image for Popery is nothing else but Paganism under a â—orm of Christianity and therefore such are Gentiles in Gods account and the Lord meaâ—â—res all with one line He will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised Jer. 9. ult 8. 9. â—gypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moah and all that are in the â—â—ermost corners that dwell in the wilderness for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all 〈◊〉 house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart c. The misery of not being translated into the second Covenant has been
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
under his Covenant 1 John 5.11 God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son he that has the son has life So that all the benefits of the Covenant are grounded upon our Union with him who is the Prince of the Covenant if you be Abrahams seed How shall that be Gal. 3. last By being Christs and then a man comes under Abrahams Covenant and thereby is a Son of Abraham and that is only by being in Christ They that are born after the spirit are Children of the freewoman Gal. 4.31 2 Cor. 1.20 that is they that believe and it is in him that all the promises are made unto us in him all the promises of God are Yea and Amen they have their truth and their certainty and stability in him and we are made the righteousness of God in him and we bear fruits in him for every promise does carry back the Soul unto his Union with Christ in the right whereof we do claim the promises which are made unto Christ in our behalf and unto us only so far as we are members of Christ as we are in him And from hence the point that I shall gather wherein this translation lies is this Doct. In a mans Vnion with the second Adam his translation out of the first Covenant does consist it is by a mans Vnion that his Covenant is changed § 2. In the opening of it there are three things to be cleared 1 To explain the nature of this Vnion 2 How it comes to pass that this Vnion should be a mans Translation 3 To shew how a man being united unto Christ the prince of the Covenant differs from what he was before his being translated and in what particulars this difference lies § 1. For the nature of this Union it is an Union with him as he is set forth by God publick person as a representative head as a second Adam Now as we were one with the first Adam and therefore said to be in him and to sin in him so we must be one with the second Adam and so are said to be in him also Now in the first Adam we are naturally as we partake of his Spirit every man by nature receiving the spirit of Adam as well as the Image of Adam and voluntarily every man by nature consenting to his Covenant and desiring still to be under it Gal. 4. And as Jesus Christ is become one with us so must we also become one with him Now he is become one with us naturally taking our flesh and voluntarily as entring into our Covenant so we must become one with Christ naturally by receiving his spirit and voluntarily by consenting unto his Covenant And these two are the branches of our Union without which it cannot be compleat and therefore our Union in Scripture is set forth by similitudes that express both parts naturally between the head and the body we are the members of Christ and he the head between the branch and the root he the root and we the branches between the meat and the body that is nourished by it when turned into juice and blood c. And also voluntarily between the Husband and the Wife they two making up one flesh Ephes 5.3 by mutual consent 1. There is a natural Vnion between Christ and the Soul As Christ taking our flesh becomes one with us so also we partaking of his Spirit become one with him As there are some that God has given unto Christ from eternity in his purpose and decree so he has appointed a time when they shall be actually united who though in the Purpose of God and Transaction between the Father and his Son are given unto Christ yet do for the present live without Christ in the World but though Christ in the Purpose of God was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world yet in the fullness of time only he took our flesh so though we were in the counsel of God given unto Christ before the world was yet there is a fullness of time appointed by the Father when he shall bestow upon us his spirit so that the first part of our Union is that we receive the Spirit of Christ for this Union begins on Christs part as he did unite himself unto us by taking our flesh so he does unite us unto himself by imparting of his spirit Phil. 3.12 That I may apprehend as I am apprehended Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He took hold of our nature flying from him So Oecumen We were no more able to lay hold upon Christ than to lay hold on the Sun in the Firmament This â—ending of his spirit makes us become one body with him as the head and the feet make up â—ne body because they are acted by the same soul Because you are Sons Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.9 1 Cor. 6.17 he has sent forth â—e spirit of his son into your hearts If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his â—e spiritual body so Pareus or mystical or in respect of the Copula as Beza as he that 〈◊〉 joyned to a Harlot is one flesh with her his bond is carnal so he that is joyned to the â—ord is one spirit and so a man becomes the Temple of the Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Christ dwells in a man and takes up his habitation there for ever never to forsake that man â—fterward There is the inhabitation and the operation of the spirit Jo. 15.26 2 Tim. 1.14 the Holy Ghost dwells â—here and works there for ever and so Christ and he having one spirit they are become one body Hence we see 1 this Union is real and not imaginary though Christ be in Heaven and we upon thâ— Earth yet the bond is real the same spirit in both as many members of one body acted by the same Soul and so though many members be scattered all the World over yet they make up one body for it is a spiritual body and a mysterious Union for â—he same spirit unites the members to the head and one to another for they all partake of â—he same spirit 2. It is a natural and not meerly a voluntary Union and therefore there are many simiâ—itudes some express it by a voluntary and some by a natural Union as the members â—hough they be naturally one and acted by the same spirit yet they are of different forms â—o it is here Christ and the Soul are not only one by consent but they are naturally one c. 3. The Union is not with the Gifts and Graces and Benefits of Christ though indeed the Communion we have is with these but the Union is with his person for Isa 9.6 To us a son is given John 1.14 The word was made flesh and dwelt among us And Psal 45.10 11 Hearken O daughter and consider and incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for
people prepared for the Lord. This Union is wrought by the Spirit of the â—ord Jesus by cutting off the soul from his old root for there is at least in order of nature a cutting off before a grafting in Rom. 11.24 1 Pet. 2.5 We as living stones are built upon him a spiritual house a holy temple Therefore Isa 28.16 Thus saith the Lord God Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone c. A foundation that is a sure â—nd a firm foundation for the repetition does signifie excellency and certainty Isa 26.3 He shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Matt. 7.24 Now there are but two foundations the Rock and the Sand a man must be removed and taken off the one before he can be built upon the other Rom. 13.14 Union with Christ is compared to putting him on as a garment a man must put off his old garment before he can put on the new and the wedding-garment which every man by nature is without It is a Matrimonial Vnion and a man must be dead to his former husband that he may be married to another says the Apostle I through the law am dead to the law Rom. 7.4 Gal. 2.19 Rom. 7.9 that I may be married to another Again I through the law am dead to the law that I may live unto God Paul in his state of unregeneracy was alive to the Law that is in the performance of it he thought he could keep the whole Law and expected by it that righteousness that should save him but now the Commandment came in a lively and effectual manner by the mighty working of the Spirit upon his soul convincing him of his guilt and his inability that for the curse of the Law he lay under it and the condemning power thereof by reason of his guilt and that he was able to perform no duty that the Law required through the inability that was in him and so he became dead unto it that is he expected life thereby no more and trusted upon his own strength no more for he knew he was able to do nothing and he that knows he is able to perform no duty of the Law and can expect no reward of the Law he is dead unto it Joh. 16.8 And this is done 1 by a work of Conviction convincing the world of sin that is that a man is in a state of sin under the guilt and power of it under the guilt of it that he is in his own person lyable to the wrath of God for it and that all the curses of the Law are his portion and that by nature Hell is his proper place and he is so under the power of it that he can perform no duty nor resist any temptation cannot subject himself unto the Righteousness of God nor to the Law of God he is in a state of impotency and of enmity and if the Lord do offer him Grace and come to convert him he cannot but resist and there is some special and darling lust in the cords of which he is held that will prove his destruction 2 And by a work of Humiliation the pleasure of all a mans former sins are dampt and taken away and the man is dead to them all and he cannot taste them as in times past and making a man to look upon himself as a miserable and undone man to loath himself to lye under the fear and expectation of wrath that the Law has threatned Acts 2.37 Rom. 7.9 and his guilty condition has deserved which is the proper work of the spirit of bondage to be pricked in his heart for a man to die to look upon himself as a dead man and to be dead in his own apprehension full of confession of his own sin and condemnation of himself as the Prodigal son Father I am unworthy to be called thy Son 3. There is a mighty and a glorious work of revelation discovering to a soul the good will of God the Father and of Christ which is called the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.18 revealing his son in a man Gal. 1. And convincing a man of righteousness in Christ Joh. 6. for the salvation of sinners that there is a holiness in the Person of Christ and a sufficiency in his Righteousness for the salvation of sinners This is called seeing the Son Joh. 6.40 which is not barely a notional knowledge which a man had before of Christ but a knowledge and apprehension of Christ and his Glory let into the soul such a knowledge as a man never had before seeing Christ to be a proportionable good to the Saints one that is able to save to the uttermost and one that he may have an interest in and he may become his for ever Joh. 12.44 Which when the Prophet saw he wondered all men did not believe in him his Glory did so ravish him and if a man that slighted Christ before once discern this presently he has an high esteem of this excellent person To them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 And they look upon him with another eye than ever they did in time past and this was the plot that God the Father delighted in before the World was and that Christ was but the Father's servant in all this that he did and that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that God was not averse to the work as an angry Judge but that Christ would bring souls to God and the Father did love to have it so and that all was the fruit of his own everlasting love to sinners before the world was 1 Joh. 3.16 That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And then all the offers of Christ the calls and the invitations of God and his compassionate intreaties that are in his Word all these begin to take place upon the soul Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters come and buy whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely That the price is already paid and that the blood of Christ was shed to cleanse sinners the Angels need it not the Devils can have no benefit by it it was given only for poor lapsed man and therefore it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is the drawing and the teaching of the Father Joh. 6.44 not but that it is done by the Spirit also but it is said to be the work of the Father because the offer of Christ being Gods gift is presented unto the soul in the Fathers name with a command from him to accept of him and to believe in him For this is his Commandment that we believe in him whom he hath sent because him has God the Father sealed And this took Luther so much when he understood the righteousness of God that
a glass Jam. 1.24 He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty Here it is spoken of the Moral Law as Beza observes in opposition unto the bondage of the Ceremonial not that the Moral Law is a Law of liberty or can set us at liberty of it self but it is so to them that are in Christ because it is a Law written in their hearts and they are stablished by a free and a Princely spirit There is a double glass that the Scripture holds forth in which Christians should often look as this here and that in the 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 Per legem peccati cognitio per fidem abolitio Ambros in Rom. 3. that in the one they may see themselves and in the other they may behold their Saviour even the Glory of the Lord. The Law is the one and the Gospel is the other Now the great use of this glass is that a man may see his own spots and deformities that his sin may be discovered and therefore the Text says it was added for transgressions And of this use of the Law the Scripture speaks often Rom. 30.20 By the Law is the knowledge of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound I had not known sin but by the Law And Rom. 7.13 That sin might appear sin and by the Commandment become exceeding sinful that is that he might see sin in the extent of it and its utmost vileness and filthiness and therefore he shews that there could be nothing worse than it he calls it by no worse name than its own sinful sin as to call Satan a devilish Devil is not so bad as to call him sinful Angel for sin being the worst of evils can have no worse name than it self and therefore when the Apostle says it did appear to him in the utmost sinfulness of it then he says it did appear sin Lex est Index peccati non genitrix the Law is the Index of sin â—ot the Parent As the light enters and discovers filthiness that before was there but it lay â—id in the dark And these Scriptures do direct us to sins of two sorts which are discovered â—y the Law 1 Original sin which is called the offence which was in the world beâ—ore the Law even from Adam for by one man sin entred into the world and by him it passed â—pon all mankind 2 Actual sins whether of the heart or of the life all the inordinate â—otions of the spirit tending unto evil which the Scripture calls lusts Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust 〈◊〉 be a sin unless the Law had said unto me Thou shalt not lust Here I must speak unto two â—hings 1 How does the Law discover sin 2 How by discovering sin is it a handmaid and 〈◊〉 servant to the Gospel 1. How does the Law discover Original sin and that cursed frame of nature which is in â—ery sin 1. By shewing unto a man as in a glass that primitive holiness and righteousness in which he â—s created For the Law indeed is primitive justitiae speculum the glass of primitive justice â—or that image of God in which man was created was nothing else but a perfect conformity 〈◊〉 the nature of the Law and will of God in every thing So that as Christ while he was â—pon earth in his humane nature was a perfect pattern of that obedience that the Law requiâ—ed so that all that he did was agreeable to the Law in every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.21 and he has therein left as a copy to write after so was Adams nature and so should also his life have been he should have known no sin neither should any guile have been found in his mouth he should â—ave been as it was said of one a living Scripture and a walking Bible a living Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so â—hat whatever the Law of God now requires of us that at first God created in us Now when a man compares himself with this Law and sees how unanswerable he is in every thing he does he thereby comes to see how he has utterly lost the righteousness and holiness that was in him at the first and the glory of his Creation his Mind that was in the Creation as full of light as the Sun is is now darkness it self and his Conscience is now feared his heart that was tender unto God is now hardned his Memory that was firm is now frail and leaking and his Affections that did move rationally and orderly as the Stars in their courses â—re now full of nothing else but confusion madness and disorder â—â—d his Thoughts the immediate issues and the first-born of his soul always excellent spiritual and useful but now polish vain and unprofitable flying up and down like atoms in the air to no end 2. A man looking upon this rule does not only see a privation of what formerly was his â—appiness and his glory but he sees now the quite contrary Act. 13.10 an opposition in him to the Law of God in every thing that he is an enemy unto all righteousness and full of the fruits of all unrighteousness the image of the Devil upon him so that look how the heart of the Devil works against God and duty so does his for he is as like him as a child can be like his father There is a touch that Satan has left upon a mans spirit and this is upon his whole soul 1 Joh. 5.19 also all the faculties of it are turned the wrong way all of them are taken off from God and duty and therefore a man when he is converted is said to return and when the Lord calls him he is said to hear a voice behind him but novv by sin he is turned quite avvay and there is this devillishness in him that he is the more contrary unto any duty because God commands it and is carried vvith the greater violence after any sin because God forbids it sin taking occasion by the Commandment which comes nearest unto direct â—â—â—ity that can be to do things by way of revenge which is the Devils sin 3. The Law discovers Original sin by shewing the dominion of it a man cannot resist it he cannot cast it off it has a double authority in the man the dominion of a Lord Rom. 6.14 and of a King a power of command and thence some expound sin mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 7.6 to be the husband and it is not much material which whether the Law irritating sin or sin irritated by the Law be the husband and so sin has a power of love also an interest as a husband to perswade and therefore there must be obedience men obey it in the lust thereof for he that hath authority over us to command and a power to persvvade the heart also he can procure obedience to all his commands vvhen he vvill but so has sin and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 2 The Author of this Covenant Jehovah the Lord God alsufficient and therefore he doth not here call it Abrahams Covenant but it is my Covenant 3 The fountain from which in God this Covenant does flow And I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly This Covenant is a free gift and an act meerly of free grace and so much doth Abraham acknowledge immediately for he falls upon his face to shew that he could never be thankful enough The property of a thankful soul is this the more mercy it receives from God and the more boldness it may have with God and with the greater confidence he may come to him with the greater reverence he does walk towards the Lord for there is nothing that a gracious heart fears more than goodness and he is lowest in himself when the Lord exalts him highest by his Grace And this doth the Lord repeat three times I will make a Covenant with thee and my Covenant shall be with thee and vers 7. I will establish my Covenant with thee I will cause my Covenant to arise that is I will raise up such a relation between me and thee I will take thee into Covenant with my self and I will enter into Covenant with thee and this he doth repeat so often as Mercer does observe partly to confirm the Faith of Abraham in the promised mercy partly to set forth the greatness of the mercy which no words were sufficient to express also the repetition does stir up and awaken Abraham yet further to consider of the greatness of the mercy of God to him in it and the greatness also of his engagement to God thereby And from hence the first observation that I shall give you is from looking upon Abrahams Covenant as being the same with that God made with all the faithful Gal. 3. ult Doct. After man was fallen and had broken the first Covenant the Lord out of his free Grace hath made with his people a second Covenant and a better Covenant In the handling hereof are four things to be cleared 1 The Person that makes the Covenant who it is Jehovah El-shaddai 2 That God will after the fall as well as before deal with his Elect in a Covenant-way 3 The Lord hath the first and the chief hand in it I will do it I even I and therefore he doth every where call it my Covenant 4 That the fountain of this Covenant is from Gods free Grace 1. The Person that makes it the Author of this Covenant and here there are two things 1 That all the persons in the Trinity do enter into Covenant and thereby bind themselves to make themselves over unto the Elect and that will appear to you by these Considerations 1 They have all of them the same nature and essence the same will and have all a hand in the same acts as Creation is the act of them all so they do all concur in making of the Covenant Father Son and Holy Ghost 2 This is a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and the Son and the Spirit are as truly offended with the sin of man and had a hand in the first Covenant and their authority was as truly despised in the first transgression as the authority of the Father and a dishonour was put upon them also and therefore there was as much need that they should be reconciled and enter into a Covenant with man for his Salvation Bern. Ser. 1. de adventu Domini as God the Father Yea some Divines conceive that the first transgression of Angels and men was chiefly against the Son and some of our own Divines as Reinolds in Psal 110. pag. 421. say That the first sin of man was principally committed against the Son it being an affectation of that which did properly belong to him to be like unto God in Wisdom and also in this was sown the seed of the unpardonable sin which was to be the fatal sin under the second Covenant and therefore as the mercy was the more glorious that they would undertake Offices in this Covenant for reconciliation so there was the greater necessity that they should also join and be taken into the Covenant 3 If we consider the person that does transact this business and strike up this Covenant with Abraham who though he did it as the Word of God in the name of all the persons yet it was the Son who did immediately speak in it as Glassius expounds Job 33.3 the word is there The breath of the Almighty and Psal 91.1 where the same word is used it is the shadow of the Almighty c. 4 If we consider that the Son speaks of himself in Covenant as well as his Father for it is by this Covenant that the Lord is the God of Abraham because therein he did promise so to be now Exod. 3.2 6. the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses and saith I am the God of thy fathers the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac c. Act. 7.30 and the Angel of the Lord is by Scripture plainly proved to be God the Son and it 's generally or for the most part consented unto by all Divines ancient and modern Mal. 3.1 and it may be that having the great hand in striking up the Covenant he is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant 2. Though all the persons enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the person that the Scripture says we do chiefly enter into Covenant with and that hath the main and first hand therein is God the Father 1. Because it is said in Scripture to be a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and therefore it doth suppose an enmity and a war Now though sin was committed against all the Persons yet the suite against sinners in Scripture does chiefly run in God the Father's name as in all Societies there is usually one in whose name all their suites are commenced therefore 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself he speaks 〈◊〉 of God the Father who does reconcile us unto himself by Jesus Christ and therefore we are said to be reconciled to God and the work of the reconciliation of a sinner Christ calls his Fathers business and he is said to be an Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2.1 Sin is an offence to all the Persons they having all a hand in mans Creation and all of them joining in giving man a Law and entring into Covenant with him in his Creation but in Scripture the suite against sin is said to run every where in the Fathers name and our reconciliation is unto him and therefore it is the Father that has the great hand in the Covenant as the person reconciled 2. Because in the Scripture the other Persons have their peculiar Offices which they have voluntarily undertaken in this Covenant to reconcile men unto God and therefore both are said to be
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.
it that is in himself from his own will only for all is done according to the good pleasure of his will Ephes 1.9 Rom. 9. and he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy so that the whole purpose and plot of it is in the bosom of God alone and according to this plot all things are done in this Covenant As in the Creation all things are done from an Idea in the mind of God and according unto that platform Heb. 11.3 Joh. 1.18 as the Temple was built according to the pattern so in the Covenant also and therefore Christ is said to come from the bosom of the Father being from this gracious intention and purpose of God himself from everlasting 2. He entred into Covenant with Christ the second Adam that he should be the Mediator of the Covenant and the person that should do all the great works that he had intended in this Covenant 2 Tim. 1.9 and therefore we read of a promise of eternal life made unto us before the world began God did not content himself with a purpose but he added thereto a Promise and Covenant to his Decree which could not be unto us because we were not therefore it must be unto one that did represent our persons and was lookt upon as in our stead for a purpose might be in himself but a promise cannot be but unto another and there was a glory and a posterity that God did promise unto him in this Covenant and that he would carry Christ through the work that he had to do Psal 16. as appears afterwards and therefore Christ says He is my God and the lot is fallen to me in a fair ground which is the speech of Christ and therefore Prov. 8.22 he says The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way The Covenant that he made with Christ was the first of his going forth unto the Creature Prov. 8.30 31. and upon this were grounded those true delights of Christ mentioned Prov. 8.30 31. And my delights were with the sons of men 3. By vertue of this Covenant are all those Legal acts past in God In the work of Redemption there are some acts spiritually natural and they are acts of God within us which do imply a real and physical change Phil. 1.6 when our natures and principles are changed and of unholy are made holy but there are also some Moral acts and they are acts of God upon us as if a man be a guilty person or accused as such and there be an act of pardoning and accepting this is a Moral act an act upon him and if he be a sick person and there be a Physician to cure him or blind and his eyes be opened this is a natural act in him and if a man be a captive and he be made a free man by a ransome paid this is a change of his state the one is in Justification and the other in Sanctification the one is mutatio moralis and the other naturalis Now the main acts of God in this Covenant and the main of the Covenant consists in acts done without us and upon us as by soveraign imputation he doth count our sins Christs Isa 53. and he makes to meet upon him the iniquities of us all he died as the second Adam and all the Elect died in him and so his death took place for all the Elect that ever were or shall be by vertue of the Covenant of God and the soveraign imputation of God immediately after the fall Rev. 13.8 therefore is he said To be a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world that is in respect of efficacy grounded upon the imputation of God who can call things that are not as if they were Rom. 3.25 and so all the sins of the old world and the ancient Saints were pardoned the sins that were past through the forbearance of God Tanquam in capite 2 Cor. 5.21 and so Christ rose as a publick person as a second Adam and he being justified all the Elect were justified though there be an actual Justification when they do believe and so with him we ascend and sit together with him in Heavenly places c. And as he is made sin for us so we are made the righteousness of God in him as our sins are laid upon him so his righteousness is imputed unto us and truly accepted for us as our Surety For the debt paid by a Surety is in the esteem of the Law said to be paid by the debter and he for that cause is acquitted And so it is in Adoption Now we are the sons of God that is God accepts us as Children and Sons and because we are Sons he has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our heart we being by God counted members of Christ and so by our Union with him we do partake with him in his filiation and all these are acts of God upon us but without us and therefore the main benefits and acts of the Covenant are transacted by God without us and that is as truly and as perfectly done now as ever it shall be 4. There is not a soul that is brought into this Covenant but it is by God the Father he hath said Ezek. 20.37 Joh. 8.44 I will bring them into the bond of the Covenant No man can come to me except God the Father draw him What is the meaning and intent of the preaching of the Gospel without and all the tenders and offers of Christ to the soul by the Spirit within It is only to this end that they might be a people in Covenant with God and all things that Christ doth he doth as God the Fathers servant to draw men into Covenant with him that by Christ we should come unto God The expression of drawing does set forth unto us its efficacy and certainty and therefore drawing and coming are put together to shew that man by nature is not willing but an enemy unto this Covenant but ex â—olentibus volentes facit he makes men of unwilling willing he does powerfully work as if he did draw and men do as certainly come as they that are drawn Grace works strongly and therefore God is said to draw and it works sweetly and therefore men are said to come it is an act of power in God and yet an act of will in man it is a noble thing to consider how man is drawn to God never any man did come into the bond of the Covenant but he that was before drawn by the Father and there is an Almighty power that goes to the work even the same power that raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead to glory Ephes 1.19 5. All things that are within us or performed by us he has undertaken to work in us to will and to do the beginning of it and the finishing of it belongs to him Phil. 1.6 and here lyes the happiness of
conceive it was a body that was given him by the Father 2 There was Union from the Father and therefore there is a grace of Union as to us in Mystical Union it is the Father made up the match between us and Christ and we are united unto him for ever so in the Personal and Hypostatical Union it is the Father that made up the match and made the two Natures to become one Person and therefore it is said Luk. 1.35 That holy thing that is born shall be called the Son of God for it was in obedience to the Father that he did come to take this body into Union it is true he did take the seed of Abraham but it was by the Fathers command Heb. 2.16 Heb. 10.7 and in obedience to him and therefore he says A body hast thou prepared me and therefore he did take it upon himself as he did his sufferings The cup that his Father gave him he did drink and so in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily 3. There is also the grace of Unction God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him Joh. 3.34 Jesus of Nazareth whom God has anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power As it pleased the Father in him should all fulness dwell as the Sun of Righteousness and as the fountain of life and this is not in him only as God but as Mediator but all this is still as it pleased the Father acts of his free-grace 4. Assistance in this great work it is true that Christ was God and able to raise himself 1 Joh. 5.11 and did quicken himself and did overcome death and spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed over them openly but yet he doth ascribe all this to the gracious assistance of God the Father it is the Lord that made him a promise that he should go through with his work and Christ doth strengthen himself by exercising faith upon the Promises of God the Father who promised Isa 42.4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement in the earth I the Lord have called thee in righteousness I will hold thee by the hand that is by a mighty assistance and support and I will keep thee c. and with these Christ helps himself by exercising faith upon them I will trust in thee he is near that justifies me Isa 50.8 Who will contend with me the Lord is at my right hand I shall not be moved Psal 16.8 9 10. therefore my heart is glad and my flesh shall rest in hope for thou will not leave my soul in Hell i. e. in the grave under the power and condemnation of that sin and wrath that now is upon me nor suffer my body to see corruption but thou wilt shew me the path of life c. And Psal 22. he strengthens his faith by experience of his forefathers Our Fathers trusted in thee and thou deliveredst them So that Christs assistance in all his managing of the work of the Covenant is wholly from the free-grace of God the Father and therefore in all the business of it Christ had recourse unto his Father by prayer continually 5. Acceptance It is true that Christ as his Person was in worth and value answerable unto all the Elect of God and beyond them so there was a worth and price in all that he did in his suffering answerable unto whatever the Law and Justice of God did require God did abate him nothing he payed the uttermost farthing else there could not have been satisfaction Isa 63.6 for it must be redditio aequivalentis pro aequivalenti it was a full satisfaction God did abate him nothing in this but God made our sins to meet upon him he did not abate him one sin and being made sin he did not abate him any part of the curse And what mercies soever the Lord doth bestow upon us Christ hath paid a valuable price for them because his obedience did deserve and did truly merit at the hand of God whatever the Lord shall bestow upon us to eternity either in Grace here or Glory hereafter it is indeed free unto us and a gift but yet it is unto Christ a purchase and therefore here indeed there is nothing of grace as it were but all is of debt that is Christ did lay down something answerable unto whatever God did either give or forgive But yet here is Grace in the Lords acceptance of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us and the imputation thereof unto us and that the Lord should account this by a Soveraign imputation to be as done in our stead and for us for the Law did say the soul that sins shall die it is Grace only that brings in the commutation of the Person though there be no commutation of the righteousness that was required of us Heb. 10.10 it is meerly of Grace that the Lord has accepted of Christ for us all the benefits of the Death of Christ as Pardon of Sin Reconciliation with God Justification and Adoption they do all depend upon this will of the Father for had he not appointed this work and thereby declared his acceptation had not he accepted it who was the Judge we could never have had any benefit by it and therefore it is by his will alone that all this is made over unto us there was free-grace abundantly in his acceptation By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Isa 53.11 Joh. 6.38 by the knowledge of him and faith in him for of such a knowledge it is meant I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me the meaning is not as if Christ came unwillingly but that his Fathers will was first in this work and so much in it that the thing that Christ did principally aim at was to please his Father and to do his will therein Now because Christs great aim was to do his Fathers will and to please his Father doing all by appointment from him he knew he hath acceptance with him for though Christ had paid the price it was free with God to accept it or no. 6. There is a reward that is given unto Christ for all the services that he does perform He hath a name above every name Phil. 2.9 10. and a seed Isa 53. and a glory He being set on the right hand of the Majesty on high 1 Pet. 1. ult Angels and Principalities and Powers being made subject unto him and this the Lord hath given him as a reward of his service I will not now speak unto that Question put by some Divines Whether Christ did merit for himself which our Divines do deny in this sense as being the great end why he did come into the world to merit for his Elect-ones because the Scripture saith God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Joh. 3.16 And to us a Child is born to us a son is
given Isa 9.6 And Rom. 5. Herein was the love of Christ that when we were enemies he died for us And Joh. 17.19 For their sakes I sanctifie my self But yet it cannot be denied that the Lord did give glory unto Christ as that which he promised as a reward of his obedience only it was of Grace to appoint it and of Grace to accept it and so by consequence of Grace to reward it 7. And this will appear at the last day that all that Christ hath and doth is from free-grace because the Kingdom that he hath received he must give up then unto God the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 He did receive a Kingdom at the beginning and had a gracious manifestation of it when he did ascend up into Heaven All power is given him in Heaven and in Earth Dan. 7.14 and when the Persecuting Monarchies be taken down there shall be given him a Kingdom which shall not be destroyed but all this shall be given up to the Father at the last day Not that Christ shall cease as Mediator to be the Head of the Church and to have an influence into them in glory God doing all by a Head for I conceive that the Mystical Union is eternal as well as the Hypostatical and that a man under the Covenant of Grace shall never stand before God in his own righteousness to eternity but as he is justified by the righteousness of Christ now by a righteousness imputed so he shall ever be for as here he is accepted of God for his Masters Grace so he shall hereafter enter into his Masters joy but Christ shall give up the Church which is his Kingdom and the present manner of Government of it and shall lay it all down and make it appear before Men and Angels that whatever he hath done it has been as his Fathers servant to please him and to do his will and shall after the day of Judgement which is the last act of his Kingly Office give up his account to him which shall be giving up of the Kingdom to God that so God may be all in all that is have the glory not only of all the glory of the Saints but of all the glory of Christ also and have his Grace honoured as the fountain of all and it shall be manifested to all the world that even the merit of Christ is after a sort Gratia inviscerata Grace inviscerated the Kingdom shall so return unto God as it is now committed and appropriated unto Christ Joh. 5.22 c. The Father judgeth no man and yet Heb. 12.22 he is called God the Judge of all the Father judgeth in the Son but the Son is the person to whom the execution and dispensation of all judgement is committed now he rules his Church by the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments and the supplies of his Spirit by degrees perfecting his Image begun in his Members and by the sword of his mouth destroying his enemies and so he shall do till the Resurrection of the Dead and then after a sort this Kingdom shall cease he shall no more exercise the Office of a Mediator in compassionating defending and interceding for his Church and then this glory he shall publickly â—â—sign before Men and Angels into the hand of his Father as having done all as his servant and he himself as a part of that great Church of the first-born shall appear subject to the Father as having done all by his command and God shall be all in all and have the glory not only of the salvation of the Saints but of the exaltation of his Son also yet so as Christ shall reign for ever as God co equal with the Father and also as Mediator shall be the Head of the Church as glorified for ever Vse 1 § 3. Let us from hence learn that God is willing to be reconciled unto sinners and to exalt his Grace therein for he is first in the reconciliation the Covenant of reconciliation began in him his love had no motive or foundation but within it self he doth it freely and â—or his own sake from the beginning to the end from the foundation to the top-stone there â—s nothing that is primarily active in our Salvation but free-grace he has loved us freely â—hosen us freely freely given his Son freely accepted his obedience for us and imputed it â—o us it is his gift by grace freely given us his Spirit faith and repentance free Rom. 5.18 Phil. 1.29 Gods works are free Ephes 2.10 and Salvation free For by Grace we are saved through faith Tit. 3.5 Even when he does reward our obedience it is free Hos 10.12 We sow in righâ—eousness and reap in mercy The unbelief of a mans heart is in nothing more seen than in jeaâ—ous and suspicious thoughts of God and therein doth the enmity of a mans spirit appear when man distrusts him as an enemy now his intention is to be reconciled and he hath used the most effectual remedy sent his Son and committed unto us the Ministry of reconciliation it was a work that his heart was much in How did it please David when Joab made the motion of bringing home Absalom again because his heart went out to him So it is here could you read the heart of God you think it may be Christ is willing and that he is compassionate towards you but that the Father is hard to be reconciled and Christ hath much ado to plead with him and perswade him but I tell you God is in Christ reconciling the world Christ is a fruit of the Love of God to you Joh. 3.16 Christ doth but his Fathers will when he brings you unto God and his Father loves to have it so for the Father himself loves you be assured thy unworthiness cannot hinder him for he loves freely Cast thy soul upon this free-grace in the Son anchor thou upon this Rock and remember that all glory that is given to Christ and all acts done by him are to be to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.10 11. It is required not only of the Saints that they close with the Grace of God conveyed by the Covenant but with that Grace that made the Covenant and is the foundation of it and say Here I will rest as the Lepers if free-grace save me I shall live if it will reject me I can but die it is free which way soever he deals with me there is not free-will in me that can make me differ Vse 2 2. How should this draw in our hearts to close with this Love and inflame them after the Lord There is nothing doth inflame the soul towards God but impressions and reflections of the love of God unto us 1 The great business of this Covenant is to win your Love not only that he may be reconciled unto you but that you may be reconciled unto him again 2 Consider what a grief it is to a man to lose his Love Love will be
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
grace as well as the righteousness must be in another as a middle person between God and Man by whom all must be bestowed 1. 1 Joh. 5.11 Joh. 3.34 Jo. 1.16 It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell 2. The Spirit could be received in its fullness from no other the Spirit without measure was in him 3 It could be derived by no other the fullness that we do all receive must be dispensed by daily and continued supplies from him Phil. 1.19 for in us it shall not be perfect in this life and who can dispense it but he that hath the Knowledge and Wisdom of a God and an eye over all the earth according to the condition and necessity of his people and he can give them out of himself suitable and seasonable supplies and though he be in Heaven he can be touched with our infirmities 4thly The Covenant must be made with Christ and with us in him because this makes much unto the Honour of Christ the Prince of the Covenant Christ is said to be Head of the Church Col. 1.18 Isa 28.16 John 15.1 Rev. 5.5 Col. 1.18 and he is not only a head of Influence but of Eminence and that in all things and therefore in Scripture all names of precedency and priority are given him in a building he is the foundation in a Tree he is the root nay he is the root of David and therefore David was by him David did not bear the root but the root him There was a double honour that God bestowed upon the first Adam 1 He was caput forense a legal Head as a Covenant was made with him and 2 Naturale a natural head as an Image was laid up in him Now we deny unto Christ one part of his glory unless we acknowledge him to be first in the Covenant a common head of representation as well as in receiving an Image for us Therefore Rom. 11.16 it is the honour of Abraham that the Covenant after a sort in reference unto his family began in him Mic. 7.20 but in this Abraham was but a Type and it must be fulfilled in Christ who was to be the Father of many Nations and in him all Nations should be blessed Isa 9.6 and is therefore called wonderful counseller everlasting father c. They all come under his Covenant as all the Saints did under Abrahams and therefore even the Gentiles also are called Abrahams seed Heb. 2. and so all that come under Christs Covenant are called his seed he shall see his seed and he shall at last day present them to God with this expression Here am I and the children thou hast given me 5thly This doth exceedingly advance the grace of the Second Covenant for God to enter into Covenant with man after his fall and breach of his first Covenant was a great mercy and to be taken into the same Covenant with Abraham was a great mercy but it is one of the highest mercies Isa 49.9 that Christ is given as a Covenant to stand under the same Covenant with the Son of God 1 Under all blessings whatever we receive we receive not apart from Christ but as one with him we are justified by his righteousness sanctified by his spirit receive his Image here and in Heaven we enter into our Masters joy all not apart from him but as one with him 2 All the blessings of the Covenant we may claim in Christs right by vertue of the Covenant made with him for us and therefore Joh. 20.17 Joh. 1.12 to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in his name And Dan. 9.17 For the Lords sake for the Covenant is the same between God and Christ that is between God and us 3 We perform all the duties of the Covenant as accepted in the person of Christ the Lord receives them all from the hand of Christ who is ingaged by Covenant to perform them Hos 14.8 In him is all our fruit found And therefore Joh. 15.2 it is bearing fruit in him and they are received as they come out of the Angels hand All our obedience is looked upon by God as the obedience of Christ and all our sufferings as the sufferings of Christ unto this day all our hope is in our head 6thly From the great inconveniences that must needs follow upon the Doctrine that the Covenant should be first made with us and Christ only come in but at second hand to make up our defects 1 Thereby Christ should in a great measure lose the glory of his headship for if it be an honour to Christ to be a Head by receiving an Image then it is an honour also first to receive a Covenant Col. 2.19 as it was of the first Adam It is as great a sin and therefore must needs be as dangerous a Doctrine to look unto our selves only for a Covenant as it is to look into our selves only for an Image 2 This will in a great measure take away the ground of our communion with Christ 1 Jo. 1.3 our fellowship is with him we have a communion with Christ in his righteousness priviledges and victories and the ground of this communion is only the Covenant We have communion with Adam in his sin and curse because the hand-writing of our Fathers is ours so the ground of our communion with Christ in his righteousness is as he is a representative head and as we come under his Covenant and therefore his obedience is ours his sufferings ours we suffered with him we died in him rise with him because we are under the same Covenant with him 3 In this does the stability of the Covenant of Grace lye it is an everlasting Covenant and unchangeable because it is made with an unchangeable head Adams Covenant and so that of the Angels was subject to change because the persons were changeable with whom the Covenant was made if the Covenant were primarily made with us then our unfaithfulness might break the Covenant as Adams did but our Image is not blotted out by our sins as Adams was because the fountain of it is not within us 1 Jo. 5.1 but in another and he hath said because I live you shall live so our unfaithfulness makes not the Covenant void because it is not made with us but with him and with us in him and because he keeps the Covenant it must needs remain sure to all the seed so that as our sins blot not out our Image so they break not the Covenant because Christ is the root and the head in the one as well as in the other and so it is every way more honourable for Christ and comfortable for us that the Covenant should be made with him and he be the person upon whom the principal ingagement should lye and upon us in the second place that so though we be unfaithful yet the Covenant may remain
purchased possession Act. 20.18 whether it be in grace or glory and therefore Christ looks upon all graces and all priviledges as part of his due from God the Father and that they should be bestowed upon them for whom he laid down a price And therefore we read that though Christ while he was upon earth was a man of sorrows and had little comfort in this World yet he did take delight in this the fulfilling of the promises unto him in the conversion of Souls and perfecting Saints When the Woman of Samaria was converted he said Luk. 16.20 'T was his meat and drink to do the will of his father he rejoyced in spirit that souls were converted and that the mysteries of the Gospel were revealed unto babes And Joh. 11.15 when he called Lazarus from the Grave they said he is dead and he said I was glad for your sakes to this end that you might believe he rejoiceth that there was an opportunity to add unto their faith and that it might grow and increase one degree more It was the joy of his heart to see of the travel of his soul Isa 53. And there are three things that Christ hath respect unto herein 1 His sufferings past and therefore he doth in his intercession always sprinkle his blood before the mercy seat his blood is a speaking blood he hath laid down the price and therefore surely he expects the purchase 2 It is the joy of his heart now he is in Heaven to see the graces of his people grow and flourish it is the meat that he is said to seed upon as we see Cant. 5.2 I have mingled my wine with my milk and eat my honey c. and thou art the fairest amongst women thou hast ravished me with one of thine eyes c. It 's a joy to the Angels when a soul is converted and a joy to the Ministers the Angels upon earth when they grow in grace and stand fast in the faith And if the servants and children of the Bridegroom rejoyce in it how much doth the Bridegroom himself rejoyce in it 3 In reference to the glory that is to come at the day of Judgement he comes to be admired in his saints 1 Thes 1. and afterwards he doth present the Church unto God the Father which some conceive to be the giving up of his Kingdom that God may be all in all and he shall have an eternal glory that shall be reflexed upon him from the Saints who shall sing for ever hallelujah unto him who is the head and King of Saints Therefore all these promises are made first unto him and do principally belong unto him and he is most concerned in them that if they be not fulfilled he shall be the greatest loser by them lose his sufferings past and his delight for the present and his glory to come so that in the performance of them God hath a special respect to Christ and they belong unto us and are fulfilled unto us only as we are in Christ and no otherways 2. There is in these promises an active and a passive a giving and a receiving 1 They are made unto Christ as the giver and unto us only as those that must receive all things from him the Oil is poured first upon his head Isa 53. and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand of his fulness we receive grace for grace he hath given him power over-all flesh John Ephes 5. Heb. 12.2 that he may give eternal life unto those that are given him he gives repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins he washeth them and sanctifies them for he is the prince of life Act. 3.15 the author and the finisher of our faith the Captain of our salvation that in all things he may have the preheminence 2 The passive part of these belong unto the Saints but it is as they are one with him and as they have an interest in all this grace received by their head that it may by him be dispensed unto them for 1 Joh. 5.11 he hath laid up all their life in him for all the promises are made unto his seed though in a different order and in different respects some promises made formally to him and some promises fulfilled in his members Object 2 This will bring Christ under both Covenants for we heard before Gal. 4.4 that he came under the Covenant of works he was made under the Law and now this Doctrine doth bring him also under the Covenant of Grace Answ Indeed no meer man can stand under both Covenants Gal. 4. no more than he can be born of two Mothers The two Covenants are the two Mothers and a man can no more be under both Covenants than it 's possible for him to grow upon a double root to be a member of the first and at the same time to be a member of the second Adam But the Lord Jesus Christ came under both Covenants Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 1 The Covenant of Grace was made with him from all eternity and therefore there is a promise made and eternal life given us before the World began and it was in this Covenant that Souls were given to Christ all that he should save and therefore he hath a Book of Life Rev. 13.8 Those that were given him in Covenant he took their names and upon this Covenant he did rejoyce in the habitable parts of the earth before there was either earth or inhabitant Prov. 8.31 And it was the Covenant of Grace that was first made and was first intended as being stablished between God and Christ before the World began as a Parent may make a Covenant or take a Lease in behalf of his Child before he is born or in being but this Covenant was not actually to take place it being a Covenant of reconciliation and in the hand of a Mediator till the first Covenant was broken and then comes in the manifestation of the second Covenant life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel 2 But when this Covenant was to take place Christ finds all mankind under the Covenant of their Creation and that broken and they brought under the curse of it and now the Covenant of Grace cannot take place unless he will come under the first Covenant and thereby abolish it the sin against the first Covenant could never be pardoned unless he be made sin and the curse of the first Covenant could never be satisfied unless he be made a Curse and the Covenant it self never abolished for any unless he be made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law as a Covenant that they may be translated Gal. 4.5 Only there is this difference Christ being under both Covenants man was first under the Covenant of Works and Christ came in in the second place as our surety standing in our stead paying our debt and therefore he puts his name to our bond
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
by living in any sin destroy your own prayers And take not only the example of the Angels but the example of our Lord Christ the rule and pattern of holiness for you to walk by he is your Prince your Leader c. all manner of terms that note out exemplariness and require imitation and he was faithful in the Covenant made with God he doth for the active part of his obedience fulfill all righteousness and for the passive part he paid the utmost farthing though the Lord did hide his face and his enemies did rage and triumph over him it was the hour of the power of darkness and if the flesh did desire its own preservation yet the will of nature did give way unto the will of duty and He did drink up the Brook in the way Psal 110. ult that Torrent of Curses and wrath that lay between us and glory and therefore did lift up his head and he is now in Heaven as Gods servant and so shall be till the last day that he shall give up the Kingdom unto God the Father he is performing the remaining acts of his Office there and by his Spirit on Earth and by his presence and intercession in glory and all is that he might be a faithful High-Priest and able to save to the uttermost those that come unto him But we have yet a higher pattern and that is God the Father himself he is alwayes mindful of his Covenant Psal 111.5 Psal 9.34 Mic. 7.20 Ezech. 16.61 My Covenant I will not break for he is a faithful God and he will perform his truth to Jacob and his mercy unto Abraham as he has sworn in the days of old And the faithfulness of God is infinitely seen in this that the unfaithfulness of man cannot make the faithfulness of God of none effect Says the Lord I will give thee thy Sisters thy elder and thy younger Sister unto thee as Daughters but not by thy Covenant it is a promise that though they had by doing more wickedly justified the Gentile nations and he instances in Sodom and Samaria and therefore worse judgements should come upon them yet the time would come that the Lord would remember his Covenant that he had made with their Fathers and he would make them the Mother-Church and all the Gentile Churches and Nations should flow unto her and it shall come to pass that ten men out of all the Nations under Heaven should lay hold on the skirt of a Jew Zac. 8.23 but all this shall not be by thy Covenant sic non desciverant ut Deus esset liber Cal. and therefore it was not in reference to their keeping Covenant with God but in remembrance of Gods Covenant with them and therefore he refers them unto his faithfulness and not to theirs and therefore when they should see it they should be ashamed and put their mouths in the dust to think that the Lord should continue faithful unto those that had been so unfaithful every way to him as they had been 4. The people of God in this life do miss of many of the Promises of the second Covenant that they are not accomplished unto them because they do not walk exactly according to the rules of this Covenant therefore Psal 25.10 But the wayes of the Lord are mercy and truth unto them that keep his Covenant The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting unto them that fear him Psal 103.18 to such as keep his Covenant and think upon his Commandments to do them but else though they shall not fail of eternal mercy Christ is the surety that the Covenant shall not be broken yet there be many promises of the Covenant that in this life they shall never have accomplished to them 1 Sam. 2.29 saies the Lord I said thy House and the House of thy Fathers should stand before me for ever but now that be far from me saies the Lord for they that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed The promises of God are of two sorts 1 Some are absolute which God hath undertaken to perform of his own free grace not only citra meritum but also citra conditionem not only without merit but without all supposed or prerequired conditions in us As I will be your God I will give you my Son I will pour out my Spirit I will pardon your sins c. I will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh these are absolute promises 2 There are conditional promises which shew what God will do upon such duties performed by the creature which are such as without Gods special grace he is never able to perform and these are made for the encouragement of men in a way of obedience but they do not alwaies promise the purpose of God to give the condition of the reward for as it is in Judgements there are some conditional threatnings which upon a change in the creature never come to pass Jer. 18.7 At what time saies God I speak against a nation to pluck up and destroy if that nation turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them and if I speak of a Nation or a Kingdom to build and plant it if it do evil in my sight I will repent of the good I would do unto them so it is in the conditional promises Novit Deus mutare decretum si tu non noveris em ndare delictum God knows how to change his declared promise if thou know not how to change thy sin which I conceive to be the meaning of all those places where God is said to break Covenant with his people Numb 14.34 You shall bear your iniquity even forty years and you shall know my breach of promise that is by woful experience you shall find what a misery it is to have such glorious promises made unto you but by reason of your unfaithfulness on your part they being conditional shall never be performed and so the Psalmist has it Psal 89.39 Thou hast made void the Covenant of thy servant all his posterity were cut off from this mercy and promise in this life because they disobeyed the word of the Lord and walked not in his Covenant c. and so Zach. 11.10 I will break my Covenant with them it is spoken of a national Covenant and casting off the Nations from being a Church or people unto himself wherein even the Saints must needs be deprived of many temporal promises of the Covenant because they did not walk stedfastly with God therein And if a man shall consider the example of the sufferings of many of the Saints as of Eli David Sampson and Solomon though they were beloved of God and in Covenant with him yet by their unfaithfulness in the Covenant how many temporal promises of the Covenant did they miss Faith is the condion of the Covenant Foederis pacti
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
belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ only who knows both the counsels of God and the hearts of men and therefore they must admit such as in appearance and in the judgment of charity are so though it may be in truth and verity afterwards they prove not so to be 3. Excommunication breaks a man off from the visible Church and the visible priviledges thereof but it cannot cut a man off from the Church invisible and the truth of grace in the heart which the Lord has promised to continue to the end for into what a man is admitted by the Keys out of that by the Keys he may be ejected but no man is admitted for grace neither can he be ejected for want of grace if visibly a member Mat. 18.15 Let him be unto thee as a Publican it 's not spoken of one without but of one within for it 's an offending brother and he says he should be put into the same condition with a Heathen and Publican Amongst the Jews they did not hold communion with Heathens and Publicans Heathens were not admitted into Ordinances as Church-members till they became circumcised Proselytes so that the meaning is count them unworthy to be admitted to publick Ordinances and the publick priviledges of the Church which other Church-members may challenge a right unto and they themselves had a right before their scandal and ejection 1 Cor. 5.5 Deliver such a man unto Satan which I conceive cannot be meant of any miraculous work because the Apostle commits it to the Church to do it in the Name of God and by virtue of the authority committed to them in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore I conceive it to be nothing else but casting a man out of the society of the Church and leaving him amongst the society of ungodly men over whom Satan rules and being put out of the Kingdom of Christ which is the Church and the care of the Church he is truly delivered to Satan to carry him whither he will as ungodly men are called by the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and yet the incestuous Corinthian was a godly man and he was not cast out from the promises of grace and the workings of the Spirit but from the external priviledges of the Church and so may a godly man for scandalous falls justly be and yet his grace continue an immortal seed and he remain a member of the invisible Church still even when he is cast out of the visible Church as Job and many of the Saints were members of the invisible Church and yet had not opportunity to joyn themselves unto any visible Church any further than their own family were such The Church then can cast a man out of what he was by them admitted to but that was not grace but outward priviledges and they can only cast men out of these It is not grace gives a man a right to external admission for then a man that had grace what offence soever he committed could not be ejected but a man that has true grace may for a scandalous offence be according to the rules of the word lawfully ejected therefore it was not his grace that gave him his admission neither is it grace that in his ejection he can be deprived of that being an act of God but they can only hinder him from visible communion 2. A visible profession will give unto a man in foro Ecclesiae a right of membership 1 Men can go upon no other ground for if the matter of a Church must be Saints they can judge no further of Saintship than by the visibility of it and because they cannot have certitudinem fidei ergo Deus judicium charitatis eis substituit for the Key of Ministry committed unto Officers doth but open and shut in reference unto the external priviledges and benefits of the Church into which a visible profession will give unto a man a visible right and is proper and proportionable thereunto 2 Upon this ground admissions have always been it was so that the Jews admitted Proselytes called Proselytae foederis upon their profession of the Jewish Religion and a subjection unto the Ordinances of God there and yet many of them were the children of Hell after they were made Proselytes as Christ himself tells us and so John Baptist admitted unto Baptism they were baptized of him after they had confessed their sins c. and Peter Simon Magus and Philip the Eunuch on his confession of the Faith and we read 2 Cor. 9.13 of a professed subjection to the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's in the Original a subjection or confession of the Gospel and all their after-obedience is but a manifestation of the truth of that profession of theirs and therefore I conclude that it 's but outward profession will give a man a right in the external court of the Church 3. Yet I conceive it 's not a bare profession how unanswerable soever a mans conversation be that will bring in a man being without or being within keep him from being cast out and this will appear in these particulars 1 The Lord in his Word requires that they should be visible Saints which we heard before a bare profession would not entitle them unto therefore Esa 54.12 He will lay their foundations with precious stones c. it 's not to be interpreted de doctrina of doctrine Calvin according to that 1 Cor. 3 10. but de hominibus ex quibus spirituale Ecclesiae aedificium construitur of men whereof the Church is composed Rev. 22.15 Without shall be dogs Rev. 22.15 and every one that loves and makes a lye Some do expound it of Hypocrites though I conceive that not to be the meaning but it is such whose heart does love and hanker after a way of idolatry specially that lye of Antichrist which should then be destroyed and when once the members of the Church began to be corrupt and degenerate it became an outward court into which all were admitted even without distinction then the Lord cast it out and gave it unto the power of Antichrist to tread it under foot in a most cruel and tyrannous way Rev. 11.2 Rev. 11.2 The court which is without the temple leave out c. and therefore it concerns all Churches to look that they become an outward court in allusion to the Atrium Gentium the Court of the Gentiles among the Jews for it was that which set up Antichrist and gave him in judgment that power that he has exercised over them And it was a great tryal how lightly soever we conceive of it that the Apostles had of all they did admit for if we suppose they did only require of them a confession that Christ was the Son of God and that upon this they were added to the Church yet if we consider that this was the great truth then opposed and persecuted the great controversie of the age and that which betrayed
the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour Rom. 9. yet this Decree could not actually take place without sin had come between and now sin has interposed there are some that belong to the Election of Grace and they are chosen out by vocation which is nothing else but electio actuata election actuated and the eternal Decree of God doth exempt them from the common condition of the rest of the world as we see Rom. 9. there the Jews are cast off and they are all in one outward condition but the difference lies in this there is a remnant according to the Election of Grace and the Election does obtain when the rest are hardned and therefore we are said to be born of the will of God in opposition unto all things in nature whatsoever Rom. 11. Joh. 1.13 Rom. 8.29 for vocation is the first-born of Election Of his own will he begate us by the word of truth c. The generation of Christ was an act of his nature and therefore necessary but the generation of Saints is an act of the will of God and therefore free it 's wholly to the praise of the glory of his grace and this his will is manifested in this Eph. 1.11 That he did from all Eternity elect some and reject others according to the counsel of his own will Now that the Lord may make it manifest that it 's an act of free grace therefore he will sometimes reject the children of the Kingdom as the Jews are called men born in the Church Mat. 8. and unto whom the Kingdom of Christ did seem by a natural right to belong and to descend unto them and he will send forth and call men from the East and from the West to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God he will cast off the bidden guests and will send out to the high ways and hedges and compel men to come in that he may manifest that you are begotten of his own will for the praise of his grace 3 Because since the Fall the Lord has appointed another way to convey life unto his people and that is not by generation from the first Adam but by regeneration from a second Adam and therefore the Lord will surely honour his own way and he will not convey the grace of the Covenant from parents unto their posterity but from him only who is the second Adam and is therefore called the everlasting Father Esa 9.6 Esa 9.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint renders it that is as the Apostle says He hath subjected to him the world to come Heb. 2.5 so he is made the father of the world to come Heb. 2.5 and all the Saints that come thence shall acknowledge that they all hold of him as a father as it is said Psal 87.4 5. of the Ordinances of Sion Psal 87.4 5. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there and of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her that is that what Nation or Kingdom soever any of the Saints were in they may for their first birth mention Egypt and Babylon but for their second their new birth they shall know and acknowledge that it was in Sion and by the mighty work of God in the Ordinances therein so I may say of the Lord Jesus Christ that whomsoever they may call father on earth whether within or without the Kingdom yet they shall all owne the Lord Christ as their Father in reference unto their eternal states and in reference unto the world to come and therefore he is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non solùm Spiritus vivus but also vivificus not only a living Spirit but a quickning Spirit a Spirit that makes us alive also for Joh. 14.19 he says Because I live you shall live and the Apostle Paul saith The last Adam was made a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. Bernard and Rev. 22.16 he is said to be the Root of David and he is therefore said to be the Fountain of the gardens Cant. 3.15 it is from hence that all flourishes therefore grace shall not be entailed upon posterity but as the Father quickens whom he will so also the Son shall have life in him and power of quickning whom he will Upon these grounds it is that the spiritual and the saving graces of the Covenant are not conveyed from parents unto their children by a lineal descent but the Covenant in reference to grace from the parents is wholly made void and as God many times has a seed of grace running through the loyns of the wicked so he does many times cast off the children of the Saints and as he said of Ismael But my covenant will I establish with Isaac Gen. 17.21 so God saith of Believers children that he will not establish his Covenant with them as to inward grace 2. Yet the Lord will continue the Covenant from parents to children by a kind of lineal descent in reference to the external priviledges of the Covenant and they shall be conveyed from parents unto the children who shall have a Covenant-right as the parents priviledge and the grounds of it are these 1 Because the Lord will have a visible Church out of the loyns of his own people therefore when he takes in their parents into a Church-covenant he takes in also their children they are the children of the kingdom because they are the children of the Covenant that God made with their parents He doth indeed take in as Proselytes some here and some there but the visible Church is chiefly and generally made up of such confederate parents and their children and to make a visible Church there is required outward ordinances and priviledges that there may be a difference put between them and the rest of the world Exod. 19.5 that they may be unto God a holy and a peculiar people and this may be where the graces of the Covenant are not dispensed yet the priviledges of the Covenant must It 's true there are tares among the wheat in the same field and there are goats feeding amongst the sheep in the same pasture it 's not grace as you heard makes a man a visible member of the Church visible for it cannot be seen it cannot properly come under any humane judgment but it 's grace makes a man a member of the invisible Church into which Christ only admits and that which Christ only judges and not man 2 The Covenant is entailed in reference to the priviledges thereof that the Lord might magnifie and exalt his love unto parents the more and that it might be a great inducement to come into Covenant with God because the promise shall be unto you and your children even unto them that are afar off or as many as the Lord shall call not only
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
vent it upon all occasions but he cannot do it himself but it must be by Instruments as the Devil casts men into prison by Instruments Revel 2.10 now when he meets with fit Instruments for his work and God in judgement gives them over unto an efficacy of deceit that they do vent the Doctrines of Hell the depths of Satan then they do receive in judgement the Key of the bottomless pit to open it that the smoak of it may be let forth and the world receive its vent which before was shut up in Hell in the hearts of the Devils only but now it is let forth to over-spread the Earth and thereby the Sun and the Air is darkned so all the Truths of God are expressed it 's darkned as to all spiritual light for that Satan doth aim at Some do apply this to the Doctrines of Mahomet and some unto several abominations of that Idolatry that brake forth in the West about that time as Brightman understands it of both And out of the smoak came Locusts upon the Earth by Locusts in Scripture two things are commonly intended 1. That they are a devouring Creature and are therefore threatned as a judgement that they should seize upon all and destroy and devour all 2. They do go by great troops Joel 1. and strangely over-spread the Earth wheresoever they come and this some do understand of the followers of Mahomet and some of the Discipline of Antichrist as Paraeus but still Brightman takes in both and this I do assure you never doth the smoak arise out of the bottomless pit but it breeds Locusts there doth arise out of it abundance of wicked and worthless men that go by troops and would surely devour all and it 's Satans plot against the Church of God and therefore the most dangerous and that in which he doth put the most confidence he doth love to raise persecution and to roar like a Lion when he can but if that do not accomplish his end then he betakes himself unto this he casts a flood out of his mouth but still his end is the same that the woman that was not devoured by the great red Dragon might be carried away with the flood Austin hath given warning to the Churches of a three-fold Persecution that they should surely undergo Revel 12.17 Prima Ecclesiae persecutio fuit violenta per mundi principes secunda fraudulenta per haereticos tertia erit violenta fraudulenta simul c. The first Persecution of the Church was violent by the Princes of the world the second fraudulent by Hereticks the third violent and fraudulent also Objection Object Now they that deny the persons in the Trinity this Argument is very rife and common amongst them If there be Persons in the God-head they are either something or nothing either they are substances or they are accidents if something then there was something from eternity that was not God and if nothing that cannot be the ground of a distinction for Non entis nullae sunt affectiones that which is not has no affections and if finite then there is something in God that is finite and if infinite then there are three infinites which cannot be in one God the very Argument of Arius that he did use and was refuted by Athanasius and from him Socinus had it and there have been some in our Age that have asserted the same who are Stars fallen from Heaven to whom the Key of the bottomless pit is given in judgement to themselves I am sure and we may fear to the Nation who have not received the Truth in the love of it and therefore God gives up to the efficacy of deceit to believe a lye to whom I say this Key has been given to give vent to this smoak again in the world And this I pitch upon because it is the great Argument that they glory in Answer Answer For Answer to it I would first lay down these positions 1. It 's plain in Scripture that there is but one God and that an Idol is nothing in the world there is none other God but one as it is 1 Corinth 8.4 The Lord thy God is one Lord. 2. The Scripture speaks of Father Son and Spirit and they are said expresly to be Three and therefore are distinguished from one another 1 Joh. 5.7 For there are Three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are one 3. The God-head in Scripture is attributed to them all and the essential properties of an infinite being He is called God the Father John 1.1 1 Cor. 8.6 and the Word is God the same Word that was incarnate and was made flesh and this Word is God and the Spirit dwells in the hearts of the Faithful all the world over and that both in Heaven and Earth and therefore must be every where present changing the hearts of men which nothing but an Almighty and a Creating Power can do and doth know their hearts for he doth supply them with graces and influences daily and helps their infirmities and teaches them to pray c. all which can be done by none but he that is God and they are therefore said to be one because the God-head of the Divine Essence is but one 1 Joh. 5.7 4. There is something attributed unto one in the Scripture that cannot be said of another the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father the Father doth beget and is not begotten the Son is begotten of the Father and cannot be said to beget the Son is said to take flesh the Word was made flesh and so did not the Father the Son was said to be sent and so is not the Father therefore they are distinguished yet it 's plain that they are but one God this is plainly the Doctrine that is delivered unto the Saints Now let us apply this unto the Argument in hand and we will 1. Retort it they are Three Father Son and Holy Ghost these are either something or nothing they are substances or accidents they are finite or infinite and the same inconveniences will return upon themselves for they must assert them to be Three and yet one for a Trinity in Unity the Scripture doth clearly hold forth 2. It 's not strange even amongst the Creatures that the same person should be a Man and a Father yet as a Father distinguished from himself as a Man and a Son distinguished from himself as a Man therefore it 's not strange in this that the Father should be distinguished from himself as God and the Son also The Scripture does clearly speak to us of certain actiones ad intra which are in God which do not refer to the Creatures but to Father Son and Spirit amongst themselves as the Father does beget and the Son is begotten and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both and from these actions do arise the relative properties of
Father Son and Spirit in one and the same essence and therefore if any man say a person is something or nothing I say it is something it is Essentia Divina cum proprietate sua hypostatica the Divine Essence with its relative propertie As what is the Father He is God begetting the Son and what is the Son He is God and begotten of the Father c. and so the Father is infinite and the Son infinite because they have all Three an Unity of Essence which is infinite and therefore there is no reason why there should be so much exception against the title of Person as some of the looser sort would seem to take it being a word that doth most fully that I know express the nature of the thing that we can have and most answers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Apostle Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high but call them either Persons or Subsistences so the thing be the same I shall not contend for the words 3 But suppose that the manner of it we were not able to express yet it is and should be enough unto us that the thing is clearly set down in Scripture and that we walk by grounds of faith and not by reason it is enough to us that there is but one God and yet that Father Son and Holy Spirit are three and are yet said to be one if we could not describe how three are one nor how one is three yet the deep things of God we must not bring unto the rule of our blind crooked and presumptuous reason a quomodo or how in the things of God is hateful unto God and not agreeing to the nature of faith Col. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is very unbeseeming Christians Take heed lest any man spoil you through philosophy the word notes to make a prize of you and carry you away as Pirates do another mans goods and so there is many a man made a prize of at this day Philosophy is nothing in it self but rectified and raised reason and res Dei ratio est Tertullian and whilst reason is subordinate unto Religion and a hand-maid it 's of excellent use but when it will step out of its place and will needs be a Judge in the things of God then it 's vain that man that will bring down the Scripture unto the rules of his own reason will quickly be made a prey of by any seducers Cum de rebus sibi subjectis pronunciat philosophia audienda est Daven sed cùm de rebus ad fidem spectantibus explodenda When philosophy judgeth of things that belong to her let her be heard but when she judgeth of things belonging to faith let her be exploded Dav. And this has heen the true ground of all these Heresies of Arminianism and Socinianism which have especially in these latter ages pester'd the world because they will arraign the highest Truths of God at the Bar of their own blind and presumptuous Reason and Understanding And this is that which in answer to it Justin Martyr often pressed De recta fidei confessione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 375. It becometh the Churches adherents to measure divine things not by humane reason but according to the intention of the Spirits doctrine So having in the same Book affirmed the Union of the two Natures of Christ he addes pag. 382. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you ask me the manner of this Vnion I am not ashamed to say and confess my ignorance therein but rather I glory in this that I do upon the authority of God believe that which my reason cannot comprehend nor my tongue express Vse 2 2. Exercise faith upon all the persons grounded upon these promises and walk in the love of them all and expect the sealing of them all and so much these promises will carry you unto Exercise faith upon all the persons grounded upon these promises they are the great and ultimate objects of faith now faith is imperfect that takes not in all the objects of faith and it 's a greater imperfection for a grace to fail in its object than to fail in any of the acts of it The Apostle 1 Thess 1. speaks of some defects in faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and truly these are the great defects there be abundance of objects of faith that faith doth not act upon because we know but in part c. nay the greatest suspicion that a man has of his faith lies in this if any object of it be willingly neglected as in a mans obedience it 's a great ground for a man to question the sincerity and the truth of it if the meanest duty thereof be willingly neglected so it 's ground enough to question the sincerity and truth of our faith much more if a man do observe the lesser duties of obedience and be precise in them but the great and weighty things of the Law are neglected by him so it 's here if a man take in lesser and inferiour promises but as for the promises of the persons which are the great things of the Gospel they are neglected and faith acts not upon them Here a mans faith should take in these particulars 1 That all the persons have a special hand in the salvation of a sinner and that by these promises every believer hath an interest in them all in reference unto these works Opera ad extra sunt indivisa It 's true they having one and the same nature and essence what the one of them doth the other doth also whatever thing the Father doth the same thing doth the Son likewise But yet though these be not opera propria proper works yet they are appropriata appropriate There are peculiar works attributed unto each person as 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Now suitable to these appropriated works so should a mans faith eye each of the persons and his interest in them When the soul is conversant about Election faith then must look upon God the Father and when about Redemption then faith must look upon God the Son and when upon Sanctification then faith must eye the Holy Ghost because these are the works that the Persons have undertaken under the second Covenant to accomplish in mans salvation and they are by promise made over to these ends 2 One main intendment of God in the Gospel is not only to advance the Attributes of the Divine nature to glorifie his Justice and his Mercy and Grace by making higher discoveries of them than ever could have been shewed forth under the old Covenant but it is also to
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
any one of them he may by consequence and by way of deduction conclude the Love of them all yet a man should expect to have it not only discursive but intuitive radio directo by a direct beam that a man may in Prayer from a principle of sealing cry to God Abba Father and may say I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and so the Soul may walk in the Love of them all distinctly though not severally and the Soul is never able to triumph and make his boast of God till he has assurance of his interest in all the persons and in all these respects we see that the great grounds of a Christians comfort lye in his interest in the persons and therefore it 's no wonder if the great promises of the Covenant to a Christian be personal promises CHAP. II. The Covenant of Grace makes God to be our God SECT I. The Covenant of Grace makes God ours and the Benefits hereof § 1. LEt us come more particularly unto the words of the Promise in which the main of the Covenant lyes on Gods part for we have heard it 's unfolded in promises or to use the Apostles word established in Promises Hebr. 8.6 and these promises Musculus calls Caput foederis the Head of the Covenant the chief and the bottom promise on which the Covenant stands is this I will be thy God and Pareus calls it anima foederis the soul of the Covenant for it 's the principal promise of the Second Covenant as in our part of the Covenant there is one great Commandment Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart so there is in Gods part of the Covenant one great promise and that is that he will be our God and we shall be his people and therefore a great weight is to be laid upon it 1. For the opening of it we are to consider there are Two things to be distinctly considered in God 1. Essentia his Essence 2. Subsistentia his Subsistence 1. The Essence of God is but one pure and simple act of Being but yet cannot be comprehended as such by a finite understanding because it 's infinite therefore it is set forth unto us by several Attributes which though in God they be all one yet they are diversify'd according to the different objects upon which they are set and about which they are conversant and the different acts that they do put forth unto the Creatures and so when the Lord doth promise to be our God he doth make over unto the Creature by promise an interest in all the Attributes of the Essence and Divine Nature 2. In this Divine Nature there are three distinct subsistences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word used by the Apostle Hebr. 1.3 and why we should be offended as some of late at the word Person by which it is expressed I know not but from the novelty and curiosity of this last Age There is in the God-head Father Son and Spirit and these Three are One. Joh. 5.7 Now when the Lord doth promise to be a God to his People he doth make over his whole self God in Essence according to all the Attributes of his Nature and God in Subsistence according unto all the persons or subsistences in the God-head and it is very necessary that as in point of obedience we take in the whole latitude and extent of the Law for the Commandment is exceeding broad so in point of Faith also that we take in the whole latitude and extent of the promises that as in the one our hearts and desires in obeying may answer God's in commanding so in the other our hearts and desires in believing may answer God's in promising 2. To be a God implies a sufficiency 1 It is a term of Sufficiency and so it is here Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient he that is self-sufficient in himself is all-sufficient to his people What is there that can be necessary unto your happiness but it shall be had in me and therefore Psal 144. ult Blessed is the people whose God is Jehovah because in God there is an all-sufficiency that not only you shall have all happiness from him but you shall have all things in him so that as he is sufficient for himself of and from himself without going forth unto any other so shall you have all things in him immediately that you need look unto nothing else to make you happy for all the perfections of a God shall be yours 2 To be a God is a term of Soveraignty for he is the most high King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dan. 4.17 the most High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men and he is God over all Rom. 9.5 blessed for evermore Therefore to be a mans God is to undertake the rule and government over him and to rule and govern all things for his good that they may be all unto him a blessing Eph. 1. v. ult that as Christ is made the head of all things for the Churches sake so will the Lord rule over all things for his peoples sake rule all as a God as truly for their good as for his own glory 3. It points also to the manner of the fulfilling of this promise it shall be as becomes a God and in the way of a God and so much also A Lapide hints upon the place Ero tuus tuorúmque Deus ut à vobis solus colar I will be the God of thee and thine that I may be worshipped by thee Now there are two ways by which a people employ their interest in God 1 by way of Communion they come unto God and they draw near to him which are terms of Communion 2 by way of Fruition their happiness is in him and he will be their portion and reward in the land of the living When the Lord casts off a people from being a Church to himself he will own them in ways of worship no more he doth express it so Hos 1.9 calls them Loammi they are not my people I will not be their God he does not say You shall not have the creatures to be yours as the fruits of my bounty you shall not have respite of torment as the fruits of my patience but yet when you have all things here below you shall not have me in them all in ways of communion here or of fruition hereafter Doctrine 2 The main intendment of God in the new Covenant is this That he may become the God of his people Every man that is brought into the new Covenant doth change his God Jer. 2.10 it 's said Pass over to the Isles of Chittim and send unto Kedar and see if there be such a thing has any nation changed their God It 's looked upon as a strange thing in the world and yet this is the condition of all those that come under the second Covenant and therefore as the great Commandment to a people
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
earth 5. Creatures and promises could never make a man happy if a mans interest in them were never so clearly discovered to him for it could never put his soul into a fruition of the chiefest good it would only make all to be faith and we should rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God 1 Pet. 1.9 and it is true that this is a joy unspeakable and glorious Fruitio est actus voluntatis circa finem importat quietationem delectationem anima in amato Fruition is an act of the will about the end and it imports the quietation and delectation of the soul in its beloved Medin But the soul would be for ever unquiet and always full of restlesness still tending towards God Heb. 12.23 therefore it enjoys him as the end of faith and hope and thence souls in Heaven are made perfect not only because their image is perfected by the beatifical vision but also because they are put into a fruition of that which was the highest and ultimate object of their faith and love and fruitio est nobilissima actio voluntatis the most noble act of the will and it 's this act upon the highest object that doth perfect the will and the perfection of the will is the perfection of the man as the act of the will is the act of the man Vse 1 § 4. From hence see the misery of all those that are out of Covenant with God they have all the Attributes of God against them and they have no inheritance in him thou mayst have large revenues amongst the creatures for God doth give Kingdoms unto the basest of men but it is but mica canibus projecta a crum thrown to a dog as Luther speaks of the Turkish Empire and in them all thou shalt but inherit the wind Prov. 11.29 for thou hast no inheritance in the Lord he is no God to thee tolle meum tolle Deum take away my and take away God it is unto thee as if there were no God And here it 's good to consider 1. If a man had all the creatures armed against him for his destruction as all men out of Covenant have for the Creation groans under their service that is the bondage of corruption spoken of Rom. 8.21 but also they are very ready to make war upon thee for when a man is taken into Covenant with God there is a league made with the beasts of the earth the stones of the field and the creeping things of the ground And God will hear the Heavens and the Heavens shall hear the Earth Hos 2.21 and the Earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel and I will sow her unto me in the earth and will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy c. All the creatures shall work together for their good and yet if God arm the meanest of the creatures against a man they shall destroy him Pharaoh the great King of Egypt that durst presume to war against God cannot contend with Flyes nor with the Lice and the Frogs he cannot fight a pitcht battel with the waves Now if a man cannot stand out a battel with the smallest of the creatures how can he fight against God Therefore I would a little reason with you as God doth with his people if thou hast run with the footmen Jer. 12.5 and they have wearied thee how wilt thou contend with horses and if in a land of peace they have wearied thee what wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan if thou canst not stand it out against creatures how wilt thou be able to endure when the Lord shall rise up and all his Attributes shall be armed against thee For as this is the great comfort of the Saints and their last refuge so it 's the great terrour unto wicked men and their last destruction 2. Consider if it were but a threatning what a miserable thing it is to lye under any evil aspect thereof the Lord has spread out the Expansum of his Word over the rational world and the Lord rules all by it and according to it he will judge them all Zac. 1.6 Did not my word overtake your fathers for the Decree will surely bring forth it will not always carry the judgment in the womb of it and if it be so terrible a thing to be under the power of any one threatning of God Zeph. 2.2 what is it to lye under the evil aspect of all the threatnings of God that there is not a word in this book but speaks terrour unto the man much more under the evil aspects of all the Attributes of God 3. This is the happiness of the Saints that they have something in God to plead for them they have as it were a threefold Advocate 1 within themselves and so the Spirit pleads the causes of the soul 2 without them and so Jesus Christ is an Advocate with the Father 3 they have something in God himself I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loves you c. So here is the misery of wicked men not only the Spirit pleads against them and will strive with them no more but becomes unto them a spirit of bondage in themselves and binds them over unto wrath and Christ pleads against them as Luther tells a story of one Doctor Krans in a Tract of his De Fascina spirituali in Gal. 3. Ego Christum negavi ideo stat coram Patre accusat me illam cogitationem tam fortiter conceperat ut nullâ adhortatione aut consolatione sibi pateretur excuti atque ita desperavit seipsum miserrimè occîdit c. I denied Christ and therefore he stands before the Father and accuseth me c. The learned do for our understanding frame a holy kind of conflict between the Attributes of God according to the liberty allowed them in Scripture speaking of God after the manner of men in the work of our Redemption as if the Lord were reduced into some straights by the cross demands of several Attributes Justice calling for vengeance upon sinful and cursed creatures and with Justice the Truth of God doth joyn to make good his threatning the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye and mercy on the other side pleads for compassion towards miserable and seduced man and this sets infinite wisdom on work to reconcile the different pleas of the Attributes of God in mans redemption but what a misery will that man be in that shall have no Attribute of God to plead for him but they shall all joyn in their pleas and demands against him not only those terrible Attributes that the soul is afraid of as Justice and Truth and Holiness but also the Attributes in which a mans hope is Men cry out God is merciful Oh but mercy is set against thee O sinner and thou hast no interest in his mercy
inaccessible whom no man has seen or can see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now there shall be a vision of God that 's plain for we shall see him face to face therefore it 's spoken of bodily eyes when he says No man can see thee they can see him with the eyes of the mind but they cannot with the eyes of the body and 2 it will appear by reason drawn from the nature of a body for the body though it shall be made spiritual yet it shall not be made a spirit that is it shall not lose the essential properties of a body Now nothing can be seen with bodily eyes but bodily objects but God is a Spirit and therefore invisible Col. 1.15 i. e. in reference unto bodily vision c. The School-men indeed speak of the elevation of bodily subjects to work upon Spirits and so here they speak of the elevation of bodily eyes to behold a spiritual object but these are but the empty conceits of men for the body shall retain even in glory its essential properties and shall have a happiness suitable and proportionable unto them in objects fitted to the bodily senses for beatitude though it be radicaliter in corde yet it 's redundanter in corpore c. and this shall be either per lumen gloriae as in thy light we shall see light or else in natura Christi glorificata veluti Divinitatis conjunctum instrumentum And so is that to be understood Job 6.19 26. I shall see my Redeemer with these eyes And 1 Joh. 3.3 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is it shall be in the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ but yet this cannot be a corporeal but it must in the essence of blessedness be an intellectual vision 2 Cor. 3. ult Rev. 22.4 2. That there is an intellectual Vision of God will appear three ways 1 By the visions of God that the Saints have here by an eye of faith they shall see his face Num. 12.8 The similitude of God shall he behold it 's a speech of visio mystica the mystick vision that the Saints have in the life that now is by discoveries made unto the eye of their faith for God hath given them new understandings Joh. 1.20 to this end that they may be able to know him that 's true and if there be discoveries of God and his glory unto the understanding of the Saints here how much more in glory in the inheritance of the Saints in light 2 It will be made appear by the Angels says our Saviour They do behold the face of your Father which is in heaven Mat. 18.10 and they are Spirits and have no bodies and yet in all their imployments about the creatures for Christ doth in the Oeconomical Kingdom govern all things by these the spirit of the living creatures is in the wheels they never lose the vision of God they carry their Heaven with them wheresoever they go though they are not always resident in loco beatorum as the Devils do carry their Hell about with them though they are not always in the place of the damned Now we shall be in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels and shall have like discoveries of God as the Angels have but theirs are to their understanding so discoveries of God will be according to ours also 3 It will appear in the souls of just men made perfect before the Resurrection they have the vision of God that 's plain because their souls are made perfect now nothing perfects the soul but the beatifical vision because nothing renders it impeccable but this and finis ultimus perficit agentem actionem the last end perfects the action and Agent therefore there is an intellectual vision of God in which the substance or the essence of happiness doth consist Quest 3 § 3. But can there be an intellectual Vision of Gods Essence Can the understanding of man immediately see the Essence of God or be made happy thereby Answ 1. There must be a vision of the Essence of God for 1 the promise is 1 Cor. 13.12 That we shall see him face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 and we shall know even as we are known The opposition is between the knowledge that now we have of God and what we shall have hereafter and they are compared in two things 1 in the manner of knowledge which shall not be the same now we see in a glass but then immediately we shall see without a glass but if we should see God per abstractam imaginem as Gomer hath a disputation of it in Joh. 1.17 part 1. pag. 328. though it were the purest glass more clear than crystal yet it were seeing in a glass still which is wholly denied we shall no more see in a glass but face to face 2 In the imperfection of our vision we now see darkly and the reason is from the manner of it because we see in a glass but then it shall be perfected because we shall see face to face so much is manifested to Moses thou shalt see my back parts the Attributes of God are discovered here in this life but there is the face of God discovered which must be something beyond what is called his back parts that shall be discovered to the soul which here he cannot see and live but hereafter he must see or he cannot live therefore there is a vision of the Divine Essence 2 It will appear by reason also the chief good of the creature is in God alone that which is called Beatitudo objectiva objective Beatitude which doth only satisfie and fill the heart of the Saints and it 's in the vision and fruition thereof that the soul rests Now any image of God or manifestation of God that is created cannot be our objective happiness for these are but creatures as the discoveries of God unto the soul by the Spirit in a way of Ordinances are therefore the soul can never rest in them can never look upon them as its happiness as the Saints receiving here the joy in the Holy Ghost they are exceedingly ravished with it it 's joy unspeakable Ego mihi visus sum tanquam unus ex illis beatis I seemed to my self as one of those blessed ones but yet the soul is not satisfied with it but when he sees Gods face he is satisfied with his likeness that discovery that there is of God in his own face but is never satisfied till then 2. Though we shall see God in his Essence yet we shall not see the Essence of God unto perfection There is a twofold knowledge 1 Apprehensionis of Apprehension when a man knows any thing truly 2 Comprehensionis of Comprehension when a man knows any thing perfectly secundùm modum cognoscibilitatis as it is knowable or to the utmost that it may be known Now the Essence of God being infinite cannot be
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
appear from the union of a Saint with all the Persons in the Trinity The Scripture speaks distinctly 1 Cor. 6.17 not only of a union with Christ but with the Spirit he that is joyned unto the Lord is one spirit i. e. not only makes up one spiritual body with him but also is one with the Spirit that dwells in him and therefore Joh. 17.21 Christs prayer is That they may be one Pater Filius sunt unum per naturam nostra unio per gratiam Athan. De 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritualis piorum in Deo unitatis in vitae hujus infirmitate pluribus disserere non possumus sed mysterium hoc reverenter adoramus unitatis hujus participes fieri optamus as we are one not only one amongst themselves but one with us also according unto that glorious and unspeakable union that is between the persons amongst themselves of which this is but a shadow and a resemblance God is said to dwell in the Saints and they are the habitation of God through the Spirit 2 Cor. 6.16 and they are said to dwell in God Joh 1.4 16. and 1 Thess 1.1 which is in God the Father c. and to work in God Joh. 3.21 And our Divines do commonly say that in glory our union with God shall be perfected and they say that the soul is capable of an union with God as it does appear in its union with the Son for the mystical union is not only unto Christ as Man but unto the Godhead as well as unto the Manhood of Christ for we are made one with whole Christ both God and Man Now by this means there being but one Essence there must follow a glorious union with all the Persons and if this be perfected as some make that to be the intent of Christs prayer Joh. 17.21 That they may be one with us as thou Father art in me if there be a perfection of their union hereafter then surely there is an union that is begun in this life with all the persons in the Godhead and so much also our particular union with them does imply for all communion is grounded in union 3. It will appear from the distinct Communion of the Saints with them all Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 And there is a fellowship of the Spirit also Joh. 14.21 1 Cor. 13.14 1 There are distinct manifestations Christ says I will manifest my self to him and there is a distinct Love He that loves me shall be loved of my Father I do not say that I will pray the Father for the Father himself loves you and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father also and therefore there is the love of the Son discovered and the love of the Father also Sometimes the love and good will of the one is let into the Soul and sometimes of another and the soul is drawn out and ravished sometimes with the love of the one and sometimes with the love of another and we honour them distinctly and believe in them distinctly honour the Son as they honour the Father and believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 Answerable unto the manifestations and discoveries that are made such are the apprehensions and the affections of the Saints Some are mightily at first conversion taken up with the love of the Father and they see that Christ was but his servant in that work and the fountain of free grace was in the Father and the plot to redeem was his and it was his will that Christ came to perform and therefore their hearts and faith are mainly drawn out towards God the Father Others there be that have the love of Christ set on upon their hearts who though he were God and in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he did empty himself and humbled himself unto death even the death of the Cross and he came off freely upon the motion of the Father which was so much the more because all the acts of the Father though they are acts of Love yet are acts of Majesty also and there was no dishonour or condescension in the Father but the acts of Christ were acts of ministery and of humiliation and that even unto the death of the Cross that he should be made sin and made a curse and the Love of Christ is discovered unto them as passing knowledge There are distinct manifestations of them all and therein is the ground of their communion with them all 2 There are distinct communications the Father opens his bosom and he reveals his counsels There is a book in the right hand of him that sits upon the Throne he reveals his mind unto Christ Joh. 1.18 Joh. 6.46 and by him unto his Saints and therefore he is said to come out of the bosom of the Father and therefore man is said to hear and learn of the Father and the Son communicates his righteousness his graces his victories his priviledges his inheritance and the Spirit doth convey unto the soul his right and his warmth for the Spirit is as fire his holiness and his comforts for he is the oyl of gladness his communion doth consist in giving and receiving and returning Now there is something that all the Saints do receive from each of the persons and there is a peculiar glory that they do return unto them all answerable unto the mercies that they do receive and by this means proportionable unto the mercies they receive such is the communion that the Saints have sometimes with one person and sometimes with another they know that he that has communion with the Father has communion with the Son and with the Holy Ghost because they are one but my meaning is that person which a mans heart is at the present affected with and drawn out unto in a more special manner that he has a special communion with which is something of the Love of the Father and the manifestation and communication of the Father sometimes of the Son and sometimes of the Spirit and answerable unto these our communion is said to be with each of them 4. It will appear by these distinct acts of office which they have for the good of the Saints undertaken for though opera ad extrà sunt indivisa and we cannot say that one works but the other works also and therefore we cannot call them opera propria proper works yet they are appropriata appropriated in the Scripture they are more specially attributed some unto one and some to another Eph. 1.2 3. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world and blessed us with all spiritual mercies in Christ and for Christ we have Redemption through his blood c. and as for the Spirit Eph. 1.13 14. After you believed you were sealed with the holy Spirit
us Kings and Priests unto God and the Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever c. They have each of them their peculiar glory of the distinct works that they themselves have wrought and all of it is grounded upon this distinct interest that the Lord doth promise to the Saints that he will be their God 5. When the Saints come to glory their communion with all these glorious persons shall be perfected they shall not only have perfect sanctification but communion and as their communion in this life is not with God only but with all the persons distinctly having hearts affected with love and sensible of the communion of them all so it shall be much more in Heaven for the communion here that we have shall be perfected Now in Heaven we shall have not only the vision of God that is of his Essence but also of all the persons we shall see God in Trinity as well as in Vnity for what we have here by faith we shall have there by sight but here we have that by faith therefore we shall see them there or else we cannot see him as he is and according to our vision so shall our communion be but we shall have a distinct fellowship and sweetness in the Father Son and Spirit for ever Now the grounds of it are these 1. That our happiness might appear to consist in the vision and fruition of them all therefore they are all of them distinctly made over by Covenant to us we shall not only see God in his Unity but in his Trinity also not only the glory of the Divine Essence but the excellency of each of the persons This is a mystery now that is inconceivable unto us which we are not to pry into which the Angel in a vision told Austin while he was studying and did endeavour to comprehend he did but attempt to empty the Sea with a spoon into a pit Scrutator Majestatis opprimitur à gloria This Mystery is here discovered only to the faith of the Saints but that revelation which is in this life imperfect shall be perfected in Heaven and our knowledge which in a way of faith is imperfect for faith is a grace that doth suppose imperfection that shall be perfected in vision for in Heaven whatever doth suppose sin or implies imperfection shall be done away therefore the Father as distinguished from the Son and the Son from the Father the nature of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost which now we have only revealed unto us that it is so the nature and the manner of it we shall understand so far as the creature is capable of such glorious and inconceivable mysteries and then in them all shall our happiness consist and our soul is to have its portion in them all 2. That the soul may honour them distinctly for the aim of God in the new Covenant is not barely the glory of the Divine Essence and to exalt in the hearts of the Saints the Attributes of the Nature but the excellency of the persons also that they may honour the Son Joh. 5.23 as they honour the Father that they may give glory to the Father Son and holy Spirit and may cry always day and night Holy holy holy Rev. 4.8 repetitâ acclamatione unum Jehovam celebrant quem etiam trinum agnoscunt Bright And the Lord doth in Scripture exceedingly stand upon a distinct glory and to that very end requires not only a general and confused but a distinct acknowledgment not only that we should know God to have all goodness and all sufficiency in him but the particular attributes and excellencies that are in God and not only to know Christ to have all fulness in him but that the soul see the several offices and the particular excellencies that are laid up in Christ as the Church doth Cant. 5. for as else a man can never give God glory till his particular excellencies be known and discovered so a man will never be in his own soul affected with it for they are particulars that do affect as whilst the Queen of Sheba heard but a general report of the wisdom of Solomon she was so far affected as that she was moved to come a great journey even from the farthest parts of the Earth to hear his wisdom but when she saw his wisdom in the particulars of it when he had answered all her questions and she had seen all his glory there was no more spirit left in her 1 King 10.5 they were the particulars that did affect his wisdom and his house and his servants c. As it 's in confession they are not generals that do affect it 's a small thing for men to say That they are all sinners and they have broken all the commands but when a man sees his sins in the particulars set down in order before him then is his soul amazed and he doth abhor himself never till then and so it is in thanksgiving also Now because that all the persons shall be glorified and they shall all have great glory therefore it must be distinct and that it may come from a heart truly affected with it also therefore he must give unto each person his distinct glory 3. That a man in this life may exercise distinct acts of faith upon them all Joh. 14.1 You believe in God believe also in me not only to the glory of God the Father but of the Son and Spirit also that faith may have an eye unto God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as Eph. 1.14 and unto Christ as the Son in whom he is well pleased as Mat. 17.3 therefore he is in the bosom of the Father able to reveal all his Fathers counsels unto the Saints and interceding as he is the Son and therefore is very powerful with him Joh. 3.16 he cannot deny the cry of a Son Heb. 7. ult Though Christ as he is God cannot pray because he can stand in need of nothing that he should go out of himself for for he is God all-sufficient 1 Cor. 3.11 Rev. 4. yet it is the Godhead that gives an efficacy to all that is done in the humane nature There are two things Christ does as he is a Priest 1 His Satisfaction and the sufficiency thereof is put upon the Godhead in the Scripture Acts 20.28 The blood of God and We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and Heb. 9.14 He offered himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God 2 His Intercession and though he doth intercede by the power of his satisfaction for he doth enter within the most holy place and doth sprinkle the blood with the incense his blood is a speaking blood yet the prevalency of his Intercession is commonly put upon the strength of the relation between God and him Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son c. Ask of me and I will give thee
not the holy Spirit by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption do not resist the Holy Ghost do not tempt him lest he forsake you and say I will strive with you no more A man should fear the evil aspect of any word of God and the estrangement of any promise of God that he should be in such a condition that he cannot go to it with boldness and comfort and be kept off from an Ordinance of God that he cannot eat the Passover with the people of God in the season of it how much more when a man shall look up upon the Father Son and Spirit and sees any of these estranged from him for they seek the glory one of another and delight to have each other honoured in the hearts of the Saints and if thou walk unworthily towards any of them they are all of them provoked and displeased thereby § 3. Let us now take a view of the particulars how and in what respect each person doth make over himself unto the Saints in the second Covenant that we may see how they have an interest in them all 1. God the Father makes over himself in Covenant unto the Saints as he is the Father Joh. 20. therefore Christ calls him My Father and your Father my God and your God The Saints also call him our Father 2 Thess 1.1 In God our Father c. Christ is his Son by nature as he is God and as Mediator he is taken into the same Sonship by the grace of personal Vnion Luke 1.35 That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God And we are also taken into the same Sonship by the grace of Adoption by virtue of the mystical Union even as the Manhood of Christ is by the personal Union Now what is it to have an interest in him as a Father that we can call him Abba Father The sweetness of that relation is very great unto the Saints for he is the Father of mercies and he is the Father of lights 2 Cor. 1.3 Jam. 1.17 by which Majesty Holiness and Perfection is intimated for so much Light doth signifie 1 Joh. 1.5 and therefore he is said to dwell in light and Heaven to be an inheritance in light and he is the Fountain and Father of all Light whether it be lumen fidei or lumen gloriae Col. 1.12 the light of faith or the light of glory and from hence Saints looking upon God the Father making over himself unto them are greatly affected considering 1 they have the honour of such a relation and truly the highest honour of the Saints is that of Sonship as it was the highest honour of Christ in his relation that he was the Son of the Father and we count it a high honour to stand in relation unto a Prince as David said Is it a small matter to be Son-in-law to a King It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a priviledge or prerogative to be called the Sons of God Behold what manner of love the Father has shewed us Joh. 1.12 13. that we should be called the sons of God! Now we are the sons of God in this life we have this title of honour put upon us though it is true our condition doth not seem answerable unto such a relation adoptionis fructus nondum apparet c. 1 Joh. 3.2 2 We may be sure to be acquainted with his secrets and see all his actings for the Father loves the Son and shews him all that he himself does he did so to Christ and in your measure he will deal so with you also for the Son is in the bosom of the Father and therefore he knows his mind and his purpose The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Joh. 1. â—8 i. e. the secrets of his counsel with them and the secret of his providence over them his Law is in their hearts 3 He loves you as a Father My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And we know the bowels of a father to his son by Abrahams to Ismael for his everlasting state his love did rise so high though we are begotten not of the will of man but of God And though Absolom were a disobedient son yet David doth love him so that his heart went out to him even when he rebelled against him there is an efficacy in love 4 As a Father he 'l hear your prayers Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me I know thou hearest me always whatever you ask of the Father he will give it you also that are his children It is by our sonship that we prevail with God in prayer at any time we have an Advocate in the Father The Father himself loves you saith Christ and therefore whatever you ask the Father be sure you shall speed and Christ argues the case with us Why should you doubt this If you know how to give good gifts to your children that are evil how much more shall your heavenly Father give to them that ask 5 He will as a Father give you a supply for all your wants The Father loves the Son and has committed all things into his hand all judgment is committed to the Son so he will give you as a Father the greatest gifts he gives his Son his Spirit he will give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him he will give grace and glory he doth not think Heaven too dear for them because they are sons and his own Essence he will make their portion and happiness 6 He rejoyceth in your prosperity here in your well-doing when wisdom is justified of her children he rejoyceth in their well-doing a wise son maketh a glad father he loves to see them prosper to see their graces grow and their souls thrive that they may have all good things both here and hereafter 7 He spares them in their services as a father spares his son that serves him though they be weak he doth not reject their offerings and he doth accept the will for the deed does not deal with us as an enemy that watches for our halting but as a father we do not stand without as the rest of the world do but we come into the inner Court. 8 Lastly they have an interest in him for correction Whom I love I chastise says God and in all their afflictions he doth pity them as a father Eph. 3.12 he doth correct in judgment not in fury but in measure c. it is for their profit that they may say it was good for them c. But more particularly this must be premised How and in what respect each of the Persons have made over themselves to the Saints under the second Covenant that under the first Covenant all the persons had an equal hand in the same things and there were not opera propria but what the Father is said to do that the Son and Spirit also are said to do so
that they have not their appropriata any peculiar works appropriated unto them but whatever is done is done by the Godhead joyntly and the same thing that is said to be done by the Father is said to be done by the Son also that as God the Father is said to create all things so is the Son also Joh. 1 3 4. All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made and so it is said of the Spirit also Gen. 1.2 The Spirit moved upon the face of the waters Job 26.13 By his Spirit he has garnished the heavens which doth not note the instrument or the minister by whom the Lord wrought but only the order of the working in the Trinity for the order of working is answerable to the order of subsisting the Father works by the Son and the Son works by the Spirit and therefore Job 33.4 The Spirit of God made me and the breath of the Almighty has given me life It 's attributed unto the Spirit alone and not only in the work of Creation but also in the upholding of the things created for Joh. 1.3 4. In him was life that is omnia per ipsum sustentari c. which is expounded by that in him we live and move and have our being and that Col. 1.17 By him all things consist as well as were made by him and in a more special manner the image of God in which man was created was from them all Gen. 1.26 Let us make man in our own image which was but one and the same of all the persons for it is added in the image of God created he him Joh. 1.4 the life is the light of men which is as much as to say hominem per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad imaginem Dei creatum as Chemnitius Thus under the first Covenant all things were carried on by the Godhead joyntly and whatever was done is said to be done by them all without any appropriation of any thing unto one person more than another But when we come to a second Covenant then though God works all in all yet there is a special kind of appropriation of the actions some more peculiarly unto one person and some unto another vel quoad agendi modum vel quoad actionis terminum in quo se unius personae operatio potissimùm elucet c. Med. p. 37. Synops purior c. p. 103. In which though there be a joynt concurrence of all the persons by way of consent for they have all but one will yet they may be in a special manner so appropriated unto the one as they cannot unto the other so the Father is said to send his Son and the Son cannot be said to send himself and so the Son is said to be incarnate the word was made flesh and to take upon him the form of a servant which cannot be said of the Father and so the Father and the Son are said to send the Comforter which cannot be said of the Holy Ghost Mat. 1.20 and the Holy Ghost is said to form Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary the holy thing conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost is the bond of Union between the two Natures and the bond of Union between Christ and us which cannot be said of the Father or the Son though there be a consent of will and so a concurrence of all the persons unto every action that doth tend unto our salvation for having one and the same Essence they have all of them one will also yea they have so taken upon themselves the special offices and acts that per solennem quandam appropriationem by a certain solemn appropriation some of them are said so to be done by the one as that they cannot be said to be done by the other and it is according unto these appropriated Acts that the persons are made over unto us under the second Covenant for though the will of the Father and the Son be one and the same because the Essence is but one yet as the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father so eadem voluntas distinctè appropriat se alteri ut donanti mittenti alteri ut dato misso Cocceius de Testament Dei Disput 9. Thes 92. The same will doth distinctly appropriate it self to one as the giver and sender and to the other as given and sent Now answerable unto this consent of will such are the offices that they have undertaken and such are the actions and operations that they do put forth and by this distinct consent of will unto the several actions which in the Scripture we see they do appropriate unto themselves for it is the Word of God and the Lord speaks it of himself and not any man according unto these do they under the second Covenant make over themselves to the Saints that answerably to these several acts and offices they may be able to look upon each person to whom in Scripture they are appropriated and from that person in faithfulness to expect the accomplishment of them because they have each of them undertaken it speaking so of themselves in the word as if such acts did properly belong unto them and thereby manifesting the distinct appropriation of their wills unto each of them This being premised let us now see how each person has made over himself unto Believers in reference unto the second Covenant 1 As a distinct object of their faith for there are distinct acts of faith to be exercised upon all these persons answerable unto their appropriated acts Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God says Christ believe also in me for though the ultimate object of faith be God for by Christ the Mediator we believe in God yet the several persons are to have faith distinctly exercised upon them 1 Pet. 1.21 answerable unto that distinct revelation of themselves Joh. 5.23 Rev. 1.4 2 As a distinct object of worship That every man might honour the Son even as they honour the Father Grace and peace from him that is and was and is to come and from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne 3 As distinct grounds of their consolation for though God be the God of all consolation yet there is a distinct consolation comes from each person answerable unto their appropriated acts which is the ground of a distinct communion 4 For their salvation each of the persons having their proper work in bringing many sons to glory but it has been shewed that these appropriated acts which I called Acts of Office are but for a time taken up with reference unto the mediatory Kingdom and when that shall be ended and all the Saints perfected and glorified and the Kingdom again given up into the hand of the Father then God shall be all in all and the persons shall act joyntly without any such appropriation for ever and look what the Spirit in
which he chose to himself out of both Creations and therefore 't is said Ephes 1.4 He has chosen us in him before the foundations of the world were laid He chose him as the head and the Elect as the body Eph. 1.9 10. He has made known unto us the good pleasure of his will according as he purposed in himself to gather together all things unto one whether things in heaven or things on earth There is a Mystery in the Gospel which is called the hidden Wisdom which God hath ordained before the world unto our glory it was free grace to mind the glory of the Elect next to the glory of his own Son 1 Cor. 2.7 and that as the Son shall glorifie him so also the glory of the Son shall come in by the glory of the Saints and the Son ingaged who was the Lord of glory to bring many sons to glory by this because therein should his own glory consist for at the day of Judgment the great glory of Christ shall be in his Saints He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and be admired in them that believe c. And if he did look upon man as fallen he need never have taken up such a purpose as this is for being enemies he had a prison that was large enough to have held them all Esay 10. ult for Tophet was prepared of old he hath made it deep and large and he needs not their service nor their friendship he could have destroyed them and as John Baptist saith Of these stones he could raise up children unto Abraham But yet it was the loving-kindness of the Father that did think thoughts of peace towards them and he had an eternal purpose of good will and as the Father will be glorified in the Son so shall the Saints also and therefore they are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.3 and the plot is in Scripture commonly attributed unto the Father 4 It was God the Father that made the motion unto Christ the Son who called him and appointed him unto this work Joh. 8.42 I came not of my self it was an honour that Christ did not take upon himself Heb. 5.5 But he that said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee he doth ingage him in the work by the highest relation and the greatest obligation that can be as he was his gift so he must be obedient unto the Father in this thing Heb. 10.6 7. and therefore In the volume of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will O God and this is intended in these two expressions Prov. 8.22 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he possessed me Prov. 8.22 23. for the servant is part of his masters goods and therefore it 's said That he is his money Exod. 21.21 Now as soon as the Son became in the purpose of the Father his servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately he possessed him and he is called the beginning of all the ways of God towards the creature The first step of all the good will that was towards the creature and all the goings forth of God towards him was laid in the Son he is the beginning of his way and it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was set up from everlasting it 's the same word in Psal 2.6 I was anointed from everlasting it is spoken in the purpose and intention of God for the efficacy of it took not place till after the Fall neither was he actually anointed till he in the humane nature received the Spirit without measure and was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows 5 He proposed it unto the Son by way of a Covenant for the Covenant was originally made with Christ Esay 49. Gal. 3.6 and so 2 Tim. 1.9 there is a promise of eternal life not unto us but unto him and also in Tit. 1.2 eternal life that was given us before the world began he did appoint him the office that he should undertake him has God the Father consecrated and sanctified the service that he should do Joh. 10.18 I lay down my life and this commandment I received of my Father And to shew the intention of the Fathers Spirit in it he did swear that he should be a Priest and it was the word of the Oath made him so to be For him hath God the Father sealed Heb. 7.27 Joh. 6.26 And it was by this Covenant that most properly Christ became the second Adam 1 Cor. 15.47 As the Lord made a Covenant with the first Adam for an image and an inheritance which he was to transmit unto his posterity so also he did with the second Adam only here was the difference though the first Adams consent to the Covenant was voluntary yet he being a creature and subject to a Law when the mind of God was made manifest in a Covenant and to deal with him in a Covenant-way it had been his sin to withdraw his consent But now the Son being God equal with the Father it was every way free with him to have consented unto the terms of this Covenant or not but he did it freely Lo I come to do thy will O God 6 In this Covenant he did appoint unto his Son what glory he should have and what glory and grace the Saints should have He hath given us eternal life 1 Joh. 5.11 and this life is in his Son so that all the grace that ever should be communicated to the Saints here and their glory hereafter it should be all laid up in him as in a common Treasury It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge And when the Saints enter into happiness they do but enter into their masters joy all is laid up in Christ for them And God doth appoint Christ what glory he should have for his personal glory Phil. 2.10 That he should be exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high and have a name given him above every name and that he should be glorified in the Saints and admired in them that believe Joh. 5. the Father has given him to have life in himself that he may quicken whom he will and hath given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man 7 The Father did appoint him the souls that he should save for Joh. 17.10 All thine are mine I pray not for the world but those that thou hast given me c. The Father and the Lamb have each of them a book of life and they do answer one another Rev. 13.8 for every soul that God would have saved he did give unto the Lord Christ by Covenant so that as he did measure out suffering to Christ and sins too for he had our sins unto a number laid upon him so he did souls also that he was to
now are in prison who sometimes were disobedient in the days of Noah They were then men upon Earth but they are now Spirits in prison 5 He gave the Law and he did appoint and institute all those legal ways of worship and all those types and shadows of the Law which were but praeludia humanitatis preludes of the humanity that it might be represented unto the faith of his people as lively as might be till the fulness of time appointed by the Father was come Heb. 12.25 6 He it was that brought Israel into Canaan and planted them a Church there unto himself Esay 5.1 2. I will sing unto my well-beloved a song of my beloveds concerning his vineyard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is generally conceived to be a name given unto the Messiah and he had a vineyard in a fruitful Hill he fenced it and gathered out the stones planted it with the choicest Vine and built a Tower in the middle of it and made a Wine-press therein and all this is the act of him whom he doth call my Beloved 3. The Father did prepare the nature that Christ was to assume unto union with himself Heb. 10.5 Burnt offering hadst thou no pleasure in but a body hast thou prepared me he that called him to be a Sacrifice he did prepare a body c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by this is included the soul also that very individual nature though formed by the Holy Ghost yet according to the appointment of the Father Col. 2.9 for in him was the fulness of the Godhead bodily to dwell that is he was to take our nature thus prepared into a personal union with himself so that not only that Christ should take the nature of man but that very individual soul and body that he was to take was appointed and prepared by God the Father which he would have to be as a Sacrifice to himself and unto him he would give this grace of union that it should become one with the second Person in the Godhead 4. This very humane nature thus prepared by the Father and by the Son thus assumed the Father did fill with all habitual grace Col. 1.19 Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell the meaning is not only that he should have fulness of grace in himself but such a fulness also that he might convey and communicate unto us that all the fulness of the creatures should be derived from him Joh. 1.16 That of his fulness we may receive grace for grace he hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son and he is therefore said to receive the Spirit without measure because he has the Spirit so as to fill all the Saints the Spirit so as to dispense the Spirit this cannot be spoken of Christ as God for so he cannot receive the Spirit and so he cannot receive grace but it 's spoken of him in reference to his humane nature which the Father prepared and anointed as he saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for the Lord hath anointed me he cannot be said to be anointed as God but as he is Mediator and therefore there is a double grace comes from the Father upon this nature of Christ a grace of Vnion and a grace of Vnction also so that though the Godhead of Christ were infinitely holy yet his Godhead doth not qualifie the humane nature but he being the Fathers servant and the grace that was to be dispensed was by the appointment of the Father therefore it is the Father that laid up this grace in the humane nature of Christ as in a common Treasury making him a second Adam that he might dispense it unto us 5. Having in this manner prepared him the Father did send him forth into the world and owned him before the world to be his Son at his Baptism Mat. 3. ult A voice came from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son and in his Transfiguration Mat. 17.5 it was again repeated and 2 Pet. 1.17 God the Father gave him glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased God the Father did declare him to be the Son of God with power partly by the doctrine that he preached for no man spake as he spake he spake of heavenly things as one that had seen them for he came down from Heaven as one that came out of the bosom of the Father and also by the Miracles that he wrought the Lord did give a testimony to him to be the Son of God by opening of the eyes of the blind healing the sick raising the dead c. So that the Father did eminently owne him to be his Son before all the world that men might believe in him which is a thing of mighty concernment to us and Heb. 1.6 when he brings his first begotten Son into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him so that he is owned by the Father before men and Angels as the person that it was the design of the Father to set up as the Head of all Principalities and Powers for the happiness of his Saints and the glory of God the Father 6. The Father did appoint how long he should live upon earth and what death he should dye He was delivered by the determinate counsel of God and therefore Christ tells them Act. 2.23 My hour is not yet come and that is given as the reason why they that were so malicious had not seized upon him sooner it was because his hour and the power of darkness appointed by the Father was not yet come he was to dye a crucified death being made a curse for us for it 's written Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree Gal. 3.13 7. The Father also becomes Christs Executioner It is true sin did not only set God against us but all the creatures also and therefore Christ standing in our stead he shall have men to be his enemies and they shall seek to destroy him he shall be delivered into the hands of men and they will serve the turn to destroy his body but it is no more that they can do but it is the soul of man that was the great Traitor against God and men cannot reach the soul to afflict it therefore it pleased the Father to bruise him when he made his soul an offering for sin and therefore his great satisfaction being there his great purchase is made thereby for it is said He shall see of the travel of his soul which then mainly begun in the garden though it 's true all his life time he had been a man of sorrow but specially when he cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. yet he had then some lucida intervalla but in the three hours darkness when he fought it out between God and him alone then the Lord did inlarge his faculties
for wrath and poured it out abundantly when all the graces of Christ did act to the highest to take hold of God and to uphold himself To have been in Abrahams bosom then when he was about to slay his son even his only son and seen what strivings of heart and rendings of bowels what great grief possest Abraham at that time how should a man of compassion have been affected But there was much more love in God to his Son Christ and yet to bruise him was that which he delighted in it was unto him a sweet smelling savour when he was offered up upon the Cross God that doth not delight in the death of a sinner yet he doth delight in the death of a Son that the sinners may live and be saved eternally 8. God the Father being in this manner satisfied by his Sacrifice he doth raise him from the dead he is said to be raised by his own Godhead that is the Spirit spoken of Rom. 1.4 Heb. 9.14 he himself saith I have power to lay down my life Joh. 10.18 and I have power to take it again he received a commandment from the Father concerning both but he is said to be raised by the Father because he was by the Father as a Judge condemned as an offender and malefactor executed cast into the prison of the grave which I understand by that in Esay 53.8 Now the debt being paid the Father doth grant him a deliverance and sends an Angel a publick Minister of Justice to manifest that his debt is paid and the Father satisfied thereby and therefore it is unto the Father that he did look for it Psal 16.10 thou wilt not leave my soul in statu separato in a separate state nor my body in the grave c. thou wilt not suffer thy holy One to see corruption 9. God the Father gave him glory and exalted him far above all Principalities and Powers and might and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come Eph. 1.21 He has a glory that he is invested with above all the Angels in Heaven as he was Man whiles he was upon earth he was made lower than all the Angels for a little while but now he has more glory as he is Man than all the Angels are capable of as he has more grace than they have therefore he must needs have more glory and that as he is Man by this means he is gone to Heaven as our Fore-runner to take possession for us Joh. 14.2 I go before says he to prepare a place and therefore it is expedient for you that I go away Acts 2.33 10. He receives the fulness of the Spirit from the Father Christ waited for the promise of the Spirit as well as we for the full accomplishment of it for as the faculties of Christ were inlarged so did his grace exalt it self though he was always full of grace and truth and therefore as he was said to grow here in all things he was like unto us only without sin so in the growth and in the degrees of the perfection of his humane nature therefore when he came to Heaven his faculties were inlarged as ours shall be and so there is the fuller measure of his receiving the Spirit in glory than he had when he was here upon earth for when he was here on earth he knew not the day of Judgment Of that day knows no man no not the Son while he was upon earth but when he came to Heaven it was revealed unto him it was first revealed to Christ and by Christ unto his Servant John and therefore he did himself open the book which was sealed to him as well as it was unto us but he did open it and looked therein c. They were such discoveries as the Lord did not communicate unto the humane nature of Christ till he came to glory and then his knowledge as also his grace was perfected therefore Joh. 7.39 that 's given as the reason why the Spirit was not yet given in its fulness Joh. 7.39 because Christ was not yet glorified he did not fully dispense it unto us because he had not in fulness received it for every promise is first made unto him and in him unto us and it is first fulfilled in him and through him in us also 11. God the Father has put him into the actual administration of his government as he is man Dan. 7.14 all Angels Principalities and Powers being made subject to him and so much his sitting at the right hand of the Father does imply 1 Pet. 3. ult namely the actual administration of all things and that as he is man for he must as well rule as man as he shall judge as man as he is God in prosecution unto the Covenant that God the Father made with him so this Kingdom has been in the hand of the Son ever since the Fall and so it 's true that the Father judges no man but the Son has all judgment committed to him but while he was man here he was in a state of humiliation and it was the time of his ministery but in Heaven is the time of his Magistracy and the Lord hath now made him to be both Lord and Christ and now he doth actually rule the world as man whereas before his ascension he could not for as he was man he received not himself up into glory and this is the glory that the Father did promise to give him and to glorifie him with himself therein before the world was that that nature which he should take should be exalted above all creatures and the actual government of all things should be committed thereupon unto him and so as man he is made the head of all things for the Churches sake Eph. 1.21 22. § 2. But there are some Acts of God the Father that more immediately respect the Saints and are terminated on them and they are also very many as 1. the work of Vocation when men are turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Joh. 6.44 that 's attributed unto the Father Joh. 6.44 45. No man can come to me except the Father draw him he that has heard and learned of the Father cometh to me To come to Christ is to believe in him as appears vers 35. He that comes to me shall never hunger and he that believes on me shall never thirst He expounds coming to him by believing in him for he knew who they were that believed not vers 64. And therefore said I unto you No man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father And the Lord speaks not of the will here no man will come but of the power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man can come There is a dispute between us and the Arminians about the power of nature unto acts of grace and they say there is auxilium
sufficiens sufficient grace which God gives unto all men but Christ in the Text denies any such power he saith No man can come to me except the Father draw him What is this drawing It is not a forcible act by which violence is offered upon the will of man and yet it 's called drawing because it 's an act of almighty power the words note the sweetness and the efficacy of grace grace works powerfully and therefore God is said to draw and it works sweetly and therefore man is said to come as if he were not drawn trahitur animus amore c. it doth consist in a spiritual illumination of the understanding and in an effectual perswasion and determination of the will for it is a drawing that is a teaching as the next verse makes it manifest and in this is the foundation of eternal life as it is in us begun all this was in the purpose of God towards him but the man was dead in trespasses and sins as well as others without Christ and without God in the world and therefore the Saints actually converted are stiled by the Apostle the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.29 But how is this work attributed to God the Father that the power and the act of believing and of closing with Christ is from him the teaching and the drawing is the Fathers act Here I meet with a deep silence amongst all Interpreters only I find this to be offered by Kemnitius That the grace that we receive is laid up in Christ by God the Father and in the Gospel Christ is but God the Fathers Servant and therefore though grace be given unto us by Christ yet it is by the appointment of the Father and Christ is only the Fathers Servant in it and so the principal efficient of faith is God the Father though you do receive it immediately from Christ This is true that all the grace that we receive from Christ all our days here and all the glory we shall have to Eternity was by the Father laid up for us in Christ and in the whole work Christ is but the Fathers Servant but why in a special manner is this work of the Father appropriated unto the work of conversion and vocation The ground of it I conceive to be this In the Covenant that passed between Christ and the Father the Lord did require this service of him that he should lay down his life and give himself for the Elect he gave himself a ransom for many and he did make him a promise that he would give those souls unto him again Therefore as in the fulness of time the Lord did give Christ for them Vnto us a Child is born Isa 9.6 Joh. 4.10 unto us a Son is given and so he is called by way of eminency the gift of God for though he were promised from the beginning of the world yet he was not actually given and exhibited till the last days so there is a time also when God the Father must fulfil this promise unto Christ to give souls unto him as he has given himself for them in obedience to the Father Now when are souls given unto Christ It is when they come to him and believe in him they are not actually any part of his charge till then and therefore they are said to be without Christ they have no actual relation to Christ or Christ to them Joh. 4.10 for the union between Christ and the soul is matrimonial and it is the Father that gives them each unto other and therefore marriage between Adam and his wife is made a type and resemblance of it or rather mystery called by the Jews Cabala Eph. 5.33 This is a great mystery but I speak of Christ and the Church so that it 's God the Father that gives Christ to the soul and gives the soul unto Christ he it is that doth joyn them in a marriage-covenant for ever Therefore as when the time appointed by the Father was come he sent his Son actually into the world so when the time of love is come that a soul should be converted who before lay polluted in his blood then doth God the Father send his Spirit in Christs name into the soul who doth discover the beauty of Christ and the free grace of God the Father how ready and willing he is to bestow him and the manifestation of this grace of the Father is made effectual to the soul not only to perswade but also to enable it to accept of Christ upon the terms that he is offered And upon this ground the work of vocation is mainly attributed unto the drawing and the teaching of the Father because as they were in the purpose of God and in the Covenant between Christ and the Father given to him from all Eternity so they are by the Father actually given to him in the fulness of time that is when the time of their conversion appointed by the Father is come and therefore the inlightning of the soul in this work is attributed unto the Father 2 Cor. 4.6 God that commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts c. and by the same almighty Word that he did that work in the Creation he doth shine into our hearts discovering Christ unto us and the glory of God all the incommunicable Attributes of God are gloriously set forth in the Man Christ Jesus and so the power by which the soul is enabled to believe is the power of God the Father Eph. 1.17 19. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory would shew you what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of the mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead so that if any soul be brought home unto Christ in a work of vocation it is by the almighty working of God the Father and you are to acknowledge his grace as well in giving you unto Christ as in giving Christ unto you 2. In the work of Reconciliation though all the persons were wronged by sin their essence and glory being but one yet the suit against sin doth mainly in Scripture run in God the Fathers name God has reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 and God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself This was properly the act of God the Father Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life Col. 1.19 20. it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell as being to reconcile all things to himself c. What is it to reconcile It is properly amicitiam diremptam resarcire to set them all at one again who were before friends but now at variance amongst themselves God is an enemy unto all men by nature the wicked is an abomination unto the
Lord and we are enemies unto God and are deeply rooted in enmity in our minds both by secret flattery and by open hostility every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1.21 Rom. 1.30 haters of God but now God is no more an enemy unto us but he loves us with the same love that he loves the Son Joh. 17.23 and they are no more enemies unto God but they are called the friends of God and the Lords possession the Fathers inheritance is in the Saints Eph. 1.18 The riches of his inheritance in the Saints Thus it is God the Father that offers reconciliation when you are a great way off he doth run to meet you and he doth fall upon your neck and kiss you and he lets you see that he has forgotten all the wrong done to him Cupit amari Austin and that though the earth be his and the fulness thereof yet he is taken with nothing so much as with your love it is to gain your love that he doth all that he does and he it is that is the person in whom you are properly reconciled and with him properly the peace in Scripture is said to be made for the Son is the Peace-maker Shiloe he makes peace by the blood of his Cross and it is by his Spirit that we have access unto the Father therefore reconciliation is properly unto God the Father and herein is the soul properly made the friend of God the enmity being slain thereby 3. Justification is properly the act of God the Father putting upon a Believer the righteousness of Christs not imputing his sin for he that made Christ to be sin for us he it is also that makes us the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult and it is by his grace that you are justified freely who did set forth Christ to be a propitiation Rom. 3.24 25. There is a double act of God the Father in the work of Justification 1 There is an Imputation of righteousness Rom. 4.6 Blessed is the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works There is a righteousness that is wrought by Christ called the righteousness of God because the Godhead gave an efficacy and an excellency thereunto and this under the second Covenant by virtue of our union with him is counted ours as our sins were by the Father counted his and it is this counting of the Father that is truly imputation and so much the word in the Greek doth properly signifie so that though Christ had no sin yet through the Covenant between him and his Father our sin is counted his and though we have no righteousness yet by virtue of union his righteousness is counted ours Rom. 3.24 and so it being an act of grace for we are justified freely by grace so it 's true justitia nostra est indulgentia tua 2 There is Remission of sin that is Rom. 4.8 a non imputation Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes no sin c. that is though we be sinners in our selves yet the Lord doth not count us so but looks upon us as pure and unspotted in his sight it 's true that the righteousness wrought for us is the righteousness of Christ he brought in everlasting righteousness Dan. 9.24 But how shall this become ours This is by an act of God the Father imputing his righteousness unto us and that is counting his righteousness ours and he looking upon us as being one with him and though it is true that we are sinners and every sin hath a guilt naturally and necessarily going with it for there is a difference between reatus personae and reatus poenae guilt may be separated from the person but it can never be from the sin now the Lord will not impute sin in the guilt of it unto the person but though he doth sin and that doth carry a guilt with it yet it shall not be charged upon the person for ever 4. Adoption that also is properly an act of God the Father upon a Believer a man made one with Christ 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed unto us that we should be called the sons of God Adoption is properly an act of God the Father graciously receiving a man into the number of his sons and giving him his Spirit the priviledges and the inheritance of a son so that though it is by Christ that we have this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1.12 that is because Christ is the Son therefore we being made one with him we also become sons of God by the Sonship of Christ only his Sonship is natural and ours by grace as our union is and by this means the Father of Christ is our Father also Joh. 20. I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and your God c. yet is it an act of God the Father that doth receive us as sons by virtue of our union with him who is the Son of the Father Now consider the benefit we have by it 1 We have the spirit of sons Rom. 8.15 before we had but the spirit of a servant a spirit of bondage 2 We receive the honour of sons Joh. 8.35 Th◠servant abides not in the house always but the son abides always so we are of the family and of the houshold of God and he is not ashamed to be called our Father 3 We have the boldness and the access of sons Eph. 3.12 We come not as servants to a master as guilty persons to a Judge but as children unto a father 4 We have the Inheritance of sons for being sons we are heirs Rom. 8.17 Coheirs with Christ and so may claim Heaven by a double right by virtue of the purchase made and the price paid for it and also because we are sons and therefore the inheritance doth belong to us for all the sons of God are heirs of God also 5. We have also acceptation with God Eph. 1.6 He has made us accepted in the beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is to embrace a man with love and special favour and acceptation which doth proceed from this love and this also in the Scripture is double 1 To their persons he had respect unto Abel and the Lord tells Cain If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted Gen. 4.4 that when they do come before God he doth respect them above all the world beside to him will I look Esay 66.2 I will cast a more favourable eye upon him than upon all the world beside whereas the person of a wicked man as well as his service is an abomination to the Lord. 2 To their services Psal 17.14 Let the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight It is that which the Lord does promise Exod. 28.38 that their Sacrifices should be accepted before the Lord what they do doth please him and he doth not reject any of their services as he doth other mens It 's said Mal. 3.3 He
spreads the dung of their sacrifices upon their faces Mal. 3.3 It doth imply two things 1. That the Lord doth reject their Sacrifices with indignation as if they had offered dung in their solemn feasts 2. Summo dedecore eos afficiam I will spread the highest reproach on them so Mercer as you do unto a man when you cast dung in his face the Lord will reject their services and instead of honouring them in them he will cast shame upon them also whereas the services of the Saints are 1 accepted ordine supernaturali as flowing from a heavenly and supernatural principle and 2 ad vitam aeternam ordinata services appointed unto an eternal reward Other mens services are not thus accepted but as they come from a principle of nature so they shall have no higher reward they shall rise no higher than the head of the spring from whence they flow 6. There is a Communion also that the people of God have with the Father 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ There is a communion that the Saints of God have distinctly with all the persons when they receive mercy from them all and rejoyce in the love of them all and they do return to them again all the glory of the grace of them all as faith is distinctly to be exercised upon all the persons so the soul should strive to have a distinct fellowship and communion with all the persons 1 A man should pray to the Father for saith Christ Your Father knows that you have need of all these things 2 You are to give thanks to the Father who has blessed you with all spiritual blessings 3 You are to rejoyce in his love says Christ I will love him Eph. 1.3 Joh. 14.21 23. and he shall be loved of my Father I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loves you you are in his bosom receive all gifts from him as from a Father and come to him as to a Father as one that has communion with him and access to him as unto a Father 4 Glory in the witness of the Father Joh. 5.7 for there are three that do bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one you are not only to have the Spirits testimony and seal upon your evidences but the Fathers also bearing witness in your souls testifying unto you the adoption of sons There is a glorious communion that the Father gives unto his people as Christ had with the Father so may you also in and through him SECT III. The Relations undertaken by the Father and Christ in this Covenant § 1. THE Father having in this manner made over himself in Covenant to his people they have an interest in all the relations of the Father for we are not only related unto Christ but by him to the Father and as we are to exercise faith upon Christ under all relations so we are also upon the Father and these relations are both honourable and comfortable also to the Saints 1. God the Father is our Father says Christ I ascend unto my Father and your Father Joh. 20.17 Mat. 5.16 to my God and your God that they may glorifie your Father which is in heaven Be you merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful and therefore says the Apostle Rom. 1.7 Grace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ c. Now what is there in such a relation as this is unto God the Father We shall see what it was unto Christ the only begotten Son of the Father and see how in all things he is a Father to us as he is unto Christ though it be in a lower way for Christ in all things must have the preheminence 1 It is the great honour that is put upon Christ as Mediator Joh. 1.14 Luk. 1.35 that he is the Son of God we saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God and in this he is exalted above the Angels Heb. 1.5 Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son and I will be unto him a Father Bernard and he shall be unto me a Son c. Altissimi Filius ac proinde co-altissimus ipse ejusdem penitùs altitudinis dignitatis And in this manner the Saints do partake pro modulo it is the greatest priviledge of the Saints that they do receive from union with the Son and that in which they are exalted above the Angels That as they do stand before God in a higher righteousness in their justification for though the righteousness of Angels be perfect in its kind yet it 's but the righteousness of a meer creature but the righteousness of Christ is called the Righteousness of God 2 Cor. 5.21 which though it were wrought in the humane nature and therefore was not the essential righteousness of God for that could not be imputed yet it was that which being wrought by him that was God and man the Godhead had an influence into it and gave it an excellence and efficacy so they have a higher sonship in their adoption that is it 's founded on a higher right than that of the Angels even in the Sonship of the second person in the Trinity for Christ as Mediator was not a Son by adoption but by generation his humane nature being taken into the same person did by virtue of that grace of union partake of the same Sonship for there was not a double Sonship of Christ one as he was God and the other as he was man for subjectum filiationis est suppositum the subject of filiation is a person as the School-men speak Now as Christ had great glory from other things in relation to the Angels Dan. 9.24 for he is the Head of Principalities and Powers and to the Saints he is the King of Saints the holy of holies and from all the creatures for he is the beginning of the creation of God and is the head over all things to the Church yea in reference to God himself for he is Gods King I will set my King and the man Gods fellow but there is none that is a term of so high an honour unto Christ as this that he is the Son and it 's this that the Lord doth publish to the world as the ground of all the rest Isa 4.5 Psal 2.7 I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son c. so it is with the Saints they are called the glory and the first-fruits of all the creatures the excellent ones Kings and Priests unto God to whom the Angels are but servants and ministring Spirits but yet there is no title of honour like unto this that they are called the Sons of God Men do glory
in titles of honour as Pharaoh did in this I am the Son of the ancient Kings and the Jews gloried in this We have Abraham to our father The Saints have a higher glory that Jesus Christ is their Father for he has a successive generation that none can number Isa 57.8 he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days upon earth and yet to be the sons of God the Father is a far higher honour for Christ himself says My Father is greater than I it is to be understood of him as Mediator only for as he is God he is equal with the Father and thinks it no robbery so to be 2. As God is the Father of Christ so he loves Christ as his Son and therefore he doth call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.17 my beloved Son Mat. 3.17 and the Son of his love Col. 1.17 there is an Hebraism for most beloved as the man of sin i. e. the most sinful man the child of wrath one who is subject unto the highest displeasure of God and the son of perdition i. e. one utterly and eternally lost so the son of his love is one tenderly beloved by him the most beloved of the Father and this was the great thing that Christ gloried in even the love of his Father Joh. 5.20 The Father loveth the Son and it was this that did bear up his spirit under all his sufferings that he did abide in his Fathers love Joh. 15.10 Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world Joh. 17.24 and in this also you bear a part with Christ Joh. 14.21 He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him Joh. 17.23 Joh. 16.27 The Father himself loves you Joh. 17.23 Thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me non aequalitatem denotat sed similitudinem it denotes not equality but similitude 1 He loved him from Eternity and so he doth you 2 He loved him as a Son and so he doth you ad similitudinem filii naturalis so he doth love you as sons 3 He loves Christ to Eternity to give him the fruition of himself and so he loves you also Now as the great glory and comfort of Christ was in the love of the Father so also should this be the great glory and the comfort also of the Saints that though we may glory and rejoyce with joy unspeakable in the love of Christ that passeth knowledge yet specially in the love of the Father Christ being but a gift that flows from God the Fathers love therefore Joh. 4.10 Christ is called by way of emincency the gift of God and next to the giving of Christ the love of the Father is principally seen in this that we should be called the sons of God Behold what manner of love the Father has shewed unto us 1 Joh. 3.1 3. The Son knew the mind of the Father and is acquainted with all the Fathers counsels the glory of God the Father is made known to the Son all the excellency of his person No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Mat. 11.27 and so for all actings of the Father The Son can do nothing of himself Joh. 5.20 but what he sees the Father do for the Father loves the Son and shews him all things that he himself doth and he will shew him greater works than these that you may marvel This is not to be understood of Christ as God but as he is Mediator and so as there was an Idea and a Platform in the mind of the Father so this is also discovered to the Son that all the great works that God doth purpose to accomplish in the world he is able to look into all the Fathers counsels that as when Solomon was to build the Temple it is said That David gave him a pattern of all according as he had received of the Spirit 1 Chron. 28.12 Solomon was to build the House but he received the Platform from his father so it is in Christ also the man whose name is the Branch he it is that must build the Temple of the Lord Zac. 6.12 but yet he must do all according unto the pattern for he is but God the Fathers servant in that which he doth and he must receive the Platform from the Father therefore it 's the Father that doth discover to the Son as a fruit of his love all his own works and he doth that which he hath seen of the Father Joh. 8.38 And the discoveries of these secrets of God unto his Son were by degrees more and more he will shew him greater works he had shewed him some great works already in healing the sick and raising of the dead but yet he lets them know that these were not summum sibi ex operibus Dei mandatis but when he did come unto glory his own discoveries should be perfected and then as he had his works more fully revealed unto him of the Father so also he should shew them forth unto the world for the Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified so it is with the Saints according unto their measure the Father loves them and therefore he shews them all that he himself doth Joh. 1.18 and as Christ is in the bosom of the Father so are they also after a sort for the bosom is the seat of secrets and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him they are Jesuron the seeing people they do hear and learn of the Father they shall be all taught of God Joh. 6.45 and as a Father he will not conceal his purposes in all his great works from his children only he doth discover them by degrees as he did unto his only Son Hos 6.3 His going forth is prepared as the morning and therefore they must follow on to know him and though now there be many veils drawn before the eyes of his people for very many of the secrets of God are yet under a veil the fulness of time for their discovery being not yet come for he revealed his word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.1 and the Lord has promised Isa 25.7 That he will destroy the face of the covering that is upon all people 1 It is a great and a thick covering it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the manner of the Hebrews when they would express a thing highly they do it by a duplication Esay 28.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though some would render the last word by the Participle a covering spread forth upon all people and the face of the covering that is as much as involucrum facierum a covering spread upon their faces Now to have a covering upon their faces it notes guilt and dishonour which God saith he 'l take away but I do not conceive that to be all that principally is intended but with Calvin and Forer rather ignorantiam
caecitatem veluti quodam velo diffusam ignorance and blindness diffused as by a certain veil there is a double veil and God will take both away a veil upon the truth and a veil upon the heart also and both shall be swallowed up that is shall be utterly removed and there shall come a time that the Sea of glass that is now mingled with fire shall be clear as crystal again and the Temple shall be opened so that a man may see into the Ark of the Testimony which formerly had a veil before it Rev. 11.19 that it could not be seen it was in the secret of the Pavilion of God but then the most secret mysteries shall be exposed unto the common view of the Saints but it shall be when the Kingdoms of the Earth shall be given to the Lord Jesus Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever 4. The Father is pleased in Christ his Son he delights in him and so he did before the world he was the delight of God the Father from all Eternity I was his delight daily Prov. 8.30 this is my beloved Son Mat. 3. ult and therefore even amongst men children are called the desire of their parents eyes and that upon which they set their mind their hearts do go out unto them Ezech. 24.25 so in your measure you that are Saints are the delight of God the Father from day to day he loves you as well with a love of complacence as with a love of benevolence and therefore he calls the name of the Church Esay 62. Hephziba my delight is in her the Lord takes pleasure in his people his delight is in them that fear him Psal 147.11 149.4 and them that hope in his mercy Therefore the carrying on of the work of Redemption to the full accomplishment of all the gracious intentions of the Father is called the pleasure of the Lord Isa 53.10 which was to prosper in the hands of Christ it being of all the works of God that in which he doth most delight as when a man sets his greatest love upon any thing or person in that he has the greatest delight to see it prosper and thrive and succeed never did an earthly father take so much delight and full satisfaction in the prosperity of a child and yet we know that a wise Son makes a glad father as the Lord does to see the souls of his people prosper and the ways of his grace to be fully magnified towards them because all the love of the creature is but a drop unto the love of the Father which is in Heaven as the Lord has more delight in Christ than he has in all the Saints so he has more delight in one Saint than he has in all the creatures besides because he bears unto them a greater love and hath from them a far greater glory There is joy in heaven says Christ over one sinner that repents and so there is amongst the Angels why because theirs is a joy in the Lord himself and it 's the happiness of the Saints that they can joy in God and we may well make God our Father our delight when he does make us his delight he that has the Son and the Saints and Angels in glory to delight in that yet he should declare that his delight should be with the sons of men here below what an amazing condescension is this of our God how does it ingage us to delight in him only 5. Jesus Christ as he was the Son had a glorious and a sweet communion with the Father so Christ saith Joh. 14.10 I am in the Father and the Father in me and he dwells in me it notes that constant communion that he as Mediator had with the Father Joh. 16.32 Ye shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone but the Father is with me and therefore upon all occasions he did retire himself unto the Father as his great support in the days of his pilgrimage Joh. 1.3 and so have the Saints also our fellowship is with the Father they have access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he leads us by the hand and by our sonship we have boldness with him Pater nomen pietatis potestatis est Father is a name of piety and power Tertul. Oh the infinite sweetness that is for the soul to walk before God the Father in ways of holiness that in these ways he may enjoy fellowship and communion with himself There is a great deal of sweetness in a communion of Saints our Brethren but much more in communion with Christ our Husband but most of all in communion with God our Father he is to be taken as well for a pattern of the one as of the other 6. As God is the Father of Christ so he doth hear the prayers of Christ and therefore Christ says Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I know thou hearest me always Joh. 11.41 And though his satisfaction be always referred unto his Godhead Heb. 9.41 yet his Intercession refers unto his Sonship Act. 20.28 Heb. 7. ult the word of the Oath makes the Son who is consecrated for evermore men that know how powerful the name of a father is and what bowels it moves may well assure themselves that it is much more in him who is the Father of mercies as well as our Father and therefore if we know how to give good gifts to our children and will give them suitable to their necessities surely so will he much more and such a man must acknowledge that our Father is Saints may assure themselves that they have not only an Advocate without them which is Christ with the Father and an Advocate within them unto the Father for the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used of both Joh. 16.27 but they have an Advocate in the Father also and it 's that which Christ puts them upon not only to look upon his Intercession as that which doth prevail only but to the Fathers love and the bowels that are in himself the Father himself loves you 7. As a Father he gives Christ an inheritance Thou art my Son Psal 2.7 8. I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance He has appointed him heir of all things Heb. 1.3 and all that are the sons of God are heirs Rom. 8.16 17. yea all that are sons of God are first-born Heb. 12.23 1 Cor. 3.22 and therefore they have a double portion All things are yours and Rev. 21.7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things c. And it 's such an inheritance as none else have in the creatures for it is one thing to hold it by right of a servant by providence and another by the right of a son 1 Pet. 1.5 for the son abides in the house always and 't is an inheritance in promises of grace and of glory which no other men in the world
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
distinct objects for faith to work and rest upon as mercy and justice and holiness and wisdom and faithfulness and the soul should not only be content with a general apprehension that he hath an interest in them all but should be distinctly drawn forth and exercise distinct acts of faith upon them all And as it is in Christ there are distinct excellencies in him there is the Holiness of his Nature the Holiness of his Life and the fulness of his Satisfaction the glory of his Merit and a soul that hath an interest in Christ and is made one with him hath immediately an interest in all these but yet the Lord requires that the faith of his Saints should be exercised about them all and have their apprehension raised by the glory of them all As a man that believes any one part of the Word of God doth believe the whole Word of God at the same time for faith that doth close with any Divine Truth aright doth it upon this ground to rest upon God tam in revelatis quà m revelandis as well in what is revealed as what is to be revealed as it was with Adam and the Angels unto whom there are made daily new discoveries of the will and counsel of God that they never knew before but yet there is not a precept Eph. 3.10 promise or threatning in the whole Word of God but it is a distinct object of faith and the Lord would have the apprehensions of his people particularly set upon them that they may be particularly affected with them and see and admire the grace of God in giving them an interest in this promise and in that threatning So it is true that a man that hath an interest in the Son of God hath an interest also in God the Father and so a man may consider it discursivè discursively but the Lord would have the soul stay upon the particular interest he hath in the Father and the glory thereof and upon the particular interest he hath in the Son and the glory thereof also As it is in point of assurance though he that hath the witness of the Father and the Son hath the witness of the Spirit also and he that is assured of the love of one may be assured of the love of them all yet there is a distinct bringing home of the love of each person to the soul so that a man doth not by way of discourse only reason himself into the Father Son and Spirit who having one nature have also one love and if I have a testimony of the love of the Son in me I have also a witness thereby of the love of the Father also but when the soul is particularly drawn out and distinctly affected with the love of each of the persons his apprehensions are raised by reason of this interest and so it is in the work of faith also and the ground of it is this 1 because all the glory that God hath by us here is when he is exalted in our hearts for Gods glory is in the hearts of his Saints as all their melody is in their hearts Ephes 5.19 when all things in the inward man are in tune and set right Exod. 15.2 He is my God and I will exalt him Now as our apprehensions do rise in the consideration of the glory of any thing that is in God God hath the more distinct glory thereby for as he hath given us variety of ordinances and he will be honoured by us in them all so he hath propounded to our faith distinct objects and he will be honoured by our faith in them all for as you heard the glory that God hath in this world chiefly is in the hearts of the Saints they only do glorifie him actively all things else do it but occasionally that is by giving them an occasion to glorifie him 2 Because there is a distinct sweetness and vertue that comes from every one of these when the soul is distinctly drawn out to them and they are distinctly exercised as Phil. 3.10 says the Apostle That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his sufferings c. When a man looks upon the death of Christ there is a vertue will come out of it and if upon the sufferings of Christ there is a vertue will come out of them all and they have all of them their peculiar and proper vertue upon the soul The Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2.14 a savor of knowledge now it is here as it is in a Posie there are many flowers put together and they do yield a very fragrant smell that is very refreshing and delightsom but he that will be affected with each flower must take them all apart and he will find that each of them hath its distinct and proper savor which unless the man had taken apart he would never have known and so it is also in all the glorious excellencies that are in God and in Christ Vse 2 § 2. The second Use is of Exhortation and that 1. To stir you up to consider the glory of this interest in the Persons this was that did most affect Christ Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance it is his interest in the Father that mainly his heart doth glory in He had several other interests that he might have boasted of for he was Heir of all things Heb. 1.3 but in a more special manner he hath a glorious inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1.18 which may be interprâ—â—â— either that his inheritance is in them for they are his both dono and merito by a gift and by a purchase also or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for inter as it is rendred Acts 26.18 To give them an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the Saints have a great inheritance to glory in they are heirs of promises yea they inherit all things but the main of Christs glory is his inheritance in the person of the Father and that should be also the glory of the Saints and here consider 1 that the high advancement of the creature lyes in union with the persons as the highest advancement of the humane nature of Christ lyes in the personal Union the grace of Union is far greater than the grace of Unction that he was made one with the second Person in the Trinity and the advancement of our nature is more by our mystical Union with the Person of Christ than in all the benefits we receive from him but there is a higher union that this tends to and that is an union with all the persons in the Trinity thereby for communio fundatur in unione Now having communion with all the persons it argues that we have an union with them all and as we have a higher union with the person of the Son than the Angels have so we have
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
c. which is to dispute and gather conclusions from false and corrupt premises because they were hearers of the word though they were not doers yet from this false principle they did reason and argue all their life time that their state was good and so did the foolish builders Mat. 7.22 Lord we have prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils we have eat and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets therefore there is no doubt but we shall attain an entrance at his coming and so the soul is under a fallacy all his days and this is the great deceit of the old Serpent to deceive a man in reference to his eternal state for as Satan by his instruments doth endeavour to beguile you in the matters of truth Col. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he deceives a man by false reasonings so also he endeavours to deceive a man in matter of his state that he might deceive himself by false reasonings also and upon this ground it mainly is that there is that extraordinary aversness in the hearts of men unto the duty of self-examination and a far greater aversness to the examination of a mans state than of his actions for there are many men that will make conscience to review their actions and consider their ways and yet these very men are willing to go upon a supposition in the matter of their spiritual states and to be content to take that for granted though it be the ground of all And here we are to consider also that many that are true Believers may not know that there is a distinct interest in the persons to be had they in general do believe in God and close with Christ who is offered them in the promise but as for such a distinct title unto all the persons it is a thing that they are not acquainted with it seems it was this that Christ reproved in his Disciples Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me their faith in the acting of it was not so distinct and particular as it ought to have been As it is in witnessing there is many a man that never knew that there was a distinct witness of all the persons in the hearts of the Saints and therefore they did never look out for any such thing so it is in the point of faith also but now this is a truth discovered to you and the Lord will expect the fruit of Gospel-discoveries he will come and demand fruit of his Vineyard and he doth expect it he it is with whom Heb. 4.13 in the word read or preached that you have to do he looks what power it hath upon your hearts after it is dispensed 1 We are to consider that the way by which we can come to have an interest in all the persons is by closing with the Son for it is our union with the Son that as it gives us a title unto all good things so it gives us in the first place an union with all the persons and it intitles us unto them all it is he that hath the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 2.23 and he that hath not the Son hath not the Father for it is only the blessing of the second Covenant and it comes upon none but those that are in Covenant as the promises come upon none but those that are heirs of promise therefore we should first inquire whether we be one with the Son or no. Now there is no union with him but by believing in him for it is the eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood that gives us life by him Joh. 6.54 Now though believing be an act of the whole soul for the subject of faith is the whole soul with the heart man believes yet it is specially seated in the will as unbelief also is specially seated there There is a double infidelity 1 Purae negationis of pure negation which some have said is no sin but yet if there is a command to believe then bare not-believing is a sin because it is the transgression of the Law 2 Pravae dispositionis of depraved disposition and that lyes mainly in the will Now when the will opens aright it is unto two things 1 It does consent to receive and accept of Christ upon his own terms not only Christ with his righteousness but Christ with his graces not only Christ with his priviledges but Christ with his inconveniencies Christ to all the ends for which the Father hath ordained him he would have him glorified in them all in his heart 2 With the same hand of faith that he doth receive whole Christ he doth give up whole self unto Christ again so that he is his own no more but put out of his own power for ever and he rejoyceth in this that I am my beloveds as well as my beloved is mine he would have his happiness in him and he would enjoy nothing apart from him for ever he would live in him and bear fruit in him and work for him and be into him and that to eternity for he saith to him as Ruth to her mother-in-law Where thou goest I will go where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people thy God my God and where thou dyest I will dye c. Where there hath been such an acceptation and such a resignation there the work of faith is wrought with power and he that is thus one with the Son is thereby madelone with the Father also for our union is by him as our access and communion also is all by him with the Father 2 If a man be intitled unto the persons there will be drawings out of his heart towards each person for there is an impression of the love of them all left upon the soul We love him because he loved us first and this love will warm our hearts with love again there will be the workings of it in the soul though there be not the witnessing 1 Joh. 4.19 for Phil. 1.6 there is a good work begun and it 's begun by all the persons and it is to glorifie the persons mainly in the hearts of Believers and therefore such workings the Lord will draw forth in them O that ever God the Father should give his Son to me Joh. 3. God so loved the world and that I should be called the Son of God that the Son should lay down his life for me should bear my sins and my sorrows that his Spirit should abide in me inlightning mine eyes renewing me in the spirit of my mind there will be such a spiritual warmth wrought in the soul towards all these persons because there is a principle of the love of them all kindled in the soul But yet 3 There will never be the fulness of assurance till the persons that have given you an interest in themselves do also themselves witness their interest 1 Joh. 5.7 and they will surely do
The soul is to rest upon all the promises that in Scripture are made concerning these persons there are promises that have a peculiar respect unto them all 1 There are promises that specially concern the Father which though they be formally made unto the Son yet it is with special respect unto the Saints as the promise of giving Christ unto their souls and nourishment and life by him for he says Joh. 6.32 Moses gave you not the bread that came down from heaven my Father gives you the true bread promises of justification by him Esa 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many that is as much as to say as many as believe in him shall receive remission of sins and a promise of guidance Exod. 23.20 Behold I send my Angel before you They were in a strait for they were in the wilderness where there was no way now the Father doth promise the Son should undertake their guidance and it is not a promise that is peculiar unto those times only though there was something peculiar in it And there is a promise of gifts Acts 1.4 Wait for the promise of the Father The extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost that were to be poured out to fit men for office in those times it 's called the promise of the Father and the promise also of preservation and perseverance My Father that gave them me is greater than all Joh. 10.29 and no man can pluck them out of my Fathers hand 2 There are some promises that do more especially belong unto the Son as that of grace and a continual supply he shall go in and out and find pasture and says Christ I am come that they may have life and have it more abundantly and a promise of a constant presence I will dwell in them and walk amongst them Joh. 10.9 10. what concord hath Christ with Belial I am with you to the end of the world that he will beautifie his Church and sanctifie it and cleanse it that he may present it unto himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 6.26 27. and that he will subdue our enemies Esay 63.3 4. I will take them in my arms and keep them from their enemies fury their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment for the day of vengeance is in mine heart and the year of my redeemed is come he shall be cloathed with a garment d pt in blood and his name shall be called the word of God Rev. 19.13 3 There are some promises that in a more special manner respect the holy Spirit he has promised them a spirit of sanctification and he will purge the filth of the daughter of Sion by a spirit of burning Esa 4.4 promises of direction The Spirit shall lead you into all truth Joh. 16.13 he shall undertake to be the guide of your way and you shall hear a voice crying behind you This is the way walk in it a spirit of liberty also you shall have 2 Cor. 3.17 for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and a spirit of victory Esa 59.19 when the enemy doth break in as a floud the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him so that they shall conquer not by might nor by power but by my Spirit Zac. 4 6. Now all these lead a man unto the person of the Spirit and his interest in him as so many lines into a centre for as all the promises do lead a man to union with Christ by which means he becomes an heir of promise so do all the promises lead a man to an interest in his person without which he can lay no claim unto the promise that is made by any of the persons for they are not universal and made unto all but as the promises of Christ belong unto those that are one with him so all the promises of the persons belong only unto those that have an interest in them and therefore we are to cast our selves upon the persons for the accomplishment of the promises 3 Faith is to rest upon the love of them all for though they are essentially one and therefore have but one will yet as they are personally distinguished so they are three and have distinct wills and distinct loves and therefore Christ distinguishes between his will and the Fathers will I am come not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me not my will but thy will be done essentially his will and the Fathers are one but they are personally distinguished so they have essentially one love but if we look upon them as persons so they have each of them his own proper and peculiar love He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him if any man love me my Father will love him Joh. 14.21 c. so that faith is not only to close with the love of God in general as it is an Attribute of the Divine Nature as his Wisdom and Holiness Mercy and Power are but faith is also to close with the love of each of the persons as they are relatively distinguished one from another the love of the Father and the love of the Son and Spirit and as it is the love of God essentially that is the ground of all that God has wrought for us it was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.4 and though Esau was Jacobs brother yet I loved Jacob Mal. 1.2 so it is the personal love of all the persons that is the ground of all those workings of the persons for us and therefore you are to take in that love also as an object of your faith 4 Faith should rest upon the appropriated acts of each of these persons and rely upon them for the performance of them We have formerly heard that each person hath undertaken some special and peculiar acts for mens salvation as 1 the work of Vocation Adoption Justification Preservation Glorification for it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdom they are all of them undertaken by God the Father And 2 the work of Satisfaction Presentation Oblation Intercession Conquest Judgment all these the Son has undertaken 3 The work of Sanctification Direction Consolation Supplication they are all of them undertaken by the Spirit Now we are not only to rely upon the essential faithfulness of God for the performance of it Heb. 6.17 but upon the personal faithfulness of each of these undertakers for they are all of them ingaged in it and here is a farther and higher consideration to be taken in the acts of the persons and they are of two sorts 1 Acts ad intrà internal acts and they are acts of nature which are acts one towards another as the generation of the Father in respect of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost as from them both 2 There are acts ad
extrà which are terminated in the creatures and are meerly acts of will now faith is not only by this means to be exercised and taste the sweetness of the acts of will ad extrà but the acts of nature ad intrà for I have an interest in that Father as the Father that did from all Eternity beget the Son and I have an interest in that Son that was begotten by the Father so that those acts of nature that were of God before the world was they have all some respect unto me and I can taste a sweetness in them all that as I have not only an interest in the absolute perfections of God which are his Attributes but in the relative perfections of God also which respect the persons so I have not only an interest in and benefit by all the actings of the Atrributes of God but by the eternal actings of the persons also that we may see how high it reaches and that there is nothing in God but it is as truly for our good as it is for his own glory therefore we may rejoyce in them all 5 A mans faith should expect all the Attributes of God to be distinctly exercised for him by all the persons a man has an interest in them all in all the works that they do put forth for as they are three in their subsistence so they are but one in their Essence and therefore all the Attributes of God come in unto them all the Son thinks it no robbery to be equal with the Father Phil. 2.6 for he is found in the form of God that is in the nature of God subsisting in the nature or essence of God and therefore Divines do commonly when they prove the Deity of the Son and Spirit shew that the Attributes of God are in Scripture given unto them as Esa 9.6 Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father Prince of peace that 's given to the Son and to the Spirit is given Omnipotency Omnipresence and Omniscience c. Now when the Father comes to work he has the power of God the wisdom of God the holiness of God put forth for the accomplishment of his work and so have the Son and Spirit also and therefore we see that the Son could not miscarry in any thing that he did and though he dyed yet it was impossible that he should be held by death Acts 2. because he had the power of the Godhead to carry him through and so it is with the Persons in all their operations and undertakings for men in the work of our salvation and therefore it is good for a man not only to exercise faith upon the Attributes of the Divine Nature in common as they are infinite and absolute perfections but as those Attributes are to be found in each of the persons and to be exercised for us in all their appropriated actions and by this means the Attributes of the nature are made over not only by the Essence but also that they shall be all of them exercised by each person acting according to their own acts which they have undertaken and so we have an assurance of the acting of the Attributes for us in a threefold way and a threefold cord is not broken 6 As it is the recumbency of faith so it should be in the assurance of faith also it should distinctly close with them all in their witnessing as well as in their working 1 Joh. 5.6 7. 1 Joh. 5.6 7. There are three that bear record in heaven it is not only a testimony to the truth of the Gospel but it is a testimony also given unto the state of the Saints for they have the witness in themselves for it is that they may know that they have eternal life vers 13. which could not be unless the testimony were given in the heart and a mans state put out of controversie Now though they be one in Essence and though their testimony do agree in one yet they are three in their witness in the word and in the heart now under the Law in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established we receive the witness of man but the witness of God is greater the same God who hath but a few witnesses amongst men but two witnesses Rev. 11.3 yet he will not let a mans assurance go without a full testimony there shall be two classes of witnesses some on Earth and some in Heaven and they shall be three of each of them therefore as in acts of recumbency we are to close with the love of all the persons so in acts of assurance we are to close with the witness of all the persons and thus we see that there are distinct objects of faith upon which it is to work in them all 2. Now let us come to consider the acts of faith that are distinctly to be put forth upon them all as 1. There is to be a fiducial knowledge hereof that the persons are made over to us for as faith without works is dead so faith without knowledge is blind therefore faith is commonly set forth by knowledge in the Scripture Joh. 17. ult and Phil. 3.8 9. To know him and be found in him c. But it is not every knowledge but that which is described Col. 2.2 and Tit. 1.1 A knowledge of the mystery of God and the Father and of Christ a knowledge that draws an acknowledgment with it that carries the consent of the soul with it and he sits down under it and lies under the power thereof a sapida scientia a knowledge of a truth that lets in the savour of the goodness of it with the truth 2. The soul is distinctly to cast it self by distinct thoughts upon each of these persons as when a soul comes to Christ he sees his need of him that he is undone without him he sees the excellency that is in him and thereupon he doth leave himself with Christ and will look out for salvation in no other there is an exclusive resolution against all other ways and a full determination to go this way only and if I perish here I will perish so when a soul sees all this and sees his need of the persons and the glory that is not only in Christ but in the Father and the Spirit and sees that without an interest in them he is undone for else there are no benefits by them thereupon he doth distinctly resign himself unto each of them for as all the promises of the Gospel being distinct objects of faith have not their due honour unless we exercise distinct acts of faith upon them so it is true also of all the persons much more because Christ is set forth as an object of faith therefore we rely upon him so we should upon the Father and Spirit also and therefore Christ looks upon it as a dishonour that being set forth to them they did not distinctly believe in him 3. Faith
draws virtue from all the objects of it Esa 66.11 It will suck and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation It 's true that we are now in a state of childhood 1 Cor. 13.12 our manhood is to come but yet there are breasts of consolation agreeable unto our condition as Christ cannot be touched by faith but virtue comes out of him Luke 8.46 there is a power and efficacy that goes out of him there is life to be drawn from the living Father and from the Son and from the Spirit a man can exercise no act of faith upon any of the objects of faith but he can find there is an influence that it hath upon the man that believes as it is in all the acts of Christ Phil. 3.9 10. so it is in this much more how should a man rejoyce to see the influence of each person upon his soul 4. There is also an act of resignation for faith hath two hands one to receive and the other to return I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine says the believing soul Cant. 6.3 a man doth as well give up himself to God as he doth receive an interest in God David says as well Lord I am thy servant as O Lord thou art my God and therefore a man should give up himself to the praise and glory of Father Son and Spirit for to be baptized in the name of them all is for a man to give up himself unto the obedience of them all there is a judging and reasoning also in faith says the Apostle Because we thus judge 2 Cor. 5.13 14. if one dyed for all then were all dead if the Father Son and Spirit give up themselves to work for our good and we have an interest in them all how much more should we give up our selves to be to the praise and glory of them all and still keep up the eye of our faith open to see the Lord making himself over to us and the ear of faith open to hear and receive the testimony that is given and be not indulgent to the unbelief doubtings and the misgiving of your own spirits receive the witness of God within you and having received a testimony of thy interest then triumph in God for there is a triumph of faith Eph. 1.3 blessed be God the Father by Christ who was rich in love loved me and gave himself for me glory be to the Father Son and Spirit § ◠Be much in exercising distinct acts of communion with all the persons seeing there is a distinct interest in them all we should labour for a distinct fellowship with them all The ground of all unions and relations amongst all rational creatures is that they might have a fellowship one with another by their interest one in another for their interest must be improved and exercised modo rationali in a rational way It is true that there are relationes aequiparantiae as well as disquiparantiae between inferiour and superiour and between equals but yet the end is communion in them both therefore the man and wife are made one flesh and therefore friends do become one heart and soul therefore in the Church the members do become one body 1 Cor. 12.12 13. as the body hath many members even so is Christs body We are baptized into one body and all is that they might by mutual consent enjoy a communion of Saints amongst themselves and for this cause we become one body with the Angels Eph. 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he might gather them all together under one head so that the Saints and the Angels do make but one glorious Church and therefore it is Bernards apprehension That God did elect as many men as should supply the places of the Angels that fell and they should be in Christ taken up into the same body with them in glory and therefore we are said to come to the innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.23 and all that we might enjoy a communion with them and so much the words ascending and descending imply Joh. 1. ult and this is the end of our interest in Christ the Mediator and we are married to him that we might have fellowship with him and by this means we rise to an higher interest and that is in the Father Son and Spirit and this also is that we might have a distinct communion with them all § 4. Here we will consider 1 That there is a distinct Communion with them all that a Believer may and ought to have with all the persons grounded upon his interest in them all 2 Wherein this Communion doth consist and what are the actings of it 3 Give you some arguments that may perswade the people of God to be much in the improvement thereof that as you have a fellowship with Christ and with the Saints and you look upon that as sweet so you would not neglect this which is the highest fellowship that you do attain by faith and is the end of all your union and communion whatsoever 1. That there is a distinct fellowship and communion to be had with all the persons That will clearly appear from 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ so that we have not only a communion with Christ the Mediator but through him with the Father and 2 Cor. 13.14 we do read of a fellowship with the Spirit also which must be mutual he hath a fellowship with us and we with him we are said to have access unto the Father which are terms of communion and that distinct communion which we have with all the persons Heb. 12.22 as well as they one with the other and therefore 't is said Heb. 12.22 Ye are come unto mount Sion c. Now to come unto the three persons notes 1 faith in them and so we come unto Christ Come unto me all ye that labour Mat. 11.29 that is that believe in him 2 It notes a communion with them and so we have access by him Ad gratiam ad gloriam Patris and thus we are said to come unto God by him Heb. 7. and no man comes unto the Father but by me Joh. 14.6 for he is the Mediator of Communion as well as of Reconciliation and we have as much need of him for the one as for the other If we look upon God and man as enemies then there needs a Mediator that may be as a days-man to lay hold upon both but being reconciled and made friends he having made us near by the blood of his Cross yet we cannot come unto God but by him it is he that gives us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3.12 Here to come to them is to be taken into favour and fellowship with them all as appears in these particulars 1 We are come unto mount Sion the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Church of Christ under the New Testament called therefore
O God and thy glory for thy loving-kindness is better than life When a soul is thus taken with a sight of God that if a man had no dependence and were put into a condition as perfect as the Angels and had need of nothing yet then to come into his presence and to behold his face because we delight in him this is properly an act of friendship and of familiarity that should be between God and the Saints 4. There is an imparting of counsels between the persons Christ was given out of the bosom of the Father There is not any discovery that is made to the Saints Joh. 1.18 but it comes out of the same bosom Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I mean to do Gen. 18. surely the Lord will do nothing but he reveals his secrets to his Prophets Amos 3.7 1 Sam. 9.15 The Lord told Samuel in his ear there is a Vrim and Thumim for the Saints still and the Lord gives them a spiritual skill here to make use of it so as to know the secrets of the Almighty We took sweet counsel together c. and the Saints also do impart their counsels to God 1 Sam. 1.15 I have poured out my soul before the Lord. There are indeed a generation of men that dig deep to hide counsel from the Lord. Isa 29.15 It is true that there is no secret hid from him but it is their endeavour so to carry it as they might not only blind the eyes of man but of God also but a Saint opens his heart to him there is no secret that he is willing to hide from God but there are such sighs and groans that he doth open when he hath to do with him 5. There are mutual delights in their interest one in another and they do love to profess it The Lords portion is his people Israel is the lot of my inheritance the Lord is my portion says my soul and says God They are the first-fruits of the creatures unto me and they are those that do consecrate all the rest to me without which all the rest were profane and have a curse upon them c. O Lord thou art my Lord says the soul early will I praise thee I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Esa 4.4 5. A man often glories in his interest here in this world but herein doth the Saint glory that he can say I am the Lords and that he can call himself by the name of Jacob and can subscribe with his hand to the Lord and a great part of the fellowship of love is in a mutual profession of their interest each in other And I will be yours for ever there is nothing in me or that I can do but is at your commandment 6. They call upon one another for further fellowship and communion There is a call of the Father 's upon vocation Joh. 6.44 which is called drawing vocatio alta secreta a secret and deep vocation Austin And there is a calling unto communion as Rev. 22.17 The Spirit saith Come and the Bride Come Now as in witnessing 1 Joh. 5.7 8. For there are three that bear record in heaven c. they do all give a testimony but it is done by the Spirit in the Name of the Father Joh. 16.13 Son and Spirit for Christ says He shall take of mine and give it unto you so he doth in calling also he doth speak sometimes in the Fathers name and sometimes in the Sons name Open unto me come away my beloved c. and the soul always saith Come and therefore draws near unto God continually and all is but to see the face of God and that he may have some fellowship with him who is the God of his life God is his centre and there is a tendency of soul to God for godliness is nothing else but tendentia animae in Deum the tendency of the soul to God there is something in the heart that doth echo unto God again when he calls a soul to communion to seek his face the soul answers Thy face Lord will I seek But it may be objected How can it be seeing God is in Heaven that we should see him and have such intimate fellowship here below 1 God hath said I will dwell with you the heart is the habitation of the great King of Heaven and Earth Joh. 14.23 he hath said he will come to you and dwell with you and sup with you 2 There is a Spirit also that will carry your souls up to him again as the Prophet Ezechiel was carried in the visions of God to Jerusalem Rev. 1.10 and John was in the Spirit on the Lords day c. though the body be upon Earth the soul may be in Heaven with the Lord and there all the Saints long to be all their delight is in the mean while in the intercourse that passes between God and their souls by sweet fellowship and communion here 3. The Arguments to stir you up thereunto are these 1 Consider this is the great end of the Covenant of Grace it is not only peace but good will it is a Covenant of Friendship and the end of friendship is fellowship and our end should not fall below Gods end 2 See the great preparation that the Lord hath made thereunto all that Christ is said in Scripture to have done is but to give us access unto God and all that he hath suffered it is all but to bring us to God 1 Pet. 2.21 And we have access by him to the throne of grace Eph. 3.12 and it is the great end of all the workings of the Spirit also to bring us to God and strengthen us with might for through him we have an access by one Spirit to the Father Prov. 5.18 3 There is a sweetness in fellowship as 't is said of the wife Let her be to thee as the young Hind and pleasant Roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love and 2 Sam. 1.26 Thou wast very pleasant to me thy love to me was wonderful c. and yet there are no men but have burdensom dispositions which they discover sometimes more than at others but who would not walk with the great God who is Love and Holiness and Wisdom in perfection whose paths are all pleasantness and whose ways are peace There are pleasures at his right hand for evermore Psal 16. 4 All mercies are obtained by it when the Lord doth meet his people he doth bless them Exod. 20.24 there is no communion with him but there is blessing from him and there is no blessing from him but by communion with him but the special blessing of all other is an Assimilation a man is made like him When he shall appear we shall be like him 2 Cor. 3.18 c. 1 Joh. 3.3 We are chosen to shew forth the praises of God 1 Pet. 2.9
thoughts of his own heart do Now there are comforts in God that do delight the soul even then when there are multitude of thoughts that disquiet it We are to consider the delight of the glorious persons one in another Prov. 8.30 I was his delight daily so it is with the Saints in God he is their delight daily for their portion and their happiness is laid up in him alone all pleasure of the creature is but madness out of him I have said of laughter Thou art mad there is more sweetness in the comforts that come into the soul by him than there is in all the creatures in Heaven and Psal 4. Thou hast put more gladness into my heart than when their corn and wine and oyl increased For as there is no comparison between the strokes of the creatures and of God when he smites immediately he will be a consuming fire to the creature so there is no comparison between the comforts of the creatures and those which God gives in immediately and therefore the more it is mixed with any creature comfort the less it influences the soul with consolation it is like unto Physick given in the drug it has the less vigour and strength how much difference is there between the Spirit 's comforting and the comforts that do come in by meat and drink c what though they that love God have no pleasure in the world yet they have joy in God and it 's such a joy as no man can take from them it is such a joy as a stranger cannot meddle withal 4 For Glory and Honour In this world they need none else they say to God Psal 3.3 Jer. 2.31 Thou art my glory and the lifter up of my head can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire but my people have forgotten me days without number the Lord was their ornament and their glory not only their praise is of God but their glory is in God and therefore they are called The Glory Vpon all the glory there shall be a covering that as Mount Sion is the glory of the Earth so are the children of Sion the glory of the sons of men the only glorious ones the only excellent ones and because the Lord is their glory in the midst of them the glory of the Lord is risen upon them Isa 4.5 therefore they are the people that glory in God and they are a people in whom the Lord doth glory 5 They need no Companions but God for matter of communion Isa 60.19 1 Joh. 1.3 their fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ They are many times despised in the world as Christ was rejected of men and cast out of their society as hateful when they have cast out their names as evil but yet if Abraham go out of his own country he must leave all his own friends Isa 43.2 3. and go alone I will be thy God I will be with thee when thou goest through the fire I will be with thee yet sometimes thou must go in untrodden paths and alone but I will be with thee so says Christ Ye shall be scattered every one to his own and leave me alone yet I am not alone but the Father that sent me is with me so the Saints they may be scattered from their friends and forsaken by them but they are not alone God is with them and his Son and Spirit to entertain them The three Children in the fiery Furnace needed no other Comforter than the fourth man who was like unto the Son of God When they were in the Mount with Christ they say It is good to be here when a man hath been with Moses in the Mount and for some time conversed with God he would never chuse to come down to converse with men any more for he knows not how to converse with them again their society is not set by but the wisest company in the world is to him unsavory and unprofitable a man that hath tasted old wine he desires not new but says the old is better 6 He needs no other Pattern or Example Eph. 5.1 Be you imitators of God as dear children be you holy as he is holy and merciful as he is merciful It 's true there are other patterns that he takes notice of even the Saints of God that make it their business to walk as God would have them walk as the Apostle says Be ye followers of us and walk so as you have us for an example We are to look upon Christ as the pattern of Holiness as having left us a copy for us to write after but all these are but to lead us to the Original of all Holiness and that is in God that in these glasses we beholding the glory of the Lord may be thereby both in heart and ways transformed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 as by the Spirit of the Lord and the truth is the more immediately a man reads in God the rules of duty the more immediately he fetches from God his motives unto duty and the more perfectly any lays up his comforts in God the more self-sufficient that soul is and the more he doth partake of the alsufficiency of God and that man is the happy man that hath his Heaven so far begun in this life that as far as may be all his comforts concenter in the Lord. 7 He looks for the reward of all his labours from God who hath promised him to be his exceeding great reward and this is the great gift that God bestows upon his precious ones his reward is himself and the soul says it is in God alone that he reaps all his wages and he desires none other none other will satisfie him he will not be put off with a Kingdom for a reward let the Nebuchadnezzars of the world take that for their hire he hath more high and noble aims than the enjoyment of this worlds goods which is what Satan who is the god of this world often tempts them with as he did their Lord and Master Jesus Christ but he can despise it that hath taken imployment under God who he knows hath laid up for him an immortal crown and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified though he may be poor in this world and without many of the comforts of it yet he hath Treasure in Heaven laid up for him 8 It is God alone that satisfies his desires he shall never thirst it 's true there will be always thirsting for more of the same kind My soul thirsts after God even for the living God and so Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for him but for any thing of any other kind he desires not there is that satisfaction in God that there is no room left for desires which is not so with any thing here if a man have never so much of the creature never so full satisfaction now yet he will thirst
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
Christ himself tells us That he hath received such a commission from the Father not only to govern the Church but to rule and to order all things in the world for their sake Joh. 3.35 The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand that is in his power under his government and at his dispose as Gen. 24.10 all the goods of his Master were in his hand under his power and authority and at his dispose and so Job 1.12 the Lord saith unto Satan concerning Job Behold all that he hath is in thy hand he did not give this to Satan as by commission but by permission he left all the goods of Job in the Devils power Joh. 5.22 to do with them what he would and Joh. 5.22 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son there is indeed a Kingdom which belongs unto Christ as he is the second person in the Trinity a Kingdom which is regnum naturale a natural Kingdom wherein Christ is equal with the Father and a Kingdom that he doth not receive from the Father neither is he subordinate unto the Father in it he is not the Fathers servant as he is in the mediatory Kingdom for this is the same to all the persons Father Son and Spirit and the Son hath the same dominion and is equal with them all but this cannot be the Kingdom that is here spoken of for it cannot be delegated by God because it is natural and he cannot put the Kingdom out of himself neither can it as a gift be received by the Son because it is natural unto the Son as it is unto the Father it 's his own proper right but the Kingdom that is here spoken of is a power given unto the Son in which he is the Fathers servant and subordinate unto him and therefore it 's not spoken of the nature of the essential Kingdom the government which belongs unto Christ as God but as Mediator only and by Judgment Interpreters generally understand pro imperio administratione rerum omnium in coelo in terra Chemnit so that the government of all things is in the hand of the Mediator for it is a power that is given by the Father unto the Son which could not be unto him simply as God but as Mediator only 6 The Spirit of Christ doth rule act and order all things in the Providential as well as in the Spiritual Kingdom as we see it Ezech. 1.12 20. Ezech. 1.12 20. there is Christ set forth as ruling all things in heaven and earth and it is not spoken of Christ as he is the second person but as he is Mediator for it 's spoken of him as having a dominion given to him as he is the Son of man the Angels move the wheels and the Spirit acts the Angels Now how doth Christ as Mediator govern It is by the guidance of the Spirit and this Spirit moves both the Angels and the wheels it is not spoken of those spiritual acts of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of the Saints but of the ordinary dispensations of Providence ordering all things here below so as the ends of Christ may be attained It is the Mediator therefore that doth govern all things and the motions and impressions that are made both upon the Angels and the wheels they are from the Spirit of the Mediator who makes the Spirit to be the Viceroy in the providential as well as in the spiritual Kingdom as the Father makes the Mediator to be in them both and as the Father doth not divest himself of power but keeps the original of it in himself that we may still say to him Thine is the kingdom only he doth it by the Son who doth exercise it so it is true of the Spirit also the Son hath the power he governs all he doth it immediately by the Spirit the immediate execution and administration of it is in the hand of the Spirit in the one Kingdom as well as in the other 7 This will further appear by the session of Christ at the right hand of the Father for it doth import potestatis Majestatis plenitudinem a plenitude of power and Majesty 1 The highest Majesty and glory for it is the highest degree of his exaltation Heb. 8.1 therefore called the right hand of Majesty in the heavens 2 It is the highest Authority and Soveraignty for sitting at his right hand implies that all things are put under his feet as it is Psal 110.1 1 Pet. 3. ult sitting down upon his Throne Angels and Powers being made subject unto him Eph. 1.20 22. all things put under his feet which is the highest Soveraignty and the greatest subjection that can be for all to be his servants his vassals and therefore Rev. 1.18 when he is in heaven he is said to have the keys of hell and of death keys are an ensign of authority and so are used in the Scripture the keys of the kingdom of heaven are his and the keys of death and hell are his all authority in this world and the world to come and therefore Mat. 28.17 immediately before his ascension he saith All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth it 's true that he had it given him from the Fall and he did exercise it by virtue of the Covenant that was passed between him and the Father for his Kingly Office and his Priestly Office in the efficacy of them began together but yet he did not actually reign as Mediator that is as God-man till in our nature he ascended up on high and sate down in heaven with the Father upon his Throne and though quoad potestatem judiviariam according to his judiciary power all things are now put under his feet for the administration of all things are in his hand yet quoad executionem actualem as to actual execution so it is not there are many things that seem to oppose him and to be enemies unto his government therefore he must reign till he hath put all his enemies actually under his feet 1 Cor. 15.15 so then he that sits at the right hand of God rules the world but Christ as God doth not sit at the right hand of God and as he is the second person therefore it is as he is Mediator that he sits at Gods right hand and so all judgment and authority are executed by him 8 If this be made as the ground why all authority is in the hand of Christ because he is the Son of man then he hath this authority over all things not as he is the second person only but as he is Mediator as he is God-man but this is the reason and the ground of it Joh. 5.17 He hath given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man Joh. 5.27 which hath several interpretations given of it all will prove the thing 1 Because he is the Son of man that is
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
upheld but now the Spirit comes in and makes bare his arm dispells the darkness and saith Behold me it is I now I come and so a mans comforts and supports come in from an immediate discovery of the Light of Gods countenance as if it were a voice from Heaven as it was to Christ This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased 7. He doth sometimes give unto his People courage and assistance immediately beyond what is natural unto them Zach. 4.7 and above and beyond all the means Zac. 4.7 Not by power nor by might but by my Spirit saith the Lord it is spoken of the Spirit of God immediately strengthning and stirring up the spirits of instruments beyond their own natural strength as Samson was the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and then he had the strength of many men in him Isa 35.6 and Isa 35.6 The lame shall leap as an Hart and the tongue of the dumb shall sing it is spoken of immediate strength and healing by the grace of Christ that as the Lord Jesus did heal men and with a word only and without means their feet and ankle-bones received strength and they did leap as a Hart and praise God so here they have immediate assistance as David had in the business of Goliah the spirit of fortitude came upon him for that service and the promise is Zac. 12.8 The weak shall be as David as full of courage in any difficult services that they should be called unto as David was when the Lord shall say to him that is of a fearful heart Be strong and it shall be so Esa 35.4 and so Mat. 10.19 It shall be given you in that hour Luk. 21.25 I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all your enemies shall not be able to resist for it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you that as Samson was not acted by his own strength so neither did they speak by their own spirits but by an immediate assistance from the Spirit both directing their minds suggesting to them the matter and also guiding their tongues and directing them unto words what to say and how they ought to speak that as 't is said of the Prophets the Lord speaks in them Heb. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.1 for they are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they were transported or carried by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.20 they were not acted according to their own spirits 2 Pet. 1.20 neither did they speak according to their own parts or light but as they were directed by the immediate assistance of the Spirit of God at the same time so there is an immediate assistance that the Lord hath promised unto his people when he doth call them forth unto any service wherein the immediate presence of God and power of the Spirit is necessary and required it is beyond the power or strength of a man and it is that which the Lord many times doth he will bring his people into such a condition that there shall be no means for them to look unto that they shall be wholly fatherless and have neither Sun-light nor Star-light in the creature receiving the sentence of death in themselves that they may look for Gods immediate appearing 2 Cor. 1.9 But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves that we could see no means to escape but now must have an eye to an almighty and immediate power of God that we might trust not in our selves but in God that raiseth the dead that our deliverance must be a kind of resurrection from the dead And the people of God if they have the means yet they look upon them as nothing We have no might against this great multitude but our eyes are towards thee and if they have no means they can look upon him that hath a creating power that can make waters to break out in the Wilderness and streams in the Desart and the parched ground shall become a Pool and the thirsty ground Springs of water in the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes that which only was fit and delightsom unto the Devil the Satyrs that shall be good for the glory of God and the use of man as it is Esa 35.7 8. 2. There is in the next place a mediate Providence and that is in the manner of Gods ordering of all things in the use of means and so all the means that the Lord does use are for the good of his people Rom. 8.28 All things work together for their good that though the Lord doth work by means and doth make use of second causes to produce their effects yet they do all concur in this that they do conspire for the good of the Elect of God Hos 2.21 22. I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth Hos 2.21 22. and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oyl and they shall hear Jezreel the Lord doth work for the good of his people by second causes he doth not rain corn from Heaven as he did Manna in the Wilderness but the Earth shall hear the corn and he will give it them out of the earth and in all the actings of second causes it is the Lord that hath the great hand he doth make them to be a means of blessing or else they could never prove so to be it is the Lord that doth hear the Heavens it 's a mighty strain of speech that the Heavens and the Earth that were before deaf and dumb to them that took no compassion upon them in their necessity and answered them not now when they are reconciled are brought as it were to be humble suitors and petitioners for them the Heavens shall say Lord I would give my influence rain to refresh thy people and the Earth shall say Lord I would give my strength for the good of thy people also c. For as it is by virtue of the Covenant of the Saints that all the creatures stand so it is by their Covenant also that they do act it is by being betrothed unto God that all the creatures are in Covenant with them and it is for them that all means do act freely and all creatures willingly do serve for it 's their redemption that they wait for and long for but unto other men they are made subject not willingly but the Lord hath subjected them in hope Rom. 8.20 21. but their subjection is an act of Soveraignty and not of choice for they would not serve the lusts of ungodly men though they are willing to serve the necessities of the Saints therefore all the means that the Lord doth use are for the good of the Saints and it is for them that they work in all that they do 1. He it is that doth provide and appoint means there is in
and the spirit teacheth us to come unto him as our Father so in all our addresses unto God he teacheth us to cry Abba Father and so the Saints in Scripture O Lord thou art my God early will I seek thee 7. Hence comes that glorious communication of properties that is between God and the Saints That as Divines do observe by reason of the hypostatical Union there is a communication of properties that what is done by the humane nature is attributed unto the persons and the blood of the humane nature is called the blood of God Acts 20.28 and God is said to be received up to glory 1 Tim. 3. and Christ is called the Son of God which is proper only to the Divine Nature Luk. 1.35 and the Humane Nature being taken into the same person it comes under the same filiation for the rule of the School-men is filiatio est suppositi filiation is of a person the Son-ship belongs and relates unto the person and not unto the nature so from our Union with Christs person arise those strange communications which some observe the Lord calling himself by the name of a Creature Psal 24.6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob and that glorious and which some say is an incommunicable name of God Jehovah yet it is said to be attributed to the Creature through his interest in the person of God it 's the name of Christ Jer. 23.6 And in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called The Lord our righteousness and this name is also given to the Church Jer. 38.16 And in those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely and this is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our Righteousness c. and all this flows from interest in the person through personal promises 8. Our interest in the persons is always the same and varies not though the dispensations are very various and there is no Saint of God but doth find changes of the right hand of the most High though the Lord in himself changes not Sometime he lifts up the light of his countenance and sometimes he hides his face but yet in the middle of all this here is the comfort of the Saints the Lord is still their God and they have an interest in him And so did Christ himself find a change of dispensations there was substractio visionis a substraction of vision but yet not unionis of union and when the Lord hid his face from him then Christ flyes to a personal promise and in that he looks upon God when he could look upon him no other way my God my God c. and so doth the Church doubtless thou art our Father And there is a special Art and Mystery that the people of God have learned when they are in the deepest desertions to recover themselves out of it Cant. 5. there the Church falls in love with the person of Christ and looks upon her own interest in him and then she breaks out this is my beloved and this is my friend and this recovers her again so that she glories in Christs interest in her and hers in him I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine the comfort of the Saints in their worst estate is that God has an interest in their persons I am thine O save me may every Saint of God say and so they also have an interest in the person of God this God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 if there be never so great Changes or Dispensations yet our relation unto the person is still the same and therefore so should our claim be 9. The highest objects of Faith are Persons for there is a three-fold object of Faith 1. Primarium primary and that is all Divine Truth 2. Mediatum mediate that is Christ as Mediator 3. Vltimatum ultimate for through Christ we believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 therefore the ultimate and the highest object of Faith is a Person Objectum fidei est jus incomplexum the object of faith is an incomplex right Now that which is the highest object of Faith that is the most perfect in which only Faith can rest and therefore must be the greatest ground of Hope and Love as that wherein our happiness doth ultimately consist 10. The highest act of Gods Love to us is in accepting our persons Electing Love was set upon the person and in Christ he doth accept our persons and has respect unto them therefore if he respect our persons so highly being made over to him in Covenant how much more should we set a high price upon his excellent person being made over to us in Covenant It is his Love unto our persons that doth incline his heart to accept our services and reward them and to bestow all good things upon us and so should our Love unto the person of God be that which should sweeten all his benefits towards us he has not this Treasure only but he has the root also upon which it grows Revel 21.6 He shall inherit all things I will be his God and it is much more than all the Creatures can be to him for he shall receive a hundred fold more in this life it is not to be understood formalitèr formally sed eminentèr but eminently that is they shall have all made up in God that the Creatures could supply if they were a hundred times multiply'd God shall be all in all to them so that they can complain of no want for the Lord is their God Vse § 2. First we may hence gather the devillishness of that Opinion that denies all persons in the Trinity they do thereby make void the main of the New Covenant on Gods part which doth consist in personal promises for if there be no persons then the promises of making of them over by way of interest unto the Saints is void and of none effect And truly of all the Abominations of this last Age which Satan has cast forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius calls it Orat. 1. cont Arian there is not any so desperate an Opinion that strikes more at the root of all Religion than this doth all Heresie is the smoak that arises out of the bottomless pit and it is commonly vented by some Star that falls from Heaven some Man Eminent in the Church and he making an Apostasie and Defection from the Truth the Key of the bottomless pit is given him in judgment a Key is potestatis symbolum a symbol of power as we know and unto one man it 's given as a special Mercy and unto another it 's given as a special Judgment Revel 20.1 to the one it 's given to bind Satan and to the other to let out his smoak and wo to the man to whom such a power is given as Revel 20.1 Satan is ready enough to
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