shows us the reason of the thing also by setting down a Copy of this well-order'd Covenant which I shall Analyse in these seven several Heads that are so many Arguments to prove the Truth of this Doctrine Its 1. Divinity 2. Personality 3. Graciousness 4. Everlastingness 5. Order 6. Sureness 7. It s Perfection as to Salvation or Satisfaction Having shewn from each of these apart and much more from all put together with how much satisfaction every Covenanted Soul may dye whatever be the Imperfections or blasts upon the growth of their Grace or whatever be the disorder of the Affairs of their House whatever terrible use Satan may make of them or sorrow we may have from them yet we may safely lay down our Corps in the Dust and bid Farewell to Sun Moon and Stars to the Creatures below us and our Friends about us and say Welcome Fellowship of Angels Hail ever blessed Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier I come I come help me thorough this pain guide me thorough this dark Valley of Death dispell this only remaining Cloud between me and that Sun of Righteousness I shall conclude with some usefull Application having proved and explained this Truth 1. There is the Divinity of the Covenant the more of God that there is in any thing the more of Goodness there must be in it for there is none good but God God is 1. The Author of this Covenant he hath made The like expression we find Isa 55.3 Jer. 3.31 Man that was but of Yesterday could never make an Everlasting Covenant Angels that are charg'd with folly and are yet Students of its Mysteries 1 Pet. 1.12 could never bring things confounded by Sin into Order again this Politick Union is founded on the Personal Union of Immanuel Who could have contriv'd that Who could have contriv'd a Righteousness to answer the broken Law of the first Covenant There are two most comforting Thoughts arises from Gods being Author of the Covenant the Goodness of the end and wise contrivance of the Means 1. The Goodness of the End Persons that have any Grains of Honesty left when they enter a Confederacy with others design a mutual Advantage It is a meer Cheat to draw Persons into a Commerce or Policy they can get no good but hurt by But God can receive no Good Ps 16. Our goodness extends not to him and his Glory consists in giving that we may see there is such an inexhaustible Fountain of Goodness and Blessedness in him that when Sinners have receiv'd a full Salvation Guilt a compleat Pardon and all empty desire a full satisfaction measur'd out by Wisdom so that it may not satiate but still preserve so far the Desire as to delight in receiving all the advantage must be ours If any part of this Design should fail of making us compleatly happy it would reflect on Divine Alsufficiency it would eclipse his Glory We are made Sons by Covenant and will a Father see his Children starve while he possesses any thing 2. The wise Contrivance of the Means there is not one Article of the Covenant that we would desire left out or one Article we could desire added to it if our Understandings were come to a mature perfection to judge of such a Concern 1 Cor. 3.22 Death is ours we would rather want it but how shall we get to Heaven without Death for Flesh and Blood cannot enterit Or how shall this Earth be chang'd into a glorious Condition without Death There are many more Reasons we know not all things present are ours We would rather want many of our present Conditions and Circumstances Sickness Poverty c. but Rom. 8. all these work together for our good If this Covenant should any way fail or prove deficient we may bless God we had no hand in it or rather that all in it was Contrived by him all its Clauses Terms and Articles were settled and Authoritatively publish'd before we knew one Word of it if it come short of its End it will not be thorough our Default he knew what we were when he Contriv'd the Covenant for our Happiness he enter'd into Covenant with us as Sinners it will reflect on his Wisdom and Circumspection his Foresight or Prudence Obj. The first Covenant fail'd of its End and that was made by God Resp It 's positively false for it was Contriv'd and that Primitive Constitution of Man too as a Means to bring in the Covenant of Grace and the Happiness of Man thorough it Man's Blessedness was not the immediate End of that Covenant To say God is come short of his End frustrated and disappointed is to make him not God The learned Strangius says tho' Sin is no means of God's Glory Permission of sin was for that made way for Creatures being brought from a lower Condition and greater distance from God than meer nothing was by it the steps of nigh infinite successions and degrees of Happiness are increas'd Goodness blossoms into Grace and Mercy by making an Inhabitant of Hell whether by Act or Desert an Heir and Possessor of Heaven but it had remained a meer Goodness that it had made a Clod of Clay an Angel What a Manifestation of Infiniteness for Creatures to be always increasing but ever short of God's fulness Secondly The Divinity of the Covenant appears in God's being the Party as well as the Author Zach. 13 ch last Ver. I will say it is my People and they shall say the Lord is my God and that distinctly in all the Relatives of the Blessed Trinity We enter into Covenant with God as Father Christ says I go to your Father and my Father We enter Covenant with God as Son in all his Mediatorial Offices We enter into Covenant with the Holy Ghost in all his sanctifying and glorifying Influences We see David here set all the Blessed Trinity the God of Israel the Rock of Israel and the Spirit of the Lord before the Covenant as the Persons he did indent with And it is yet more distinctly set down in the Baptismal Form of the Covenant in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost This helps to remove some Difficulties about the Covenants Conditionality for the whole Law being in its Nature as unchangeable as the Relations between the Creator and Creature it stands still the Measure and Standard of Duties and Conditions of the Covenant of Grace but what Conditions the Father as Fountain of Authority requires the Son as Mediator Surety and Cautioner performs and what this Mediator as God's Vicegerent and Deputy requires the Spirit enables us to do whose Operations are both preventive and effectual so this Covenant of Grace is an absolute Disposition of Grace notwithstanding all the Laws and Duties of it for there are no preparative Duties required in order to the Spirits Influences nor may be no Persons in this World without some of his Beams and Rayes for as it is Christ's Merits that preserves this Earth from being a Hell so
frequent that Company where he must always be uneasie always contend and be in danger of his Life A Second Reason is Because their End is Destruction They shall be utterly burnt with Fire Who would walk with men that are going strait to Hell Who would live with men that have Ulcers of uncurable Plagues running upon them when their Company is so infectious May be it has prevail'd already so far on thee that when out of their Company thou choofest not the ways of Life and Peace and returns again to the same without the least Antidote what canst thou look for but the Death of the Wicked that liv'st their Life For as the Tree falls so it will lye O that Children who have disobey'd the Commands of Parents when alive would at least let their last Will be sacred with them This Solomon observ'd long though at last too much forgot it How highly doth God commend the Rechabites Jer. 35. for obeying their Fathers severe Commands to drink no Wine and to live in Tents So highly displeased must he be with them who disobey most necessary and easie Precepts The Text and the Time both though not the Occasion where so much Love and Duty dwells obliges me to this The second thing is the Acknowledgment of his Infirmities Although my House altho he make it not to grow For the Matter of it tho it 's not an Auricular or particular Confession or in order to a Priestly Absolution yet from the Knowledge of his Life we may guess at the ground of his Grief 1. David had much Guilt on his Conscience tho he was a man according to Gods Heart yet his Perfection was not sinlesness he was not of the Quakers Principles to boast of his Perfection but did mourn over his Iniquities though committed some Twenty as his Murder of Vriah some Forty years before this 2. David had many Designs to fulfill he wanted to reap the Comfort of his Labours as to his own House or the House of God he had conquer'd all his Enemies round about and now he wanted to enjoy a triumphant Peace and plentifull possession He had Moses-like brought the People to the borders of the Land of Rest but he must not go over to possess that beautiful Mountain of Lebanon tho' he begg'd hard for it He had with most industrious Pains and incomparable Expences prepar'd all Materials for the House of God 1 Chron. 28. and God will not let him lay one Stone of the House for all that Psal 146.4 In that very day his thoughts perish All a mans Purposes were they never so good or usefull perish when the appointed Hour comes 3. Davids Children were not so with God as he would have had them there had been Incest Murder and Rebellion among them and these who surviv'd tho some of them lovely Children and wiser than their Father and the root of the Matter in them too Solomon the most wise was belov'd of the Lord and the Lord heard his Prayers again and again yet that Zeal that the Old Man had for God was not in him 4. Davids Grace did not grow or bud and flourish as the Original has it he had Faith but it did not flourish in the pleasant Blossoms of Joy and Assurance Psal 51.8 12. The Joy of thy Salvation that he wanted The temporal Afflictions that the Godly meet with for their Backsidings might be sufficient Warnings and Motives to others to walk more circumspectly and Watchfully all their days Here is an Intimation of twenty years Desertion and the Hour of Death fill'd up with the dreadful aspect of Guilt The Counsel of dying Persons about Religion about Conscience about Duty and Sin ought to be highly esteemed then they feel how evil and bitter a thing it is to sin against God If we see our righteous Fathers groaning over and smarting for their Infirmities on their Death-bed what may we expect if we get our Souls for a Prey The third Thing is what was David's Comfort under the sense of approaching Death thus arm'd with the Terrors of his own Guilt and the Frowns of Heaven It is certain no mean Cordials no Temporary thing can support his fainting Spirits then Rooms full of Gold the Company of all our Friends and Relations the sweetest Harmonies of Musick the daintiest Dishes the strongest Cordials and most skill'd Physicians the only Helps a Man must betake himself to are Spiritual for the Carkass perishes If a Man be not skill'd in Divinity and have some Spiritual Experiences there is nothing that can bring any shadow of relief to him but it is not every Divine either that can administer to himself or others support against Death tho' that is the only Science that affords relief Some expound the 3 4 5 Verses as so many different Topicks of relief to his Condition 1. Experience The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me Shall God let me perish to whom he has given his Holy Spirit in such a measure But this might be baffl'd God has taken his Spirit from thee thou hast sinn'd away that Grace a deserted and tempted Soul is full of Error and either may not believe the Doctrine of Perseverance or may mistake the Graces of the Spirit for Gifts such as Balaam had 2. The Nature of the Blessed Trinity The God of Israel the Rock of Israel the Spirit of the Lord the Attributes of God the Mediatorial Offices of the Son and sweet Influences of the Spirit But these may all become Thoughts of Terror and Dread to a Soul without some sight of an Interest in them as Peter Depart from me for I am a sinful Man and Adam when he heard God's Voice hid himself in the Garden Therefore David 3. Finally concludes on the Covenant of Grace as that thorough which the spiritual Experiences were convey'd and as that which contain'd the Terms of his Interest in God its Properties and Articles did obviate all Objections the Disease could never be too strong for its Balsams nor the poyson'd Arrows of Death could never drink up its comforting spirits This affords the Doctrine I intend for the subject of the following Discourse Doct. The Covenant of Grace is able to comfort all the Covenantees in it against the Assaults of Death arm'd with the most dreadful Stings that the Law Sin Satan or Desertion can afford to it This is the Honey we may eat out of the Carcase of this Lyon of the Tribe of Juda this is the rich Legacy left by his Will to all that are in Covenant with God this is his advice to all poor Sinners as ever they would be safe at death be sure to be in Covenant with God We have not this on his Experience only he found it so at Death nor on his Testimony only the word of a King is too weak a Pillar to build the Salvation of our Immortal Souls upon nor on the Testimony alone of the Spirit of God speaking by him But the same Spirit
Praises of the Righteous at their Death and write their Elegies The man who was raised ap on high the Anoynted of the God of Jacob the sweet Psalmist of Israel Some Commentators expound all the fourth Verse to be of this nature and to have David for the subject It is very observable that not only the great men that are wicked are often buried in Oblivion as the most of the Monarchs of the first and greatest Empire but some good men too God industriously Deut. 34.6 hides the Sepulchre and obscures the Tomb of a great Moses while he erects Monuments of Praise and Records of Memorial for the mean and Low who have been Faithful in their Generation Gen. 35.8 Debora an aged Woman and but a Nurse must have an Allon Bachuth an Oak of Weeping erected for her and the Epitaph must have a room made for it in Sacred Writ So must Eliezers Fidelity and Dorcas's Coats of Charity the Bed Table Stool and Candlestick for the Prophet the Barley gleanings the parched Corn and Vinegar Ebedmelech's Clouts Rahabs stalks of Flax the Widows Mite and the Womans Alabaster box of Oyntment Should not we be followers of God in this also The second Observation from the Text is Gods great Mercy towards David in the Circumstances of his Death not only that such a Man of War should dye in Peace but should enjoy the use of his Understanding and Tongue to the last yea the conduct of the Holy Spirit for the Guidance and Direction of both These are the last Words of David The Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his Word was in my Tongue the whole of Psal 72. witnesseth further wherein is contained his last Prayer These last words of David may be divided into these three heads 1. His last Will and Advice to his Family 2. His Acknowledgment of his Infirmities setting them up as Sea-marks or Buoys to prevent their Shipwrack 3. His Profession of a secur'd and assured Salvation notwithstanding these dangers that he might engage them never to forsake their Fathers God and their Fathers Covenant that could suit and comfort a man tossed among the Storms of Temptations the Sands or Shelves of Sin and Rocks of Death and Judgment First His Advice to his Family especially his Sons consists in these three things 1. Justice v. 3. He that ruleth over men must be just Honesty is far before Honour the latter is but an abuse of the word without the former The Lord forbids seeking for great things in this World but commands the providing of things honest in the sight of all men Injustice in such a Posterity would have the aggravation of vile degeneracy it would be a disowning of their Father and preferring the Name of a Moral Bastard before the Son of an Upright David 2d. Is Piety ruling in the fear of God this David enlarges his Commands about 1 King 2.3 Keep the charge of the Lord c. 1 Chr. 28.8 Keep and seek for all the Commandments of the Lord your God Seek for them what is of his appointment and what not and keep them sin not against Knowledge Paul obtained Pardon because he did it ignorantly Seek and keep all of them thou obeyest none because God has commanded if knowingly thou omit any This is the too common sin of Parents to separate Justice from Piety in the Education of their Children If they be good Husbands and Moral or Civil they care for no more but they will more and more find that a vain attempt to have their Children honest without Religion both in the Root and Profession of it it is as impossible as to have a Picture without the Canvase it 's drawn on or a Shadow without the Substance or a Blossom preserved without the Root 1. It is Worship and Religion that God has annexed his Promises to Psal 1. 1 King 2.3 1 Chr. 28.8 2. It is to attempt the keeping of a part of an Indivisible thing without the other as if a Spiritual Being could be parted 3. It is to attempt to preserve the Duties of the Law without Motives the Awe of God Fear of his Wrath or Love of his Goodness We may see the succeslesness of it in the Debauchery of the Age since Religion and Profession of it came in so much contempt on that ground can we think God will take care of our Children when we take no care of our Childrens fearing God Do we think Children a fit subject for Liberty of Conscience If they are Baptismal Bonds are a most grievous Yoke imposed on Parents to train up Children in the Knowledge of God Father Son and Holy Ghost and to bring them within the Bond of the Covenant with the blessed Trinity A third Advice is about their Company which is comprehended vers 6 7. in shunning the Society of Belialites such men as Joab and Shimei it 's like for these are named 1 King 3. Two things are remarkable about them 1. Who they are 2. Why their Company so dangerous 1. The Belialites are men without Yoke men of no Conscience no Profession Atheists they could be of any Profession that which was most for their Profit or their Humour but were really of no Principles under no Law if they took up any it was as they do the Fashion and Custom of the Place they live in for Company A man had better be a Quaker Papist c. of any Sect rather than a Belialite of no Religion an atheistical profane Crew that can give no other Answer to any Question of Religion about the Governour and Judge of the World or their Souls Condition than to grin like an Ape as if their Reasonable Souls by Debauchery were degenerate into Risible ones The Spaniards say that Don Quixot has ruin'd the Courage of Spain and Sir William Temple who records it observes That we are like to exchange the Riches the Religion the Wssdom of the Nation for this Ridiculing Humour by Fools call'd Wit Never did these Vermin swarm thicker than at this day which makes with the former two Marks viz. the Death of the Righteous and Earthquakes in divers places a Triple proof that the day of Judgment is at hand 2 Pet. 3. These are the Scoffers of the last days saying Where is the Promise of his coming 2. Why their Company is so dangerous 1. The Text says because of their Untractableness they are as apt to hurt a man if he come in their Company as Thorns to prick a man if he touch them there is need of being fenc'd with Iron if he come nigh them they wound so mortally for a man must either comply with their Company then his very Soul and Conscience is wounded or he must resolutely oppose them and then there must be War Opposition Quarrelling Disputing If the former he is a Proselyte to the Brutal Herd and an initiated Member of the Congregation of Evil-doers if the latter there is both need of Arms and Armour and what man will
the Hearts or in external Words or Writing †Vide Mr. Baxter on Confirmation the way to Reformation Secondly In the New Administration of the Covenant which receives its Alteration very much from the New Constitution of the Church for in the former all Circumcised were in the Church here it 's only those that are Converted so all Abraham's Natural Seed through Isaac and Jacob were within the Covenant as to all its visible Priviledges but in this New Administration they are brought under the Covenant by the Lord 's pouring out his Spirit on them by his putting his Laws in their Minds and writing them on their Hearts Heb. 8. The very Import of having a Law in the Mind is a willing and ready Compliance with them known a being made willing in the day of his Power a hearty undertaking to perform them followed with some suitable Endeavours and what is this else but personal Covenanting Our satisfying our selves with a Virtual Performance of this is too common and too gross a defect to be indulged that is a complyance with the Duties of the Covenant in some measure without a serious setting about this Duty first and entring into it this is doing Violence to the Beauty and Order of this well ordered Covenant which requires our In-being before our Doing or our Receiving Secondly It is an Omission of a positive enjoyned Duty Thirdly It is very unbecoming God's transacting with us who has formerly drawn up the Covenant in all its Articles and has set his Name to it and has recorded it in his Word and has appointed a vast Number of Men under the Office of the Ministry to Publish it and has furnished them with the Spirit to Interpret and Inculcate it and their great Message is Be ye reconciled to God be at Peace with him enter into Covenant with him and faithfully keep and observe it Is this a suitable Correspondence to God's Transaction that we wo'nt come under Obligation but we will do as we find Opportunity and have Occasion or Convenience as it may consist with our other Interests and Concerns This is in effect to say we will not at all for the Covenant requires that we be wholly God's utterly denying our selves and all our Interests as he hath given himself wholly to us Fourthly The Manner of Persons entring into Covenant with Sathan who is God's Ape and who hath set up a Kingdom and a Covenant in direct Opposition to our Lord Jesus Christ may have some Influence both for Illustrating and Inculcating this Duty which the Learned Weems thus explains Sathan doth all he can to perswade his Subjects formally to Covenant with him to put one Hand under their Foot and another above their Head and give all between them to Sathan or to write a Bond of Resignation of themselves and Seal it with their Blood and if they be Baptized Christians that they formally Renounce their Baptism but if he cannot attain these things he has a set of Ordinances made up of Charms and unreasonable Arts as Astrology Chiromancy c. which he in his way Blesseth with Success as far as he can those who follow the Practice of them This is a Virtual Covenanting with him Now as we would not Judge all such Witches or Wizards who do too frequently Practise Charms either in Cures Prognosticks or Injuries so we ought not to think all true Christians who perform Christian Ordinances And if Covenanting with Sathan has such a Power to make us his that but very few are recovered from Hell who go to such a heighth in sinning what an Influence must Personal Covenanting with God have to make us his when there is so great difference in Contracting for we are gull'd and deceived in the one It is in great Ignorance we Covenant with Sathan Secondly Sathan deceives us and never fulfills the half of what he Promises Thirdly God has an antecedent Right and therefore our Covenanting with Sathan is Unlawful Fourthly God has a greater Power and he hath sent Christ on that very Office to destroy the Works of the Devil therefore there is a Possibility of Recovery out of that State but no final Relapse from the other for No man can pluck the Sheep out of the Father's hand Fifthly The Discouragements that hinder Persons from such a sacred Engagement are more from Ignorance of them than reality in the things themselves As first Some are frighted by the greatness of the Obligation and their Inability to perform To which I answer We are under all that Obligation already it rather relieves than oppresses Christ says his Burthen is light and his Yoke easie it is no more Burthen than Wings to a Bird for the Apostle says He that is not under the Law is under Grace and what things the Law says it is to them that are under the Law There is no Duty thou engagest to perform but thou wast obliged as a Creature to perform before and by this Covenanting thou getst a Right and Interest in Christ by which all thy past Disobedience is pardoned the burden of Guilt taken off and thou receivest strength to obey better for the future For the Providential Language of God in Covenanting with a Soul is the giving of his Spirit hence this is the Language of one that understandingly enters into Covenant with God Isa 45.24 Surely to him shall men come saying In the Lord have I righteousness and strength A second Discouragement is from the sense of Desertion and want of the Spirit from persons own unfitness and unholiness they say with Peter Depart from me for I am a sinful man Resp This is from a Mistake about the end of the Law the Lord blesses the Law or sends his Spirit to impower it Joh. 16. when the Spirit convinces of Sin so the end of this is to drive us to Christ to make us seek a shelter under Grace when we are scorched with the heat of the fiery Law Hence Christ calls Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden Secondly How disorderly would we have God to act toward us to say If he will fill us with Comfort and Joy and give us Assurance the very top Blessings of the Covenant in this Life or rather the Earnest and Beginnings of the other Life if he will fulfill all the Covenant to me then will I enter Covenant with him A third is from the fear of Hypocritical acting with God and so rather sin and provoke him to destroy me than to receive me into this State of Salvation Resp I know no better Cure of Hypocrisie than to bring and keep the Heart in the View of God and under the Awe of his Presence In the 18th of Luke we see this wrought a considerable Cure upon a Pharisee tho' the greatest Hypocrites in the World Vers 11. God I thank thee that I am not as other men He did not speak suitably to his own Principles to own God the Author of that
are nor are the same things requir'd of Infants and adult Persons Pagans and Christians 2. Precepts about our Life precede them about our Work Faith that is the Appetite we live by is first Commanded Christ is the true Bread of Life and Faith the fix'd and determin'd Desire on him Parents have as much Care about feeding their Children as afterwards when Men about their Calling and Trade The subject of Faith is Man's Appetite and Desire that is the faculty it resides in the Gift of Faith is the Presentation of Objects or forming Idea's of God in Christ that determines this desire alone upon him Psal 4. Who will shew us any good there 's the Faculty the Soul of Man as passive and recipient Lord lift on me the Light of thy Countenance there it 's determin'd by Faith that is the Exercise of Faith Heb. 11.1 Faith is the evidence of things not seen there the Object determining it the Gift of Faith the way it is wrought is by presenting the Objects immediately to the Mind the kindly entertaining these Objects is our Duty and our first Duty and the Duty of Self-preservation or Maintenance We quench the Spirit who works them we provoke him if we do not 3. Precepts about External Ordinances precede Internal and Spiritual Exercise Phil. Work in and about your own Salvation as Camero well translates it to which Ability of Spiritual Performance is annexed I will work in you to will and to do 1. Ordinances keep the mind from Distraction with worldly business then our minds are retir'd to contemplate spiritual Objects only they are helps to keep us from quenching the Spirit 2. Hence Ordinances are the Means of working Faith Before they call I will answer while they are yet speaking I will hear The Spirit presents the Idea's of which the Words are signs to the Mind Faith comes by hearing therefore People ought to be Careful of their Choice of a Ministry Understanding Sound and whom the Lord has sent to whom he has given a Commission thus the Word becomes the Seed of Regeneration for beholding in this Glass the Glory of the Lord we are chang'd into the same Image 2 Cor. 3. It 's Satans Conclusion for deserted Souls to forsake Ordinances or to abstain for want of Grace and yet to continue in them without obtaining Grace is to lose their end 4. Precepts about forbearing sin Mortification are before Practice of Godliness Cease to do evil learn to do well 3. An harmonious Order is seen in the Relation of these two to one another 1. In the strictness of the Relation The relation between God and the Creature is as soon broken and dissolved as this they are inseparably perpetually and universally united no man has a right to the Promises that is not under Obligation to the Precepts If a Man lives holily never question his right to the Promises if a Man has a Right to one Promise he has a Right to all 2. In the Sweetness and Comliness of the Relation 1. There are more Promises than Commands the Duty is but an Acknowledgment a Quit-rent there are Promises for Ability Exercise Perseverance Rewards to every Command 2. There is a Priority in the Promises a Stock some Talents before we Trade 3. An Usefulness We have Ability to Obey from the Promise we have Knowledge what to do from the Precept We have the Motive of Reward from the Promise we have the Light and Conduct about the way from the Precept We are kept from Despair by the Promise and preserv'd from Presumption by the Command We were undone if the Covenant wanted its Precepts 3. The Third thing the Order of the Covenant is discernable in is about its Ends. 1. God's Glory 2. Christ's Honour 3. Sinners Salvation For the first God has his Sovereignty Exalted in the Obedience of his Son for he and we his Obedience and ours are both enjoyned in this Covenant it 's more Glory to have such a Subject than ten Thousands of Angels his Wisdom in its Contrivâ—nce how to save his own Justice and Truth and yet save the Rebel to be Just and Justifier of the Ungodly is a Wonder of Wisdom His Justice in his Son's Sufferings his Mercy in Sinners Salvation 2. Christ's Honour is highly Exalted It 's a Question among Divines whether any Creature should ever have been so nighly United to God as that Humane Nature is if Man had not fallen if not what an Honour to all the Humane Nature especially the Man Jesus suppose there should have been what an Honour for a Man to be in such an Office the King of Kings and Lord of Lords one Mediator the Angels Sovereign and Sinners Saviour to have a Fulness not only for himself but all Creatures How wonderful is his Condescending Love who by Union and Birth thus high and yet became as a Worm and no Man and his Exalted Glory who was as a Root out of a dry ground the Scorn and Contempt of the People and became higher than the Heavens and Holyer than the Angels the Visible Image of the Invisible God in his Incommunicable Attributes to have Life in himself an Independent Life when once given the Wisdom of God and the Power of God all the Works of God being managed by him 3. Sinners Salvation It is wonderfully ordered to render their Salvation 1. Possible 2. Easie 3. Certain 4. Suitable The apparent Repugnancies were either from the Law Law-giver Surety or Sinner 1. The Law threatned present Death but not Eternal In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye He did Dye the Eternity was founded on the Perpetuity of sinning and Heinousness of the Crime not on the Letter of the Law it spoke nothing against an Intervening Surety after the Sinner was once dead to relieve him from that Death It is appointed for all Men once to dye but the Law spoke nothing against a Resurrection 2. The Law-giver was satisfi'd since his Truth in the Law was sav'd since the Obedience and Sufferings of the Mediator did sufficiently evince the Holiness and Justice of the the Governour 3. As to the Surety having his Life wholly in his own Power it was lawful for him to dye and since it was in his Power to Redeem his Brethren to re-establish the Order of Divine Government to glorifie his Maker more than any thing done by Creatures yet could there was a becomingness that he should Decency makes a thing in some respect a Duty It was in the Power of his Hand to relieve his Brethren We cannot thoroughly Love our Brethren without doing what we can for Relief to their Misery His Incarnation was an act of Choice but once Man and made under the Law the Love of his Brethren was a Duty 4. As to the Sinner it 's not only made possible but easie for tho Justification and Sanctification were both impossible to Man the satisfying for past Guilt or the ceasing from sin yet Christ having done both