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
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 of
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
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.
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
That they may stand in aw of the threats of God under the second covenant Pag. 164 The difference between the covenant made with Christ and with us lies in these things 1 It was made with Christ primarily as a publick person for the Elect but it is made with every one of us in the second place as we are members of Christ 2 It is made with Christ immediately and for his own sake but with us mediately in him 3 The promise made unto Christ was from everlasting but the covenant is made with us when we believe 4 All the promises of the second covenant belong unto Christ as his purchase and unto us of promise 5 Christ as to his covenant hath no surety but we have a surety of ours ibid. It is the duty of every one to enter into this covenant with the Lord. 1 If they come not under this covenant they have no interest in God 2 It is only in this covenant that all the persons have undertaken peculiar offices for the good of men 3 Otherwise God regards them not nor any thing they do 4 This is a matrimonial covenant and it is a covenant of friendship 5 God and the soul know not how to live asunder 6 This covenant is the last that God ever intends to make with mankind Pag. 165 That we enter into covenant with God it is required 1 That we hear the words of the covenant and know aright the terms of it 2 That we deny our selves 3 Bear his yoke 4 Not shrink at the cross but take it up Pag. 168 God requires of all those that enter into covenant with him that they should make conscience to keep it Pag. 171 Saints have many promises of the second covenant not accomplished to them in this life because they walk not exactly according to the rules of this covenant Pag. 172 A man once in covenant is ever in covenant 1 Because the love of God that made the covenant is everlasting 2 Because it is made with the persons of men 3 Because union with Christ puts them into this covenant and that is indissoluble 4 Because the righteousness of this covenant is everlasting 5 Because Christ is the surety of it 6 Because the everlasting principle of grace in the soul doth always lay hold of and cleave unto the covenant Pag. 173 Saints are yet to be exhorted not to break the covenant 1 Because of the falseness of their hearts 2 Because of the slothfulness and heedlesness of their spirits in whatever is good though bound by many bonds 3 Because thereby they may be quickned to seek to God for grace to keep it 4 Fear those sins which come nearest covenant-breaking Pag. 174 That Saints may keep covenant they must 1 Get a true heart 2 A stablished and fixed heart 3 Exercise faith upon the grace of God in this covenant Pag. 175 Saints being entred into covenant ought to improve their interest in it in all their ways 1 In reference to themselves 2 In reference to God Pag. 177 A fourfold relation is the necessary result of this covenant hereby Christ becomes 1 our Father 2 our Husband 3 our Friend 4 our Lord. ibid. Saints hearts should be always in such a frame as to receive the mercies of the covenant which consist 1 In a believing heart relying upon the grace of the covenant notwithstanding seeming impossibilities 2 In a continual expectation of the promise And yet 3 A resigning it unto the will of God whether he will bestow it in this life or no. 4 In desiring mercy no further than it may make them holy Pag. 179 Saints in this covenant ingage themselves that whatever God bestows in mercy they will return again in duty Pag. 180 Saints having given up their names to God in this covenant they ought often to renew it 1 Because of the unbelief of their spirits 2 To manifest the sincerity of their hearts 3 Because of the falseness of their hearts 4 Because thereby they lay the greater engagement upon them 5 Because of the forgetfulness of their hearts 6 Because of their ignorance and blindness Pag. 184 He that renews covenant must 1 Be deeply sensible of breach of covenant 2 Resolve to break all other covenants 3 Consider the terms of the covenant anew 4 Do it with a free and full consent 5 Be willing to bind himself in the highest way to obedience thereto 6 Do it with earnest desire to God for grace to keep it Pag. 186 The times and seasons of renewing are 1 After an eminent falling into great sin 2 In time of publick humiliation 3 Of publick reformation 4 After special deliverance or mercy as a testimony of thankfulness 5 When the heart is bent to back-slide 6 At the Lords Supper Pag. 188 The benefits of this renewing covenant are 1 It is a testimony of the truth of repentance 2 It 's the foundation of consolation 3 It 's a means to establish the heart 4 It brings mercies 5 It improves graces 6 It fortifies against temptations 7 It strengthens union with Christ 8 It is a door to communion with God 9 It keeps from or recovers out of back-sliding 10 It is the spring of duty and action Pag. 190 CHAP. IV. The Covenant of Grace is referring to the Seed of the Faithful Gen. 17.7 The Covenant that God made with Abraham is the same that all the Faithful stand in unto the worlds end Pag. 193 Though in the manner of its administration there is a great deal of difference yet as to the substance of the covenant the Confederates are the same and taken in upon the same grounds ibid. That the children of believing Parents are taken into the same covenant with them is a point of great concernment and ought earnestly to be contended for because 1 It exceedingly advances the grace of God unto parents and makes much for their consolation 2 It is one of the great arguments the Scripture useth to draw men in to believe 3 It is the only difference God hath put in his word between the children of believers and strangers 4 It is the only ground believers can have for the salvation of their children that die in their infancy Pag. 193 Ever since the Fall God hath taken children into the same covenant with their parents Pag. 195 When parents are cast out of covenant the children are also Pag. 196 Children of believing parents are members of the visible Church ibid. Thence there is a holiness comes upon those children ibid. God hath made glorious promises to the posterity of the Saints Pag. 197 That children are so taken in is Gospel and to be believed as any other part of the covenant ibid. God will take children into the same covenant with their parents 1 To shew the extent of the grace of the second covenant 2 Because a great number of the Elect are the children of Saints 3 To shew his peculiar love to their seed 4 This is the surest
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies 1 ye that covet earnestly or vehemently desire so the word is used Mat. 12.38 16.24 Mar. 10.35 12.38 2 Ye that demand or make it your petition so Mat. 15.28 20.21 3 Ye that study contrive labour with all your might so Mat. 16 25. Mar. 8.10 43 44. Luk. 23.20 4 Ye that consent to this as best determine as Mat. 13.28 Joh. 9.54 Mat. 17.4 5 Ye that delight or take pleasure Mat. 9.13 12.7 Heb. 10.5 8. It follows to be under the Law The Apostle Paul speaks of being under the Law in divers senses 1 There is a being under the Law for justification and life Gal. 4.4 5. that is under the Law as a Covenant Christ was made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law 2 There is a being under the Law for condemnation Gal. 3.10 Rom. 6.14 As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse 3 There is a being under the Law for irritation that is stirring up a mans corruption Sin taking occasion by the Commandment became exceeding sinful Gal. 5.8 4 There is a being under the Law by compulsion If you are led by the spirit you are not under the Law that is the Law as only inforcing and compelling as an unregenerate man is as a slave and having the spirit of a servant not of a son who does all he does from an inward principle and disposition suitable to the Law in whatever it does command But it will appear that being under the Law in all these senses are grounded on being under it as a Covenant as we shall see hereafter and that he that is freed from it as a Covenant is not under the Law in any of these respects but by vertue of the second Covenant is delivered from it Only here I think Pareus and others say that to be under the law and desire so to be is the same with Gal. 3.10 They that are of the works of the Law that is that seek righteousness and life by the works of the Law and this is properly to be under the Law as a Covenant of Works which was the natural sin of the Jews and with which error and heresie they endeavoured to overspread all the Gentile Churches going about to establish their own righteousness and therefore typified by Hagar which the Apostle makes Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem above the Christian Church is Sarah that did receive the Doctrine of the Gospel without any mixture of their own righteousness but did trust perfectly in the Grace that was revealed to them by Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 10.3 So here to be under the Law is to seek to be justified by the works of the Moral or Ceremonial Law as being works of righteousness that we have done For though the whole Ceremonial Law were Gospel under a veil yet they not being able to look to the end of it as the Apostle says they did perform it as works of righteousness 2 Cor. 3. in which they did expect justification and life for their obedience to them and performance of them without looking into the things shadowed in those types Now the Apostle says not only that men were thus under the Law but so they did desire to be Therefore looking upon these as being a patern of all mankind and in whom the dispositions of all men may be read I do hence observe Doct. That to be under the Law as a Covenant of works is unto every natural man a very desirable condition He is not only born under the first Covenant but under that Covenant he does desire to continue In the handling of it I shall first prove it and give the grounds of it and answer some Objections that may arise in the hearts of men against it and then make the application of it There is in the fall of man a double misery come upon him 1 His being under Adams Covenant 2 His bearing Adams image And in this state all men by nature desire to live and die And that men do still desire to bear the image of the Earthly Adam is plain because they resist the image of God in Christ that blessed image that by the holy Spirit is offered to them in the Gospel And we find how much they do hug the image of old Adam in themselves Now though their desire to be under his Covenant be the foundation of all their misery yet men apprehend it not so much The offer of the second Covenant they hate and reject the Covenant of Christ as much as they despise his Image yet they perceive it not Therefore to prove it we must take the most convincing course we can First this was the evil that God saw Adam's nature to be prone to and therefore he not only cast him out of Paradise as a just reward of his apostacy but also in a particular manner forbad him the use of the tree of life Gen. 3.22 Gen. 3.22 God having made for our first Parents coats of skins now he saith Behold the man is become like one of us it is an Ironical exclamation wherein God derides the falshood of Satan and the folly of man This is the Godship that Satan promis'd en Divinitatem promissam Behold the promised Divinity And the knowledge of good and evil was nothing but a miserable and shameful nakedness which before man knew not And now here follows exilii decretum ratio decreti the decree is Gods will to cast man out of Paradice and the ground of it is lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of Life But why must not man after the fall taste of the tree of Life seeing before the fall it was not forbidden It is answered Non in esse sed in intentione futurum erat peccatum not in the action but in the intention it was to be reputed sin And Interpreters give this as a reason that thereby God might take away occasion of sinning from him and God doth not only aim at keeping us from sin by his Word but by his Rod also And they observe that there was by the fall a double corrupt disposition in Adam's heart which the eating of this tree would have drawn forth 1 Looking upon it as a Creature which he might conceive to have a vertue in it to preserve life he might put forth his hand which notes a voluntary act and so he might conceive though God hath threatned death yet here is a tree that can preserve life and of this I will eat and live And so he might have sin'd wilfully and out of contempt of the threatning of God by deifying a Creature and setting it in his place and giving it Gods power and so the life that was denied him by God he might think to make up in the Creature as men commonly do 2 Looking upon it Sacramentally as it was a Creature and
Gen. 4.14 Every one that meets me will kill me Now when men are acted by this spirit from day to day they are full of guilt and fear and all this does not awaken them to seek out for a remedy and to cry out unto Christ from day to day for a spirit of adoption the spirit of a child in Gods account they are well pleased with it and they desire it As a man that walks in the ways of sin and is acted by the spirit of the world and groans not under it but is willingly led captive by Satan at his will he desires to be acted by that spirit so a man that walks under bondage from day to day and sees not his misery desires to be led by the spirit of bondage which is the spirit of the first Covenant 2. This spirit has suitable fruits As the spirit of Adoption is a spirit of love and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost so it 's with men also that are acted by a spirit of bondage that spirit has its fruits also and they are commonly such as these three 1 They that are under this Covenant do place their Religion in outward performances There was a righteousness that the Pharisees had under which they rested and that was making clean the outside of the cup and platter as a whited wall as a painted sepulchre and their Consciences are satisfied with it as it was in Paul before the commandment came and sin revived he was as concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless 2 They do all their services without a Mediator they do not bring their sacrifice to the Priest the Lord Christ and they do not bring their Incense to be mixed with his odours but they come in their own names and offer services unto God immediately without a Priest and though they may talk of Christ yet they come not to him for acceptance and to have the iniquity of their holy things taken away but if the duty be done they expect it shall be accepted 3 They do all with a legal spirit performing it as a task and are glad it is over It is by the second Covenant that the yoke of Christ is easie it is otherwise such a yoke that man cannot bear Rom. 7.6 Men serve not in the newness of the spirit but in the oldness of the letter To serve in the newness of the spirit is to serve spiritu novo spontaneo with a new free spirit and therefore in the oldness of the letter that is in a slavish and a servile manner when a man only looks at the duty commanded without as a task as an act of obedience but not as an act of faith Heb. 8. It is the second Covenant that writes the Law in the heart and makes the duties sweet and pleasant unto a man by putting into a man an inward principle of love answerable unto the things that are required putting into a man an inward disposition answerable to the Law that a man delights in the Law according to the inward man and men living in the strength of a legal spirit contenting and pleasing themselves therein this is a plain argument that they are acted by the spirit of the first Covenant and bring forth the fruits thereof and their contentedness under it shews that they desire and love so to be SECT II. The Causes why men desire to be under the Law § 1. BUt how can this be that men knowing themselves sinners and under the curse of the Law and that unto justification by the Law a perfect obedience is required which it is no more possible for them to yield than it is to stay the Sun in its course or remove the Earth out of its place and therefore the life promised therein is unto man fallen upon an impossible condition because all the imaginations of his heart are evil and only evil continually and in his life there dwells no good thing and therefore it is said to gender to bondage and all that are under it are bondmen The case standing thus How comes it to pass that there should be in the heart of man a continual desire to be under this Covenant still The grounds of it are taken from a threefold principle that is in the heart of man A principle 1 of Ignorance 2 Of Enmity 3 Of Pride 1. From a principle of Ignorance and that 1 of the Law and the nature of the first Covenant and mens condition under it 2 Of the Righteousness of Christ and the Glory of the second Covenant 1. Ignorance of the Law and mens state under that Covenant 1 Men are naturally ignorant of Gods intent in giving the Law and therefore look upon it as a Covenant by which they should attain righteousness and life Mat. 19.20 Christ answers the young man according to his own principles Good Master saith he what shall I do to inherit eternal life Christ replys Keep the Commandments For he looked upon it as a way of obedience in which he should attain Salvation And so all men would work for life and that is given as the reason why the Galatians were so greatly bewitched by false teachers and drawn away from the truth of the Gospel to join something of the Law with Christ in the matter of Justification because they did not know wherefore the Law was given Gal. 3.19 20. They seeing a Covenant made with Abraham and a promise of free grace and of righteousness and life without works an inheritance by promise and 430 years after a Law given requiring works and promising life upon perfect obedience thereof they did not know how to conceive but that either God did repent of and revoke his former Covenant or else they must be both joined together in the matter of Justification and life now to answer this the Apostle acquaints them with the end why God did give the Law it was not to set it up as a Covenant alone that any man should attain righteousness and life thereby for unto man a sinner it is impossible and inexorable it can neither be obeyed nor endured but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was not given as a Covenant by which men should attain life as it was to Adam in the state of innocency as if God did intend any man should be saved thereby neither was it published to make void the Covenant of Grace but it was added not by way of opposition but subordination that it might be as Hagar to Sarah a handmaid to further the ends of the Gospel and to advance the grace of it that it might be as the avenger of blood to the City of refuge and make men look for the Law in the Ark Christ Who is the end of the law for justification and that it might be the perfect rule of the obedience of the Gospel This men being ignorant of they look upon the Law as a Covenant of works and all that they do in obedience thereunto is to gain
man to seek out curious ways of sinning against it to avoid the power of the law as we see in Gaming c. sin takes occasion by the Commandment that it may sin more artificially and such men are hardly convinced 2 The Law discovers sin and men will not see it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment and vents it self by refusing knowledge And they stop their ears that they may not be charmed by the voice of the charmer Joh. 3.20 c. 3 Sin takes occasion from hence in that men hate the light of the law and they wish that there were no such law in the world He that does evil hates the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest and reproved As the law discovers that to be evil in which the soul placeth its greatest good so this discovery draws out a hatred in the soul a-against that law which does as a glass discover the spots which the sinner would have hidden 2. The law does restrain sin and puts a stop to it and shuts up the sinner as we may read Gal. 3.23 Whence sin breaks forth more violently men being prone to sin and cannot live without it for the comfort of their life comes in by it The Law may restrain and keep in lust for a while Mat. 12.43 but it breaks forth as fire when you suppress it outwardly it burns the hotter within and spreads the more by a restraint 1 It spreads the more in the man by the restraint of the Law a man that hath forborn a sin long there comes seven worse spirits at the last and makes him more the child of the Devil than he was before the former restraint that was upon him makes his inward man the more exceeding sinful As it was with Judas a Devil though a Disciple The restraint of sin by the Commandment causes it to defile his inward man the more 2 The more sin is enraged as Psal 2. They say let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Chains put not a fierceness into a beast but yet it does outwardly draw forth that fury that was in its nature As a potion in some diseases given for the cure irritates the peccant humour and kills the man the sooner not that it puts a new sickness in but only the humours being stirred are the more enraged 3 So in this case it does not only enrage sin and so make it more fierce but it improves it by this enraging as the presence of an injury doth heighten a mans anger as we see Goliah did David s his brags drew forth David's courage and it rose to the greater height and so any difficulty would Alexander's so that it was an exploit fit for Alexander if none else would undertake it and so a damm in the water it does cause it to swell and foam the more and the coldness of the circumstant air in the winter does not put more heat into the fire and yet by an Antiperistasis it excites it so that it is felt the more And therefore men living under the clearest discoveries of the Law their sins do rise to the greatest height men by the light of nature cannot sin against the Holy Ghost the great and the unpardonable transgression but this sin is by Gospel-light and this draws forth to direct enmity a mans spirit against the light so that he sins wilfully after that he hath received the knowledge of the truth and with despight for it is this being under the irritating power of the Law that is the great occasion of the sin against the Holy Ghost 3. There is a condemning power of the Law it passes a sentence upon a man and upon his estate and let 's into his soul by the spirit of bondage fear of death and dreadful apprehensions of wrath fearful expectations of judgment and of violent fire to devour him And from this also sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrours that a man should destroy himself and become the instrument of his own mercy and be his own executioner as Judas and Achitophel and many others have done And 2 hence sin takes occasion to drive them to despair and draws it forth fastning their eyes upon the vengeance of God and never shewing them the remedy and the pardon and then with Cain men say mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven 3 Hence follows a giving up themselves unto all excess of riot there is no hope and therefore I will enjoy the good things that are present and not have a Hell here and hereafter too And therefore they refrain not from any evil way but resolve to take their fill of sin while they are here for they are sure they can be but damned as many a wicked wretch when he is condemned to die he cares not what he does then for he knows he can be but hanged Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 4 The rage of their spirits does rise from hence even to blasphemy and revenge against God He saith O that I were above God! for I know that he will not have mercy upon me And so the Damned in Hell do blaspheme God by way of revenge because they are shut up under wrath and know that there is no mercy for them And this is the ground also of the great rage and revenge against God that is acted by the Devil ever since the fall Thus men seeing themselves condemned by the Law and being in a continual expectation of this wrath the revenge and rage of their spirits against God is by this means drawn forth and in all these respects sin does take occasion by the Commandment and becomes the more exceeding sinful SECT II. Whence it is that the Law exasperates and encreases Sin § 1. LET us now come having proved the Point to look into the grounds of it How it should come to pass that that which discovers sin and forbids it should exasperate and increase it and that that which is a means to lead the people of God into ways of holiness and to sanctifie them converting the soul making wise the simple should occasion sin and death to others We must lay this as a ground That the cause is not in the Law the Apostles care is to remove any blemish that may be cast on the Law of God as if God had given a Law to this end to add unto the sin of man whereas indeed before the Law sin was in the world and it was out of measure sinful but it did not appear so without the Law There is a twofold cause that the Apostle does here point us unto 1 There is causa per se a formal cause which does of it self and of its own nature properly produce the effect from some inward and intrinsecal power and efficiency and so the Law is not the cause of sin in a man neither is there any thing in the Law that should
The word of the Prophet is but wind and the word of the Lord is not in them it will come upon themselves so let it be done unto themselves let it be eternal judgment that is threatned and men do scoff and say 2 Pet. 3.3 Where is the promise of his coming And the heart of man does from its pride infinitely scorn all those things and goes on with the greater resolution in any evil 4 There is in every lust a principle and root of enmity against God for men naturally are haters of God and enemies to God and there is nothing but lust makes them so Rom. 1.31 Col. 1.31 Now as in every man there is all sin vertually and seminally so there is all sin in every sin and there is in every sin a principle of sin that will produce all manner of iniquity as we may see in the first transgression it was but one sin and one act of sin yet there was in it all manner of defilement that has filled the nature of man with all manner of pollution The sin of the Devils was but one and that a spiritual sin also and it has filled the Devils with all that Devilish malignity that has manifested it self in them ever since Now as there is in every sin a principle of enmity against God so radically and seminally there is in every sin the sin against the Holy Ghost even the great transgression Psal 19.13 even secret sins they do make way for this sin against the Spirit of God Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which is direct enmity against God with despight and revenge and it is opposition that above all things in the world draws it forth and the more clear a mans light is the more spiritual the opposition that is made against him is the sooner the man comes into the great transgression And these are the great grounds in lusts which take occasion from the Commandment the violence of lust the more it is opposed the more it desires and desires by resistance are kindled and increased and from the pride of the heart it raiseth opposition with the greater impatience and resolution come what will come and all this coming from a principle not only of collateral but of direct enmity against God it is with despight and revenge In these sin takes occasion by the Commandment and the opposition thereof improves it and draws it forth As it is in grace affliction improves it and opposition draws it forth temptations and desertions confirm it as there were many acts of grace in Job that had not been drawn forth but by affliction so it is with many of the Saints many men had never been so gracious but by opposition as we see it in Luther and in many of the Martyrs that their Graces rose by their opposition and persecution So many men had never been so wicked as we see it in the Pharisees had they not lived under such glorious means of Grace and so clear Convictions which set bounds to their lusts which made them break out with the greater rage for Christ says to them If I had not come and spoken to you you had had no sin but now there is no cloak for your sin for by the opposition that their lust met with it was drawn forth more impetuously § 2. There is yet a further ground of this irritating power of the Law and that is from the curse of God that is come upon all men under the fall which came not only upon man but upon all things else for mans use and so though it be the curse of the Law yet it comes even upon the Law it self so far as it concerns man as well as upon all the Creatures yea the Lord Christ himself is so far a curse unto men in their sins that as he is a sanctuary to his people so a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence a gin and a snare unto others for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel Luk. 2.34 For judgment says he Isa 8.14 Joh. 9.39 I am come into this world and yet he says in Joh. 12.47 I came not to judge and condemn the world but to save the world This indeed was his intent primarily and per se but the other falls out through the sinfulness of men occasionally and by accident and that which is good in it self does become evil unto the man and that which is a blessing in it self doth to him become a curse so it is with the Gospel and with all the ordinances thereof 't is the savour of life to some but of death unto others the same meat is wholsome nourishment unto some to others it feeds the disease in an unsound body and the same light which is pleasant unto a good and a sound eye is a pain and a trouble to a weak eye which is sore or bloodshot c. And therefore it puts no malignant nor sinful quality into the Law or Gospel or the Ordinances but only these meeting with a man of an unsound spirit do occasionally stir up these corruptions and sinful dispositions which were in the men before and thereby do increase them and by this means it becomes a curse to the man though it be a blessing to the people of God There is a double curse that is come upon all things by the fall 1 They are all of them empty and deceiving 2 They are all of them corrupting and defiling this is the curse that is come upon all the Creatures 1 They do a man no good for they are vanity though a man looks for profit by them yet they profit not Eccles 1.14 and that is one part of the curse that comes on the Law in respect of men that a man shall receive no good by it it shall be but an empty word and it does fall upon a man as rain upon the Wilderness it has laboured in vain as even Christ himself says My work is with the Lord but in vain to the people for they received no good by it but they have sown the wind it is spoken of all their religious services Hos 7.7 they were empty and unprofitable and would do them no good at the last day bring them in no more harvest than a man might expect that did sow but the wind And in Jeremy 't is said They shall not profit this people at all for there is a vanity in Ordinances as well as in Creatures and the staff of the bread of life may be taken away even then when our bread it self may continue c. 2 They are polluting for though all the Creatures can do a man no good yet they can do him much hurt and add to the defilement of his spirit and draw out his sins and ripen them and fill up his measure they can ripen the briers and thorns Heb. 6. and this was all the fruit that many of the Jews had by the Ministery of
shall be effectual to a mans pollution Vse 1 § 5. See here the malignity and the vile nature of sin and what a deadly disease it is when that which God did give of purpose to destroy it will increase it We say that is a very deadly disease that you can apply no physick but it does stir up the disease and it 's increased by it and all that you can take feeds the disease so here sin must needs be a deadly thing that the law should increase it which in its own nature should abate it There are two truths that should be always in a mans eye God to be the chiefest Good and Sin to be the greatest Evil. There is no one thing that does set forth the evil of sin more than this that the Commandment of God which doth forbid it curse it condemn it should improve it It 's no wonder then if mercies make men more wicked and if crosses add to mens sins for the very Law of God and his threatnings and restraints thereof will do it if any thing make sin appear to a man to be out of measure sinful and a disease incurable in it self this will 2. See hereby the vanity of that Doctrine that says Moral perswasion is sufficient unto conversion God enlightning of a mans mind and shewing him what is his duty and what is required of him and perswading of his will it is according to these able to imbrace it and so turn unto God and duty and herein is the drawing of God the Father when as we see that when God does set a mans duty before him in the Law with all the threatnings of it and all the promises of it this is so far from converting the man that it improves his sin sin and makes it the more to rage against God and become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore there is an inward work of God an Almighty Power put forth in changing the heart and converting of the will Moral perswasions may make a man more wicked but they will never convert him or make him the more holy without this inward work put forth by God in changing the heart 3. See here what is the proper rise and ground of that unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost It is by a curse of the first Covenant coming upon to the word of God that it is an occasional means lust opposing it to make sin rise the higher and first it brings forth in a man sins against knowledge and afterwards sins with malice and despight If the Law had never been revealed again but man had been left as many of the Heathens are who have but that small glimmering of light which some do call the remainders of the Law within them which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 2. They shew the works of the law written in their hearts this sin had never been heard of in the world it is a sin proper unto the Church of God and cannot be committed out of the Church where men are enlightned in the truth and sin takes occasion from the Law to break forth into despight against it 4. See what a vain thing it is for a man to glory in any Church-priviledge The Jews did stand much upon it and doubtless it was a great mercy that unto them did belong the giving of the Law and the Promises and unto them were committed the Oracles of God and therefore they rested in and made their boast of the Law c. Rom. 2.18 19. And what fruit had most of them by the Law it did aggravate their sins in the guilt of them and drew forth their sins in the power of them unto the greater height and in many of them even to the sin against the Holy Ghost And so it does many men that live under the Gospel at this day they have no other fruit by their ordinances and of the word of God amongst them but to make them more exceedingly wicked 5. See what a misery it is to be in a state of unregeneracy he that is so is wicked by nature and every thing wâ—â— make him worse See also what a mercy restraining grace is to a man that is unregenerate when we read of Judas and how Christs reproof did heighten his malice and of the Pharisees how by Christs Sermon their rage was drawn forth and they gnashed their teeth upon him c. What a mercy is it should every soul say that all the Sermons that ever I have heard of Christ c. should not have wrought the same effects in me long ago Luther saith that reading that place Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and understanding it only de justitia activa scilicet punientè of Gods punishing justice Non amabam imo odiebam justum punientem Deum tacitaque si non blasphemia certe ingenti murmuratione c. odi istud vocabulum poenitentiae I did not love but hate the just and punishing God and by a silent great murmur if not blasphemy I did hate that word Repentance Now that it has not been so to every one of us and we sinned against the Holy Ghost and in the highest acts of direct enmity that there had been no hope of mercy seeing that we cannot say that we have done it ignorantly Oh what a mercy is restraining Grace 6. Lastly how should it engage the people of God to thankfulness that God has freed them from this great misery that now the Law should subdue their lusts and not enrage them and if it does at any time yet it 's not to bring forth fruit unto death not to have a full dominion over them how should it make them fear when they read or hear the Law lest it should add to the disease Oh! how ought people to pray and Ministers pray that they may not be a curse and that the word which they hear and preach may not ripen their sins and draw out and improve their corruptions but their graces and make them holy CHAP. IV. The Rigor and Coactive power of the Law Gal. 5.18 But if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the Law SECT I. Wherein the Coactive power of the Law consists § 1. THere is a double sense of these words given by Interpreters and both may very well be put together The Apostle having said before That in a godly man there are two contrary principles flesh and spirit and they lust and act one against another so that they cannot do the things they would but when they would do good evil is present with them he adds here a consolation to bear up their hearts in this which is the greatest conflict upon earth between flesh and spirit in the same heart and that which made them to look upon themselves as miserable men all their days Rom. 7.24 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law that is though there
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
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
the Law which is a glass to discover sin and a rule to guide in duty to the end of the world and there will be use of this rule without as long as Heaven and Earth shall last and this frame of Heaven and Earth shall continue till the image of God be perfectly renewed in all the Saints and the law written perfectly in their hearts and they are a law fully unto themselves and so can live above the law and can live upon the law till then you will need the law without and so long this law shall continue and be of use in the Church of God 2. The meaning therefore is that the state of the Old Testament which is here called the Law and the Prophets that is that manner of discovering of the mind of God unto his people which was in the Law and the Prophets that was unto John that is by speaking of Christ to come and promising a higher and a greater light and a greater measure of the spirit in after times but yet it was not accomplished but in 1 Pet. 1.12 To them it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things that are now reported to us to whom the Gospel is preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into So that the state of the Church of God under the Old Testament and the manner of revelation of the mind of God and that measure of dispensation of the Spirit of God and not the Typical part only as some would have it is here meant So that the Ceremonial Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come and did vanish in John's time the Substance being come the Shadows must fly away but also all that manner of dispensation being more obscure and less spiritual and less powerful all that did end because the Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come but John of Christ already come Behold the lamb of God c. so much that word in the Original signifies 3. At the coming of Christ the Law and the Prophets were as it were taken away not by abrogation but by way of excellency as when the Sun rises the Stars disappear and are darkned and all mens eyes gaze on the Sun This is a new and a higher and more glorious way of discovery 2 Cor. 3.10 That which was glorious had no glory in respect of the glory that excelled because now Christ was manifested to be more fully that which he was stiled to be before Dan. 8.13 the word Palmoni signifies the wonderful numberer of secrets or as Junius and Glass what has innumerable secrets And there are divers such names given unto Christ in the Scripture his name shall be called Wonderful Counseller to set forth his nature and his actions Prov. 30.1 Ithiel and Vcal c. The Angel Dan. 9. prays unto Christ to discover unto him how long the Vision concerning the daily Sacrifice and the desolation of the Sanctuary shall be for as Christ is the head of the Angels so he is the teacher of the Angels also and the secrets of the Counsels of God he knows and he reveals them unto the Angels in answer to their prayers Rev. 5. Now there being a fuller and a more glorious way of revelation and a fuller dispensation of Grace the state of the Old Testament under the Law and the Prophets is to be done away not by way of Abrogation but by way of Excellency and so these Scriptures also I conceive are to be understood They shall say no more The Lord lives that brought up his people out of the land of Egypt Jer. 2.3 c. Not that this mercy should be wholly forgotten but as it were darkned and obscured by a greater mercy and a more glorious deliverance and that place also They shall no more teach one another saying Know the Lord for they shall be all taught of God from the greatest unto the least that is there shall be a more full and glorious way of discovery that in comparison of that abundance of light when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the fulness of Grace vvhen the vveak shall be as David there shall be no need of those former vvays of instructions but they shall have their teaching more immediately from the Lord and so that place There shall be no more need of the light of the Sun and of the Moon there shall be a fuller and more glorious light there shall novv seem to be no need of these former vvays of instruction by them and also that place they shall see his face Rev. 22.4 not that men shall have the Beatifical vision here but that there shall be a fuller manifestation of God insomuch that in comparison of what it was before it shall be even as seeing his face in glory as there shall be no more death no more sorrow no more crying not that absolutely there shall be no more for while there shall be sin there will be cause of sorrow and there shall be death till the Resurrection when the change of them that are found alive at the Lords coming shall be to them instead of death death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed immediately before the giving up of the Kingdom of Christ unto the Father but the peace and prosperity of the Church shall be such all the former persecuting Monarchies being destroyed that there shall be in comparison of what there was in former times no more death nor sorrow nor crying under persecutions and groaning and mourning under the cruelties of men no more And thus you see for all this the Law and the Prophets continue till Heaven and Earth be no more Object 2 But it is said in this Text Gal. 3.19 that this subserviency of the Law was but to last till the seed should come unto whom the promise was made and afterwards be given in the hand of a Mediator Vers 16. But till then and that seed is said to be Christ and therefore now Christ being come who is that seed this subserviency of the Law is ended for till then it was to last and no longer Answ 1. Some would seem to understand this only of the Ceremonial Law which they say is afterwards said to be a School-master to bring men unto Christ and so Beza seems to carry it namely that the School-master is only the Ceremonial Law which I conceive our former whole discourse of the use of the Moral Law in this great work of bringing a soul to Christ by discovering of sin and restraining sin and shewing a man the way of Gospel-obedience hath fully rectified but if we consider what is said vers 12 13. this will be clearly manifested for he speaks of that Law that saith He that doth them shall live in them and of that Law that saith Cursed is every one that continues not
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
stead that what he did was accounted to be ours whether to righteousness and life or unto sin and death but yet so that had he stood the same obedience was in their own persons required of his posterity for themselves as was required of Adam though not with the same respect not as publick persons and representative heads so that if they had not performed it they had fallen for themselves though all mankind had not fallen if Adam had stood for the woman was first in the transgression 1 Tim. 2. Rom. 5.12 and yet though the woman fell first all mankind did not fall in her fall but by one man sin entred into the world and therefore it was not every sin of a particular person that would have destroyed all mankind but of their representative only But the second Covenant hath this in it that the first never had in Adam the second Covenant hath a surety and that is something more than a publick person that is one that represents another and stands in his place and is bound unto his debt so that if the person ingaged pay not the debt the surety must and so Adam was not the surety for all mankind that he would perform the debt or bear the curse for them all there was no Covenant that had a Surety but Christ and he was a surety of the first Covenant Gal. 4.4 made under the Law and of a better Covenant to perform all the duties of the Gospel So that all that is required is of Christ as the second Adam only in his publick capacity and representation the Law is required of us but if we perform it not we have a surety that has undertaken it Thus as the first Covenant was made with the first Adam and all his posterity so the second Covenant is made with the second Adam and all his posterity also 2. We read of a Covenant made with Persons and people and promised unto them as special mercies a Covenant made with Abraham and Isaac a Covenant made with David 2 Sam. 23.5 The Lord has made with me an everlasting Covenant in all things ordered and sure And there is a Covenant made with a people also Jer. 31.31 God made a Covenant with the house of Judah a Covenant that he would bring them under the bonds of the Covenant and Esa 55.3 Every one that thirsts come to the waters c. and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David and Ezec. 16. I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine and therefore Zac. 9.12 By the blood of thy Covenant I have delivered the prisoners out of the pit in which there is no water 3. Men are said to make the Covenant and to break it Hezekiah exhorts them 2 Chron. 30.7 8. to give the hand unto the Lord 2 Chron. 30.7 8. it 's an expression of entring into Covenant as striking the hand is in the Proverbs an expression of entring into suretiship for another there are four expressions of it in 1 Chron. 29.24 All the Princes and the mighty men and all the house of the Kingdom gave their hands unto Solomon it notes a military subjection by way of Covenant and agreement between them they did take an oath of Allegiance unto him And so that expression to joyn the hand Ezeck 17.18 He hath broken the Covenant after he had given his hand c. and Job 17.3 to strike hand is to enter into suretiship or to be engaged in a Covenant so the saints are said to enter into Covenant with the Lord by sacrifice Psal 50.5 Esay 56. and they are said to take hold of the Covenant again they are said to break the Covenant which could not be if the Covenant were not made with them and not to be faithful and constant therein Psal 25.10 Lev. 26.15 4. It will appear from the promises of the second Covenant though it 's true that they are all yea and amen in him yet are they properly and formally made unto us either the first promises of grace or else of reward unto grace Promises of grace are He will give his Spirit and will give repentance he will heal our backslidings c. and we have an unction from the holy one c. And reward of service done either in the inward dispositions Blessed are the pure in spirit blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness c. or in the outward action 1 Cor. 9.24 So run that you may obtain 1 Cor. 15. ult your labour is not in vain in the Lord. And though the Covenant be made only out of free grace yet the Saints do claim these promises not only out of mercy but from the faithfulness of God 1 Cor. 10.19 1 Jo. 1.9 2 Tim. 4.8 God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able he is faithful and just to forgive us c. And what is the ground of this but the Covenant of God whereby his faithfulness is ingaged 5. The Covenant of grace is a Covenant in the hand of a Mediator and confirmed by the death of the Testator Heb. it 's not only a Covenant but it 's a Testament 1 Christ is the Mediator now no man is a mediator between God and himself a Mediator is not a Mediator of one it must be a third person a dayes-man that must lay hold upon both therefore there is a Covenant made with Christ and Christ is a Mediator for the establishment of the Covenant with us also And 2 Christ is the Testator he died and left his Legacies of all the promises to the saints now no man gives a Legacy to himself In the Covenant made between the Father and Christ Christ is a party and a publick person but in this Covenant between God and us he is a Mediator and the Testator by whom we receive all the Legacies and Inheritance that he has purchased for us and granted to us Rom. 4.11 6. The Sacraments are seals of the Covenant of grace Now if we look upon the Covenant made with Christ and consider that his faith was perfect in God and he knew the Lord would not fail him but saies He is near that justifies me who will contend with me he will not leave my soul in Hell c. But though Christ had a strong faith yet we have but a weak faith and therefore had need of Sacraments and outward signs to confirm it wherefore the Sacraments are not to confirm the Covenant made with Christ but the Covenant made with the Saints he to whom the Covenant is made unto him the seals are to be applied and it would seem unreasonable for the Covenant to be made unto one and the seals to be applied unto the other therefore there is a Covenant made with the saints and to this Covenant the Sacraments are added as seals 7. There is a double oath to confirm this
with thee and thou becamest mine Ezech. 16.8 then I cloathed thee with broidered work and shod thee with badgers skins and girded thee with fine linen and covered thee with silk I deckt thee with ornaments of gold and put bracelets upon thy hands c. Upon the removal of the Candlestick if the Lord unchurch a people all other blessings go away with it They shall take away thy eminent place Ezech. 16.39 and they shall strip thee of all thy cloaths and 2 Chron. 7.20 this house will I cast out of my sight and I will pluck them up by the root out of the land which I have given them 5. They have a special patience and long-suffering attending them and the Lord doth bear with them far for his peoples sake Mat. 13. he lets the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say unto the reapers Gather the tares in bundles to burn we know that the patience and long-suffering of God is salvation 2 Pet. 3. 6. They are delivered from many temporal judgments that others fall into there is a special preservation and protection over them in the time of common danger there is a sealing for the Church the Lord sets a special mark upon them Rev. 7.4 and wicked men receive much by this and so even a Cham may be saved in a common deluge where many a better man may be drowned There are priviledges belonging to the society that a man joyns himself unto that a man injoys for their sakes but not for his own as many a man saith Austin in the Invasion of the Goths did scape by joyning themselves unto the Christians August de Civit And Rehoboam shall be a Prince all the days of his life for David my servants sake that David my servant may have a light always before me in Jerusalem Jehoram the son of Jehosaphat 1 King 11.34 36. a wicked man walking in the ways of Ahab and the Kings of Israel and one who at the entrance of his Raign had practised that ordinary devillish policy in use amongst Princes to slay all his brethren with the sword and divers also of the Princes of Israel thereby to strengthen himself and yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David because of the Covenant that he had made with him to give him a light for ever and when Jerusalem was besieged in the days of Hezekiah by a mighty Army the Lord says Esa 37.35 They shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there but I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant Davids sake 7. There is a holiness that comes to them thereby 1 Cor. 7.14 1 Cor. 7.14 Else were your children unclean but now are they holy 1 An inward holiness and sanctification it cannot be for it 's a holiness that is conveyed from the parents but so the graces of the Spirit cannot be which are not of blood nor of the will of the flesh 2 Neither can it be meant of legitimation Joh. 1.13 that they are legitimate for there is a lawful marriage between one man and one woman out of the Church as well as in the Church so that they are lawfully man and wife and their children lawfully begotten for the truth of those relations are not founded in grace a father is as truly a father a Magistrate a Magistrate a husband a husband in wicked men and grace adds nothing to the truth of them though it doth to the comfort and right use of them 3 It 's such a holiness as is derived from the faith of the parent for it doth not come unto the child through the unbelieving parent for if they were both unbelievers the children were unclean but it 's a holiness that comes upon the child from the faith of the parent which can be nothing else but a federal holiness being taken into the parents covenant which is either from father or mother derived unto the posterity Now all these are great blessings in themselves though they do ripen a mans sins and bring a greater curse upon him in the end for the marish places shall be given to salt there be no men in the world delivered over to such fearful spiritual plagues as they are Amos 8.1 Heb. 6.1 Quest 4. Answ and if any men prove Devils they doe the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out and the Lord will say unto them I know you not c. § 4. But what is this foederal holiness and wherein doth it consist This I shall speak to 1 Negatively and shew you what it is not 2 Positively and shew you what it is and both are very necessary in the present business both that the false glosses fastened upon this place may be removed and also the true nature of this Holiness cleared and established 1. Negatively what it is not and here I find three interpretations as false and corrupt glosses given of it 1. Of a Holiness of Regeneration but that cannot be the meaning of it for the gracious qualifications of the Soul are no more ex traduce than the Soul it self Joh. 1.13 no man is regenerated from his Parents that he proceeds from though they be themselves regenerate yet the New-birth is not by Propagation In this sence it is true and to be understood what Tertullian saith None were born Christians Here is a case propounded to the Apostle by some of the converted Corinthians 1 Cor. 7.12 1 Cor. 7.12 whether from the example of the Jews and the Law in force amongst them and their practice in Ezra to put away their strange Wives or whether it were really the fear and jealousie of their own spirits lest they might be corrupted by them and lest their converse with them should be displeasing to God and bring a Curse of God upon them for it 's spoken non de matrimoniis contrahendis sed retinendis Calv. not of contracting but continuing marriage Calvin for else the command holds be not unequally yoaked together with Vnbelievers and marry onely in the Lord but being married when they both continued in infidelity whether now one party being converted and the other continuing in Idolatry it be not the duty of the party converted to depart from such a yoak-fellow because of the danger of being defiled by such constant and intimate society In answer to this case the Apostle says if the unbelieving will continue let not the believing husband put away his unbelieving wife c. and the Apostle gives the reason drawn from the powerful influence that a state of Grace hath upon those that are brought into it for the priviledges of the Covenant of Grace are not like unto Conclusions in Logick which do follow in deteriorem partem the same grace that doth sanctifie the man hath a powerful and a gracious influence to sanctifie all things unto
the use of the man and as Calvin says pluris est pietas unius ad conjugium sanctificandum quà m alterius impietas ad inquinandum There is a great deal of difference between jus naturale evangelicum a man may have a natural right unto the creatures and that lawfull and before God even unregenerate men may have so which Christ bestows upon them as servants as a reward of their labouring in a lawfull way and this is a right of Providence but there is a right by vertue of union with Christ when a man comes to take every creature as part of the Inheritance of Christ as the Dowry that follows upon the Marriage with him and this is a right of Promise and answerable to this two-fold right there is a great difference in the use of any thing between legitimum legitime and sanctum holy a lawful use unregenerate men may have who have according to the Law of God and Nature a lawful right and so a Heathen may have a lawful use of Meat Drink and Apparel and Marriage c. but a holy use none have but Believers There is a double curse come upon all the creatures and all relations by the fall 1 They are deceiving 2 They are defiling they draw out a mans lusts and they insnare the man and adde unto the inward pollution of his spirit the more for to the unclean all things are unclean the uncleanness of a man does pollute all things unto him because the Curse is not taken off from them and so doth the holiness of the man sanctifie all things unto him all creatures and relations the curse being taken off from the person it 's taken off from all the creatures and relations for his use that it shall not be a snare to him to defile his Conscience and improve his lust and thereby destroy his Soul Now as for that interpretation that is given by some viz. The unbelieving is sanctify'd that is 1 Cor. 7.14 by living with them they may be sanctifi'd for how know'st thou O man but thou mayst gain thy wife In futuro de re incerta optanda sed in praeterito de re jam peracta c. Chamier p. 1418. c. It 's true that the believer living with the unbeliever may be a means of conveying Grace for grace is as fire that will turn all things into it self but that I cannot conceive to be the meaning here for the sanctification of the unbeliever is an uncertain thing and many times does not fall out so but the unbeliever is made the worse and the more enraged against godliness thereby but the Apostle does not say shall be sanctify'd as of a thing uncertain but is sanctifi'd as of a thing past thence it cannot be meant of true Grace for this sanctification nihil point in infideli he is an unbeliever still and in himself still unclean in themselves they are not holy but yet they are sanctifi'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Beza will not render per uxorem as we doe by the wife and by the husband but in uxore in the wife and in the husband that is uxoris respectu in reference to the believer either husband or wife if I may present to you my own thoughts I would here take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it 's usually put in Scripture 1 Cor. 7.15 For God has called us unto peace it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4.7 God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness the Gospel is said to be preached unto every creature under Heaven Col. 1.23 a place that has been lately abused much by some upon which they would found that Doctrine That men may come to salvation and to the knowledge of the Gospel without the Word because they say every creature does preach the Gospel the Gospel is preached in every creature and so here sanctifi'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is unto the believer though there be no holiness at all in the Unbeliever but uncleanness yet it is sanctifi'd unto the Believer that it shall not defile him And this the Apostle doth further clear in another relation for if Grace in you cannot sanctifie your Conjugal relation then it can never make your Parental relation holy and sanctifi'd unto the Children for there is the same power in Grace to sanctifie one relation as another for if the worse party the unbeliever had a power to make the husband or wife unclean then had he a power also to make the children unclean but there is not such a power in the Believer but it is sanctified to the other by Grace and therefore are their children holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alioquin certè As Beza else truely were your children unclean but now are they holy for if your wives were to you only as other Pagans wives and such of whom you have only a lawful use as Pagans have and not a holy use then your Children also were in the same condition with other Pagans children that is unclean and prophane but your children are not so they are not in the same condition with other Pagans children for God has made a Covenant with Abraham and with his spiritual seed amongst the Gentiles as well as with his natural seed amongst the Jews and the course of that Covenant the unbelief of a Pagan wife so remaining shall not hinder if the father be a Believer and taken into the Church of God as we see in the example of the son of Moses and in the example of Timothy Exod. 4.24 25. Act. 16.1 2 3. his mother Eunice being a Believer though it is expressely noted that his father was a Greek and nothing spoken of him but as if he were a stranger unto the faith And if it be objected that the Child is holy as the Wife is who is an unbeliever for the wife is said to be sanctified as well as the child and this is but a holiness of use as you have interpreted as all other things are by Grace sanctified unto the Saints and all of them tend to their spiritual good In answer hereto here we are to consider that the Apostle does not say that the child is sanctified unto the Parents but 't is said positively of their children that they are holy There is a double holiness statûs usus of state and use the wife is sanctified unto his use as all other things are by vertue of the covenant of Grace a blessing to him and shall not be a snare unto his soul nor a means to pollute and defile his inward man and so is his honour sanctified and his estate sanctified and all things that belong to him which cannot be said to be holy in themselves but sanctified unto the man but this of Children is the holiness of their state that they are holy without respect
not as simply necessary unto the Sacrament of Baptism yet they conceive them lawful and not to be rejected so as they be qualified for so great a trust and do faithfully discharge it in the fear of God By this it will appear our Divines generally judge that there is a kind of spiritual Adoption that a godly man may convey a right by and give an interest in the Covenant and the priviledges of the Covenant unto those that are not his seed and â—hose that from their natural parents have no right at all Now to cross the judgment of so many reverent and holy men both ancient and modern hath been a very great trouble to me and upon the most serious debate I did desire â—hat the balance might have been cast the contrary way but at last considering that the â—cripture is unto them and us the Rule of Doctrines and the Judge of Controversies unto which they bind themselves and that if an Apostle or an Angel from Heaven do speak the contrary it 's because there is no light in them and because we have learnt from themselves Esa 8.20 â—â—at they were not satisfied with their own light in many things but writ according to their â—resent apprehensions with a desire still to a further and clearer discovery De catechis rudib c. 1. Mihi prope semper â—rmo meus displicet melioris avidus sum and therefore our Divines generally forsake them â—n many things as not walking with a right foot towards the truths of the Gospel and Luther professes of his works If the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to give an account of his doâ—trine when he asked Quantò magìs ego faex non nisi errare potens c. Et primus ero qui libellos meos in ignem projiciam and therefore he doth â—eseech men by the mercy of God That if any man could convince him of his errours he would for he was ready to retract them This hath incouraged me with all submission to speak my â—pprehensions out of the word though they are contrary unto that doctrine that hath been â—o anciently taught and so commonly received Herein I would speak unto three things 1 I would lay this for a ground That only â—â—rents can give the child a federal right 2 I would answer the instance given of the circumcising of servants born in Abrahams house or bought with his money though they were not of his seed and how far they had their right from Abraham 3 I would speak something to the ancient custom of Sureties or Godfathers in the primitive times 1. Only parents can give their children a federal right and none else and that I shall endeavor to make manifest to you by these arguments 1. From the nature of the Covenant which doth only take in his seed Abraham and his seed Noah and his seed the woman and her seed Gen. 3.35 9.9 17.7 Psal 89.29 David and his seed the holiness of branches it 's spoken of a federal holiness because it is applied to branches that were broken off therefore it is meant of a childs holiness and it doth proceed from the holiness of the root upon which they grew Rom. 11.16 and such a holiness as the converted Gentiles had for their seed by virtue of the same Covenant and therefore the children of believing parents are called the children of the Covenant Acts 3.25 as being a birth-right that belongs to them and as we may not with some deny them that which is their right so we are not of our own authority to appoint them coheirs some that shall share with them therein Mr. Calvin indeed saith Hîc certè locum habet regula vulgaris favores sunt ampliandi yet we should not limit the grace of the Covenant and stretch it beyond the rule of the Word and our grace in receiving men must not be larger than Gods grace manifested in the Covenant that he hath established wherein we do learn that the childs federal right is the confederate parents priviledge but never that a person in covenant hath a power having no seed to adopt any unto himself for spiritual priviledges or that he may extend them to any but those that God hath taken into covenant with him which is his seed an adoption in things temporal is allowed by the Law of God and man but that there should be in men adoption in things that are spiritual in reference to a covenant-right that is to extend the terms of the covenant beyond the line that God hath in his Word stretched forth It 's true Divinus sese obstrinixit Christo homini in persona Abrahami Zanch. Abraham was a publick person in the covenant of grace with whom as it were the covenant eminently began and he was as one hath well observed therein a type of Christ as David Psal 89.34 and therefore Abraham is said to be the father of us all Rom. 4.16 the father of many Nations but this is only in respect of the spiritual grace of the covenant and not the external spiritual priviledges of the covenant for the children of the promise are accounted for his seed though they were not of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh Rom. 4.12 yet they did walk in the steps of Abraham and were the children of his faith though not of his flesh but other Christians are not made publick persons in this respect as Adam Abraham and David were and therefore in reference to these outward spiritual priviledges they can convey them unto none but unto their seed whom the Lord takes into covenant with himself as appears in the Text and our grace must not be larger than Gods 1 Cor. 7.14 2. The Apostle 1 Cor. 7.14 lays down the rule plainly That the holiness of the child comes from the holiness of the immediate parent one or both and on the contrary the uncleanness of the child comes from the uncleanness of the parent else were they unclean but now are they holy it 's spoken here of a federal holiness as we have before proved and the Divines before quoted do grant if one of the parents be not in this respect holy the Apostle pronounceth their children unclean that is they have no federal holiness and if the Lord say that they are unclean who is it that can by his undertaking for their education make them holy till God by a work of conversion make them so It would make federal holiness which is one of the great priviledges of the second Covenant and an expression of the free grace of the Gospel to be a thing of small account if any man might say of the children of a Heathen It 's true neither of their parents was a Believer and the children are unclean by their birth but I will make them holy for I will undertake for their education this seems to be a way of holiness that was never appointed by the Spirit of
till then our iniquities are then perfectly blotted out when the time of refreshment shall come then a man shall be perfectly acquitted from all sin for ever and have an absolute sentence past upon him by God and in his own soul for ever As the Lord did give his Son by degrees and yet there is a further giving of him when he that is gone before shall come again and fetch you also there are degrees of giving of the Spirit and there is yet a further degree to come when the weak shall be as David so the Lord will be your God hereafter more eminently than he has been in giving you not only grace but glory Now as the Lord doth take up and possess the soul to himself as his habitation so he does more and more become a God to that soul who is never perfected till he come to glory till he enjoy him as he is Vse 1 § 4. 1. Look on the promises therefore as precious and store thy soul with them for they are all that you have to shew for an interest in God in this life that by which you hold your inheritance all is in promises the richest adornment and furniture that the soul can have in this life is grace and promises and therefore have thy inward man filled with them Vse 2 2. Upon all occasions stay thy sinking soul upon a promise for it 's as firm as the faithfulness of God and it 's grounded thereupon If there be any truth in the Covenant of Grace it lies in the promises of it on Gods part and we should observe the performance of promises as we do of prophecies Psal 144. as Austin says Ingrate Legis debitum cernis redditum non credis promissum Vngrateful wretch thou seest the debt of the Law paid and yet believest not the promise Vse 3 3. Look unto all the promises for their accomplishment The heirs of a promise have a great happiness that they have such an inheritance It 's â—er be as low as Hell with a promise Ego quidem sine Verbo ne in Paradiso optarim vivere at cum Verbo etiam in inferno vivere sacile est Luth. than with Adam in Paradise without it For it 's in the promises of the new Covenant in which the glory and the stability of the Covenant lies but if they be so sweet and precious in the contemplation and in the working of faith upon them while they are in hope only what must they needs be in the fruition The Wise man says The desire accompished is sweet unto the soul there is an unexpressible sweetness in it when the desire comes it's a tree of life it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitarum of lives there are all lives in it and it sets a man as it were in Paradise again And this is one thing that will make Heaven the sweeter because it is a perfect accomplishing of all those promises with which the soul was feasted and entertained here with the hopes of in its pilgrimage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom for Christ will be the sweeter when we come to Heaven because having not seen him yet we loved him here and we shall find him to be the same Christ in all things that before we heard him to be in the Gospel And so the society of the Saints Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the rest of the Saints in Heaven so much the more precious will they be by how much our hearts have been taken with any of them while they lived here and for this cause the promises may well be called precious 2 Pet. 1.4 2 Pet. 1.4 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies either precious or honourable to him that believes he is precious 1 Pet. 2. or an honour 1 as they are the price of his blood who was the Saviour of the World 2 as they are the evidences of our inheritance and all we have to shew for Heaven 3 as they are instruments of purification and sanctification 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 1.4 But 4 they are specially precious in this 1 that they are Gods part of the Covenant 2 this has been the happiness of the Saints and the contrary is noted as an imperfection in their condition here Heb. 11.13 These all dyed in faith not having received the promises it 's spoken of the ancient Saints of whom it 's said some of them attained promises and others of them received them not but only saw them afar off and saluted them c. and to attain promises is reckoned with stopping the mouths of lions and quenching the violence of fire and hereby there is more of God made known Exod. 6.3 By the name of Jehovah I was not known to them It 's spoken in reference unto the accomplishment of the promises and their attaining of them there is something further that God discovered and his name Jehovah further manifested to the Saints 3 specially in our times upon whom the ends or as some render it the perfections of the world are come for as the great harvest of the Church shall be in the latter days of the world so there shall be the great harvest both of prophecies and promises for the ancient Prophets did speak of good things to come but it was manifested unto them that they did not administer for themselves but for us 1 Pet. 1.12 they should be gathered to their Fathers and never live to see the good things that the Lord would do but should dye in the Wilderness as many of the ancient Saints of Israel did and never inherit the promised Land for all the things that the Lord hath spoken shall have their accomplishment at the sound of the seventh Trumpet shall the Mystery of God be finished Rev. 10.7 They are glorious things that the Lord has spoken of the latter days of the world and it 's a great unworthiness and lowness of spirit in Saints that they should be content and sit down satisfied whilst they go without any part of their inheritance and that they should think much of any thing they have attained si dicas sufficit c. It 's true that we are less than the least of all his mercies and we should think every one of them great to express our thankfulness but we should not think any of them great to nourish our slothfulness He that has an interest in the great God must strive to have his heart formed into a holy greatness of mind there is a lowness of spirit that does no ways become men that have high hopes and high expectations to be content to go without any thing that God has promised he has promised not only truth of grace but growth as the willows by the water-courses strength of grace strengthned with all might according to his glorious power comfort of grace as the Apostle has it to be filled with a spirit of consolation and to walk in the assurance
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
he is not the God of thy mercy and his patience and long-suffering thou hast no claim to but all these Attributes shall joyn also with Justice in their pleas against thee what is there that can stand in the way to hinder the fulness of wrath from falling on such a soul 4. The perfection of this misery thou wilt never know till thou comest unto Hell as the fulness of this promise can never be known by the Saints till they come to Heaven here you may enjoy your inheritance in creatures and promises but thou that art a Saint shalt enter one day upon the inheritance of Attributes more fully than can be enjoyed here there where they all shall be set forth gloriously for thee in their full lustre to make thee happy in the Lord so also it shall be a mans utmost misery when he comes to Hell that all the Attributes of God shall be in his utmost extremity turned against him for ever and thou shalt know God to be perfectly an enemy unto thee and all that is in God as he is the God of his people all that is in him is for them so all that is in him is against thee And then every Attribute shall act to the full for ever Here in this life Justice doth not act its utmost and God does not stir up all his wrath there is by the Kingdom of Christ not only a benefit comes upon all the creatures for they all stand and continue in their being by it but there is a suspension upon the workings of all the Attributes of God towards wicked men that though they have an evil eye at them from day to day as 't is said God is angry with the wicked every day yet he does not immediately break forth against them but when the Kingdom shall be given up unto God the Father and God shall be all in all this restraint upon the Attributes in the actings of them shall cease and every Attribute shall have its perfect work against thee for ever and then he will shew his power upon the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Vse 2 2. Take comfort in the Attributes of God look upon these as the main of thy inheritance and shelter and shrowd thy self under them from day to day for this is your strong hold you are prisoners of hope and this is the desire of the Saints As Bernard de Amore Dei cap. 1. speaks in reference unto Christ he would not only touch him with Thomas and put his finger into his side c. sed totus intrem usque ad ipsum cor Jesu c. in sanctum sanctorum I would enter wholly even into the very heart of Jesus c. into the holy of holies So should the soul wholly hide it self in these Chambers this secret of his Pavilion 1. In the middle of all creature-comforts and inward consolations of thy Spirit let thy heart rise from them and say Surely this is not my portion there is indeed a great deal of sweetness in this but yet there is much more in that which is my portion a gracious heart should rise in this manner and please it self with thinking if there be sweetness on Earth much more in Heaven Si adeò splendeat terrestris Roma saith Fulgent So we should rise from our priviledges and comforts below and our inheritance in them to that in God and so as Christ comforts himself in this Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance 2. If at any time God takes away the creatures from thee retire unto him and say Lord my portion was not in them I can stand upon the ruines of the world and can say I have lost nothing for the time will come when God will put an end unto all creature-comforts and he will supply all immediately in himself and therefore so he give thee more of himself it 's no matter what thou dost lose of all things else Christ says Mat. 21.22 that man hath a treasure Now where there is so there are some Exchequer-days when the Treasure comes in a worldly man that has his treasure and portion in this life when God takes away the creatures his soul dyes within him that 's the best day to him that brings in most of that treasure but he that has his portion in the Lord can rejoyce in his income that way even when he is deprived of the creatures and it 's a disparagement unto God not to rejoyce in him alone as if there were not enough in him as Elkanah told his wife Am not I better to thee than ten sons Cannot all my comforts be supplied in thee 3. Do not unworthily fear the fear of man it is true that they do speak high and they will threaten much and the people of God are apt sinfully to fear because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready to destroy and so by and by are apt to say a confederacy with the wicked O! should you fear who have infinite wisdom and infinite power of your own either to disappoint or to resist it doth plainly argue that you are not acquainted with and do not make use of your interest in the Attributes of God in Covenant Should such a man as I fear and should my heart quail and fear in the evil times Let us never profane the name of the Lord our God in this manner Mark 8.17 18. says Christ Why reason you because you have no bread perceive you not have you your hearts yet hardned when I brake the five loaves c It 's the most unworthy thought that could lodge in you after so much experience of my power and provision for you to think you should want consider you have had so much experience of my power and infinite wisdom that has wrought for you when your own reason was at a non plus and infinite power when your hands did hang down and your knees feeble consider the setting forth of every Attribute of God and delight your souls in it Hos 13.3 He will scatter them as smoak out of a chimney A man should look upon them and laugh them to scorn from a high assurance Luther that vincet mea audacia in Christo this raiseth in the soul only true courage and a holy greatness of mind 4. Look upon the Attributes as having an interest in them and as in a strait you eye a promise and expect its accomplishment do the same with attributes also and thereby honour them by taking hold of them if thou sin eye mercy the Lord merciful and gracious pardoning iniquity transgression and sin if thou want wisdom look on him as the Father of lights and if power be strong in the Lord and the power of his might c. And sometimes thou mayst have no creatures no hills to look to then look towards God when thou knowest not what to do it may be there are no promises that thy soul can
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
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
perfected here below the Kingdom shall be given up into the hands of the Father again and thus Christ as Mediator as sent by the living Father so he received from him a fourfold life and therefore may be fitly said to live by the Father Joh. 5.26 But it may be objected from Joh. 5.26 As the Father hath life in himself so he has given to the Son to have life in himself How is it said that Christ hath life in himself when he receives his life from the Father I answer Christs meaning is this he did publish himself to be the fountain of life and he doth commonly tell you that there is a double fountain of life 1 there is the living Father but so life could not have been derived unto us being dead for there is no way to receive any thing from God but by the hand of a Mediator therefore the Father hath appointed another fountain of life and that is his Son and in him he hath laid up life as in a common Treasury though as Mediator the fountain of his life be in God yet in reference unto us the Father hath given him to have life in himself it 's not spoken of him as he is man but as he doth raise the dead by an Almighty power and they shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live as he is an everlasting Father and begets souls unto the Lord and as it is given unto him and therefore it must belong to him as Mediator and not as God and it is said He has given this power to him because he is the Son of man therefore the meaning is that God the Father being the fountain of life man being fallen and separated from God and dead in trespasses and sins now if the Lord will convey life unto us it must be by another hand and therefore he hath made the Son the fountain of life and the fulness thereof to dwell in him and so the Son has life in himself as the Father has life in himself the Father conveys it to the Son and the Son receives it of purpose to derive it unto us 3. Having seen what the life is that the Son receives from the living Father and how he lives by the Father let us in the next place consider how we that are members live by the Son also and it will appear that answerably to the life that Christ received from the Father so is he the fountain of life unto the Saints 1 A life of Justification for he is become Jehovah our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 2 Cor. 5.21 we are made the righteousness of God in him so that there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus for the debt is paid and the bond is cancelled for the Lord hath brought in an everlasting Righteousness and such as sin can never spend Thus we live by him a life of Justification he is made unto us of God wisdom and righteousness 2 We have from him a life of Holiness and Regeneration we are dead in our trespasses and in the uncircumcision of our life till by him we are quickned and therefore 1 Cor. 15.44 it 's said The first man Adam was made a living soul that was his state in his creation and God did breathe into him the breath of life and he became a living soul that is such a nature as he had such he could propagate unto his posterity and so from the first Adam we are made living souls but if they were dead Adam could not revive and quicken them again and therefore that belongs to the second Adam he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in spiritum vivificum for a vivifick spirit we have the unction from the holy One 1 Joh. 2.20 and therefore the Spirit that we receive and that dwells in us is the Spirit of the Son he is the head from whence our influences come and he is the root from which all our sap is derived it is of his fulness only that we receive grace for grace 3 We receive from Christ a life of consolation for he it is that sends the Comforter the message is Esay 61.2 he is sent to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captive and to publish the acceptable year of the Lord the year of Jubilee the time of rejoycing Isa 57.15 his work is to revive the spirits of the contrite ones he gives them strong consolation and good hope through grace Hab. 3.2 and that 's the meaning of that place Hab. 3.2 Revive thy work in the middle of the years The Church was then in captivity and in great affliction and they were as dead men under the hand of God it is such a reviving that they beg and all the incomes that the Saints have from the Spirit of consolation it is a life that is derived unto them from the Lord Jesus Christ from whom the Spirit of Sanctification comes from him comes also the Spirit of Consolation 4 We receive from Christ a life of Glory he is gone to Heaven as our Fore-runner and having prepared a place for us he will come again and fetch us we can never be received up to glory if Christ had not been first received and then he receives us also into the same glory we enter into our masters joy it is his by a personal purchase and propriety it is ours by our mystical union and fellowship with him only and therefore it is said That he doth raise us up at the last day And Phil. 3.21 He shall change our vile body that it may be like to his glorious body and when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.3 so that our life is hid with Christ in God but when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory Col. 3.3 4. God the Father is the fountain of life unto the Saints and that two ways 1 as he is the fountain of life unto Christ and as he lives by the Father 2 As by the Fathers appointment and decree he is made the fountain of life unto us 1 As the Father is the fountain of life unto Christ for Joh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live if he did not give himself we could not live by him Now Col. 3.4 And when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in glory Christ is our life causativè non essentialiter c. and he gives us life because he hath life in himself but that is given him from the Father there is a righteousness in him by which we are accepted and the fulness of habitual grace in him by which we are sanctified all this is laid up in him by the Father it is upon this ground only that he is the fountain of life unto us because he himself lives by the Father therefore in all the glory of Christ Rom. 5.10 the Father should be honoured
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
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
without a yoke and consider that they have no Law but the wills of the flesh and of the mind the Law of sin and death we shall all say O blessed is the man whom the Lord rules and reigns over the Lord rules and reigns let the Saints rejoyce c. 7 In his government they do behold him in his glory for he that doth rule in them doth also dwell in them as in a Temple and he walks amongst them continually Esa 33.17 Thine eyes shall see the King in his glory Now there are many men that are ruled by Kings that never see them but this is a Court where they may see their King and it is the Palace of the great King where he is always to be seen by his Subjects the meanest as well as the greatest non factio sed curia dicenda est Cyprian It 's not a government at a distance in remote parts but so as he takes up his dwelling place there and they are joyful in their King let the children of Zion be joyful in their King always but never so much as when they see him in glory 8 They have a communion with his person all the while there are many that have a benefit by his government that have no fellowship with his person but the Queen the Bride the Lambs wife she has the fruit of his government and communion with his person and delights in his love and in his glory also and the King sits at his round table and we eat with him we sup with him and our souls rejoyce in his salvation his left hand is under our head and his right hand embraceth us he brings us into his banquetting-house and the banner of love is over us as a Bridegroom over his Bride while he rules us as a King he doth delight in us and we have communion with him as a husband continually § 2. There is an external part of the Covenant and so there is of the Kingdom which is the rule and the government that Christ hath over the spirits of those that are under the spiritual kingdom by profession only unregenerate men that joyn to the Church and are with them under the dew and influence of the Ordinances and of the common works of the Spirit of God in them for Rev. 4.5 Rev. 4.5 There are burning before the throne seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God the Throne is an expression of Majesty and government for unto the King belongs the Throne the Scepter and the Crown they are properly insignia regia c. and by the seven Spirits is meant the Holy Ghost that 's clear from Chap. 1.4 where he wisheth grace and peace from the seven Spirits of God by which surely is meant the Holy Ghost for we are to make our prayers unto God only but yet it is seven Spirits because of the variety of graces and gifts which he doth pour out upon the Church of Christ in his administration and government and here we may observe two things 1 That the spiritual kingdom of God doth not only extend to his rule over the Saints which are his subjects by election and regeneration but also that there is a great deal of dominion which he has even over them that are the subjects of this kingdom only by profession 2 That the rule and dominion that Christ doth exercise over these is for the sake and for the good of the Saints and that they themselves have no benefit by it in the end but all doth turn unto the advantage and the spiritual improvement of them that are heirs of salvation so that the administration unto unregerate men as members of the Church visible is for the good of those that are members of the Church invisible 1. The spiritual kingdom of Christ doth extend even unto unregenerate men who are the subjects of it by profession only where we are to take notice That there are many give their names unto Christ who never give their hearts who have the name of Christ written in their foreheads which have not his image instamped upon their souls 2 Cor. 9.13 there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a profession which is not always accompanied with a real and spiritual subjection unto the Gospel 2. These are all the while subjects to another kingdom for till vocatio alta secreta there be a deep and secret vocation a man is never translated Col. 1.13 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is è natali solo c. a man is actually under the kingdom of Satan still for while a man is of the world though he be in the Church he is of the worlds kingdom for they are not all of us that are amongst us not all Israel that are of Israel there are some do say that they are Jews and are not but do lye but are of the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2.9 for the world lies in wickedness in aliquo positum esse est in ejus esse potestate as Cameron hath observed there are many enemies that live in a kingdom against which they conspire and endeavour to destroy it Jesus Christ after this life shall rule over his enemies but in this life he rules in the middle of them Psal 110.2 3. Yet while they do live and in outward shew continue the subjects of this kingdom so long they are to be looked upon in outward shew as subjects and the priviledges of subjects belong unto them they are servants Joh. 8.35 But the servant abides not in the house always there will come a time when the Lord will say Cast out the bond-woman and her son Gal. 4. but yet while they are in the house they do enjoy many priviledges and benefits by being in the family they partake of the sap and the fatness of the good olive Rom. 11.17 and yet be afterwards broken off 4. But they shall not continue subjects of this kingdom always though for a season the tares and the wheat the sheep and the goats may stand together till the day of separation good and bad be in the net together till the one be gathered into the vessel and the bad be cast away for though the spiritual kingdom in respect of Christ shall have no end but Christ shall be so a King in glory that he shall never cease to be a head of eminence or of influence or of guidance for the mystical Union shall never be broken no more than the hypostatical yet his kingdom in respect of those that profess it is but for the time of this life natural worship shall be in glory and they are only Saints that worship Christ therewith but there is instituted worship that is only for the time of this life and it is in this that they worship him and become subjects to him Mat. 8.12 but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out at the last Joh. 15.2 there are branches that bear no fruit in this Vine
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
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
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