so the Seed of the Woman must be taken collectively that the opposition may be fit 2. The enmities fore-spoken do strongly evince it now the enmities pertain both to Eve and to all her posterity if godly to the end of the world hence all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 3.18 And I will put enmity saith God between thee the woman is that all no but also between thy Seed and her Seed and who can deny but these enmities have been ever since betwixt Satans brood and the Saints we are all wrestlers against Principalities and Powers and Rulers of the darkness of this World Ephes 6.12 and against spiritual wickednesses in high places 5. What is that Hu in our Bible translated it it shall bruise thy head Some observe this Hu it is of the masculine gender and Zera Seed is of the masculine gender Jesaphera shall bruise is of the masculine gender which confutes the Translation that renders it thus she shal bruise thy head and which confirms our Translation which is thus he or it or that same Seed i. one singular person of that same Seed shall bruise thy head Well then who is this he or what one is he even Jesus the Son of the Living God Here is the first hint of Jesus that ever was read or heard of in this world This was the Proto-evangel or first Gospel that ever was published after the Creation O blessed news fit for Gods mouth to speak and to break first to the world now fallen O dear parents how would you have dispaired if before sentence you had not heard this blessed tydings O our first Parents upon Earth where had you and we been if this blessed Text had not been Come set a Star upon it write it in letters of Gold or rather write it on the very Tables of our Hearts here is the blessedst news that ever was or ever shall be but for this we had been all Fire-brands of Hell yea but for this Adam and Eve and all their Sons and Daughters that are now gone out of this World had been smoaking and frying in Hell-fire Away with all gross mistakes Erroneous conceits and as you love your Souls yeild to this blessed sense This it or he is one of that same Seed and this one of that same seed is Jesus and only Jesus and none but Jesus and for this sense we have these arguments 1. Some observe that this Sentence is separated from the former with a Period or great stop however God goes on to speak of the Seed of the Woman yet he says not and that Seed shall bruise thy head for so we might have thought he had spoken of that Seed collectively as he did before but stopping there and not repeating the same word again he gives it thus it or he shall bruise thy head i. some individual person of that same Seed some singular one of that same common Seed of the Woman shall bruise thy head as David alone of all the Host of Israel goes forth to fight with Goliah and overcomes him so Christ alone of all the Seed of the Woman was so to fight with the Serpent by his own power as to overcome him and to bruise his head 2. The Seventy in their Translations of this place with which agrees the Chaldee Paraphrast renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he which needs most denote some singular person or Son of the woman and the rather because the Seed spoken of before is rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which if the relative had rightly agreed it should have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hereto we may add that to this it or he the Seed of the Serpent is not opposed as it was in the former sentence but the Serpent it self one singular Antagonist here is singularis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a duel or a combate of two hand to hand only Christand the Serpent he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel 3. The bruising of the head doth plainly discover this it or he is Jesus Christ for non can bruise the Serpents head but only God the God of peace saith the Apostle shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly Now there was none of the Seed of the Woman Rom. 16.10 that was ever God but only Christ God-Man Man-God blessed for ever and therefore it must needs be Christ and only Christ that can bruise this Serpents head O there 's a Divine Power a power and vertue of God in it to bruise the Serpents head observe but the manner of this Duel Christ treads on the Serpent and by this means he comes to have a bruise in the heel whilst with his heel he bruiseth the Serpents head a wonderful thing that Christ should lay at the Serpents head with no other weapon but only with his heel it were much for any man to strike at any common Serpent with a bare and naked foot rather would he take a dart or club or any other Weapon but with a foot to bruise Satans head that great and fierce and monsterous Serpent this exceeds any mans power or any mans daring to attempt hence it is that some one person of more than human strength must do this deed and who is that of the Seed of the Woman but only Jesus Christ 4. God himself in other places of Scripture doth expresly declare that this Seed here promised is Christ and only Christ mark but where this promise is repeated to the Patriarches as when the Lord said to Abraham Gen. 22.18 in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed and when the Lord said to David I will raise up thy Seed after thee which shall be of thy Sons and I will establish his Kingdom 1 Chro. 17.11 and you may see it clear that this Seed is Christ and only Christ concerning that promise to Abraham the Apostle so interprets it now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not Gal. 3.16 and to Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ and concerning that promise to David the Prophet so interprets it He shall sit upon the Throne of David Isa 9.6 7 and upon his Kingdom to order it to establish it who is that in the former verse his name is Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace i. Christ and none but Christ for unto us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given c. and who is that but Jesus Christ 5. The accomplishment of this Promise in Christ is expresly and clearly made out in the New Testament Was not Jesus Christ of the Seed of the Woman born of a Virgin was not his heel bruised himself Crucified and did he not bruise the Serpents head break the Power and
Devil and man as well as betwixt the Devil and the woman but because the woman had more tampered with Satan and being deceived by Satan was first in the transgression therefore is she onely named I will put enmity between thee and the woman 2. Betwixt Satans seed and the seed of the woman I will put enmity not onely between thee and the woman but also between thy seed and her seed q.d. This enmity shall not cease with the death of the woman but it shall continue to her seed and to her seeds seed even to the end of the World We see to this day how the Serpent and Serpents seed are striving and warring against the Church and a wonder it is considering the malice of the enemy that there is a Church upon Earth but onely that we have Christs promise The gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it and lo I am with you alwayes even to the end of the World 3. Betwixt Christ and the Serpent O this a bloody conflict on both sides he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel 1. He shall bruise thy head Christ shall break thy power thy power i.e. the power of the Serpent or of the Devil himself he fights not so much with the seed as with the Serpent if Satan be overthrown his seed cannot stand 2. Thou shalt bruise his heel thou shalt afflict him and his thou shalt cast out of thy mouth a flood of persecutions thou shalt make warre with him Rev. 12.17 and all them which keep the Commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ I have held you a while in the explication of this first promise and the rather because of the darkness of it and the much sweetness that is contained in it it is full of Gospel-truths strike but the flint and there will fly out these glorious sparkles 1. That a Saviour was promised from the beginning of the world 2. That this Saviour should free all his Saints from sin death and hell the head and power of the Devil 3. That to this end this Saviour should be a Mediator for God would not grant an immediate pardon but the promised seed must first intervene 4. That this Mediator should be of the seed of the woman that is a man and yet stronger then the Devil indued with a Divine power and so he is God 5. That this Man-God should according to his Priestly office be a Sacrifice for sin the Serpent should bruise his heel he should suffer and dye for the people and yet accordingly to his Kingly office he should overcome Satan for he should bruise his head overthrow his Kingdom and make us more than Conquerors in him that loved us 6. That this promise of Christ and of our justification is free God of meer mercy and free-grace brings forth this promise there could be now after the fall no merit in man and even now he promiseth remission of sins and life Eternal in for and through the Lord Jesus Christ No question but in belief of this promise the Patriarchs and Fathers of old obtained life glory and immortality By faith the Elders obtained a good report by faith Abel obtained witness that he was righteous by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see Death by faith Noah became heir of the righteousness of Christ how should it but revive us in these last times to hear that the first thing that ever God did after the World was fallen it was this act of mercy to make a promise of Christ and to reconcile lost man to himself through the same Jesus Christ surely he began to do that soon which he meant to be alwayes a doing even to the end of the World Thus far of the promise as it was manifested from Adam to Abraham SECT III. Of the Covenant of promise as manifested to Abraham THe second breaking forth of this gracious Covenant was to Abraham and now it shines in a more glorious light then it did before at first it was propounded in very dark and cloudy termes not easie to be understood and most things sparingly expressed but in this second rise and manifestation we have it laid down in plainer termes I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generation Gen. 17 1â— for an everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee For the right understanding of this we shall examine these particulars 1. What a Covenant is 2. What is the establishing of this Covenant 3. Betwixt whom is the Covenant to be established 4. For what time is the established Covenant to endure 5. What are the priviledges of this Covenant 6. What is the condition of this Covenant 7. Who is the head both as undertaker and purchaser and treasurer upon whom this Covenant is established 1. What is a Covenant It is a contract of mutual peace and good will obliging parties on both hands to the performing of mutual benefits and offices Thus was the Covenant betwixt God and Abraham there was a mutual stipulation in it on Gods part to performe his promises of temporal spiritual and Eternal grace and on Abrahams part to receive this grace by faith and to performe due obedience and thankfulness to God Hence a little nearer we say the Covenant is a mutual compact or agreement betwixt God and man whereby God promiseth all good things especially Eternal happiness unto man and man doth promise to walk before God in all acceptable free and willing obedience expecting all good from God and happiness in God according to his promise for the praise and glory of his grace Others describing the Covenant of grace for with the Covenant of works we will not meddle they give it thus The Covenant of grace is a free and gracious compact which God of his meer mercy in Jesus Christ hath made with sinful man promising unto him pardon of sins and eternal happiness If he will but repent of sin and embrace mercy reached forth by faith unfeigned and walk before God in willing faithful and sincere obedience In this description many things are considerable As 1. That the Author of this Covenant is God not as our Creator but as our merciful God and Father in Christ Jesus 2. That the cause of this Covenant is not any worth or dignity or merit in man but the meer mercy love and favour of God 3. That the foundation of this Covenant is Jesus Christ in and through whom we are reconciled unto God for since God and man were separated by sin no Covenant can pass betwixt them no reconciliation can be expected nor pardon obtained but in and through a Mediator 4. That the party Covenanted with is sinful man the fall of our first Parents was the occasion of this Covenant and God was pleased to permit the fall that he might manifest the riches of his mercy in mans recovery 5. That the form of
the next Sections SECT II. Of the Covenant of promise as manifested to Adam THe Covenant of grace in this sense is nothing else but a compact made betwixt God and man touching reconciliation and life Eternal by Christ Now the first breaking forth of this gracious Covenant was to Adam and Eve immediatly after the fall expressed in these words I will put enmity between thee and the woman Gen 3 19. and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel This promise as it is the first so the hardest to be understood it contains in it good news of the overthrow of Satans Kingdome and of mans freedom by the death of Christ But the obscurity is such that Luther exceedingly complains Textus qui omnibus debebat esse notissimus a nemine quod ego sciam diligentor accurate explicatus c. Luther Gen. 3.14 the Text which of all men should rightly be known is of no man that I know saith he especially and accurately unfolded amongst the Antients there is not one that hath explicated this Text according to the dignity of it The occasion was this The Lord looking down from heaven and seeing how Satan had prevailed against man and in some sort undone the whole fabrick of the creation he resolves upon Satans ruine and mans preservation And the Lord God said unto the Serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed This literally is understood of the Serpent but Spiritually of the Devil both were as means to draw man unto sin and therefore they are joyned as one in the punishment The Lord cut off the feet of the Serpent say the Rabbies and cursed him R. Eliezer c. 14. and he cast Samael the Devil and his company out of heaven cursed them Indeed man being in the transgression must also have his punnishment as it follows vers 17 18 19. and yet that God might manifest the riches of his grace he includes in the Serpents malediction this everlasting Gospel I will put enmity between thee and the woman c. For the sense of the Words we shall open these termes as 1. Who is the Serpent 2. Who is the woman 3. What is the seed of the Serpent 4 What is the seed of the woman 5. What is that Hu in our Bible translated it 6. What is the Serpents head and the bruising of it 7. What is the heel of the seed of the woman and the bruising of it 8. Amongst whom was the enmity or rather enmities for in the Text we find many Armies I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed c. 1. Who is the Serpent I find diversity of opinions among Interpreters Some say it was onely the Serpent and that which belongs unto Satan is but mystically understood others say it was onely Sathan under the notion of a Serpent as sometimes he is called the great Dragon And the great Dragon was cast out that old Serpent called the Devil Rev. 12.9 and Satan which deceived the whole world Others say it was both Satan and the Serpent as men are said to be possessed of Satan so was the Serpent possessed of the Devil Satan could not provoke our first parents to sin by any inward temptation as now he doth by the help of our corruption nor could he enter into their bodies or minds because of the holiness and glory that was in them and therefore he presumed to take a beast of the earth and by disposing of his Tongue he speaks within him But what must the Serpent have punishment that was only Satans instrument in the temptation yes Such was Gods love to man that he condemns both the Author and instrument of that that evil as one that in anger breaks the sword wherewith his son or his friend was wounded so Gods breaks Satans sword the Serpent is punnished according to the letter of the Text and Satan is punished in the spiritual meaning of the Lord. Who is the woman Some are all for Allegories and thy will tell you that the Serpent and the Woman are the superiour inferiour faculties of the Soul and that ever since the Fall there hath been a continual War betwixt these but I look at this Commentary as vain and trifling though it be fathered on some of the Antients and of no small note others say this Woman is the Blessed Virgin in relation to which they read the last words thus she shall bruise thy head this reading is not only allowed but confirmed by the Councel of Trent and in some of their Prayer-books thy call her The Mother of the Lord the Tree of Life the breaker of the Serpents head and the Gate of Heaven But I look on this Commentary as ignorant Idolatrous Antiphona de domina nostra secundum usum Eccles Hildenshem and wholly derogatory to the Kingdom of Christ Others are not so easily mislead and therefore say that the Woman wheresoever mentioned in this Text is Eve and none but Eve she it was whom the tempter had seduced and in just judgment for her familiarity with the tempter God meets with her I will put enmity saith God between thee and the Woman 3. What is the Seed of the Serpent in Scripture phrase Seed is sometimes taken collectively for many at once as when the Lord said to Abraham I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed Gen. 17 17 18 and to thee and thy Seed will I give this Land and I will multiply thy Seed as the sand of the Sea and sometimes it is taken singularly for one only person thus Eve called her Son Seth for God said she hath appointed me another Seed instead of Abel Gen. 4.25 Gen. 22.18 and so it is said of Christ in thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Now in this place the Seed of the Serpent is taken collectively for all the families of Devils Mat. 25.4 for the Devil and his Angels as Christ calls them and for all the Sons of the Devil i. for all reprobate men whose Father and Prince is the Devil as Christ told the Jews ye are of your Father the Devil John 8 44 and the lusts of your Father ye will do and as John tells us 1 John 3 8 10 he that committeth sin is of the Devil in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil and thus both Devils and reprobates are reckoned as the seed of the Serpent 4. What is the Seed of the Woman The Seed of the Woman is that posterity of the Woman which do not degenerate into the Seed of the Serpent that is the meaning of the first sentence I will put enmity and then it follows between thy Seed and her Seed and for this sense we have these arguments 1. The opposition of the Seeds for as the Seed of the Serpent is taken collectively
Dominion of Satan What saith the Gospel 1 John 3.8 Luk 10 17 18 19. for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil And the seventy returned again with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject unto us through thy Name and he said unto them I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven behold I give unto you power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you Joh. 12.31 Heb. 2.14 And now is the judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out And for as much as children are partakers of flesh and blood He also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil In these and many other places we find this very promise fulfilled in Christ and only in Christ and therefore he and only he is the Seed of the Woman that Hu it or he that shall bruise the Serpents head Yet I will not deny but by way of participation this promise may pertain to the whole Body of Christ Rom. 8 37 Through him that loved us we are more than Conquerours saith the Apostle we may Conquer Satan though not in our own strength but Christs and so in a secondary sense by way of communication with Christ under this Seed all the faithful are and may be contained 1. Because the Head and Members are all one Body Heb. 2.11 Isa 53.10 both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one 2. Because the faithful are called the seed of Christ when thou shalt make his Soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed 3. Because Sathan doth not only bruise the heel of Christ but of all the faithful 2 Tim. â— 12 Rom. 16.20 all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 4. Because Satans overthrow by Christ our Head is diffused to all the Members and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly In this sence many of the ancient and modern Divines do extend this seed to the whole Body of Christ but primarily originally especially and properly it belongs only to Christ and to none but the Lord Jesus Christ He only is the seed by whom the promise is accomplished though the faithful also are the seed to whom and for whom the promise was made 6. What is the Serpents head and the bruising of it 1. For the Serpents head it is the power rage reigne and Kingdom of Satan It is observed that in the head of a Serpent lies the strength power and life of a Serpent so by a phraise of speech fitted to the condition of this Serpent that was Satans instrument God tels the Devil of the danger of his head i.e. of his power and Kingdom now this power and Kingdom of Satan consists more especially in sin and death for the sting of death is sin and the power of death is in Satan 2 Cor. 15.26 Heb. 2.14 Hence sin and death are usually called the works and wages of Satan they are his own he owns them and carries them at his girdle 2. For the bruising of this head it is the overthrowing of Satans power he shall bruise thy head i.e. Christ shall break thy power Christ shall destroy sin and death and him that had the power of death that is the Devil 1 Joh. 2.13 I say Christ shall do it though as I have said in a secondary sense the faithful shall do it Christ overcomes by his own power and the faithfull overcome by the power of Christ the victory is common to all the seed but the Author of victory is only Christ the Head and chief of all the seed Rom. 16.20 ye have overcome the evil one but how not of your selves no it is the God of peace that bruiseth Satan Well then here is the sense the Serpents head is bruised i.e. the Devil and sin and death and hell are overthrown not only the Devil in his person but the works of the Devil which by the fall he had planted in our natures as pride vain glory ignorance lust c. nor only Satans works but the fruits and effects of his works as Death and Hell so that all the faithfull may sing with Paul O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory thanks be to God which giveth us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Cor. 15 5â— 57. 7. What is the heel of the seed of the woman and the bruising of it 1. For the heel it is the humanity of Christ according to which properly Christ hath an heel Or as others it is the wayes of Christ which Satan by all the means he could possibly would seek to suppress 2. For the bruising of his heel it is the miseries mockings woundings Death and Burial of Christ all which he endured in his heel i.e. in his humanity or it extends further to all the hurts reproaches afflictions persecutions of the faithful by the Devil and his agents all which are but as a bruise in the heel which cannot endanger the spiritual life of their souls It is observed that the Serpent hath but one head but the seed of the woman hath two heels so that the one may be some help while the other is hurt besides an hurt in the heel is far from the head and heart and though it may be painful it is not mortal Indeed Christs heel was bruised i.e. He was delivered to death even to the death of the Cross yet he rose again from the dead neither had the Devil any advantage by his death for as angry Bees stinging once make themselves droanes so the Devil now he may hiss at us but he cannot hurt us by that wound which Christ received at his death he wounded all his enemies irrecoverably the very sight it self was Christs triumph even then was the Kingdom of darkness utterly overthrown sin death and Satan were conquered and taken captive and whatsoever might be brought against us was taken away as the least bill or scroll O blessed riddle Judg. 14.14 Out of the Eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness In reference to the promise thou shalt bruise his heel Rev. 13.8 Christ is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World Here 's good news betimes 8. Amongst whom was the enmity or this hostile war we find in the Text three Hosts and three battels As 1. Betwixt Satan and the woman I will put enmity between thee and the woman i.e. Betwixt thee the seducer and her whom thou hast seduced This enmity is opposed to the amity and familiarity which had been between the woman and the Serpent and upon that account the woman and not the man is named not but that enmity must be betwixt the
of his wrath is come who shall be able to stand And yet despair not cheer up O my soul for in the very midst of wrath God is pleased to remember Mercy even now when all the world should have been damned a Jesus is proclaimed and promised and he it is that must die according to the Commination for he is our surety and he it is that by Death must overcome Death and the Devil it shall bruise thy Head said God to Satan q. d. Come Satan thou hast taken Captive ten thousands of souls Adam and Eve are now ensnared and in their loynes all the men and women that ever shall be from this beginning of the world to the end thereof now is thy day of triumph now thou keepest Holy-day in Hell but thou shalt not carry it thus I foresaw from all Eternity what thou hast done I knew thou wouldest dig a hole through the comely and beautiful frame of the Creation but I have decreed of old a Counter-work out of the seed of the woman shall spring a Branch and he shall bruise thy head he shall break thy Power he shall tread thy Dominion under foot he shall lead thy Captivity Captive he shall take away sin he shall point out to Men and Angels the glory of heaven and a new world of free grace In this promise O my soul is foulded and wrapped up thy hope thy heaven thy salvation and therefore consider of it turn it upside down look on all sides of it view it over and over there is a Jesus in it it is a field that contains in the bowels of it a precious treasure there is in it a Saviour a Redeemer a Deliverer from sin death and hell are not these dainties to feed upon are not these rarities to dwell on in our meditations 2. Consider Jesus in that next promise made to Abraham Gen. 17.7 I will establish thy Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee in respect of this Covenant Abraham is called the Father of the Faithfull Rom. 4.11 Gal. 3.7 and they which are of the Faith are called the Children of Abraham And O my soul if thou art in Covenant with God surely thou dost by Faith draw it through Abraham to whom this promise was made for if ye be Christ's then are ye Abrahams Seed and heirs according to the promise Consider what a mercy is this Gal. 3 29. that God should enter into a Covenant with thee in the loins of Abraham God made a promise of Christ and inclusively a Covenant of Grace in his comforting Adam but he makes a Covenant expresly under the name of Covenant with Abraham and his seed O muse and be amazed What that the great and glorious God of heaven and earth should be willing to make himself a debtor to us O my soul think of it seriously he is in heaven and thou art on earth he is the Creator and thou art his Creature Ah what art thou or what is thy Fathers house that thou shouldest be raised up hitherto The very Covenant is a wonder as it Relates to God and us what is it but a compact an agreement a tying a binding of God and us When Jehoshaphat and Ahab were in Covenant see how Jehoshaphat expresseth himself I am as thou art my people as thy people 1 King 21.4 my horses as thy horses So it is betwixt God and us If once he gives us the Covenant then his strength is our strength his power is our power his armies are our armies his attributes are our attributes we have interest in all there is an offensive and a defensive Language as I may say betwixt God and us and if we put him in mind of it in all our straits he cannot deny us As it was with the Nations allied to Rome if they fought at any time the Romans were bound in honour to defend them and they did it with as much diligence as they defended their own City of Rome so it is with the people allied to God he is bound in honour to defend his People and he will do it if they implore his aid how else is it possible God should break his Covenant will he not stir up himself to scatter his and our spiritual enemies Certainly he will Thus runs the tenour of his Covenant I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee This is the general promise I may call it the Mother-Promise that carries all other Promises in its womb we find a Jesus in this promise consider that it is God in Christ that is held forth to us in this phrase I will be as a God to thee O sweet Here is the greatest promise that ever was made Christ God is more than Grace Pardon Holiness Heaven as the Husband is more excellent than the Marriage-Robe Bracelets Rings the Well and Fountain of Life is of more excellency than the streams Christ Jesus the objective happiness is far above a created and formal Beatitude which issueth from him O my Soul is not this worthy of thy inmost consideration But of this more in the next 3. Consider Jesus in that promise made to Moses and the Israelites I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage Much hath been said to this Promise before as matter of thy Consideration but to contract it consider in the Promise the sufficiency and propriety 1. Here is sufficiency it is a promise of infinite worth an hid treasure a rich possession an overflowing blessing which none can rightly value it is no less than the great and mighty and infinite God if we had a promise of an hundred worlds or often heavens this is more than all heaven indeed is beautiful but God is more beautiful for he is the God of heaven and hence it is that the Saints in heaven are not satisfied without their God it is a sweet expression of Bernard As whatsoever we give unto thee Lord unless we give our selves cannot satisfie thee so whatsoever thou givest unto us Lord unless thou givest thy self it cannot satisfie us and hence it is that as God doth make the Saints his Portion so God is the Portion and Inheritance of his Saints Consider the greatness the goodness the all-sufficiency of this promise I am the Lord thy God! No question but Moses had many other rich promises from God but he could not be satisfied without God himself if thy presence be not with us bring us not hence And no wonder for without God all things are nothing Exod. 33.15 but in the want of all other things God himself is instead of all It is Gods alone Prerogative to be an universal good The things of this world can but help in this or that particular thing as Bread against hunger Drink against thirst
direct and then encourage First for direction let souls be acquainted how to act their Faith on Christ in respect of his Life The manner of its proceedings I suppose is thus 1. Faith must directly go to Christ Many poor souls humbled for sin and taken off from their own bottom they run immediately to the promise of pardon and close with it and rest on it not seeking for or closing with Christ in the promise this is a common error among thousands but we should observe that the first promise that was given was not a bare word simply promising pardon peace or any other benefit which God would bestow but it was a promise of Christ's Person as overcoming Satan Gen. 3.15 and purchasing those benefits The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head So when the Promise was renewed to Abraham it was not a bare promise of blessedness and forgivness but of that Seed that is Christ Gal. 3.6 in whom that blessedness was conveyed Gen. 22.18 In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed So that Abraham's Faith first closed with Christ in the Promise and therefore he is said to see Christ's day and to rejoyce in embracing him Christ in the first place and more immediately is every where made the thing which Faith embraceth to salvation and whom it looks unto and respects John 3.16 John 11.25 as it makes us righteous in the sight of God God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me Acts 13.39 Acts 16.31 Acts 10.43 though he were dead yet shall he live And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses and Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved And To him give all the Prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And hence it is that Faith is called the Faith of Christ Gal. 2.16 Phil. 3.9 Because Christ is it whom Faith apprehends immediately and as for the other promises they depend all on this John 3.36 John 6.47 Whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins and he that believeth on the Son of God shall have life everlasting verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life O remember this in the first place Faith must go unto Christ and yet I mean not to Christ as abstractly and nakedly considered but to Christ as compass'd with all his Promises Priviledges Benefits 2. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh Some make this the difference of Faiths acting betwixt Believers of the New and Old Testament Under the Old Testament when Christ was but in the Promise and not as then come in the flesh their Faith had a more usual recourse unto God himself as for Christ God-man man-God they had not so distinct but only a confused knowledge of him and therefore we read not so frequently and usually of their recourse unto him but only unto God 2 Chron. 20.12 20. Psal 78.21 22 O our God wilt thou not judge them we know not what to do but our eyes are upon thee and Hear me O Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem believe in the Lord your God so shall ye be established and The Lord heard this and was wrath because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation But now under the New Testament because Christ as Mediator who was promised is come our Faith more usually and immediately addresseth it self unto Christ as God in the flesh God dwelling in our nature is made more familiar to our Faith than the person of the Father who is meerly God God in the flesh is more distinctly set forth in the New Testament and so he is more distinctly to be apprehended by the Faith of all Believers Ye believe in God sayes Christ to his Disciples whose faith and opinion of the Messiah was till Christ's Resurrection of the same Elevation with that of the Old-Testament-Believers Ye believe in God but he rests not there believe also in me John 14.1 make me the object of your trust and salvation as well as the Father believe also in me not only so but believe in the first place on me One sweetly observes that when Faith and Repentance came more narrowly to be distinguished by their more immediate objects it is laid down thus Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 not but that God and Christ are objects of both but that Christ is more immediately the object of Faith and God i◠more immediately the object of Repentance so that we believe in God through believing in Christ first and we turn to Christ by turning to God first O remember this Le◠our Faith in the more direct and immediate exercise of it be pitch upon Christ as God 〈◊〉 the flesh 3. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh made under the Law Gal. 4.4 and hence it is that the Apostle joynes these together God sent his Son made of a woman made under the Law If Christ had been out of the compass of the Law his being incarnate and made of a woman had done us no good Suppose one in debt and danger of the Law to have a Brother of the same flesh and blood of the same Father and Mother what will this avail if that same Brother will not come under the Law i.e. become his Surety and undertake for him It is our case we are debtors to God Col. 2.14 and there is an hand-writing against us and contrary to us here is a Bond of the Law which we have forfeited now what would Christ avail if he had not come under the Law if he had not been our Surety and undertook for us Our Faith therefore must go to Christ as made under the Law not only taking our nature upon him but our debt also 2 Cor. 5.21 our nature as men and our debt as sinful men He hath made himself to become sin for us who knew no sin i.e. he made him to be handled as a sinner for us under the Law though he knew no sin on his part but continued in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them If Faith be inquisitive when was Christ made under the Law I answer Gal. 5.3 even then when he was circumcised Thus Paul protests I testifie to every man that he that is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole Law Christ at his Circumcision entred into bond with us and undertook for us and therefore then and not till then Luke 2.21 he had his Name given him Jesus a Saviour and from that time he was a debtor to do the whole Law Not only to
brought unto Pilate's house John 18.28 Mat. 27.1 2 3 4 5. then led they Jesus from Caiphas unto the Judgment-Hall and it was early When the Morning was come all the chief Priests and Elders of the People took council against Jesus to put him to death and when they had bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the Governour Then Judas which had betrayed him hanged himself O the readiness of our nature to evil When the Israelites would sacrifice to the Golden-Calf they rose up early in the Morning if God leave us to our selves Exod. 32.6 we are as ready to practise mischief as the fire is to burn without delay But on this Circumstance I shall not long stay the transactions of this hour I shall consider in these two passages Christ's Indictment and Judas's fearful end In Christ's Indictment we may observe 1. His Accusation 2. His Examination In his Accusation we may observe 1. Who are his Accusers 2. Where he was accused 3. What was the matter of which they do accuse him 1. His Accusers were the chief Priests and Elders of the People Mat. 27.12 the very same that before had judged him guilty of Death are now his Accusers before the temporal Judge but why must our Saviour be twice Judged was not the Sanhedrim or Ecclesiastical Court sufficient to condemn him I answer He is twice judged 1. That his Innocency might more appear true Gold often tried in the fire is not consumed but rather perfected so Christ's Integrity though examined again and again by divers Judges wholly corrupt yet thereby it was not hurt but made rather more illustrious 2. Because his firster judgment was in the night and a sentence pronounced then was not reputed valid it is said of Moses that he judged the People from the morning unto the evening Exod. 18.13 John 18.31 for until night no judgment was protracted 3. Because said the Jews it is not lawful for us to put any man to death These words had need of exposition we know Moses's Law prescribed death to the Adulterers Idolaters Blasphemers Man-slayers Sabbath-breakers but now the Romans say some had come and restrained the Jews from the execution of their Laws others are of another mind and therefore the meaning of these words It is not lawful for us to put any man to death may be understood say they in a double sense 1. That it was not Lawful for them to put any man to such a death as the Death of the Cross Moses's Law was Ignorant of such a death and the words following seem to favour this interpretation John 18 32. that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake signifying what death he should die We read only of four sorts of death that were used among the Jews as strangling stoning burning and killing with the sword crucifying was the invention of Romans and not of Jews 2. That it was not Lawful for them to put any man to death at such a time on this day was celebrated the Jews Passover which was in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt so that now they had a custome to deliver some from death the case of Barabbas but they could not now condemn any one to death hence it was that after Herod the Jew had killed James he proceeded further to take Peter also yet during the dayes of unleavened Bread he delivers him to be kept in Prison Acts. 12.14 intending saith the Text after Easter to bring him forth to the People Pilate a Gentile was not tied to these Laws and therefore they led Jesus from Caiaphas unto the Hall of judgment or unto Pilate's House 2. The place of the Accusation was at the door of the House they would not go into the Judgment-Hall lest they should be defiled John 18.28 but that they might eat the Passover See what a piece of Superstition and grose Hypocrisie is here they are curious of a Ceremony but make no strain to shed innocent blood they are precise about small matters but for the weightier matters of the Law as Mercy Judgment Fidelity and the Love of God they let them pass they honour the figurative Passover but the true Passover they seize upon with bloody and sacrilegious hands 3. The matter of which they accuse him 1. That he seduced the People 2. That he forbade to pay Tribute to Cesar 3. That he said he was a King How great but withal how false were these their accusations For the first Christ was so far from stirring up Seditions that he strove and endeavoured to gather the People into one O Jerusalem Mat. 23.37 Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children together even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and ye would not For the second instead of denying to pay tribute to Cesar Mat. 17.27 Luke 20.25 he paid it in his own particular take twenty-pence out of the fishes mouth said he to Peter and give unto them for me and thee and give unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's said he to the People and to God the things that are God's For the third instead of making himself a King he professeth that his Kingdom is not of this World and when they would have made him a King instead of flattering them John 18.36 John 6.15 he flieth from them and that into the Wilderness or into a mountain himself alone Thus much of the Accusation 2. For his Examination Pilate was nothing moved with any of the Accusations save only the third and therefore letting all the rest pass he asked him only Art thou the King of the Jews Joh. 18.33.36 To whom Jesus answered My Kingdom is not of this World c. He saith not my Kingdom is not in this World but my Kingdom is not of this World by which Pilate knew well that Christ was no enemy unto Cesar Christs Kingdom is spiritual his government is in the very hearts and Consciences of men and what is this to Cesar Hence Pilate useth a policy to save Jesus Christ they tell him that Christ was of Galilee and therefore he takes occasion to send him to Herod who was Governour of Galilee But of that anon Vse How many Lessons may we learn from hence 1. Christ was accused who can be free The chief Priests and Elders of the Jews accused Christ no wonder if those that are chief and great amongst us accuse poor Christians O there 's a perpetual enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent there is an everlasting irreconcileable implacable enmity and antipathy between Grace and Prophaneness light and darkness Christ and Belial As it is reported of Tigers that they rage when they smell the fragrancy of Spices so it is with the wicked who rage at the spiritual Graces of them that are sincere for God 2. Christ's Accusers would not go into the Judment-Hall lest they
alledge that this priviledge was granted to Peter as an Apostle but we say that if it was granted to Peter as an Apostle then it was common to Peter and Judas in that both were Apostles They alledge further that Christ prayes not for the absolute perseverance of Believers but after a sort and upon condition But we say the Prayer of Christ is certain and not suspended in this Prayer his desire is not for Peter that would presevere but his desire is for Peter that he should persevere the object of the thing for which Christ prayes is distinct from the thing it self prayed for 9. That we might have the salvation of our souls in the day of Jesus John 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they might behold my glory Why this is the main end in respect of us our glory and indeed herein is the main piece of our glory to behold this glory Oh to see the Lord Jesus Christ glorified as he shall be glorified must be a glorious thing What is it to see his glory but to behold the lustre of his Divinity through his humanity In this respect our very eyes shall come to see God as much as is possible for any creature to see him we may be sure God shall appear through the humanity of Christ as much as is possible for the Divinity to appear in a creature and therefore Men and Angels will be continually viewing of Christ I know there is another glory of Christ which the Father will put upon him Because he humbled himself therefore God will exalt him Rev. 14.4 and give him a name above every name and we shall see him in this glory O the ravishing sight of Saints Christ is so lovely that the Saints cannot leave but they must and will follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes there shall be no moment to all eternity wherein Christ shall be out of sight to so many thousand thousands of Saints now this is the glory of the Saints above as a Queen that sees the Prince in his glory she delights in it because it is her glory so the Church when she shall see Christ her Husband in his glory she shall rejoyce in it because she looks upon it as her own Is not this a blessed end of Christ's intercession why hither tend all the rest all the other ends end in this and for this above all Christ intercedes to his Father Father Cant. 3.11 I would have my Saints with me O that all the daughters of Zion may behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith thou hast crowned him in the day of his Espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart Only one Question and I have done how should I set my faith on work to act on Christ's intercession for these ends I answer 1. Faith must perswade it self that here is a vertue in Christ's intercession Certainly every passage and acting of Christ hath its efficacy and therefore there is vertue in this it is full of juyce it hath a strong influence in it 2. Faith must consider that it is the design of God and the intendment of Christ that this intercession should be for the good of those that are given to Christ O there 's enough in Christ enough in Christ's intercession to convey communion the Spirit protection free access to the Throne of Grace a Spirit of prayer pardon of sins continuance in grace salvation of souls to the Saints and people of God through all the world and this is the design of God that Christ's intercession should be as the fountain whence all these streams must run and be conveyed unto us 3. Faith must act dependantly upon the intercession of Christ for these very ends this is the very nature of Faith it relyes upon God in Christ and upon all the actings of Christ and upon all the promises of Christ so then Is there a desirable end in Christ's intercession which we aim at O let us act our Faith dependantly let us rely stay or lean upon Christ to that same end let us roul our selves or cast our selves upon the very intercession of Jesus Christ Saying O my Christ there is enough in thee and in this glorious intercession of thine and therefore there will I stick and abide for ever 4. Faith must ever and anon be trying improving wrestling with God that vertue may go out of Christ's intercession into our hearts I have heard Lord that there is an Office erected in heaven that Christ as Priest should be ever praying and interceding for his people O that I may feel the efficacy of Christ's intercession am I now in prayer O that I could feel in this prayer the warmth and heat and spiritual fire which usually falls down from Christ's intercession into the hearts of his Lord warm my spirit in this duty give me the kisses of thy mouth O that I may now have communion with thee thy Spirit upon me thy protection over me O that my pardon may be sealed my grace confirmed my soul saved in the day of Jesus In this method O my soul follow on and who knows but God may appear e're thou art aware howsoever be thou in the use of the means and leave the issue with God SECT VI. Of loving Jesus in that Respect 6. LEt us love Jesus as carrying on this great work of our salvation in his intercession Now two things more especially will excite our love 1. Christ's love to us 2. Our propriety in Christ For the first many acts of Christ's love have appeared before and every one is sufficient to draw our loves to him again As 1. He had an eternal love to man he feasted himself on the thoughts of love delight and free-grace to man from all eternity since God was God O boundless duration the Lord Jesus in a manner was loving and longing for the dawning of the day of the Creation he was as it were with child of infinite love to man before he made the world Some observe that the first words which ever Christ wrote were Love to Believers and these were written with glory for it was before gold was and they were written upon his bosom for then other books were not 2. In the beginning of time he loved man above all creatures for after he had made them all he then speaks as he never did before Let us make man in our image after our likeness Gen. 1.26 and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattel and over all the earth and though man at that very instant unmade himself by sins Christ's love yet was not broken off but held forth in a promise till the day of performance The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head and in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed 3. In the fulness of time his