root be holy so are the branches and if the first-fruits be holy the lump is also holy the root is Abraham and the Fathers and they are said to be the first-fruits because they were first consecrated unto God and the branches were dedicated in their root 1 Cor. 7.14 and the lump in the first-fruits and so 1 Cor. 7.14 Else were your children unclean but now are they holy What 's the holiness that is here meant it's not a personal and inherent holiness that 's here spoken of for the branches that were thus holy were broken off which if they had been truly and spiritually holy they could never have been therefore it 's spoken only of a federal and derived holiness from their parents Covenant as Israel is called the holy nation Exod. 19.6 and the holy people Dan. 8.24.12.7 that is a people that God had separated to himself of all Nations under Heaven whom he would in a special manner owne and amongst whom he had set up his Ordinances and would dwell for federal holiness is nothing else but being separated from the world to become a member of the visible Church and thereby to have a right unto the ordinances and priviledges of a visible member though he be not truly converted or begotten unto God and this is called being a Jew outwardly that is a member of the visible Church and to whom the priviledges of a Church-member did belong but there is a Jew inwardly in whose heart there dwells converting grace Now how doth this holiness flow seeing that by nature all men are alike unholy and there is no more separation of one man unto God than another and one man hath no more right by nature unto visible and external priviledges than another for all are born in the same condition This is only by virtue of their being taken into their parents Covenant and because the first-fruits are holy so is the whole lump and because the root is holy so are the branches there is a holiness derived from one unto the other 5. We meet with very glorious promises that God has made to the posterity of the Saints Deut. 30.6 The Lord will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed Esa 59.21 fear not Jacob my servant and thou Jeshuron whom I have chosen I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring and they shall spring up as the grass and as the willows c. My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed henceforth and for ever Now though these promises shall not be made good unto every particular person in the Church yet it is the Church of God that is the proper subject unto whom they shall be made good and in an ordinary way they shall be acccomplished unto none else And by nature one man has no more right to a promise than another nor ground to expect it only the Covenant of God makes the difference they are all heirs of the promises as they are children of the Kingdom and Covenant Lastly This is Gospel and therefore to be believed and laid hold upon as well as any other part of the second Covenant for a Believer in the exercise of his faith is to take in the whole Covenant as in the obedience of faith he is to take in the whole Commandment A mans faith if it be sincere must be universal as well as his obedience that this is Gospel and a Gospel-promise I suppose that no man will deny I will be thy God and the God of thy seed Now how does the Lord become the God of the parents it's only by Covenant and so he is said to be the God of the Lord Jesus Christ he saith I ascend unto my God and your God and My God my God why hast thou forsaken me It 's spoken with reference unto the Covenant into which Christ had entred with the Lord now being the parents God in Covenant he says He will be the God of their seed that is theirs in Covenant also We may observe that God hath revealed this as Gospel and also that the people of God have believed it and exercised their faith upon it as Gospel in the behalf of their children 1. This God has revealed as Gospel and part of the second Covenant The first discovery that we have of the Gospel in Scripture is that Gen. 3.15 Gen. 3.15 where the woman being first in the transgression the Lord was pleased to enter into Covenant with her I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed Adam and Eve were a seminal visible Church for by them the Church as well as the world was to be built and at the same time when the Lord did reveal â—â—s grace unto her he joyns also her seed with her Now the combatants in that war and enemies Interpreters do observe to be three 1 Satan and the woman 2 The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent 3 One principal seed the seed of the woman by way of eminence and that 's the Lord Christ the promised seed and that old Serpent the Devil So then in the first dawning of the Gospel the Lord took the seed of the woman into the same Covenant and made unto them the same promise as unto the woman The next mention of the Covenant that we read of is with Noah Gen. 6.18 and the Lord intending to bring a Floud upon the Earth renews this Covenant with him and this is twice renewed with him It 's true the Covenant here spoken of is the Covenant of grace but it 's but one particular branch of it namely a temporal deliverance for the Covenant of grace takes in temporal as well as spiritual and eternal promises Pareus est novi foederis appendix de promissione terrena 1 The Covenant was renewed in delivering Noah himself from the Floud that was then to come on the Earth and therein his seed also was taken in for so it runs with thee and thy sons c. and also after the Floud in reference to himself and his posterity that the Lord would not destroy them by a floud as he had done their forefathers Gen. 9.9 Gen. 9.9 I establish my covenant with you and your seed after you so that the covenant still runs in those terms the Lord never made a covenant with the parent but he took his seed into the same covenant expresly The next mention we read of the covenant was with Abraham when the Lord would take his family into covenant with himself wherefore the covenant is said after a sort to begin in him Mic. 7.20 Mercy to Abraham and truth unto Jacob and still it runs with thee and thy seed and not onely his immediate seed but also his seed in many succeeding generations from one age to
through him Have we then any thing to do with or receive from God in a covenant way but by this Mediator and union with him Did not God from all Eternity give his Son as the foundation of this Covenant to the Elect as also give them to him as a seed And is not this the true import of their being elected in him Is it not also hence said Tit. 1.2 That eternal life was promised to the elect before the world began How could it be promised to them but by this Covenant of Redemption with Christ their Head Did not the Church Christs mystic body lie hid in him from Eternity as Eve lay hid in Adam her head Are not all Believers by the Covenant of Grace in Christ as by nature we are all in the first Covenant And is not Christ in every Believer as Adam in all his natural seed How is the first Adam in us but as the original cause of our nature and its moral vitiosity which causeth death And is not Christ the second Adam in all Believers as the original cause of their restauration and life What is there good in man but what is first in Christ as the original Head of the Covenant and public Receiver Wouldst thou see Gods love and grace streaming towards thy soul Must thou not then first see it lodged in Christ as the Fountain of all Dost thou desire to see all thy sins wiped off Must thou not then see them first wiped off from Christ thy Representative Wouldst thou by a prevision of faith see thy self in a glorified state O then by faith look on Christ the Head of the Covenant as glorified for thee Alas if thou look on thy self in thy self growing out of thine own natural root what art thou but as a branch cut off from the Olive-root But O! how comfortable and sweet is it to see thy self crucified acquitted and glorified in Christ the Head of the Covenant Yea doth he not only become a surety for us to God but also a surety for God to us And O! how much doth this engage sinners to exalt this glorious Head and Mediator of the New Covenant Was not this the grand design of God in making this Covenant that his Son the Prince of it might be in every thing exalted Why are all the promises of the Covenant dispensed first unto him and all the duties of the Covenant required first of him and of us in him but that he may have the preeminence in all things and a name above every name That the Son of God and Lord of Glory should by his own consent in the Covenant of Redemption between him and the Father come under an act of Gods will and undertake in the fulness of time to take upon him the form of a servant to pay debts who never owned any that he that was Lord of the Law should be made under the Law that all the Elect should have their names transcribed out of the Fathers book of Election into the Lambs book of life Rev. 13.8 yea have their names written in his heart from all Eternity and thereby to have such a blessed Being in him so long before they had the least Being in themselves what an essential obligation are they hereby brought under to exalt this glorious Head and Prince of their Covenant 4. But let us discourse a little of the Nature of this second Covenant 4. The Nature of the Covenant as relating to Believers as terminating more immediately on Believers And here the Reader will excuse me if I studiously avoid the controversies of these times and touch only on that which is more essential to Faith and Godliness The Covenant of Grace as made with Believers has a twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitude or regard the one externe the other interne (1) As to its externe Dispensation which is The Covenant of Grace as to its externe Habitude and Dispensation admits some Variety Generality and Conditionality which is not applicable to the interne spirit and mind thereof [1] Various It admits of some Variety It has pleased the infinitely wise God out of his rich mercy and condescendence to the condition of his people in all Ages to suit the externe Dispensation of his second Covenant to their infirm capacity albeit as to the spirit and substance thereof it hath been ever the same Thus in the first promulgation of it to Adam after his Fall God expressed it by the seed of the woman and its bruising the serpents head c. Gen. 3.15 which was a form most agreeable to their present state introduced by the Serpents subtility and craft So in the second promulgation of this Covenant unto Noah after the Floud Gen. 9.17 God expressed it by the Ark and Rain-bow c. as it 's repeated Esa 54.9 which were symbolic Images very apposite and agreeable to their preservation newly obtained The like Variety God manifested in the repetition of this Covenant unto Abraham Gen. 17.2 to 16. where God promulgates his Covenant as to its externe Habitude under the symbolic forms of multiplying his natural seed the sign of Circumcision c. which were â—ll lively figures very much adapted to his present state he having no children So again when God renewed this Covenant with the Israelites after their coming out of Egypt what variety doth he use Is not the very Prologue to it touching their deliverance out of the house of bondage an illustrious Symbol to mind them of their miserable state by the first Covenant What were all the Sacrifices but federal Symbols representing to the life mans sin and misery under the first Covenant and reconcilement to God by the second So also for the moral Precepts with which this Mosaic Covenant was ushered in of what use and intendment were they but to make way for the promulgation and advance of free Grace as John Baptist made way for Christ It 's true some of late from this variety have started a Notion of a threefold Covenant one natural another legal or Mosaic and the third Evangelic but this Notion was the figment of the old Origenistic Monks to establish their Antichristian merits as Melancthon Chron. lib. 4. assures us The true Idea of the Mosaic Covenant seems this it was indeed as to its interne spirit mind form and essence Evangelic albeit as to its externe form and dispensation it was mixed and composed of moral Precepts and symbolic Types or shadows and O! how agreeable was this to the infantile state of the Israelitic Church Did not the wise God herein act like a curious Limner who first gives an adumbration and dark shadow with a rude Pencil and then adds lively colours to compleat his Picture What were all the Types but Evangelic shadows whereby the Grace of the second Covenant became visible and sensible [2] Indifferent and general The Covenant of Grace as to its externe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dispensation admits of some
Woman accused And if she were guilty her belly should swell and her thigh rot and if guiltless she should conceive seed and become fruitful so that it was sometimes causless and yet a spirit of Jealousie might come upon a man A Wife made a Cross is the greatest cross and made a snare is the greatest snare and the most dangerous And when a man grows vile in the eyes of a Wife for any weakness in him either inward or outward as Nabal did His name is Nabal and folly is with him And Job said My breath is strange to my wife though I intreated for the childrens sake of my own body Job 19.17 Jealousie is the rage of a man it makes him bitter to her takes every thing in the worst sense not bearing with ordinary and common failings incident to persons in that state Bitterness in words sharp and piercing speechees and actions savouring of tartness and want of that tenderness and love that should be in a man towards his own flesh Gen. 3.16 Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband and he shall rule over thee The woman was created to be a help to the man and the woman created for the man and not the man for the woman and therefore a subordination and a kind of subjection there was before the fall but not such as now after the fall Indeed the Civilians say that Marriage is Perpetua quaedam servitus a constant servitude only before the fall as Austin says it was servitus dilectionis a servitude of love but since the fall it is servitus conditionis a servitude of condition Before the fall it was with much sweetness and love their wills never clashing they both joyned in the same good and will'd the same thing but now there is much opposition and much contrariety of will And yet it is the bondage that God has laid upon the Wife she must be subject to her Husband and have no will of her own but even her desire must be subject to him not only submit her actions but even her will also which is of all other the greatest subjection It 's said of Jacob though he was a holy man that God saw that Leah was hated by him which at best cannot be interpreted but of a less degree of love and that there was more sharpness in his carriage towards Leah than there was towards Rachel 2 When the Husband deserts and forsakes his Wife being ravish'd with a strange woman and imbracing the bosom of a stranger Prov. 5.20 And we read in Mal. 2.15 16. the great misery those poor women were subjected to for the Husband making use of that command of Moses which is not a toleration but a limitation not that putting away was lawful for the Lord hates putting away but for the hardness of their hearts seeing they did put them away for the womans discharge he was to give her a writing of Divorce But by this means their wives v. 13. cover'd the altar of God with tears so that when they came to offer Sacrifice that sin came up into remembrance before God that their Sacrifice could not ascend and the Altar was not cover'd with that but with the tears of their wives which they had in a cruel and wicked manner by their deserting them caused them to shed dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth she that is thy companion and the wife of thy Covenant They had great complaints against their wives and were able to find out many pretences to put them away when they had sinfully found out others that their lust carried them to and so they did cover violence with a garment But the Prophet bids them take heed to their spirits and look upon the falseness of their own hearts in it that they deal not treacherously and falsly and so break their Covenant with their wives even the Covenant of their God 3 By puting them upon occasions of sin and so they are made instruments to satisfie the lust of their Husbands What an occasion of sinning did Abraham put upon his beloved Sarah twice once before Pharaoh King of Egypt and another time before Abimelech King of Gerar by desiring her to say that she was his sister How was she drawn at his request to consent to a lye and to endanger her chastity amongst the Heathen In re illicita etiam consensus vitiosus est in an unlawful matter the very consent is unlawful The Apostle says 1 Cor. 7.34 The married woman takes care of the things of the world and how she may please her husband The Apostle does not only set this down as a duty what married persons should do in that condition to take care of the things of the family and how to please their Husband but as an ordinary temptation and corruption also that follows that state though as Calvin observes Hoc non est proprium conjugii malum sed ex hominum vitio provenire It is the common temptation and corruption that accompanies that state not only a moderate and a lawful but even an inordinate care also of the things of the world and how to please her Husband even with the neglect of the things of God and how to please him Ahab desires Naboths Vineyard and is sick for it and lays him down upon the bed and will eat no meat Jezabel his Wife comes to him and says Dost thou now govern Israel is this becoming the greatness of thy state to bear such a denial and affront Is not all the Kings and do not his people enjoy what they have by his leave and favour as a boon from him and shall any subject dare deny his King what he requests of him This is not to reign over them buâ— to be under them Imperatoris est leges dare non accipere c. And thus she reproves him and becomes a very fit instrument for the Devil Pet. Martyr I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth 1 King 21.7 4. Between Parents and Children 1. Children are curses to Parents Thou shalt be cursed in the fruit of thy body as well as in the fruit of thy land 1 By disesteem making them vile in a mans eyes Deut. 27.16 Cursed be he that sets light by father or mother and this proceeds further even to mocking and deriding Prov. 30.17 The eye that mockes at his father or mother the ravens of the vallies shall pick it out 2 By forsaking them 2 Tim. 3.3 without natural affections the word in the Greek is a similitude taken from a Stork which takes special care to provide for and maintain the Parent when it 's old But Mar. 7 11. they taught Children a way to cheat their Parents by dedicating their Estates to the Temple or the publick service and then when the Parent should stand in need of any part of it the child says it is Corban a thing dedicated and therefore he must not meddle with it and so do nothing for him 3 There is
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
the Word has spoken of each person that we may be assured of that each person has undertaken for the Spirit of God knows the mind of God and the things of God and the Lord would never have spoken so of himself but that he would have us to look upon them as acts that the persons had each of them undertaken for the Elect and these we way build upon in the new Covenant that they have and will perform SECT II. The Actions undertaken by God the Father in this Covenant § 1. GOD the Father has spoken of himself distinctly and has taken upon himself some appropriated acts and hath in them made over himself unto the Saints for their consolation and salvation which we shall demonstrate unto you in these particulars 1. All things begin at God the Father he is first in order of working as he is in the order of subsisting he was the first Plotter and Mover in this great work of mans salvation for the Son saith He can do nothing of himself in it Joh. 5.19 but what he sees the Father do and therefore Luke 24.9 Christ calls it his Fathers business as though Solomon built the Temple yet the Platform was revealed unto David and by him was left unto his son so though Christ this Solomon was to build the Temple the man whose name is the Branch yet the Platform of all was laid by the Father and therefore he is in Scripture every where said to have the first and the great hand therein and I shall reduce these to two heads 1 The Actions that are undertaken by the Father 2 The Relations in which the Saints stand unto the Father 1. The Actions that according unto Scripture-acceptation the Father has undertaken and these are of two sorts 1 There are some acts that are eternal and before time 2 There are some that are done by the Father in time 1. The actions of the Father before all time and they are these 1 He did from Eternity purpose to glorifie himself in the Son for the Father will be glorified in the Son Phil. 2.11 The great end of all the acts of Christ and of all his life is this that every tongue might confess Joh. 14.13 That Jesus is the Lord unto the glory of God the Father for this is the highest way of glorifying the Father and therefore Christ knowing that to be the Fathers end that he might shew himself to be the Fathers servant he did aim at this end and it was always in his eye in all things that he did I seek not mine own glory but the glory of him that sent me Joh. 8.50 There is one that seeks not his own glory and therefore Heb. 1.2 3. he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the shining forth of the glory of the Father for his great aim was from Eternity to be glorified in his Son and therefore 1 Cor. 11.7 Christ is said to be the image and glory of God and the woman the mans glory the head of Christ is God Now glory is the manifestation and the shining forth of some supereminent and transcendent excellency And it was an argument of great excellency that was in man that all the creatures were created for man and put in subjection unto him but the highest honour of man was the woman who was created in the same nature having a reasonable soul as himself had and souls know no sexes being created after the same image and unto the same glory with himself and yet this glorious creature should be created for man and put in subjection unto man for the woman was created for the man so also God hath great glory by all his creatures for Prov. 16.4 He made all things for himself and he has a more special honour from the reasonable creatures the Angels and the Saints but yet the top and the highest of God the Fathers glory is that the Son who thought it no robbery to be equal with God in glory yet shall give up himself to the glory of the Father and this is a far greater glory than the Father has by all the creatures in Heaven and Earth And there is a double glory that the Father did seek by the Son 1 That the Son himself should give him glory should seek his glory in all things reflect all his own glory upon the Father and attribute all to him and be content to veil his own glory that the glory of the Father might appear 2 He has the glory of all that glory that is given to the Son by the Saints it 's all ultimately resolved into his glory who is the Father as all the promises of God in Christ are in him Yea 2 Cor. 1.29 and in him Amen unto the glory of God by us Phil. 2.11 All the confessions and acknowledgments that are made unto Christ do all of them redound unto the praise and glory of God for the more the Son is glorified the more it redounds unto the glory of the Father whose glory the Son seeks in all that he does and therefore in every respect the Father is glorified in the Son and this was the great plot that God made from everlasting 2 The Fathers purpose was to glorifie the Son in the Saints that he might make him the head of both the Creations of God 1 To them that stood so he is the head of all Principalities and Powers that they should all hold of him and so they should all honour the Son as they honour the Father Col. 2.10 and therefore it 's said Heb. 1.6 the Angels do worship him and so Angels are round about the Throne Rev. 5.11 The Father will receive glory from no creature but it shall be by the Son for the great glory of the Father we must still remember comes in by him and all the honour that they do unto the Son redounds unto God the Father 2 As for them that should fall as well as those that stood Joh. 5.23 Joh. 17.10 All men must honour the Son even as they honour the Father and he that honours not the Son honours not the Father and therefore Christ says All thine are mine and mine are thine I am glorified in them so that all the glory that the Son had its foundation was laid in the plot and purpose of the Father I speak of his manifestative glory as for his essential glory he had that from himself as he is God of himself and was therein equal with God and did no more receive his glory from another than he did his essence from another but having one and the same essence they must needs have one and the same glory but as for the glory that he hath amongst the creatures and from them all it 's from and by the plot of God the Father to this end was Christ the head of both Creations Esay 42.1 Eph. 1.4 3 The purpose of the Father was to glorifie the Elect
bring to glory and he knew all the souls that were given him of the Father and the travel of his soul is seen in them 8 The Father appointed all the degrees of grace they should have here and of glory hereafter Christ is but a Steward to dispense that eternal life which is laid up in him to that end There is a measure of the age in the body of Christ Joh. 5. Eph. 4.12 and the measure is appointed by the Father and so are the measures of glory also Mat. 20. It is not mine to give says Christ but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father 9 The Father did ingage unto the Lord Christ that the service which he should do should be accepted for the Saints and that he would delight in it It pleased the Lord to bruise him c. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand 10 The Father did ingage himself to fit him for the work he was to do Then said I Lo I come Heb. 10.7 8. as in the volume of the book it 's written of me to do thy will O God sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not Psal 40.5 but a body hast thou prepared me And Esay 42.6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thy hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles Psal 16.8 9. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope c. 2. There are some acts that take place in time though the decree and purpose of them was from everlasting and these acts of the Father either concern Christ or the Saints they are acts that are more immediately terminated in him or in us 1. The Acts of the Father which do more immediately concern Christ are these 1. When the fulness of time appointed by the Father was come then he sent him into the world and that which was before only in Decree and Covenant he doth now put in execution Gal. 4.4 When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son made of a woman c. So that the sending Christ into the world was God the Fathers act Luther mos Scripturae est tempus exactum ac finitum impletum dicere the Decree of his coming into the world was from everlasting and the Son did ingage himself unto it by Covenant from everlasting but yet there was a set time appointed by the Father when this should actually be put in execution and when that time was come and fully accomplished then God the Father did put this great plot in execution and therefore when Christ came into the world he is said to come out from the Father Joh. 16.28 I came forth from the Father and came into the world And again I leave the world and go to the Father So that the Son 's taking our flesh is done in obedience to the Father and he is said to be sent unto that end the Father did not only send him in reference to the office that he did undertake being made flesh but he did also send him to take flesh Non ideo missus Filius quia Verbum caro factum est sed ideo missus ut Verbum caro fieret The Son was not therefore sent because the Word took flesh but therefore sent that the Word might take flesh Austin Why did not Christ come sooner into the world but in the last days The reason in respect of Christ was because the time was not come that was determined by the Father and he was as well obedient in the time of his coming as in the coming it self his obedience was seasonable it was in the fulness of time But why did not God the Father send his Son sooner into the world As it is not for us to know the times and the seasons so it is not for us to inquire into the reason of them Bernard gives this reason Cùm magis esset necessarium tunc primò ferret auxilium all ways had been used and all means tryed and all in vain and now non apparebat Angelus non loquebatur Propheta c. The Scepter was departed Prophecy ceased and all ways of intercourse and converse between God and man seemed to be at an end now is the season to recover lost man now therefore the Father did appoint him to come into the world and he saith Lo I come to do thy will O God 2. God the Father did ever since the Fall command the Son to undertake the actual administration of all things and all was done by him as God and as having the government upon his shoulders ever since the Fall for 1 the Kingly office of Christ immediately took place as soon as the Priestly office Rev. 13.8 and therefore 't is said Joh. 5.23 The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son he has given all things into his hand So that it was he that continued man in his being and the use of his reason for else the day that he did eat he was to dye but Joh. 1.9 He it is that inlightens every man that comes into the world it 's spoken of Christ after the Fall and it is spoken of him because he was made flesh it is an act of Christ that is common to all mankind which can be nothing else but the light of reason and those common principles of natural light that mankind is endued with 2 He it was that cast Adam out of Paradise and plucked him out from the Tree of Life he it was that made void the first Covenant in respect unto any hope of life by it and set an Angel to keep the way to the Tree of Life which was the first office that Christ did appoint unto the Angels after he had actually undertaken his government and was to further the design of the Gospel by shutting man out of hope of having life and salvation by the former Covenant which they had broken 3 He it was that gave to the old world the Spirit of Prophecy Rev. 19.10 Jude 14. for it is the testimony of Jesus Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with thousands of his Saints c. for the discovery of the will of God and for the gathering of that small harvest that he had out of the world of ungodly men c. 4 They being gathered and there being but few and the Earth being overspread and filled with violence he it was that brought the floud upon the world Gen. 6.3 and destroyed it My Spirit shall not strive whose Spirit 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which Spirit he went and preached unto the Spirits which
is something wanting in him that must be supplied by the creature and so as Salvian saith of the Name of Christ Dicimur Christiani in opprobrium Christi We are called Christians to the reproach of Christ it is true that the name of God is called upon us but it is unto Gods dishonour the Lord takes it as a high dishonour done unto him when his people dig to themselves broken cisterns and forsake him that is the Fountain of living water when they shall do suit and service to another god and stretch out their hands unto a strange god the Lord will search it out it 's a dishonour and will be a great provocation to him whereas they that have an eye to him alone they do honour him Daniel who said Psal 18.31 The God whom I serve is able to deliver me from the den of lyons and David who says There is no god save the Lord and there is no rock save our God these honoured God in advancing him above all things it 's true that men do fancy to themselves other Rocks to flye unto but it is but in vain for there is no other Rock these are but the imaginations of men but in truth and reality there is no such thing there is no Rock but our God and Paul having nothing but yet possessing all things and so did Habakkuk 3.17 For it was a true way of reasoning that Elkanah used when Hannah was sad and discontented for the want of a son he took it to be as a disparagement to him that she thought not her self so happy in him and in his love as sometimes she had professed and he conceived it was her duty to do she should have counted him beyond ten sons so doth the Lord reason with you when your hearts go out to the creatures and you are troubled in the getting of them and disquieted in the losing of them it is because you do not think him better than a world for if you did you would not go out so unto these things with such intenseness of spirit and affection We read Gen. 20.16 the husband is said to be unto the woman the covering of her eyes not only that she lift them not up wantonly unto another man but also that she should look upon no other for protection and for provision if a woman should wait upon another and apply her self wholly to another man and neglect to please her husband and to be a help unto him might he not look upon it as a dishonour and say to her Is it not because there is something in me wanting towards you that I cannot protect you and provide for you and therefore you go out in your heart affection and observance to another man he looks upon it as the greatest dishonour that his wife could do him Mat. 22.32 Mat. 22.32 Christ proves the living of the souls of the Saints in statu separato after death and a resurrection from that place I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac it 's a great question wherein lies the fulness of the argument I conceive it to amount unto thus much If God be of infinite power and goodness then they that have an interest in him and stand in a peculiar relation to him they must have from him whatever is necessary to their happiness it were else every way unworthy of God and that upon which ground no man would seek or prize an interest in him but happiness without life there can be none and therefore if he will be the God of his people he must be happiness to them and if so he must give life to them also for he cannot be the God of the dead but of the living To make a people to have a special interest in him and to say that they are dead for all their interest in God and that he is the God of the dead is a thing every way unworthy of him and dishonourable to him 2. As it dishonours God so it doth dishonour us also for all the creatures were given unto man in his creation as servants and he had dominion over them they were all put under his feet Gen. 1. therefore God brought them all unto man in their creation as the lord of them he gave them their names now for a man to put his neck under the yoke of a servant and to lay down his soul on the ground unto them that went over it doth argue a great baseness in a man and is a great dishonour to him it 's true the creature will invite a man as the bramble Judg. 9.13 Come and put your trust under my shadow place your confidence in me now would it not be a dishonour for a man to go and put his trust in the shadow of the bramble And so are all the creatures in reference unto shelter and defence if a Senator of Rome did marry a servant and not a free woman he did subire maculam infamiae incur infamy so it is when the soul will be married unto the creature which is but the servant there is a blemish that lights upon that man And much more when it is done from a low spirit and the soul doth chuse it that shews that he is ad mancipium natus as when a servant amongst the Jews would not go free his ear was bored Exod. 21.6 not only as a token of perpetual servitude which as Cajetan observes was not only done in perpetuam servitudinem sed in poenam ignominiam neglectâ libertate When the Lord has set mens spirits at liberty from the creatures and if they will not go free but they will be in bondage to their own servants still it 's a great reproach to them and a sign of great baseness of mind whereas the Spirit of Christ in his people is a princely Spirit and that saith 1 Cor. 6. I will not be brought under the power of any thing and therein properly doth a mans liberty consist when he looks upon God only as necessary and all things in the world tanquam adiaphora as things indifferent that he can enjoy them or go without them for his happiness is not in them 3. Consider the creatures unto whom thou flyest for sufficiency they can do neither good nor evil it 's spoken of Idols and all creatures in which we look for a sufficiency they are but Idols and we are exhorted Jer. 10.5 6 7. Be not afraid of them for they can do no evil neither is it in them to do them good for as much as there is none like unto thee O Lord for thou art great and thy name is great in might who will not fear thee If the creatures could do us good they might be sought unto and they might be feared if they could do us hurt but it is not in the creature to do either if they do us evil it is because the Lord has bid them as it 's said of Shimei The Lord
and yet the Lord did it in judgment as he was an instrument in his hand he did gather the riches of the Nations as eggs none opened their mouth or peeped against him how much more unto him that God hath in judgment made the god of this world will the Lord permit such power Omnis voluntas dÃaboli semper est injusta sed tamen Deo permittente justa est potestas Bern. The Devils will is of himself but his power is of God and therefore he is mighty 3. The malice which doth set his power on work though it be against all mankind yet it is specially against the Saints It is true indeed that it is against all mankind and therefore his great labour is to draw all men to be partakers with him in the same sin and the same torments it is the fire that is prepared for the Devil and his Angels that they may all of them be cast into the same Lake and though he know it will but increase his own torment yet there is this power of envy in him that he will destroy them though it tend so much the more unto his own hurt in the end but his malice is in a special manner against the Saints the spiritual combate is mainly between the seed of the woman and of the serpent Gen. 3.15 it is against Michael and his Angels Rev. 12.8 9. But why is Satan so much against the Saints above all men in the world 1 Because God hath set his love upon them therefore Satan hath set his malice against them 2 They are the members of Christ whom above all he doth hate as having a Kingdom set up of purpose to destroy his Kingdom 3 As they bear the image of God and carrying thereby the greatest treasury within them for as Chrysostome hath well observed Satan is as a thief he will not come to rob where nothing is to be had but where the treasure is he will not rob stones and straws but Jewes 4 They conquer him for it is out of them that he is cast out which he looked upon as his house as his own portion Mat. 12.44 5 They shall surely judge him at the last day Tunc maximè saevit quum hominem ex laqueis liberatum videt tunc plurimùm accenditur cùm extinguitur Tertul. 4. There is amongst the Devils a kind of policy and order in carrying on of this design so that though there be no love in them one to another for that is not amongst the damned in Hell all natural affection ceases there yet there is a kind of faithfulness they being by the same sinful principles carried on unto the same end and therefore there is a Prince of Devils there is a kind of government amongst themselves in tendency to the deep designs which they are to prosecute not but that they were all of the same nature but the same God who in judgment subjected mankind to his power he giving up himself hath subjected the Devils also unto the power of him that was the chief of Devils and was first in the transgression that they have a kind of order amongst themselves to carry on their ends there are the gates of Hell which some do interpret the Counsels of it there are orders and methods and devices amongst them and therefore Luther hath observed it Diaboli regnum politiam inter se habent usque diem judicii ubi Christus evacuà bit omnià 5. The end of all this power and this policy is the highest that malice can invent and that is the destruction of all the Saints for the name of the Devil is Abaddon and Apollyon the Destroyer in two Languages and Job 33. His life draws near to the grave and his soul unto the destroyers it is to destroy their souls that he doth aim with an eternal destruction and Eph. 6.12 it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in supercoelestibus in the things of eternal concernment things of Heaven he doth not contend with us about Estates and Dignities and Dominions here below such contentions are too mean for him but it is a contention that is for souls Psal 91.3 the promise is He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler or the hunter which some do apply unto the Devil as he is one that hunts to lay snares for souls nothing else will content him Satans speech is the same with that of the King of Sodom Take you the goods give me the souls if the world were his as he makes it to be when he says to Christ All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me he would give all for a soul he tempts souls with money to be his c. 6. This Kingdom of Satan is so under the Soveraignty of Christ that he doth order it wholly and rule it and over-rule it for the good of the Saints 2 Tim. 2.20 22. The Church of God is compared to a great house and there are some vessels to honour and some to dishonour but they are all of them for the masters use and for the use of the house and therefore we see when the sons of God come together Satan himself also appears before God Job 1.6 Job 1.6 partly being over-ruled by the power of God as a creature and partly being inclined by his own malice as an executioner he is desirous to be imployed by God as a vessel of dishonour as being one that hath mortis imperium the power of death c. and therefore he cannot deceive Ahabs Prophets without leave nor can he enter into the herd of swine without leave neither can he possess the man that had the Legion when the Lord Jesus will cast him out his authority is limited and though he be never so high and exalted up to heaven yet he doth fall from heaven as lightning if the Lord command it and so he cannot deal with Job till the Lord permit him and he cannot move beyond the bounds of his permission Diabolo potestas quaedam est plerunque tamen noceret non potest quoniam potestas injusta est sub potestate August 7. God may and many times doth give up his people into the hand of the Enemy their Rock hath sold them and not only into the hand of bodily enemies but even into the hand of this spiritual enemy also who is the great enemy therefore called Satan which signifies an Adversary so he did Hezekiah the Lord left him and so he did David the Lord moved him the Lord did it by giving Satan leave and by leaving David in his hand and Job 2.6 Behold he is in thy hand only spare his life 1 Satan doth always desire it and the Lord doth sometimes in judgment unto Satan grant his unjust desires Luke 22.31 Satan hath desired to winnow thee and so Job 2.3 Thou hast moved me against him he did make a challenge and desired God that he would stand by and leave him in his hand