〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies 1 ye that covet earnestly or vehemently desire so the word is used Mat. 12.38 16.24 Mar. 10.35 12.38 2 Ye that demand or make it your petition so Mat. 15.28 20.21 3 Ye that study contrive labour with all your might so Mat. 16 25. Mar. 8.10 43 44. Luk. 23.20 4 Ye that consent to this as best determine as Mat. 13.28 Joh. 9.54 Mat. 17.4 5 Ye that delight or take pleasure Mat. 9.13 12.7 Heb. 10.5 8. It follows to be under the Law The Apostle Paul speaks of being under the Law in divers senses 1 There is a being under the Law for justification and life Gal. 4.4 5. that is under the Law as a Covenant Christ was made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law 2 There is a being under the Law for condemnation Gal. 3.10 Rom. 6.14 As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse 3 There is a being under the Law for irritation that is stirring up a mans corruption Sin taking occasion by the Commandment became exceeding sinful Gal. 5.8 4 There is a being under the Law by compulsion If you are led by the spirit you are not under the Law that is the Law as only inforcing and compelling as an unregenerate man is as a slave and having the spirit of a servant not of a son who does all he does from an inward principle and disposition suitable to the Law in whatever it does command But it will appear that being under the Law in all these senses are grounded on being under it as a Covenant as we shall see hereafter and that he that is freed from it as a Covenant is not under the Law in any of these respects but by vertue of the second Covenant is delivered from it Only here I think Pareus and others say that to be under the law and desire so to be is the same with Gal. 3.10 They that are of the works of the Law that is that seek righteousness and life by the works of the Law and this is properly to be under the Law as a Covenant of Works which was the natural sin of the Jews and with which error and heresie they endeavoured to overspread all the Gentile Churches going about to establish their own righteousness and therefore typified by Hagar which the Apostle makes Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem above the Christian Church is Sarah that did receive the Doctrine of the Gospel without any mixture of their own righteousness but did trust perfectly in the Grace that was revealed to them by Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 10.3 So here to be under the Law is to seek to be justified by the works of the Moral or Ceremonial Law as being works of righteousness that we have done For though the whole Ceremonial Law were Gospel under a veil yet they not being able to look to the end of it as the Apostle says they did perform it as works of righteousness 2 Cor. 3. in which they did expect justification and life for their obedience to them and performance of them without looking into the things shadowed in those types Now the Apostle says not only that men were thus under the Law but so they did desire to be Therefore looking upon these as being a patern of all mankind and in whom the dispositions of all men may be read I do hence observe Doct. That to be under the Law as a Covenant of works is unto every natural man a very desirable condition He is not only born under the first Covenant but under that Covenant he does desire to continue In the handling of it I shall first prove it and give the grounds of it and answer some Objections that may arise in the hearts of men against it and then make the application of it There is in the fall of man a double misery come upon him 1 His being under Adams Covenant 2 His bearing Adams image And in this state all men by nature desire to live and die And that men do still desire to bear the image of the Earthly Adam is plain because they resist the image of God in Christ that blessed image that by the holy Spirit is offered to them in the Gospel And we find how much they do hug the image of old Adam in themselves Now though their desire to be under his Covenant be the foundation of all their misery yet men apprehend it not so much The offer of the second Covenant they hate and reject the Covenant of Christ as much as they despise his Image yet they perceive it not Therefore to prove it we must take the most convincing course we can First this was the evil that God saw Adam's nature to be prone to and therefore he not only cast him out of Paradise as a just reward of his apostacy but also in a particular manner forbad him the use of the tree of life Gen. 3.22 Gen. 3.22 God having made for our first Parents coats of skins now he saith Behold the man is become like one of us it is an Ironical exclamation wherein God derides the falshood of Satan and the folly of man This is the Godship that Satan promis'd en Divinitatem promissam Behold the promised Divinity And the knowledge of good and evil was nothing but a miserable and shameful nakedness which before man knew not And now here follows exilii decretum ratio decreti the decree is Gods will to cast man out of Paradice and the ground of it is lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of Life But why must not man after the fall taste of the tree of Life seeing before the fall it was not forbidden It is answered Non in esse sed in intentione futurum erat peccatum not in the action but in the intention it was to be reputed sin And Interpreters give this as a reason that thereby God might take away occasion of sinning from him and God doth not only aim at keeping us from sin by his Word but by his Rod also And they observe that there was by the fall a double corrupt disposition in Adam's heart which the eating of this tree would have drawn forth 1 Looking upon it as a Creature which he might conceive to have a vertue in it to preserve life he might put forth his hand which notes a voluntary act and so he might conceive though God hath threatned death yet here is a tree that can preserve life and of this I will eat and live And so he might have sin'd wilfully and out of contempt of the threatning of God by deifying a Creature and setting it in his place and giving it Gods power and so the life that was denied him by God he might think to make up in the Creature as men commonly do 2 Looking upon it Sacramentally as it was a Creature and
people prepared for the Lord. This Union is wrought by the Spirit of the â—ord Jesus by cutting off the soul from his old root for there is at least in order of nature a cutting off before a grafting in Rom. 11.24 1 Pet. 2.5 We as living stones are built upon him a spiritual house a holy temple Therefore Isa 28.16 Thus saith the Lord God Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone c. A foundation that is a sure â—nd a firm foundation for the repetition does signifie excellency and certainty Isa 26.3 He shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Matt. 7.24 Now there are but two foundations the Rock and the Sand a man must be removed and taken off the one before he can be built upon the other Rom. 13.14 Union with Christ is compared to putting him on as a garment a man must put off his old garment before he can put on the new and the wedding-garment which every man by nature is without It is a Matrimonial Vnion and a man must be dead to his former husband that he may be married to another says the Apostle I through the law am dead to the law Rom. 7.4 Gal. 2.19 Rom. 7.9 that I may be married to another Again I through the law am dead to the law that I may live unto God Paul in his state of unregeneracy was alive to the Law that is in the performance of it he thought he could keep the whole Law and expected by it that righteousness that should save him but now the Commandment came in a lively and effectual manner by the mighty working of the Spirit upon his soul convincing him of his guilt and his inability that for the curse of the Law he lay under it and the condemning power thereof by reason of his guilt and that he was able to perform no duty that the Law required through the inability that was in him and so he became dead unto it that is he expected life thereby no more and trusted upon his own strength no more for he knew he was able to do nothing and he that knows he is able to perform no duty of the Law and can expect no reward of the Law he is dead unto it Joh. 16.8 And this is done 1 by a work of Conviction convincing the world of sin that is that a man is in a state of sin under the guilt and power of it under the guilt of it that he is in his own person lyable to the wrath of God for it and that all the curses of the Law are his portion and that by nature Hell is his proper place and he is so under the power of it that he can perform no duty nor resist any temptation cannot subject himself unto the Righteousness of God nor to the Law of God he is in a state of impotency and of enmity and if the Lord do offer him Grace and come to convert him he cannot but resist and there is some special and darling lust in the cords of which he is held that will prove his destruction 2 And by a work of Humiliation the pleasure of all a mans former sins are dampt and taken away and the man is dead to them all and he cannot taste them as in times past and making a man to look upon himself as a miserable and undone man to loath himself to lye under the fear and expectation of wrath that the Law has threatned Acts 2.37 Rom. 7.9 and his guilty condition has deserved which is the proper work of the spirit of bondage to be pricked in his heart for a man to die to look upon himself as a dead man and to be dead in his own apprehension full of confession of his own sin and condemnation of himself as the Prodigal son Father I am unworthy to be called thy Son 3. There is a mighty and a glorious work of revelation discovering to a soul the good will of God the Father and of Christ which is called the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.18 revealing his son in a man Gal. 1. And convincing a man of righteousness in Christ Joh. 6. for the salvation of sinners that there is a holiness in the Person of Christ and a sufficiency in his Righteousness for the salvation of sinners This is called seeing the Son Joh. 6.40 which is not barely a notional knowledge which a man had before of Christ but a knowledge and apprehension of Christ and his Glory let into the soul such a knowledge as a man never had before seeing Christ to be a proportionable good to the Saints one that is able to save to the uttermost and one that he may have an interest in and he may become his for ever Joh. 12.44 Which when the Prophet saw he wondered all men did not believe in him his Glory did so ravish him and if a man that slighted Christ before once discern this presently he has an high esteem of this excellent person To them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 And they look upon him with another eye than ever they did in time past and this was the plot that God the Father delighted in before the World was and that Christ was but the Father's servant in all this that he did and that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that God was not averse to the work as an angry Judge but that Christ would bring souls to God and the Father did love to have it so and that all was the fruit of his own everlasting love to sinners before the world was 1 Joh. 3.16 That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And then all the offers of Christ the calls and the invitations of God and his compassionate intreaties that are in his Word all these begin to take place upon the soul Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters come and buy whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely That the price is already paid and that the blood of Christ was shed to cleanse sinners the Angels need it not the Devils can have no benefit by it it was given only for poor lapsed man and therefore it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is the drawing and the teaching of the Father Joh. 6.44 not but that it is done by the Spirit also but it is said to be the work of the Father because the offer of Christ being Gods gift is presented unto the soul in the Fathers name with a command from him to accept of him and to believe in him For this is his Commandment that we believe in him whom he hath sent because him has God the Father sealed And this took Luther so much when he understood the righteousness of God that
sprinkled upon the Book and upon all the people and all things under the Law were cleansed and sanctified by blood Exod. 24.23 therefore the Law in the administration of it unto them was never intended by God to set forth a Covenant of Works but it was a Covenant of Grace and is usually called a Covenant Deut. 29.10 11. They stood to enter into Covenant with God that he might establish them to be a people to himself and that he might be unto them a God Deut. 26.17 18 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and he hath avouched thee to be his people So that the Law was given by Moses in Gods intention plainly as a Covenant of Grace unto all those that were able to look upon the intent of God therein 2 But yet the Lords intention was also that it should be a copy of the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam before his fall which was never wholly blotted out of the mind of man because God would not have that wholly to perish and be forgotten and therefore it was delivered after a sort in the form of the Covenant of Works and in this respect the Lord has made it a handmaid to the Gospel not that the Lord did intend it for a Covenant of Works as if men should attain righteousness and life thereby but as faedus subserviens a subservient Covenant as that which in this manner God would make use of to advance the ends of the Gospel and the new Covenant By all this you see that the Covenant of which Circumcision was a sign and a seal was not the Covenant of Works but was the same that was made with Abraham because the Covenant was the same Circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of Faith and continued amongst the Jews in this Covenant and that Covenant that binds to the observation of the Ceremonial as well as the Moral Law is not a Covenant of Works but the Covenant made upon Mount Sinai did bind to the Ceremonial Law also nor was the Covenant that God made with Moses a Covenant of Works for Moses was Heb. 11.23 a Believer but Exod. 34.27 it is called the Covenant which I made with thee and with all Israel when I stood before the Lord forty days and he wrote the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments But more particularly the Lord did intend to make the Law given upon Mount Sinai a copy of the Covenant of Works and to be materially and for substance the same that he did make with Adam and with all mankind in him in the state of his integrity 1. Death reigned from Adam till Moses Rom. 5. Gen. 4. ult and therefore sin came in and we see that murder was a sin in Cain and publick worship was a duty Men did begin to call upon the name of the Lord so that the Law was in the World before Moses and it was not only written in the hearts of men 2 Pet. 2.5 So Beza Gen. 6.5 but it was taught in the publick Ministery before Moses for Noah was the Preacher of Righteousness and in the Ministry of the Word we know that the Spirit of God did strive with men Gen. 6.3 The word in the Hebrew is to strive in judgment and by way of argument for conviction so that the Law was given to Adam and Noah and Abraham as well as unto Moses and was for substance the same 2. It is given in the form of a Covenant of Works with a this do and thou shalt live and so it was afterwards by Christ and by the Prophets also preached it was to the carnal Jews plainly a Covenant of Works not in Gods intention but by their own corruption they going about to establish their own righteousness Rom. 10.3 and not subjecting themselves to the righteousness of God it is set forth to them as a Covenant of Works Now if the Lord will not give it as a Covenant why does he not propound it as a rule and lay down the precepts without any such terms of a Covenant as if men should attain life by it when he did never intend to deliver it as a Covenant in which men should attain life by doing but by believing Thus the Lord did that the terms of the first Covenant might be promulgated to the World and that they that did still desire to be under the Law might not plead ignorance of the terms that God required in the Law if they did expect life and happiness thereby 3. Though I say it be for substance and materially the same yet in many circumstances it differs from Adams Covenant for this was a Covenant of such promises and sanctions annexed to it as were not in the Covenant made with Adam and a Covenant confirmed by blood and thereby sanctified which Adams Covenant never had and therefore though it did for substance agree yet in many things there was a difference This Covenant given unto Adam in a state of Innocency and for substance renewed upon Mount Sinai when it was by sin wholly obliterated and blotted out God has made a handmaid or foedus subserviens a Covenant subservient to the Gospel it is Hagar Gal. 4.23 but the Covenant of Grace is Sarah and it is given in the hand of a Mediator not only by Moses but by Christ also for Christ delivered the Law to them Act. 7.38 Moses was in the Wilderness with the Angel who spake to him in Mount Sinai and with our fathers and what Angel was it but Christ he that saith I am the God of Abraham and he that was also tempted in the Wilderness and the Apostle says We are come to Jesus whose voice then shook the earth in the giving of the Law 1 Cor. 10.4 Heb. 12.25 26. it was his voice and then by an enumeration of particulars how the Lord has made every part of the Law as it is materially the first Covenant a servant to the Gospel for the discovery of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound and the Apostle says Rom. 5.20 I had not known sin but by the Law and also for the conviction of Conscience and the imputation of sin Rom. 5.13 sin is not imputed where there is no Law and for the condemnation of sin that it may be a Schoolmaster to bring the sinner unto Christ the avenger of blood Gal. 3.10 a killing letter and the ministration of death to kill them and hew them and it restrains sin and puts a bridle upon a man and is a means of conversion the curse of the Law is sanctified and the threatnings sweet when the curse is taken out death has no sting the grave has no victory and it is to all under the second Covenant a rule a companion and a counsellor The Law is to be considered as I told you two ways 1 Largely as containing all the Doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai and all things that may
gives up himself unto it as the perfect law of liberty that wherein his happiness lyes this is that which makes the yoke easie and the Commandment not grievous and the ground of it is because the Law is written in his heart and this is to serve Christ in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter not barely to have a duty in the letter injoined which is that which only prevails with other men to perform duty whilst all that is in their heart is against it they do it and yet hate the duty when done and the Law that injoins it but here is the Spirit of God renewing and working in a man such dispositions of heart which answer the duties of the Law in all things so that a man loves the duties and the Law that commands them as setting him about a service that he is pleased with so that it is the Law that is the yoke of Christ and it is writing it in his heart that makes it an easie yoke In putting the Law as a rule into a mans heart the Spirit of God doth let a man see 1 The Holiness of the nature of God Ephes 4.24 for man was in this created after God neither did the Creature behold the Holiness of God any other way than in the Law which doth forbid the least blemish and defilement all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Herein a man sees the glory that was stampt upon him in his creation for his heart was nothing else but a perfect copy of this Law created in it and in this conformity in his inward man to the Law of God did this image principally if not wholly consist 3 This is a perfect resemblance of the Holiness that was in the humane nature of Christ in whom the Law was fulfilled for there was no sin in him He knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth he was a lamb without spot or blemish he was a living Law 4 This is a perfect copy of that conformity unto God that is in the Saints and souls of just men made perfect When he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 The law of his mind shall be perfected and the law of the members wholly destroyed Now we are conformable to the will of God but in some degrees for that perfectio graduum perfection of degrees is to come but the Spirit of God will go over our hearts and write more and more of this Law in us till we be made in all things answerable thereunto And in our conformity to the Law glory being nothing else but Grace perfected shall our conformity unto God in Heaven be where we shall not be like God in part as here we are but shall be wholly conformable to him which is the perfection which we strive for and aspire unto and therefore the Scripture calls this our perfection Paul saith 2 Cor. 13.9 I long for your perfection that is a perfect writing of the Law in the heart and this fits a man for Gospel-Ordinances and the perfection hereof is the reward of the Gospel for the Law written in the heart is the foundation of all obedience unto the Law and the perfect writing the Law in the heart is the highest reward of all the Promises and all the obedience of the Gospel § 2. As the Law is a rule within being planted there by the Spirit given in the second Covenant which does change a mans nature and doth give a man inward dispositions suitable thereunto a law of the mind so is the law a rule to guide and direct a man in his way unto which all the Saints are to give heed from which they are to learn their duties and by which they are to judge of all the ways of God and the ways of the world the Law is added unto the Gospel Fides efficit quod lex imperat as the rule to the hand of the workman the rule is able to do nothing of it self it is a dead thing it is the hand only that does the work and if the hand can do nothing aright without the rule the Law can work nothing being dead without the Grace of the Gospel that only inabling a man to perform all acts of obedience and yet the Grace of the Gospel does inable a man to no other obedience but that of which the Law is the rule Christ himself tells us that his intention in coming was not to destroy the Law of God or put an end to it or make it void Mat. 5.17 Think not that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets and interpreters of the Law Now there are in the Law but three things to be considered either it is for Justification for Condemnation or for Direction Now for Justification unto all that are in Christ it is by Christ abolished no man is justified by the works of the Law but by the Grace of Jesus Christ and for condemnation also for he hath delivered us from the curse of the Law and was made a curse for us There remains now no other proper use of the Law but for Direction as it is a rule and therefore either Christ has destroyed it wholly or else he will have it remain in this last sense and so the next vers 18. tells us Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away and the whole frame of this world fall to pieces before the Law shall pass away therefore it doth remain for Direction unto the Saints unto the end of the world So Rom. 3.31 the Gospel does not destroy but establish the Law the word in the Greek doth signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strengthen and make a thing firm that was falling before so by the sin of man the Law became weak through the flesh neither to be fulfill'd in the precept of it or the curse but men must be for ever satisfying it now the Gospel comes and it makes the Law firm 1 In our Surety for in him is the precept fulfilled and the curse born he did fulfill all righteousness 2 In us because by the Grace of the Gospel we do attain strength in some measure to obey the Law which is encreased more and more till in our nature and actions we shall be made perfectly conformable unto the Law in Heaven and so the righteousness of the Law perfectly fulfilled in us the Lord perfecting his good work that he has begun in the day of the Lord so that the Law remains as a rule to Believers being not abolished but established by the Gospel 2. The Gospel sends us unto the Law as a rule of duty Luk. 16.30 31. They have Moses and the Prophets the Law and the Expositions of the Law and the Lord requires Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul as well under the Gospel as under the Law And Jam. 1.25 He that looks into the perfect Law of
them as if his sufficiency were in them then immediately the creatures have left their place and they have gotten the rule over the man and this is an evil that many times befals the best men they do not keep the world at a distance and confine it to its own place as they ought to do but when a man saith The creatures are my comfort but my sufficiency is not in them my portion is not in them ubi omnia mea sunt tu scis this will keep the creatures from incroaching upon a man and usurping authority over a man Tenet and bring them into subjection unto his servants which is contrary to the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free hence it comes to pass that men set their hearts too much upon them contrary to Psal 69.10 If riches increase set not your hearts upon them The more any mans heart runs out upon the creature and the more he doth place his happiness in any of them the more his soul departs from the alsufficiency of God And hence if you take away the creature from a man he saith you have taken away my heart and therefore he sorrows as a man without hope when another man can see the creatures departing and melting as ice under his feet and he can rejoyce in their departure and bid them farewel with joy because he has had the Moon under his feet and these being gone he knows he shall be restored unto that wherein more immediately his alsufficiency doth consist And the way to cast off this weight is to keep up the alsufficiency of God in the soul all my sufficiency lies in him alone and because he has made over his alsufficiency to me therefore I will not look upon any thing else as my sufficiency and happiness the man whose eyes are opened to see his alsufficiency to be in God in the middle of the creature-enjoyments is in a blessed condition 8. That the soul may upon this ground live in God immediately as in whom his alsufficiency doth consist 1 Thess 1.1 Joh. 3.21 there is a being in God and a dwelling in God he that dwells in love dwells in God and a working in God he comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God and therefore Nazianzen speaks of grace that it doth after a sort deifie the man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only begin a divine nature in him but making him to live out of himself in the alsufficiency of the Divine nature and the School-men speak of an illapsus Dei a certain illapse or coming down of God into the soul he is said to dwell in us 2 Cor. 6.16 that is cum infinita quadam opulentia with a certain kind of infinite plenitude and by this means spiritus nunc ab omni velle liber est acsi in coelo aut terra c. as if there were nothing that he did stand in need of in Heaven and Earth for when Gods love dwells in us it is in the manifestation of God and when God in his sufficiency dwells in us it is in the manifestation of it Harp p. 678. c. and therefore the soul looks upon God ut mare quoddam infinitae magnitudinis Harp pag. 666. our sufficiency comes from him and returns unto him again but all is in him and the soul looks upon all the creatures as things indifferent but if he sin he looks upon alsufficiency to pardon him Who is a God like our God pardoning iniquity transgression and sin and he looks upon alsufficiency for healing and if he has a work to do for God he looks upon alsufficiency for strength and if he has a cross to bear he looks for the support of everlasting arms and if there be creatures either to work with him or against him he saith that they can do neither good nor evil they work but as instruments in the hand of God and the wicked man is but thy sword Nebuchadnezzar that great King is but the staff of mine anger and if there be no creatures Psal 17. he saith there is no need of any for he is as able to save with few as many and his supplies tarry not for man he waits not for the sons of men nor for any humane concurrence in his work Mic. 5. and therefore his eyes are turned away from beholding vanity and he lives upon God alone for he saith What is Heaven and what have the Angels of God and the souls of just men made perfect to feed upon they neither eat nor drink they marry not all earthly comforts and relations cease they are but for the time of this life and no more but then God is all in all now if it shall be enough to live upon him in Heaven and it shall be there my happiness and perfection surely the more my heart is staid on him and the more it is setled upon his alsufficiency the nearer it comes to happiness and the less shall my spirit be disquieted by the changes and uncertainties of things below and unto this Christ did train up his Disciples Do not say What shall I eat and what shall I drink but say There is an alsufficiency in God which I have an interest in and it shall be manifested for me either for my provision or my protection for he that hath made it over to me by Covenant will lay it out for me and therefore I leave my self with him and cast my care upon him for my sufficiency is in him alone § 3. This Alsufficiency of God belongs unto none but unto his own Covenant-people it 's a joy that no stranger can intermeddle withal it is the hidden Manna that they only do feed upon who are fled for refuge to the hope set before them Gen. 17.1 2. I am God alsufficient walk before me and be upright and I will make a covenant with thee to be a God to thee and he is a Sun and a Shield not unto every one but unto them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 there is a secret river the streams whereof do make glad the City of God when the earth is moved and the mountains cast into the middle of the Sea Psal 46.4 there is an Olive-tree that doth drop oil into the golden Candlestick Zac. 4.3 Zac. 4.3 it is new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of Heaven that has no need of the light of the Sun but the glory of the Lord and of the Lamb are the light thereof it is spoken of the light of creatures Rev. 21.23 and not of Scriptures as some would interpret it it 's only upon the glory that there is a covering 1 It is only by Covenant that he is thus made over and therefore it can be only unto his Covenant-people all men in Adam have forfeited their interest in God and they can lay no claim to him though it 's true that men in
a Saint looks upon himself and the greatness of the service that he is called to he says Who is sufficient who can do any thing of this great work but when he looks upon the alsufficiency of God for his supply then he saith Who is insufficient I can do all things and the greater the service is that any man is called unto and the greater difficulties he encounters with the more he is to take hold of the alsufficiency of God 3. It doth disburden the soul of all its troublesom afflictions of all a mans cares and fears and sorrows it 's this that doth discharge the soul of them Psal 27.1 2. The Lord is my light and my salvation Psal 118.6 whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my glory The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do to me It is an interrogation of knowledge and of contempt c. it doth silence all a mans doubts answers all his objections when the soul saith I am a child I cannot speak God saith I will give thee a mouth the people are hard-hearted and insufficient but I will give thee strength of spirit answerable to thy opposition We know not what to do but our eyes are unto thee I fear death but God is in life and death alsufficient he is the God of the dead as well as of the living the creatures are but vials in the hand of God I will not pour out my wrath upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak 2 Chron. 12.7 he is but the vial and they are no other who are imployed by Christ as instruments of vengeance against Rome the vials are put into their hands it is but so much wrath in such a measure and executed by one hand and by another hand so they are for good also it is but such a measure of good done by them and of service but the alsufficiency is of God still and this brings a sweet rest unto the soul fies Sabbatum Christi there is a gracious and a holy rest of Christ in such a soul as this is 4. It 's this that doth fulfil all a mans desires Open thy mouth wide saith the Lord and I will fill it Austin pateres in te angustias thy straits are not in me but in thy own heart in thy own bowels open thy mouth wide and I will fill it for I am the fountain of thy life there is no man can open his mouth so wide that the alsufficiency of God will not fill it so that as the Lord is called the fear of Israel that is he was the sole object of his fear the adequate object of it he did fear him and he did fear nothing else so he is the desire of his people also as Christ is called the desire of all nations they desire him and they desire nothing else it is all terminated in him so that a man hath not any thing else to desire and the greater difference the Lord puts between men the higher he doth advance them the more he doth make over this as their portion and they are satisfied with it Levi was separated unto the Lord of all the Tribes of Israel but he must have no portion in the Land of Canaan but the Lord is his portion and who would not prefer the lot of Levi before that of all the Tribes though he had no inheritance with them And this makes the soul in all dangers bold as a Lyon quiet in the greatest commotions De me comburendo consultatur Luther at coelum non ruet credo certus sum habeo qui causam defendat etiamsi totus mundus in me solum insaniat Luth. ad Stampic If there want means he can work without them if the means be weak he can act above them and so the soul is in his sufficiency at rest Now study and try your interest in this alsufficience if we delighted as much in spiritual things as we do in the things of the earth it would be unto us the sweetest study for what can be more delightful than for a man to read over his own evidences that having tasted the sweetness of all his comforts he may also take a view of the tenure and title by which he holds them 1 Pet. 1.7 the Apostle saith that there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.7 the tryal of a mans faith that is more precious or more honourable for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both the tryal of faith is better than the tryal of gold 1 By tryal a man attains a certainty and that is precious for according unto the excellency of the thing so we do prize a certainty in it gold being of all metals the most in price therefore we are the most exact in our tryals of it we have the test the touch-stones and the scales c. and all because we would not be deceived but faith is more precious therefore a certainty therein is more precious that a man may know that he doth not embrace a fancy his faith is not adulterate but is the faith of Gods Elect. 2 There is a purity that doth arise from the tryal for by the tryal of gold its dross is purged ab adulterino distinguitur à scoriis purgatur c. so it is with faith also when it 's tryed by affliction from God or by examination from our selves it appears the better when the infirmities that cleave to faith are as dross to the gold for there is something wanting in faith still 3 The tryal of gold is but for this life ad exiguum tempus est utilis for it is gold that perisheth but the tryal of faith refers to the life to come for by faith a man lays hold of eternal life and the purer the faith is the surer the hold is 4 The tryal of gold makes it the more precious unto men we esteem tryed gold above other and therefore the most precious gold is set forth by it Rev. 3.18 so it is with tryed faith it makes it the more precious unto God and therefore he doth try it ut coram ipso gratior fiat tryed faith is more precious in Gods eyes as tryed gold is to ours as the word of the Lord is a tryed word though the people of God do prize the whole word of God that it is dearer to them than thousands of gold and silver yet there is no part of the word that hath so high a price with them as a tryed word as the word of faith the more it 's tryed is the more precious with us so the grace of faith the more it 's tryed it is the more precious with God and if the tryal of faith be so precious what is the tryal of a mans interest which is that unto which the tryal of all graces tends for the witness of water as well as of blood is that we may know whether we have eternal life abiding in us
he lays up that as a choice receipt all his life time and when he sees other men cast the materials of it away as a thing of no value he saith O! there is an excellency in it did men know it they would set a high price upon it I was in such an extremity and it relieved me so it is with all the Attributes of God they are exalted in the soul suitable to the use and experience that a man hath had of them as he that doth undervalue duties doth it because he hath not found the spiritual good that is in them so he that doth undervalue the Attributes of God doth it from want of experience which makes spiritual things great in our eyes and therefore Paul having an interest in the mercy of God we see how it was exalted in him 1 Tim. 1.14 the grace of God was exceeding abundant God who was rich in mercy out of his abundant love and pardoning mercy c. Mic. 7.18 Who is a God like to our God that pardons iniquity transgression and sin And the Saints that have perfection of holiness from him they give him the glory of his holiness from day to day saying Holy holy holy for the highest glory that we can give unto God here is that we honour those Attributes in our hearts which he doth honour in his dispensation towards us whether it be wisdom or holiness or faithfulness or patience c. as he doth honour the word that he doth accomplish so we are to honour the Attributes that he doth put forth Jah is the same name with Jehovah and is a name of Being denoting that God is he that hath his Being of himself and gives being unto all things else he that is the Fountain of Being whence a soul having had experience of him to be such a one lets his glory in that respect arise and be exalted in his soul if you would have any Attribute work for you then exalt that Attribute by trusting in it and when it hath wrought for you then exalt it also by glorifying of it and as you have exalted God by his name Jah so by his name Elshaddi a God alsufficient also for there is no name of God but it will be exalted in the soul suitable to the interest that we have in it and the taste that the soul hath of it For there is a double putting forth of every Attribute of God savingly upon his Elect not only a putting of it forth in his works and administrations towards them but there is also a putting of it forth by exalting it in a man and therein the main sweetness of the discovering of it doth lye He therefore that hath not had the price of this Attribute raised in his soul nor tasted the sweetness of it nor rejoyced in it nor adored and admired it and God as such a one under the apprehension of such an attribute truly that man hath no interest in it If a Saint cannot say that attribute is mine and this attribute I have an interest in yet he can admire the attribute and give God the glory of it as an excellency in himself and he doth not only praise God for his goodness towards him but as it is in himself for the glorious excellencies that are in the Divine nature as we may see it in Hannah 1 Sam. 2.1 2. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord and my horn is exalted in the Lord my mouth is enlarged over my enemies I will rejoyce in thy salvation there is none holy as the Lord c. And as it is exceeding sweet unto the people of God and a Paradise to walk from one Tree to another in the Paradise of God and to say such a truth the Lord fulfilled unto me in such a case and in such an extremity and such a promise at such a time so much more for a man to be able to look over all the attributes of God and to say such a time the Lord did glorifie such an attribute towards me and such a time such a one and to see all the attributes of God as well as all the works of God to work together for a mans good every one in their proper places as the stars in their courses fought against Sisera and the threatnings of God fight against wicked men so to have the word of God the works of God and the attributes of God work for a man is their happiness and their joy 4. He that hath an interest in the alsufficiency of God will be raised up in his soul to an holy self-sufficiency as there is no grace that is in Christ but it will have a resemblance in us so there is no attribute of God but it hath its resemblance therefore 1 Pet. 2.9 we are said to shew forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vertues of him that hath called us and in this doth properly our conformity unto God in this world lye there is something in us that doth hold a resemblance with the attributes of God that are manifested and put forth for us And in this is the greatest exercise of the attributes of God for our good when the patience of God works patience in us and we be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful and holy as he is holy when the wisdom of God works wisdom in us and there is a resemblance of the power of God in us that we are able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us when the greatness of God works in us a holy greatness of mind and when the alsufficiency of God works in us a gracious self-sufficiency for there is a self-sufficiency that is a duty as there is a self-sufficiency that is a sin 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness is great gain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 9.8 Every where and in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and it is that which the Apostle had learned Phil. 4.11 so Prov. 14.14 A good man is satisfied from himself There is self as divided from God which is a sin but self as united unto God is a great duty Self-sufficiency in opposition to the creatures is a duty for a man can be happy without them but self-sufficiency in opposition to God is a sin for if a man be one with God then a mans self-sufficiency is Gods alsufficiency for having God and that sufficiency that is in him he hath all though amongst the creatures he hath no portion no inheritance when a man hath the Moon under his feet and he can say when he sees all the world destroyed Se nihil habere bonum tantâ mole perdendum c. and can look upon the general conflagration of the world as Lot did upon Sodom in the burning without a relenting thought because his portion is not in them this man hath a self-sufficiency grounded upon his interest in the alsufficiency of God for as the Apostle saith of the Fathers Heb. 11.13 That chusing to be pilgrims they did declare
coming from Italy meeting with him and they instructing him in the way of the Lord more perfectly this was happy for him to meet with such company hoc providentiae meritò tribuendum est insomuch that the people of God bless God unto Eternity one for another as the Martyr acknowledged it as a wonderful glorious providence unto him that he was cast into prison for there he became acquainted with that Angel of God John Bradford so Austin doth acknowledge much of the goodness of God to him in the society of Nebridius But there is an excellent story of Junius in this kind he being in Leyden for his studies sake there arose a great stir and tumult in the City insomuch that many of the inhabitants fled away for safety and he amongst the rest fled to save his life and being in the country thereabouts he came to a country-mans house to beg some victuals the country-man received him and very courteously entertained him and he began to talk with him about matters of Religion which the country-man performed with so much zeal and affection ego malus Christianus siquidem Christianus c. una eadem hora gratiam suam in utroque explicavit Deus à me scientiam rusticus ego ab eo zelum c. And he saith it did abide upon him mente fixâ that he was not able to put the impression out of his mind and the Lord made it useful to him all his life after c. 5. In their preservation in service and their dismissions from service 1 There is a preservation in service that they shall be continued to do the work for which the Lord has appointed them and they shall not be cut off till they have finished their work so it was with the Lord Jesus Christ Luke 13.32 Go tell that Fox It 's true Luk. 13.32 that he was a subtle enemy and one that did want no skill to bring those bloody designs he had to pass but yet there was a time set for Christs work to day and to morrow and the third day and during that time all his enemies were not able by power or policy to reach him and then afterwards I shall be perfected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I shall have perfected the work of my ministry and the perfection of a mans work is the perfection of the man he is never perfected till then and so it is with the two Witnesses they shall not be killed till they have fulfilled their Prophecy there is no putting any man out of imployment till the Lord discharge him a man that has any work to do for God no man can stop him in it before it is finished 2 When their work is done they shall have a very gracious dismission and they shall lie down with honour the best of the Saints have but their time of service and they shall receive their discharge but they shall come to their grave in a full age as a shock of corn in the season thereof Job 5.26 Some men have a longer and some have a shorter time of service but all have but their time As sinning is a warfare and wicked men in that do receive their discharge and it is in providence ordered so that they dye when it is in judgment to them when they least expect it and are least prepared for it so godly men dye when their graces are perfected and their work is finished and never till then and therefore when they sought Luthers life so much yet he could write this upon the wall of his Study I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord c. And there are some men upon this account can laugh at dangers in a way of service and deride threatnings as the crackling of thorns under a pot because they say My time is not in your hands neither the time of my life nor of my service and he that imploys me will uphold me and will maintain me till the time of my dismission shall come and then I shall go off the stage of this world in mercy and lye down in peace and rest upon my bed after the time of my labour is ended 6. There is a special Providence in blessing and providing for their posterity God has a special providence over those that come out of the loyns of his own for indeed he has so ordered all his Decrees as that the greatest part of the Elect comes out of the loyns of the Saints Prov. 20.7 His children are blessed after him there is grace in a special manner that is promised unto them but 't is a blessedness that doth descend upon them by virtue of their parents Covenant Esa 59.21 My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever and Esa 44.3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring c. as Austin was filius lacrymarum the son of his mothers prayers and tears and the Lord did give an answer by giving the soul of her son unto her that he was graciously converted unto the Lord and proved an eminent instrument for service in the Church of the Lord. The Saints can with Jacob pronounce upon them a blessing when they dye and that out of faith in the promise and the Lord willsurely make it good unto them but we are begotten not of blood Joh. 1.13 And therefore though many times ungodly men may and do come out of the loyns of the Saints and the spiritual part of the Covenant is not made good unto many of the posterity of his own people yet the outward part of the Covenant surely is though the Covenant for matter of grace be unto Isaac yet there is another part of it that is made good to Ismael Twelve Princes shall he beget he hath the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth God doth in outward things strangely supply them and provide for them when the children of the wicked are vagabonds and beg their bread Psal 37.25 Yet I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread Psal 37.25 Not that a godly man may not be brought to beggery or to live upon the charity of another Jesus Christ himself was so he was poor and so poor that the women Luke 8.3 his followers did minister unto him of their substance to supply his necessity in this life but there is a fourfold interpretation of that place of Scripture 1 Begging of bread is taken for extremity of poverty the seed of the righteous are never so poor but the Lord doth find out a way of support and supply for them he has said That the just shall inherit the earth 2 It is not meant that it was never so that they were never poor but in Davids experience he had never found it so 3 There is another interpretation of Muis
and that is semen ejus quaerens panem non derelictum not forsaken though begging of their bread the Jews in this misery that they are yet grow rich where-ever they come the temporal promise is fulfilled to them 4 The term righteous may be restrained to such as are eminently righteous as to works of mercy So it follows vers 26. He is ever merciful c. So among the Hebrews mercy towards the poor is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness § 2. There is also a Providence circa mala about evils for his Kingdom rules over all and this malum evil is either culpae of sin or poenae of punishment concerning both which the Soveraignty of God doth gloriously work though it be in a far different way First the Soveraignty of God in his providential Kingdom is conversant about the evils of sin they do all come under the government of God and that it is so will appear from Gen. 45.5 6 7. Gen. 45.5 6 7. it was the observation that Joseph had about that unnatural act of his brethren he looked upon a double hand in it one was theirs which he from a principle of meekness and forgiveness was ready to pass by and over-look and another was a special hand of providence in this sin of theirs and that he speaks of three times as being much affected with the Soveraignty of God ordering of that sin of theirs both in respect of him and themselves Ye sold me but God sent me in that sin of theirs there was an over-ruling hand of Soveraignty and that he tells them three times together That it was God sent him and that it was not they that sent him Ye sent me out of malice and God sent me out of mercy you to destroy me God to preserve both you and me you sent me that I should be a slave to man God that I might be a father to Pharaoh and a Ruler of all the land of Egypt We see what a glory here is over this sinful action in respect of Joseph Pharaoh Egypt and the whole family of Jacob and this was not a casual thing something that came to pass by accident or by chance but it was by counsel a Soveraignty that did with wisdom lay this as a design and plot before-hand Gen. 50.20 so Gen. 50.20 You thought evil but God meant it unto good the word in both places is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth signifie a plotted thought done by counsel Psal 10.2 Let them be taken in their devices that they have imagined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spoken there of plotted designed evil and so it was here the good was done by counsel and it was a thing that comes not to pass without foresight but God meant and plotted it for good and therefore we read Exod. 28.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus ingeniosè inventum a work that is artificially done upon which many thoughts went before it was brought unto a ripeness and perfection and such was this work here also they plotted upon evil and the Lord plotted and designed this their evil unto good Esa 10.6 7. so Esa 10.6 7. the King of Babylon comes against Jerusalem and the Lord sends him not by any command for the work was displeasing unto him as done by them and for which he will visit them vers 12. but arcano imperio by a secret act of the Soveraignty of God so ordering things in providence that this should come to pass and therefore Ezech. 9.1 they are called the visiters of the city men appointed by the dominion of God unto that office but yet the man had a thought of nothing less than to do Gods work in it or to submit unto his dominion or execute his counsel which unto them was secret he meaneth not so he thinks not so there are two words used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tacite secum cogitare he hath not such a thought that did ever enter into his heart he never had so much as the least secret imagination of any such thing and the other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth signifie a devised designed and plotted thing it was a thing that he never consulted never designed in all that he doth to execute my displeasure against an hypocritical Nation but yet he shall do my work while he doth wholly intend his own and design that only and yet the work that shall be done upon Sion is the Lords work vers 12. and by these two Scriptures it will clearly appear that the Soveraignty of God is conversant about the sins of men things in themselves evil and forbidden of God and yet his Soveraignty reacheth unto them And this I shall branch into two heads 1 The Soveraignty of God over a mans own sins for the good of his people 2 Over other mens sins he doth so imploy his Soveraignty about the sins of men that they shall be ordered for the good of the Saints 1. The Soveraignty and Supremacy of God in reference unto the sins of his own people the Lord doth so rule and order all things thereby that their own sins shall in some kind work for their good that which in its own nature is only evil can by an almighty over-ruling hand turn into good which no man in the world is able to do they may make good use of things in themselves good but they are never able to bring good out of that which is per se malum of it self sinfull as sin is and this I shall demonstrate to you in four things 1 In respect of the being of sin 2 In respect of the rising of sin 3 In respect of the actings of sin 4 In respect of the raging of sin in an open violent scandalous way 1. It will appear in reference unto the being of sin in the Saints The Lord who has forbid all sin even in the Principles and being of it and has sent his Son to take away sin yet he has in his Soveraignty so ordered the condition of the Saints here that sin shall have a being in them and they shall never be perfectly freed from it so that it will be true of the best while they are here he that saith he has no sin deceiveth himself there will be reliquiae vetustatis as Austin calls it a Law in the members a body of death To be without sin here is given to us as praeceptum a precept in this life or else Original sin were no sin and the being of sin were against no Law of God the Law requires a holy Nature as well as holy Actions but in the life to come it shall be given to us as praemium a reward here as a Law and hereafter as a Reward And why has the Sovereignty of God so ordered it that those that shall be freed from sin perfectly in the Life to come and whom Christ shall present without spot or wrinkle or any such thing why will he suffer
give better Rules to guide a mans life and bring him unto Happiness of governing of Estates and ordering the affairs of men than the Word doth lay down and so he cannot submit to it because he doth look upon it as a foolish thing and as that which hath no wisdom in it but a man must submit in point of wisdom and holiness to it 3. All fleshly Wisdom the Lord doth hate and look upon as Dâ—vilish Jam. 3.15 Jam. 3.15 that as spiritual wisdom is a Divine beam from the Father of Light so is carnal Wisdom a spark that ariseth out of Hell beneath it is a part of that wisdom that is in the Devil and answers unto it in all the ends intents and actings thereof that look what ends the Devil hath in his wicked plots such have they and look what means he useth such do they use also for it is that which their wisdom doth direct them unto so that take a man that hath a subtle and malitious heart and if you would see a picture of the Devil incarnate that is the man and as the wisdom which Satan hath as an Angel that remaining Stock doth make him the more perfectly a Devil so it is with this man also all that wisdom he has gotten by nature and by study and by experience and observation he becomes the more like unto the Devil by it and therefore this fleshly wisdom being so perfectly conformable unto the Devil and being inspired from Hell it is said to be devilish for there are the Devils lusts The Devil hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now which way to vent or to propagate them in the world immediately he knows not and they are much more propagated when they are acted than when they are suggested Now the ordinary sorts of sinners are able to act the Devils lusts but their plots are deep they are such depths that they must be wise men indeed that are able to understand them and for that cause as by his temptation he doth stirr up the one so he doth by his suggestion inspire the other and as there are Messengers of Satan immediate Lusts from Hell so there are immediate Plots from Hell and Satan fills the hearts of men with them as he did the heart of Judas in his betraying of Christ c. and upon this account â—or its original and for its resemblance it is called by God devilish wisdom 4. God doth seldom or never give Grace unto that man who is inspired with carnal Wisdom he doth seldom graft it upon such a Stock as this is 1 Cor. 1.26 Not many wise men not many noble are called and Math. 11.25 Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto Babes c. But might it not have been much for the honour of the Gospel and the advancement of Religion if the wise men of the world did come as the wise men of the East did and bow down unto Christ and worship him would not Religion have the greater name and glory amongst men and would it not be freed from that scandal of Piscatoria simplicitas No they are only the poor of the world and the foolish and simple ones that embrace it and believe it God looks not as man looks he doth choose the poor of this world and the foolish things of the world to confound the wise c. and this is one of those depths of Gods Judgments which are unsearchable and his wayes that are past finding out for he will exalt free Grace alone And the Lord hath no need nor the Gospel of any such Subsidiaries he hath a wisdom that is able to carry on the Gospel of his Grace and it shall prevail though there be no wisdom in the Professors thereof that it may appear to be his work and that he doth alone promote it if men stand not by the Gospel yet God will and the Simplicity thereof shall overcome that as he will have the Power to be of God alone so the Wisdom shall be also of God alone that makes a man wise to salvation 5. This is the Man that commonly the Devil doth make use of There is nothing in an unregenerate man but what is or may be the Devils weapons Luk. 11.22 his Soul is the Devils house and the inward abilities of the man that 's the Armor of Satan now the greater any natural mans abilities are the stronger armour he has for Satan and the more use he will make of him and that because he is able to do him more service and as God doth use men according to their Graces for he will act the Graces that he has given so will Satan also use men according to their abilities they shall not lye idle he doth proportion the service a man can do him as God doth that men may be pares negotio They will also be an honour to their imployment because they are look'd upon as wise men by the rest of the world Cupit Diabolus abs te ornari as Austin saith of a young man of great gifts and abilities and so there is this Curse upon humane wisdom it is a servant unto Satan and yet it is a snare unto the man and a Curse upon his Soul And indeed Satans cause hath need of such instruments that shall lay deep plots and not carry things in simplicity because it is darkness and if it be seen and discovered it is for the most part clouded But with the Lord it is not so he doth all in the Light and loves so to do therefore he has no need of any such secret plots and hiding of Counsels as the wise men of the world are accustomed unto There is but one very worldly wise man namely Solomon that the Scripture doth speak of among all the godly men in it and the Scripture has recorded more of his falling and of Gods departing from him leaving him to himself and more of the madness and folly that he ran upon by his exercise of and his leaning upon his own wisdom and the use that the Devil made of him than of any other godly man that we read of in all the Scripture besides therefore surely they are dangerous instruments in Satans hand 6. Carnal wisdom is commonly used against the people of God the edge of it is commonly turned that way Psal 83.3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones there are a people which the Lord hath undertaken to hide and to protect for he is the Saviour of all men but especially of them that believe and there are a people that he doth lay up for himself as his peculiar treasure for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 19.5 signifies both these and against these are the plots of the wise men of the earth see it in Pharaoh Achitophel and Herod they all prospered till they turned their wisdom this way
but when once they began to turn the head of their policy against the Saints they did very speedily find their ruine therein the Lord did go beyond them and they were taken in their own craftiness For when Satan has ingaged their spirits against the Saints Satan never leaves but he makes them restless raiseth up in them both great plots and great hopes and so they never cease till they meet with the Church as a burdensom stone at which they will always be lifting till they be broken therewith for in their very policy they do perish and in their own plots as in the net which they had privily laid is their foot taken Zac. 12.1 2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and Jerusalem 2. How doth the Lord turn these plottings of wicked men be they never so deep unto the good of his people 1. God doth set Divine wisdom on work for them for they have an interest in all the Attributes of God and they shall be put forth for them as their necessities do require Psal 119.120 It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy law The Saints may desire God to put out an Attribute then and they do flye unto their strong hold unto their chambers as Esa 26. as when the power of man is exalted against them now it is time for them to say We have no might against this multitude but our eyes are upon thee it is all one to thee to save with few or with many so when carnal wisdom is exalted now is the time for God to put forth his wisdom for them that are his people for they say We have no wisdom against this wise and subtle generation but our eyes are upon thee and in thee is our wisdom laid up Herod had a plot against Christ and he will come and worship him that is he would come and destroy him and the Wise-men also that came to seek him now is the wisdom of God put forth for Christs preservation one is sent into Egypt and the other are admonished by God and they return into their own country another way And the people of God have more benefit by seeing the wisdom of God acting for them than they can have disadvantage or discouragement by seeing all the wise men of the world against them O great is the sweetness that the people of God have by seeing any Attribute act for them and for their good that by this means they may come to understand their inheritance in Attributes which is far beyond that of creatures or promises as a father his bowels are moved for a child when he sees him in danger and then his affections do discover themselves so do the Saints expect that the Lord shall fulfil his relation in that respect when dangers are pressing upon them c. 2. In the middle of all their plots they comfort themselves in this that they shall take no effect against them till they have done the service which the Lord hath appointed them unto Luke 13.32 they told Christ that Herod had a plot upon him to kill him he saith Go tell that Fox Luk. 13.32 behold I cast out devils and I do cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected Franc. in his History Animalium gives us three properties of a Fox he is animal dolosum crudele gulosum subtle and deceitful all for death cruel and all for the prey and there is a double property of him as deceitful 1 Noctu prorepit he only goes forth in the night doth all things secretly and so do Plotters they must not be seen and a great part of their wisdom is to be undiscovered 2 Nunquam rectis incedit itineribus sed ambagibus He doth never go right on but always he hath his windings and turnings so Politicians they love to walk unseen and they never love to go in plain paths but in secret ways to ensnare men But Christ when they told him of the design of this Fox Herod he comforts himself with this there is a set time for my work and then when that is done my service is perfect then shall I dye and I know all his policy shall be able to avail nothing against me till I have finished the work that the Father has given me to do And so may all the Saints comfort themselves against all the plots of wicked men against them they shall finish their work notwithstanding 3. This shall sometimes make way for their service in a wonderful manner the Jews had a plot against Paul and they had taken an oath That they would neither eat nor drink â—ill they had killed him this occasioned his being sent unto Caesarea first and afterwards to Rome where the Lord told him he must bear witness of him also and glorious was the service that he did there and the souls that he converted were many and in a special manner even in Caesars family there were souls brought home unto the Lord Phil. 4.22 All the Saints salute you chiefly those that are of Caesars houshold it was Nero that opprobrium humani generis and yet the Lord had some to pluck out there and the Lord made the plot which they had against him the occasion of all this great work what loser was Paul by it nay how much honour did it bring unto tâ—â— Lord and how great thanksgiving was given unto God by these pâ—or converted souls who came unto the knowledge of the Gospel and the way to life by this means 4. What they do plot to hinder shall by their very plots be advanced Esa 44.25 he turns wise men backward that is they shall see a quite contrary effect unto that which by their wisdom they intended to bring to pass against the Jews and the raising persecution against the Christians since was to hinder the Gospel and to suppress it but this did further the Gospel for it did occasion their going forth unto the Gentiles and by this means the sound went forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world and 〈◊〉 the casting off of the Jews became the inriching of the Gentiles by this means which else had never been so gloriously and fully done and I do not doubt but the very opposition that is against the Ordinances of the Gospel shall establish them in the Lords time and the opposition against any truth hath ever established that truth for they are but as winds that root the trees by shaking of them they fasten Jer. 20.10 Report say they and we will report it the wicked plot to take away the good names of the Saints by casting out slanders against them as if they were the vilest wretches upon earth but there is not such a way to bring an honour upon them and to cause the Lord to make their light to break forth out of darkness unto after generations as to reproach them 5. Hereby they have experience of those glorious promises that God has made to his people of frustrating the plots of their enemies Esa 8.10 Consult but it shall come to nought speak the word but it shall not stand for God is with us Prov. 6.14 Frowardness is in his heart he devisâ—th mischief continually he sowed discord therefore shall his calamity come suddenly suddenly shall he be broken without remedy and Psal 19.21 Many devices are in the heart of a man but the counsel of God that shall stand Psal 64.6 7. They search out iniquity they accomplìsh a diligent search the inward thoughts of every one of them and the heart is deep but God shall shoot at them with an arrow and suddenly shall they be wounded Hereby the Saints flye unto those promises and they have experience of their interest and the prayers of the ancient Saints against all the enemies that ever plotted mischief against the Church as the instance of Judas they are answered in after-generations and there is a Communion of Saints that the people of God have with Saints departed upon this ground also they have a benefit by the prayers which they did put up upon earth which are accomplished upon the enemies of the Church and people of God in after-ages Lastly They have experience of strange secret and glorious deliverances by this means and truly experience of God in any kind is no small advantage to the Saints they make much of their own experiences and live upon them afterwards Possidon tells us in the Life of Austin that as he was travelling there were certain of the Donatists whom he calls Circumcelliones that did lay wait for him armed to kill him obvenit Dei providentia sed ductoris errore but he missed the way per hunc errorem manus impias evasit and so escaped This drew forth in him and in many others of the people of God many praises unto God for so great and unknown deliverance and I did the rather insist upon this because the enemies of the people of God are very busie in plotting against the Saints and we have cause to fear the fraud of the enemy as well as their force though if hand joyn with hand yet the wicked shall not be unpunished and the God that has delivered will again deliver These things may one day be worth thinking of when we are cast upon such providences that we know not what to do then the Lord will arise for the help of those that wait on him FINIS
the heart and nothing else it sets a strong guard upon the whole inward man this wall is as well that none should break out as that none should break in it defends from all enemies it 's this that makes the souls of the glorified Saints impeccable visio beatifica reddit impeccabiles Now what is there in the beatifical vision so advantageous to a soul 1 Cognition a man doth perfectly know all the glory of God and the Saints that know most of him here he will hereafter come to be admired of them 2 Thess 1.10 and we know that admiration is the overplus of expectation they will say when they come to Heaven the one half was not told them Oh how little a portion is known of him 2 Application there shall be a perfect application unto a mans soul that he shall know his own interest in him that all this is his right that it is his fathers pleasure to make it to be his portion which doth here much abate all the joy of the Saints in this life that many times the soul is not able to apply the portion he hath in God to himself 3 There is Fruition which implies both actual possession and glorious satisfaction And he that finds this in the Lord and his alsufficiency he cannot go out unto any thing else for his soul is filled with it In thy presence is fulness of joy Psal 16. ult and that which is full can receive no addition as it needs none and so far as the soul is made partaker of this vision in a fiducial way so far it is impeccable also and what was the true reason why the Devil did fall what was his condemnation 1 Tim. 3.6 it was this that he did not look upon God as alsufficient he would have taken in some created excellency something of himself to have made up his sufficiency and so he departed from the Lord and as often as men do turn aside to any thing else it 's because the thoughts of the alsufficiency of God are not kept up in a man and this is the way for a man to fall into the condemnation of the Devil And this we ought so much the more to seek because a great part of the happiness of the Lord doth consist in the contemplation of himself and surely that which makes the Lord himself happy will make us happy also the satisfaction that God takes in his own excellency and sufficiency And truly there are two things in which mainly our godliness should consist 1 in a constant contemplation of God and 2 a perfect obedience unto him walking before him and walking with him and seeing him that is invisible this is the great work and guard of a Saint But wherein doth the happiness of a Saint by reason of his interest in Gods alsufficiency consist There are these particulars in which it makes a man very happy 1. It supplies all a mans wants the Lord is my shepherd he hath undertaken both to feed and defend me and he will surely do his office and therefore I shall want nothing that is necessary either for my provision or my protection The lyons do lack but they that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good if they have it not formaliter formally in kind they have it eminenter eminently as the Sun hath light in it in a far more glorious way than any other light if they have it not in silver yet they have it in gold and therefore the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.10 puts it in with a quasi as if sorrowful as if poor 2 Cor. 6.10 as if having nothing afflictio nostra habet quasi sed gaudium nostrum non habet our affliction has an AS IF but our joy none Austin there is but an appearance and a resemblance of the one but there is a truth and a reality in the other we are as those that have nothing and yet it is but in appearance so for in truth he that hath his interest in the alsufficiency of God he doth possess all things The alsufficiency of God runs through all Gods Attributes as the sincerity of a man doth through all his graces and is to be observed in them all the soul saith I am in a great strait in my business and I want direction but in God there is alsufficient wisdom I am a sinner and a fresh sense of guilt is upon me and I want remission but there is in God alsufficient mercy and I am under the power of a lust and of a temptation and I want strength to overcome it there is in God alsufficient grace his grace is sufficient for thee I am poor and want wealth it 's the Lord that makes rich and I am despised not honoured it 's the Lord that honours them that honour him and I want friends he doth many times give unto his own the hearts of men and turns their hearts to love you or to hate you he puts a mans acquaintance far from him or brings them near to him upon all occasions yea even the issues from death belong unto him and it is very much sweeter to the Saints to see it and to rely upon it as it is in him than if they had the mercy in their own hands because as the promise leads a man unto Christ and so though it be but small yet it is a pledge of union with Christ so though the supply be but small yet it brings a man to the alsufficiency of God and thereby discovers a mans propriety in God 2. It enables a man for all the works he hath to do in the world the Lord sent Moses in a great service to Pharaoh and he tells him I will be with thee and when Moses did object he had a stammering tongue saith God I will be with thy tongue and the alsufficiency of God was his sufficiency for his work so he sends Joshua and tells him He will never leave him nor forsake him and nothing shall be able to stand before him all his days and so the Apostles were sent forth as sheep c. but he bids them Go for behold I am with you unto the end of the world A man needs nothing else to enable him for any service but this God is alsufficient for me and were it not for that there are many of Gods people would sink under the apprehension of their own weaknesses and the burdensom callings that lye upon them from day to day Christus tunc regnat in nobis quando nos ab operibus nostris feriatos inhabitat cùm ipsè in nobis facit opera nostra Luther Christ then reigns in us when he works in us c. and so a mans soul keeps a Sabbath unto Christ as in point of Justification a man saith My good works are the Righteousness of Christ so in point of ability a man saith My ability is his alsufficiency for I am of my self able to do nothing and therefore when