Law given on Mount Sinai though materially it respected works yet formally and intentionally it was not then given and established as a Covenant of works by which we should be justified and live this I shall afterwards make evident and therefore shall say no more unto it at the present 5. The Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace do differ in the condition In the condition of life promised of life promised in both Life is promised in both Covenants but upon different conditions Do this and live saith the Covenant of works Believe on Jesus Christ and live saith the Covenant of grace The condition of the one consists in giving The condition of the other consists in receiving The condition of the one is to give in a perfect righteousness of our own unto God and the condition of the other is by faith to receive a perfect righteousnesse from Christ In the Covenant of nature or of works there is forum justitiae where the sentence of absolution passeth if we be found righteous and the sentence of condemnation if we be found unrighteous the question is not then about faith but love not whether you believ'd but whether you obey'd But in the Covenant of grace there is forum misericordiae and the sentence of absolution passeth not upon our doing but upon our believing and the sentence of condemnation passeth upon all unbelievers Now here fall in two notable questions 1. Question Whither faith were not required in the Covenant of works Whether faith were not required in the Covenant of works How faith was rerequired Sol. To this I answer three things 1. Faith was required in the Covenant of works as Faith may be taken either for a dependance on God the only Authour of being and blessing or for an expectation of that good of life which God promised with a reliance upon God for it or for a perswasion of Gods love to him and acceptance of his obedience whil'st continuing upright with God As to these considerations of faith Adam who lived under the Covenant of works had faith and did exercise it for he was bound to acknowledge God as the only fountaine of his good and to depend upon him as so And he was bound to believe the possession of that life which God promised to him whil'st he should continue perfectly obedient and likewise he was bound to be perswaded of the love of God unto him in that course of obedience and also the acceptance of his obediential services unto God 2. But that faith which respected the Covenant of works was different from that faith which respects the Covenant of grace and is now required For 1. How not required That faith was such as looked on a promise of life made by God to a perfect creature and as so continuing but that faith which respects the Covenant of grace looks upon the promise of God in Christ made in respect to us sinners and lost in our selves 2. That faith looked on God as a creatour and preserver but this faith looks on God as a Redeemer and merciful Father 3. That faith was natural concreated with Adam not raised nor infused in a Gospel-way but this faith is now promised and infused in a supernatural way by the Spirit of Christ through the dispensation of the Gospel 4. That faith could not be at all in any but so long as he was perfectly righteous and therefore it ceased upon the cessation of that righteousnesse it was principally grounded upon inherent Righteousnesse But this faith is in a sinner who hath no righteousnesse of his own but relies upon the righteousness of another even the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ 3. Although there was a kind of faith in Adam under the Covenant of works Faith not required in both for the same end yet that faith was not for this end and purpose to be the condition of that Covenant There it was a part of his righteousnesse but was not stipulated as the condition of life as that upon which his life and justification did depend But the faith required in the Covenant of grace comes in purposely as the condition of life and justification for the sinner 2. Quest. Whither the Covenant of grace doth not require works as well Whether the Covenant of grace requires works Works are required in both as the Covenant of nature or of works If so what difference is there then between them as to doing Sol. Questionlesse the Covenant of grace requires good works This is a faithful saying saith Paul Tit. 3. 8. and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which believe in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works Matth. 5. 16. But yet there is a vast difference betwixt the good works as required in the Covenant of works But with a difference and as required in the Covenant of grace They differ in their spring and fountain and they differ in their manner of Wherein this difference lies working but herein especially they differ as to these Covenants that in the one they are a condition of life but in the other Testimonies and Evidences of life in the one they are the matter of life and justification in the other they are nothing at all they are no part no reason they have no intrest or hand at all in the justification of a sinner Faith therein wholly excludes them and fixeth only on the righteousnesse of Christ Although they are alwayes present in the justified man yet they are never present in his justification before God 6. The Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace do differ thus The In the one the least sin undoes the sinner least sin undoes the sinner under the Covenant of works but it doth not so in the Covenant of grace The Covenant of works passeth sentence against you upon the least obliquity Cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing to do it and you have no remedy against this sentence in the Covenant of works But it is not so in the Covenant of grace This is a Remedy and a Sanctuary and a City of Refuge against the sentence passed in the Covenant of works In the other there is a remedy If the condemned and distressed sinner can fly unto and reach to the Covenant of grace Christ will satisfie for him and make his peace and procure mercy for him Nay the Covenant of grace deals more favourably with us It doth not cast us out for every transgression but as a father pities his child that serves him so doth the Lord pity them that feare him Psal 103. 13. Unlesse we utterly violate the Covenant of grace we may yet find grace and mercy If any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes
1 John 2. 1 2. 7. The Covenant of works if we could attain unto it would now be matter The one would be matter of glorying in our selves of glorying in our selves If Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory Rom. 4. 2. The elder brother who represented these work-men how did he boast himself These many years did I serve thee neither transgressed I at any time thy Commandment c. Luke 15. 29. I am not as other men said that proud Pharisee you might have challenged life by a debt by the Covenant of works To him that worketh is the Reward not reckoned of grace but of debt Rom. 4. 4. You might have earned happinesse if I may so speak at your fingers ends and might have demanded your wages after you had done your work But the Covenant of grace cuts off all boasting and glorying The other cuts off all boasting in our selves Where is boasting then it is excluded by what Law of works nay but by the Law of faith Rom. 3. 27. And Jesus Christ is made unto us of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption That according as it is written he that glorieth might glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 30 31. You cannot glory in your wisdome for that you have from Christ nor in your sanctification for that you have from Christ c. you have all from Christ therefore all your glorying must be in Christ There is a twofold glorying one in the Testimony of conscience this you may have who are under the Covenant of grace 2 Cor. 1. 12. Another is A twofold glorying in the confidence of our own works This the Covenant of grace doth utterly exclude God forbid that I should glory save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal. 6. 14. All is of grace by the Covenant of grace all is given and freely given Christ is given and grace is given and mercy is given and life is given and salvation is given and therefore all boasting and glorying in our selves is excluded by the Covenant of grace 8. They differ thus The Covenant of works breeds terrours and fear and The one breeds fear and terror despair If a man expect life by it his heart must sink within him considering how short he is of that righteousnesse therein required for life as also that abundance of unrighteousnesse in himself exposing him to wrath from a just God But the Covenant of grace is a ministration of life and peace and joy and The other is a ministration of life boldnesse you have here a sure refuge to fly unto a sure Rock to stand upon and a sure Anchor to trust unto 9. There are many other differences between them as the impossibility of Other differences summed up life by the one as the case now stands and the certainty of life by the other and the diversity of life promised in the one from that in the other and a difference in respect of the seals for the one and for the other And a difference in respect of extent The Covenant of works was with all men but this with believers only And a difference in respect of Appeals though you may appeal from the Covenant of works to the Covenant of grace yet there is no appeal from the Covenant of grace c. But I shall not stay any longer upon this first particular only by the way make some few Uses from the consideration of both these Covenants 1. Use In what a miserable condition are all unbelievers and impenitent persons who are strangers and forreiners to the Covenant of grace enemies to Christ and therefore utterly disinterested in the Covenant of grace Surely In what a miserable condition are all unbelievers mercy is not to be found in any other Covenant but in this In the Covenant of works you are condemned and accursed by reason of transgression your lives are forfeited you are under the curse cursed is every one c. Neither doth the Covenant of works mitigate or reverse or alter the sentence It admits of no mercy at all Mercy which is the only remedy against it is found only in the Covenant of grace There is the Throne of grace set up and there is the Mercy-seat to be found But unbelievers because they refuse Christ and impenitent sinners because they choose their sinnes exclude themselves from Christ and from this Covenant of grace and therefore they shall live and die accursed and condemned men 2. Vse See and admire the infinite goodnesse of God in making this Covenant Admire the goodness of God in making this Covenant of grace of grace not insisting on the other Covenant of works not holding us unto it to take us as it were out of the hand of justice and to put us into the hand of mercy not to sue the old bond but to make a new treaty that so he might pardon our former transgressions What infinite goodnesse was this Oh! this was exceeding pity and exceeding kindnesse and exceeding goodnesse to take off the yoke of bondage and to bring us into the bond of a new Covenant to set up a Mediatour to make another Covenant where we might yet find life mercy and peace not to deal with us in justice but in mercy not according to the desert of our doings but according to the riches of his grace in Christ 3. Use Here is singular support unto troubled consciences unto all who are Here is support for troubled consciences wounded with the sense of their sinnes and of their own inability to satisfie Gods justice and of their utter unworthinesse of mercy Indeed if you look into the Covenant of works in this condition there is no comfort for you no help for you no hope for you That Covenant speaks not one word of grace of mercy of peace of hope at all but if it sends you sinners it pronounceth you cursed Yet in this case if you look to the Covenant of grace there is hope and help The Covenant of grace looks not at the righteous but at sinners and it holds out a satisfaction made by Christ which could never be made by the sinner and as it hath mercy for sinners so it communicates that mercy freely unto every mourning broken-hearted penitent and believing sinner yea it doth not only comprehend mercy but every grace which makes us capable of mercy and that to be freely given by God to them that seek him 4. Use Take heed of resting upon your own works of seeking life and justification Rest not upon your works from them and for them this is to set up the Covenant of works and this is to seek life and justification in a way where it is impossible for a sinner to find it and you utterly overthrow the Covenant of grace by it The Covenant of works by which if you will be justified supposeth personal perfect and stedfast righteousnesse neither admits it of any
abhorres that man and threatens all his curses against him and will wound and destroy him that still goes on in his trespasses And therefore if any amongst you sets his heart on sinne if he saith I love this sinne and I will not forsake it I will not forsake my pride I will not forsake my lying and I will not forsake my slandering I will not forsake my drunkennesse or my uncleannesse c. by this he may know that God is none of his God in Covenant nor is he any of the people in Covenant with God Thou art in a contrary Covenant in a Covenant wherein God will never agree with thee Psal 50. 16. Vnto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behinde thee There are two Covenants unto which if a man cleaves God is not in Covenant with him one is the Covenant of good works for justification and life This is inconsistent with an interest in the Covenant of grace The other is the Covenant with bad works In this thou put'st off God and rejectest him and God puts off thee and rejects thee And thou mayest know that thou art in Covenant with sinne if thou hast a strong affection to it and doest habitually yield a willing subjection to it 4. Positive unbelief When the sinner refuseth Christ will not come to him Positive unbelief not consent to take and receive him for King Priest and Prophet Ye will not comâ to me that âe might have life John 5. 4. We will not have this man to reigne over us Luke 19. 14. Christ offers himself and calls and entreats and promiseth but they will not hearken now he that will not have Christ to be his Christ cannot have God to be his God For as much as God becomes our God and our Father only in Christ By Christ only we are brought near unto him and enjoy him as our God in Covenant SECT III. 2. THE extreme misery and infelicity of such persons who have not God The misery of such who have not God for their God to be their God in Covenant The misery is so great and so sad that I know not well how to expresse it to you 1. You are wholly and utterly excluded from all good and happinesse You They are utterly excluded from all good have nothing to do with happinesse nor with any thing conducing to it There is a merciful loving gracious blessed God but thou hast no portion in this God There is a precious Christ a mighty Redeemer and only Saviour but thou hast no propriety in this Christ There are great and precious promises there are tender compassions in God there are admirable undertakings for all good for soul and body But what are all these to him who is not in Covenant who hath not God for his God A man reads a Lease of lands and goods and houses these are something to the heirs but what are they to an enemy or to a stranger A person is very great and mighty c. but what is this to the woman who will not marry him Ah how sad is this God hath love and not for me hath mercy but not for me is happinesse but is not so to me Well did one cry out Quid est Deus nisi meus what is God if he be not my God! If he be not merciful to me and good to me and blessednesse to me They have none to go unto in any distresse 2. You have none to go unto in any distresse and want In the times of your distresse whither will you flie or to whom can you go Wants are upon your bodies and there is no creature to help you anguish is upon your conscience and there is no creature to quiet you Danger is near your souls and there is no creature to save you whither will you go in life for blessing or in death for life All good is treasured up in the Covenant and conveyed to them that have God for their God you must first have a propriety in God himself before you can have a right unto or a propriety in the good things that are to be had by God O but he is no God to thee he is none of thine nor hath he engaged himself to thee for any good whatsoever 3. You are altogether exposed unto all evil If God be not your God assuredly They are altogether exposed to all evil then he is your Judge If he be not your friend then he is your enemy If you be not under his love you are then under his wrath If his promises are not for you his threatnings are against you If he be not your loving God in Covenant he is your wrathful God out of Covenant If he be not your pardoning God in Covenant he is your condemning God out of Covenant If you have reason to expect mercy from him because he is your God you have as much reason to expect judgement from him because he is your God I will tell you what God is and will be to you if he be not your God in Covenant He is a just God who will render unto you according to your works He is a holy God who will loath you and abhorre and reject you He is a faithful God who will certaiâly execute the fierenesse of his wrath and all the evil which he hath threatned in his Word against you and you shall never escape that judgement it shall certainly befal you and abide on you to all eternity 4. Against all this you have no remedy no hope All the hope of a sinner Against this they have no remedy is in a Mediatour but Christ is the Mediatour of the Covenant There is no Mediatour to be found in any Covenant but this of Grace and this you have no part in God is not your God SECT IV. 3. THE Infallible evidences by which we may know that God is our God The evidences that God is our God in in Covenant in Covenant I will present unto you seven Evidences for this and I beseech you to ponder them seriously You may know that God is your God and that you are his people in Covenant 1. By answerable and reciprocal acts 2. By inclusive and exclusive interests and properties 3. By your choyce and peculiar enjoyments or at least your desires of them 4. By the subordination and conformity of your hearts unto his authority and will 5. By your sweet contentment and satisfaction in the manifestations of God in any part of his Covenant unto your souls 6. By your dependance on God as your God in Covenant 7. By your Covenant-care and carriage First You may know that God is your God and that you are his people by your The answerable and reciprocal acts betwixt God and us On Gods part His choosing act answerable and reciprocal acts between
Rom. 6. 14. Here you see expresly that there is a freedome from the dominion of sinne even upon this account that we are under the Covenant of grace Though you be not totally freed from the inhabitation of sinne for sinne doth dwell in us whiles we dwell on earth and though you be not totally freed from the rebellion of sinne for peccatum hostis est quamdiu est The flesh lusteâh against the spirit Gal. 5. 17. and there is a law in our members warring against the law of our minds Rom. 7. 23. yet you are totally freed from the dominion of sinne which consists in the effectual Rule Command and Sovereign strength of sinne and a free and full and willing subjection or obedience unto the Law and authority of sinne and verily this freedome or deliverance is a wonderful mercy and happinesse unto the people of God whither you consider 1. The great and utmost distance twixt you and God 2. The basenâsse of servitude in which every one lives over whom sinne hath dominion for of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage 2 Pet. 2. 19. You were but very slaves to your lusts and to the devil whiles sinne did rule over you 3. The height of enmity As you were the basest of slaves so you were the worst of enemies living not only as aliens without God but as desperate enemies opposing and fighting against God 4. The superfluity of naughtinesse a full contrariety your whole hearts and your whole lives were nothing else but a constant dishonour unto God and contradiction to his Will and Glory 5. The certainty of destruction which would infallibly have attended you had not the mercy and grace of God rescued and delivered you I say certain destruction to your souls as there is a certain destruction to the life of our bodies if we fall into the sea and lie under it 6. The sweet and immediate communion 'twixt the deliverance from the dominion of sinne and admission to the Kingdome of Christ It is a translation from death to life The Apostle joins these together in Colos 5. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the Kingdome of his dear Sonne 3. They have immunity or freedome from the damnation meritoriously depending upon the guilt of sinne As salvation depends upon the merits of Christ so From damnation for sinne doth damnation depend on the merit of sinne There is so much merit in sinne as to render us obnoxious not only to temporal destruction but also to eternal destruction for the wages of sinne is death even that death which stands in opposition to eternal life Rom. 6. 23. But from the effectual redundancy of this damnation upon your persons you are every one freed who are in Covenant with God For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. And whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life John 3. 15. And the ground of this your immunity from the damnation due unto you for your sinnes is the satisfaction which Christ hath made for your sinnes unto the justice of God and thereupon the obtaining of riches of mercy from your God who according to his Covenant with you blots out and forgives all your sinnes and never remembers them any more For this is a sure truth that remission of sinnes and actual damnation for sinnes are incompatible or inconsistent Now whether this be any cause of comfort that you and your sinnes are parted and that you and hell are for ever separated I leave it to any one of you to judge for mine own part I do look upon four things as very great mercies 1. That I am delivered from the power of sinne 2. That I enjoy the pardon of sinne 3. That I shall never be damned for sinne 4. That I shall be saved notwithstanding all my sinnes 4. They have immunity or freedome from justification by the Law from all legal From justification by the Law tryals for life Although you are not freed from the Law as it is a rule for life yet you are freed from the Law as it is a Covenant of life although you are not freed from the Law as it is the image of the good and holy will of God yet because you are under the Covenant of grace you are freed from the Law as it is a reason of salvation and justification The Covenant of grace takes you off from that Court and that Bar which pronounceth life upon your own good works and pronounceth death upon your own evil works Rom. 3. 28. We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law Gal. 3. 11. No man is justified by the Law in the sight of God for the just shall live by faith As the Law calls for perfect and personal righteousnesse of our own so the Law will not justifie you it will not give life unto you unlesse it finds that righteousnesse in you you live not if you be not perfectly righteous absolution is pronounced upon your own perfect innocency and condemnation is pronounced upon any defect or breach And verily upon this account no man living can or shall be justified therefore here is comfort that being in Christ and in this Covenant of grace ye are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses See the Apostle Acts 13. 39. Your life doth not lie now in your own righteousnesse but in the righteousnesse of Christ nor doth it depend upon your own works but upon the obedience of Christ That expression of Luther is an excellent expression Christus solus me justificat contra mea mala opera sine operibus meis bonis Though my works have been very good yet not those but Christ doth justifie me and though my works have been very ill yet the righteousnesse of Christ can and will justifie me my evil works shall not damne me and my good works cannot acquit me it is Christ it is Christ and not the Law which justifies me 5. They have immunity or liberty from the rigour of the Law The Law in the rigour of it exacts of us a most absolute obedience a most exquisite and full obedience From the rigor of the Law it will not abate us the least grain or scruple if it be not every way adequate for matter and manner and measure your obedience will not passe nor will it be accepted according to the rigour of the Law Cursed is every one who doth not continue in every thing that is written to do it But when once you are under the Covenant of grace when once God is your God and you are his people neither you nor your services are judged by the exactnesse of your services but by the sincerity of your hearts Though much be wanting which the Law prescribes yet if that be present which your merciful God and Father
it is See the antiquity of the Grace of God it hath been acting and putting forth it self from the beginning of the world it is of antient days and running along through all ages unto our age and so shall it hold on until the end of the World God hath had some ever since the fall whom he hath owned in special a manner for his people There is no age but his Covenant in some measure hath been afoot and some have been tasting of his Grace and Mercy We in our generation are not the only vessels of them thousands and thousands before us have been restored by Grace and saved by Grace Vse 2. How should this bow in our hearts to come into that Covenant of Grace This should move us to come into this Covenant which hath in so many Generations been found so full of mercy and life and to trust upon that God who is good and always keeps Covenant there is not any thing spoken of in any one Dispensation of the Covenant but it hath been still performed Surely that Covenant which hath held out so many years to so many Believers it will be sufficient and effectual for us all our days Vse 3. Then it is a gross error of the Anabaptists who put the Fathers under a carnall It discovers the erâor of the Anabaptists Covenant and that God fed them only with husks with Temporal Promises with earthly blessings as if they had no interest in God himself nor Christ nor Grace nor Glory whereas the Old Covenant under which they lived made up the same relation 'twixt God and them as between us and God and they had the same Christ revealed unto them as we have and their Faith looked on him as promised and to come as our faith looks on him as come and exhibited and they and we are the same children of God by faith and heirs of the same glory by Christ Vse 4. Then it is also a gross error to lay any other foundation than what is laid And their error who set up a Coveâanâ of Woâks âor life my meaning is To set up a Covenant of Works for life and justification to build our confidences and hopes for life and salvation upon our own works for God as you have heard hath from age to age and from generation to generation set up a Covenant of Grace though in several ways of dispensation for his people and in these latter times as the Apostle stiles them hath setled fixed an invincible Covenant of grace to the worlds end And the Covenant of grace layes Jesus Christ alone for the sinners foundation and gives faith to lay the soule upon him not upon our own righteousness but upon his righteousness You do for lying vanities forsake your own mercies when you leave Jesus Christ and expect life from a Covenant of works Use 5 Vse 5. If they who had the Covenant of grace more dimly and darkly revealed were brought in as a people unto God what shall we say for our selves who have the Covenant of grace most clearly revealed in the Gospel and who have How unexcusable are sinners under this Covenant Christ and all the work of Redemption by Christ and all the way of salvation by Christ written as it were with the beams of the Sun what shall we say for our selves if yet 1. We remaine ignorant of mercy and life and Christ and salvation 2. We remaine obstinate and refuse to hearken unto the way of life and unto the terms of grace propounded unto us in the Gospel 3. We still receive the grace of God in vain and are no way wrought on by the ministration of the New Covenant but it is still a dead Letter unto us not a quickâing Spirit c. O how inexcusable are our soules and how unanswerable shall we for all this grace of God and how heavy will the condemnation be for despising the grace of God shining amongst us with such glorious light in the face of Christ and in the Ministery of the Gospel of Christ If our Gospel be hid it is hid unto them that are lost 2 Cor. 4. in whom the god of this world hath blinded the mindes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them verse 5. Vse 6 O what manner of persons should the people of God be in these times who live under the new Covenant the best of all Covenants Better than the Covenant of works better What manner of persons should we be For knowledge than the Old Covenant of Grace for perspicuity for efficacy for liberty c. 1. What manner of men should we be in knowledge of Christ and of the grace of God in Christ 2. What manner of men should we be for soundness of judgement in the truths For soundness of judgment of the Covenant having so much light of the Gospel revealing the Covenant 3. What manner of men should we be in the estimation of Christ in affections In estimatioâs of Christ and in affection to him unto Christ in love to Christ in faith in Christ to whom Christ is so fully and so evidently made manifested by the Gospel in his Person in his Offices in his Love in his Redemption in his Salvation 4. How rich in grace how abounding in every grace to whom the New Covenant of grace is preached which is of more power and efficacy than any other How rich in grace Covenant which hath a more abundant presence and influence of the Spirit As to whom much is forgiven of them shall much be required So they who have received much from them doth God expect more 5. How should you serve your God and live up to Christ in all intention of mind How should such serve their God! and fervency of Spirit and freedom of heart and chearfulness of soul and readiness of obedience who are brought into that Covenant which sets you at liberty from a world of Ceremonies and Sacrifices and restraints and besides from sin and Satan 6. How chiefly should your hearts be raised to the better promises in Christ fully How should our hearts be raised to the better promises manifested now in the Gospel In the Old Testament you finde more mention indeed of temporal blessings and the spiritual were many times vailed in them But in the New Testament you finde the greatest mention of Spiritual blessings and temporal blessings be annexed unto them And why is this but because your hearts should be more taken up with and more set upon the great things of salvation and heaven than the mean things of earth and of this life O that you had hearts suitable and answerable to the choisest chiefest manifestations of the Covenant of grace and of the blessings more fully revealed and promised in the Covenant Use 7 How should we Gentiles blesse the Lord whom he hath reserved for
more special to shew unto you what that Covenant is which God makes between himself and his people There are who do distinguish of a twofold Covenant 1. There is Foedus absolutum which is such a promise of God as takes in no stipulation or condition at all that There is an absolute CovenaÌt runnes altogether upon absolute termes such a Covenant was that which God made with Noah that he would never drown the world any more Gen. 9. 11. and such a kind of Covenant is that when God promiseth to give faith and perseverance unto his elect Heb. 8. 10 c. Both these Covenants are absolute and without any condition there is nothing in them but what is folded up in the promises themselves 2. Foedus Hypotheticum which is a gracious promise on Gods part with an obligation to duty on our part for although it be natural to God to recompence And an Hypothetical Covenant any good as it is to punish any evil And although man doth owe unto God whatsoever God covenanteth with him for yet it so pleaseth his Divine Will thus to deale with us that in binding of us to duty unto himself he binds himself in reward unto us and promiseth such and such a recompence upon the condition of such and such a performance Now this kind of Covenant is twofold The Covenant is either The Covenant of nature 1. Foedus Naturae as some stile it or Foedus operum the Covenant of works as we usually call it the Apostle calls it the Law of works Rom. 3. 27. This is the Covenant which God made with man in the state of innocency before the fall wherein God promised unto man life and happinesse upon condition of perfect and personal obedience and it is summed up by the Apostle Gal. 3. 12. Do this and live God having created man upright after his own Image and so having furnished him with all abilities sufficient for obedience thereupon he made a Covenant with him for life upon the condition of obedience I say he made such a Covenant with Adam as a publick person and as he promised life to him and his posterity in case of obedience so he threatened death and a curse unto him and his posterity in case of disobedience In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2. 17. Cursedis every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. 10. 2. Faedus Gratiae the Covenant of Grace the Apostle calls it the law of faith Or the Covenant of grace Rom. 3. 27. and it is especially expressed thus He that believes shall be saved Mark 16. 16. The just shall live by faith Gal. 3. 11. This is that Covenant of which the Text speaks and of which by Gods assistance This is stiled I intend to discourse This Covenant which is sometimes stiled the Covenant of life life is restored The Covenant of life and life is promised and life is setled by the Covenant no life for a sinner out of it And sometimes it is stiled a Covenant of peace Numb 25. 12. Behold I give Covenant of peace unto him my Covenant of Peace Peace is the comprehension of all blessings and prosperity our good is in this good Covenant of grace and all peace flowes out of it peace with God and peace of cosncience And sometimes it is called a Covenant of salt Num. 18. 19. 2 Chron. 13. 5. A A Covenant of salt firm sure uncorruptible Covenant which lasts for ever Sometimes it is stiled the promise Psal 105. 42. He remembred his holy promise The promise and Abraham his servant It is called the promise by way of eminency it is made up altogether of promises all on Gods part which he will do is under promise and all on our part which we are to do is likewise under promise Sometimes it is called the mercy and the truth Mic. 7. 20. Thou wilt perform The mercy and the truth the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham The Covenant is called mercy because mercy only drew this Covenant It was meer mercy which moved God to make new bonds with us yea all mercy is wrapped up in it And it is called Truth because the Lord God who makes this Covenant will certainly and truly performe all that good and mercy which in it he makes over unto his people Hence also it is called the oath Luke 2. 73. The oath which he sware unto The Oath our father Abraham You do not read of Gods Oath in the Covenant of works that Covenant wanted a Mediatour and was not sealed with an oath but in this Covenant of grace there is the oath of God to declare unto us and to confirm us as touching the immutability of his will and purpose for the accomplishment of all that good mentioned in this Covenant And it is called a Testament and a new Testament Matth. 26. 28. My A Testament and New Testament blood of the New Testament Heb. 9. 15. He is the Mediatour of the New Testament A Testament is Testatio mentis that which we commonly call a mans Will about the bestowing of his estate amongst his children c. The new Covenant is called a Testament because it is ratified and confirmed by the death of the Testator and because it is as it were his last Will written down There are precious Legacies bestowed and setled by God the Father in this Covenant upon all his children and all of them are confirmed and ratified to them by the death of Christ This Covenant of grace thus gloriously set out in the Scripture wherein God proclaimes all his goodnesse to us which is the foundation of all our lives and comforts hopes and happinesse which is the foundation of all godlinesse and holy walking which is a sure and our only anchor I am now in a more distinct way to discourse of In the handling whereof I shall confine my self to these six particulars 1. The differences of this Covenant of grace from the Covenant of works 2. The proper nature of this Covenant in the absolute consideration of it 3. The adjuncts and properties of this Covenant 4. The condition of the Covenant of grace 5. The Mediatour of this Covenant 6. The special gifts and legacies that are bequeathed in this Testament CHAP. III. Differences of the Covenant of grace from the Covenant of works THe differences of this Covenant of grace from that Covenant of works Although there are some things wherein both these Covenants agree As 1. In the general end which is the Seven things in which they agree glory of God 2. In the persons contracting and covenanting which are God and man 3. In the intrinsecal forme there is a condition and restipulation in both 4. In some things promised in them both and required as to the matter of them in both 5. In the Authour God is the Authour of
them both 6. In the forme of inscription as in that the Law of works was written in the heart of Adam so in this the Law of grace is written in the heart of every one confederated 7. In the unchangeablenesse both of the one and of the other both of them are immutable Although that Covenant of works as it is a Covenant for life ceaseth unto believers yet it stands in force upon and against all unbelievers I say notwithstanding all these general concordancies correspondencies and agreements between them they do yet differ in nine particulars which I Nine things in which they differ shall the rather mention that you may understand the infinite goodnesse of God in making this Covenant of grace and his infinite mercy in it and your own happinesse by it if any of you be brought into the Covenant And also to affect your hearts that you may press the more after a personal interest therein Thus then the Covenant of works and of grace do differ 1. In their special end The end which God aimed at in the Covenant of works was the declaration and magnifying of his justice and his end in making In their special end the Covenant of grace is the declaration and magnifying of his mercy In the Covenant of works it is Do this and live if you sinne you dye for it Here is no place for Repentance no place for mercy In the Covenant of works when Adam had sinned there was no commission of enquiry whether he repented or not of what he had done the enquiry was only of the fact What hast thou done Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I said unto thee Thou shalt not eat and being found guilty death and curse are pronounced against him Gen. 3. 11 19. Thus it is in the Covenant of works The soul that sinnes shall die ãâã 18. 4. In this God reveals his wrath from heaven against all unrighteousnesse and ungodlinesse of men Rom. 1. 18. And thus he makes his power and justice known in that Covenant But in the Covenant of grace his intention and purpose is to glorifie his mercy to proclaim his glory The Lord The Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne Exod. 34. 6 7. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes c. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more Heb. 8. 10 12. In this Covenant there is place for repentance and mercy for the penitent Repent that your sinnes may be blotted out Acts 3. 19. He that forsakes his sins shall have mercy Prov. 28. 13. So that as to the Covenant of works you must be altogether perfect and alwayes so if you sinne at all you are cast and condemned But as to the Covenant of grace the sinner being penitent is received to mercy and spared This is one great difference betwixt the Covenant of Works and of Grace 2. In the condition of man with whom God doth Covenant The Covenant In the condition of man with whom God doth Covenant of works was made with man as perfect upright innocent and then sinlesse and therefore it is called by some Pactum Amicitiae a Covenant of friendship because before the fall there was nothing of variance or enmity betwixt God and man that estate was an estate of love and kindnesse and friendship God was Adams friend and Adam was a friend to God they agreed together and conversed as loving friends But the Covenant of grace was made with man as breaking friendship as fallen off by sinne as under the estate of emnity when his sinnes had separated betwixt him and his God and therefore this Covenant is called Pactum Reconciliationis a Covenant of Reconciliation an agreement made betwixt parties who had fallen out The Lord was pleased to look after man again and to take pity on him and to propose new Articles of life unto him 3. In their foundations The Covenant of works as to our part was founded In their foundations upon the strength of that righteous nature which God gave unto Adam and in him unto us so that his standing was upon his own bottome upon the sufficiency of his own power and will with which he was created But the foundation of the Covenant of grace is Jesus Christ not our own strength but the strength of Christ who is the Rock the Corner-stone the foundation-stone upon which you are built And this is one reason why Adam fell and lost that life promised in the Covenant of works and why such as are brought into the Covenant of grace fall not so as to lose that blessed life promised unto them Adam had more inherent strength of grace than we have he at his first creation was without all sinne yet he being left to the strength of his own will willingly brake with God willingly transgressed and lost all But we though weaker in our selves than he yet being brought into this Covenant of grace though we meet with as great temptations as he yet fall not as he did because the foundation of our strength is greater than his Jesus Christ holds us in his own hands Joh. 10. 28. And we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. 4. The Covenant of works was made without a Mediatour There was no The one made without a Mediatour dayes-man betwixt God and man none to stand between them There was none and needed none because there was no difference then betwixt God and man Man was then righteous perfectly righteous A Mediatour is a third person betwixt two different parties to make up the breach which ariseth betwixt them but when the Covenant of works was made betwixt God and man all was righteousnesse and therefore all was peace there was no use of a Mediatour to bring them into peace and set them at one who were hitherto in perfect love and union But in the Covenant of grace there is a Mediatour The other with a Mediatour Jesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant Heb. 12. 24. Man being fallen there is now a necessity of a Mediatour to satisfie Gods Justice to destroy enmity to make peace to bring us neare to God again and to gain us confidence and acceptance with God The Covenant of grace could not have been drawn up without a Mediatour God would never have treated with sinners but by a Mediatour who should satisfie him for the wrong and injury done unto him and who should set mercy as it were at liberty to showr and fall down on sinful man and who should undertake to see all Articles performed Objection It may be objected that the Law given at Mount Sinai was a Covenant of works and yet that was delivered by the hand of a Mediatour Gal. 3. 19. Sol. I shall say no more to this at present but that the
repentance nor will it make a new composition with you after your sinnings but as it will clear and acquit you upon perfect and stedfast righteousness so it will unalterably condemn you for any unrighteousnesse 5. Vse By no means sleight nor neglect Christ any longer but hearken Sleight not Christ any longer to his voice consider and embrace his offers he is the door at which you must first enter if you would be interested in the Covenant and by him you must be delivered from the Covenant of works Grace and truth mercy and peace love and life are by Jesus Christ CHAP. IV. The proper nature of the Covenant THe proper nature of the Covenant of grace in the absolute consideration thereof this I shall lay down in this description of it The Covenant of grace is a new compact or agreement which The Covenant described God made with sinful man out of his own meer mercy and grace wherein he promiseth that he will be our God and that we shall be his people and undertakes to give everlasting life and all that conduceth thereunto unto all who believe in Christ There are divers things considerable in this description which I desire And opened to open 1. This Covenant is a new compact and agreement betwixt God and man There was another agreement before this a Covenant of another nature and upon other It is a new Covenant with man termes and considerations and for another end But man stood not to that agreement he did voluntarily transgresse it and thereby deprived himself of all the benefits promised in that Covenant and fell under that death and curse which God had threatened for the breach and transgression of it Now the new Covenant is as it were a plank after that ship-wrack It is another Indenture for life it is not the same agreement renewed nor the former Lease or Bond renewed but a new one of another kind and nature made with man in another condition and capacity and upon another condition God presently made a new Covenant or agreement with fallen man different from the former made with created righteous man If he had not done so If it had not been so All man-kind had been lost 1. All man-kind had been eternally lost Sinful man could never have been recovered never have been restored to life but by a Covenant of grace nothing but grace can recover the lost sinner Rom. 3. 19. Every mouth must be stopped and all the world become guilty before God Ver. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the Law is the knowledge of sinne 2. The Lord had lost all the glory of his mercy if he had left us to the sentence God had lost all the glory of his mercy of the first Covenant Indeed there his justice and wrath and severity had been exceedingly magnified but his mercy had not risen and appeared at all unto us had not God made this new Covenant with us being become sinners and so fit objects of his mercy Now the intent of God was to exalt his mercy and that man should know the greatnesse and exceeding riches of it and therefore God was pleased to make a new treaty this Covenant of grace 3. There had been no news of a Christ nor thought of him else As Christ There had been no news of a Christ is never effectually given unto any but unto the lost so he was never made known untill the fall of man And remember it That as Christ was not so he could not be revealed in a Covenant of works whil'st life was held by that tenure Christ is not to be found there where life is claimed by a righteousnesse of our own he is only to be found in a Covenant of grace which gives life unto sinners upon the righteousnesse of another Rom. 3. 21. But now the righteousnesse of God without the law is manifested Ver. 22. Even the righteousnesse of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe These are the principal reasons why God made a new Agreement another Covenant a Covenant of grace with sinful man namely because he would not lose all man-kind nor leave them despairing and Because he would exalt his own mercy and likewise give his Son Jesus Christ and lay upon his shoulders the Redemption and salvation of his people 2. This Covenant is such an agreement with sinful man as springeth and riseth âis Covenant springeth from the mercy and grace of God from the mercy and the grace of God Hence you have these expressions According to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3. 6. By grace ye are saved Eph. 2. 5. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ ver 7. This Covenant may be considered Mercy and grace appears in this Covenant several wayes and in all of them you may see the meer mercy and grace of God 1. In respect of the constitution of it Nothing out of God and nothing in God but his meer mercy and his own grace laid out and appointed this In the constitution of it Covenant of grace with sinners Grace was the foundation of it 2. In respect of admission It is the meer mercy and grace of God which In admission to it opens the door and takes in the sinner into this Covenant with himself I will love them freely I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy 3. In respect of dispensation All the communications from it and all the In the dispensation of it impartings of the treasures of it are the flowings of mercy and the overflowings of the grace of God But I am now only to speak of the mercy and grace of God as the foundation Mercy is the foundation of it For the causa impulsiva these alone are the moving cause why God made this new Covenant For 1. There could be no cause or reason in us we were become sinners we were There could be no cause or reason in us become miserable Ezek. 16. 6. When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Ver. 8. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee Behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakednesse yea I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith the Lord. This was our condition a sinful polluted loathsome condition when God set his love upon us and entred into a Covenant with us 2. There was sufficient and pregnant cause on our part why the Lord should There was cause in us to the contrary never have looked after us or accepted of us any more Jer. 3. 7. They say
us in you As a Parent who begers the children he looks unto those children and maintains and keeps them All your graces are the births of the Spirit of grace and as they are the effects of his power so also are they the objects of his care and therefore as they receive life from his presence in the Ordinances so shall they receive strength and growth and stability from his continual influence upon them We are sârengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3. 16. As we are changed from our shameful condition to glory by the Spirit so by the same Spirit are we changed from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. 3. The Spirit is yours in respect of his works or operations And truly this The Spirit is theirs in respect of his works and operatioÌs consideration makes out an exceeding happinesse unto the people of God in as much as the participation of all their happiness depends upon the workings of the Spirit of God in whom they are interested by this Covenant of grace There are five choice works which the Spirit doth for all the people of God Five choice works which the Spirit doth for all Gods people He doth unite Christ and them who have God to be their God 1. He doth unite Christ and them Although the benefits by Christ are unexpressibly precious yet the fruition of them is impossible withâut a precedent union with Christ forasmuch as union is a necessary foundation for Communion you must be in Christ and being his himself and all his benefits become yours Now it is the Spirit which makes up this union as love makes the union 'twixt Christian and Christian and as faith makes up the union from us to Christ for we are planted into Christ and are espoused unto Christ and live in Christ by faith so the Spirit makes the union 'twixt Christ and us there being no other way for him to be joyned unto us and to become Relatively ours but by his own Spirit it is the Spirit which doth let out the heart of Christ to us and who doth bring in our hearts unto Christ it is the Spirit by whom Christ applies himself unto us and apprehends us and by whom we also do apprehend and apply Christ by his Spirit he takes hold of us and by the same Spirit it is that we take hold of him In a word it is the Spirit by whom Christ speaks to our hearts and by whose light we see the excellencies of Christ and the great love of Christ and who gives Christ as it were into our hands and mightily allures and prevails upon our hearts to give themselves unto Christ again as Christ had never been effectually revealed unto you but by the Spirit so you had never been effectually brought to Christ but by the Spirit you had been Christlesse for ever without him And now consider the happiness in having this Spirit which hath wrought so effectually as to unite Christ and you and you and Christ that Christ is yours and you are his by him are you perswaded and drawn and brought into the possession of Christ and all the benefits by Jesus Christ 2. He doth conform us unto Christ We all saith the Apostle in 2 Cor. 3. 18. beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image He doth conform us unto Christ from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. As by the Spirit we do discern a most glorious nature of holinesse in Christ so by the Spirit we are changed into the same image of holinesse Hence are we said to be born again bâ the Spirit John 3. 5 6. and to be renewed by the holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. And to be sanctified by him 1 Pet. 1. 2. You read that Christ was conceived by the holy Ghost and he was anointed by the Spirit So is every Christian he becomes a Christian by the Spirit and he is anointed by the Spirit The oyntment indeed is first poured upon our head and then upon us but as it is the same spirit in us which is in Christ so it is the same anointing only it is in Christ as the head and without measure and as in the pattern unto which we are conformed by the Spirit As by the unction of the Spirit we become like Christ in nature so also in Relation God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba-Father Gal. 4. 6. Now judge of the blessednesse of having the Spirit He is the cause of our union and he is the cause of our unction he brings us into Christ and he anoints us with the same grace wherewith Christ himself was anointed so that we are like Christ himself we are anointed with the same Spirit and therefore we must needs be excellent and choice persons and very lovely in the eyes of God 3. He doth reveal unto us the highest and the choicest things of salvation He is called the Spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 17. because he opens He revealeth to us the choicest things of salvation and reveals those things unto the people of God which are hid from the eyes of others There are five precious things which the Spirit reveales unto you He reveals 1. The mystery of life unto you even Jesus Christ who cannot be known The mystery of life or acknowledged but by the Spirit Flesh and blood cannot reveal him No man can confesse him No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdome which God ordained before the world unto our glory 1 Cor. 2. 7. 2. The love of God unto you The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts The love of God by the holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5. 5. He makes the greatnesse of the love and your propriety in it known unto you and the exceeding riches of grace c. 3. The presenc of Christ within you Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us 1 John 3. 24. Christ without nay Christ The presence of Christ within us is not discerned by us without the Spirit 4. The wonderful glory prepared for us Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared The glory prepared for us for them that love him But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. 5. The most precious gifts bostowed on us In this life we have received the The most precious gifts bostowed on us Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. The sight of your own graces is by the assistance of the Spirit O what
request and shall be owned and heard 5. You have this priviledge that you may not only come into the presence You may with confidence wrestle with God of your God but you may with confidence urge him and importune him and wrestle with him and still renew and reinforce your requests you may take hold of him and challenge and expostulate with him and stay him and not let him alone nor let him go untill he blesseth you And so large allowance of blessednesse is granted unto you that you may in some sort command God it is the Highest Expression that you read of Isaiah 45. 11. 6. You have this priviledge by having God to be your God and by being his You may enter into and survey all the treasures of heaven and lay claime to them people that you may enter in and survey all the rich treasures and jewels of heaven and when you have so done you may lay claime unto them all and say O Lord all these are mine by thy promise and by my right in Christ Thou art mine and thy mercy is mine and thy Christ is mine and thy grace is mine and that glory is mine all this is the purchase of Christ and all this is mine 7. You have this priviledge also that all the seals of the Covenant of grace All the seals of the Covenant are restrained to you alone are restrained unto your selves alone As the Covenant is none but yours and with you so the seals of the Covenant are none but yours and unto you only The seals of the Covenant are to confirme you and to assure you and to revive and comfort you and to establish you there is not any ungodly person on the earth who hath right unto the seals of the Covenant and the reason is because he hath no interest in the Covenant it self you onely are the people of the Covenant and therefore you onely have right to the seals of the Covenant 8. You have this priviledge that you may expect help from your God for all the works which you owe to God You may go to him for grace for strength You may expect help from God in all your works for sufficiency to work in you both to will and to do both to believe and to suffer Phil. 2. 13. and chap. 1. 29. Give thy strength unto thy servant Psal 86. 16. He will give sârength unto his people Psal 29. 11. Gods promises are joyned with his commands this thou wouldest have me to do O Lord give thy Spirit unto me and cause me to do it 9. You have this priviledge that your all is in another Your life stands in the life of another and your righteousnesse in the righteousnesse of another Your all is in another and your satisfying in the satisfaction of another and your defence in the death of another and your title and claime in the obedience and purchase and right of another and your acceptance in another your life lies in the life of Christ and your righteousnesse is the righteousnesse of Christ and your satisfying is the satisfaction of Christ and your defence and answer to all inditements and accusations is the death of Christ and your claime and title is the obedience and purchase of Christ your power is in the power of Christ and your acceptance is in Christ This is a priviledge indeed that you are wholly made up in another and by another that you shall never be found in your own righteousnesse but onely in the righteousnesse of Christ and shall never be tryed by your own righteousnesse but by the righteousnesse of Christ c. 10. You have this priviledge that you live upon free cost all your days The You live upon free cost Covenant of God will finde and provide enough for you you never need to load your selves with anxious thought or care For your God and Father careth for you all your burdens and all your cares are taken off Be careful for nothing cast all your care on him for he careth for you He layeth up for his children and he layes out upon his children his Covenant will finde food for your bellies and rayment for your backs and mercy and salvation for your souls c. 11. You have this priviledge that all the gracious and sweet manifestations of All the gracious manifestations of heaven are to you only heaven are unto you only None know the Father but you none taste of the loving kindnesse of God but you none sup with Christ but you none partake of the joys and comforts of the Holy Ghost but you none have that hope and assurance of glory but you none eat of the Manna but you who have a new name given unto you heavenly banquets for the soul are provided onely for you The Angels of God ministring Spirits for you 12. You have this priviledge that the very Angels of God are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for you who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. 14. They pitch their tenth and encampe round about them that fear God Psal 34. 7. This seems an high priviledge and yet you have an higher than this For as the Mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for âver Psal 125. 2. 13. What can I say more Is this any priviledge that whilest you live you God will be your God in life and death may live upon your God and Father and when you dye you shall go to ãâã God and Father This also is yours who have God to be your God in Covenâââ God will be your God in life and God will be your God in death and God will be your God after death whiles you live he is yours and with you and when you dye he is yours and you shall be with him reigning in glory for ever and ever and ever Thus have you heard a few things of your happinesse in respect of your Immunities and Priviledges by having God to be your God in Covenant I will ãâã comfort more unto you and then put an end to this ãâã SECT XIII THere is yet one comfort more from this that God is your God which is this If God be your God then all is yours As he said Christââ ãâã omnia Christ is mine and all is mine so Deus mens omnia ãâã If If God be ours all is ours God be your God then heaven and earth are yours whatsoever there is in all the world that may do you good it shall be yours The Apostle expressely delivers as much in 1 Cor. â â1 All things are yours Ver. 22. Whether Paul or ãâã or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things ââ come ãâ¦ã yours He doth not in these expressions intend that Christians have a civil and common interest in all mens earthly possessions but this is it which he intend viz. That God ordains all things
which I would make from the consideration of the happinesse of being the people of God in Covenant and of enjoying God to be our God in Covenant And that Use shall be a Use of Exhortation even unto them who are not as yet Exhortation to them that are not in Covenant with God To get into a Covenant-relation the people of God in Covenant That they would not content themselves in that estate to be Forrainers and strangers and enemies but that they would begg and strive to come into a Covenant-relation with God that they would take him for their God and submit themselves unto him as his people in Covenant Now this Exhortation I shall direct unto two sorts of sinners 1. Unto such as to this day have obstinately refused to become the people of God 2ly Unto such who are troubled for their obstinate disobedience and would fain become the people of God but are afraid that God will never admit them into Covenant that he will never be a God to them c. 1. Unto such who hitherto have obstinately refused to become the people of God and to own God for their God in Covenant What is the Almighty that we should serve Such as obstinately refuse this Covenant-relation him spake they in Job 21. 15. Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice said Pharaoh Exod. 5. 2. Let us break his bands asunder and cast away his cords from us Psal 2. 3. They would not walk in his wayes neither were they obedient to his Laws Isa 42. 24. I will poure out my Spirit upon you I will make known my words unto you I called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded ye have set at naught all my counsels Prov. 1. 23 24 25. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter Heb. 11. 24. This shewed his contempt of worldly honours standing in Opposition to the enjoyment of communion with the people of God But many refuse to become the sons of God and to become the people of God although they hear of the infinite happinesse in being the people of God and in the enjoyment of God to be their God They look upon it as their great losse to part with their sinful lusts and they look upon it as their exceeding prejudice and disgrace to be counted the people of God and they look upon it as their heavy burthen to be brought into the Covenant and yeilding up themselves unto God alone For such a sort of ignorant and perverse people I would pray unto God that he Considerations to awaken them would open their eyes and convince their hearts and awaken them from the sleep of death And if they be capable of any faithful counsel and advice I would present a few serious Considerations unto them which perhaps may perswade âhâm to hearken and to desire to come into Covenant with God 1. You are never able to stand out and live under the Covenant of Works There You are not able to stand out and live under the Covenant of works are but two Covenants which we must abide by In one of them all men of necessity must be found either in the Covenant of Grace or in the Covenant of Works These are like the two Masters of whom Christ doth speak that one cannot serve them both either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Matth. 6. 24. So no man can be under both these Covenants at once if he refuse the one he chuseth the other and if he chuseth the one he refuseth the other If you refuse to come into the Covenant of Grace of necessity you remain under the Covenant of Works and then you are as surely lost and destroyed as you now live for the Covenant of works condemns and curses the sinner cursed is every one whâ cântinues nât in every thing that is written to do it Gal 3. 10. And you are exceedingly sinful the Law of God findes you so and your own consciences testifie against you as so Neither have you any way to escape that curse of the Law nor the wrath of God revealed against all unrighteousnesse and ungodliness but in the Covenant of Grace because there only a Saviour and mercy is to be found but you perversely refuse to enter into that Covenant with God If you will not consent to a Covenant-relation you cannot eâpect the Covenant advantages 2. If you will not consent unto a Covenant-relation it is but presumption to expect the Covenant advantages The Covenant advantages are the hopes and enjoyments of lovingkindnesse of pardoning mercies of the joyes of the Holy Ghost of peace in conscience of special protection of sanctified blessings and of eternal glory and salvation But these do necessarily presuppose a Covenant-relation that is That we must take God for our God and become his people For to none but these hath God ever promised and on none but these hath God ever setled or intended to settle such choice blessings For others God saith What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed If you will have none of me you shall have none of my mercies and if you will not be my people I will not be your God Never deceive your selves with vain confidences I will never pardon you I will never blesse you I will never justifie you I will never save you If the woman will not consent to marry the man it is but a vain simplicity in him to presume of his interest in her estate so c. 3. For any sinner whâ hears of this Covenant of grace and yet excludes himself It is exceeding folly to excâude our selves from this Covenant-relation as every one doth who refuseth to submit unto the terms of relation this doth declare exceeding folly O what folly is it to slight our only help our only hope our only remedy our only salvation To reject all happinesse and our only happinesse Exceeding impiety Certainly our hearts are unspeakably hardned or are utterly and exceeding impiety Atheistical or hellishly desperate that we care not though we loose our precious soules and forsake our mercies and forfeit heaven assuredly we have sordid thoughts of God and of the happiness of enjoying God for our God and of all that God promiseth to give in that we refuse to be his people and had rather enjoy our filthy and damning lusts Their condition is unspeakably miserable helplesse and hopelesse 4. Your condition is and will be unspeakably miserable helpless and hopeless And this appears in four particulars First You will utterly deprive your soules of all hopes and pleas for mercy and glory Secondly That you wilfully do this though God treats with you in a way of mercy and grace for mercy and grace Thirdly That you now stand alone and must do so in your
accounts before God without a Mediatour to answer for you you alone must answer God for all your sins and for all your abominations Fourthly That God will magnifie the power of his wrath and justice upon you for despising of him and of his grace and of his mercy and of all his glory c. of all sinners you will fall under the heaviest condemnation 3. Unto such who fain would be the people of God but are afraid that God will never Such as would fain be in Covenant but fear God will not admit them Should consider It is possible for them to be the people of God admit of them into Covenant that he will never be a God unto them To these I have six things to present which I would desire them carefully to remember 1. Do not despaire though as yet you find not your selves to be the people of Gods Covenant it is possible for you to be his people And there are three grounds to keep you from despaire 1. One because God hath made them to be his people which were not his people which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy 1 Pet. 2. 10. 2. A second because God hath looked mercifully upon as grievous sinners as ye have been and hath brought them into the Covenant Ezek. 16. 6. When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live verse 8. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was the time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness yea I sware unto thee and enâred into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine 3. Because you have an expresse promise that God will make you to be his people which were not his people Hosea 2. 23. I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will say to them which were not my people Thou art my people and they shall say Thou art my God 2. Great sinners are not absolutely excluded from coming into this Covenant of Great sinners are not absolutely excluded grace O Sirs this Covenant is only for sinners and this Covenant contains an infinite Mediator and super-abundant riches of grace and mercy so that the Lord gets him a Name and a praise and an honour amongst all the Nations of the earth and God in this Covenant doth promise to pardon abundantly to forgive iniquity transgression and sinne to cleanse from all filthinesse and from all Idols and to pardon all iniquities whereby we have sinned and have transgressed against him Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities and made me to serve with thy sinnes yet I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and I will not remember thy sinnes Thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest she is gone upon every high Mountain and under every green Tree and there hath played the harlot and I said after she had done all these things Turn thou unto me So that it is not the greatnesse of former sinnes which make you utterly uncapable of being received into this Covenant Though a mans sinnes have been high in their guilt and multiplyed in the practice and stretched out by many aggravating circumstances yet if now his soul doth mourn ovet them and lament if now he is willing to give a bill of Divorce unto them if he sees his former abominations and loaths them I dare assure him that God will take him into this Covenant the Covenant of grace and mercy is set open for him Come in saith God I will be merciful unto your Transgressions and I will receive you graciously your sinnes shall be mentioned no more 3. Though a sinner hath no deservingnesse in him no worthinesse at all yet he may be received into this Covenant of grace When a poor sinner hears of A sinner that hath no worthinesse at all may be taken into Covenant all that goodnesse which God is and which God will extend to such as will enter into Covenant with him and of all those mercies and blessings c. O saith he I shall never have this God and I shall never enjoy these blessings what am I but a very sinful creature worthy to be excluded and to be denyed but unworthy to enjoy such a God and to pâââake of such mercies sinnes I have enough for which God may loath me but worthinesse have I none to give me favour and acceptance in the eyes of God Sâl Let me give answer to remove this fear and this vexation out of the heart of the troubled and doubting sinner 1. A personal worthiness is not expected nor imposed by God for admission into A personal worthinesse is not expected for admission into this Covenant this Covenant he never said to any sinner If you be worthy of mercy then I will shew you mercy and if you be worthy to enjoy me then I will be your God Never did this come into the thoughts of God to make a new Covenant upon termes of worthinesse on our part nor in any one place of Scripture hath God let fall such a passage or such a heavy condition upon the sinner for then no sinner could ever have had any hope of coming into this Covenant sinfulnesse and unworthinesse being necessarily inseparable 2. A personal worthinesse is inconsistent with a Covenant of grace for a A personal worthinesse is inconsistent with the Covenant of grace Covenant of grace is a giving Covenant and it is a freely giving Covenant God loves you here freely and he here forgives you freely I will love them freely Hosea 14. 4. I am he that blotteth out thy sinnes for mine own sake Esay 43. 25. This were a strange thing indeed that God should make a Covenant of grace to relieve the sinner against the Covenant of works and yet should make our works the foundation and reason of his grace No saith the Apostle There is a remnant according to the election of grace And if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise works is no more works God admits not into this Covenant upon the reason and account of works nor doth he let out the good of this Covenant upon any such account this were not to advance his grace but to destory his grace 3. The acknowledging of our unworthinesse is more proper and answerable to The acknowledging of our unworthinesse is more proper to this Covenant than a pleading out worthinesse this Covenant than a pleading or a fancying of our worthiness I will go home to my Father and say Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee I am not
of sinne and Satan So to bring a sinner into Covenant with God it is not enough that the sinner lies within the intention of grace but it is moreover requisite that God do put forth the mighty efficacy of his grace to subdue the heart and will of the sinner unto himself For the carrying on of this Direction I would lay down six Positions 1. That there is not in any sinner a self-sufficiency to close with God in a way There is not in any sinner a self-sufficiency to close with God in Covenant of Covenant for as the Covenant of grace is a truth of meer supernatural Revelation no light of nature reveals it or discovers it so the bringing of the sinner into this Covenant is a meerly supernatural work There is nothing in the sinner actively to contribute towards it nay all that is in the sinner is naturally averse and contrary unto it his natural judgement doth reason against it and contradict it and his natural will doth resist and oppose it unbelief being predominant in both and therefore the work being only the work of a God the sinner hath no way to take but to go to God to work his own work in him and for him 2. The heart of a sinner how ever it be naturally averse to God and to fall The resistance of the heart is conquerable by the power of God in with him yet the disobedience and resistance of it is conquerable and subâuable by the Almighty power of God with whom nothing is impossible and for whom nothing is too hard He can quicken the dead and give sight to the blinde and eares to the deaf and deliver from the power of darknesse and take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh And as it is in his liberty to forme creatures into what kinde of being he pleaseth so it is in his power to make any creature yielding unto any part of his Will as he resolveth he can abase the pride of mans heart and break the hardnesse of mans heart and heale the stoutnesse and the stubbornnesse of mans will and turn it which way soever he pleaseth and fashion it by a Commanding Power into the obedience of his own Will 3. There is no sinner for ought that I know living under the Gospel who No sinner living under the Gospel can infallibly conclude he is excluded from the Covenant can infallibly determine it that God hath peremptorily excepted against him and absolutely excluded him from the Covenant that is That God will never be a God to him nor will he ever make him to be one of his people Although at the present a sinner may certainly know that he is out of the Covenant and he is none of his people yet he doth not know that God will never be his God and that he shall never be one of Gods people because First God reveals no such thing Secondly God doth reveal that some who are not his people shall yet be his people Thirdly God ordinarily calls them to be his people who were not his people Fourthly The times and seasons of that call are unknown to the children of men even these seasons also doth God reserve unto himselfe and keep in his own hand and breast therefore we should pray to God to bring us into Covenant for who doth know what his purpose of grace may be and what his thoughts of mercy are towards him 4. The sinner although he doth not know the secret intention of God yet he Though the sinner know not the secret intention of God yet he knows his gracious invitations doth know the gracious invitation of God to leave his sinnes and to believe in Christ and to come into Covenant with him and that he will shew mercy to him Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7. I think that there is no sinner living under the Gospel but he lives under an external call the Covenant of grace is in some measure made known unto him and the glorious riches of mercy and grace and he receives many a summons to come into Christ to believe to accept of God to be his God and to be one of his people and also he knows upon what gracious termes God is contented to be his God Now because God is pleased in and by the Gospel not only to reveal the Covenant of grace unto sinners but also to treate indefinitely with sinners and to offer mercy and life and salvation unto them if they will come in and accept of himself in Christ Truely here is a very heartening encouraging ground at the least to pray him to be our God and to make us to be his people 5. God himself doth propound this very way of prayer and seeking of him as a means to find him to be our God and to make us to be his people When he God himself doth propound this way of prayer and seeking him as a means to find him to be our God sets out himself in relation to this Covenant-work in Ezekiel 36. from verse 25. to 36 he addes in verse 37. thus saith the Lord God I will yet be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them c. as if he should say All this I promise to be unto you and to do for you and do you enquire of me or pray unto me and all this you shall receive from me c. So here in Isa 55. having declared the Covenant which he would make with us from verse 3. to verse 6. and in particular that Christ should have Nations runne unto him that did not know him he prescribes this duty of praying and seeking of him verse 6. Sâek âe the Lord whiles he may be found and call ye upon him whilâs he is near as if he should say Thus graciously do I represent my self what I will be therefore seek me and call upon me and I will be thus unto you 6. Nay once more God doth promise expresly that upon our praying he will God doth expresly promise upon our praying âe will be our God be our God and that we shall be his people And truly this puts the clearest light and fullest life into this Direction See a place for this Zech. 13. 9. Thây shall call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say It is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God But now remember one thing that as prayer is a means for this work so it must be a cordial and affectionate praying not a formal superficial carelesse form but the desires of the heart must be in that praying and the fervency and wrestlings of the heart If your hearts were but set on this to have God to be your God and to become his people and if you did seek this
with your whole hearts O God I cannot be satisfied untill thou art pleased to become my God c. the Lord would certainly answer the desires of your hearts 2. If you would have God to be your God in Covenant you must then break Break your Covenant with sinne your Covenant with sinne There are two Covenants which are inconsistent with this Covenant of grace 1. One is the Covenant of good works 2. The other is the Covenant with bad works If one will set up his confidence on his own good works he makes void the Covenant of grace and if one will set his heart upon his sinne saying I will not leave my sinnes I love them I will not forsake them This man disables himself he doth debarre and exclude himself God will not be his God he will not make a Covenant with him and indeed this sinner will not make a Covenant with God There are three things which God stands upon if we will have him to be ours in Covenant 1. He insists upon your wills you must be willing to be mine saith God to be married unto me to take me for your Husband 2. He insists upon your hearts you must love me I must have your heart your love must be mine 3. He insists upon your service you must be willing to obey and serve me I must be your Lord and you must be my servants But â one of these will be if you keep up a Covenant with sinne you will never be willing to be his if you resolve to keep your sinnes and you cannot love the Lord if you love your sinnes neither can you serve him if you will obey sinne as your Lord There is an absolute incompatibility for this both on Gods part and on your part and on the Covenants part 1. On Gods part for he cannot nor will not make any agreement with unrighteousnesse nor hold communion with any who will hold communion with darknesse he is of purer eyes than to behold sinne much more than to agree with sinne it is contrary to his nature it were dishonourable for him so to do to admit a competition with that which he so much threatens and which his soul doth hate and abhorre 2. On our part your hearts cannot be brought to hold up a Covenant with God and yet to hold up a Covenant with your sinnes you cannot love God and that which is contrary to God you cannot love sinne and that which is contrary to sinne at the same time for if you love the Lord you will hate sinne and if you love sinne you will hate the Lord. 3. On the Covenants part the Covenant of God is to change the sinful heart it is to subdue iniquity it is to cleanse us from all our uncleanesses it is to make us an holy people ânto the Lord so that of necessity you must resolve on it to break off your Covenant with sin if you will have God to be your God in Covenant 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come one from among them and be ye separated saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you ver 18. and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Mark this place it shews expressely the way of coming into the Covenant you must not make agreement with darknesse nor with Idols you must separate from them you must have nothing to do with any uncleanesse that is you must resolve never to joyne your selves to any sinne never to love or serve it and then saith God I will receive you what 's that that is then I will be your God I will take you into Covenant I will own you for mine I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters Are you sure that you will be so yea for thus saith the Lord Almighty Ezek. 11. 18. They shall come thither and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof verse 19. And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them c. verse 20. That they may walk in my Statutes and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God Therefore examine your hearts what sinne lies there which makes a breach which keeps up enmity 'twixt you and God and put it farre away c. 3. If you would have the Lord to be your God in Covenant then judge your Judge your selves for your breach of Covenant with God selves for your ancient breach of the first Covenant with him and for your sins since that and confesse your absolute unworthinesse to be admitted and received into another Covenant with him O when a soul comes to be afflicted for sinnes and to acknowledge it self unworthy of mercies this soul is in a right posture for mercies God made a Covenant with us in Adam and stated life upon us in case of obedience but we presently brake Covenant with him and proved unfaithful and dealt treacherously with him fell off from him for a thing of naught and all the dayes of our lives have we been sinning and dishonouring and provoking of him so that had we our desert so farre might God be from accepting of us into a new Covenant that he might justly condemn us for our transgressing of the old Covenant if we did seriously and sadly review these things till our hearts were humbled within us and that we saw our life to be the free gift of God again and that we stood at his mercy only to spare us and pity us and accept of us and in this posture come to God and cry out O save me for thy mercies sake Lord I have undone my self I have left thee I have lost thee I have dealt unfaithfully with thee I have sinned exceedingly against thee I have gone farre from thee yet I come back to thee I hear thou art a merciful God though I am a sinful wretch I hear that thou art a gracious God though I am an unworthy sinner I hear that thou hast made a new Covenant to relieve and succour them who have violated the first Covenant I hear that this Covenant is full of grace and mercy and pity and help and happinesse I come to thee to make peace with thee to be reconciled unto me to shew me favour I perish if thou reject me I live if thou accept of me I can bring nothing I can challenge nothing only thou sayst That thou wilt have mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy and may not a poor miserable unworthy sinner be made capable of thy mercy may he not be received unto mercy why else didst thou give Christ why else didst thou set up a Covenant of grace O Lord receive me graciously and love me freely and for thine own sake become my God and make me to be one of thy people Verily this is a moving way and this is a taking way for
this Covenant both As to the composition of it composition of it and to the happinesse in and by it 1. This Covenant of grace is so modell'd and framed with as winning and alluring a way for sinners as possibly can be drawn out by the wisdome of a kinde and good God It is made with all advantages to the sinner so that if there be any loosing or damnifying it falls rather to God than to the sinner all the expressions of it are upon the account of Gods grace And it is made with such tender respects to poor sinners that all the active part to make them to be the people of God is undertaken by God himself he undertakes to make us to be his people to give himself to give Christ to give his Spirit to give a new heart to give the Spirit of prayer to give the Spirit of faith to give pardoning mercy to give all O how might all this if seriously and rightly meditated upon melt in our hearts to God and make us willing to take him for our God! 2. And as the Covenant of grace is framed to allure in the sinner so when the sinner is brought in it settles upon him the only true happinesse and all true happiness And as to out happinesse in and by it with certainty and to all eternity As soon as ever you take God to be your God and are become his people immediately is blessednesse settled upon you as your portion and as your portion for ever Psal 34. 12. Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance Psal 144. Happy is the people whose God is the Lord CHAP. V. Isaiah 55. 3. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David I Have discoursed of the Covenant of grace as it stands in opposition to the Covenant of works and likewise of the vital nature of it the very marrow and summe of it in those expressions I will be to you a God and you shall be to me a people I am now in the third place to open unto you this Covenant in the adjuncts or properties of it which do as it were blazon and ennamel this Covenant or set it out in beautiful colours to the eyes of us poor and distressed sinners as God appeared unto Moses in his glory when he made himself known unto him in his gracious Attributes so this Covenant appears in The adjuncts or properties of the Covenant wonderful glory when it is opened in the admirable adjuncts or properties of it There are twelve adjuncts given unto this Covenant 1. It is a new Covenant 2. It is a plentiful or perfect Covenant 3. It is a bountiful and giving Covenant 4. It is a free or gracious Covenant 5. It is a well-ordered Covenant 6. It is a pure or holy Covenant 7. It is a sure or stedfast Covenant 8. It is the last Covenant 9. It is an everlasting Covenant 10. It is the best Covenant 11. It is a clear and open and plain Covenant 12. It is the only Covenant SECT I. 1. THis Covenant is a New Covenant I will make a new Covenant with It is a new Covenant the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Jet 31. 31. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Heb. 8. 8. In Scripture the word New is diversly taken 1. Sometimes that is stiled New which succeeds another in Exod. 1. 8. there The several exceptions of the word New in Scripture It succeeds another Covenant arose a New King in Acts 7. 18. this New King is called another King In this respect this Covenant is a New Covenant it succeeds another Covenant a former Covenanâ it follows the Covenant of works Quest. It may be argued Why the Covenant of works should be first and the Covenant of grace next Sol. We may be satisfied concerning this order First from the pleasure of The reason of the order of the two Covenants God that he would have it thus Secondly from the wisdome of God who by this order glorifies his justice in the one and his mercy in the other Thirdly From the capacity of man who being at the first created righteous was thereby fitted for a Covenant of works and his created condition was unmeet for a Covenant of grace but being fallen his sinful condition became fit and meet for a Covenant of grace and utterly unfit for a Covenant of works 2. Sometimes that is stiled New which is wonderful unusual the like not It is a wonderful Covenant heard of before The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth a woman shall compass a man Jer. 31. 22. That a Virgin should conceive and bring forth a man-childe this was a new thing it was wonderful indeed so Isa 43. 19. Behold I will do a New thing I will even make a way in the Wildernesse and Rivers in the Desart this was a new work that is wonderful and unusual In this respect also is the Covenant of grace stiled New that is it is a wonderful Covenant how wonderful is it that the Lord who was so exceedingly dishonoured and injured and provoked by sinners should yet so infinitely condescend to sinners as to treat afresh with them and to offer life unto them upon better and surer terms than before and should promise such exceeding mercies and give such a gracious Redeemer and Mediator There are foure things wherein and for which God will be eternally admired 1. In making this Covenant of grace 2. In giving his only Son for a Saviour 3. In bringing any sinner to Christ and into the Covenant 4. In the glorifying of them that believe 3. Sometimes that is stiled New which is excellent and very necessary John It is an excellent Covenant 13. 34. A New Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another this Commandment is a new Commandment that is it is a rare an excellent a necessary Commandment so Revel 2. 17. To him that overcomes I will give a New name that is an excellent name to be one of the sonnes of God which is called a dignity an excellent priviledge John 1. 12. In this respect also is the Covenant of grace stiled New it is an excellent Covenant and very If it be considered necessary It is excellent consider it either comparatively no Covenant like unto this Comparatively that Covenant of works falls exceeding short of it and that Covenant with nature for the preservation of common life is not to be compared with it Or absolutely in it self it is all of excellencies an excellent love an excellent Absolutely Christ the most excellent mercies and the onely excellent happinesse Or respectively unto us our hopes our helps our comforts our life our Respectively eternal life lies in this Covenant all
workings of all things in this Covenant to the right end The motions and workings of all things in this Covenant to the right end when every thing acts to its right end this shews a right ordering now in this Covenant every thing works to the right end which is to the praise and glory of Gods grace God himself works for this and Jesus Christ works for this and every good thing given and received works for this and every believer who is brought into Covenant works for this Christ is given and mercy is given and grace is given and glory is given and because all is given therefore all exalts the glory of Gods grace Christ is the surety and Christ is sent and Christ dyed and Christ made satisfaction and Christ made peace and Christ purchased all for the sinner and this also exalts the grace of God towards sinners the sinner is called by grace and made a believer and as a believer he receives all by grace and he acts in the strength of grace and is led on and preserved by grace and what he is he is by grace and what he works he works by grace and what he hopes for he hopes for by grace and that which he rests on is grace and what he magnifies and sets up is not himself nor any thing of his own but only the grace of God 4. All the good of the Covenant is dispensed in a right season and this All the good of the Covenant is dispensed in a right season also shews that it is a well-ordered Covenant when things are out of time they are out of order If Snow or Frost should come in the time of Harvest this would be disorderly and if physick should come when the person is dead this would be disorderly Things are well-ordered when they come neither too soon nor too late but in the very season when we need them and when they will do us good And after this manner are all the dispensations of this Covenant they are let out and come in the very time aâd minute of our âeed When a poor sinner knows not what to do then doth Christ appear and then doth mercy appear and then doth help appear Isa 41. 17. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them 2 Cor. 6. 2. He saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee when Davids heart was overwhelmed and ready to faint then God took him up and comforted him And when the Church was as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit then saith God with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee when Ephraim was ashamed and even confounded then saith God My bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him when Paul was pressed above measure and his own strength was found insufficient against Satans temptations then he received an answer my grace is âufficient for thee O beloved thus is the Covenant ordered that you shall have mercy in the fit time and help in the best time and deliverance in the best time and answers to your prayers in the best time though you have not your desires presently answered yet your God is a gracious God and therefore intends your good and he is a wise God and therefore knows the best time and he is a faithful God and therefore will lose no time 5. This Covenant is so framed that there is still a strong foundation It is so framed that there is still a strong foundation of hope and confidence for a poor sinner A foundation laid For the admission of poor sinners For the impetration of all the good a sinner needs of hope and confidence for a poor sinner and by this it appears that it is a well-ordered Covenant here is a firme foundation laid 1. For the admission of poor sinners If a Christ and Mediator if mercy in all the abundance of it if free grace in all the glory of it may be esteemed a fair foundation for hope and confidence here every one of them stands ready to make way for the sinner I will satisfie for all his sinnes and make peace for him saith Christ the Mediator I will forgive and abundantly pardon all his sinnes saith the merciful God I will love him freely and receive him graciously saith the God of love and grace 2. For the impetration and assecution of all the good that a poor sinner doth need or can desire For in this Covenant there is a Christ who merits all and a God who promiseth to give all and hath bound himself to perform all and who rejoyceth over his people to do them good and accounts it his praise and honour to accomplish and performe unto them all the good which he promiseth unto them and puts them upon it still to call and still to trust and still to receive from him 3. For the preservation and continuation of them in this Covenant for the For the preservation of them in this Covenant Lord hath sworn the everlastingnesse of it and he gives all effectually to hold up and maintain an everlasting union and communion 'twixt himself and his people and keeps them by his own power through faith unto salvation and charges none other but Jesus Christ himself to look to them and to keep them in his Name and he undertakes this charge and will fully execute it and faithfully and therefore as he conquers all the enemies of his servants sinne and Satan and the world so he furnisheth them with all graces accompaning salvation and still strengthens those graces untill they come to receive the end of their faith even the salvation of their souls Vse 1 and surely this Covenant must needs be well-ordered which opens a way to receive in poor sinners and which hath reasons within it self and Then the wisdome of God is in this Covenant as well as his goodnesse Therefore do not displace the order God hath set in his Covenant By interesting our selves in the benefits of the Covenant before we interest our selves in God upon which the received sinner may with confidence plead for all good and which will keep them for ever fast with God Is the Covenant of grace an ordered Covenant and a well-ordered Covenant then certainly the wisdome of God is in it as well as the goodness of God the goodnesse of God is in it as to all the mercies and blessings wherewith this Covenant is furnished and the wisdome of God is in it as to the placing and disposing and dispensing of all those mercies and blessings Therefore take heed of displacing that order which God hath set in his Covenant we do displace the order of the Covenant and consequently do presume to correct the wisdome of God when 1. We do apply and interest our selves in the benefits of the
God power is necessary to give a being unto all undertakings The power of God If a poor man promiseth much yet there is no certainty of it because though he be very willing yet he is very unable the engagement exceeds his stock of ability But God is able to performe all the good promised to his people in the Covenant Rom. 4. 21. Abraham was fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform For the clear understanding of this remember four particulars 1. There is not any one promise of God but hath the power of God accompanying No promise of God but hath the power of God engaged for it it and engaged for it whether for temporal things see an excellent place for this Numb 11. 18. The Lord will give you flesh and you shall eat Ver. 19. Ye shall not eat one day nor two dayes nor ten nor twenty but a whole month Verse 20. And Moses said verse 21. The people are six hundred thousand footmen and thou hast said I will give them flesh for a whole month Shall ver 22. the flocks and herds be slain for them to suffice them or shall the fish of the sea be gathered together for them as if he had said But art thou able to make this promise good the Lord said unto Moses verse 23. Is the Lords hand waxed short Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to passe unto thee or not he did make it good Or whether the promise be for spiritual things there is the power of God accompanying it Micah 7. 18. Who is a strong God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity He is able to pardon all our sinnes and able to change our hearts and to subdue our iniquities and to write his Law in our hearts and to make all grace to abound and to keep us from falling and to preserve us to his heavenly glory We are kept by the power of God 2. This power is a supreme and over-topping power it is an exceeding power This power is a supreme power a power that cannot be hindred If he will blesse who can curse If he be with us who can be against us No creature can raise up and stay it it is such a power as beares down all before it All that Pharaoh could do could not make or hinder the power of God from delivering his people according to his promise nor all the Kings could hinder their possessing of promised Canaan 3. This power is independent it takes not in any assistance to help it but is alone This power is independent sufficient to it self and unto all its works and unto all the purposes of God there is enough of his power as to creation so to conversion and pardoning and blessing 4. This power is an enduring power it still abides in strength Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save Isa 59. 1. His power remains the same This power is an enduring power for ever 2. The Will of God in reference to the Covenant to perform what God hath promised Micah 7. 20. Thou wilt performe the truth to Jacob. Jer. 33. 14. The Will of God I will performe that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel 1 Thes 5. 24. Faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it Phil. 1. 6. He that hath begunne a good work in you will performe it untill the day of Jesus Christ God was never forced to make it or to enter into this Bond but out of his own accord willingly became ours and this willingnesse was not extrinsecal depending upon the perswasion of another but it was intrinsecal arising only from his own entire love unto us Quest But the question may be concerning the kinds of Gods Will as to the performance The kinds of Gods will of this Covenant Sol. For answer unto that take these particulars 1. The will of God for the performance of his Covenant it is a peremptory and perfect Will it is a Will resolved a Will of purpose or according to purpose It is a peremptory and perfect will not an incompleat Will it may be I will and it may be I will not not a wishing but this is my purpose my decree I am resolved on it to blesse my people to bring upon them all the good of my Covenant 2. This Will is grounded on it selâ it is a well-guided Will it doth not depend It is grounded on it self on any thing in us for then it might not be sure but only the good pleasure of his Will which is most sure Ezek. 36. 22. Not for your sakes O house of Israel but for mine holy Name-sake Isa 48. 11. For mine own sake even for mine own sake will I do it Deut. 7. 8. Because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the Oath which he had sworne unto your Fathers hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand 3. This Will is fixed and unalterable must not the Covenant then be sure It is fixed and unalterable Psal 89. 34. My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Verse 35. Once have I sworn by my holinesse that I will not lye unto David And this willingnesse he hath expressed 1. In his promiseâ yea promise upon promise that he will bring upon them all the good that he hath promised them Jer. 32. 42. and Jer. 33. 14. and Micah 7. 20 c. 2. In his Oath to all this I have sworn by my holinesse that I will not lye unto David Psal 89. 35. He confirmed it by his Oath saith the Apostle in Heb. 6. 17. and an Oath for confirmation is an end of all strife ver 16. Luk. 1. 72. To perform the mercy promised to our fâthers and to remember his holy Covenant Ver. 73. The Oath which he sware to our Father Abraham surely God will not break his word of promise and lye surely God will not break his Oath and be perjured 3. This Covenant is gracious and therefore it is sure as the Apostle speaks It is gracious Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might bâ by grace to the end the promise might bâ sure to all the seed The former Covenant was not sure because it was of works and rested upon our own strength and performance but this Covenant iâ sure because it is of grace and rests not on any sufficiency in us but only on the goodnesse and the sufficiency of Gods grace God in this Covenant doth promise to give us all things freely to work all our works in us and for us not to deal with us according to our deserts but according to the riches of his mercy 4. This Covenant is confirmed by the blood of Jesus Christ which is called It is confirmed by the blood of Christ the blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. 20. Matth. 26. 28. This
good God but also as a wise God and his delays are not his denials but only his trials and therefore hear himself speaking in this case Hab. 2. 3. The Vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lye though it tarry waite for it because it will surely come it will not tarry Micah 7. 7. I will waite for the God of my salvation my God will hear me 3. They are discoveries of many mens hypocrisie but no evidences of Gods mutability You shall have a company of men boast of their strong faith in God and of their great love to God and how they trust in him with all their hearts this they speak in the dayes of their prosperity but let the Lord put forth his hand upon them let him but blast their Jonah's Guord let him cut off those armes of flesh upon which indeed they do depend let him but break down their creature-supports and comforts and hopes and hold out never so many sutable and faithful promises why they have no hopes a word of promise is of no life or support at all unto them This evil is of the Lord why should I wait for the Lord any longer said that wicked Prince in 2 Kings 6. 33. Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him Hab. 2. 4. 4. They are many times the displayings of the best mens infirmities but no tokens of any uncertainty in Gods Covenant The best men though they may attain to the knowledge of the truth of that grace in their hearts yet they may be much deceived as to the measure and strength of that grace and as many other things can declare this unto them so do these delayes and respites and contrary dealings of God much very much shew it Alas what expressions in such cases have fallen from the lips of precious men what complaints what impatience what charges of God himself what disputes what exceeding weaknesses Psal 116. 11. I said in mine haste All men are lyars thus David in that condition Jer. 15. 18. Wilt thou be altogether unto me as a lyar and as waters that fail what a sad expression is this Jonah 4. 3. Take away I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to dye than to live Verse 9. I do well to be angry even unto death Job 3. 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born and the night wherein it was said there is a man-childe concâived c. You see what strange weaknesses God doth discover in the hearts of his own people by delays by his dealings with them in ways sensibly contrary to his promises by which they come more fully to know themselves and to be humbled before him and to seek unto him for more assistance and notwithstanding all this yet the Covenant of God is sure to his people he will yet performe all the good which he promiseth unto them though under all this they may discern their own weaknesses and unworthinesse 5. They do serve for the greater demonstration of his truth and are no diminutions of it at all that notwithstanding all visibly contrary workings and notwithstanding all the fears and doubtings and contrary opinions of his own servants yet God will be true though every man be a lyar his word shall stand and his Covenant be found true and sure Psal 31. 22. I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes neverthelesse thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cryed unto thee 4. Then be upright do not use any indirect wayes or sinful shufflings what Be upright need of these the Covenant contains as much good as you need and it is sure for the performance of all Psal 37. 3. Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Ver. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desire of thine heart Ver. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to passe SECT VIII 8. THe eighth property of this Covenant is this It is the last Covenant it It is the last Covenant It succeeds a former Covenant may be called the last Covenant in a twofold respect 1. Because it succeds a former Covenant and removes it See Heb. 8. 13. In that he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away 2. Because no Covenant shall ever succeed this If any Covenant should succeed No Covenant shall ever succeed it this it must be a Covenant either of works or of grace not a Covenant of works for that would bring us all under a curse and make our condition utterly desperate nor a Covenant of grace because more grace cannot be shewn in any other Covenant than in this here is all grace and all mercy and Jesus Christ with all his righteousnesse Mediatorship merit purchase this Covenant is so perfect and is so every way accommodated to the condition of sinners that nothing can be altered nor can be added nor mended therefore it is the last Covenant O therefore take heed what you do stand not off refuse not to come into this Covenant sin not against this Covenant for that he offers it no more it is the last Covenant no hope no mercy no love no Christ no acceptance no life but in this SECT IX 9. THe ninth property of this Covenant is It is an everlasting Covenant so It is an everlasting Covenant the Text I will make an everlasting Covenant with you Isa 55. 3. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live And I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David Gen. 17. 7. I will stablish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting Covenant to be God unto thee and to thy seed after thee 2 Sam. 23. 5. He hath mâde with me an âverlasting Covenant c. Psal 105. 9. Which Covânant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac Ver. 10. And confirmâd the same unto Jacob for a Law and to Israel for an everlasting Covânant Isa 61. 8. I wâll dirâct their work in truth and I wâll make an everlasting Covenant with âhem Jer. 32. 40. I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I wâll not târn away from them to do them good Heb. 13. 20. Through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Hosea 2. 19. I will betroth thee unto me for ever Psal 48. 14. This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide evân unto death All the things of the Covenant are stiled everlasting viz. All the things of the Covenant are stiled everlasting 1. God is an everlasting God Rom. 16. 26. 2. Jesus Christ is the everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. And a Priest for ever Heb. 6. 20. 3. The
Our life 3. Our peace 4. Our hope The Titles of Christ 5. Our Shepherd 6. Our Father 7. Our friend 8. Our Brother 9. Our Head 10. Our Husband 11. Our King 12. Our Saviour Verily the Covenant must needs be everlasting 'twixt us and our God who have such a Christ so engaged for us so mediating for us so strictly united to us so exceedingly loving of us so continually watchful and careful and helpful ever loving ever praying ever helping and resolved to save us 3. A third Argument to demonstrate the everlastingnesse of the Covenant shall From the Spirit of God which every one hath who is in Covenant with God be taken from the Spirit of God which every one hath who is in Covenant with God Ezek. 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you Now there are ten works which the Spirit of God doth for all the people of God 1. He doth change their hearts 2 Cor. 3. 18. We all beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2. He doth mortifie their sinful lusts Rom. 8. 13. If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body 3. He makes known the things of God unto them and teacheth them all things 1 Cor. 2. 10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit 1 Joh. 2. 27. Teacheth you of all things 4. He doth powerfully enable them for all the works of obedience Ezekiel 36. 27. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and you shall keep my judgements and do them 5. He doth dwell in them Rom. 8. 11. and he dwells in them for ever Joh. 14. 17. and dwelling in them he makes them a fit habitation for God Ephes 2. 22. 6. He doth guid and lead them Joh. 16. 13. The Spirit of truth he will guid you into all truth Rom. 8. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God 7. He doth sustain or uphold them Psal 51. 12. Vphold me with thy free Spirit 8. He helps them in their infirmities Romans 8. 26. and supplies them Phil. 1. 19. 9. He beares witnesse that they are the children of God and if children then heires Heires of God and joynt Heires with Christ Rom. 8. 16 17. 10. He Seals them unto the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. and moreover abides in their hearts he is the earnest of their inheritance untill the Redemption of the purchased possession 4. A fourth Argument to demonstrate the everlastingnesse of the Covenant From some considerations in the people of God They are born again of incorruptible seed Partakers of the divine nature They are the house built upon the Rock They are delivered from the power of darknesse Their hearts are set on God and only on him 'twixt God and his people shall have respect to some considerations in the people of God 1. They are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. 2. They are partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. and of the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 11. 3. They are the house built upon the Rock which fell not because it was builded upon a Rock Mat. 7. 25. and that Rock is Christ who is a sure foundation Isa 38. 16. 4. They are delivered from the power of darknesse and translated into the Kingdome of Christ Colossians 1. 13. And his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome unto the Sonne he saith Thy Throne is for ever and ever Heb. 1. 8. 5. Their hearts are superlatively set on God and only on him Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none that I desire upon earth besides thee God is my portion for ever Psal 73. 25 26. 6. They are strenghthened with might by his Spirit and rooted and grounded in They are strengthened with might They are the Pillars in the Temple of God They are the inheritance of God love Ephes 3. 16 17. 7. They are the Pillars in the Temple of God and shall go no more out Revelations 3. 12. 8. They are the inheritance of God his portion his peculiar treasure and purchased with the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. He would never pay so dear a price for them and then put them off Isa 49. 25. And Israel mine Inheritance Zach. 2. 12. The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion Deut. 32. 9. The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance Psamle 135. 4. The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure 9. The commands and wayes and communions with God are no burdans to them The commands of God are not burdensome but delightful to theÌ not grievous because they are born of God and love him 1 John 5. 3. But pleasing and delightful The Law of God is written in their hearts Jer. 31. 33. Psal 119. 16. I will delight my self in thy Statutes Ver. 24. Thy Testimonies are my delight Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste 10. They hate evil Psal 97. 10. and loath their abominations Ezekiel They hate evil 36. and have crucified the flesh with the lusts and affections thereof Galations 5. 11. They are a people who live by faith and are much in prayer that God They live by faith and are much in prayer would work all his works in them and for them that he would not leave them nor forsake them that he would preserve and uphold and confirm and stablish them unto the end They work out their own salvation with feare and trembling 2. The reason why the Covenant which God makes with his people is an everlasting Reasons of it In respect of God Covenant and shall be so 1. There are reasons for this in respect of God 1. His Wisdome hath contrived this Covenant in a way of everlastingnesse His wisdome which appeares in three particulars 1. He layes the foundation of it not upon our selves but Christ not on our will and power but on the power and sufficiency of Jesus Christ 2. He engages himself for himself and for his people to keep them unto himself and from falling and to continue them to be his people for ever not only to give them grace but to preserve that grace not only to beginne a good work but also to finish it 3. He promiseth mercy to pardon the sins of his people and grace to heal their back-slidings None of these were in the Covenant of works and therefore that lasted not but all these are in the Covenant of grace and therefore it is everlasting 2. His purpose his purpose in making of this Covenant was to exalt and glorifie His purpose and magnifie the greatnesse of his love and the riches
of his grace and mercy unto his people Now there are foure things which magnifie God in these First his graciousnesse freely to make us to be his people A second is his goodnesse in the plentiful blessing of his people And thirdly his faithfulnesse that he will surely blesse his people And fourthly his everlastingnesse that he will never forsake his people and never will turn away from doing of them good Why this exalts his mercy indeed that it endures for ever and his love indeed that it continues for ever and his grace indeed that as it is free so it is everlasting In respect of his people The everlastingnesse of the Covenant is a just reason of perfect thankfulnesse 2. There are reasons for this in respect of his people I will mention a few of them 1. The everlastingnesse of the Covenant is a just reason of full and perfect thankfulnesse Psal 100. 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his Courts with praise Be thankful unto him and bless his Name Verse 5. For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting Psal 136. 1. O give thanks unto the Lord for hâ is good for his mercy endureth for ever 2. His people have cause now to trust on him for ever Isa 26. 4. Trust ye in His people have now cause to trust in him for ever the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Psal 62. 8. Trust in him at all times ye people pour out your heart before him God is a refuge for us Selah Vse 1 Is the Covenant which God makes with his people an everlasting Covenant then that opinion is very false which delivers out unto us such a Covenant of grace as is mutable and alterable and may be broken off and cease between God For confutation of that opinion that the Covenant is mutable and alterable and his people That a man may be made a child of God and yet may become the child of the Divel that he may be graffed into Christ and yet may be broken off from Christ that he may have true faith and grace and yet he may lose true faith and grace that he may finde love and mercy from God and yet may so sinne as actually to forfeit and that for ever all the love and mercy of God Certainly this is a very sad assertion that any person should be translated from death to life that he should be delivered from the power of Satan and translated into the Kingdome of Christ that he should be effectually called and become a believer and thereupon a Sonne of God and heire of glory that he should for a while believe and rejoyce in his God and be sealed with the holy Spirit of promise and yet upon a sudden notwithstanding all the love and promises and engagements of God unto him in Covenant his Sun should set at noon-day he and his God should part and be utter enemies again that he should cast off God from being his God and God should forsake and cast him off from being any of his people and as it is a sad opinion so it is an opinion utterly inconsistent with this truth of the everlastingnesse of the Covenant of grace A relation which ceaseth to be that relation is not everlasting and that agreement or Covenant which is broken and frustrated that Covenant is not everlasting to be temporary and to be everlasting are questionlesse inconsistent neither will that evasion of a temporarinesse on our part and everlastingnesse of the Covenant on Gods part any way patch up the businesse because there is no such Covenant of grace which God hath made with his people Jer. 31. 31. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Ver. 32. Not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt which my Covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord Mark the place God makes no such Covenant as shall be broken on our part but such a Covenant as shall hold and be kept on our part as well as on his part verse 33. But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people c. And cap. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me The principal if not the onely ground of this breaking and falling opinion is a supposition of a power in the will of man according to the pleasure and use whereof the Covenant of Gods grace must stand or fall must continue or break off And to speak plainly according to the Arminian doctrine all the stability and state of a sinners salvation is made to depend upon the will of a sinner the election of God the conversion of a sinner the beneficial Redemption by Christ the perseverance in Christ and grace all of these do lie at the mercy of the will of a poor sinner and truly I must confesse that if the Covenant of grace had no surer foundation then mans wâll it may quickly cease to be an everlasting Covenant But we read of other and better foundations for the perpetuity of this Covenant thân mans will we read that it is grounded on the immutable counsel of God and on his absolute promises and on his Oath and on the blood of Christ confirming and establishing of it and on his power and intercession and presence and love and Spirit and faithfulnesse But as to the opinion of these men which indeed is none other but that of the To state the stability of the Covenant upon the will of man Pelagians and Papists and Arminians Give me favour to speak a few words 1. It is very improbable that God would make a new Covenant with us and state the stability and everlastingnesse of it upon the will of us sinners for hereby 1. There should be no difference as to the ground of safety and certainty Is very improbable 'twixt this Covenant of grace and that of works for if Adam had improved the power and liberty of his will he had continued and had enjoyed the life which God promised unto him Now wherein doth the grace of this Covenant exceed the other of Works if eternal life be left unto the pleasure of our will as formerly it was to Adams 2. Nay it should be harder and more unsafe for us to be in the Covenant of grace than it was for Adam to be in the Covenant of works because in that condition Adams will was created with a perfect righteousnesse and conformity and sufficiency to have continued in that Covenant but we are fallen with him and
Jesus was made a surety of a better Covenant 8. 6. He is the Mediatour of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises There is you know the first Covenant the Covenant of Works and there is the second Covenant the Covenant of Grace which is divided into the Old Covenant and into the New Covenant Now here I shall briefly open two things unto you 1. That the Covenant of grace which is the second Covenant is a better Covenant than the Covenant of Workes which was the first Covenant 2. That the New Covenant under which we live is a better Covenant then the Old Covenant under which the Fathers did live 1. The Covenant of grace is a better Covenant then the Covenant of Works This will appear if you do consider ten particulars The Covenant of grace is a betâer Covenant then that of works It hath a better foundation 1. The Covenant of Grace hath a better foundation than the Covenant of Works The foundation of the Covenant of works was that power of will and righteousness wherewith Adam was created he stood upon his own bottom and was left unto his own sufficiency like the Prodigal child Luke 15. he had all his goods in his own hand But the foundation of the Covenant of Grace is Jesus Christ he is the sure foundation-stone laid in this building Isa 28. 16. and our salvation is laid upon one that is might upon one who is able to keep and to save to the utmost Not our strength but Christs strength not our undertaking but Christs undertaking not our will but Christs Mediatorship and Suretyship is the foundation of the Covenant of grace 2. The Covenant of grace hath better terms All the Articles of it are promises nothing is there required of us which is not promised unto us by God yea that It hath better terms which was required in the first Covenant as a condition is in this Covenant turned into a promise viz. Obedience to Gods Commandements Heb. 8. 10. I will put my Law into their minds and write them in their hearts And I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And that which is required in this Covenant as a condition it is likewise promised Joh. 6. 45. They shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me 3. The Covenant of Grace hath better admissions I speak in respect of us thn It hath better admissions the Covenant of Works The Covenant of works would not admit any person unlesse he were righteous and inherently righteous and perfectly righeous The Covenant of works was never made with the sinner but with the righteous it condemns and casts out the sinner but never doth accept of him or let him in But the Covenant of grace doth admit sinners if any sinner be rightly sensible of his sins and of hâs wants and imperfections God calls out unto him Hearken It hath more favourable proceedings with the parties brought into Covenant unto me and your souls shall live And he that hath no mony come buy and eat Isa 55. 1 3. 4. The Covenant of grace hath more favourable proceedings with the parties brought into Covenant than the Covenant of Works The Covenant of work is very sharp and quick the least transgression therein doth undo the party whether of Omission or of Commission Cursed is every one that doth not continue in every thing that is written in the law to do it Gal. 3. 10. That one sin of the Angels hath undone them for ever That one sin of Adam brought him under the sentence of death The Covenant of Works had no mercy to shew it proceeded only in a way of justice But the Covenant of grace is not so strict and quick it is a very favourable Covenant I will be merciful to their unrighteousness saith God Heb. 8. 12. And if any man sin we have ân Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. If my people which are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked wayes Then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin 2 Chron. 7. 14. 5. The Covenant of grace hath better promises the Covenant of works so far as yet I do understand it had but one grand promise annexed unto it and that It hath the better promises promise also was but conditional viz. A promise of life upon the condition of fixed Obedience life should be continued as long as obedience was continued Do this and live But the Covenant of grace contains better promises and more promises it doth contain a promise of life upon better conditions than that of working Life is promised upon believing Believe and thou shalt be saved and besides that it contains promises of all the things that shall bring us unto that life promises of holinesse promises of strength promises of perseverance in grace And promises against all the things which might break us off from the Covenant and from the fruition of promised life and salvation 6. The Covenant of grace is more indulgent than the Covenant of works Those services which will not be accepted in a Covenant of works will yet It is more indulgent be accepted in a Covenant of Grace The Covenant of works doth so insist upon works that the least mixture of diminution or imperfection renders the work uncapable and distastful the work must be in every regard perfect for matter and manner and measure or else as to that Covenant it was faulty and rejected But this is not in the Covenant of Grace weaknesse in working and imperfection of service shall not be rejected The day of small things is not despised The bruised Reed shall not be broken The smoaking flax shall not be quenched I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him saith God in Mal. 3. 17. If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. Vnto this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word I have seen thy tears said God of Hezekiah Isa 38. 5. Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee Psal 38. 9. 7. The Covenant of grace affords better pleas than the Covenant of works If a person offend against the Covenant of works his mouth is stopt and he can It affords better pleas plead nothing on his own behalf nothing at all to stay the hand of justice against him But if one sins against the Covenant of Grace he hath yet something to plead for himself why God should not reject and destroy him There are four things which he can plead One is his Relation yet thou art
our Father and we are thy people A second is the merciful nature of God ready to shew mercy and to multiply pardon A third is the death of Christ he shed his blood to make our peace and to slay all enmity A fourth is the very Covenant it self wherein God hath promised that he will not cast away and that he will heale and forgive the back-slidings of his people and though he will chastise them yet he will not forsake them 8. The Covenant of grace gives a better estate then the Covenant of works It gives a better estate we have a better estate by this then we had or could have by that 'T is true That Adam in innocency enjoyed a larger measure of knowledge and righteousness and had also free communion with God without fear and had dominion over the creatures But yet he had not knowledge of God in Christ nor any communion with God through Christ nor had he any manifestations of the glories of the Gospel by the Spirit of Christ and besides all this whatsoever enjoyments Adam had which might make up a happy estate unto him yet all that enjoyment was mutable and contingent But now in and by the Covenant of Grace our enjoyments are higher and they are also surer 1. They are higher for now we enjoy God not only as a Creator but as a Father Our enjoyments are higher we enjoy him a merciful and gracious and abundant in goodnesse and truth and we enjoy Jesus Christ in a way of union with his person being bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh as the Apostle speaks Ephes 5. 30. and in a way of communion in his death and life and victories and purchases and we enjoy the very Spirit of Christ as to all his graces and comforts and assurances 2. They are surer he enjoyed God so as yet he lost his God he enjoyed righteousness Surer so as yet he lost his righteousness and dominion so as he lost that dominion and had it not been for Christ who was immediately promised after the fall he had never found his God again nor a righteousnesse again nor any right of dominion again but in the Covenant of grace all is sure and stable and permanent God is our God for ever and we continue his people for ever Christ is our Head and we are his Members for ever we enjoy the Spirit and he abides in us for ever The Covenant of grace is a better Covenant then that of works It is better in the way and cause of Remuneration as to the way and cause of Remuneration In a Covenant of works you must earn your wages before you must be paid your wages your own doing is the price of your receiving and your reward is as your work is nothing is there expected as a bounty and gift but all runs there as debt and wages Adam could never pray under this Covenant Lord receive me graciously do me good freely for thy mercies sake But it is not thus in the Covenant of grace where he that deserves nothing may yet receive all and the unworthy sinner doth yet attain to the most excellent mercies upon the sole account of the riches of Gods grace in Christ In the Covenant of grace God doth not reward us according to our ill deeds nor doth he reward us for our good deeds But he freely pardons the ill works of his people and doth them all good not for their goodness but for his own goodnesse-sake In the Covenant of works you come to God saying Lord This I have done therefore blesse me In the Covenant of grace you come to God saying Lord This I need and this thou hast promised O give it me not for my sake but for thy truths sake and for thy Christs sake freely love me freely accept of me freely own and bless me I can shew no deserts of mine but I can shew unto thee thine own promises I can find enough in my self why thou shouldest abhor and curse me and yet I finde enough in thy self and Covenant why thou mayest embrace and help me 10. The Covenant of grace is a better Covenant than that of works in respect of a double efficacy 1. Of helping recovery 2. Of saving vertue It is better in respect of a double efficacy Of helping recovery 1. The Covenant of works never did afford help to recover any one sinner As that Commander spake of the Watchman whom he found asleep and therefore ran him through with his sword I found him dead and left him dead That we may say of the Covenant of works It findes us dead in sins and in trespasses and it leaves us dead in our sins and trespasses there is no balm for our wounds in that Covenant But the Covenant of Grace this doth help and restore sinners it is the ministry of Life and Grace and Peace But God saith the Apostle in Ephes 2. 4 5. who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ And 1 Cor. 6. 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his love towards us in that whiles we were yet sinners Christ died for us verse 9. Much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him 2. The Covenant of works did never save any righteous person What saving Of saving vertue power might be found from it upon a supposition of Adams standing I dispute not but this I say There never was any one person saved actually by the Covenant of works But yet the Covenant of Grace doth save all Believers Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 15. We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they Ephes 2. 8. By grace ye are saved through faith 1 Pet. 1. 9. Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your soules Thus you see that the Covenant of grace is the best Covenant in comparison of the Covenant of works Use 1 Is the Covenant of Grace the best Covenant The best Covenant that ever God made with man and for man How great then is their sin who refuse this Covenant Then how gâeat is their sin who refuse this Covenant and to come into this Covenant The greater that any mercy is our sin is therefore the greater to refuse that mercy O beloved whence is it that many of your hearts are still hardned whence is it that you love darkness rather then light why do you not hearken to this Covenant whence is it that for lying vanities you forsake your own mercies 1. Are you not sinners 2. Do
not sinners need mercy 3. Can mercy be found anywhere but in this Covenant of mercy or peace anywhere but in the Covenant of peace or life anywhere but in the Covenant of life 4. And doth not this Covenant hold out mercy unto you yea the best mercy and upon the best terms The other Covenant affords you no mercy it easts you off it condemns you to death and wrath And this Covenant yet offers you mercy and life and salvation and no Covenant but this doth so What and yet to refuse to come into it surely either you know not that you are sinners and what will befall you for your sins or else you are desperately wicked to slight and refuse the mercy and grace of God in this Covenant Ezek. 24. 13. Because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee So may the Lord say unto some of us Because I would have shewed you mercy but you would not accept of mercy therefore you shall never have mercy And because I would have taken you into Covenant and you would not come into my Covenant of grace and life and peace I will never be a merciful God to you nor a gracious God to you but you shall dye in your sins and perish for ever Heb. 2. 3. Vse 2 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth Then how injurious are many broken-hearted sinners to God and themselves much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven Is the Covenant of Grace the best Covenant better then any other Covenant which God made with man Then how injurious are many broken-hearted sinners both unto themselves and unto God! who lay the Covenant of grace so low and impose such opinions upon it as if there were no difference twixt a Covenant of grace and a Covenant of works Surely it is either temptation which lies upon them or ignorance or unbelief that they thus stand off and fear and dispute and except and question and many times conclude against all encouragements to be taken into this Covenant and there to finde mercy and rest for their soules truely they do many times turn the Covenant of Grace into a very Covenant of Works O but there is no mercy to be had O but not for such great sins O but for me O but I can deserve nothing and bring nothing O but the sentence is past against me O but I have nothing to make my peace And thus they make the Covenant of Grace a very Covenant of Works no better then so a Covenant without mercy without grace without a Mediatour without a tender compassionate God and Father no City of refuge at all nor help to the poor sinner at all And when they are convinced of mercy in it and possible reception into it yet they think that God will not come off to this but upon very hard and difficult terms usually annexing the Legal condition to the promises of the Covenant of Grace Why sirs what do you mean thus to wrong God and his Covenant and your distressed souls Either there is a Covenant of Grace or there is not either that Covenant of Grace is a better Covenant than the Covenant of works or it is not If it be a better Covenant then the fallen and undone sinner may finde relief there and help there which he could not finde in the Covenant of Works for if the sinner can be no more relieved by this than by that Covenant it is then no better Covenant And now see what a slurre you cast upon the wisdome of God and upon the goodness of God and upon Jesus Christ and upon all the promises of God O distressed sinner If the merciful God if the gracious God if the giving God if the forgiving God if the freely loving God if the Lord Jesus as Mediatour and Surety if all the promises of God in Christ if all the offers of grace if all the calls of the Gospel may suffice to convince thee that this Covenant is the best Covenant that ever was or can be made for sinners with all suitableness and tenderness to the sinners condition Then dispute no more but pray for faith to give God the glory of his exceeding grace in this Covenant c. Use 3 Is the Covenant of Grace the best Covenant What a comfort is this to all believers who are effectually brought into this Covenant Is it no comfort to be Comfort to all Believers brought into such a good estate as better cannot be found or enjoyed If the Covenant of Grace be the best Covenant better then any other Covenant Then all in that Covenant are in the best condition of all other men It was a special kindness in Joseph to give his Father and his Brethren a pâssession in the land of Ramesis what kindness then is that in God to make you to be his people and to become your God and to settle such a portion such a possession upon your soules as in heaven and earth a better Covenant cannot be how should you hearts rejoyce and blesse God for the Covenant of Grace and for bringing of you into that Covenant of grace where A Redeemer is only to be found and you have an interest in that Redeemer A reconciled God is only to be found and you have a propriety in that reconciled God pardoning mercy is only to be found and you have your shares in that pardoning mercy Renewing grace is only to be found and you have your portion in that renewing grace Salvation is only to be found and you have your possession of that salvation Others perhaps cry out O that we might have mercy and O that we might have Christ and O that God would be pacified towards us and reconciled to us and O that our sins might be forgiven and our soules accepted into life why you have all this and more than this Have you not cause to rejoyce who are brought into such a Covenant where you have a propriety in God and Christ and the Spirit and mercy and grace and glory yea into such a Covenant where you may finde relief and support for every want and against every fear and against every sin and against every temptation where all the sorts of mercies and helps and comforts are yours Yea unto such a Covenant where there is not only mercy but fulnesse and not only fulness but freenesse and with all these a certainty and unchangeablenesse Here is as much mercy and goodnesse and happinesse as you need and you shall surely have it and it shall continue unto you for ever Adam and God parted but you and your God shall never part you and Christ shall never part you and mercy and
grace and salvation shall never part 2. The second thing which I would shew unto you about the comparison of the This Covenant is a better Covenant than that old Covenant under which the Fathers lived Covenant is this That the new Covenant of grace under which we do live is a better Covenant then that old Covenant of grace under which the Fathers lived and the people of God of old time For the managing of this mighty and intricate Point I shall deliver unto you three particulars 1. That none of the people of God in any age of the world since the fall of Adam had a Covenant of works given unto them by God for life but the Covenant which God made with them for life was a Covenant of Grace 2. Wherein that Covenant of Grace under which the people of God of old lived consents or agrees with the Covenant of Grace under which we do now live 3. The pre-eminency or betternesse of this New Covenant in a comparison with that old Covenant 1. That none of the people of God in any age of the world since the fall had a Covenant None of the people of God since the fall had a Covenant of works given them for life but a Covenant of Grace as of works given unto them by God for life but they had all of them a Covenant of Grace given unto them for life Let us if you please calculate the several Ages or times of the Church of God and then you shall clearly see the truth of what I speak 1. As soon as Adam fell God was pleased to set up the Covenant of Grace in the form of a promise for he made a promise of Christ as a Saviour and deliverer Gen. 3. 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele Here is an express Immediately upon Adams fall promise of Christ who is called the seed of the woman because he was to take our nature upon him And the work or Office of Christ is to bruse the head of the Serpent that is Jesus Christ was to conquer and destroy him and surely the conquest and destruction of of Satan imports our full deliverance from him and restoration of us into the estate of freedom and grace and happinesse The which Christ doth by having his heel bruised that is by dying and suffering for us and hereby procuring life and salvation The Apostle calls it His putting to death concerning the flesh 1 Pet 3. 18. And in this respect Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. because the death of Christ by which our deliverance and salvation is wrought was published and promised from the beginning of the world Now there is no Covenant wherein Christ comes in on the behalf of sinners but that Covenant is a Covenant of Grace 2. Again pursue this from Adam to Abel and from Abel to Enoch and from From Adam to Noah Enoch to Noah it is evident they were not under a Covenant of works but of grace And I will give you one reason for it or rather the Apostle will do it for me who speaking of Abel and Enoch he doth commend the one for his more excellent sacrifice Heb. 11. 4. and the other for his pleasing of God verse 5. and both of them and Noah also for faith for he adds in verse 6. But without faith it is impossible to please God whence I argue thus That those persons who enjoyed such a faith by which their persons and services were pleasing unto God and graciously accepted of him those were not in a Covenant of works but in a Covenant of Grace Nay look on the words once more verse 4. By faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous And verse 7. Noah became heir of the righteousness which is by faith verily a righteousnesse by faith is no righteousnesse in a Covenant of works but of grace It is that righteousnesse through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Phil. 3. 9. 3. Let us advance one step further from Noah to Abraham where we shall hear From Noah to Abraham of the Covenant again Gen. 17. 2. I will make my Covenant between me and thee and verse 7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generation for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Here is a Covenant expresly made twixt God and Abraham but what Covenant was it Surely not a Covenant of works but a Covenant of grace And that I shall clear unto you by four particulars which I pray you well to consider and observe 1. In this Covenant you have Jesus Christ promised unto Abraham so the Apostle in Gal. 3. 16. To Abraham and his seed was the promise made he saith not to thy seeds as speaking of many but of one who is Christ 2. Abraham In relation to this Covenant is stiled a believer yea the Father of all them that believe Rom. 4. 11. And the Gospel was the means of his faith which was a justifying faith Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations be blessed 3. He received the signe of Circumcision a seale of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4. 11. 4. Moreover it is said of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that they are in the kingdom of Heaven Matth. 8. 11. And of all the Elders with Abraham that they did desire a better Country that is an heavenly Heb. 11. 16. And this also proves that neither he or they were under a Covenant of works which never brought any to Heaven but under a Covenant of Grace for by grace ye are saved Ephes 2. 5. 5. Let us go forward from Abraham to Moses and there let us consider whether the Church were under a Covenant of works or of grace That From Abraham to Moses God set up a Covenant in Moses time the Scripture doth clearly teach us Exod. 19. 5. If ye will obey my voice and keep my Covenant Then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people verse 6. And ye shall be un to me a kingdom of Priests and an holy nation Exod. 34. 27. After the tenour of these words I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel Deut. 4. 13. He declared unto you his Covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten Commandements and he wrote them upon two tables of stone Quest Whether the Law given upon Mount Sinai were a Covenant of works Some things premised But here it is earnestly objected What was not the Law which was given upon Mont Sinai a Covenant of works what was it else but a plain
and clear manifestation of the Law written in the heart of man at the first and now revived and set on foot by God himself Sol. This is I confesse somewhat a knotty question and therefore I would speak warily unto it 1. The Law given by Moses Ministerially was partly Moral in the Ten Precepts and partly Ceremonial in the Levitical Types and Ceremonies and partly Judicial in the civil Rules appertaining to the Jews as such a Nation in civil society but the debate will principally fall upon the Moral Law 2. Which may be considered two wayes viz. 1. As to the matter of it as to which I grant that therein is the Covenant of works to be found 2ly As to the form or Sanction of it as given at this time to the people of Israel thus I deny it to be a Covenant of works Although much which was in the Covenant of works be in this Covenant yet this Law or Covenant was not given for this end to the people of Israel to be a Covenant of works unto them that is such a Covenant upon or from which they must expect life upon their doing 3. You must distinguish twixt 1. The intention of God in giving the Law and 2ly The abuse or perverting of that Law I do grant that many of the Jews did set up a Legal Righteousness for their justifications and rested upon the works of the Law as if life came by them against which the Apostle Paul doth notably argue in his Epistle to the Romans and to the Galathians But this was not the intention of God in the Sanction of the Law They never could find a justifying righteousness by the Law or works of the Law under the notion of a Covenant of works Nor did God ever propound it for that end and because I meet with this choice question I will briefly deliver my own judgement concerning it in The question answered in three particulars three particulars 1. That God never did not will set up for sinners a Covenant of Works 2. That he did not in giving the Law to the Israelites set it up 3. That this Covenant on Mount Sinai was a Covenant of Grace at least subserviently and respectively 1. That God never did since the fall set up a Covenant of Works and I will God did never since the fall setup a Covenant of works Demonstraâed give you arguments to demonstrate it 1. He did set up immediately after the fall a Covenant of Grace this the Scripture clearly shews us but a Covenant of works is inconsistent with a Covenant of Grace and a Covenant of grace is inconsistent with a Covenant of works They are mutually destructive one to the other If of works then no more of grace saith the Apostle Rom. 11. 6. So that you must either deny that God did set up a Covenant of grace for sinners which the Scriptures affirm or you must grant that a Covenant of grace is inconsistent with a Covenant of works which the Scriptures deny or you must confess that there is no Covenant of works since the fall set up by God for sinners 2. If God did set up a Covenant of grace for sinners and after that a Covenant of works for sinners Then he did set up a possibility for sinners to be saved and an impossibility also for sinners to be saved The reason whereof is this There is a possibility for a sinners salvation as to a Covenant of grace where mercy may be found and there is an impossibility of a sinners salvation as to a Covenant of works where no mercy is to be found for a sinner But for God to make salvation both possible and impossible for the same sinners were most inglorious and absurd 3. To put sinners upon contradictions is no way suitable with the wisdom and goodnesse of God But if God should have set up a Covenant of works for sinners after he hath set up a Covenant of Grace he should have put the sinner upon contradictions you must believe and you must not believe you must be justified and live by works and you must not do so The Covenant of grace saith you must believe the Covenant of works saith you must not believe That saith believe and you shall be saved this saith do this and live what is this but to build up and pull down to offer mercy and to deny mercy to give life and to take way life 4. To make the Covenant of grace to be changable and void is quite contrary to the intention and purpose of God who hath made that Covenant to he everlasting and never to be altered no more then the Priesthood of Christ is changeable of which God hath said Thou art a Priest for ever But if God should set up a Covenant of works after a Covenant of Grace this would void and frustrate the Covenant of grace It would throw down Christ as a Mediatour and the Righteousnesse of Christ and all the Fabrick of a Sinners salvation by a Christ God did not make a Covenant of works with the Israelites 2. As God never did after the fall make a Covenant of works with sinners so in particular he did not make such a Covenant with the Israelites when he gave the Law unto them from Mount Sinai he did not give that Law for to be a Covenant of works which I shall endeavour to prove thus Demonstrated 1. What Covenant God made with Abraham that Covenant he made with the seed of Abraham Gen. 17. 7. I will stablish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee But that Covenant with Abraham was the Covenant of grace and the seed of Abraham were those Israelites And if those who are the seed of Abraham were under that Covenant of grace with Abraham they could not be put off to another Covenant of Works in which Abraham was not unlesse you will say that God did act in different Covenants with Abraham and his seed 2. The Apostle saith the Law is not against the promises of God Is the Law then against the promises of God God forbid Gal. 3. 21. And do we then make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. 3. 31. Mark the Law is not against the promises nor doth faith make void the Law both these can very well agree together but so they could not if the Law had been given as a Covenant of works for now the Law would be expresly against the Promises and faith would certainly make void the Law The promises of God are contrary to a Covenant of works and faith is destructive to a Covenant of works If therefore the promises and faith and the Law can consist Then the Law cannot be set up as a Covenant of works 3. That Covenant which God made with Moses and under which Moses stood was no Covenant of works but Moses and the people of
the times of the New Covenant which excels the other It is to me a very considerable Mystery that the Jews who were if I may so expresse my self the Original people of God the first fruits of the creature That they should have the largest time How should we Gentiles blesse the Lord who are reserved for the times of the new Covenant under the Old Covenant And we who are Gentiles that came in as it were at second hand should have all our time under the New Covenant That they by unbelief were so quickly broken off and the Gentiles have been for so many hundred years graffed in whatsoever the mystery of this dispensation may be certainly we who are sinners of the Gentiles have wonderful cause to blesse our God who hath given us so long a day in the day of his grace and have singular cause to improve such a mercy with fear and trembling As we may see the greatness of the freeness of Gods grace and the exceeding riches thereof to us so should we both lay hold on the grace revealed and walk with more faith and humility not be high-minded but fear for we stand by faith Remember saith Paul to the Ephesians Chap. 2. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ being Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world But verse 13. now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. CHAP. VI. Isaiah 55. 3. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David I Have now discoursed of the Covenant of Grace as it stands in The condition of the Covenant opposition to the Covenant of Works and I have discoursed of the Covenant of Grace as to the vital nature of it what it was and I have discoursed of the Covenant of Grace as to the Properties and Adjuncts of it Now I shall proceed unto a fourth General consideration of this Covenant of Grace and that is the condition of it The Covenant of Grace herein agrees with all other Covenants that it is a mutual obligation God bindes himself and his people binde themselves there is something which he will do and there is something which we must do I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20. 37. and surely theâe is a condition in that Bond. God hath his part in the Bond and we have our part in the Bond If you trace the Covenant from Abraham even unto Christ successively you shall all along finde a condition expressed and annexed unto the Covenant Abraham he believed Gen. 15. 6. And he was to walk uprightly Gen. 17. 1. and the many Rites in Moses time took in a condition of faith and obedience and so it did in Davids time and the like with the people of Israel in and after the Babylonish Captivity and so in Christs and the Apostles time SECT I. Object I Know there is a great dispute How any condition can be allowed in a Covenant of Grace And some are very eager against it and think that if any condition be admitted then presently we are Legalists and are setting up a Covenant How any condition can be allowed in the Covenant of Grace of works instead of a Covenant of Grace Sol. But I humbly conceive that there is no need of such heat nor fear of such an inconveniency in this Point if parties would but patiently hear one another and calmly consider the matter Therefore first I think it necessary to distinguish of that word condition which may be taken in a three-fold sense Distinguish of the word condition No such condition as to work any one grace in our own hearts 1. For such an Act which we may or may not perform according to the power and pleasure of our own free will without the preventing or determining grace of God And truely in this sense I know no godly Christian who doth or dare to thrust in a condition to the Covenant of Grace as if there were something to be done by us that is by the sole power of our free wills upon the drawing out of which a Covenant is made up and accomplished twixt God and us 2. For the doing of some work which hath in it a meritorious reason on our part either for the acceptance of our persons with God or for the performance of No such condition as merit and self-worthiness his promises unto us so as wages are due to a workman no such condition as merit and self-worthiness Neither in this sense dare we admit of a condition in the Covenant of Grace for the thirsty drink of the water of life freely and the poore buy without mony and without price Both our graces and our rewards are only of the grace of God in Christ 3. For some qualifications in the sinner not wrought in him by his own power but by the sole power of Gods grace without which he cannot stand in an actual relation But a qualification wrought by God without which we cannot stand in Relation to God unto God as his God nor can apply the promises of pardon and salvation by Christ unto himself In this sense we do hold a condition in the Covenant of Grace namely That something there is required of us which yet God doth promise to work in us and which he doth work effectually in the hearts of all the Elect in time therefore Faith is called the operation of God Col. 2. 12. and the work of his power 1 Cor. 2. 5. without which they cannot look on God as their God nor can apply the Promises of forgiveness and eternal life and which when they do finde wrought in themselves by the power of Gods grace they can and may apply both unto themselves In this sense there is a condition Look as to make up a conjugal Relation there is something required on either party The woman must be willing to take and receive the man for her husband as well as the man is willing to take the woman for his wife So it is in the making up of the Spiritual marriage which is the Covenant twixt God and us as he is willing to be our God so must we be willing to be his people And as be therein takes us to be his people so do we therein take him to be our God Only with this difference That in the civil Covenant of marriage our own will leads us to that but in the Spiritual God doth by his Such a condition as it is simply necessary so it is expresly deteâmined in Scripture Spirit work in us that will which is a condition necessary to make the Covenant between himself and us 2. A condition as thus interpreted as it is simply necessary to the Covenant of Grace being a mutual compact and not a meere promise so it is expresly determined in
Scripture Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life ye shall not perish if you do believe and ye shall have everlasting life if ye do believe Mark 16. 16. He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Isa 55. 3. Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant Exod. 24. 7. He took the book of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient verse 8. and Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Chap. 3. 19. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out c. Chap. 13. 18. Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins verse 39. And by him all that believe are justified c 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Verse 8. and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 3. Every condition annexed unto a Covenant doth not make that Covenant to be a Every condition doth nor make the Covenant to be a Covenant of Works except it be the same condition The Covenant of grace Covenant of Works unless you do put the self same condition into that other Covenant which is placed in the Covenant of works But thus it is not in the Covenant of grace which 1. Puts not the same condition but another condition of a quite different nature from that condition in the Covenant of work There it is Do this and live Here it is Believe and you shall be saved 2. Puts such a condition which is compatible with the grace of God Indeed works that is a self perfect and absolute obedience is incompatible and inconsistent with salvation by grace but a saving by faith is not inconsistent with Requires another condition And a condition compatible with the grace of God grace Of which if any doth doubt let him but read the Apostle in Ephes 2. 5. By grace are ye saved verse 8. By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace What can be can spoken more expresly to shew the consistence twixt grace and faith grace saves and yet faith saves ye are saved by grace through faith Now from all which hath been discovered it doth appear that the Covenant of grace can admit of a condition namely such a condition which is graciously given and such a condition which will in the nature and use of it exalt all the grace of God And truely this condition is Faith and no other thing for This condition is faith Faith 1. Is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. and Phil. 1. 29. It doth not at all flow from our selves Therefore believers are said Joh. 1. 13. to be born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God 2. And it is such a gift of God as is compleatly adopted to the Covenant of Grace To no Covenant but that and to that it is For that Covenant on Gods part is all in offers and promises and givings and faith is all in receiving and is depending and acknowledging and magnifying the grace of God And that Faith is the condition annexed to this Covenant I shall present unto Demonstrations of it you a few Arguments besides the Scriptures above mentioned to demonstrate it 1. That without which God is not our God nor are we his people And upon Without faith God is not our God nor we his people which God is our God and we do become his people and children This is a condition of the Covenant But faith is that without which God is not our God nor are we his people and upon faith God is our God and we are his people and children See it in the particulars 1. Without Faith there is no Relation by way of Covenant twixt God and us 1. For God and unbelievers are not in Covenant 2. Refusers of the Covenant are not in Covenant 3. Persons under wrath and condemnation are not in Covenant He that believes not is condemned and he shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him Joh. 3. 18. Ephes 2. 11. Remember that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh c. verse 12. That at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world This was their condition before they were quickned from the dead and had obtained faith 1 Pet. 2. 10. Which in times past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy 2. Upon faith God becomes our God in Covenant and we become his people and children He upon believing becomes our God in Covenant Isa 55. 3. Incline your ear and come unto me Hear and your soule shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you And Rom. 8. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And that spirit of Adoption presupposeth faith None are sons but by faith And we upon believing do become his people and children Gal. 3. 26. Ye are all the children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus 2. That which gives you an interest in Christ the same thing gives you an interest in Faith gives an interest in Christ the Covenant of Grace For this is a sure truth that according to your interest in Christ so is your interest in God and in the Covenant Out of Christ you shall finde no God to be your God But Faith is necessary to give you an interest in Christ forasmuch as Christ becomes ours by faith By faith we are planted into Christ and built upon Christ and married unto Christ he is ours and we are his 3. If all the good of the Covenant comes unto us upon believing Then Faith is All the good of the Covenant comes to us upon believing the condition annexed unto the Covenant you can have none of the good of it but upon believing unbelief cuts you off from all title and all fruition but all the good of the Covenant comes to be setled upon you by believing If you believe you shall be saved If you believe you shall be justified and pardoned you have the
relation to us Tit. 1. 2. In hope of eternal life which God promised before the world began To whom did he promise that eternal life for us but unto Christ with whom he did Covenant for us and in whom with us Isa 42. 6. I will give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles The same you read in Isa 49. 8. Jesus Christ is not only the Messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. nor only the surety of the Covenant Heb. 7. 22. nor only the Mediatour of the Covenant as standing twixt God and us Heb. 12. 24. but he is the principal confederate in the Covenant Christ stands as a publick person in the Covenant and when God made a Covenant with him he made it with him for himself and all his with all that should be brought in unto him As Adam stood in the Covenant of works not as a private person but as a publick person and that Covenant was made with him and with all his posterity so the Covenant which God made with Christ it was made with Christ as a publick person as the Head of all the Church with him and all his And therefore as soon as you are brought in by faith to Christ you are immediately brought into the Covenant 2. In Christ and by Christ God is our God and our Father and therefore if by faith you are brought into Christ you are brought into the Covenant Let God In and by Christ God is our God look on us as out of Christ he must look on us as enemies and not as children and if we look on God out of Christ we must behold him as our Judge but not as our Father But consider us as brought into Christ now we are reconciled to God and now in what relation God stands to Christ in the same he stands to us and in what relation Christ stands to God in the same do we stand to God And what priviledge Christ enjoyes the same do we enjoy by Christ he is a God to Christ and a Father to Christ Psal 89. 26. He shall cry unto me Thou art my Father my God c. And thus we being in Christ he is to us Joh. 20. 17. I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God and Christ is the Son of God and so are we the sons of God 1 Joh. 3. 1. Christ is the Heir of God and so are we heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. 3. When you are by faith brought into union with Christ so that you are his Being by faith united to Christ we enjoy all blessings you now enjoy life and promises and all blessings 1 Joh. 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life 1 Cor. 3. 22. All are yours verse 23. and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises and you may plead them all for they are yea and in Christ Amen Ephes 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ 4. This union with Christ directly stands in opposition to a sinners being cut off Our union with Christ brings us into a state of favour from God and brings him again into a state of favour The soule can no more receive ought from God till it be one with him by Christ than Christ could merit any thing for us till the Deity and the flesh were fully united and no more than the soul can impart any thing to the body till they be one Thus have you heard what faith that is which is the condition of the Covenant viz. A faith of union a faith which brings us into Christ and unites us with Christ I now proceed unto the second question SECT II. 2. Quest WHether Faith only be the Condition of the Covenant Is Whether faith only be the condition of the Covenant not Holinesse required Is not Repentance Is not new obedience Sol. For answer unto this we must distinguish 1. Between the Covenant and persons in the Covenant If you speak of persons Distinguish betwixt the Covenant and the persons in the Covenant in the Covenant certainly holiness is required of them ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy and be ye holy for I am holy and holiness is promised to all the people in Covenant And holinesse is wrought in all the people of the Covenant All the people of God are a holy people but though holiness be in the Covenanted yet it is not in the condition of the Covenant God doth not say If you be holy then I will be your God and accept of you but if you believe when you are brought into the Covenant then you are made holy but that which brings you into the Covenant that which God insists with you for so as to be your God is faith Receive my Christ believe on him and I will be your God 2. Though Faith be the only condition as to entrance in the Cvenant yet this faith will Though faith be the only condition yet it brings us to holiness bring you to holiness as a fruit of the Covenant For this faith brings you to Christ to union with him and communion with him in holiness As soon as faith brings you into union with Christ Christ makes you partakers of that unction of holiness wherewith he himself is anointed 3. There is a difference 'twixt the persons to whom promises are made and the There is a difference betwixt the persons to whom the promises are made and the condition upon which they are performed New obedience is a consequent effect and not an antecedent condition condition upon which those promises are performed Indeed you read of many promises made to broken-hearted and penitent persons but the application of them all is only by Faith The forgiveness of sin cannot be applyed by any hand but that of faith which seed the promise of it and seeks the performance of it by and for Christ 4. For newness of obedience this is a consequent effect and not an Autecedent condition for it is impossible to see fruits till you finde life And besides this that faith which lets you into Covenant is a very fruitful Faith it graffs you into such a root which can enable you and will do so for fruits of life as the first Adam doth his Branches for fruits of death So then it is faith and faith only which is the condition of the Covenant yet it is such a faith which though it takes no graces or works with it as competitors in the nature of a condition with it yet it doth inferre and draw after it all these Graces and all good works as Austin said Bona opera sequuntur justificatum licèt non praecedunt justificandum c. SECT III. 3. Quest VVHy is
Faith singled out to be the condition of the Covenant Why faith is the only condition of Grace Sol. 1. There is nothing whatsoever which doth so fit and answer a Covenant of Grace as Faith doth for in this Covenant God deals in promises and by a Mediatour Faith best answers the Covenant of grace And the promises are objects proper to faith As precepts are to obedience and threatnings to fear so are promises to faith And for Jesus Christ the Mediatour deale with him you cannot but by faith Object Indeed love deals with Christ as well as faith Christ is the object of our love and of our faith But then here 1. That love deals with Christ in the strength of faith first faith deales and then love deales with Christ 2. Though love deals with Christ yet it is another way than faith Love is bringing into Christ but Faiths work is receiving all from Christ and resting on Christ c. 2. There is nothing but Faith which will or can acknowledge a free Covenant And all as freely given unto us Set up any thing but faith and that will set up us Nothing but faith will acknowledge a free Covenant and pull down grace Any thing but faith must be something in our selves and something in our selves will deprive grace of the glory yea it will deny grace but faith will do none of this because faith is a meere gift of grace and faith receives all as free gift findes nothing in us at all but receâves all and lives wholly on the grace of God in Christ 3. It is of faith that the promises might be sure so the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. It is of faith that the promise might be sure Adam had a Covenant as well as we and therefore some observe that he had one sacrament of death another of life to assure him of death in case he sinned as wel as to assure him of life in case he obeyed because it was made upon condition of works And truely if Adam who was so every wây furnished could not hold up a Covenant upon a Condition of works much less should we do it being now utterly broken by him But now the promise of âife being made to us upon condition of faith it is therefore made sure for âaith builds upon a sure foundation and faith hath a sure word of promise 4. The Covenant of grace excludes all boastings in our selves Rom. 3. 27. and Faith excludes all boasting in our selves therefore faith is necessary for us for boasting is excluded not by the Law of works but by the Law of Faith Ibid. If you should put in works for the condition then the sinner would be ready to boast All this I have kept from my youth This have I done and that have I done and I never offended thy will the wages is due debt to me O but this must never be c. 5. There are such things undertaken in the Covenant as nothing but faith can tell Nothing but faith can tell what to make of the things undertaken in the Covenant what to make of them I will forgive your iniquities and will give you a new heart and I will heale your back-slidings and I will love them freely and I will forgive your sins for mine owne sake These are absolute Mysteries without faith Before I proceed any further in this Point I would make some useful Application of what I have delivered already Is Faith the condition of the Conant SECT IV. 1. Use THen how are men mistaken How have they deluded themselves how To discover the presumption of many who plead their interest in the promises without the performance of the condition must they return ashamed who have nursed up their fancies and presumptions about the mercy of God and the many promises of God about salvation and other blessings yea and about God himself what a good and gracious and merciful God he is and so will be to them O but sirs There is a condition in the Bond. God makes many sweet and comfortable promises O but there is a condition And God saith he will be such a gracious and merciful God c. O but there is a condition and he saith that he will save and give eternal life O but there is a condition a condition that you think not of a condition that you never attained unto Faith is the condition of the Covenant You must be believers in Christ and then and so you must claim the promises you must have an interest in Christ or else you can never have an interest in the priviledges of the Covenant you have owned the promised mercy and the promised salvation in the Covenant O but you have not all this while owned Christ by saith and therefore you have all this while deluded your soules The Apostle faith all men have not faith and the Prophet saith Who hath believed our report and Christ himself saith He that believeth shall be saved and he that believes not shall be damned Why brethren If Faith be the condition of the Covenant If faith be necessary to bring us into the Covenant Then no unbeliever is yet in the Covenat for no unbeliever hath faith No no God is not the God of the dead but of the living and mercy is not the portion of unbelievers but of believers and salvation by Christ is interessed only on them who believe on Christ And thou art to this day an unbeliever thou art utterly destituâe of faith And there are six things which shew that thouÌ art so 1. One is the unsensiblenesse of thy sinful and wretched condition and of thy need which thy soule hath of Christ 2. A second is the exceeding ignorance in thy heart of Christ as the Mediatour of the Covenant 3. A third is the exceeding pride and confidence on thiââ own righteousness and on thine own works 4. A fourth is the continual neglects and disesteeme of the Gospel of Christ 5. A fifth is the fruitless reception of the many offers of Christ 6. A sixth is the incomplyance of thy heart with the Lord Jesus and averseness and refusing of subjection unto Christ Thou wilt not have him to reign over thee Ah poor creature How hast thou befooled thy self and deluded thy soul with a vain presumption of interest in the Covenant whilst as yet thou hast not faith to interest thy soul in Christ 2. Use Is saith of union the condition of the Covenant Then as you have Look to your faith that it be a faith of union reason to look to your selves because all men have not âaith so you have reason to look to your faith for you may have a faith which yet is not a faith of union That is a considerable passage of Christ in Joh. 15. 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away verse 6. If a man abideth not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is
To open the Gospel 2. Thy ear 3. Thy heart for it is by his Spirit that the Gospel proves to be unto you the word of Faith Our Gospel came in power and in the Holy Ghost 1 Thes 1. 5. If the Spirit of God did but reveale his Arm if he would but breath through the Gospel it would certainly be the power of God for faith in you 2. Again you must pray with all importunity and diligence and watchfulness and observation what God answers and spiritual violence and resolution and never cease wrestling with God I tell you it is one of the greatest requests that you can make to God O Lord unite me to Christ give me that faith by which I may be Christs and Christ may be mine And take this for thine encouragement That if the Lord hath given such a spiritual and steadfast frame of spirit as to pray he Patiently wait upon God in the use of meanes will at length give thee this faith 4. Patiently wait upon God in the use of Evangelical means untill he doth come in with his Spirit upon your Spirits to enable you by faith to close with Christ lye at the Pool do not limit God to this Sermon or to that Prayer and do not wrangle and murmure against God regard what concerns your self to do and trust God with his work and with his time never did any soule seek him or wait on him in vain nor return ashamed there is not one Prayer that you make nor any one Evangelical Sermon that ye hear but it is making way in your hearts for this uniting faith Some more light gets in to discover Christs fulness and our want Some more hope is raised of a possibility at length to enjoy Christ Some more power is given against the powers and workings and reasonings and fears and doubts of unbelief they have not that despairing dominion Some more bewailings of thy Christlesse condition and strong unbelief with a resistance of it Sometimes more renewed resolutions and courage well whatsoever comes of it I will not yet give over my suite I will venture a few prayers more something more is getting in and winning upon the heart towards Christ But Why may I not believe on Christ what if I should venture on him upon his offers upon his entreaties upon his commands upon his promises do I not sin against Christ and offend him thus to fear thus to dispute thus to question thus to stand off well I will come and believe on him O I cannot Lord help me Lord work in me both to will and to do when Lord how long yet will I wait on thee till thou shewest this mercy to me SECT VII 3. Vse IS faith the condition of the Covenant of grace And is that faith an uniting Comfort and encouragement Faith a faith which unities us unto Christ The next Use then shall be for Comfort and Encouragement 1. To sinners in general 2ly To believers in particular to such as yet finde themselves out of Covenant and to such as finde themselves partakers of this uniting faith 1. That faith is the condition of the Covenant of Grace this is a comfort and To sinners in general encouragement to poor sinners who as yet finde themselves out of Covenant If God had put any other condition upon that Covenant every sinner had been utterly hopelesse suppose he had annexed and imposed the condition of actual and perfect and personal righteousnesse bring that and perform that and then I will be your God I will accept of you I will own you I will love you I will pardon you I will save you why no sinner could upon this termes have found an entrance or admission into the Covenant because the performance of If faith be the condition this Covenant is impossible to a sinner as such a condition is inconsistent with the grace of God so such a condition is impossible with the state of sin which is a state of impotency and of death But now faith being the condition of the Covenant as there is a door open for grace to manifest it self so there is hope for a sinner to partake of that grace for if God will capitulate with us upon believing There is hope for in Christ Then 1. Our former sinnings do not absolutely exclude us One sin did break the Covenant Our former sinnings doth not exclude us of works but our many sins hinder not our reception into the Covenant of grace if yet we believe on Christ 2. A want of personal and perfect righteousness doth not exclude us for faith is not to look at our own righteousâess but at the righteousnesse of Christ Nor want of personal and perfect righteousness Nor self unrighteousnesse 3. Our self-unworthinesse is no prejudice Faith looks for love and mercy and glory through Christ for the sinner who is in himself unworthy of love and mercy and glory 4. Our union with God is possible for though an immediate union there cannot Our union with God is possible be between God and a sinner yet a mediate union there may be viz. A union by Christ the Mediatour unto whom faith brings and unites the soule so that there is yet hope for the sinner to be brought into Covenant with God though not upon his own account yet upon the account of Christ unto whom faith joyns the sinner Object But it may be objected 't is true that faith is the condition of the Covenant And that faith is that condition it is therefore hopeful for sinners But yet this faith is as impossible to the sinner as the condition of perfect obedience for But this faith is as impossible to the sinner as perfect righteousnesse the sinner is no more able to make his heart to believe on Christ than he is perfectly to obey the will of God And then where is the comfort and hope that you speak of In the notion it is true that faith is a condition which advantageth a sinner But in practice it is such a condition unto which it is impossible for any sinner by his own strength to attain Answered Sol. 1. I grant that as to the âeer consideration of the sinners self natural power the condition of Faith ãâ¦ã âmpossible as the condition of perfect obedience is he hath no more power âor propensity to believe in Christ than he hath to obey and fulfill the Law and his heart is as full of unbelief as it is of disobedience 2. Neverthelesse though there be a self impossibility yet there is not an absolute Faith is possible and probable It is not imposed on us in our own strength impossibility nay faith is such a condition as is not only possible for a sinner but very probable for him to attaine it 1. Though it be the Condition of the Covenant yet it is not such a condition which God doth impose upon the sinner by his own strength or power
the heavens What may not a man bear and what losse is he at who knows Christ to be his and a reconciled God to be his c. Eighthly This assurance will ease all our worldly burdens it will take off It will ease all our worldly burdens our hearts and it will take off our vexations cares and thoughts if we know that God gave Christ for us we cannot but know that he will with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. And besides that the more assurance we have of our interest in Christ c. the more our hearts will minde Christ and the benefits by Christ and will be the lesse after other things I have a goodly heritage thou art my portion Psal 16. 5. I have enough nay let him take all c. Ninthly This assurance breeds confidence and comfort in death Why are even It breeds confidence in death good people sometimes afraid to dye but because they are not yet assured they cannot say with Paul Christ loved me and gave himself for me But if assurance be on their hearts then death is welcome Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation said Simeon Luk. 2. 29 30. And I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ said Paul What is death to the assured Believer but a short passage a speedy in-let and conveyance unto that glorious and eternal blessednesse which he knows that Christ hath purchased for him and God reserves for him in heaven Case 5. Whether a person having attained a certain knowledge that Christ dyed for him may ever after that doubt again and question that point again Whether after this assurance he may ever doubt again He may doubt again Sol. I answer plainly he may sensible assurance is very comfortable but yet it is mutable Pauls vision in Acts 10. 11. was drawn up into heaven again yea and his choice revelation was quickly attended with a violent temptation 2 Cor. 12. 7. Reasons whereof may be these First The Divine pleasure the date of your comforts and the Patent of Reasons of it The Divine pleasure them is ad placitum God gives you this assurance that you may taste his kindnesse and goodnesse and he takes it off again that you may acknowledge his authority Secondly The Divine wisdome God would rather have us live by faith than The Divine wisdome sense indeed the life of our assurance is more for our comfort but the life of faith is more for his glory Thirdly Our own foolishnesse not improving aright such gracious manifestations Our own foolishnesse but abusing them to pride and high-mindednesse and sometimes blurring the fair copy of our evidence with foul transgressions Fourthly Subtilty and prevalency of temptations which we did not so watch The subtilty of temptations and fear because of our assurance as if that were security enough c. Object But what comfort and support if this assurance may fail Sol. Much for all that for 1. Though assurance fails yet faith by which we are saved fails not 2. Though assurance fails yet the interest and estate assured shall never fail Christ is still thine and the reconciled God is still thine and reconciliation and remission the estate is sure though particular and contingent effects be not so 3. The Spirit hath more work then only to comfort if he still strengthen thee and supply thee that is comfort to thee 4. Though assurance go away yet it may return again it is as possible to receive it as to lose it 5. In your new fear remember your old assurance I tell thee that assurance once had upon good grounds may serve to support though against many doubts in after-times THE GIFTS OF THE Covenant The second Part. CHAP. I. Ezek. 36. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you I Have heretofore opened unto you divers things about the Covenant of Grace viz. the Nature and Adjuncts of it the difference 'twixt it and the Covenant of Works the condition and the Mediator of the Covenant I now proceed to handle one thing more concerning the Covenant and that is the gifts of the Covenant the gifts which God doth promise to bestow upon those people The gifts of the Covenant which are in Covenant with him This verse which I have read unto you and the subsequent verses do report unto us divers of those gifts which may be considered First As to their order and thus you have the promise first of spiritual gifts or blessings from ver 25. to ver 28. and then you have the promise of temporal mercies from ver 28. to ver 37. Secondly As to their kinds the spiritual gifts or blessings for I shall insist awhile only upon them do respect 1. Our Justification expressed in ver 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you c. 2. Our Sanctification First in the habitual part of it in ver 26. a new heart c. Secondly in the actual part of it in ver 27. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes c. The Text which respects our Justification contains in it a promâse 1. Of the pardon of sins I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean 2. Of the pardon of the greatest sins from your filthinesse and from your Idâls will I cleanse you 3. Of the pardon of all their sins from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will â cleanse you Before I handle the particular points I would touch upon some things in the general viz. 1. That God doth promise unto his people yea unto his people in Covenant with him spiritual gifts or blessings as well as temporal 2. That the first promâses are the best or of the best things first the spiritual and then the temporal blessings 3. That whatsoever blessings which may or do concern the people of God in Covenant God himself doth undertake to give them unto his people 4. That those gifts which God doth promise to give unto his people in Covenant he gives them not for any worthinesse in them but upon the account of his own graciousnesse SECT I. Doctr. 1 Doctr. 1. THat God doth expressely promise to give unto all his people in Covenant with him spiritual blessings as well as temporal I hardly know any one place of Scripture where the Covenant of grace is insisted upon but God gives his people in Covenant spiritual blessings as well as temporal there you shall finde expresse promises of some one spiritual blessing or other Jer. 31. 33. This shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my
support and encourage you against all the temptations of Satan and fears of your own spirits God himself is your God and God himself for whom nothing is too hard and who is faithful in Covenant he it is who undertakes to find out and give out unto you every mercy for soul and body which you do or shall need Vse 2 Do not only believe this truth but also make use of it i. e. in the sense of all your wants whether spiritual or temporal Go unto God with boldnesse unto Make use of this truth his Throne of grace that ye may finde grace and mercy to help in time of need Remember that of the Apostle in Phil. 4. 6. Be careful in nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God Do not vainly perplex your selves O it is impossible ever to get this sinful heart changed and this hard heart broken and those sins pardoned but âânsider seriously 1. What is that which you finde promised in the Covenant Do you not expresly find the renewing of the heart promised there and the taking away of the hard heart promised there and the forgivenesse of all sins promised there 2. Who is it that undertakes to give these things promised Is it not God himself who can do it because he is Almighty and will do it because he is faithful it is not what strength and power you have for these things but what the sufficiency and fidelity of God is who undertakes to give them Object But he expects great matters from us before he will give them unto us Sol. 1. I will tell you what he expects from you he expects three things from you 1. That you acknowledge your own unworthinesse and his graciousnesse 2. That you come and pray unto him and intreat him to do these things for you 3. That you trust upon him as able and willing to help you according to his Word 2. And this which he expects from you if he hitherto hath not given them unto you yet he promiseth to give them unto you for praying Zach. 12. 10. I will poure upon them the Spirit of supplication for trusting Zephany 3. 12. I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the Name of the Lord. Object But we must bring something or other and undertake something else God will not do all for us Sol. 1. What would ye bring to a Covenant of Grace or what should you bring but your hearts to receive what is promised in the Covenant of Grace to be given 2. All the finding and giving work belongs to God that is it which himself undertakes forgivenesse righteousnesse holinesse love joy and peace and these himself undertakes to give unto us The fountain is full and runs freely take your care only for a Vessel to receive and take in the waters which flow out of it Vse 3 Doth God himself undertake to give all the blessings of the Covenant to his people What a comfort is this unto all his people this God himself is your God Comfort to the people of God and your Father and he loves you above all the people in the world and binds himself by promise and oath unto you that in blessing he will blesse you If you were to make your choice of one to undertake your good in whose hands you would have your all to lie you would pitch on one 1. Who loves you as a friend as a father and as a near relation 2. Who is sufficient and able 3. Who is mindful and faithful 4. Who is knowing and wise 5. Who is like to live long Now First Doth not God love his people I have loved thee with an everlasting love God loves his people Jer. 31. 3. I am a Father to Israel and Israel is my first born Ver. 9. Is Ephraim my dear son I remember him still my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him Ver. 20. Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Isa 49. 15. Secondly Is he not able to do you good he is the All-sufficient and Almighty God is able to do you good God nothing is too hard for him he is able to do above all that we are able to ask or think and can do whatsoever he pleaseth in heaven and in earth is it not be who stretcheth out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth Abraham was fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able to performe Rom. 4. 21. Thirdly He knows all your distresses and wants your groans are not hid from He knows all your distresses him and all your tears are in his bottle he is mindful of his people Psal 115. 12. The Lord hath been mindful of us he will blesse us he is mindful of ãâã Covenant Psal 111. 5. He hath given meat to them that fear him he will be mindful of his Covenant Psal 105. 8. He hath remembred his Covenant for ever Fourthly He is the faithful God Deut. 7. 9. Know that the Lord thy God He is the faithful God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his Covenant to thousands of generations Heb. 10. 23. He is faithful that promised Fifthly He is the wise God God only wise Rom. 16. 27. Wise in heart Job He is the wise God 9. 4. And therefore will proportion and season out proper and peculiar mercies unto his servants Sixthly He is the unchangeable God there is not so much as the shaddow of Change in him Jam. 1. 17. The living God Jer. 10. 10. The Lord is the true He is the unchangeable God God he is the living God and an everlasting King Dan. 12. 7. liveth for ever ãâã If I do understand this Assertion aright it may suffice to take off all your fears and to draw on all your hearts to come unto your God with confidence who himself undertakes to give unto you all the good of his Covevant Can more be desired or can any thing else conduce further or better to your salvation Object We confess that here is enough in respect of God but that which makes us to fear is something in respect o ourselves our unworthiness against which God may take exception and for which he may deny to give unto us the good things which he hath promised Sol. This is the greatest doubt which still sticks with us and it is the strongest exception of our unbelieving hearts and unto which I shall endeavour to give a full resolution in the last General Proposition which now comes to be handled viz. SECT IV. Doct. 4. THat all these blessings which God doth promise to give unto his people All the blessings which God promiseth to his
people in Covenant he gives them only upon account of his graciousnesse in Covenant he will and doth give them not for any worthinesse in them but only upon the account of his own graciousnesse In this Chapter you have God undertaking all sorts of mercies for his people and it is observable that both Antecedently and Consequently he disclaims all worthiness of them on his peoples part Ezek. 36. 22. Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel but for mine holy Name sake ver 32. Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord God be it known unto you Deut. 7. 7. The Lord did not set his love upon you nor chuse you because ye were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people ver 8. but because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the Oath which he had sworn unto your Fathers hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bond-men from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt Consider all the blessings of the Covenant for soul or body for this life or for the next life Spiritual or temporal the reason of them lies not in our worthiness but only and altogether in Gods graciousness not in the receivers but only in the giver See it in these particulars First That God loves us and makes a Covenant with us this comes to pass not God loves us from his own graciousnesse for our worthiness but from his own graciousnesse Ezek. 16. 6. When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live ver 8. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee behold thy time was a time of love and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakednesse yea I sware unto thee and entered into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine Secondly That God gives his Son Jesus Christ this respects no worthiness in God gives Chrâst of his oân graciousness us but his own graciousnesse Rom. 6. 5. For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly ver 8. God commendeth his love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. Thirdly That any man is effectually called unto Christ this doth not arise from Effectual calling is from Gods graciousness any dignity in us but only from Gods graciousnesse 2 Tim. 1. 9. who hath called us with an holy calling not according to our own works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began Fourthly That any man is Sanctified and renewed by the Spirit of Grace this So is Sanctification comes not from the account of any thing in us but only from the account of Gods graciousnesse Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour 5. That any man is Justified there is no reason for this in our works but in And Justification his grace Rom. 3. 23. For all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God ver 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgivenesse of sins according to the riches of his grace Sixthly That any man is Saved and comes to the enjoyment of eternal life this depends not upon our worthiness but on Gods graciousnesse Ephes 2. 5. By And salvation grace ye are saved ver 8. By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God ver 9. Not of works least any man should boast Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Seventhly Nay all our temporal blessings do flow not from our worthiness but from his graciousnesse Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own Son but delivered And all temporal blessings him up for us all how shall he not also freely give us all things 2 Sam. 7. 21. For thy Word sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know them For the further discussing of this Point I will shew unto you 1. That God doth not enjoyn on his people nor expect from them any worthiness God doth not enjoyn nor expect any worthiness as a reason of his blessings Three Demonstrations of it as a reason of his blessings 2. Why all his blessings are given unto us upon the account of his own graciousness First That God doth not enjoyn on his people nor doth he expect from them any worthinesse as a reason of any of his blessings Indeed he doth command his people to âeek unto him and to trust upon him for all that good which he promiseth to give unto them But for any personal worthiness as a reason of his goodness and bounty unto us this he neither requires nor expects For First A personal worthinesse of the blessings of the Covenant is impossible on our part we are in an absolute incapacity of meriting any good from the hands of A personal worthiness on our part is impossible God Dan. 9. 7. O Lord Righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face c. Isa 64. 6. We are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Consider either our best doings or our greatest sufferings no merit or worthiness is to be found in either of them For our doings when we have done all that we can Christ saith that we must say and confess that we are but unprofitable servants Luke 17. 10. For our sufferings the Apostle saith Rom. 8. 18. I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the which glory shall be revealed in us But let me now punctually demonstrate this Assertion that there can be no worthiness or meriting from us for any good thing 1. No gift of God can really merit for us any good from God but all the good that we have is the gift of God Ergo. The fiâst Proposition is clear because in receiving what is only given an Obligation rests only upon us but none upon the giver and therefore we merit nothing Simile no more than a beggar can merit from us by receiving an almes
from us The second Proposition is as clear That all the good we have or can do is from God Every good and perfect gift comes from him Jam. 1. 17. What hast thoâ that thou didst not receive 1 Cor. 4. 7. We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. By the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15. 10. It is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. Vnto you it is given to believe Phil. 2. 29. If God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. 2. No debt which we owe to God hath merit or worthinesse in it Doth any man merit ought at any hand by paying unto me what he ows unto me Simile But all the good we have or can do is a debt which we owe to God Ergo cannot merit any thing from him Doth not our believing fall under a Divine Precept This is his Commandment that we believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3. 23. Doth not our repenting fall also under a Divine Precept But now God commandeth all men everywhere to repent Act. 17. 30. Doth not praying likewise fall under a Divine Precept Call upon me Psal 50. Pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5. 17. Do we any thing but what we ought to do when we believe or repent or pray or walk in newness of obedience and if no more be done by us than what ought to be done by us where is our merit or worthiness 3. If we fall short in the best and most that we do then we cannot merit by any thing that we do but we do fall short in the best and most that we do the line which we write may be written fairer the good that we do may and should be done better Domine said one lava lachrymas me as yea so short that we need mercy for our best performances and Christs Mediation and Intercession for them Aaron was to bear the iniquities of the holy Offerings Exod. 28. 38. And the prayers of the Saints were to go up with the Incense of the Altar Rev. 8. 3. Nehem. 13. 22. Remember me O my God concerning this also and spare me according to the greatnesse of thy mercy Secondly A personal worthinesse for any good from God is inconsistent with a A personal worthinesse is inconsistent with the Covenant of grace Covenant of Grace and likewise with the Office of Christ the only Mediatour of that Covenant It is inconsistent with the Covenant of Grace for according to that Covenant all is given and all is freely given in that we are freely loved and freely justified and freely blessed and saved yea the worthiness of our works and the riches of Gods grace do one destroy and remove the other Rom. 11 16. If by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more of grace otherwise work is no more work And with the Mediatorship of Christ who alone is the merit and purchase And with the Mediatorship of Christ of all grace and glory of all blessings and blessedness Hath Christ merited all or hath he not If his Alsufficiency hath not can our insufficiency do any thing or where do you find any one word in Scripture that Jesus Christ hath left any thing for us to merit or that any of our works gain so much of his Prerogative as to merit by his merits the merits of Christ do make our good works accepted with God but they do not make our works to merit for he himself had not merited had he not been both God and Man âhirdly There is in us an indignity or unworthinesse of any mercy and God Theâe is in us an unworthiness of any mercy would have us to acknowledge so in our Requests for and Receits of his blessings First An unworthiness of any mercy Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all these mercies and all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant Luke 15. 19. I am no more worthy to be called thy Son Secondly And God will have us to acknowledge our selves unworthy Deut. And God will have us acknowledge our selves unworthy 26. 3. Thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those dayes and say unto him I professe this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the Country which the Lord sware unto our Fathers for to give us Ver. 4. And the Priest shall take the basket out of thine hand and set it down before the Altar of the Lord thy God Ver. 5. And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God A Syrian ready to perish was my Father and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few ând became there a Nation great mighty and populous c. Deut. 8. 10. When thou hast eaten and art full then thou shalt blesse the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee Ver. 17. Beware least thou say in thine heart My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth Deut. 9. 4. Speak not thou in thine heart after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying For my Righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me in to possesse this land Ver. 5. Not for thy Righteousnesse or for the uprightnesse of thine heart c. Ver. 6. Vnderstand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possesse it for thy righteousnesse for thou art a stiffe-necked people Thirdly And rejects us pleading of our own worthinesse looks on it as pride And rejects us pleading our own worthinesse and vain-glory as the Pharisee who insisted on his own worthinesse And thus you see that our worthiness is not admitted as any Reason or Cause of Divine blessings whence it must necessarily follow that God then gives them unto us upon the sole account of his own graciousness Quest 2. And what the Reasons thereof are is the second particular to be spoken unto viz. Why all blessings are given unto us upon the account of Reasons of it Gods graciousness Sol. The Reasons briefly are these First This way of giving suits best with a Covenant of grace In which the reasons of our mercies as well as the mercies themselves are to be found nay the This way of giving suits best with a Covenant of grace reasons of our mercies do most of all illustrate this Covenant of grace and do principally constitute it for with reverence be it spoken this Covenant would lose the nature of being a Covenant of grace if the mercies or blessings promised were not given unto us upon the reason or account of Gods graciousness alone Gratia est nullo modo quae non est gratuita omni modo Secondly This way of giving suits best with God
and him Such as through unbelief persevere in refusing Christ 4. Such as through unbelief persevere in the refusing of Christ you think it no great matter to have Jesus Christ preach'd unto you and offered unto you and yet for you to slight Jesus Christ thus offered but remember what I say that person who refuseth Christ doth refuse God to be his God in Covenant He that refuseth you refuseth me and he that refuseth me saith Christ despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10. 16. God becomes our God and our Father only in Christ and therefore Christ saith I go to my God and to your God and my Father and your Father Joh 2. 17. We are brought near to God by Christ and he becomes near to us through the blood of Christ there you find hâs love towards you c. and therefore if you will not embrace Jesus Christ there is no covenanting 'twixt you and God he only being the foundation and head and Mediator of the Covenant All uncovenanted people are an unforgiven people Secondly The second conclusion is this that all uncovenanted people are an unforgiven people i. e. all who do continue to refuse God to be their God in Covenant and to be his people in Covenant their sins neither are forgiven nor ever shall be forgiven why so will you say because 1. Forgiveness of sins is only promised in the Covenant of Grace in no Covenant but Reasons of it this not in the Covenant of Works for that is a letter of death and condemnation unto the sinner 2. And as it is only in the Covenant of Grace so it is promised only to the people in that Covenant 1 Kin. 8. 34. Forgive the sin of thy people Ver. 36. Forgive the sin of thy servants Jer. 31. 34. I will forgive their iniquity 3. Only those who are in Christ shall have their sins forgiven Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Acts 10. 43. Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Joh. 8. 24. If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already 4. All impenitent persons are unforgiven persons all uncovenanted persons are impenitent persons Ergo. The first Proposition is clear in Scripture see at leisure Ezek. 18. 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed for why will ye dye O house of âsrael Luk. 13. 3. Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Prov. 28. 14. He that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief Rom. 2. 5. But thou after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God Thirdly Now follows the third conclusion Because these sins are unforgiven therefore The dreadful âândition of ââ unforgiven people Sâmile they are in a most miserable and dreadful condition It is reported of Caesar that he wondered at one who could sleep so quietly and yet had so many debts upon him In like manner we may wonder at many persons who can live so merrily and jovially and yet have all their sins unforgiven surely they are persons of very gross ignorance and stupidity or else are very high and desperate Atheists But to the point in hand there are eight things which may set forth the dreadful In eight particulars misery of an unforgiven sinner 1. His unutterable privation and loss 2. The full power of the Law against him in all its threatnings and curses 3. The wrath of God under which he walks all his days and which may fall on him whensoever the Lord pleaseth 4. The authority which conscience hath to deal with him in a way of accusation and condemnation 5. The unavoidableness of death and the sting thereof when sins are unpardoned 6. That just and irreversible sentence of condemnation from God in the day of judgement 7. The immediate portion and condition in hell amongst the damned after the sentence of condemnation 8. The eternity of that miserable estate unto which impenitent and unbelieving and unforgiven sinners are adjudged First The unforgiven sinner is under the greatest loss and privation which man possibly He is under the greatest losse and privation can be and what is that greatest loss and privation if you know what the greatest good and happiness is you may then quickly tell what the greatest loss and privation is to enjoy God perfectly and fully and eternally in glory is there any good and happiness like unto this O but the unforgiven sinner shall never see God in glory he shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord heaven is no place for the enemies of God sins unpardoned are like the Angel with a flaming Sword who kept the passage into Paradise there is no entring into life with sins unpardoned they do certainly and eternally bar up that door of heaven and heavenly happiness and now how miserable must that soul be which is eternally excluded from all true happiness Secondly The Law of God is in full power against every unpardoned sinner 1. All the The Law of God is in full power against him inditements and charges of the Law for being transgressed 2. All the threatnings of the Law in the several sorts of judicial punishment 3. All the curses of the Law even to the utmost extent of them Cursed is every one c. the soul that sins shall dye and there is no one moment of this life that he can secure himself c. they may light on him in the house or in the field when he is waking or when he is sleeping when alone or when in company when rejoycing or when making merry when boasting when in highest abundance and confidence when sinning and putting far from himself the evil day Thirdly The unforgiven sinner walks all his dayes under the wrath of God He is all his dâyes under the wrath of God God is angry with the wicked every day Psal 7. 11. not with a Paternal but with a Judicial anger even to hatred and abhorment The wicked is an abomination unto him and he hates all workers of iniquity Prov. 3. 32. 15. 9. And this wrath God can reveal it to his soul and poure it forth upon him when he pleaseth and when God poures on him the fierceness of his wrath and indignation he can neither decline it nor sustain it it is like the tempest and whirlewinds it is like burning fire and devouring flames it drives the sinner to his feet breakes down all his arrogancies and vain hopes and sensual joyes and fills him with amazing distractions and terrors and despairs How heavy was this wrath on Christ suffering for our sins it made him to sweat clods of blood how terrible is the apprehension and fear of it to David to Heman how infinitely dreadful will the sense of it be to the unforgiven
either the power or else the purpose of Gods mercy but this dark and sad conceit falls off again from the soul upon conference upon better information upon prayer upon hearing the Word and upon clear consideration of the Covenant of grace and the terms of it and of the riches of Redemption by Christ this kind of despair doth not prejudice you in the capacity of forgiving mercy but then there is a setled and permanent despair which is total and final wherein the soul is swallowed up and for ever lies under water and never riseth more with any hope of possible mercy conceiving of the guilt of sin so superlatively that neither the merits of the blood of Christ nor the riches of mercy in God can or will reach to the forgiveness of it This poor sinner puts himself out of all capacity of forgiveness and that upon a treble account 1. The infinite dishonour which he puts upon Gods throne of grace and mercy he gives reproach and the lye unto God who saith he is rich in mercy and delights in mercy 2. His utter incompliance with Christ and riches of all Gospel invitations promises and assurances 3. The confirming of his heart in impenitency seeing there is no hope of mercy Seventhly they likewise do put themselves out of a capacity of the forgiveness They who rely upon their own righteousnesse as the cause of fornesse of their sins who do rest and rely upon their own righteousness and good works as the cause of forgiveness 'T is true that you must be holy and righteous and do good works and walk in them and abound in them But if you rely on them as the reasons and causes why God will forgive your sins you will certainly lose the forgiveness of them For 1. What is this but to set up a Covenant of Works and to look for life by the Law and Justification by something of our own and what says the Scripture to this Rom. 3. 20. By the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in thy sight Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he hath saved us Gal. 3. 10. As many as are of the workâ of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is every one c. 2. This is to take away the Crown from Christ and it is to make Christ to die in vain to lose the end of shedding his blood for the remission of sins the Scripture saith Acts 4. 12. There is no salvation in any other for there is no other Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but you will have it in your own name Matth. 26. 28. This is my blood which was shed for the remission of sins 1 Joh. 2. 2. He is the propitiation for our sins Eph. 1. 7. In his blood we have redemption the forgiveness of sins Gal. 5. 4. Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace therefore take heed what you do and how you place your confidences for the remission of your sins you must neither renounce good works nor must you rely on them but only on Christ for pardon else you debar your selves of all benfit by Christ Eighthly Lastly they do put themselves out of a capacity of the forgiveness of their sins who are unmerciful implacable revengeful and will not forgive others They who will not forgive others their offences done against themselves their offences and trespasses or wrongs done against themselves Quest You will say this is strange Doctrine that God will not forgive me if I do not forgive others Sol. 1. Nay it were more strange that thou shouldest expect forgiveness who wilt not forgive thy brother but peruse the Scriptures Matth. 18. 32. O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt ten thousand talents ver 24. because thou desiredst me ver 33. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee ver 34. And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormenters till he should pay all that was due unto him v. 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if you from the heart forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Math. 6. 15. If you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses 2. Again see the express command for this by Christ in Luke 17. 3. If thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him ver 4. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again unto thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him Thirdly I now proceed unto a third Position and Conclusion viz. That there Who are in a right capacity of pardon Such as do truely repent Four things demonstrate this Scripture exhortations are some who are in a right capacity and may safety lay hold on and own the promise of the forgivenesse of their sins First All who do truely repent of their sins there are four things will demonstrate this unto us 1. Scripture exhortations to repent that so our sins may be forgiven Ezek. 18. 30. Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Acts 2. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins Act. 3. 19. Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out 2. Expresse promises that our sins shall be forgiven upon our repentance Expresse promises 2 Chro. 7. 14. If my people shall turn from their evil way then will I forgive their sin Prov. 28. 13. Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall finde mercy Ezek. 18. 21. If the wicked will turn from all his sins which he hath committed and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die ver 22. All his transgressions which he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him 3. Assurance of the forgiveness of sins upon repentance though they have been Assurance of the pardon of great sins upon repentance very great and hainous Isa 1. 16. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings cease to do evil ver 17. learn to do well ver 18. Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll 4. Expresse Records and Instances of forgiveness unto such as have repented Express instances 2 Sam. 12. 13. And David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said to David the Lord hath also put away thy sin Jer. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself and Turn thou me and I shall be turned c. Ver.
Every one of Gods people hath so much of the spirit as is necessary to salvation Sixthly Though none of the People of God in this life have the Spirit in perfection yet every one of them hath so much of the Spirit as will bring him to salvation For he hath so much of the spirit as will bring him to Christ and he who hath as much as will bring him to Christ certainly he hath as much as will bring him to heaven Again he hath as much of the spirit as doth sanctifie and renew and regenerate him and therefore he hath as much as will bring him to salvation Matth. 5. 8. The pure in heart shall see God 1 Pet. 1. 3. We are begotten again to a lively hope Ver. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away reserved in heaven for us SECT II Vse 1. DOth the Lord put his own Spirit within his own people Then let Try whether we have the spirit within us all of us look well to this whether we have within our hearts the the Spirit of God yea or no. O beloved think much and often of that expression of the Apostle in Rom. 8. 9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his he hath no part in Christ who hath no part in the Spirit of Christ There are four Reasons why I should press this great search and great care upon Reasons of this search you to know whether God hath put his own Spirit within you 1. Because many persons have not the spirit of God 2. Because many persons do deceive themselves with a false and lying spirit instead of the Spirit of God 3. Because many have the spirit as to many effects and works yet the spirit is not fully given to them 1. Many persons have not the Spirit of God Many have not the spirit of God They who blaspheme the Spirit First What think you of those who blaspheme and scoff at the Spirit As those Jews did at the effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles These men are full of new wine Acts 2. 13. And ordinarily among our selves the Spirit of God is jeared derided mocked and reproached in his graces which he bestows upon the people of God O these are men of the Spirit these are the Saints your holy brethren and your holy sisters forsooth they are full of the Spirit Ah thou profane wretch unworthy to live among Christians and unworthy of the name of a Christian who darest thus openly to reproach the holy God and the holy Spirit of God! and the graces in the people of God which are the excellent faculties of the Spirit promised unto all who are in Covenant with God! Is the Spirit of God a scorn unto thee is any work of the Spirit a derision unto thee is holiness the chief of all his works a matter to be scoffed and mocked at O how wicked art thou what a child of the Divel art thou what an Atheist how deep in the guilt of blasphemy will the Lord ever pardon thee can'st thou ever repent can'st thou ever be saved who deridest the Spirit without whom and his holiness without which there is no salvation Secondly what think you of those who do despite to the Spirit of grace Who do despite to the spirit of grace of such you read in Heb. 10. 29. And have done despite unto the Spirit of grace Men do despite to the Spirit of grace many wayes 1. When they have base thoughts of Jesus Christ and his blood treading under foot the Son of God and counting the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing these the Spirit sets forth as most high and precious and worthy of all reverence and acceptation but when sinners come to despise Christ and his blood looking on them but as common and ordinary things and regarding them no more than the dirt under their feet they do now despite unto the spirit of Grace they do now prejudice and disgrace and dishonour and shame him in his Revelation and Commendation of Christ and his blood 2. When they will sinne on purpose to vex and grieve the Spirit when they know Who sin on purpose to grieve the Spirit such or such a work or way is evil and displeasing unto him they will therefore chuse to do it knowing that it is grievous and vexatious to the Spirit as they in Jer. 44. 4. Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate Ver. 5 But they hearkned not nor inclined their ears And verse the 17. profess that they will burn incense unto the Queen of heaven c. Thirdly what think you of those that either have no work of the Spirit within Who have no saving work of the spirit in them them or no saving work of the Spirit within them have those the spirit put within them The spirit is never present in any but there is some work or other of the spirit appearing in them for he is most active and working some way or other in the hearts of those where he is present and dwells Ergo. But in some persons 1. There is no work of the Spirit at all neither highest nor lowest the lowest works of the Spirit within men are illuminations and pulsations when he enlightens sinners to see their sins and moves and stirs them to leave their sinnes and gives them some trouble for their sins But many persons there are who never had any light from the Spirit to see their sins nor were they ever troubled for their sins nor did they ever find those strong motions and perswasions of the Spirit to leave their sins 2. Though in many persons these common works of the Spirit may be found yea so many works as the Spirit useth the Ministry of the Law for as Illumination Conviction Excitation Humiliation and Terror and Fear yet in them we no Evangelical and saving works of the Spirit to be found no works of Regeneration no works of union with Christ no hungring and thirsting after him no faith in him no love in him no holy sorrow no repentance no newness of obedience no walking and living in the Spirit c. Fourthly What think you of those who have in them another spirit quite contrary Who have in them another spirit to the Spirit of God even that spirit which works effectually in the children of disobedience and in whom all the qualities and works of a contrary spirit are manifestly appearing and ruling The Spirit of God is a pure and holy Spirit but they are unclean and unholy The Spirit of God is effective an humble and lowly Spirit but they are proud and lofty and arrogant The Spirit of God is meek and gentle but they are turbulent and furious and violent The Spirit of God is merciful and compassionate but they are unmerciful incompassionate cruel and bloody The Spirit of God is a Spirit of love and of peace but they are full of
as to the matter but also as to the manner of their walkings Ephe. 5. 8. Walk as children of light 4. 1. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called Nay yet more particularly Walk in Love Ephe. 5. 2. Walk in Wisdome Colos 4. 5. Walk Circumspectly Ephe. 5. 15. Walk Humbly with thy God Micah 6. 8. Walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 16. Walk according to the Rule Gal. 6. 16. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked 1 John 2. 6. Secondly To bring or enter them into his wayes The Lord doth promise not only to take them off from their old sinfull wayes Jer. 3. 17. They shall not walk anâ more after the imaginations of their evill heart but also to walk and to know and approve this way to walk in Psal 143. 8. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk 85. 13. Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the wayes of his steps 119. 30. I have chosen the way of truth thy judgments have I laid before me Ver. 59. I thought upon my wayes and turned my feet unto by Testimonies Thirdly To enable them as for the whole course of their life to hold on walking in his wayes or Statutes Esa 26. 7. The way of the just is uprightness Psal 119. 102. I have not departed from thy judgments for thou hast taught me Ver. 112. I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes alway unto the end Jer. 32. 40. I will put my fear into their hearts that they stall not depart from me Fourthly He thus far also engageth himself that if at any time they fall he will raise them up and if they wander into by-paths he will bring them back into the right way Psal 119. 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant Jer. 3. 22. Returne ye back-sliding children and I will heal your backslidings Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God Ezek. 34. 16. I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will binde up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick Fifthly He will establish them unto the end in their walking in his Statutes 2 Thes 2. 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father c. Ver. 17. comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work 3. 3. The Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil 2 Tit. 4. 18. The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom Prov. 2. 8. The Lord preserveth the way of his saints 5ly Why God makes his promise to cause his people to to walk in his Why God promises to make his people to walk in his Statutes Statutes c. First Because they are of themselves insufficient and unable to do any thing that is good 2 Cor. 3. 5. Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God John 15. 5. I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing Jer. 10. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Secondly Because if God leaves them unto themselves tbey are not only unable to walk in his Statutes but will certainly wander from the way of his Statutes When God left David to himself how wofully did he trespass against God When God left Hezekiah to himself presently his heart was lifted up with pride When Peter was left unto himself how fearfully did he deny his Master Thirdly To shew the difference twixt the Covenant of works and the Covenant of Grace that is the ministry of the Letter and this is the ministry of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. That Covenant of works is a Commanding Covenant but it is not an Helping How the Covenant of Works and of Grace differ Covenant the Covenant of Grace is a helping Covenant as well as a commanding Covenant God herein doth shew us what we are to do and likewise inables us to do Fourthly Because God will have all the glory of all good to be ascribed unto himself therefore will he be the cause of all good Rom. 11. 36. Of him and through him are all things to him be glory for ever If we could walk or work by our own strength with out God then we might boast in our selves but God will have no flesh to boast and glory in it self 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou haste not received it Fiftly To comfort and encourage his poor and weak servants under the breadth and depth and length of their obedience When they consider how much God requires at their hands and for how long a time even all the dayes of their life and then consider their own weakness alas say they who is sufficient for these things How shall we be able to perform all those services which God requires But then when they finde that God the mighty God is with them and he engages himself to be their strength and help and that his grace shall be sufficient and he will put forth his own hand to their works this raiseth and encourageth their hearts why I shall have Gods help to do all Gods work c. Sixthly To draw up their hearts unto himself and to set their faith a work upon him when they are to do any duty O sirs we should end all our services in a promise of acceptance and begin all our work in a promise of assistance we should end with glory to God and begin with the grace of God God hath promised to cause us to walk in his Statutes and to do them And why hath he made this promise but because you should look up to your God by faith and rely on him for sufficiency of grace and strength to carry you out to his Name and power c. SECT I. 1 Use DOth God promise to cause his people to walk in his Statutes and to do them hence we may be informed of several things First That then without all question the natural and unregenerate man hath A natural man can of himself do no good no sufficiency in himself to do any spiritual good For if the people of God who are called by grace and are made alive by grace are not sufficient of themselves but do stand in need of the grace of God to cause them to walk in Gods Statutes much more insufficient is every natural man to the doing of good who is dead in trespasses and sins Hear what the scriptures speak of the natural man 1 Cor. 2. 14.
of Gods help and strength for all his works Simile Just as if a man should voluntarily leap into the sea and think that God must keep him from drowning or as if a man should desire to be strong and yet refuse daily food which is a means of strength Thus it is when persons are foolish and proudly presumptuous When we do indeed rely on God by faith for his gracious assistance to enable us either against the doing of evil or for the doing of good we do then decline all sinful occasions which draw us on to sin and we do then apply our selves to all those means which God hath set apart and doth bless to convey his strength unto us There are three wayes wherein God reveales or gives out strength unto us 1. His word which begets and nourishes us which conveys life unto us and Three wayes wherein God gives out strength to us The Word Prayer strength which brings us in and builds us up O how diligent and conscientious doth faith make us to attend it 2. Prayer when our requests are put up to God and his answers come down to help and strengthen us O how doth faith enable us to wrestle with God to be strengthened with all might by his spirit in the inner man I as the Apostle speaks in Ephes 3. 16. 3. Heavenly conference where we help to edifie and establish and build up one another in our holy profession O how doth faith make us to prize and improve Heavenly Conference such opportunities Now consider your selves you who think you look up to God and do acknowledge him and rely on him for strength to cause you c. where may a man finde you complaining of weakness and in word extolling and desiring strength from God are you in the wayes of strength and are you seriously and conscientiously in them I doubt that some of you are in the wayes of weakness and not of strength not in Gods wayes but in Satans wayes not attending the doctrins of truths but the doctrins of lyes and errors not keeping close to Gods ordinances but roving out after such teachers as distil into you scorns and contempts of Gods Ordinances Is this to rely on God for strength when for lying vanities you forsake the paths of God and of his strength and of your own true peace Sixthly What shall I say more if you do indeed depend on God as your We must depend on God as our strength strength to enable you to walk in his statutes you shall then finde a spiritual rest or quietation in your hearts joyned with a spiritual liberty or freedom You cannot imagine how tumultuous and unsetled a mans heart is and how streightned it is and backward his heart is unto duties whilst he still sees holy and heavenly work to be done and no strength undertaking to enable him for that work or at least if he cannot believe that God will be his strength his thoughts are many times confounded and amazed and his very heart sometimes quakes and trembles But on the contrary when he can by faith see the sufficiencie of Gods strength and is able to fix and rely himself upon it then these two things Two things follow our dependance upon God will presently follow and appear 1. One is Quietation his whole soul comes into a calme and is cleared of all those boysterous storms of unbelieving fears my God is my strength the work is much but he hath help enough and will not faile me 2. The other is a Liberty and enlargedness he hath now a heart ready and free to set upon the work 4. Quest What one must be and do that so he may finde God to be his strength How to finde God to be our strength enabling him c. Sol. There are foure things which I would answer to this First If you would finde God to be your enabling strength then there must be a relation twixt God and you he must be your God if you would finde him to be your strength Psal 91. 2. I will say of the Lord He is my refuge and my fortress my God in him will I trust Micah 7. 7. I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me Psal 68. 28. Thy God hath commanded thy strength strengthen O God that which thou hast wrought in us Beloved the Lord calls upon us to be his people to take off our hearts from all other objects and to give them in unto himself and to exalt him in his soveraignity and authority which if we do he will be our God and will perform all the good of his Covenant unto us Now if any man saith I do not like to serve this God I would rather serve my sins and the world let not that man think to finde any good from God neither love nor mercy nor grace nor strength But if a mans heart doth like and consent chuse the Lord to be his God and him he loves and him he will serve he is now come into the bond of the Covenant and God is bound to finde him mercy to pardon him and grace to change him and strength to enable him for all the duties or works which he requires from him and he may in the sense of his sufficiency go to God and trust on him and wait on him and shall assuredly receive strength and power from his God to walk in his Statutes and to do them Secondly If you would finde the Lords strength to cause you to walk c. then you must get to him in the name of Christ not in your own name or worthiness or merit or goodness for which the Lord should give out his help unto you but only in the name of Christ that the Lord for his sake would make his promise good unto you for all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1. 20. And Christ hath assured you that whatsoever you shall aske the father in his name he will give it you Joh. 16. 23. I am weak Lord strengthen me for Christs sake I am insufficient without strength able of my self to do nothing O Lord help me O Lord work all thy works in me for Christs sake for Christs sake pull down my sins for Christs sake enable me to walk in all well-pleasing before thee c. Thirdly If you would finde the strength of God c. then you must be sure to keep your hearts upright with God that it is indeed your souls desire and endeavour to walk in Gods wayes and to do his work Object A man many times complaines that he can get no power from God against his sins and no power to do such and such duties Sol. I will tell you the reason of it because his heart secretly loves such a sin and is not willing to be parted from it and his heart secretly dislikes such a way of God and therefore the Lord
God will have the glory of all our Blessings 347 After what manner God dispenseth his Blessings 349 Inordinate cares are your burdens 97 C. Covenant SLight not Christ any longer 13 Christ is yours as to his Person 54 Comfort from this that the Person of Christ is yours p. 54 Alll is enjoyed by the enjoyment of Christ Equivalently 55 Jesus Christ himself is the greatest and choicest gift that God can give unto you ibid. Christ is yours to all his Offices 56 Christ is yours as a Prophet ibid. Comfort from this that Christ is ours 57 All our sins are laid upon Christ 58 Christ discharged all our debts and bonds ibid. Jesus Christ is a King and your King he makes Subjects by his Word and Spirit 59 Our Union with Christ confers upon us an interest in every good of the Covenant 209 Christ will accomplish and perform all that is good for us 210 I fear I was never united to Christ 211 The Covenant of Grace considered in relation to Christ as Mediator 224 Christ hath a sevenfold relation to the Covenant 224 Of the exceeding love of Christ 230 Of the great obligations that lie upon us to look after Christ 231 In Christ two Natures 232 The two Natures united in the person of Christ were the Principles of all the actions and works of Mediatorship 233 Christ according to both these Natures is Mediator ibid. Arguments to prove Christ laid down his life and raised it again according to both Natures he is our Priest Prophet and King according to both Natures 234 What did concern Christ to do and suffer for us as a Mediator 235 Christ did perform that active obedience to the Law of God which we should but could not perform ibid. Conclusions concerning the passive obedience of Christ Christs sufferings were voluntary and not constrained 236 Christ suffered corporal punishments 237 Christs sufferings in soul were exceedingly high and great ibid. Christ did feel and suffer the torments of hell 238 Christ was indeed made a curse for us 239 There was willingness on all sides for this passive work of Christ 240 Behold your sins what they will bring upon you without a part in Christ 241 Remember the sufferings of Christ in all fears and conflicts 243 The vertue and benefits depending on and flowing from Christ as Mediator 244 Conclusions about the satisfaction of Christ 245 Christ by his death and sufferings did really make satisfaction 246 Christ suffered so much as fully discharged our debt 247 The sufferings of Christ were more then meer sufferings 248 Then rest in the satisfaction of Christ 249 Comfort that Christ shed his blood for our remission it looseth our bonds and dischargeth our debts 252 Get into Jesus Christ 258 Accept of the Redemption by Christ 264 Jesus Christ did step in between God and us to make up the breach 254 Let trembling hearts make into Christ and trust on him to make their peace 260 No peace with God but by Christ ibid. He that lies in bondage and would be redeemed let him by faith look up to Jesus Christ 265 Christ hath purchased for all the Elect everlasting life 266 Strive to believe the sufferings of Christ to be a purchase 267 Why do you not go to Christ and get from him all that 's good 268 Your estate is not full without the purchase of Christ 269 The sufferings of Christ are the confirmation of the Covenant 270 What Christ still doth for his people as Mediator p. 272 Jesus Christ doth act for his people at the right hand of his Father 273 What is the eminent work that Christ doth in heaven for us 274 The benefits of Christ's Intercession 273 Whether Christ died for every man 280 In what respect Christ may be said to die for all 281 Jesus Christ did effectually die for all the Elect ibid. There is such a sufficiency in the death of Christ that if any will come unto Christ he shall partake of redemption by him 283 The Death of Christ was not effectual for all 285 Christ did not intend such a latitude for all by his death 293 Whether any man can know that his particular salvation was intended in the death of Christ 312 How a person may know that Christ did die effectually for him ibid. Some may be in Christ but do not know it 316 One may certainly know that Christ died for him by the description of those for whom Christ intentionally died 317 How I may know my Faith doth interest me in Christ 220 How one may know he is deluded in his confidence of Christ's dying for him 224 What a person should do who as yet cannot certainly affirm that Christ died for him 325 Whether every one who is indeed redeemed by Christ may know sometime or other that Christ died for him 328 What a heavy weight did lie upon Christ 432 How there can be such an efficacy in the blood of Christ 459 How we should look after Christ 462 Who hungers and thirsts for Christ 463 What this sprinkling or application of Christs blood is 4 â6 No benefit by the blood of Christ without application 468 There is a Covenant with Christ personally and mystically considered 4 The seals of the Covenant are given unto his people ibid. Gods people plead this Covenant 5 God is faithful in his Covenant with us ibid. Why God makes a Covenant betwixt himself and his people ibid. There is an absolute Covenant 6 And an Hypothetical Covenant ibid. Differences of the Covenant of Grace from the Covenant of Works 8 The condition of man with whom God doth covenant 9 The Covenant of works was made without a Mediator ibid. The Covenant of Grace with a Mediator ibid. Whether faith were not required in the Covenant of Works 10 Whether the Covenant of grace requires works 11 Admire the goodness of God in making this Covenant of grace 12 Support for troubled consciences 13 The Covenant described and opened ibid. It is a new Covenant with man 14 This Covenant springeth from the mercy and grace of God ib. The Covenant of grace is a Covenant of promise 15 What it is to be a people in Covenant 17 How we come to be Gods people in Covenant 18 Try our selves whether we be in Covenant with God 20 Characters of a people not in Covenant ibid. The evidences that God is our God in âovenant 23 Make out your Covenant-Relation 90 Maintain and justifie your Covenant-relation p. 91 Of the unchangeableness of our Covenant-relation ibid. The graciousnesse of your God in Covenant 92 Walk and live like a people in Covenant with God ibid. How a people in Covenant should walk ib. Of the gifts of the Covenant 335 God gives his people in Covenant spiritual blessings as well as temporal 336 How dreadful is the condition of such as refuse to be in Covenant with God 376 All uncovenanted people are unforgiven people 377 If you will not consent to a Covenant-relation you cannot expect
Spirit 618 How the Spirit comforts 619 When we may conclude our having of the Spirit notwithstanding afflictions 620 Duties of such which have the Spirit 625 How the Spirit may be quenched ibid. What grieves the Spirit 626 How to know the motions of the Spirit 627 How to prevent the Spirits removings 628 Improve the Spirit 634 Means to get the Spirit 639 We must not resist the Spirit 640 How the Spirit may be injured 629 How to know the testimony of the Spirit 630 How to know that we have much of Gods Spirit in us 636 Let all look after the gifts of the Spirit 637 The Spirit and pardon of Sin go together 638 T. Trinity OF the Testator of the Covenant 225 There is a conjunction of the whole Trinity in all the businesses of our eternal blessedness 69 A conjunction of the Trinity in respect of Love 70 Five Comforts in the love of the Trinity 72 There is a conjunctive union in the will and purpose of the Trinity in the matters of our salvation 73 There is a common engagement of the whole Trinity unto you 75 There is a communion betwixt you and every person of the Trinity ibid. We are to forgive all the Trespasses against us ibid. Why some receive the Truth and others do not 707 V. Unbelievers IN what a miserable Condition are all Unbelievers 12 The dreadful condition of an unforgiven people 378 Beware of uneven walking 685 Its folly to walk unevenly ibid. God is the Father of such as are upright 694 W. Works WHo they be that walk not after Gods Commandments 650 When do we willingly walk in Gods statutes ib. How we may be enabled to walk in Gods statutes 653 God will enable his people to walk in his wayes 700 The benefit which comes by walking in Gods wayes 849 Rules concerning our walking in Gods statutes 666 Many of Gods children are sometimes out of the way 678 Move on in Gods wayes with more exactness 689 How far God engages himself to keep his people to walk in his wayes 704 Why we should not be weary 686 How we are strong in God when weak in our selves 712 How deviations are the fruits of weakness 678 Wherein our weakness appears 711 We must have our hearts and wils sanctified if we will keep Gods Commandments 656 Such as walk not in Gods statutes are wicked 651 Why wicked men walk not in Gods statutes 652 Rest not upon your works 13 How the Covenant of works and grace differ 706 You are not able to stand out and live under the Covenant of works 105 We must be accountable for every work 667 We must worship God in spirit and in truth 665 Books printed for and sold by Joseph Cranford at the Sign of the Castle and Lyon in St. Pauls-Church-yard Books in Fol. THe Works of Joseph Hall Bishop of Norwich Dubartas's Divine Weeks and Works Lexicon Anglo-Graeco-Latinum Nov. Test or a compleat Alphabetical Concordance of all the words contained in the New Testament both English Greek and Latine in three distinct Tables viz. The 1 English whereby any word may be rendred into Greek and Latine 2 Greek whereby any word may be rendred into English and Latine 3 Latine whereby any word may be rendred into Greek and English Together with the several significations etymons derivations force and emphasis and divers acceptations in Scripture of each word as also the divers readings in English Greek and Latine each annexed to their proper tables By Andrew Sympson ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Divine Characters in two parts acutely distinguishing the more secret and undiscerned differences between 1. The Hypoocrite in his best dress of seeming Vertues and formal duties and the true Christian in his real grace and sincere Obedience as also between 2. The blackest weeds of daily infirmities of the truely godly eclipsing saving grace and the reigning sins of the unregenerate that pretend to that godliness they never had By Samuel Crook B. D. late Pastor of Wrington in Somersetshire The Author of The Guide to true Blessedness Remains of the Reverend Mr. William Fenner Minister of Rochford in Essex being 1 A continuation of his Alarm to drowsie Saints 2 A Treatise of effectual calling 3. The killing power of the Law 4 The Spiritual Watch. 5 The new Birth 6 A Christians ingrafting into Christ 7 A Treatise of the Sabbath An exposition with Notes Unfolded and Applied on John 17. delivered in Sermons preached weekly on the Lord day to the Congregation in Taunton Magdalene by George Newton Minister of the Gospel there In Quarto Jus Divinum Ministeri Evangelici or the Divine Right of the Gospel-Ministry by the Provincial Assembly of London Beshemesh clouded or Animadversions on the Rabinical Talmud of Rabbi John Rogers wherein you have his Spirit Anatomized Principles examined and reasons in some measure refuted By Zechariah Crofton Minister of the Word at Buttolphs Algate London Refreshing streams flowing from the fulness of Jesus Christ in several Sermons By William Colvil Minister of Gods Word in Edenburgh The Husbands Authority unveiled wherein is moderately discussed whether or no it be lawful for a good man to beat his bad Wife The Crucifying of the world by the Cross of Christ By Richard Baxter A Treatise of Self-denial By Tho. Wilson The Crown of Righteousness a Sermon at the Funeral of Tho. Hodges Esq By Tho. Watson Minister of Gods Word at Stephens Walbrook London A late great Shipwrack of faith a Sermon preached by Daniel Cawdry of Great Billing in Northamptonshire Self-denial A Sermon preached to the Assembly of Divines By Edward Reynolds D. D. Peace of Church a Visitation Sermon By Edward Reynolds D. D. Animalis Homo sive concio lat habita ad Academicos Oxonienses Edvardo Reynolds The Quakers Jesus or the unswadling of that Babe James Naylor which a wicked Toleration hath Midwiv'd into the world discovering the Principles of the Quakers in general a Narrative of the substance of his Examinations and his Disciples as it was taken from his own mouth in their answer before the Magistrates of the City of Bristol also the management of it in Parliament By William Grigge Citizen of Bristol An Exposition with practical Observations on the eighteenth nineteenth twentieth and one and twentieth Chapters of the Book of Job being forty two Lectures delivered in Magnus Church near the Bridge By Jos Caryl Preacher of the Word and Pastor of the Congregation there A Dispute between Walter Roswel and Richard Coppin The Agreement of the Associated Ministers of Norfolk and Norwich concerning the publick and their resolutions to revive it in their several Congregatiâns together with some Explanatory discourses declaring the particular grounds moving to the Agreement expressed in the several Articles An Exhortation to the members of their respective Congregations exciting them to a submission to and mutual assistance of their Ministers in this Method of Instruction quarto The first General Epistle of St. John the Apostle Unfolded and
on mans part or by way of promise on Gods part And well he may do so inrespect of that Infinite Goodnesse and Wisdome in God who knows much better how to lay the frame of a Covenant betwixt himself and man than man can know how to draw a Covenant betwixt himself and God SECT II. 2. THat there is a Covenant which God makes betwixt himself and believers There is such a Covenant So you have it often expressed in Scripture Gen. 17. 2. I will make my Covenant betwixt me and thee verse 7. I will establish my Covenant betwixt me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations after thee to be good unto thee and to thy seed after thee Deut. 4. 23. Take heed unto your selves lest you forget the Covenant of the Lord your God which he made with you 2 Sam. 23. 5. He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure Psal 50. 5. Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice Jer. 31. 31. Behold the dayes come saith the Lord I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah which is repeated by the Apostle Heb. 8. 8. all which places do manifestly prove that there is a Covenant betwixt God and Believers Against this a great objection will lie There are some who argue that there Sect. 2. Obj. The Covenant is only betwixt God and Christ is no Covenant made betwixt God and us there is only a Covenant betwixt God and Christ by vertue of which all Good is derived unto us The ground of this opinion is drawn from Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not And to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ Whence they inferre there is no Covenant at all made to us but only with Christ or to Christ Sol. I desire not to make rents but where I find them I would willingly make them up againe but of necessity I must consider this present opinion for if This opinion considered and cleared in three particulars this were true how can this Text I am now upon be true which saith I will make an everlasting Covenant not only for you but with you For the better stating and clearing of this doubt and difficulty I will deliver my self in these Propositions 1. That there is a Covenant made betwixt God the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ 2. That there is a Covenant made betwixt God and every believing person 3. That the place alledged doth not infringe this truth 1. That there is a Covenant made betwixt God the Father and his Son Jesus There is a Covenant betwixt God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ Christ touching the whole businesse of mans salvation Hence it is that Christ is called the Covenant I will give thee for a Covenant of the people saith the Lord speaking of Christ Isa 49. 8. In hope of eternal life which God who cannot lye promised before the world began Tit. 1. 2. This promise which was ante tempora seculorum was made to Christ I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. All that makes up a Covenant passed betwixt the Father and the Son On the Father part He dâsigned Christ to the office of Mediatour 1. On the Fathers part 1. He designed his Sonne unto the office of Mediatour him hath God the Father sealed John 6. 27. Set apart marked out for that work and the Apostle Peter speaking of our Redemption by the precious blood of Christ saith that Christ was fore-ordained thereunto before the foundation of the world 1 Pet. 1. 20. And hereunto did Christ consent and agree Heb. 10. 7. Then said I lo I come in the volum of thy book it is written of me to do thy will O God and againe ver 9. lo I come to do thy will O God 2. He promised to give him the Spirit in abundant measure The Spirit of the He promised to give him the Spirit in abundant measure Lord shall rest upon him Isa 11. 2. I have put my Spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgement to the Genetiles Isa 42. 1. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Isa 61. 1. God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him Joh. 3. 34. 3. He promised to assist him in that great work I the Lord have called thee And to assist him in that great work in Righteousnesse and will hold thy hand and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles Isa 42. 6. What is that holding of Christ by the hand but his effectual supporting and strengthening of him to finish the work which he agreed to undertake 4. He promised a blessed successe to this undertaking he shall see his seed And a blessed successe to his undertaking and he shall see the travaile of his soul Isa 53. 10. Nations that know thee not shall run unto thee Isa 55. 5. 5. He promised him Dominion and Soveraignty His arme shall rule for him And dominion and soveraignty Isa 40. 10. He shall sit in judgement in the earth and the Iles shall wait for his Law Isa 42. 4. He shall judge amongst many Nations Mic. 4. 3. 6. He promised to glorifie him after all Joh. 17. 5. Now Father glorifie thou And to glorifie him after all me 2. Christ an his part consents to the Father undertakes the will and work of On Christs part He consents to him undertakes his work Depends on him dischargeth it and expects the glory promised There is a Covenant with Christ personally and mystically considered his Father Depends on his Father Trusts on him for help The Lord will help me Isa 50. 7 9. My God shall be my strength Isa 49. 5. And he dischargeth all the work agreed on for the Redemption and salvation of the elect I have finished the work thou gavest me to do And expects the glory promised by the Father I would be tedious to speak all that might be said concerning this high Covenant betwixt God the Father and Christ touching the elect and all that concerns them I might adde that as there is a Covenant betwixt God and Christ personally considered so also betwixt God and Christ mystically considered Take him as the Head of the Church his body the Covenant principally looks at Christ I will be your God this principally looks at Christ and I will be your Father this principally looks at Christ and so the maine promises as those of Life of Grace of Justification so they principally look at Christ As there was a respect to the people of God in the Covenant betwixt the Father and Jesus Christ so there was a respect to Christ in the Covenant
If a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another mans shall he return unto her again Surely if a woman commit adultery it is a meer act of favour if her husband accepts of her again We brake the Covenant of our God and therefore the Lord might have given us a bill of divorce for that transgression but instead thereof to offer termes of life and love oh this was this very mercy and this very grace 3. Nay more than this when we had thus sinned and injured God and Yet God gives us a better estate upon better termes forfeited all deserving nothing but rejection and curse then for God to draw a Covenant which continued a better estate for us and upon better termes for us what is mercy and what is grace if this be not SECT I. 3. THis Covenant of grace is such a compact wherein God promiseth That In this Covenant God promiseth to be our God and that we shall be his people It is a Covenant of promise he will be our God and that we shall be his people Here are three things observable 1. That this Covenant is a Covenant of promise altogether of promise God therein promiseth all that doth concern himself or us There are many things in it which do concern himself and many things which do concern us and they are all of them under promise The rewards if I may so call them on his part of life and mercy and grace and salvation they are all promised and the services qualities duties on our part in reference unto him as our God are also promised by him What he will performe and what we are to performe although they be different things yet in this Covenant both of them are promised He promiseth to love us and he promiseth that we shall love him He promiseth that he will forgive our sinnes and he promiseth that we shall repent of our sinnes He promiseth that he will help us and he promiseth that we shall walk in his Satutes He promiseth that he will save us and he promiseth that we shall believe to the saving of our souls In the other Covenant of works there God promiseth life and man promiseth obedience God was to perform his part and man was to perform his part and mans performance depended upon his own strength But in this Covenant God promiseth all and he undertakes all He undertakes to give all that he promiseth and promiseth to give all that he requireth I will give a new heart I will cause you to passe into the band of the Covenant I will cause you to know me to trust in my Name to love me to feate me to walk in my Statutes and to do them He will subdue our iniquities c. 2. In this Covenant he promiseth that he will be our God I will establish He promiseth to be our God my Covenant betwixt me and thee and thy seed after thee to be God unto thee and to thy seed after thee Gen. 17. 7. This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel c. I will be their God c. Jer. 31. 33. And I will be their God ãâã 11. 20. They shall say The Lord is my God Zachariah 13. 9. This one thing which God promiseth I will be your God it is as one Paraeus in Gen. 17. rightly speaks Anima foederis the very soul of all the Covenant It is summa Foederis the excellency the very quintessence of it It is farre more than that I will pardon you than that I will help you I will blesse you or that I will save you As Christ spake concerning that command of loving the Lord with all thy heart this is the great Commandment So may we say of this part of the Covenant of this promise I will be your God it is the great part of the Covenant it is the great promise of the Covenant of grace Indeed it is the summe of all All is contained in it and therefore David said Happy is that people whose God is the Lord Psal 144. 15. Quest But some may demand What great matter is comprehended in this What is comprehended under it when God saith in the Covenant I will be your God I will be a God to you Is he not the God of the whole world Is he not a God to all the people of the earth Sol. I answer That he is so he is the God of the whole earth and there is no God besides him He is a God to all the creatures in respect of their production they were all made and formed by him they are the work of his hands And in respect of preservation In him we live and move and have our being Act. 17. 28. There is a Relation betwixt him and all creatures But this is inconsiderable in comparison of this Covenant-relation unto his people wherein he saith I will be a God to you or your God This relation is of all other the highest and nearest as when a man promiseth unto a woman I will be a husband unto you this takes in love and nearnesse and care and maintenance There are four things comprehended in this Four things comprehended in it ReconciliatioÌ 1. Reconciliation unto you I will be your God i. e. I will be reconciled to you I will never be an enemy to you All enmity betwixt you and me is at an end I accept of you into a state of love my love is towards you you have found grace in my sight I will marry you unto my self in loving kindnesses my love shall rest upon you 2. Donation of himself I will be your God i. e. I will bestow my self upon Donation of himself you you shall have a propriety in me I am God even thy God Psal 50. 7. This God is our God Psal 48. 14. He gives himself as it were into your possession into your hands As when the Indenture is drawn and sealed the land falls into your pocket and therefore whensoever you find him covenanting you find him as it were giving away himself granting a right unto himself and a possession and enjoyment of himself After the Lord had made a Covenant with Abraham he thereupon stiles himself the God of Abraham and so the God of Isaac and of Jacob and of Israel and thus making a Covenant with all the faithful he thereupon is theirs their God and their Father They have as much right unto him and propriety in him as the wife in and to the husband who becomes hers by a Covenant of Marriage My Beloved is mine and I am his This is a wonderful truth that God in the Covenant of grace gives himself Consider God 1. Either Essentially in his eternal self-sufficient holy blessed infinite glorious Being and Attributes as thus considered he is yours makes all over unto you really 2. Or Personally as a Father He is your Father John 20. 17. I am a Father to
such a God should give himself to such miserable poor loathsome and unworthy sinners in such a gracious Covenant Use 2. Is this the Covenant of grace at least the most noble and vital part of Try our selves whether we be in Covenant with God it that God is our God and that we are his people then let us try our selves whether we be within this Covenant of gracâ yea or no. Can you upon good grounds say This God is our God or the Lord is my God My God and my Lord and my Father Laban could say the God of your Father âen 31. 29. and Pharaoh could say entreat the Lord your God Exod. 10. 17. but neither of these could say thâ Lord my God You read of some to whom the Lord speaks Ye are not my people and I will not be your God Hos 1. 9. and the Apostle speaks of some who were strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world Ephes 2. 12. This is one difference betwixt the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace that the one is universal extending to all mankinde but the other is particular and is restrained only to Believers There is no distinction of persons in the one but there is a limitation of persons in the other God is not a God in a Covenant of grace unto all nor can all look on him and own him as their God in Covenant Now because this is a very weighty businesse I shall therefore propound four things to discourse upon 1. Some clear characters of such people who as yet have not the Lord to be their God in Covenant 2. The extreme misery and infelicity of such persons 3. The infallible evidences by which you may know that the Lord is your God in the Covenant of grace 4. The admirable comforts proper to those who can upon that account say that God is to them a God and that the Lord is their God in Covenant SECT II 1. THE Characters of such a people who as yet have not the Lord to be their Characters of a people not in Covenant God in Covenant I shall present unto you four of them viz universal absence 2. Special disagreement 3. A contrary league 4. Positive unbelief 1. Universal absence of all those covenant-tokens which God alwayes bestows on them with whom he is a God in Covenant God is never a God in Covenant Universal absence to any but some new and excellent qualities are derived from God even the excellencies expressed in his Covenant are imprinted in all with whom God is a God in Covenant God is a God of the living and not of the dead If God be your God you are a changed people another kinde of people than in times past you were You have new hearts and a new spirit And an heart is given unto you to know the Lord and to love the Lord and to fear the Lord your God as he promiseth to all with whom he is a God in Covenant And therefore if no Covenant grace is to be found in a mans heart if no change if no knowledge if no love of God no fear of God this man cannot say God is my God he cannot say God hath covenanted with me to be my God Hence it is that the Apostle speaking of the Ephesians as under their natural sinful condition being dead in sins and trespasses and walking according to the course of the world and having their conversation in the lusts of the flesh Ephes 2. 1 2 3. he saith of them that at that time they were without Christ and without the Covenant and without God in the world ver 12. Object It is true that Renewing Grace is not an Antecedent in the Covenant Sol. Yet it is true that it is a Consequent of the Covenant It is not a Cause why God is our God yet it is an Immediate effect of this when God is our God God doth not say If you bring a changed and renewed heart then I will be your God but yet when God saith in Covenant I will be your God he saith also I will give you a new heart c. 2. Special Diâagreement In all Covenants drawn up betwixt person and Special disagreement person there must be a mutual agreement or else it is not a Covenant neither is it binding neither is there or can there be a propriety If a man offer himself upon such and such termes to be a husband unto a woman it she disagree if she cannot like the person or his termes here is no Covenant betwixt them she cannot say This man is my husband so if the Lord offers himself to be our God but he and we differ upon termes proposed he proposeth such termes as we cannot like and will not yield unto now it is evident that he is not our God in Covenant nor can we say This God is our God God saith I am content to be your God but then you must be content to be holy Levit. 11. 44. I am the Lord your God ye shall therefore sanctifie your selves and you shall be holy for I am holy Now if a person replies but I will not be holy of all things whatsoever I cannot abide holinesse I hate it and I scorne it and I will never yield unto it this person hath not God to be his God in Covenant for he utterly disagrees he cannot endure a holy God and he will not be holy as God is holy Againe God saith you would have me to be the Lord your God in Covenant If so then you must obey the voyce of the Lord your God and do what he commands Deut. 27. 10. If you will have me for your God I must rule you and guide you and prescribe unto you what to do and what to avoid but if a person replies I will not have God to rule me and to order me I will do what I think good and will live as I list I professe to thee God is none of thy God thou refusest him and doest not come up to his Covenant proposals What a silly thing is it for any of you to own God for your God whilst you utterly disagree with him in his proposals especially in those which must necessarily constitute you to be his people viz. sanctity and subjection A contrary League 3. A contrary League When the people would make a Covenant that God should be their God and him they would serve mark how it is expressed Josh 24. 23 25. Now therefore put away the strange gods that arâ amongst you and encline your heart to the Lord God of Israel Intimating that God woul never be their God if they would not put away their idols If a mans heart be in league and Covenant with any sinne it cannot be in Covenant with God Did God ever say I will be a God to any man who loves his sinnes and will not part with them I tell you the Lord
the Trinity be in their respective subsistences so different that the Father neither is nor can be the Son nor the Son the Father nor the holy Ghost either yet it is as true that every one of them is the same Deity and had the same will in and for mans salvation that some should be elected of God and finde mercy and have salvation there was a mutual will and consent twixt the three persons in the Trinity That Jesus Christ the Son of God should have these bestowed upon him and he be charged to procure their salvation by being incarnated and by being humbled to the death even to the death of the Cross as to this also there was a mutual will and consent in the Trinity I will give and send you saith the Father Lo I come I will give my self saith the Son and I will anoint and sanctifie you for this saith the Spirit that the holy Ghost should be sent to open and apply the salvation of God unto the Elect of God the Father and to the redeemed by Christ the Son this also fell into their common will and consent and purpose in respect werereof the holy Ghost is said to be sent and given from the Father and from the Son Joh. 14. 26. The Comforter which is the holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things c. Joh. 15. 26. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father he shall testifie of me I will not enlarge my self in this discourse at this time because it will fall in more fully when I come to speak of the parties interested in the Covenant only let me tell you who are in Covenant with God that your comforts are exceeding great even from this That there was and is a mutual will consent agreement and purpose of the whole Trinity concerning you and your salvation for this will concerning you and your salvation 1. It is the gracious will of Gods decree 2. It is a fixed and invariable will 3. It is an effectual and infallible will 4. And I if may not be mistaken it is the binding will or argument of all the persons unto which every one of them as it were sets his seal and in which they are all of them bound up and according unto which every one of them doth act or expresse himself for our salvation O what infinite love and goodnesse and wisdom is this that our salvation should be thus contrived and ordered and distinctly undertaken and agreed upon with one common consent of will and purpose by the whole Trinity of persons every one of them contributing his whole self and heart and power towards it Surely your salvation must be precious and excellent and sure and we our selves as sure in our enjoyment of it 3. There is a conjunctivenesse of operation every person of the Trinity doth act There is a conjunctivenesse of operation or work for the good and salvation as will and intend it Joh. 5. 17. My Father worketh hitherto and I work verse 19. whatsoever things he doth these also doth the Sonne likewise John 14. 31. as the Father gave me commandement so do I. The Mission and Donation of Christ to save us this is the work of the Father The giving of himself for our Redemption and Reconciliation this is the work of the Sonne The calling of us and Renewing and Regenerating of us this is the work of the holy Ghost Indeed there is such an excellent co-operation of the whole Trinity in the businesse of our salvation that the greatest works conducing thereunto are promiscuously attributed to every one of them as our Vocation and Justification and Adoption and Sanctification and Glorification all these are sometimes attributed to the Father and sometimes to the Son and sometimes to the holy Ghost Sanctification is thus promiscuously attributed unto them 1. To the Father Jude ver 1. Sanctified by God the Father 2. To the Son 1 Cor. 1. 2. That are sanctified in Christ Jesus 3. To the holy Ghost Rom. 15. 16. Being sanctified by the holy Ghost Justification is also thus attributed to them 1. To the Father Rom. 8. 33. It is God that justifieth 2. To the Son Rom. 9. 5. Being now justified by his blood 3. To the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 11. But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God Vocation likewise is thus attributed unto them 1. To the Father 1 Pet. 1. 15. As he who hath called you is holy c. 2. To the Sonne Rom. 1. 6. Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ 3. To the holy Ghost whose mighty power it is which brings us into Christ The like you may read of Adoption ascribed unto the Father Ephes 1. 5 unto the Son Gal. 4. 6. and unto the holy Ghost Rom. 8. 15. We have a rule that opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa although the modus operandi and the Terminus actionis may be distinct and questionlesse as all the Attributes of God are affirmed of every person so all the operations proper to God are common also unto them Now what a glory and comfort is this that every one of the Divine persons hath a hand in every thing which concerns our salvation As they do all of them consent unto it and resolve upon it so every one of them doth work towards it We look upon that passage as of great weight and stay and comfort unto us in Rom. 8. 28. All things viz. here below in common contingencies work together for good to them that love God! How much more is this for our support and comfort that all the Trinity that every person in the Trinity is working together for our salvation that God the Father is working and God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost As they say about the Incarnation of Christ that every one of the Persons in the Trinity had a hand in it though the second person only was Incarnated as three may weave a garment which one of them only wears thus may we say of our salvation that every person of the Trinity acts and works towards it and will still so work untill they have come to the last work untill they have finished that work in our eternall glorification 4. There is a common union also of Relation and Interest of all the persons in every There is a common union of Relation and Interest of all the persons in every Believer and of every Believer to them believer and of every believer to them Every one of the persons hath an interest in you and relation to you 1. The Father hath an interest in you 2 Cor. 6. 18. I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters 2. The âon hath an interest in you
delights in viz. uprightnesse of Spirit your sighs and groans and tears and desires shall passe and be accepted instead of more full and ample performances 2 Cor. 8. 12. If there be first a willing minde it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not Mal. 3. 17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own sonne that serveth him Psal 51. 17. A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Zach. 4. 10. Who hath despised the day of small things 6. They have immunity from the terrour or coercive power of the Law Namely From the coercive power of the Law from obeying the commands of it upon the meer principles of slavish fear of the threatnings annexed unto the breach of the Law You do now obey the Law not as slaves but as sonnes not out of fear of wrath but out of love to your Father That Spirit of bondage Rom. 8. 15. and that spirit of fear 2 Tim. 1. 7. is removed and a spirit of love comes in the room thereof Though there were no rewards to allure and though there were no severe threats to terrifie you yet you would serve your God with willing minds and with willing hearts 2 Chron. 28. 9. Psal 110. 3. There is such a heavenly sutablenesse and superconnaturalnesse 'twixt the Law of your God and your hearts that it is your delight to meditate in it and to walk up unto it in all things there is no constraint on you but the love of your good God 7. They have immunity from the curse of the Law Christ hath redeemed us From the curse of the Law from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Indeed afflictions and fatherly chastisements or corrections may befall the people of God in this life whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth Heb. 12. 6. but no curses befall them Though the cup be bitter yet there is no poyson in it though it be a crosse yet it is not a curse their wounds are healing wounds and their afflictions are instructions and their losses are their gains for nothing comes as a curse which doth us good 8. They have immunity from the Kingdome and power of darkness You are no From the Kingdome of darknesse longer under the Prince of the power of the Aire the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes 2. 2. The Divel is dispossessed and cast down and cast out he is still your enemy but he shall never be your Lord more he may tempt you and disquiet you but command and rule over you he shall never do Though the Divel be very busie and active with you yet he shall never regain possession never conâuer your graces never part you and your God never hinder you of your inheritance 9. They have immunity from death there is the first death and the second From death death or there is a three-fold death there is the death of the soul and the death of the body and the death of soul and body 1. Spiritual death that is the death of the soul 2. Corporal death that is the death of the body 3. Eternal death that is the death of soul and body Now all the people of God are freed from spiritual death by the grace of Christ and from eternal deaâh by the blood of Christ and from corporal death though not absolutely or simply yet respectively so far forth as sinne hath made it dreadful and our enemy and prejudicial to us Though you must dye yet your death is but your sleep and is but your strait passage into life The death of death is removed from you by the death of Christ Vide Heb. 2. 15. 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jâsus Christ 10. What can I say more they have immunity from all evil in this life and in the life to come you are freed or delivered from an evil conscience which never From all evil leaves accusing and condemnâng from this present evil world and the corruptions thereof from every evil work and way from evil men from all the evil which remains for evil men in hell God in this Covenant secures you against all why what comforts are there in these things and what confidence and what encouragements and what support unto your souls Why do you fear so often and why are your hearts troubled Surely you do not know your selves to be the people of God or else you do not fully know the liberties and immunities of the people of God Sometimes you fear the heavy wrath of God but why do you so He is your God and your Father and full of compassions and loving kindnesses he will not deal with you as a revenging Judge but as a loving and merciful Father he is at peace with you and reconciled unto you Sometimes you fear the damnation and curse belonging unto sinne But why do you so Christ hath dyed and satisfied for your sinnes and he was made a curse for you and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Sometimes you fear because of the powerful motions and conflicts and rebellions of sinne in your hearts but why do you so seeing that sinne shall not have dominion over you and Christ in you is daily mortifying and destroying the body of sinne neither shall any Lord reigne in you but your Saviour who dyed for you Sometimes you fear because of the imperfection of your graces but why do you so It is not your weaknesse or want of holinesse but Christs perfect righteousnesse which is imputed unto you for life and for justification Sometimes you fear because of the weaknesse of your obediential services and performances but why do you so your God in Covenant works all his works in you and he owns your persons and will accept the weakest offerings of an upright heart in and for Christ Sometimes you fear because of the strong temptations of Satan but why do you so grace sufficient shall be given unto you and your God will shortly bruise Satan under your feet Sometimes you fear men because of their malice and power and why do you so your God will restrain the rage of man and frustrate the counsels of the Heathen and break the armes of the ungodly and knows how to deliver you Sometimes you fear to dye but why are you afraid of death which is but the last Stile to go over and then you are at your Fathers house death to you is but an end of your sinnes and miseries and only a quick passage into your eternal happinesse Secondly The priviledges which you enjoy by being under the Covenant of grace Priviledges by being in Covenant by
the life of your comforts it is your Paradise and your Heaven here on earth 5. Maintain and justifie your Covenant-relation when once it is made manifest Maintain and justifie your Covenant-relation Four things we should alwayes maintain The unchangeableness of out Covenant-relation unto you against all the suggestions of Satan and against all the risings and oppositions of your own unbelief I here are four things especially which you should still maintain and make good for at them doth Satan most strike at 1. The unchangeablenesse of the Covenant-relation This God is our God for ever and ever He will be our Guide even unto death Psal 48. 14. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You are many times under Spiritual sââences God seems not to regard your prayers and many times under Spiritual delaies God puts you off from day to day and many times under Spiritual desertions God hides his face from you and Satan in such cases puts it upon you to question and disown your Covenant-relation If God were your God it would not be thus But notwithstanding all these or any other trials of your selves yet God still maintains his interest in you and your relation to himself God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew saith the Apostle Rom. 11. 2. I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3. 6. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the housâ of Jacob and will look for him Isa 8. 17. But Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may forget yet I will not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me So Hosea 2 19. I will betroth thee unto me for ever and Heb. 13. 5. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee 2. The tendernesse of your Covenant-relation The tendernesse of Gods love The tenderness of your Covenant-relation unto you and the tendernesse of Gods care over you Do not suffer Satan to raise jealousies and do not you nourish any jealousies about these if you do so you dishonour your God by them and make your soules to serve him with bitterness your God loves you with as tender love as ever Father loved his dearest child Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant childe my bowels are troubled for him Jer. 31. 20. His love is set upon you Deut. 7. 7. And he doth rest in his love Zeph. 3. 17. He loves you with an everlasting love and therefore draws you with loving kindnesse Jer. 31. 3. And your God hath a most tender care over you as a man hath over his jewels which are his chiefest treasures I will make up my jewels Mal. 3. 17. and as a man hath over the apple of his eye he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the apple of his eye Deut. 32. 10. And as an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreads abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings verse 11. So the Lord c. 3. The goodnesse of the Covenant relation that God still is and will be The goodnesse of the Covenant relation good unto you that he prepares of his goodnesse for and he prepares mercy and truth for you and layes up exceeding goodnesse for you reserves it for you and is never weary nor will ever turn away from you from doing of you good 4. The graciousnesse of your God in Covenant that as at the first when he took The graciousnesse of your God in Covenant you into the Covenant this was the work of his own grace so all along in the dispensations of the Covenant the Lord still acts in a way of grace towards you alwayes and altogether upon free termes he freely loved you and he freely chose you and he freely called you and still he freely blesseth you and doth good unto you and upon gracious termes he deals with you all the dayes of your life in all things for which you have to deal with him 6. Walk and live like a people who have such a God to be your God in Covenant Walk and live like a people in Covenant with God as your relation is different from all other peoples relation so your conversation should be different from the conversation of all other people as your condition is now higher than the condition of other people for God exalts you by making you to be his people so the word avouching signifies in Deut. 26. 18. so your walking must be better than that of other people and as your enjoyments and hopes transcendently exceed all other mens so your returns must be in some proportion answerable unto your great interest in so good a God and as God by becoming your God makes you high above all Nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour Deut. 26. 19. so hath he formed you for himself that you should shew forth his praise Esay 43. 21. You are a chosen Generation a royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the praise of him who hath called you out of darknesse into his marvelous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. Which in time past were not a people âut are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy verse 10. Quest If any of you demand how that people should live and walk who have How a people in Covenant should walk God to be their God in Covenant Sol. I answer Such a people should walk 1. By faith in a continual dependance upon their living and giving God 2. In a singular love and delight in their good and merciful God 3. With holinesse before their Holy and Omnipresent God 4. With uprightnesse before their Omniscient and All-sufficient God 5. Without inordinate cares before their Faithful and Never-failing God 6. Without inordinate fears before their Almighty God 7. Without offence or grieving of their Loving God 8. With all contentednesse and well-pleasednesse of Spirit before their Wise and gracious God 9. With all humility before their Great and Merciful God 10. With all cheerfulnesse and gladnesse of heart before their Blessing and Blessed God 11. In all constancy of obedience before their Eternal God 12. In all the kinds of zeal for the honour of that God who hath so much honoured them as to be their God 1. You who are the people of God and have God to be your God in Covenant Live and walk by faith in dependance upon the living God you should live and walk by faith in a continual
than your own lives yea and more than your own souls you should love your God sine omnibus super omnia without all and above all c. And verily there are most choice and most strong reasons for all this in the Covenant alone because he is your God for because he is your God therefore For 1. He loves you with an unutterable love the purest and highest love with a fatherly He loves you love with a faithful love with a tender love with an everlasting love The Schoolmen distinguish of amor gratuitus and of amor debitus our love is but of debt which we owe to God Gods love is a gracious gift unto us we love him but can adde nothing to him he loves us and his love makes us up for ever he begins in love oâly from his love and we love when he sheds abroad his love into our hearts he loves and receives nothing from us we love and receive all from him 2. He blesseth you provides for you bestows all upon you enricheth you He blesseth you gives Christ and Mercy and Grace and Peace and Glory Who would not love a God who is Goodnesse it self and Love it self and Blessednesse it self who would not but love a God who is his God who delivers from hell who quickens from death who pardons all sins who cleanseth from all iniquity who makes us near unto himself who puts his Name upon us who speaks peace to our consciences who blesseth us with all blessings who guides and keeps and feeds us all our dayes who will give eternal life at last Walk in all manner of holinesse before your holy God In holinesse of dsposition 3. You who are the people of God you should walk in all manner of holinesse before your Holy and Omnipresent God There is an holinesse 1. Of Disposition which is the renewing of the heart by the Holy Ghost Lev. 11. 44. I am the Lord your God ye shall therefore sanctifie your selves and ye shall be holy for I am holy ver 45. I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the Land of Egypt to be your God ye shall therefore be holy for I am holy Lev. 19. 2. Ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy Of Conversation 2. Of Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. Be ye holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Thess 2. 10. Ye are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves amongst you that believe Esay 35. 8. And an high-way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holinesse Luke 1. 74. That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear ver 35. In holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life Which consists This holinesse of Conversation consists partly In a separation from all sinful wayes 1. In separation from all sinful and polluted wayes and courses of the world Come out from among them and separate your selves 2 Cor. 6. 17. Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. Walk not as other Gentiles walk Ephes 4. 17. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknesse Ephes 5. 11. In exercising our selves in all holy duties In doing our civil works with holy hearts and to holy ends Reasons why such should walk in holinesse Holinesse suits with the end of the Covenant 2. In the exercising of our selves in all holy duties and works and that after an holy manner with godly fear and reverence 3. In the managing of the civil works and employments of our ordinary callings with spiritual and holy hearts and for spiritual and holy ends so that whither we deal with God or with men whither you deal in heavenly businesses or in earthly something of holinesse flows out and appears in them boâh Esay 23. 18. Her Merchandize shall be holinesse to the Lord. Now that the people of God who have him to be their God should be holy and should live very holy lives it may be thus demonstrated 1. If you consider the scope and end of the Covenant or of taking us into Covenant the end of the Covenant is to glorifie the riches of Gods mercy and grace for the praise of the glory of his grace and the end of taking us into Covenant is that we might glorifie God who is so rich in mercy and grace unto us See 1 Pet. 2. 9. upon either of these accounts his people must be holy and live holily for should they live profanely and unholily this would pollute the Name of their God and extreamely dishonour it Ezek. 36. 21 22. and cause his Name to be blasphemed Rom. 2. 24. It is the life of holinesse which makes his Name to be glorified openly amongst men as it is the life of faith which makes it to be glorified secretly in the heart Maâth 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven 2. You are taken into Covenant that there might be a near relation 'twixt Holinesse fits for communion with God you and your God and that there might be a delight ful communion between God and you but holinesse is necessary to both these you must be sanctified if you will be near unto him for unholinesse is the greatest distance from God who is holinesse it self neither will he have fellowship with you without holinesse because similitude is the foundation of communion there can be no fellowship 'twixt light and darkness nor 'twixt God and Belial 2 Cor. 6. 14. All your communions with God are in acts of holinesse as aâl his communions with you are by his holy Spirit 3. The people of God are made high above all Nations in praise and in name and in honour Deut. 26. 19. They are the excâllânt on the earth Psal 16. 3. Holinesse is our praise and honour A precious people Jer. 15. 19. A peculiar treasure unto the Lord Exod. 19. 5. But then he addes in verse 6. And ye shall be unto me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation Why How can you be above all other in praise and in name and in honour if your hearts and lives continued in the same inglorious condition and course of wickednesse and sinfulnesse with others Or how could you be said to be the excellent on earth if your hearts and lives were as base and common as the vilest on earth No certainly but it is holinesse which raiseth your natures and it is holinesse which raiseth your lives As God is said to be Glorious in Holinesse Exodus 15. 11. so his Church or people is said to be glorious when it is holy and without blame Ephes 5. 27. 4. You have certainty and Testimony from your holinesse that you are indeed Holinesse is the
God doth look upon the humble and contrite spirit and he will hear the desire of the humble He will prepare their hearts and cause his ear to hear Ezek. 16. 61. Thou shalt remember thy wayes and be ashamed c. ver 62. And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 4. If you would have God to be your God in Covenant then you must get Get faith faith for God is a God in Covenant only with believers and there are three degrees of faith necessary unto this work one is a faith of acceptance a second Three degrees of faith necessary is a faith of dependance a third is a faith of reliance I will explain my self in all these 1. A faith of acceptance is necessary to put us into the Covenant and to finde A faith of acceptance God to be our God that is we must have so much faith as to accept of Christ and to unite us unto Christ for in that union twixt us and Christ in this relation of God to us is he to be found By him we have accesse unto the Father Ephes 2. Out of Christ you shall never finde God to be reconciled unto you nor to be your God As to Christ God first is a God in Covenant and Father in Covenant so to us God becomes our God and our Father upon our being in Christ Christ received the Covenant for himself and for all who are his he is as it were the head and the principal in the Covenant all his come into Covenant under him as in relation to him 2. A faith of dependance upon Christ particularly for his great satisfactions A faith of dependance unto God that is we must depend upon the blood of Christ and by faith offer that up as a satisfaction for all our sinnes and transgressions which have all this while kept God and us at distance and difference his blood is the sacrifice by which Gods justice is satisfied and truly untill divine justice be satisfied for our sinnes there is no hope of a Covenant to be made 'twixt God and us and therefore by faith look upon the blood of Christ and offer up that blood by faith Lord here is the blood of the Covenant here is the blood of Christ to satisfie for my sinnes and to expiate my sinnes now in this blood of his become my God in Covenant 3. A faith of reliance upon the mediation of Christ as the atonement and A faith of reliance peace and reconciliation Christ did make peace by his blood and he did reconcile us by it Colos 1. 20 21. And we who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Ephes 2. 13. I know not a more exact way to get God to be our God than by getting into Christ in whom alone our re-union with God is to be found and by whom alone God and we are knit together again not without cause is he called the Mediator of the new Covenant who undertakes between God and us as you shall hear ere long he undertakes to take away all which may keep up the difference 'twixt us and he undertakes to present all which may make a reconciliation betwixt us he doth make the way so open and so clear that our entrance into Covenant will certainly follow if once we were possessed of him by faith his blood being shed for the remission of our sinnes and likewise to procure a reconciliation 'twixt God and us and therefore above all things strive for faith to unite you to Christ and then by faith plead out the reconciliation purchased by Christ 5. Apply your selves unto the Ordinances of Christ which are the means to work all these things in you and particularly this faith which is so necessary and so immediate Apply your selves to the Ordinances of Christ to our admission into the Covenant Ephes 1. 13. In whom you also trusted after that you heard the Word of Truth the Gospel of your salvation the Gospel is that Ordinance by which God makes known the Covenant of grace and by which faith is wrought to bring us into Christ and by him into Covenant with God and by which our faith is so enlarged and confirmed that at length we come to know that God is indeed our God in Covenant 6. I will adde one direction more as an help to bring us into the Covenant Seriously meditate and taking of God to be our God and that is a serious meditation of God himself and of the nature of this Covenant of grace 1. A serious meditation of God there is nothing in him to discourage you Of God from coming into Covenant with him and there is all in him to encourage you 1. There is nothing in him to discourage you from coming into Covenant with him There is nothing in him to discourage us He doth not in this Covenant treat with you for any personal satisfaction for the wrong which you have done him neither doth he insist for any goodnesse that you should work in your own hearts nor doth he except against you for any unworthinesse in you nor doth he distinguish you away for the greatnesse of your former transgressions nor yet doth deny you hope and accesse although you have a long time denied him audience unto his gracious offers nor doth he capitulate with you in your own name but by a Mediator who is most pleasing to him and prevalent with him 2. There is all in and from him to encourage you to come into Covenant There is all in and from him to encourage you with him for he doth expresse himself to be a merciful God towards sinners to be a gracious God to the sinners that come to him to be a tender God easily moved at the tears and cryes of those who would be his people to be a willing God to accept of you and to close with you and therefore he first makes known this Covenant and he first offers to treat with you about this Covenant and he makes the termes of agreement as fair as grace it self can frame them and he out of his own cost provided and sent Jesus Christ to be both the Messenger of the Covenant and the Mediator of the Covenant and besides all this he affords unto you the Gospel to work faith in you that so you may become the people of his Covenant and moreover he makes promises unto you of every thing which belongs to the making of a people to be the people of his Covenant yea and he promiseth his own Spirit to them that ask him by whose mighty operation we come indeed to be his people Truly a serious meditation of all this might conduce much to perswade our hearts to come in unto him and take him for our God in Covenant A second meditation of the nature of this Covenant of grace both as to the Of the nature of
the good which we do enjoy or can enjoy or shall ever enjoy all our springs are in it 4. Sometimes that is stiled New which is diverse from what it was before It is diverse from the Covenant of works and from it self 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature that is he is not such a creature as he was before he is renewed he is changed into the image of the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. In this respect also is the Covenant stiled New not only because it is diverse from the Covenant of works in the foundation and condition and qualifications of the persons in Covenant but also because it is diverse from it self in respect of the administration of it after that Christ was manifested in the flesh and died and rose again from the different administration it is called Old and New Now it appears with open face without any vaile of legal Shadows and Ceremonies at all God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne and whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life It is now like a new Lease fairely written over with a new hand and new seals and new witnesses Though this Covenant be the same for substance in Abrahams and Moses time yet upon the coming of Christ it is new for the manner of administration it hath not those seals of Circumcision and the Passeover nor Sacrifices nor Ceremonies nor Types and Legal Figures which formerly it had it hath now the Mediator himself to deliver it and his new seals of Baptisme and the Supper and is established after a new manner even by the blood of Christ and hath many new institutions and adjuncts c. This is the Covenant which God makes with us even a New Covenant a Covenant of life upon new termes a Covenant which hath a new foundation a Covenant which hath new promises a Covenant which hath a new original and spring a Covenant which hath a new way of claime and title a Covenant which gives new hopes and a Covenant which hath new seals and confirmations Vse 1 Surely there is infinite reason for us poor and miserable sinners to bless the Lord even for this that he hath made all things New and especially for making a new Blesse God for this New Covenant Covenant had the Lord utterly left us when we left him had he held us to that first Covenant of works and proceeded against us for the breach of that Covenant we had every one of us for ever been condemned and lost but he was pleased to make a new Covenant with us where mercy is to be found for sinners and a Redeemer for transgressors and a Mediator 'twixt himself and us and our lives may yet be found in his grace and love and Christ and all this springing from his own grace and love What should oblige our hearts and raise our thankfulnesse if this doth not 2. Then there is no reason for distressed sinners to sink and despair although they have been Covenant-breakers and are never able to recompense God nor There is no reason for sinners to despair to raise up themselves for this new Covenant is made for the refuge and support of such sinners And herein God reveals himself to be a God forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne and to receive satisfaction for a sinner though not from the sinner I say for a sinner by a Mediator who hath likewise purchased reconciliation and favour and mercy and salvation for us 3. Not to refuse this Covenant this new Covenant for as it is said of Christ Refuse not this Covenant That there is no other Name given to us by which we must be saved Acts 4. 12. so there is no Covenant but this new Covenant which can relieve and save a sinner as it was with men in the time of the Deluge and the Ark all that got into the Ark were saved and all who entred not into the Ark were lost so all who get into this new Covenant they live and are saved and all who enter not into this New Covenant shall dye in their sinnes and perish SECT II. 2. A Second propriety of the Covenant is this it is a very perfect plentiful It is a perfect and plentiful Covenant and rich Covenant And this will appear weâher you will consider 1. The Author of this Covenant 2. Or the Mediator of this Covenant 3. Or the Covenant it self It appears by The Author of this Covenant 1. The Author of this Covenant who therein sets out all his gracious fulness here you shall finde him full of love and therefore the Apostle calls his love a great love Ephes 2. 4. and an exalted love God commendeth his love towards us in that whiles we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5. 8. And Saint John calls it a wonderful love Behold what manner of love the Father haâh bestowed upon us that we should be called the sonnes of God! 1 John 3. 1. Nay Christ himself calls it an unexpressible love God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. John 3. 16. And the Apostle repeats the love of God as the character and pattern of all love Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Sonne to be the propitiation for us In mercy in relation to this Covenant he is said to be rich in mercy Ephes 2. 4. God who is rich in mercy nay to have riches of mercy Ephes 3. 16. According to the riches âf his glory nay to shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us through Christ Jesus Ephes 2. 7. nay to be exceeding abundant 1 Tim. 1. 14. The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant abundant mercy 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope where sinne abounded grace did much more abound Rom. 5. 20. Sinne doth exceedingly abound by way of extension and by way of intension in practice in degrees and in deserts but the mercy or grace of God it doth over-abound it is more than enough for the pardoning of the greatest sinners yea of all the sinnes of all his people his mercy is like himself infinite and unsearchable And therefore the Church cryes out Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage c. In goodnesse not only full of an essential goodnesse which is his own eternal and infinite perfection but also full of a Covenant goodnesse O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that trust in thee before the sonnes of men Psal 31. 19. He is great in goodnesse Nehem. 9. 35. He is abundant in goodnesse Exod.
34. 6. How great is his goodnesse Zach. 9. 17. The riches of his goodnesse Rom. 2. 4. No good thing will he with-hold Psal 84. 11. 2. The Mediator of this Covenant how full and rich is Jesus Christ Of his By the Mediator of this Covenant fulnesse do all we receive he fills all in all The Godhead dwells bodily in him in him are all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge there are the unsearchable riches of Christ he is a perfect Redeemer and is able to save to the utmost 3. The Covenant it self There is nothing left out and there is nothing which can be added unto it the wisdome and goodnesse of God have made it a By the Covenant it self compleat store-house and treasury of all the good and of all the help which all the children of God have do or ever shall need Here is grace and here is glory here is all things pertaining to life and all things pertaining to godlinesse here is for the life present and for the life which is to come here are all sorts of comforts for the distressed and all sorts of helps for the needy and all sorts of defences for the exposed here is the Sunne and the Shield and exceeding great reward Vse This is an exceeding stay and comfort to all the people of Gods Covenant other people are in want and know not whether to go for help or for any good but This is stay to Gods people you have a good God to go unto and a good Covenant to go unto Other people may know whither to go for this or that particular good but they know not whither to go for all the good which they do need they may go to one friend for counsel and to another for almes and to another for physick but to whom can they go for mercy to pardon their sinnes or for peace to ease their troubled souls but you who are the people of God you have a Covenant to go unto which contains all manner of good for all the conditions of your souls and for all the conditions of your bodies Here is mercy to pardon and loving-kindnesse to comfort and righteousnesse to justifie and grace to sanctifie and peace to quiet and glory to save here is food for the body and rayment and safety and blessing and defence here is all others may give and finde a little help and a little comfort and a little provision but you have a Covenant to go unto which can give you all things richly to enjoy abundant goodnesse abundant compassions abundant mercies abundant love abundant grace abundant joy abundant consolation and abundant salvation all things all good things are treasured up in this Covenant and there they are in their perfection not one good without another but all good together not a little of one and a little of another but every good in perfection and fulnesse a perfect God and a perfect Mediator and perfect love and mercy and righteousnesse c. 2. This is an exceeding encouragemtnt unto you under any wants or in any And an encouragement in wants to go to God in faith great distresses to go by faith unto your God who hath made a full and perfect Covenant with you O thou distressed sinner here is mercy enough laid up for thee and here is peace enough and goodness enough and power enough and grace enough and help enough God doth not promise unto you a little of his mercy nor a little of his kindnesse nor a little of the righteousnesse of Christ nor a little of holinesse nor a little of spiritual joy Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide enlarge the desires of your hearts you do not crave enough and I will fill it I will plentifully answer and satisfie you Eat O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved Phil. 4. 19. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ Heb. 4. 16. Let us come boldly unto the Throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need you have no cause to be dejected either with the multitude of your wants or with the depth and greatnesse of your distresses nor have you any cause to doubt and fear the supply and redresse of these for God hath made a full rich and perfect Covenant with you whiles there are answerable supplies and super-abounding helps and these in a Covenant and for you there is more reason to set your faith on work to fetch in the supplies than to set your feare on work because of your wants in all your distressed and needy conditions be pleased to look on this Covenant seriously do so bring your wants and distresses thither and there shall you finde proper helps and plentiful engagements and now stirre up your faith to believe and to take hold on God Lord here is the mercy which I need and here is the exceeding riches of mercy which I do need and here is the love the great love and here is the grace the abundant grace and here is the comfort and the abundant comfort and here is the strength the greatnesse of that strength which I do need here it is laid up for thee by me I come unto thee in the Name of Christ whose I am and I beseech thee abundantly to pardon me to supply all my need according to thy riches in glory SECT III. 3. A Third property of this Covenant is that it is a giving Covenant Gen. 17. 2. I will make my Covenant between thee and me in the Original It is a giving Covenant it is I will give thee my Covenant as God spake unto Phineas Num. 25. 12. I give unto him my Covenant of peace so he doth give a Covenant unto his people Isa 42. 6. I give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles Isa 55. 4. Behold I have given him for a witnesse to the people survey In it the Covenant all over you shall finde it to be a giving Covenant in all the particulars of it God gives himself to be ours therefore he is called our Husband Isa 54. 5. The husband gives himself to the wife so doth God to us God gives himself to be ours And he gives Christ he gave his onely begotten Sonne John 3. 16. and Christ did give himself Gal. 2. 20. He gives Christ And he gives his love Cant. 7. 12. There will I give thee my love His love His peace Eternal life His Spirit And he gives his peace John 14. 27. My peace I give unto you And he gives eternal life John 10. 28. I give unto them eternal life And he gives his Spirit He will give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. And he gives the new heart and the new spirit Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you A new heart And he
gives faith Vnto you it is given to believe Phil. 1. 29. By grace are Faith you saved through faith It is the gift of God Ephes 28. And he gives repentance Acts 11. 18. Then hath God given or granted unto Repentance the Gentiles repentance unto life And he gives mercy 2 Tim. 1. 16. The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus Mercy And he also freely gives us all things Rom. 8. 32. He gives grace and he gives All things gloây Psal 84. 11. And he gives unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by them we Great and precious promises might be partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. This Covenant is a Covenant of gifts all that God promiseth in it is given and all that God requires of us is given and all that we are to give again to God is first given unto us by God Reasons why it is so from And there are two reasons why this Covenant is an altogether giving Covenant 1. One is our universal brokennesse and impotency and insufficiency our sinful Our universal insufficiency fall hath so ship-wrack't and ruined us that we have nothing at all left us we are naked and poor and miserable Rev. 3. 17. Without strength Rom. 5. 6. Not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3. 5. What hast thou that thou hast not received I Cor. 4. 7. Such a brokân vessel is the sinner such a self-undoing and destitute creatures like the Prodigal who spent all and had neither bread nor rayment nor shoes nor any thing and therefore his father must provide all and give all he must give him housing and he must give him rayment and he must give him shoes for his feet and he must give him meat to eat and wine to drink Where the creature is universally miserable and utterly impotent there must be nothing but giving Mercy must give all or the sinner is undone 2. Another is Gods intenâion and purpose in this Covenant and that in the Gods intention and purpose in this Covenant praise of the glory of his grace Ephes 1. 6 His intent in making this Covenant is wholly and only to exalt himself to proclaime his own glory and therefore he will give all and the sinner is to receive all that all the glory and praise of mercy of grace of blessings may be returned unto himself alâne Rom. 11. 35. Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompânced unto him again Ver. 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whâm be glory for ever Amen Vse 1 If this Covenant be a giving Covenant then the poor and needy may traffique at it If it were a buying and selling Covenant in proper sense then Then the poor and needy may traffique at it poor sinners must despaire but it is a giving Covenant and therefore poor sinners have hope May not the poor who keep no house of their own yet go to the rich mans door where all is given When we survey our hearts and conditions we finde a world of wants and when we survey the Covenant we finde a Heaven of supplies Objection But then we fear and dispute and reason But how shall we get this mercy and gaine that blessing and enjoy that help We have nothing and we can bring nothing the Well indeed is deep but we have nothing to draw Sâl True but yet God can give all though you can bring nothing and according to the tenor of this Covenant He will give all the greatest and the least But will he give me food and rayment yes he will give you bread and he will give you double cloathing O But will he give me Grace yes he will give grace and glory O But will he give me Christ yes he will give his Christ that greatest gift that ever was given to sinners he is the gift of God O but will he give me mercy to pardon my sinnes and all my sinnes yes he will shew mercy and will forgive all thy sinnes whereby thou hast sinned against him O but will he give me Faith yes he will draw you to Christ and put forth an Almighty power to make you to believe O but will he give me another heart yes I will give thee a new heart c. O but I must pray if I would have these and I cannot pray why and it is his Covenant to give you the Spirit of grace and supplication Let these things quiet your sorrowful and troubled soules There is enough in the Covenant for you and all that is there is to be given 2. Be content to come and receive seeing God is pleased in this Covenant to be Be content to come and receive giving He is all upon the giving hand and we should be all upon the recâiving hand The giviâg works is Gods work and the receiving work is our work he findes the gift you must open your hand and take it O what a blessed Covenant is this wherein you may have all for asking and receiving Mat. 7. 7. Ask and it shall be given James 1. 5. If any of you lack wisdome let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and it shall be given him John 4. 10. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Now there are four qualities which if you could get them you Which we shall do if we have these qualities would then be content and willing to come unto God and beg of him and receive of him what he will give and without these you will not do so 1. One is poverty of spirit you must be poor in spirit the poor man speaks Poverty of spirit supplications saith Solomon It was poor Lazarus that came to the rich mans dâor and it is the poor sinner one who is truly sensible of his spiritual wants and miseries who will come to the door of mercy and cry out O Father of mercies give me mercy O God of grace give me grace O give me Christ c. If you be rich and encreased and stand in need of nothing as Laodicea was if you have enough of your own if you think that you are righteous and need not Christ and need not mercy c. you will never come to God and beg him to give you these 2. A second is humâlity of heart a proud man scornes to beg and scornes Humility of heart to receive he will not be beholding to any body it is the humble man who will acknowledge mercy and blesse for mercy and beg for mercy and be glad he may have mercy upon receiving termes God gives grace to the humble and the humble are thankfully contented to receive grace from God 3. A praying heart will be glad to be receiving A praying
made one of thy people but yet look on me graciously and bring me into the Bond of thy Covenant Thou sayest thou wilt give all and all freely O save me freely and love me freely and justifie me freely freely give me Christ and freely give me faith and freely give me mercy c. 3. Is the Covenant which God makes with us a gracious Covenant Let all in Covenant remember To be humble all their dayes Then let all who are brought into Covenant remember two things 1. To be humble all their dayes you differ indeed from other men now and you have a different relation from them and different conditions from them and different enjoyments from them and different hopes from them I but who or what made you thus to differ nothing in you nothing of your own you were in the same lump of sinne and confusion and in the same common Rode of destruction with other men it was the meer grace of God that made the difference it was his free love and his free mercy and his free Spirit and his free call and his free giving of Christ unto you and of faith unto you therefore do not blesse your selves but grace nor glory in your selves but in grace was it not the root which bred and bare the branches glory in the root but do not glory in your selves glory in the grace of God which is the only root of your lives hopes enjoyments all 2. Remember still that you are in a Covenant of grace The Covenant is not That you are still in a Covenant of grace a Covenant of grace only whiles you are brought in but it is a Covenant of grace after that you are brought in unto it you could finde nothing to rest on before nor must you finde any thing to rest on but the grace of God after that you are got into the Covenant of grace you shall find wants still and weaknesses still and unworthinesse still but withal remember that you are under a Covenant of grace still what 's that my meaning is that God will still deal with you in a gracious way and you may go unto him still upon his own gracious termes and as so expect continual helps and supplies from him Save me for thy mercies sake said David Receive us graciously said the Church As your admission into the Covenant owes it self wholly to the grace of God so your pleading and expectations and confidences must still look at the same grace for as he loves you freely so he blesseth you freely and as he hath done you much good already upon gracious reasons so he will continue to do you good and good all your dayes upon the same termes O how vainly and simply do we trouble and disquiet our own souls as if the gracious Covenant were sometimes free and sometimes not free that some of the things promised in the Covenant must drop out freely and yet other things must be pumped out by something of our own that the lesser mercies are free but the greater mercies must come off upon harder termes and conditions that our coming into Covenant this is all of grace but our receipts from the Covenant these are not so truly these are many times our thoughts but the Lord knows that the thoughts of man are vain and these are so for as we are found by grace and made by grace so we live and are brought up by grace till we come to glory And as our admissions into the Covenant are only gracious so all our receptions are so and must be so all our dayes that God alone may have all the glory SECT V. 5. A Fifth property of this Covenant is this It is an ordered Covenant a well-ordered Covenant 2 Sam. 23. 5. He hath made with me an everlasting This CovenaÌt is a well ordered Covenant Covenant ordered in all things and sure This Covenant is not a casual sudden rash confused indigested work but it is an ordered work it is made upon the counsel and wisdom and love and care of the infinite and perfect God and still so managed and carried on There are five things which do shew that this Covenant is an ordered Covenant and a well-ordered Covenant As appears 1. The adequate sutablenesse or answerablenesse of it to all and every one of the By the adequate sutablenesse of it to all a sinners wants sinners wants and straits and misâries and necessities and desires Let any want whatsoever befall a sinner let his strait and necessity be what it may be yet here is an help and here is a remedy and here is a sutable succour for him in this Covenant Do'st thou want a reconciled God here he is do'st thou want a Christ here he is do'st thou want faith holinesse patience meeknesse love any spiritual grace here it is dost thou want peace and rest and ease and joy and comfort for a troubled conscience here it is dost thou want any thing which respects thy soul here it is or any thing that respects thy body here it is take any sinner under any want at any time of his life the Covenant contains an answerable help and therefore it is an ordered Covenant and a well-ordered Covenant that Common Wealth is well-ordered where no wholesome Law and no wholesome Remedy is wanting for the people 2. The right placing of all persons and of all things in this Covenant By the right placing of all persons and all things in this Covenant things are well-ordered when they are well-placed a thing out of place is out of order when the Master is in his place and the servants in their place and the children in their place now the family is rightly ordered Now in the Covenant all the persons are set in their right places Christ keeps his place as Mediator and God the Father keeps his place as a Donor and the believing sinner his place as a receiver here it is revealed what Christ is to do and what the Father will do and what the believer is to do and all things are set in their right place not promiscuously and confusedly but with an orderly regard unto sinners every one hath a right proportion set out every one hath a right portion set out here is hope for one that despairs and here is ease for one that is laden and here is peace for one who is broken-hearted and here is mercy for one that is penitent and here is a Christ for one that hath faith and here is redemption for one in bondage and here is righteousnesse for one that is ungodly and here is graciousnesse for one that is unworthy and here is riches for one that is poor and here is help for one that is needy and here is strength for one that is weak and here is balme for one that is wounded mercy is well-ordered and comfort is well-ordered and a Mediator well-ordered and righteousnesse well-ordered c. 3. The motions or
Covenant before we do apply God himself and interest our selves in him to lay hold on his mercies before we lay hold on himself to appropriate the purchase of Christ before we do embrace and appropriate Christ himself this is to disorder and displace the Covenant which first propounds God himself and Christ himself to be received and then the portion of all good things promised after this 2. We do disjoyne the things in the Covenant which God hath ordered to come By disjoyning those things God hath put together By expecting the gifts of the Covenant without the reasons of the Covenant By limiting God in the dispensations of his Covenant together as when we will have the mercy of the Covenant but not the repentance of the Covenant and the hope in Christ from faith in Christ and the promised salvation without the promised holinesse which leads unto that salvation 3. We do expect the gifts of the Covenant without the reasons of the Covenant upon the account of our goodnesse and not upon the account of Gods graciousnesse 4. We do limit God in the dispensations of his Covenant in his answers helps and blessings to our time and to our measure and to our haste and do not submit and leave these to the times of his wisdome and faithfulnesse Vse 2 Is the Covenant of grace an ordered Covenant and a well-ordered Covenant then let no man ever think to enjoy God or any good from Gods Covenant but in that way which God himself hath declared you must believe and repent There is no enjoying God ãâã in his own way c. Vse 3 Is the Covenant an ordered Covenant then doubt not of the enjoyment of mercy and blessednesse you who are his people but come with confidence unto your God who hath ordered love and mercy and peace and comfort and His people should not doubt of the enjoyment of mercy blessings and happinesse for you SECT VI. 6. A Sixth property of this Covenant is this it is a holy Covenant Luke It is a holy Covenant 1. 72. To performe the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy Covenant Dan. 11. 28. His heart shall be against the holy Covenant Psal 105. 42. He remembred his holy promise c. The Covenant is stiled holy in sundry respects 1. In respect of the parties interested in the Covenant viz. God and his In respect of the parties interested in it people both of them are holy God is holy he is an holy God Josh 24. 19. Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty Rom. 4. 8. His people are holy that thou mayst be an holy people to the Lord thy God Deut. 26. 19. The people of thy holinesse Esay 63. 18. The holy people Dan. 12. 7. To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus 1. Cor. 1. 2. A holy Nation a peculiar people 1 Pet. 2. 9. The Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 3. 17. Although before we are brought into the Covenant we are a wicked and unholy defiled and polluted people yet when we are brought into the Covenant then we are made holy we are changed and washed and sanctified and are made partakers of his holinesse 2. In respect of the condition of the Covenant faith as you shall hear shortly In respect of the condition of the Covenant is the condition of this Covenant and true faith is a holy faith building up your selves in your most holy faith Jude ver 20. Purifying their hearts by faith Acts 15. 9. Which are sanctified by faith Acts 26. 18. Faith unites us to the holy Christ and to the holy God and draws holinesse from Christ and sets up that holy Christ in our hearts 3. In respect of the matter promised in the Covenant holinesse is one principal In respect of the matter promised thing promised in it God doth promise to give his holy Spirit Luke 11. 13. and to cleanse us from all iniquity Jer. 33. 8. and from all unrighteousnesse 1 John 1. 9. and to refine us with refining fire Mal. 3. 2. Hierusalem shall be holy Joel 3. 17. and to sanctifie us and purifie us I am the Lord who sanctifies you Lev. 20. 8. The God of peace sanctifie you wholly 1 Thes 5. 23. I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth John 17. 19. By the which will we are sanctified Heb. 10. 10. The change of a sinful heart the giving of a new heart and a new spirit the taking away the heart of stone and the giving of an heart of flesh the work of regeneration and of renovation these are expresly the matter in the Covenant 4. The Author of this Covenant doth expresly command holiness Be ye holy The Author of this Covenant commands holinesse for I am holy 1 Pet. 1. 16. Speak unto all the Congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy Lev. 19. 2. Whatsoever things are pious whatsoever things are lovely c. think on these things Phil. 4. 8. This is the will of God even your sanctification 1 Thes 4. 3. Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. 5. This Covenant doth exceedingly encourage holinesse Blessed are the pure The Covenant doth encourage holinesse in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5. 8. Blessed are the undefiled in the way Psal 119. 1. Being now become the servants of God ye have your fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life Rom. 6. 22. God is glorious in holinesse Exod. 15. 11. The Saints are the excellent on the earth Psal 16. 3. Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by sacrifice Psal 50. 5. This honour have all his Saints Psal 149. 9. He will keep the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2. 9. The Lord forsaketh not his Saints Psal 37. 28. He preserveth the souls of his Saints Psal 97. 10. He delivereth them out of the hands of the wicked ibid. The Saints shall judge the world 1 Cor. 6. 8. When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints 2 Thes 1. 10. 6. All about the Covenant respects holinesse and makes for holinesse all that work of renovation promised in the Covenant all that deliverance promised All about the Covenant respects holiness in the Covenant is that now we should serve the Lord in holinesse and righteousnesse all the mercies promised lead to holinesse to the love of God to the fear of God to repentance all the glory and happinesse there promised take in holinesse as a way thereunto the Christ there is made unto us sanctification as well as redemption the Spirit of Christ is there to sanctifie and there to comfort and seal us the two broad seals of the Covenant have holinesse written in them baptisme is a Laver
2. That all is sure in the Covenant that there is no difference of any good which God hath promised as to the graciousnesse and as to the certainty of giving why all the good of the Covenant is freely given unto you and shall certainly be given unto you and therefore you who are the people of God be not satisfied with the little which you have but enlarge your hearts and enlarge your desires and enlarge your confidences for there is much more in the Covenant than as yet you have got out of the Covenant and there it is laid up for you and it will be as surely performed as any blessing which hitherto you have enjoyed Beloved the Covenant is not sure in one paâââ and unsure in another part this mercy promised is sure but that mercy promised is unsure the lesser is sure but the greater is unsure but all of it and all in it are sure pardon of lesser sinnes is sure and pardon of greater sinnes is sure yea pardon of all your sinnes is sure and as a pardoning mercy is sure so healing mercy is sure and helping mercy is sure God will as certainly heal and renew your hearts as he will pardon your sinful doings and God will as certainly subdue your strong corruptions and powerful temptations as he will do you any other good and he will as surely give you peace in conscience and Christ and eternal life and the joyes of the holy Ghost as well and as certainly as he hath given any truth of grace to you You think this may be had and that may be had but you seldome come up with faith to believe that all shall be had O Sirs we frequently forget that the Covenant of God is a sure Covenant and sure in all things but let us strive to raise our faith unto that heighth and to that latitude that all the Covenant is sure there is not one word of it which it shall fail God will surely performe all his good promises of the Covenant what you possesse you think is sure yea and all that God promiseth is sure and therefore stir up your hearts and look up to God with as much confidence for all which yet you want be it never so much and never so great for God will surely make good all his Covenant to you you have found the Covenant sure in many things O but the Covenant is sure in all things all the promises of God are Yea and Amen c. 3. Be not discouraged nor despond nor despair for the Covenant Be not discouraged is sure there are foure times when our hearts are very apt to faile us 1. One is long delayes of earnest prayers See Psal 22. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so farre from helping me and from the words of my roaring Verse 2. O my God I cry in the day-time but thou hearest not and in the night-season and am not silent 2. Another is seeming dislike and discouragement of seeking Lam. 3. 7. He hath made my chaine heavy Ver. 8. Also when I cry and shout he shutteth out my prayers Matth. 15. 23. He answered her not a word Verse 24. I am not sent but to the lost sheep of Israel Ver. 26. It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs 3. A third is a sensible contradicting or denial of our requests as Heztkiah spake for peace I have great bitternesse So when we pray for peace in conscience then we feel more distresse and trouble in conscience and when we pray against temptations then we finde more powerful and violent temptations and when we pray for deliverance from sinne we then feel more strong assaults and turbulent motions of sin 4. A fourth is when Gods dealings of providence seem quite opposite to his undertakings in his promise Judges 6. 12. The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour said the Angel to Gideon Ver. 13. And Gideon said unto him If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us and where are all his miracles which our fore-fathers told us of Did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Midianices neither hast thou delivered thy people at all Exod. 5. 23. And so David to whom God promised a Kingdome but instead thereof he was banished the Kingdome and his life was sought for and pursued by Saul whereupon he concludes instantly that all men are lyars Psal 116. 11. In all these cases and many more we are very apt to be discouraged and to question at least the surenesse of Gods Covenant and to cry out with David Psal 77. 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Ver. 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Ver. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Neverthelesse notwithstanding all these contigencies and seeming contrarieties and manifold delays and strange dealings of God with his people his Covenant with them is sure and it shall certainly be performed as no work of man so no work of God doth or shall frustrate the Covenant of God with his people Therefore for the better support of your hearts under all these dealings of God with you carefully remember a few positions 1. They are tryals of our faith but no testimonies of Gods unfaithfulnesse He that sits in darknesse and sees no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay himself upon the God of Jacob Isa 50. 10. We think that we dare to rely on the word of promise as a truth of God as a sure word which will not faile us Now God by these contrary dealings tries the faith of his servants there is still my promise to hear and to do you good and here to your sense and feeling is something directly contrary unto it Can you in this condition glorifie my good and faithful Word Though all these clouds arise yet the Sun will break forth though all this befalls me I shall yet see him to be the help of my countenance and my God his Word is a tryed Word I will not fail God who cannot lye hath promised Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13. 15. why Beloved this is one principal end of Gods dealing with us in ways contrary to his promises namely to try and to demonstrate what our faith is in his promises 2. They are reasons of our patience but no characters of Gods change be ye followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises saith the Apostle in Heb. 6. 12. God is pleased to hide himself from our prayers and seems to neglect them in this he tries our faith and God is pleased many times to delay his answers in this he exercises our patience he will be acknowledged not only as a
God and thou becamest mine 4. That the Lord doth love his people with a most tender love therefore he is With a most tender love said to betroth them unto himself in loving kindnesse and in mercies Hosea 2. 19. Loving kindnesse is a most affectionate love and mercies are tender bowels of love his love is more tender than the tenderest love of the mother to her sucking childe Isa 49. 15. yea his love is such to his people that he delights in them Isa 62. 4. and rejoyceth over them ver 5. and doth rest in his love Zeph. 3. 17. 5. That the Lord doth love his people with a love from everlasting With a love from everlasting to everlasting and to everlasting Jer. 31. 3. Yea I have loved them with an everlasting love Hosea 2. 19. I will marry thee unto my self for ever in loving kindnesse Certainly the Covenant 'twixt God and his people must hold and continue for ever it must last for ever where there is such a love of God to his people viz. such a love to them as to Christ himself such a love from which nothing shall be able to separate such a love as depends only upon his own love and which is so tender and so affectionate and is everlasting If a Covenant made only by love and if a people brought into that Covenant only by love and loved at such a rate and height even to the giving of the Sonne of God to save them I say if yet such a Covenant may be broken and if such a people may be cast off then is the truest and faithfullest love and bond never to be trusted more neither can be sure if this love be not sure 3. The power of God in relation to his people in Covenant which is a securing The power of God which is A securing power and preserving power 1. A securing power it secures their union with and relation unto Christ and that for ever peruse that excellent place in John 10. 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me Ver. 28. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand Ver. 29. My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Here is a description of such as are believers and are in Covenant they are called the Sheep of Christ and such as he knows and owns to be so and they hear his voice and follow him here is also a description of their sure and safe condition they shall never perish they shall never be parted from Christ ver 28. and here is a description of the cause or reason thereof viz. the greatnesse of the power of God He is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my hands as if he had said If these should misse of heaven and if these should perish it must be for want of power in me that I am not able to keep them some other power there must be which is stronger than the power of God by whose hand they are held and kept but my Father is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of his hands therefore they shall never perish but they shall have eternal life and if so then the Covenant 'twixt God and his people is an everlasting Covenant 2. A preserving power that God preserves his people the Scripture doth abundantly A preserving power testifie unto us and if I can make it evident that he by his power preserves them unto everlasting glory I think then that the everlastingnesse of the Covenant will appear unto you and for that see 1 Pet. 1. 5. who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation Mark he speaks of the people whom ver 2. he calls the elect of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit and ver 3. begotten again and of those he saith that they are kept by what power by the power of God by what means through faith unto what unto salvation untill they come to receive that incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that fades not away which is reserved in heaven for them ver 3. 2 Tim. 4. 18. The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me to his heavenly Kingdome 2 Thess 5. 23. I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Ver. 24. Faithful is he that callâth you who also will do it why what can more clearly demonstrate the everlastingnesse of the Covenant with the people of God than this that they are kept by the power of God unto salvation that they are preserved unto his heavenly Kingdome that God will preserve their whole spirit and their whole soul and their whole body blamelesse unto the coming of Christ 4. The presence of God with his people he is so present with his people The presence of God with his people that he is said to be nigh unto them and to be with them and to go along with them and to hold them in his hand and to hold their hand and to bear them up nay so as to dwell in them and walk in them and this presence it is a watchful presence Isa 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day and it is such a powerful presence you need no other and no more but Gods presence if he be with you who can be against you I will tell you Gods presence is enough to comfort you and it is enough to strengthen you and it is enough to uphold you and it is enough to raise you and it is enough to protect you and it is enough to save you If God be present with your hearts this is enough to make your graces to act If God be present with your graces this is enough to strengthen them and enough to preserve them Now God is present with every one of his people as to their bodies as to their souls as to their graces and in a special manner and for ever I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the Lord is round about his people for evermore c. 5. The promises of God these also do cleare the everlastingnesse The promises of God God promiseth to work in his people what mâkes them stâdfast as A real work of grace of the Covenant which I shall shew unto you in six particulars 1. God doth promise to work in his people whatsoever conduceth on their part to the perpetuity or everlastingnesse of the Covenant There are five things which will make us stedfast and firme in Covenant 1. One is a real work of grace on the heart when the heart is indeed changed or renewed though counterfeit grace will faile yet real grace is permanent And God
Covenant because he is a third person engaged not so much for God as unto God on our behalf that all that we are obliged for in Covenant unto God shall be truly and faithfuly made good and performed He as our surety stands bound to fill us with those graces to give us those affections and to supply us with such a sufficiency of strength as for ever to cleave unto the Lord in dependance and love and to walk before him in truth and to serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all out dayes 2. The Mediatorship of Christ you know that he is stiled the Mediator of The Mediatorship of Christ the Covenant Heb. 12. 24. You know that this is one difference 'twixt the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace that had no Mediator but this hath there God dealt with Adam as a righteous person and Adam had no other bottome and foundation for his standing but his own created righteousnesse as long as he kept that the Covenant remained and when he lost that the Covenant was broken for there was no Mediator to make up the breach But now for the Covenant of grace there is a Mediator upon whose shoulder the weight of the Covenant rests and as long as that Mediator lasts which is for ever so long that Covenant of grace shall last This Mediator is Jesus Christ who as Mediator doth confirm the Covenant by satisfying for sinne and making peace and reconciliation not suffering any enmity and difference to remain between God and his people but he doth if I may so expresse it keep up the League 'twixt them both by his merit with the Father and by his Spirit with believers by his Priestly Office he establisheth peace with God and by his Kingly Office he establisheth the hearts of the children of God his very Office as Mediator is to unite God and us together and to preserve that union for ever if at any time we sinne we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sinnes and when we are weak he then puts out his strength to conquer temptations for us All these things considered it is clear that because of Christs Mediatorship the Covenant of grace must be everlasting 3. The union 'twixt Christ and the people of the Covenant That there is an The union betwixt Christ and his people union 'twixt Christ and believers is most evident in Scripture I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine so the Church speaks of Christ Cant. 6. 3. in respect of which union Christ and believers are stiled the head and the body Eph. 1. 22. A foundation and a building Eph. 2. 20 21. 1 Pet. 2. 4 5. A Vine and the branches John 15. 5. A husband and wife 2 Cor. 11. 2. Eph. 5. 32. And Christ dwells in us and we in him John 6. 54. He lives in us Galatians 2. 20. Christ liveth in me and we live in him Col. 3. 3. This union 'twixt Christ and us it hath two properties It is 1. Unio arcta a very near union so near is that union that in a proportion it doth answer the union 'twixt Christ and God his Father John 17. 22. That they may be one even as we are one and that we are entitled with the very Name of Christ himself 1 Cor. 12. 12. and that we are said to die with Christ and to live and rise with Christ and our sufferings are stiled his sufferings Col. 1. 24. and the persecution of Christians the persecution of Christ Acts 9. 4 5. Why persecutest thou me 2. Firma a very firm and lasting union therefore our marriage with him is called an everlasting marriage Hosea 2. 19. And Christ saith of every believer who hath union with him that he dwells in him John 6. 56. that he will not lose him ver 39. that he hath everlasting life ver 47. that he shall not die but live for ever ver 50 51. And indeed by vertue of this union with Christ all believers do enjoy an everlasting influence and an everlasting communion with God in Christ c. 4. The love of Christ unto believers who are the people of God in Covenant The love of Christ unto believers the Scriptures are very high in the expression of it John 15. 9. As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my love Ephes 5. 2. Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Rev. 1. 5. Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood John 13. 1. Having loved his own he loved them to the end Ephes 3. 19. The love of Christ which passeth knowledge His love is a fruitful love a watchful love an intire love a faithful love an helpful love and a preserving and upholding love is it imaginable that Jesus Christ having so much love to die for his people that they might not perish will after that leave them unto themselves that they may break the Covenant and so perish 5. The prayers and intercession of Christ the intercession of Christ is everlasting The prayers and Intercession of Christ He ever lives to make intercession he is our Advocate who appeares for us and our Intercessor who speaks for us and his prayers and intercession do prevail with the Father Thou hearest me alwayes Joh. 11. 42. Now you may read of four Petitions which Christ did put up for his for their constancy and perseverance in the Covenant Luke 22. 32. I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Joh. 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Joh. 17. 11. Holy Father keep through thine own Name those that thou hast given me Ver. 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word Joh. 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me before the foundation of the world 6. Christs promises and preparations and what are these Rom. 8. 1. Thâre is Christs promises and preparations no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Mark 16. 16. He that believeth shall be saved John 3. 16. Whosoever believeth in him shall nât perish but have eternal life John 14. 2. In my Fathers house are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you 7. I might adde to all these the work of Christ on the hearts of believers in destroying The work of Christ on the hearts of believers the works of the devil in crucifying of their lusts in healing of their natures in quickening of their graces in conquering of temptations in drawing out their affections c. 8. The titles of Christ 1. Our Rock 2.
Israel were both under the same Covenant Exod. 34. 27. I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel If any doubt under what Covenant Moses did stand whether of works or grace let him peruse Heb. 11. 26. what a description he shall there finde of Moses He shall there finde him to be a Choice and eminent believer in Christ Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt and having respect to the recompence of reward c. Now certainly such a choice believer in Christ was not under a Covenant of work 4. That Covenant which was confirmed by blood and sprinkling which typified the blood of Christ confirming and ratifying the Covenant was no Covenant of works But the Covenant which God then made with the Israelites was confirmed by blood Exod. 24. 7. Moses took the book of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient verse 8. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words Now this very place is quoted by the Apostle in Heb. 9. 19. He sprinkled both the book and the people verse 20. saying This is the blood of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you and expresly interprets it and applies it to the blood of Christ verse 14. and veâse 23. And therefore that Covenant with that people was not a Covenant of works which never was nor shall be confirmed by the blood of Christ 5. That Covenant which did so convince of sin that it did also shew the way of expiation of sin and of forgivenesse could not be a Covenant of works for that Covenant convinces and condemns But this Covenant at Mount Sinai shewed sin and the way of forgiveness for it taught men to look for forgiveness in the blood of Christ specified in the sacrifices 6. If the Law had been given to the Israelites for a Covenant of Woâks Then upon the breaking of that Covenant all the Israelites had been cut off from all hope of salvation My Reason is this Because a Covenant of Works once broken presently condemns and as to it Salvation therefore becomes impossible it not at all admitting of repentance or of mercy or of a righteousness and satisfact on by another But there was no such Covenant made with the Israelites as the sinning against which did make their salvation thus desperate but that upon repentance they might be received to mercy And for this see Deut. 4. 29. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt finde him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soule verse 30. When thou aât in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee even in the latter dayes if thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient to his voice verse 31. For the Lord thy God is a mercifull God he will not destroy thee nor forsake thee nor forget the Covenant of thy Fathers which he sware unto them Lo here is a way prescribed for repentance in case of transgressions And here is mercy and acceptance in case of repentance and all this in reference to the Covenant made with their Fathers and with them And are any of these to be found in a Covenant of works or upon the transgression of it 7. It had been strange kindnesse in God to help the Children of Israel out of Egypt by an out-stretched arm and after this to make such a Covenant with them that they should never have found mercy nor salvation as in a Covenant of works there is not 3. The Covenant made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai was at least subserviently the Covenant of Grace and given for gracious ends and purposes The Covenant at Mount Sinai was at lâast subserviently the Covenant of grace I say a Covenant of Grace for the substance of it though propounded in a more dark way and in a manner fitting for the state of that people and that present time and condition of the Church namely so as to convince them of sin and of their own impotency and of the great need of Christ and to flie for mercy to God revealed in Christ and to be a Rule of life for a people in Covenant with God that so they might inherit the promises of mercy Gal. 3. 19. The Law was added because of transgressions verse 24. The Law was our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified through faith This assertion I shall endeavour to make out unto you from the Word As appears by of God 1. The Praeludium unto the Law makes much for this Read it in Exod. 19. 5. The Praeludium of the Law If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant Then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people verse 6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation And the Apostle makes use of these expressions and applies them to those who are in the Covenant of grace in 1 Pet. 2. 9. But ye are a chosen Geneeration a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar peoâle c. And verse 10. Which in times past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy Now I beseech you mark me Is there any Covenant unlesse that of grace wherein the Lord doth thus own and thus exalt a people Is it not meerly of the grace of God in Christ by whom we are made Kings and Priests to God Is it imaginable that any people should be as it were Gods own proper goods which he loveth which he sets his heart upon which he keeps in store for himself for his own special use which he will not part withall which God accounts as his rare and exquisite and precious treasure as all this the word Segulah doth signifie and yet this people are not in a Covenant of grace The immediate Introduction to the giving of the Law 2. The immediate Introdâction unto the giving of the Law Exod. 20. 2. I am the Lord thy God which have c. why there is the very Covenant of grace here is God as our God and blessed are the people who have the Lord to be their God and here is Jesus Christ the Mediator of the Covenant implied for in Christ doth God become our God and there is our redemption from sin and Satan intimated by their deliverance out of Egypt and presently there is the worship of God instituted and appointed which if acceptable to God must be performed with faith for without faith it is impossible to please God God would not command his people so to worship him as to displease him Lev. 26. 12. I will set my Tabernacle amongst you and my soul shall not abhor
unto it in holinesse of conversation The condition in which sinners lie whiles under the Law and the curse thereof and without Christ is set forth in the 18 19 20 21. verses I will give you the The Words opened summe of it They have to do with God as a terrible Judge sitting on the Throne of his Justice This is represented by Mount Sinai that burned with fire and where theâe was blackness and darkness and tempest verse 18. All which shew unto us that dreadful and burning wrath of God against sinners and when he manifests himself unto them as their offended Judge then they are filled with confusion and perplexity and horror They can neither fly from this God nor yet abide his dreadful presence this is set out in verse 19. 20. as if nothing but death were to be expected and present destruction And truely the manifestations of God were then so terrible that Moses himself said I exceedingly fear and quake ver 21. No not the most righteous person is able to stand before God as a âudge But now let us consider the other estate unto which Believers in Christ are brought by the Gospel This is set forth in verse 22 23 24. But ye are come unto Mount Sion the heavenly Jerusalem instead of Mount Sinai which was the seat of wrath ye are come to Mount Sion which is the throne of Grace And unto the City of the living God ye are not now in a wilderness condition but brought into a resting place into the heavenly Jerusalem which is the vision of peace where being reconciled by Christ you do abide and enjoy the living God for your God And to Myriades or innumerable company of Angels even the Angels are fellow-Citizens with you in the heavenly Jerusalem and in this life your fellow-servants and Ministers To the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven Through Christ ye are made members of the true Catholick Church of the Elect and of all Believers whose names are inrolled in heaven written in the book of life predestinated unto grace and glory And unto God the judge of all who will condemn and punish his adversaries and absolve comfort and reward and save his people according to his faithfull promises And to the Spirits of just men made perfect To the Church triumphant in heaven which is freed from all sin and misery and partakes of perfect holiness and happiness to which you have now a present right and of which are long you shall by Christ have a sure enjoyment with them that are already entred into that Possession And to Jesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant Ye are under a Covenant of grace which proclaimes remission of sin and of which Christ himself is Mediatour and Surety by whom God is satisfied and reconciled And to the blood of sprinkling to the partaking of this blood which was shed for the remission of sins and to cleanse us from sin so that you are now justified and sanctified by him which speaketh better things than that of Abel The blood of Abel spake and cryed out against Cain for curse and vengeance but the blood of Jesus Christ speaks to God for mercy and pardon of sin and peace and life and is effectual for these Thus you see into what a surpassing condition the Gospel brings believers in Christ and of what efficacy the Apostles exhortation of them to holiness should therefore be CHAP. VII The Covenant of Grace considered in relation to Christ the Mediatour THIS last verse I have purposely chosen to carry on farher the discourse of the Covenant of Grace in relation to Christ Jesus as Mediatour The Covenant of Grace considered ân relation to Christ as Mediatour thereof And let me tell you that herein lies the strongest hopes and the sweetest comforts and the surest grounds that we sinners have that as there is a New Covenant a Covenant of Grace so that Jesus Christ is the Mediatour thereof For set Jesus Christ aside as Mediatour in this Covenant there would be no admission of sinners into it nor any participation of the good things in it nor any ability of our standing or abiding in it I finde in Scripture a seven-fold relation that Jesus Christ hath to the Covenant Christ hath a seven-fold relation to the Covenant He is the substance of the Covenant The principal confederate party 1. He is the substance of the Covenant even the Covenant itself Isa 42. 6. I will give thee for a Covenant of the people Isa 49. 8. He is our very peace and our very life and our very salvation and if I may not be mistaken he it is that fulfils and makes the Covenant good on both sides 2. He is the principal confederate party As Adam was in that Covenant of works standing for himself and all his posterity so Jesus Christ in this Covenant of Grace for himself and all that believe on him Heb. 1. 5. I will be to him a Father and be shall be to me a Son 1 Joh. 20. 17. I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God 3. He is the Messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. The Messenger of the Covenant The Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in He it is who opens and reports unto us the good will of his Father and the gracious love of the Father and what hath past and hath been agreed on 'twixt the Father and him touching our salvation he reveals this Covenant and treats with sinners about it and shews them the way how to come in and prevailes with them by his Spirit 4. He is the Witness of the Covenant Isa 55. 4. Behold I have given him The Witness of the Covenant for a Witness to the people Rev. 1. 5. From Jesus Christ the faithful witness c. He testifies to the Covenant by word and deed and oath and his testimony is true 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy all acceptation that Jesus Christ is come into the world to save sinners He is the Yea and Amen to every word of promise and grace that God hath spoken concerning us that it is good and true that God hath said it and that he will performe it 5. He is the Surety of the Covenant Heb. 7. 22. Jesus was made a Surety of The Surety of the Covenant a better Testament and Covenant As God is in some respect a Surety for Christ Isa 52 13. Behold my servant shall deale prudently so Christ is a Surety for God undertaking that his Father shall perform what he hath promised Joh. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out verse 38. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me verse 39. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all
out to your God for all the mercy and for all the good and for all the blessings which your soules do need Heb. 4. 16. Come boldly unto the throne of grace that ye may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need God hath put his seal to the Covenant that it is sure and Christ hath put his seal to the Covenant that it is sure Now do you put your seal to the Covenant that it is faithful and sure your believing is your sealing He that hath received his Testimony hath set to his seal that God is true Joh. 3. 33. There are four Arguments which do testifie that we have set our seal to the Covenant that we do indeed believe that it is surely established and surely confirmed by Christ so that it will not faile to be of force and efficacy unto us 1. If we be much in drawing near to God entreating him to remember his word of Covenant It is good for me to draw near to God He hath not said seek ye me in vain 2. If we be much in rejoycing in the word of the Covenant and in the death of Christ confirming it to us If the blood of Christ will hold I shall not fail and yet I have bond and seal sure enough 3. If we still patiently wait on God expecting the performance of his sealed sworn and confirmed Covenant I will wait for the God of my salvation I will look for him my God will hear me 4. If we oppose and strive to silence all unbelieving suggestions against the fidelity of the Covenant Psal 42. 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the help of my countenance and my God Psal 73. â6 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Tit. 1. 2. God who cannot lie hath promised Vse 3 Hath Jesus Christ our Mediatour confirmed the Covenant by his death Then O Christian keep up thy Faith and draw out thy faith and exceedingly rejoyce Keep up thy faith and draw it out in Christ for thy estate is sure and thy soul is sure and thy salvation is sure all is sure because all is surely confirmed by the death of Christ The death of Christ was a ratification to the whole Testament to the whole Covenant and to every part and title of it and as sure as Christ hath died so sure art thou to enjoy all that God hath Covenanted with thee for there shall not fail one word of all the good he which hath promised Object Not one word not one good thing Sol. N. o not any one why then Mercy shall be thine and Grace shall be thine and Peace shall be thine and Joy shall be thine and Glory and Salvation shall be thine for all these and more than these are promised by God in his Covenant and are sealed by his death Quest It is a poor dispute of Popish and low spirits against the certainty of a Christian How can you possibly attain unto assurance and how can any man be sure of Gods love and of Gods mercy and of his salvation Sol. Indeed upon the grounds that they go upon no man can be sure for 1. They lay a foundation of their own works and of their own righteousness and of their own free will upon which assurance can never be built 2. But as the Apostle spake in another case we have a most sure word of Prophesie so the Christian hath very sure ground for grace mercy and glory He hath the sure Covenant of God he hath the sure Oath of God and he hath the sure blood of Jesus Christ God hath brought him into Covenant and he will surely perform all his Covenant you have the Oath of God for it and you have the blood of Christ for it that all shall be surely and certainly accomplished And therefore O Christian rejoyce in believing for God will surely bless thee will surely keep thee will strengthen thee and will surely save thee SECT VII Quest 7. THere is one Question more which I mentioned in the beginning What Christ still doth for his people as Mediatour viz. What Jesus Christ still doth fâr his people in Covenant unto whom he is a Mediatour Sol. For answer unto this be pleased to consider that the works of Christ our Mediatour are distingushed into five sorts 1s Those of his Life on Earth 2. Those of his Death 3. Those of his Resurrection 4. Those of his Ascention 5. Those of his Session at the right hand of God the Father in heaven Of these last I shall only speak at this time The works of Christ as Mediator are considerable under a three-fold notion 1. As to the susception of and engagement for them Heb. 10. 7. 9. Then said he Lo I come to do thy will O God in the volume of the book it is written of me In this respect Christ applied himself to the work of a Mediatour before he came into the world and assumed our Nature by way of condescention and compact 2. As to the performance and execution of them Thus he acted them being on earth in becoming man or God Incarnated and fulfilling all righteousness in respect of his Active and Passive obedience which were both satisfactory and meritorious 3. As to the application of all in time unto us and this is the great work of Christ now in heaven for us as our Mediatour this is a very choice Point and I would speak unto it First in general That Jesus Christ doth act or work for his people as now exalted and sitting at the right hand of God in heaven Secondly in opening the special work that eminent work of Christ in heaven for his people on earth 1. That Jesus Christ doth think on his servants and doth act or work for them Jesus Christ doth act for his people at the right hand of his Father he being now in heaven the Scriptures plainly affirm Heb. 9. 24. Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figure of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us as an Atturney appears for his Client 1 Joh. 2. 1. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous the Advocate pleads c. verse 2. And Arguments to demonstrate ât he is the Propitiation for our sins Besides these Scriptures there are several Arguments to demonstrate it 1. His Office drth still continue although he be now in heaven Heb. 4. 14. His Office doth still continue We have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Heb. 7. 16. He is a Priest made not after the Law of a carnal Commandement but after the power of an endlesse life verse 17. For he testifieth Thou art a Priest for ever
Christ and why do you not go to God freely to give you Christ What can you say or object when God promiseth to give you all and to give you all upon gracious terms how would you have God to frame and form his Covenant better or otherwise to encourage your hearts to come unto him and rely upon him ãâã you be wholly beholding to God or would you not are you contented that God should have all the glory of mercies or are you not Is it any disadvantage to the working of your faith that God will pass by all your sins and unworthiness and will love you freely and justifie you freely and save you freely Is there any more reason to distrust God when he saith he will do you good for his own sake then when he saith I will be merciful to your transgressions and will freely bless you Had you rather be under a Covneant of works than of grace would it please you better to come by your mercies upon harder terms You find that you have nothing of worthiness and yet you are not content to receive all from Gods graciousness why do you pray that God would do you good for his own sake and yet you will not believe that that is reason enough to prevail and enjoy I will say no more but this 1. The blessings of the Covenant are worth our enjoying 2. God doth promise to give them 3. His own graciousness is the price or reason of it 4. Upon better or other terms it is impossible to attain them 5. It is for want of faith that we do not justifie this unspeakable loving-kindness of God towards us O beg for faith to believe a God Covenanting to give all good and all good though not for our sake yet for his own Name sake Ezek. 36. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you HAving finished those four general Conclusions I shall now handle the Gifts of the Covenant in particular mentioned in this verse and in the subsequent verses In this verse there is promised unto the people of God the Remission of their sins concerning which you may observe 1. The Efficient I will c. 2. The Matter clean water 3. The Form or Manner I will sprinkle upon you 4. The Power and Efficacy And ye shall be clean 5. The Quantity or Extent from all your filthinesse and from all your Idols will I cleanse you From these parts there are these four Points which do offer themselves to our consideration 1. That forgiveness of sins is promised and one of the first mercies promised by himself unto all his people in Covenant with him 2. Gods promise of forgiveness of sins doth extend to all the sinnes of all his people 3. Though the sins of people have been exceeding great yet when they become Gods people in Covenant even those sins also are forgiven 4. The blood of Christ is the cause and the only cause for which many and great sins are pardoned 5. That God will make unto the Conscience of his people a particular application of forgiveness by the blood of Christ CHAP. II. Doct. 1 THat forgivenesse of sins is promised and it is one of the first promised mercies by God himself unto all his people in covenant with him I will sprinkle c. This is a very comprehensive Assertion Forgiveness of sins one of the first mercies promised by God to all his people in Covenant consisting of many Particular Branches For the opening of it I shall shew unto you 1. What forgiveness of sins is wherein it doth consist 2. That God himself doth make promise of it unto his people 3. That it is promised unto all and every one of his people 4. That it is one of the first mercies promised by God unto his people SECT I. Quest 1. VVHat is forgiveness of sins and wherein doth it consist Forgivenesse of sins described Sol. It is a gracious act or work of God for Christs sake discharging and absolving believing and repenting persons from the guilt and punishment of their sinnes so that God is no longer displeased with them nor will he ever remember them any more nor call them to an account and condemn them for their sinnes but will look on them and will deale with them as if they had never offended him Here we must pause awhile and consider six things First That forgivenesse of sinnes is a gracious act of God there be some acts It is a gracious act of God of God which have a special reference unto his power as the Creation of the world and the resurrection of the dead There be other acts of God which have a special reference unto his Justice as the condemnation and destruction of unbelieving and impenitent sinners And there are some acts of God which have a special reference unto his meer goodness and graciousness there being no Reason or Cause of them on our parts such an act is his Remission or forgiveness of our sins Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my Name sake Eph. 1. 7. The forgivenesse of sins according to the riches of his grace Psal 51. 1. Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindnesse according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Rom. 3. 25. Being justified freely by his grace Not that Repentance is not required in the sinner who is to be pardoned For the Scripture speaks expresly of a turning from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God that we may receive forgivenesse of sinnes Acts 26. 18. Not that Believing is not required in the sinner to be forgiven for the Apostle Peter saith also expresly Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10. 43. but because these are not Reasons or meritorious causes for whose sake God doth forgive any man his sins they declare the effect who are pardoned not the cause why they are pardoned Secondly The forgivenesse of sinnes hath foundation in Christ and in him only It hath foundation in Christ as the Mediatour as the meritorious cause thereof Hebr. 9. 22. Without shedding of blood is no remission Matth. 26. 28. This is my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins Ephes 1. 7. In his blood we have redemption even the forgivenesse of sins 1 Joh. 2. 12. I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his Names sake Forgiveness of sins hath a double respect One unto our selves so it comes unto us freely from the grace of God as a free gift Another unto Christ so it comes by way of purchase and merit it doth cost us nothing but it did cost Jesus Christ his precious blood to obtain the remission of our sins and to make peace for us Now Christ comes in as the cause of
they have been made the people of Gods Covenant their sins have been forgiven Mary Magdalen had her sins forgiven and Paul had his sins forgiven c. Again of the people of God some are weaker and some are stronger and both of them have their sins forgiven Acts 10. 43. Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins 1 Joh. 2. 12. I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his Names sake Once more of the people of God some have clear and fuller apprehensions of pardoning mercy others have more dark and doubtful disputes about it the strong believer who hath assurance and the weak believer who is troubled with doubts both of them are forgiven all of them may say with Paul Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Arguments to demonstrate it Ver. 34. Who is be that condemneth it is Christ that dyed And there are four Arguments which demonstâate this truth unto us First All who are in Christ have their sins forgiven them but all the people who are in Covenant with God are in Christ my reason for that is this because only in and by Christ God becomes our God there our relation riseth Ergo. For the first Proposition that is a clear truth viz. That all who are in Christ have their sins forgiven them for Christ himself saith This is my blood which is shed for many for remission of sins Matth. 26. 28. and Matth. 1. 21. He shall save his people from their sins and the Apostle saith there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. And he hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thes 1. 10. And that we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. Now mark if Christ saves his people from their sins and if he shed his blood for the remission of their sins if by Christ they are freed from condemnation and from wrath and God is reconciled unto them and through him they have good reason to joy in God then unquestionably all who are in Christ have their sins forgiven them for else how could they joy in God c. this is one Argument to demonstrate that God forgives all his people in Covenant Secondly All penitent and believing persons have the forgiveness of sins but all the people whom God brings into Covenant with himself are penitent and believing persons Ergo. The first of these Propositions is so clear and open in many places of Scripture that it is needless to quote any plâce you may at leisure peruse all those promises of forgiveness unto repenting and believing persons mentioned before And the second Proposition is as clear for repentance and faith are Covenant gifts and given unto such whom God owns for his people and to none but such for God owns none for his people in a Covenant way who are impenitent and unbelieving Thirdly There are no enemies in the Covenant of Grace none who hate God and none whom God hates none who set themselves against him and none against whom he sets himself but the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of life and of love and of peace Deut. 30. 6. Hos 14. 4. Cant. 2. 3. Isa 62. 4. 2 Cor. 6. 18. Rom. 5. 1. Ezek. 16. 61. All in this Covenant love God and God loves them they delight in God and God delights in them they walk with God and God is said to dwell in them and to walk in them they have peace with God and God is at peace with them he is their Father and they are his sons and daughters if this be so and so it is if we do believe the Scriptures which say so expresly then assuredly all who are in Covenant have their sins pardoned for such mutual love and such mutual delight and such mutual dwelling and such mutual peace and such mutual relation there cannot possibly be unless sins were forgiven and all enmity slain Fourthly There is no damnation that ever was yet to be found in the Covenant of Grace salvation you find there but damnation was never read of there He that believes shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3. 15 16. there is damnation for refusing not for entring sinners who before they were in Covenant were obnoxious to damnation for their sins are now delivered from it by coming into the Covenant never was or shall any person be damned who is in Covenant and hath God for his God for they are blessed who have the Lord to be their God But if their sins were not forgiven they were not blessed for blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven Rom 4 7. Neither should they be saved but must perish for ever and dye in their sins And thus you see this part of the Proposition of forgiveness of sins cleared also viz. That it is promised to all the people of God in Covenant SECT IV. 4. NOW follows the fourth and the last part of the Proposition namely It is first promised by God unto his people That forgiveness of sins is one of the mercies first promised by God unto his people as here in this place it hath the heart-guard of the Covenant gifts it takes the right hand and the first place of the spiritual mercies promised In this Scripture there is mention of three spiritual gifts which are like Davids three Worthies but this of Justification this of remission of sins is the first of them Beloved you must distinguish between the Covenant it self and the gifts thereof the Covenant it self lies in this I will be your God and you shall be my people this closure and this relation makes the Covenant and when we are thus closed with God in Covenant then come out the gifts of the Covenant which God deals and gives forth unto his people and amongst these first we have a promise mentioned to forgive sins Some may think the reason of this priority to be this because Justification goes before Sanctification I confess that these are distinct works but yet I doubt whether there be a priority of time between them so that a person is first justified and after that he is sanctified For under favour it cannot well be made out that there falls any space or pause of time between those and my reason is this because 1. When a man is once in Christ Christ is at the same time made of God unto him Sanctification as well as righteousness therefore the same Apostle saith If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. 2. It cannot well be admitted that there should be a true union with Christ consisting with a partial communion in benefits absolutely necessary to constitute a Christian and such a one is Sanctification 3. There is such an immediate influence of life and grace upon believing as raiseth a consimilitude and conformity But to
promise of forgivenesse of sins upon the condition of Faith The promise of forgiveness upon condition of Faith Acts 10. 43. Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And truely if we do seriously consider the matter we must acknowledge that faith is the only condition of the Covenant of grace wherein God becomes our God and we become his people and by which therefore we become heirs of all the promises of God and consequently of the promise of the forgiveness of sins none are the children of God and heirs of the Promises but by Faith Thirdly It is expresly taken in to the justification of a sinner So taken in that by no other means he can be justified and by this only he must be justified It is expresly taken in to the justification of a sinner Rom. 3. 28. We conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the Law Gal. 5. 4. Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace You know that the forgiveness of our sins is only in our justification and that the justification of a sinner is as to him only of grace being justified freely by his grace Rom. 3. 23. And that the sinner is justified by faith and by faith only that so it may be of grace and therefore there is a necessity of faith for the pardon of sins c. Fourthly It is impossible to finde remission of our sins out of Christ forasmuch No remission out of Christ as his blood only was shed for the remission of sins Matth. 26. 28. And in him only we have redemption through his blood the forgivenesse of sins Ephes 1. 7. ând him only hath God set forth to be a propitiation and to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sin Rom. 3. 25. And it is as impossible to enjoy Christ without Faith which is the only grace on our part to receive Christ to joyn us unto Christ and by which Christ doth dwell in us Now if we cannot have the forgiveness of sins but we must first have Christ and we cannot have Christ but by faith there is then a necessity of faith for the remission of sins Fifthly If for want of Faith we shall certainly lose the remission of sins then the presence of faith is necessary for the forgiveness of sins this Consequence For want of Faith we lose the remission of sins cannot be denied by any rational Christian but the want of faith will certainly lose us the forgiveness of sins three places will clear that Mar. 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned Joh. 3. 36. He that believes not shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him Joh. 8. 24. If ye believe not that I am he you shall dye in your sins If for want of faith we dye in our sins shall not see life shall be damned have the wrath of God still abiding on us then for want of faith we do certainly lose the remission of our sins for these are utterly inconsistent with remission but you read that for want of faith we shall dye in our sins c. Ergo there is a necessity of the presence of Faith for the forgiveness of our sins 2. As there is a necessity of the presence of faith so is there a necessity of the use or exercise of Faith for the remission of sins For as in the Covenant of works A necessity of the use and exercise of faith actual obedience was necessary to enjoy the life then promised so in the Covenant of grace actual believing is necessary to enjoy Christ and forgiveness purchased by him and promised in him Now there are two acts of faith especially required in every one who would enjoy the forgiveness of his sins 1. One is an Act of acceptance 2. The other is an Act of reliance on Christ only for that forgivenesse promised First An Act of acceptance his soul must be brought into Christ acknowledge An act of acceptance and consent to receive him and whole Christ with the whole heart If a man think thus I will have my sins forgiven me but I care not for Christ my heart cannot comply with him his Commands are too strick and his wayes are too holy for me I cannot yield to be his upon such terms as he requires Let me tell you plainly and faithfully you shall never have your sins pardoned why because the forgiveness of sins is promised upon this condition if you do believe and receive Christ You may as well say that you will be saved for ever in heaven but you will not believe you will not receive Christ you will not be his No no a Communion in what he hath purchased cannot possibly be without a precedent union with himself all the Benefits and all the Priviledges by Christ are communicable only unto them who are Christs to them there is no condemnation but c. Secondly Besides this Act of acceptance of Christ there must be also an An act of reliance Act of reliance on Christ and on him only for the forgiveness of your sins Put the case you do repent of your sins yea put the case thaââou do by faith receive Christ if now you do rely on your Repentance and on your Faith or on any other thing besides Christ for the forgiveness of your sins you will certainly lose the forgiveness of them If you should say God will forgive me for my tears sake for my grief sake for my confession sake for my turning sake for my believing sake but not for Christs sake you will certainly miss of pardoning mercy because all forgiveness of sins unto us is for Christs sake Ephes 4. 32. Forgiving one another as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you 1 Joh. 2. 12. Your sins are forgiven you for his Name sake So then there is a necessity of such an act of faith as to rely only on Christ as the reason of the pardon of your sins i. e. to trust on his Righteousness on his Redemption on his blood only as the All sufficicient and as the effectual reason of your forgiveness c. Secondly The second thing which I would shew unto you is what that Faith is What that faith is that is so necessary which is so necessary for us if that we would enjoy the forgiveness of our sins For as to the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of Repentance we generally grant it for a truth that men must repent iâ they will have their sins forgiven so as to the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of faith it is generally granted that men must believe and if they do truely believe their sins shall be forgiven But the difficulty is what this faith is which intitles us unto and really assures remission of sins And great reason there is to clear this because of the general confidence in men that they have faith and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven But this cannot possibly be if all his sins be already pardoned in heaven for then he is alwayes loosed and never bound in heaven This Argument is of that strength that I do not see how it can be answered for if upon the right sentence of the Church of Christ the offender is bound in heaven as well as on earth in respect of his sins then his sins are not all pardoned at once and if upon repentance he is loosed in heaven i. e. absolved and forgiven as well as loosed on earth thence also it follows that all his sins past present and to come are not at once forgiven in heaven take the one or the other or both still it shakes that Opinion of a forgivenesse of all sins at once Sixthly If all sins past present and to come are forgiven at once before they are repented of then a Regenerate and a justified person in the midst of his grossest sins as suppose Davids adultery and murder may joy and rejoyce as much in God and look on him as well pleased as when they do humble their soul and repent and seek his face To this one Francis Cornwell answers freely and plainly When sin is most In lib. of the difference between Legal and Evangelical repentance p. 54. prevalent and the heart is most hardened he speaks expresly of Regenerate and justified persons yet then can they glory in Christ Jesus with a large heart breaking forth into thanksgiving as Paul did Rom. 7. 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yea and he that commits a gross sin and doubteth the pardon of it committeth a double sin the one against his Sanctification and the other against his Justification And what though a believer usually upon the pag. 56. committing of gross sins doubts of his estate this is from a defect in faith and not from any Rule and Precept of Gods Word And that it is all one and alike unto God when a person is humbled or not humbled and when he repents and forsakes his gross sins or repents not of them but continues in them for all is already pardoned on Gods part c. But these strange deliveries are contrary 1. To the Word which in case of gross transgressioââ calls for humbling and mourning and repenting of the heart and weeping anâââplication because God is dishonoured and displeased 2. To the exigence in all the children of God so fallen who thereupon have broken their peace and lost their joy and exceedingly interrupted their confidence with fear 3. To the Assertion of these very men who do hold that in case of gross transgression there must be deep humiliations to get assurance and joy Seventhly To these another Reason may be added and is added by some that forgiveness of sin is a judicial act in God as the contrary act of condemning is now the Judge neither condemns nor yet forgives offences which are not extant and which cannot be proved upon the Offender that ever he was guilty of them But when they are charged and pleaded then doth he condemn or acquit so it would be strange for a Judge to condemn one for faults not committed and so acquit a man for sins never in being and so not deserving punishment Eighthly Lastly the great and continual work of Christ in heaven as our Intercessor and Advocate 1 Joh. 1. 2. and the daily suing out of pardon in his Name and for his sake seems to carry much in it for the acquiring of daily pardon and continued forgiveness of sins His great work of Intercession and Advocater-ship surely it contains in it something more than to obtain an assurance that all is still pardoned Thus have I delievered unto you the two different Opinions with their several Arguments concerning this great Question whether all the sins of believers past present and to come are pardoned by God at once Now I shall make bold to deliver unto you my own thoughts concerning it and those different Opinions about it The truth concerning these different Opinions They agree in five particulars First I do observe that they do both agree in five particulars e. g. 1. That as to Gods eternal decree or purpose of forgivenesse all the sinnes of his people are forgiven God did not intend to forgive some of their sins and not the rest but an universal and full and compleat forgiveness was fixedly purposed and resolved on by God 2. That all the sins of his people in their absolute number from first to last were laid upon Christ who in the dayes of his suffering did meritoriously purchase perfect Remission of all their sins to be applied in future times to them and by them 3. That as soon as ever any person is brought into the Covenant by believing on Jesus Christ all his sins past whatsoever they have been they are actually forgiven unto him and God will never remember them any more 4. That as to the state of Justification there is a full and perfect remission of all sins considered under the differences of time past present and to come As in the state of condemnation there is not any one thing pardoned so in the state of Justification there is not any one sin but is pardoned for the estate of Justification is opposite to all condemnation and curse and wrath 5. That no Repentance or work of ours is a meritorious cause neither God nor any true believer looks on it as so of Justification or pardon of any sin neither the repentance which we call Initial neither that which we call Renewed we acknowledge no meritorious cause of pardon of sins but the blood of Christ Secondly The maine differences which I doe observe do rest in two The differences betwixt them things 1. One is that sins not yet committed are actually pardoned and we are to believe so say the one party not so say the other party untill committed or repented 2. Repentance is required say both of them but with this difference because sin is pardoned say the one but the other say that sin may be pardoned That we may have the comfortable sense and experience of pardon say the one that we may have theâ ãâã forgiveness as well as the comfort of it say the other In this difference my own judgment inclines to that Opinion which holds That all the sins past of a Believer are at once forgiven and all his future sins are remitted unto him upon renewed acts of believing and repenting for Christs sake If that Opinion be true that Justification be one continuing or continued act this would reconcile all To me this Opinion 1. Hath clear grounds in the Scripture 2. Doth best suit with the Covenant which in this case still suits Faith and Repentance together 3. Doth best agree with the wayes which God still hath put his people upon in relation to forgiveness 4. And with the practice of the
and rebellion of their hearts there must be a mutual will and consent and agreement which cannot be till resistance in our hearts be removed that so our hearts may be made willing to comply with him and with his will and with his wayes and with his works Secondly That he may bring them all into union with Jesus Christ his people Bring them into union with Christ are a people given unto Christ from all eternity Thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. And as they are given to Christ by an eternal compact so they must be given in to Christ in time by effectual vocation in a way of believing And for this reason also he will take away the hardness of their hearts which is imcompatible with closing with Christ Heb. 3. 7. To day if ye will hear his voice ver 8. harden not your hearts Thirdly That he may enjoy communion with them and they with him This is one Reason why he makes us to be his people that he might make known all Enjoy communion with them his love and goodness unto us and that our hearts might be taken up with him and set on him in love and fear and desire and joy and hope None of which will or can be unless the Lord were pleased to take away the heart of stone from his people c. Fourthly That he may bring upon them all the good which he hath promised unto And bring upon them all the good that he hath promised to his people viz. All the blessings of mercy and peace and comfort and joy of which they are not capable untill the Lord take away the hardness of their hearts Would you have the Lord to settle pardoning mercy on a hard heart and to speak peace to a hard heart and to revive with comfort and joy the soul of an hardened sinner who will hold fast his iniquities and who will not obey his voyce and will none of him This is as it were a foundation-work for the other works of the Covenant Sol. 2. Again the Lord himself doth again by promise undertake to take away God by promise undertakes it Because of the impossibility of it the stony heart from his people upon a twofold account First On the impossibility of the work without his own Omnipotency None but the Almighty can cure the stone of the heart neither Angels nor Men nor Ministry nor Self-power for the hard heart is too hard for all means whatsoever only the Lord is too hard for it he can subdue all the powers of sin and he can pull down all high imaginations which do exalt themselves and he can abase the pride of man and he can circumcise all the stoutness of the heart so that the rebellious shall submit themselves Secondly The other that his people when they are made sensible of their That men may not despair hardnesse may not despair but may apply themselves unto him who is able to work all their work in and for them and to heal all their diseases and to subdue all their iniquities Beloved a Promise of God in any kind is a singular foundation for Faith and Prayer And so it is in this business of hardness of heart if the Lord promise to take it away then the work is possible it may be done and it is likewise de futuro it shall be done As the Lord is able to perform whatsoever he promiseth to his people so he is faithful and will perform the same And both these are grounds for Faith and Prayer to go unto the Lord and beseech him and trust upon him that he will according to his word take away the hardness of our hearts Quest 3. How this can be affirmed for a truth seeing that much hardnesse How this can be since much hardness remains A difference betwixt the hardness remaining in the best and that in the wicked The godly are sensible of it of heart remaines in all the people of God all the dayes of their lives Sol. This hath been answered in part already in the manner how God takes away the hardness of heart from his people only I will adde that there is a vast difference 'twixt the hardness of heart remaining in the people of God and that hardness of heart abiding in ungodly men v. g. First Though hardness of heart in some degrees remains in the people of God yet they are sensible of it as their great evil and burden and do exceedingly bewail it and complain to the Lord of it and cry out Why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear Isa 63. 17. But wicked men are unsensible of the hardness of their hearts they are past feeling and their consciences are seared as with a hot iron as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 4. 2. When a part of the body is feared with a hot iron it becomes utterly stupid and unsensible c. Secondly The hardnesse of heart remaining in the people of God it It is still mortifying in the best is still mortifying and decreasing the more they feel it the more they pray against it and never give over till they have obtained more grace and strength against it untill they find their hearts more tender and pliable But the hardness of heart in ungodly men as it is raigning so it is raging it still increaseth unto more hardness ungodly men sin more and more and still oppose the means of softning their hearts and the more they do sin the more they do harden their hearts and the more they do oppose the light and means of softning the more they do augment their sins and hardness Thirdly Though hardness of heart doth remain in the people of God yet Though it remains yet They do not willingly take those wayes that tend to hardening 1. They do not willingly and advisedly give up themselves to any wayes and courses which tend to the hardning of their hearts as to the neglect of the Ordinances to the omission of holy duties to the commission of sins against the light of the Word and of Conscience 2. They do cordially use all the means to work off the hardness of their hearts as frequent self-examinations humble confessions and self-judgings earnest Prayer for more Faith and fear and tenderness of spirit and the Lord doth Cordially use the means against it graciously âear them in these Requests But thus it is not with ungodly men whose hearts are hardened they practice wickedness and they sell themselves to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord 1 King 21. 25. And give themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greedinesse Ephes 4. 19. And trample under feet the light of the Word and the actings of Conscience and whatsoever stands in their way to restrain them from sinning and are so far from improving any means for the removing of the hardness of their hearts that they deride and scorn at them and reject and abhor
apprehension thy heart is more hardned yet pray and yet pray that God would heal thy back-slidings Praise the Lord in the Name of Christ presenting his Covenant unto him wherein he promiseth to take away the heart of stone And this contains in it not only the natural or original hardness of heart but also the accidental contracted hardness by his people the Covenant of taking away the heart of stone extends to both of them O Lord cure this hardning as well as the former hardness I have hardned the heart which thou hast softned O do thou soften the heart which I have hardned revive thy work and quicken my almost dead heart restore my soul and recover my ancient estimations affections tenderness love fear care zeal c. Thirdly If the Lord at length begins to make thy heart to relent by Bless God for any softning his Word or by his Rod or by his Spirit O bless his Name He is come he is come said the Martyr so c. get thee into a corner help on the spring pump the water when the water comes enlarge thy confession abound now in supplications Fourthly Be earnest with God to pardon thee and to give thee assurance of the pardoning Be earnest for pardon and assurance of this hardning and be importunate with him for it I tell thee such a gracious assurance will presently soften and melt thy soul assuredly raise and restore thy soul to those careful and tender communions with God and watchful walking with him Fifthly When you are recovered then bless God and keep up tenderness Keep up tenderness of heart of heart and beware of suffering hardnesse to grow upon your hearts again Quest What is to be done for this Sol. I answer First Never trust hardning causes any more as Eliphas spake in Joh. 15. Never trust hardning causes 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence After your great humblings and prayings and wrestlings and prevailings with God do not now go and tamper with sinne and sinful occasions again and do not go and over-world your selves again and do not go and renew familiarity with wicked company again and do not neglect the Ordinances any more c. If you do you will harden your hearts more than ever Secondly If at any time you do espy any hardness creeping and rising Resist hardness returning upon your spirits O make a present resistance and wrestle against it even unto present victory When you pray if you finde coldness and formality in your spirit O stirre up Prayer stirre up the heart and stirre up the graceâ Simile blow the spark break the ice when it begins to harden c. Thirdly Be often in the search of your hearts and keep a daily and Search your hearts often strict watch over them and your ways Blessed is the man that feareth always Prov. 28. 14. Fourthly Constantly and seriously attend the Ordinances which do beget Attend the Ordinances and preserve and encrease softness and tenderness of heart Ezek. 36. 26. And I will give you an heart of flesh I Have finished two Propositions already from these words viz. 1. That there is a natural hardness in every mans heart 2. That God will take away that stonynesse or hardnesse of heart from his people I shall now proceed unto the third and last Proposition from the Text which is this CHAP. XI God gives a heart of flesh Doct. 3. THat God will not only take away the heart of stone from his people All the people of God have a softned heart given them but also he will give them an heart of flesh or that all the people of God have soft and tender hearts given unto them And by the way before I insist upon this Point observe two things 1. That Gods works in restoring and renewing of man are noâ terminated in Privatives or Negatives but they are Positive also and Collative Evill is removed and good contrary to that evill comes in the place of it He doth take away the old heart and also he gives a new heart he takes away the heart of stone and also he gives an heart of flesh He takes away ignorance and gives knowledge he takes away pride and gives humility God is a wise and perfect Agent he will not only deface and abolish Satans Image but also he will repair his own Image he will not only root up what is evil but also he will plant and lay foundations and build up Therefore have a care of your selves that you be not deceived in the judgement of your conditions you are not so wicked as you were but what good is wrought in your hearts what contrary quality unto the former evil c 2. That as to the conversion or change of the sinner all the work rests on God he doth all he works all if the heart of stone be to be removed he must do that work he must take it away and if the heart of flesh be to be enjoyed he must also do that work he must give unto us the heart of flesh power against evil and power to any good all from God we are the Patients he is the Agent we are the receivers he is the giver you cannot take away the hardness of your own hearts nor can you give unto your selves an heart of flesh both of them are the work of God These things being briefly premised I now come to the Proposition it self viz. That the people of God are the people of soft and tender hearts God gives unto them unto every one of them an heart of flesh i. e. a tender and soft heart An heart of flesh in this place stands in opposition to the heart of stone to the unsensible unmournful stubborn unyielding resisting heart and it notes a sensible mourning relenting yielding complying tender teachable and tractable heart But for the opening of this excellent Point I shall discusse these three Questions 1. What this heart of flesh is what this soft and tender heart is 2. How it may appear that the people of God are a people of soft and tender hearts 3. Why the Lord gives such an heart to all his people SECT I. Quest 1. VVHat this heart of flesh is or what the soft and tender What a heart of flesh is heart is Sol. To understand this you must remember that there is a fourfold softness A fourfold softness or tenderness First One is Natural and this is that which we call commonly a good nature Natural and tender disposition and a softly spirit on which any thing is apt to work any harsh word any sad news any affliction any cross any thing that hath the notion of calamitous or grievous This tenderness or softnes is not the soft heart here in the Text for 1. It is no heavenly quality nor is it let in by heavenly means a man never got this tenderness by praying or
punishment An exegential softness as in Pharaohs case You would not imagine what tenderness may appear in men while the rod is held over them or whiles the rod lies heavy upon them penal evils have a marvellous contrariety unto our natures and they have many times a strong authority with us the rod of God commands and obtains that from us which the Word of God cannot because our natures are servile and are more ready to act out of fear than out of love Hence is it that we read of such a quick plyableness in distressed and punished sinners unto the will of God Psal 78 34. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God ver 35. They remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless ver 36. they did flatter him with the mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongues Hose 5. 15. In their affliction they will seek me early Chap. 6. 1. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up Judg. 10. 15. And the children of Israel said unto the Lord Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee ver 16. And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Lord. How many persons in times of common judgements and in personal sicknesses how mournful prayerful dutiful yet their hearts are not softned Secondly The Legal softness which is when Conscience is awakened with the Legal softness sense of Gods wrath O what a softness what a tenderness what a plyableness doth there appear in persons at such a time as this they will weep most bitterly they will pray most earnestly they will hear most diligently they will not come near to sin or the occasions thereof they set upon a âeformation what may not God have now from them what resolution Covenants yet all this is but iron in the fire all this is but a Mariner in a storm but a Sea sickness all this is but forced work all this crouching is but to compound the sooner self-love and self-ease and self-fear and self-deceit are the Grounds and Reasons of this softness or tenderness And when this Conscience troubled sinner hath got safe to land and all grows quiet and calm then his tenderness and plyablness is gone he laies aside his cares and fears and tears and reformations and resolutions and he returns to folly again and his heart grows more hard and more unsensible and unmournful and unflexible and disobedient than before Thirdly The Partial softnesse which is when the heart of man is uneven in Partial softnesse this work of tenderness it appears in some things but not in other things v. g. In trouble for sin where the sin hath been foule and notorious now the man is sensible and troubled but not so for spiritual sins which are more dishonouring of God and more dangerous though less infamous amongst men ignorance guile of heart unbelief c. In commission of sin a tenderness is like to be discovered when it is with them as with those Job 24. 17. If one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of death but none if it may be carried with security Jehu is against Ahabs idolatry but not against Jeroboams idolatry Some have a tenderness not to swear but no tenderness to lye and slander and speak idly In practice of obedience there may be a tenderness not wholly to neglect it but no tenderness conscienciously to perform it a tenderness in duties to man but no tenderness in duties to God Fourthly The Temporary softnesse which may be great even to zeale and yet at length it wears away what an earnestness have we seen in some against sin Temporal softness and what a forwardness in duties nay they have seemed very much to bewaile their own sins as well as to bewail the sins of others and to put on themselves as well as others to the practice of duties both publick and private and yet after a while this tenderness is lost their jealousie and watchfulness and provocation of themselves and others it is gone they grow very negligent very careless and may perhaps be found amongst the companions of profaneness and ungodliness Again some in the hearing of a Sermon in good company c. as Felix when he heard Paul may express much tenderness This tenderness doth nor arise from renewing grace but from some secret lash in conscience or from some inconsiderateness of spirit or from some carnal design or from vain glory c.. Fifthly The Worldly softness I have observed a kind of tenderness and plyableness and softness in some persons First When they would get some worldly things as the Shechemites would be Worldly softness circumcised upon this ground Shall not their cattel and their substance be ours Gen. 34. 22 23. O how many persons will come to the publick Ordinances hear the best Ministers be acquainted with them order their conversations demurely and inoffensively yea and religiously and all this is but to get some good match or some rich place Secondly When they have lost some worldly things a Husband a Wife a Child a Parent a Friend an Estate now they melt into tears mourn and will not be comforted they accuse their sins and send for a Minister and what must they do But this softness is only worldly sorrow and aââseth from natural affections and is quickly alayed and cured by the accesse of some other worldly comfort and blessing Sixthly The Desperate softnesse and tenderness of despair And indeed when Desperate softnesse any one doth despair there is in him an exceeding and surpassing sensibleness he is deeply semsible of his sins and dejected and overwhelmed in the apprehension of them and often cries out in an amazing manner concerning them and the wrath of God for them and the expectation of judgement and destruction But this is also a false tenderness of heart and it comes not from faith and is not raised by mercy drives the soul from God keeps up impenitency and hardens the heart against all help and hope 3ly The demonstrations of the manifold miseries incumbent The misery of âersons destiâute of softness of heart upon and incident unto all persons destitute of softness and tenderness of heart I will mention some of them unto you First Certainly there is no work of grace in such persons they are still in their sins under the power and dominion of them in a dead and unconverted condition There is no work of grace in them without the Spirit and the life of Christ For where renewing grace is wrought in the heart there is alwayes an heart of flesh a soft heart a plyable heart the heart is brought in and made willing and obedient and ready and serviceable unto God Now a graceless condition is a most miserable condition Secondly Certainly these people
c. Who can pray thus but he who is a child of God but he who hath the Spirit of God to shew unto him his spiritual wants to stirre up in him spiritual and earnest desires to quicken his Faith on God and to depend on his good and faithful Promises in Christ c. Fourthly I will adde one instance more concerning the power in all who have received the Spirit and that is this All who have received the Spirit have received a power to do such works as none else in all the world can do for they are able in the strength and power of the Spirit 1. To abhor the dearest lusts which have formerly been more unto them than their lives and heavenly happiness 2. To forsake Father and Mother Husband and Wife and Children and Friends Houses and Lands for Christ and an afflicted estate with Christ 3. To prize communion with God and to take more satisfying delight therein than in all earthly enjoyments whatsoever But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Psal 4. 6. Shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Psal 73. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee c. 4. To live by faith in the times of desertion Though he kill me yet will I trust in him Job 13. 15. and in times of desolation when as creature helps and comforts fail Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the Vine and the labour of the Olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat and the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Hâb 3. 17 18. The Lord God is my strength ver 19. 5. To be contented in every estate and to comply with it Phil. 4. 12 13. and to glorifie God under it O where is this power of the Spirit of God where are any great things or works of the Spirit within us I cannot pray saith one and I cannot leave my sins saith another and I can find and take no delight in God or communion with him saith another and I cannot trust on his Word nor wait upon his Promise c. Few men have any Spiritual power and therefore few men have the Spirit of God Fourthly The Spirit of God is the Spirit of liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty Liberty is a freedom from bondage or slavery and Gospel-liberty which principally respects the soul is a freedom accruing unto us Partly by price and purchace namely by the blood of Christ The Lord Jesus by his death hath purchased many glorious liberties for us he hath freed us from the Law as it is a Covenant of Works Gal. 3. 11 12. and from the curse and wrath ver 13. and from all condemning power of sin c. Rom. 8. 1. Partly by strength and efficacy this liberty comes unto us by the Spirit who puts forth a strong and mighty hand upon all the hearts of all the people of God and rescues and frees them from spiritual slavery under which they were held whiles they were in their natural condition The Spirit of God doth free them First From slavery to sin See Rom. 8. 2 The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death i. e. The power of the Spirit hath freed me out of the hands and power of sin so that it shall not command and rule over me as heretofore it is no longer my Lord nor am I any longer his servant I am delivered and freed from the dominion and tyranny of it and service unto it by the Law i. e. by the powerful and authoritative command and work of the Spirit upon this account the Apostle affirms that all the servants of God are made free from sin Rom. 6. 18 22. they are not in bondage they are not at the command of it sin hath lost its law and authority in them the yoke is broken by the spirit which is given unto them sin indeed will stirre and trouble and usurp but slavery unto it is taken away Isa 10. 27. The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing Secondly From slavery to Satan Before we receive the Spirit of God we are in bondage unto the Divel who rules or works effectually in us Ephes 2. 2. and takes us captive at his will 2 Tim. 2. 26. as one that hath a bird tyed c. O what power hath Satan over a natural man how he fetters and shackles and binds him and imprisons him and makes him to drudge in the fulfilling of his motions and obeying of his suggestions and temptations But now when the Spirit of God comes into us he spoiles the strong man armed and takes from him all the armour wherein he trusted Luke 11. 21 22. For he is stronger than he 1 Joh. 4. 4. He leads captivity captive he turns us from Satan unto God Acts. 26. 18. Object But Satan still tempts and assaults never was man so tempted as I am Sol. Temptation is one thing and salvation is another he bestirred himself in tempting and we obeyed he now tempts and we resist He frees us from him 1. By making us to abhor his Kingdom 2ly By translating us out of his power into the Kingdom of Christ 3ly By arming us with the armour of God against his assaults 4ly By stirring us up to resist him Jam. 4 7. Resist the Divel and he will flee from you And 5ly By strengthening us to overcome him 1 Joh. 2. 13. Ye have overcome the wicked one Thirdly From slavish fear and a slavish spirit in working in this respect he makes us to serve God without fear Luk. 1. 74. that is without servile fear for there is a twofold fear There is Timor filialis which is grounded in the love of God as a Father and there is Timor servilis which looks upon God only as a Judge and hath a respect to fo wrath Now when the Spirit of God is given unto us we do not serve God tor fear of wrath and punishment and damnation but out of love and reverence and ingenuity Though there were no Law to curse us though there were no Conscience to terrifie us though there were no Hell to burn us yet the Lord our God and Father we will love and him will we serve Fourthly From slavish indispositions as averseness to what is good and indelightfulness in it They that are anointed by the Spirit and power of God it makes them ready and willing out of love and working out of love Fifthly The Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth Joh. 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter Ver. 17. even the Spirit of truth John 16. 13. When the Spirit of truth is come he will guide yâu into all truth SECT I. THere are divers
had not known sin except c. Rom. 7. He humbles our hearts by the Word When they heard these things they were pricked in their hearts c. Acts 2 37. Secondly His graces Faith is by hearing Rom. 10 17. so is Love Patience Repentance c. Thirdly His comforts Thy Word hath quickened me and thy Word hath comforted me By the Word men are Regenerated brought into Christ are made new creatures c. Quest What is this walking and keeping and doing concerning which you speak A twofold walking c. to us which you say concerns Gods people in Covenant Sol. There is a twofold walking keeping doing c. First One is Legal which is the stâict and exact and punctual full obedience unto or observation of the Commandements of God in every part point and Apex and Jota as to all sorts of duties in all the measures of it without the least breach or defect in the whole course of a mans life a continuance of all the things that are written to do them as the Apostle speaks Gal. 3. Thus none can walk none can keep none can do them For 1. Grace is imperfect in every man We know but in part c. and if grace be imperfect obedience cannot be exactly full 2. No man but hath sin in him and doth sin In many things we offend all and every sin is transgression of the Law and where there is any transgression there is not a perfect keeping 3. The best are justified in and by Christ wherein 1. His Righteousness is imputed 2ly For his sake their sins are pardoned which needed not if any man could perfectly fulfill and keep the Law Secondly The other is Evangelical whereunto four things do concur What is evangelical doing c. 1. A setting up of the Law and Will of God as the Rule to instruct and guide us in the whole course of the actions of our life Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths Psal 119. 105. marking what it commands to be done and to be observed by us 2. An endeavour to conform all our Actions unto the Rule making conscience of all that is commanded us of God an ordering of our conversations and steps according to the Word Psal 119. In precepts not to be careless and negligent though of the least duty In Prohibitions not to be venterous though on the least sin Simile But as the Israelites followed the Cloud of fire moved when it moved stayed when it satyed so should we put on to answer every command of God and refrain upon every prohibition of God 3. A walking and obeying in the Evangelical manner or a performance of all duties in that Gospel manner as is required we should perform them 1. Cordially Affections should come into our duties not only do the will How we should perform Gospel duties of God but delight therein I delight to do thy will O my God Psal 40. 2. Impartially without exception There must be a respect unto all Gods commands and a hatred of every evil way 3. Resolutely I and my house will serve the Lord said Joshua I have sworn and will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgements said David 4. Constantly The statutes of God must be our path in which we walk we must not begin and then grow weary and break off but hold on our course against all the temptations of the world and of Satan and of our own flesh though strugling and backward 5. Sincerely with uprightness of heart I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart said Hezekiah This may be discovered thus 1. If a man lose not the tenor of his desire and purpose though in many things he fails yet he holds his purpose to walk in Gods statutes and if at any time Signs of sincerity we slip or step aside we must speedily return to the path of life the old and good way 2. If real endeavours accompany and second his desires I would obey and I strive to obey 3. If he attends the means to strengthen both desires and endeavours 4. A right scope in all our duties Not to merit salvation not to seek justification not to make amends to God for our former evil wayes not to set up our selves as to our own praise But 1. For Gods glory whatsoever we do it must be done out of love to God and for the glory of God 2. For our own salvation work out your own salvation as a means not as a cause 3. For the good and benefit of others Ezek. 36. 27. And cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgements and do them IN these words you have two parts considerable 1. A work or duty laid out for all the people in Covenant with God They are to walk in his statutes and to keep his judgements and to do them 2. A help promised unto them to enable them for that work and service I will put my Spirit within you and cause you or according to the Original Quo faciam by whom I will cause or make you to walk in my statutes c. The work or duty which belongs to the people of God is set forth in divers Metaphorical expressions as walking in Gods statutes which notes the path of their steps and the Rule of their conversation and work likewise the progressive course of their obedience and keeping of his judgements By the judgements of God are meant his commands and by the keeping of them two things are implyed 1. To make them dear unto us to lay them up as our treasure as a precious part of the will of God And then 2ly To conform our selves unto them to submit unto them as to our Rule to live up unto them Servare observare c. And doing of them This expession I conceive to be the explication of the two former and it notes real and practical obedience unto Gods statutes and judgements From all this there are two Propositions unto which I desire briefly to speak unto viz. 1. That an obediential observation of Gods statutes and judgements or Laws or Commandements is required of people in Covenant with God 2. That the people of God are to make progress to proceed on to persevere all their dayes all their journey in an obediential walking in Gods statutes CHAP. XIII 1. Doctr. THat an obediential observation of the Law or Commandements of The observation of Gods Laws belongs to all that are in Covenant with him God belongs to all people in Covenant with God He saith here of the people in Covenant with himself I will cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgements and do them You read two things of the Saints or people of God 1. One is that they make a Covenant with God Psal 50. 5. Gather my Gods people make a Covenant with âim Saints together unto me those that have made a
works 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness 6. That his obedience unto the Law is propounded as a pattern for us to imitate 1 Joh. 2. 6. He that saith he abideth in him ought himsel to walk even as he walked Lastly The Covenant-Faith which is in every one of the people of God as it And so doth the Covenânt faith carries them out to an election of God to be their God so it carries them out unto subjection to God unto obedience Heb. 11. 4. By faith Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain Ver. 8. By faith Abraham obeyed God Faith eyes the Word of God for a Rule and warrant and faith propounds unto us the encouragements of the word to quicken our obedience and faith fetches strength from Christ to enable us in all our works of obedience Having spoken these things for the demonstration of the Assertion I shall now speak unto three Questions 1. How this walking in Gods statutes and keeping of his judgements and doing of them may be fixed upon the people of Gods Covenant seeing they are all of them believers and being so are no longer under the Law but are freed and delivered from it 2. What manner of obedience or kind of obedience that is which is required and to be performed by the people of Gods Covenant 3. Why these are in such a special manner thus charged with walking in Gods statutes c. 1. Quest How this walking in Gods statutes c. may be forced upon the people of Gods Covenant seeing they are all under grace and believers and not under How Gods people being not under the Law are bound to obedience the Law as the Apostle expresseth it Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Sol. For a clear Answer unto this Question I will briefly deliver my thoughts in these distinctions First Concerning the Law of God you know there were some of them 1. Ceremonial which consisted in Rites and Ordinances and Shadows typifying Jesus Christ in his sufferings unto which there was a full period put by the death of Christ 2. Judicial which respecteth the Jews as a peculiar Nation and Common-wealth being made and fitted for them as in such a particular polity And all those Judicial Laws especially these de jure particulari are ceased by the cessation of that Nation and polity 3. Moral which are these set down in the Decalogue and are called the ten words or Commandements which God spake and delivered Of the ten Commandements which we call the Moral Law is the question to be understood whether believers or the people in the New Covenant are bound unto them Secondly This Moral Law may be considered either 1. In the Substance of it Or 2ly in the circumstances of it If you consider the Moral Law in the substance of it so it is 1. An eternal manifestation of the mind and will of God declaring what is good and what is evil what we are to do and what we are not to do what duties we How the Moral Law never ceaseth do owe to God and what duties we do owe to our neighbours what worship God requires and what worship God forbids In this consideration the Moral Law never ceaseth in respect of any person whasoever 2. It discovers sinne For Rom. 3. 19. By the Law cometh the knowledge of sin And the Apostle in Rom. 7. 7. I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet In this respect likewise the Law is still in force even unto the people of God it is the glass which shews them unto themselves and the light which manifests the hidden things and works of darkness in them 3. The Rule of life For as the Gospel is the Rule of faith teaching us what to believe so the Moral Law is the Rule of manners teaching us how to live and as to this directing power it is still of force and use unto believers Psal 119. 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Ver. 133. Order my steps in thy Word But then secondly the Law may be considered in respect of its circumstances not as it is a Rule of obedience but as it is a condition of life and as thus considered How it ceaseth 1. It requires a personal and perfect obedience and that under a curse Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all that is written to do it Here now it ceaseth unto the people of God the cursing and condemning power is abrogated Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. 2. It requires an exact obedience as a reason of Justification Do this and live Here likewise the people of God are freed from it who as Luther well speaks shall not be damned for their evil works nor yet shall be justified for their good works but are justified by faith in Christ and the matter of their justification being not inherent righteousness in themselves but only the imputed righteousness of Christ Thus you see in what respects the people of God are freed from and in what respects they are still obliged by the Law The Law hath not power to condem or justifie them and yet it hath a power to direct and instruct them And that it hath such a power unto which we are to conform our selves in obedience may appear thus First By that forementioned place in Matth. 5. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill And in Why the Law hath still a power to command us that Chapter he doth both interpret the Law and commend and command unto his Disciples the duties of the Law And surely it is no way probable that Christ would by his own authority so have confirmed the Law had it been his purpose and business to have cancelled the Law Secondly Paul in Rom. 13. 8. that he might shew and clear that in that one precept of love He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law produceth several precepts of the Law in ver 9. For this Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet And if there be any other Commandement it is briefly comprehended in this saying namely Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self All which were a fruitless proof if the Law had nothing to do with the people of God but utterly ceased to them as to point of obedience In like manner in that place of James 2. 8. If ye fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self ye do well but if the Royal Law were abrogated certainly
altogether for sins commands but he devides himself betwixt God and his sinful lusts he will pray but withall he will swear and he will hear the Word but withall he will be drunk he will do many things that are good but withall he will do many things that are wicked Now take heed of this God cannot endure it If God be God follow him 1 King 18. 21. You shall walk in my statutes saith God here i. e. you shall set me up alone and my commands alone and my wayes alone Zeph. 1. 5. I will cut off them that swear by the Lord and that swear by Malcham Rev. 3. 16. Because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth Matth. 4. 10. It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Thirdly You must take heed of partiality in walking in Gods statutes We say Take heed of partiality that Lex est copulativa God doth not say you shall do this or do that you shall fear me or you shall love me you shall keep my Sabbath or you shall not take my Name in vain no such matter but the Law is conjunctive and doth require obedience to every commandement of God Jam. 2. 11. For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgresser of the Law We read that Jehu did many things which God commanded in order to the destruction of the house of Ahab but yet he disobeyed God in following the sin of Jeroboam which tended to the destruction of his own soul And so Herod heard John Baptist and did many things but yet he kept Herodias his brother Philips wife Right obedience is impartial obedience and he who regards one Commandement of God out of Conscience he doth likewise regard every Commandement of God for there is the same authority stamped on all the Commandements Therefore it is but hypocrisie to regard some of Gods statutes and to disregard others Some men stand much for obedience or duties to the second Table but they mind not the duties oâ the first Table they seem to make conscience of lying and stealing and killing and adultery but they make no conscience of swearing and taking the Name of God in vain and breaking the sabbâth some seem to make conscience of lesser duties but they make no conscience of greater duties and so others â contrà But God hath not given unto us such a liberty to pick and chuse our work if the Lord commands us the smallest or the greatest duties we are to yield obedience to the one and to the other not neglecting the least nor laying aside the greatest He that is unfaithful in the least will be unfaithful also in the greatest and he that is faithful in the greatest will be also faithful in the least it is a truth that sins of omission will damn a man as well as sins of commission therefore take heed of partiality in keeping of Gods statutes Fourthly You must take heed of resting or relying upon any of your works or Take heed of resting upon duties duties you must endeavour obedience unto Gods Law but you must beware of placing your confidence upon that obedience You must pray and read and hear and mourn and repent and walk holily and humbly with your God and you must live soberly and righteously and godly and fear the Lord and love the Lord and obey his voice and when you have done so to your utmost and to your best then must you cast your Crowns to the ground and weep that you have served your God no more and no better and cry out with the Publican God be merciful to me a sinner and with David Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal 143. 2. And with him Domine lava quaesâ lachrymas meas If you advance your duties or works of obedience unto a condition of life to be the matter and reason of your justification before God and say Lord these are my righteousnesses and for these I look to be justified and saved why now as Peter said to Simon Magus Thou and thy money perish with thee So say I now thou and all thy duties will perish together For 1. God commands not works of duty from his people that they should Gods Commands not duties that we should be justified thereby To set up works puls down Christ and faith in him thereby be justified but that thereby himself might be glorified not as reasons of life but as testimonies of love and thankfulness 2. You pull down Jesus Christ and faith in him if you set up any works of yours for life or justification Christ is no Christ unto you and his righteousness is no righteousness unto you if you seek to set up your own works and put confidence in them Gal. 5. 4. Christ is become of nâne effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are fallen from grace 3. It is foolâsh and damnable so to do For when you have done all that you can do you are but unprofitable servants The least duties that ever you have performed Iâs foolish and damnable have enough in them to damn you There is much sinfulness and much weakness and much shortness in them which if God should mark you could never stand before him Remember this for a certain truth that he who would come to heaven must take heed of his good works as well as of his evil works they will damn him and if he place his confidence upon his good works they will destroy him Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Fifthly You must take heed of performing duties or obeying Gods statutes Take heed of false ends for false ends As 1. To recompence God 2ly To give him satisfaction for the evil that you have done 3ly To offer them up as purchasers of mercies and blessings 4ly To look on them as your propitiation and peace-makers 5ly Only to quiet and still your consciences 6ly Out of vain-glory and to please men First You must not perform duties nor present them to God as compensations Duties must not be performed by way of compensation or recompence unto God for the blessings and benefits which God hath vouchsafed unto you There is a difference between thankfulness for blessings and requitals for blessings we ought to be thankful unto God and to return praises and obedience after the receit of his mercies offer unto God thansgiving Psal 50. 14. And praise is comely for the upright Psal 33. 1. But to recompence God again by any good that we can do for any good that he hath done this may not be and this cannot be Job 35. 7. said Eliphaz to Job If thou be righteous what givest
in the wayes of Gods Commandements and to hold on in their walking all their dayes O say they this is impossible and who can walk thus But what Christ spake to another purpose may be safely applied here That which is impossible with men is possible with God or what Chrysostome replied about the work of turning the heart from sin that it was impossible Tu non potes sed Dominus tuus potest thou canst not turn thy heart but yet the Lord can turn thy heart that I say in this case It is impossible for any man by his own strength to walk in all Gods Statutes nevertheless it is possible so to do with Gods strength I can do all through Christ that strengthens me saith Paul Phil. 4. 13. And Take my yoak upon you saith Christ Math. 11. 29. for my yoak is easie and my burthen is light ver 30. How comes it to be easie and light surely because you have Christ help as well as Christs Command And thus it is with all the wayes of God they are possible and passable why so because you have Gods Promise as well as Gods Command Indeed if they were wayes under a command then there were no possible walking in them because then the acting of obedience unto them would rest upon our own strength which is none at all but being wayes also under a promise of God who saith that he will cause us to walk in them now they are possible For beloved what God promiseth to do for us that rests not upon our strength but his strength to make us to do and he is able to make all strength to abound and increase within us Sixthly Then it is nothing else but a foolish and proud conceit in men to delay Of such as defer walking in Gods wayes and defer works of obedience until they 1. Have compassed so much of the world 2. Come to be old 3. Come to be sick then they will consider their wayes and then they will humble their hearts and then they will repent and then they will lay hold on Christ and then they will lead new lives and then they will make their peace with God c. Not knowing that it is God only who causeth us to walk in his Statutes and to do them and not knowing that we are not of our selves sufficient to think any thing and not knowing that supernatural power must be the foundation and cause of all supernatural works and not knowing that God justly may and often times doth deny his grace and help to them who have refused it and doth leave the refusing sinner forever to his own lusts and wayes SECT II. 2 Use DOth the Lord God himself undertake to cause his people to walk Take heed of self-confidence in his Statutes and to do them This may serve for caution unto all the people of God especially unto strong Christians that they take heed of all self-confidence Beware of all self-confidence when you are to do any duty or any work which the Lord requires from you see that you do not attempt it or set upon it in the power of self There are many sorts of a mans self there is 1. His Natural self the strength of natural knowledge and judgement and will How many sorts of self there be and resolution 2. His Learned self the strength of acquired parts and abilities of understanding of wisdom of tongues of utterance and of other gifts 3. His Gracious self the strength of a renewed minde and of a renewed will and of renewed affections Now hear my advice When you are to do any work for God beware that you rest not on any of these self strengths Jer. 9. 23. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might neither let the rich man glory in his riches So say I let not the prudent Christian rest on his wisdom and let not the knowing Christian rest upon his parts and let not the renewed Christian rest upon his graces and let not the forward Christian rest on his resolutions and let not the experienced Christian rest on his comforts as if those were able and enough to furnish and enable him to do the work or works which God requires of him There are three Reasons why I would seriously press this caution upon you that fear God First The exceeding aptness and propension in the best to be and to do something All are proue to trust too much in self of themselves there is scarce any thing concerns us but self is inteâmixed with it and justles in it self and we are hardly taken off from it until by woeful experience we finde much mischief and misery in it Take us in any spiritual work why something of self is appearing in repentance men will not forsake their own strength in the work of faith men will undertake to believe by their own strength in the work of justification men are apt to look upon their own righteousness in active duties men are many times of their minde in Jeremiah The Lord be a faithful witness between us if we do not according to all things which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us Jer. 42. 5. And in passive duties there also we presume many times too much upon our own self strength Lord said Peter I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death Luk. 22. 33. And although all shall be offended yet will not I Mar. 14. 29. Secondly The exceeding greatness of this sin self-confidence or a trusting Trusting in self is a great sin and relying upon our own strength and sufficiency it is a very great sin which thus appears 1. It is the pride and unbeliefe in departing from God that man who makes not God his whole confidence departs from him Pâide of heart and which is worse the spiritual pride of heart which God abhors and is utterly contrary unto but humility of heart is that which God doth much value and regard 2. It is a kind of Atheism the creature which would be a self-sufficiency unto it self denies God in his Al-sufficiency it is proper to God as God to be a being of himself and to give being unto all besides himself to be independing on any for being and working 3. At least you take the work of God out of the hand of God his work it is to make us good by his preventing grace and his work it is to enable us to good by his subsequent grace and yet you will undertake by your own strength and by your own arme to conquer sins to resist temptations to perform acts of obedience 4. You take the course to set up your selves and to lay aside your God to magnify your selves and to nullify him to glory in your selves and to take glory from God if you will be the efficient causes of doing good without God you will make your selves the final cause of good Thirdly The
have lost that perfectly inherent righteousnesse and the grace which comes in the room of it is very weak and imperfect so that as to the perpetuating of the Covenant we should be extreamly disadvantaged in comparison of our imperfect holinesse with his perfect righteousnesse and thus we by grace should have only a less power and strength to continue in Covenant with God than Adam had 3. God undertakes more for our part in this Covenant than he did for Adam in that Covenant for there he did give a sufficiency of righteousnesse and so left man unto himself but here he doth not only call us to be his people and give us grace to make us to be so but also promiseth and engageth his own power and his Christ and the Spirit of grace to assist and uphold and preserve and confirm and stablish us unto the end Surely then it is not probable that he would leave the issue of so much mercy and happinesse to the power and sole pleasure of our own will 4. That God should glory so much in making this Covenant with his people and please to speak so much of his great kindnesse and riches of grace and mercy and of what he hath done and will do for them and yet when all comes to all it is no more but this if your will pleaseth you shall enjoy all this 2. It is very incongruous to make the Covenant thus to depend for the lastingnesse Is very incongruous of it on the power and pleasure of mans will it would rob Gods grace of all the glory for our abiding in the Covenant for as the sole blame would be ours if we did break the Covenant so the sole praise and honour must be ours if we by our own wills do continue and perpetuate the Covenant God will give this and will give that if we continue stedfast in his Covenant and that stedfastnesse depends only upon the power and pleasure of his will God say they no where promiseth that gift absolutely but we must look for that in our selves And I beseech you now tell me where the glory of our perseverance unto glory must light shall the grace of God have it no it is not the fruit or work of Gods grace determining then the man must have it who did so manage and stirre and improve his will as to hold out to the end and thus by placing the lastingnesse of the Covenant upon the power of mans will the creature gets away the glory from the Creatour and Gods grace which should reign in this Covenant must lose the Crown unto the supposed power and pleasure of mans will 3. It is very uncomfortable to ground the lastingnesse of the Covenant upon It is very uncomfortable the power and pleasure of mans will for hence it will necessarily follow that you cannot till the very last minute of your breathing come to any certain conclusion of your state in grace nor of your portion in glory Why so because it is in the power of your own will whither you will stand or fall hold fast or break off relation with God it may be you will it may be you will not perhaps your own corruptions may be too strong for you or Satans temptations or something from the world and then your hearts fall off from God and you are lost for ever so that it is impossible by this doctrine ever to have any settled comfort fixed peace or stedfast hope because all the happinesse of your estate is but conditional upon the good behaviour of your own wills which is very changeable Obj. But therefore we will pray the more to God that our wills may not be led aside from him but keep fast to him and his wayes Sol. True and this is indeed a direct course to stand fast in the Covenant but then consider that this course will break the neck of that opinion which makes the lastingnesse of the Covenant to depend upon the sole power and pleasure of mans will For when you pray to God for his grace and his strength and his continued presence that you may thereby continue with him in Covenant you do herein deny your own power and sufficiency and you do acknowledge that you are strong in his strength and not in your own might and consequently that the lastingnesse of the Covenant doth not depend on the power of the will but upon the presence and power and assistance of his grace and so fall in with us that the Covenant is everlasting not in respect of mans will but in respect of Gods grace 4. I will adde one consideration more it is not possible I speak ex hypothesi It is impossible in reference to the Will and Power and Truth of God revealed in the Covenant that the people of God really brought into Covenant with him should break off the Covenant with him and so make it mutable and voyd on their part Suppose but this that the Covenant shall not faile nor cease on Gods part that God will be but true to performe what he hath promised unto his people I then affirme that it is not possible that the Covenant should faile on our part my reason is this Because the full performance of the Covenant on Gods part doth essentially and naturally include the performance of it on our part and prevents all breaking and voiding of the Covenant God in this Covenant doth promise unto his people 1. That he will be their God for ever 2. That he will never cast them off 3. That he will never forsake them 4. That nothing shall separate from his love 5. That he will never turn away from them to do them good 6. That if his people transgresse he will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquities with stripes neverthelesse his loving kindnesse he will not take away from them nor suffer his faithfulnesse to fail 7. That he will be merciful to their transgression and will heal their back-ssiding 8. That he will give them his Spirit which shall cause them to walk in his Statutes and to do them 9. That he will give them an heart to feare him for ever and that he will put his feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from him 10. That he will confirm his people unto the end and that he will performe or perfect the good work which he hath begun in them untill the day of Jesus Christ and that he will preserve their whole soul and body blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Now I say grant me but this supposition That God will be faithful to make good these promises unto his people which the Scripture peremptorily saith he will and that it is impossible for him to lie Heb. 6. 18. and God who cannot lie hath promised Titus 1. 2. it will hence necessarily follow That it is impossible the Covenant should be broken and made void by the people of God For upon the
Lord and in the power of his might and that it is the Lord who keeps us by the strength of the Covenant to continue steadfast and faithfull to the end c. Use 5 Let none abuse this sweet heavenly truth of the everlastingness of the Covenant twixt God and his people as therefore to venture upon great transgressions and say God will raise me again and shew me mercy again for his covenant lasts for Abuse not this sweet and heavenly truth ever Let me do what I list c. To such I would present a few words 1. That of the Apostle in Rom. 2. 2. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound Psal 130. 4. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Rom. 6. 1. What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ver 2 God forbid This were indeed to turn the grace of God into wantonnesse as the Spider turns the sweet juice into poison 2. That of the Apostle to the Church of the Ephesians Ephes 4. 20. But you have not so learned Christ verse 21. if so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus 3. Though the Covenant doth last twixt God and his people for ever yet there are weighty Reasons for them to take heed of sinning against their God 1. They do exceedingly dishonour their God by their sinning and cause his Name to be blasphemed as Nathan charged it on David 2 Sam. 12. 14. 2. They make an unkind return to their most kind God Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise doth this answer his love and goodnesse to you to chuse you for his people before other people 3. They do exceedingly grieve their God and Father This that the people of his grace should deal thus with him is a grief unto him as he was grieved with that generation forty years 4. Though the Lord will not cast off his people when they do transgress yet he will visit their sins with stripes Psal 89. 32. And those stripes may be very sharp and heavy as David found them and though David did not break his neck by his fall yet David brake his bones and a wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 18. 14. 5. Though the union continue twixt God and his people yet upon their great transgressions the comfortable communion will be interrupted and darkned they shall lose the joy of their salvation Psal 51. 12. 6. Though God will raise his people again yet it will cost them dear for the cure of their wounds and bruises and to put their bones in joynt again They shall know that it is an evil and bitter thing thus to sin against a God in Covenant c. It may cost them many tears and fears and prayers and conflicts and waitings c. Use 6 Is the Covenant which God makes with his people an everlasting Covenant Then let all the people of God be so wise as to use all the means to continue the Use all means to continue in the Covenant Covenant in an everlastingnesse on their part God worketh our lastingness in the Covenant by means You finde in Scripture that Spiritual means are subordinate to Spiritual ends and that certainty of issues doth take in a necessity of means The Covenant is everlasting and that it may be so therefore doth God put his people upon several wayes and duties to perpetuate the Covenant and to assure themselves it shall be so There are ten things which if you carefully heed you may be confident of the everlastingness of the Covenant 1. Keep up an humble fear I will put my fear into their hearts Jer. 32. 40. Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes Prov. 28. 14. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. Fear your wants crave supply and grow in faith 2. Be adding of grace to grace and give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall 2 Peter 1. 5 10. 3. Strive after and keep up an exceeding love of your God a superlative love This will keep you fast Saw you him whom my soule loveth I found him whom my soule loveth I held him fast and would not let him go Cant. 3. 3. 4. Keep your hearts with all diligence Look to them watch them still be mending of them and minding of them unite or joyn my heart unto thee said David Let them be much in meditating of the goodness of your God love of your God kindnesse of your God Take delight in God alone and in his wayes as the Wife in the Husband 5. Be conscientiously diligent in attending upon the publick Ordinances 1 Thes 5. 19. Quench not the Spirit verse 20. Despise not Prophecying Acts 20. 32. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified The Ordinances are your strength They 1. Give you a sight of Gods will and wayes 2. Keep up tenderness in conscience 3. Open more fully the love of God unto you 4. Quicken your hearts 5. Increase your faith 6. Heale your corruptions 7. Convey help from Christ 8. Direct and establish your goings 6. Be much in prayer that you may be kept and held fast by God unto the end Psal 119. 8. I will keep thy Precepts O forsake me not utterly Verse 33. Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes and I shall keep them unto the end verse 116. Vphold me according to thy Word that I may live verse 117. Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually 7. Remember Jesus Christ his love to you his promise to you and live by faith upon him Take hold of his strength and then you shall walk up and down and not faint Remember that he is the Authour and finisher of your faith 8. If you offend never so little return speedily to your God and judge your selves and sue out for more grace for more strength for more sufficiency from Christ let not any enmity live humble your soules and make peace 9. Beware of Seducing and Erroneous Dectrines do not affect to hear them Cease my son Prov. 19. 27. to hear the instruction that causeth to erre from the words of knowledge Beware lest you also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastnesse 2 Pet. 3. 17. 10. Get much experience of the exceeding love of God to you in Christ Every day get a sight of his gracious favour and be often in the consideration 1. Of what he hath done for you 2. What he is to you 3. What he will bestow on you SECT X. 10. A Tenth property of this Covenant is this It is the best Covenant Better 10. It is the best Covenant than any other Covenant Heb. 7. 22.
be saved and all who believe not shall be damned Ergo. It discourageth none from coming to Christ 3. The Gospel holds out enough for any particular sinner to lay hold on It holds out a sufficiency in Christ for any and offers Christ indefinitely A willingness in Christ to receive any that come unto him 4. It offers Jesus Christ to any sinner yea to the vilest and most wretched To the persecuting Paul to the adulterous Magdalen to the Sodomitical Corinthians c. 1 Tim. 1. 13. 1 Cor. 6. 19. 5. Any sinner may accept the offer without any sin for it is worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. 2. Let any sinner whatsoever come in by faith unto Christ and he shall effectually partake of Redemption and salvation by Christ Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the doore and knock if any man hear my voice and open the doore I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Rev. 22. 17. Let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely John 7. 23. If any man thirst let him come to mâ and drink Joh. 3. 16. Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish You see here many promises to assure any sinner of an effectual interest in the benefits of Christ if that he doth hearken and believe and come in by faith unto Christ 1. Doe but consider as faith is the condition required on our part so it is the only condition there is no more no other thing required to bring you in to Christ nor to bring you into communion or fellowship or participation of himself nor of the benefits of his death but faith If you do believe Christ is youâs and if you do believe you are justified and if you do believe you shall be saved and if you do believe you have an immediate certain and full interest in Christ and his merits 2. Again where the Gospel is revealed unto a people the reason why any of them miss of salvation and are damned is because they believe not Joh. 3. 8. He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God ver 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Now if this be so that unbelief cuts the sinner off that it hinders him of life by Christ that it is his condemnation that it seals the wrath of God on him then certainly faith in Christ in any man whatsoever will bring him to life to all good in and by Jesus Christ 3. That the death of Christ as Mediatour was not effectual for all it was not an The death of Christ was not effectual for all universal effectual Redemption Expiation Reconciliation and Salvation for all sinners and for every particular sinner There are three things which I would offer unto you about this Conclusion 1. Proofs from Scripture as to the Assertion in general 2. Proofs in particular that the Death and Redemption and Reconciliation c. by Christ was not universally effectual either 1. In God the Fathers intention nor in Christs intention 2. In the real Impetration of Christ 3. In the Application of it in time unto all the sons of Adam 3. Answers to some of the chief and speclous Arguments which are insisted on to the contrary 1. I shall endeavour in the general to prove this Negative truth that the death In the general Proofs from Scripture of Christ as Mediatour was not effectual for all and every man for Reprobates as well as Elect for unbelievers as well as believers for the damned as well as the saved Joh. 10. 15. I lay down my life for the sheep Those for whom Christ did dye were his sheep But all and every man are not his sheep Ergo he did not die for every As from John 10 15. man The first Proposition Jesus Christ delivers in this Scripture I lay down my life for the sheep The second Proposition Christ himself also delivers in verse 26. But ye believed not because ye are not of my sheep Quest. If the question be put But who are Christs sheep Sol. Why Christ also resolves that Question and so resolves it that he plainly demonstrates all are not his sheep See verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me verse 28. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish The sheep are described by their own property and by Christs bounty and care They are Christs sheep who do hear Christs voice and so hear his voice that they follow him But all and every man doth not the one nor the other again Christ sayes I give unto my sheep eternal life and they shall never perish Doth Christ give unto every one in the world eternal life and shall not any one in all the worldperish why then doth the Scripture say He that believeth not shall be damned Mar. 16. 16. And we are not of them that draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul Heb. 10. 39. Now what can be replied unto this Christ died for his sheep Eâgo all and every man are not his sheep There are two shifts which are made instead of answers unto this Scripture 1. One is that of Haberus That all men are sheep he must mean the sheep of Christ or else he answers nothing But this Christ himself as âe have heard of from verse 26. expresly opposeth saying to the unbelieving Pharisees and Jews ye are not my sheep There are but two respects upon which men may be called the sheep of God or of Christ One is in respect of vâcation whether external only or internal also The other is in respect of Predestination because God hath Chosen them and designed them for Christ and in neither of these respects can all and every man be called the sheep of Christ Neither in respect of Predestination for few are chosen Nor in respect of Vocation for though many be called yet not all called no not with an External Vocation which yet is the more general 2. Another is that of the Remonstrants who said that Christ did lay down his life for the sheep but it is not said for the sheep only for them alone Paul saith Chriââ gave himself for me It will not hence follow that Christ gave himself for Paul only and for none else nay we read that Christ died fur the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. and therefore not for his sheep only Sol. This is a shift much like that of the Papists who when we presse the Scripture for justification only by faith they say the word only by faith is not expressed unto whom we reply that vertually it is for the Scripture opposeth Justification by faith unto justification by works and denying it unto works therefore it
ascribes justification only to Faith And verily thus it holds as to the present dispute Christ died for his sheep if for none but his sheep than for them only when Christ said I pray not for the world but for them whom thou hast given me Joh. 17. 9. This is as much as if he had said I pray only for them whom thou hast given me So when Christ saith I lay down my life for my sheep and afterwards so describes his sheep that all unbelievers are none of the sheep for whom he died now it will follow that he died only for his sheep And indeed I would fain know for whom Christ should die for besides his sheep should he die for them who were never given unto him of whom he never took care to whom he never was a Shepherd for them that were never a part of his flock and charge Is this the commendations of of a good Shepherd to lay down his life for such as have no Relation at all unto him nor he unto them Object But it is said that Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5. 6. Sol. 'T is true yet not for all the ungodly for those who are made his sheep by grace were indeed in themselves ungodly sinners thâse ungodly spoken of there by the Apostle for whom Christ died verse 6. and 8. in verse 9. are said to be Justified by his blood and that they shall be saved from wrath through him and verse 10. are reconciled by his death and therefore much more being reconciled shall be saved by his life And truely such ungodly as these who in themselves were so and sinners and enemies but by the death of Christ were justified and reconciled and should undoudtedly be saved by him were no other then those whom he here calls his sheep not that his do continue ungodly but that the estate from which he justifies and saves them was so Object And for that conclusion from Paul saying Christ gave himself for me Hence it cannot be inferred therefore for none else but Paul I answer that speech is not alike with this I lay down my lifâ for my sheep Here is the full number For as in a Testament where common Legacies or Estates are bequeathed unto all the Children and Kindred and Friends though this Child or Kinsman or Friend cannot say this is given to me Ergo there is nothing given to any other besides me yet all and every one of them can say This Estate is given unto us mentioned in the Will therefore it is not given to any other but our selves who only are mentioned therein So though no particular Believer can appropriate the death and vertues of the death of Christ unto himself in exclusion of any other Believer who are all mentioned in the Will and Testament of Christ yet all Believers who are the sheep of Christ can say that Christ hath died for us and hath purchased and left the inheritance to us only none other being mentioned in his Testament nay all unblâevers being expresly left out But I proceed unto another proof Acts 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which From Acts 20. 28. Eph. 5. 23 26 27. he hath purchased with his own blood Christ is the Head of the Church and the Saviour of the body Ephes 5. 23 25. Husbands love your Wives as Christ also loved his Church and gave himself for it verse 26. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word verse 27. That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle but that it should be holy and without blemish In these places you see plainly five particulars 1. That the Church of God was purchased by the blood of Christ his blood was shed to Redeem and purchase it 2. That the love of Christ was to his Church and that from his love to his Church did flow the giving of himself for it 3. That the end why he gave himself for his Church was to make it holy and glorious 4. That of that Church for which he gave himself He is the Head 5. That the same Church is the body of Christ and that of that body he is the Saviour Whence I thus Argue Those whom Christ purchased by his blood were the Church of God those whom he loved were his Church those for whom Christ gave himself were his Church those to whom Christ is Head are the Church and those of whom he is a Saviour are his body the Church But all men whatsoever and every man whosoever are not the Church of God nor are Members of the Church of Christ nor is he the Head of them therefore he did not die or give himself for all and every man nor is he a Saviour to them The Major Proposition is the express Letter of these Scriptures the Minor Proposition is also most certaine viz. that all and every man is not the Church of God nor are they Members of the Church of Christ Consider the Church in any Scripture-acceptation this cannot be denied The Church is either 1. Invisibilis which is Coetus fidelium Or 2. Visibilis which is Coetus profitentium All and every man comes not within either of these they are neither believers on Christ nor professors of Christ Againe There is a Catholick Church of Christ viz. Believers in any time or part of the world and there is a particular Church of Christ which is a number of professing Believers joyned in the worship of Christ in this or that particular place Under neither of these Considerations are all and every Man Members of the Church of Christ Againe there is the Militant Church here on earth suffering for Christ and there is the Triumphing Church reigning in Heaven and glorified with Christ all and every man cannot fall in with either of these If all and every man cannot be found within the compass of the Church of Christ if this never was and is not and never will be then Christ did not die nor give himself for all and every man Object 'T is true that Christ gave himself for his Church but it is not said only for his Church and that he is the Saviour of the body but not only of the body Sol. 1. If one should thus argue from the precedent part of the Verse Verse 25. Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved the Church that they may love others besides their Wives because it is not said Love your own Wives only we should look on such a Gloss as somewhat Atheistical and Scoffing and Scurrilous so when we read that Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it c. Or Hosea 2. 19. I will Marry thee to my self it is not said Only yet Marriage is a particular and exclusive contract but let us review the place againe and try whether it will not yield us as much as Only for the Church Those for whom Christ here gave himself of them he is