the more we have respect to the Word as our daily rule so much the more All our stirrings in our callings is a motion of Spirituall life and argues the life of sanctification shed abroad in our hearts Secondly another action of life is feeding 2 Signe of spirituall life the creature that feeds it selfe is able to live Joh. 6 35. explained Iohn 6.35 Except you eate my Flesh and drinke my Blood you have no life in you He doth not speake of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper there for it was not then instituted but yet it is true of that as wel as of any other Ordinance of God the Body and Blood of Christ fed upon in Word and Sacrament and Christian communion in hearing and reading the Word and if Christ had ordained more Ordinances then he hath yet when he hath had ordained any Spirituall Ordinance the feeding upon Christ in that Ordinance had been an argument of Spirituall life Except yee eate his flesh and drinke his blood yee have no life in you This is an argument of Spirituall life when a man in every duty that he takes in hand and is sensible in them all in some measure though not alwayes easie to be discerned at first but if in every duty of Christianity that you performe and in every Ordinance of God you feed upon Christ then you have life in Christ so that let a man observe it You heare the Word and you receive Sacraments and you partake in Christian company Doe you eate the flesh of Christ there and drinke his blood there If so then it is well when you heare the Word is the Blood of Christ or is the flesh of Christ there or is either of both there to feed upon Or in prayer or in any other duty that you take in hand doe you feed upon Christ in it If you feed upon him there you have life and he that feeds not lives not if a man forbeare his meat he cannot long subsist It is true a man may live for a while and finde no rellish in any thing but in time he must finde relish in them else he cannot be preserved Quest But how shall I know that I doe feed upon Christ in every Ordinance Ans 1. A soule longs after Christ in Ordinance First Whether doe you finde an inward longing desire in your souls after the Lord Jesus Christ in the duties you goe about Doe you come with a desire to finde Christ in his Ordinance hungring and thirsting and not satisfied unlesse you finde Christ that is the nature of hungring and thirsting and so is the case here This desire and thirst is such an unquenchable desire as that without Christ it is by no meanes satisfied doe you therefore finde an inward longing to find and meet with the Lord Jesus in the Word that you read or heare in the Sacraments that you receive and such a longing desire as that if you finde not Christ there you goe away poore and dead and finding your hearts unsatisfied is an evident signe of life for you came to an Ordinance and desired to finde Christ there and there he was not what then Cant. 3.1 2 3. to the bed of the Ordinances the Church goes to seek and to finde Christ by night I sought him that was in a time of calamity that she could plainly discerne she found him not and she sought him in every other Ordinance but found him not or sign of life she hungers and sought out after him but could not finde him and when she missed him was not satisfied If a man come to an Ordinance and find nothing there Note this and yet when he is gone he is satisfied he is well enough that soule hath either no life at all or life in a swound or cold without stirring and motion there is not an hungering desire after him when you can come and goe away unsatisfied and yet be well contented too Secondly feeding hath another worke Strength and sweetnesse in the ordinance the former is but a preparation or supposition of feeding but a man also then feeds when he findes some sweetnesse and rellish in the meat that he eates that doth ever accompany feeding and is a signe that a man doth feed the stomach doth well affect the meat it feeds on have you then found some sweet rellish in the Ordinances the Gospell is a sweet savour to them that are saved 2 Cor. 2.15 16. and as for savour to smell so as a sweet savour to the taste doe you therefore finde some kinde of sweetnesse a spirituall sweetnesse in the Word you heare or read or Sacraments you receive or prayers that you make Are they such a comfort or sweetnesse to you that you finde in this or that promise or commandement or doctrin any word of life Do you finde strength and sweetnesse in it It is an evident signe of life because you finde sweetnesse in it it s a signe of health to rellish a sweetnesse in our meat for a sick man it may be eates and drinkes but he findes no sweetnesse in it and that is a part of his complaint that he cannot relish his meat and it is true it may be a man that hath some life in him feels no relish no savour in any Ordinance but then he sees he is sicke and he complaines of it to God but yet notwithstanding if a man doe finde sweetnesse and relish there it is an evident argument not of life only but of health and such as will maintaine spiritual life but if a man find no sweetnesse in it he cannot live for were there life it would finde sweetnesse Thirdly 3. Particular applying of the Word in all feeding there is a taking of the meate downe and not spitting it out but we receive it downe and there it lyes in our stomachs and we chew upon it and there it rests but if we cast it up againe then we feed not it is an ill signe when we cast it away as soone as we receive it If Gods Word abide with us and in us that we doe not reject it but hide it in our hearts that so we might not sinne against God Psal 119.11 and receive it by a wise applying of it to our owne soules receive it into the inward man and apply our selves to every duty commanded us so farre as concernes our callings and our estates and takes notice of every threatning that we had need looke to it so farre as we might sinne against God if we thus take the Word of God downe into our hearts and make it our owne case and therefore keepe it within our selves and give up our selves in some measure to be bowed by it and hide it in our hearts and lets it sit next our hearts then truly we doe feed upon it and it secretly conveyes strength into us though sometimes we lesse discerne it Fourthly 4. Conformity to the Word in everything all
Phil. 1.23 Though the other be a lawfull desire but chiefly his desire is that he might see Christ whom from his first conversion he hath most loved and in whom he hath lived all his life and now to be wholly possessed of him and wholly acted and swayed by him not that he might have his heart filled with joy but that he might be with Christ not only as chiefest of ten thousand persons but as the chiefest of ten thousands benefits of God that should God give us pardon of sinne his Word and Sacrament and victory over all our lusts strength of every grace of God and everlasting life and therewith fellowship with all the blessed Saints and Angels yet to us Christ is the chiefest of them all none greater then the gift of Christ and this is the sincerity of a Christians soule he desires more any benefit for Christs sake then Christ for any of his benefits sake for he whose heart is set upon Christ more then upon the pardon of sinne or salvation that soule hath Christ and life in him he that hath Christ in his eye and heart above all blessings he indeed is a true Christian and hath Christ Reas Christ must so be had and we must so receive him as God gives him now God gives us first Christ in all his Ordinances and then in Christ all other things all benefits in and through Christ Act. 8.35 We preach to you Jesus we offer you him all lusts layed aside all sinfull corruptions put away whatever separates between God and us that being done away We now offer you Christ and in Christ plentious redemption but if we be without Christ we are without true life As in the Sacrament first you have the body and blood of Christ set before you Matth. 26.26 and then sealed up and confirmed to you in the Sacrament and together with that justification and further degrees of the sanctifying spirit and further pledges of everlasting life and glory No benefit but it s conveyed through him Christ first and then the benefit It is true Herod received joy but Foelix trembling and Jehu zeale but none of these received Christ they received the huske but wanted Christ they had the shell but not the marrow and kernell within they received the benefit but Christ they did not receive and for want of him they had no life at all Simon Magus hee beleeved Acts 8.13 but he had no lively faith because he would receive the benefit but Christ he minded not to receive Unlesse the heart be knit to Christ and the soule more seek Christ then pardon of sinne or subduing of lusts he hath no life in truth he that hath the Son he hath life not so he that hath the gifts and benefits of the son But Christ first and in having Christ we have all Christ must be received as God gives him we must acknowledge there is no life in any grace but in Christ Hos 14.8 On me is your fruit found and without me can you do nothing John 15.5 Now then carry this truth home with you and gather from hence a true estimate of your own estates whether you may judge of your selves as living or dead Christians Upon our having or not having of Christ depends our having or not having of life How will you know whether you have life or no you say you have Christ how know you that Whether is your hearts more set upon Christ then the gifts of Christ Whether do you labour more for gifts or for Christ himselfe And if you finde this that in the truth of your hearts you come not to the Ordinances but to find your beloved there not out of unclean and wanton spirits but to seeke him whom your soule most desires whose favour and countenance you would rather behold then to hear the voyce of a pleasant singer and you are not satisfied with any thing unlesse you find him then shal you find life in so coming to the Ordinances Can. 3.1 2 3. By night in my bed I sought him whom my soule loved c. The bed was the Temple wherein God did reveale himselfe in his Ordinances and disperse himselfe to his people in the bed of his love Shee came to the Temple not to seek any of the Preists and Levites there She goes indeed to the Watch-men and makes her moane and complaint to them that she could not finde Christ in his Ordinances and she durst not rest upon their opinions but saith have you not seen him whom my soul loveth can you tel me any newes or give me any intelligence of my beloved Saviour Thus she inquires of the Watch-men And from them she goes to the Daughters of Jerusalem to her Christian friends and chargeth them to tell him that she is sick of love Now if thus to desire him is to find Christ then there is no more to be doubted of in such a case as this But the heart thus seeking him in his Ordinances and the affections gon after him there more then after any of his benefits then in truth we have the Sonne he could not have our hearts if we first had not him And therefore it is a strong evidence we have him because our hearts are set upon him We search for nothing so much as for him This is part of the meaning of that place in Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee or in earth in comparison of thee he desires nothing more then him neither peace of conscience nor joy in the Holy ghost nor any thing so cheifly and principally as God but if wee have a longing affection after pardon of sinne and peace of conscience and assurance of salvation after subduing of lusts and growth in grace these be blessed desires and usually upright and sincere but there may be hypocrisie even in these very desires and in using the meanes to attaine these for sometimes by this meanes we seek Christ and him in his Ordinances not so much for himself as for the benefits we have by him which is a spirit of harlotry As in a woman that it may bee hath a strong affection to match with such a man but it is but that hee might pay her debts and that she might be well provided for for the world and that he might be availe and a protector to her these be lawfull ends to aime at but if it be only and cheifly for these ends it is not true conjugal affection for if another man could do this for her as well as he she could make choyce of another as well as of him and she desires him not for his but for her own ends And just so it is alike in this case If a man desire the Lord Jesus Christ to this end that he may have his sinne pardoned and be furnished with grace though these be spirituall ends yet so much as wee prize the benefit above Christ so much are we halting in the truth of our affection to him If
feeding containes in it a conversion of the meat into the thing nourished so as that which we feed upon it becomes our selves it is all one with our selves in time it is so digested and turned into our nature that every part hath sucked in its owne nourishment every part hath received something of that which was inwardly received This hath been anciently observed this is somewhat more then receiving Christ by faith for when we apply every word to our selves and make Christ ours that is receiving him to be ours yet it is a further worke to be conformable to the Lord Jesus Christ in every thing to be confirmed and established in the Promises and to be quickned by them to be terrified by threatnings and to stand in awe of every word of God and to be bowed to an inward subjection to Christ day by day by the word we receive this is a further mighty worke of grace If therefore hee be a Christian that by the Word and Ordinances he receives he is fashioned and made conformable to Christ meek and righteous and lowly and holy as he is and willing to do any good Office for the Church of God and goe up and down doing good and needs no further motion this way but as Christ moves him it is a signe that he feeds upon Christ Christ is turned into his nature or which is more his nature is rather turned into the nature of Christ the nourishment being so strong makes us become such as he is in this world Now when we are conformable to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Ordinances that we partake in it is an evident sign that we there feed upon him And therefore try your selves by this signe of sanctification if you live you feed on Christ and except you so doe you have no life in you so then consider do I feed upon the flesh of Christ and drinke his blood and do I finde a spirituall appetite to the Lord Jesus raised up in my soule and do I find any spiritual refreshment and strength by that which I do partake in and that which I so find sweetnesse in I apply it to my own estate and convey it into the inward part of my heart that I may be able to drink it up as my lot and portion And do I by this strength of grace grow like to Christ and do I more adorn the Gospell of Christ this is an evident signe you live for you feed upon spirituall food which is an argument of spiritual life no man can feed upon spirituall food but he that lives and such a life as hee lives in Christ Let a man come to the Word without an appetite to it and when he comes find no nourishment nor refreshment in it and applyes nothing as is said to him but let such and such looke to it he never hears profitably that doth not particularly apply that which he heares and if he apply it he rather stormes at it it is an evident argument that such a man hath no life in him at all Not that you should here look at the naturall body and blood of Christ for that were a Canaball eating and drinking That which the Church of Rome puts upon the Church of God at this day but our Saviour tells you the meaning of this place It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing had a company of Roman Souldiers fallen upon Christ and either out of wrath against him or love to themselves had pulled him in peeces and eaten him goblet by goblet it had profitted them nothing had men eaten the reall body of Christ and drunk up his blood and joyned with others in so doing and left none of him al this had profited them nothing nay it profits nothing for the Capernites aske the question How can this man give us his flesh to eat it is an hard saying they thought it incredible v. 5.2 they would think it a savage bruitishnesse to fal upon him in that manner and therefore our Saviour so confesseth that it is no part of his meaning that they should eate and drinke his reall body and blood but hee meanes the breathing of the spirit in the Ordinances if you can rellish Note this and feed upon that and grow to be such as Christ was in this world that was the meate and drinke of his soule if you grow humble and meek and be transformed into the spirit of Christ if you see your spirits conformable to the will of Christ it is a signe of the life of holinesse in your soules which God hath given you through Christ A third effect of the life of sanctification 3 Signe is growth for that which lives growes till it come to its full perfection so in all naturall Growth in grace vegitative or sensitive life if it live it growes till it come to its full maturity when it comes to its full vigour and strength it may decay and stand at a stay but a Christians life never comes to that till it come to the life of glory to the full measure of the stature of Christ In this life we cannot come to that but therefore it is that we grow to the end of our dayes and then are forthwith translated to immortallity ye desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 and 2 Pet. 3.18 grow in grace and God hath given us Ministers to teach and instruct us till we all grow to be perfect in Christ Jesus Eph. 4.11 12 13. Col. 2.19 Increase with the increasings of God with divine and inlarged and spirituall increasing so doth the body of Christ grow and all the members of it they grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ So that this is a third effect of life if a man can find his heart to grow Quest But doth not many a Christian stand at a stay and sometimes grow backward and fall from their first love fall from the fruitfullnesse and goodnesse and rootednesse in Christ though not wholly cut off yet falling from the firmenesse in grace and the power of grace and from fruitfullnesse and the abundance of the worke of righteousnesse Answ It is true many a soule doth so for a while but if so bee that God doe give a Christian man not to grow we must not say therefore he doth not live not but that a man for a time may be weake as a living man in sicknesse may be very weake his spirit faile and his strength faile and his worke and imployment fails him and he can do nothing neither eate nor drink no not so much as leane upon a staffe but may lye bed-rid but yet such a man feeles a sensible distemper of his body and he ceaseth not to use the best means he can and so in the end he comes to grow and recovers his first love againe in some measure some also there are that by sinfull lusts waste instead of
his Son to whom this eternall life is communicated and that is to all such as to whom the Son is communicated amplified by the contrary He that hath not the Son hath not life Doctrine According to or upon our having or not having of Christ depends our having or not having of life The note is of speciall weight in our Christian experience and therefore let us take so much the more care in opening of it He that findeth me which is all one with hee that hath me he hath life Prov. 8.34 but he that is estranged from me he loveth death ver 36. So that finde Christ and finde life Finde him not but be estranged from him and finde death So Eph. 2.12 In times past ye were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world and Eph. 4.18.19 There he speakes of some that were alienated from the life of God but in ver 20. Ye have not so learned Christ if so be you have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus For further clearing of this point let me shew you first the Reasons upon which it depends and then the uses of it Creatures broken Sisterns without Christ Reason 1. For the first The first reason arises from the insufficiency of all the body of the creature to give us life without Christ Heb. 10.1.4 It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should cleanse the conscience from sinne They are not a valuable recompence to God for the transgressions we have done by our transgressions we had deserved death for which the death of the beasts cannot make recompence Men cannot redeem themselves And besides should we dye for our sinnes our selves our death would not free us from the punishment for we are not able to overcome death but should for ever sinke under it If there had been a Law that could have given us life then wee might have lived by it but there is no such Law as can give us spirituall life David speakes in the name of Christ Psal 22.29 It is the speech of our Saviour or of David in his name No Man can keepe alive his owne soule It is beyond the power of the creature to keep alive his own soule no not so much as naturall life Psal 49.7.9 No man can give a ransome for the soule of his brother no man is able to ransome or redeem his owne life or anothers yea which is much Adam in innocency was taught to looke for the preservation of his inocent nature out of himself for to that end did God give him the tree of life Gen. 2.9 the tree of life grows not in Adam but in the Garden Now he that was to eat of the tree called the tree of life he was taught from thence that the maintenance and continuance of that life which he then lived a life of grace and glory was not to be expected from his owne strength but from something without himselfe The tree of life was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ the second person in Trinity 1 Joh. 3.4 Now if Adam could not keep alive his own soule but by that tree how much lesse Adam falne and corrupted being now become unable to keep that Law which in innocency he might have kept But more clearly see the grounds of this insufficiency in the creature to helpe it selfe The first is taken from the preciousnesse of the price of our redemption The costlinesse of it the matter of our justification is the price of our redemption and without justification no spirituall life at all Now the price of our redemption is our justification the forme of that justification is Gods accepting of it and imputing it to us but the matter of it is the price of our redemption and that is the root of all our spirituall life the price of our redemption given to God is accepted of him and by him given to us Psal 49.8 Precious is the redemption of soules it is farre beyond the power of the creature that which may be fit matter to give to God by way of satisfaction for a soule that is very precious and this was onely the obedience of Christ to the death he by suffering death for us and rising from the dead declared himselfe mightily to be the Son of God and he by his obedience to the death offered to God the price of our redemption He gave himselfe a ransome for many And this shews that it had beene impossible for any under the Sonne of God to have given a sufficient price for our redemption neither man nor Angels could doe it but he in giving a sufficient price for us did thereby mightily declare himselfe to be the Sonne of God he onely by his death is the matter of our justification and his rising is our life the Father himselfe it could not stand with his justice to give a price for our redemption he being the person offended but the Sonne taking upon him our nature that nature which had offended God he by this meanes made atonement betweene the Father and us and in making atonement declared himselfe mightily to be the Sonne of God none but he alone was able to tender to God such a recompence as might be a satisfaction for our sins 2. And as this is ground why there is no sufficiency in the creature to give us the life of our justification so it is also taken from the root of our sanctification and consolation for they spring both from one fountaine and that is the Spirit of Gods grace John 16.7 he is the comforter that is our sanctifier and this springs in us to everlasting life Joh. 4.14 Now he that can give a spirit of sanctification and consolation is onely the Lord Jesus Christ unlesse he goe away and send the Comforter to us he never comes If you would know who it is that can give this water of life you shal read Joh. 4.10 that it is only the Lord Jesus he it is only that goes to the Father and sends his Spirit of grace into our hearts unlesse he go to heaven and send it downe from heaven to us it is not given So that he being the root of the Spirit of consolation of sanctification all this life of consolation sanctification springing from the Spirit as from a fountain and Christ being he that sets open this fountain Zac. 1.13 Therefore it is that there is an insufficiency in the creature to shed abroad such a thing as this into our hearts Act. 2 33. when he was to give a reason of the spirit of Tongues he fetches it fom the resurrection of Christ that he by his ascending into heaven did shed abroad this word which you now see and heare so that by his death he gave to God not onely the price of our redemption but prevailed with the Father to bestow upon him the Spirit to
comparison of Christ he thinkes himselfe unworthy to loose his shooe latchet No mortall man but hee may bee worthy to loose any mans shooe latchet if he be but worthy to live but this is the honour and worship of Christ that when thy soule looks upon Christ he is so highly to be preferred before him as that he thinkes himselfe not worthy to untie his shooe Now when a man is framed to these thoughts in his minde as that he looks at Christ as the chiefest of all the blessings of God as the greatest mercy that ever could befall a poor soule and in respect of Christ he looks at himselfe as an unworthy creature most unworthy of Christ most unworthy to come in his presence and much more unworthy to be made partaker of so glorious a match as the Lord Jesus is or to have his part in his body and blood the very worship of Christ in truth the having of Christ if we have such a singular esteem of him we may be sure we could never have thus prized him but that he first prized us Christians worship Christ in their minds For further opening this worship of Christ in our minds because it is of singular importance and may helpe and stay a poore Christian when his heart may be most dead and all other things fail him yet this high esteem of Christ in his mind is never wanting to an honest hearted Christian but he ever hath occasion to looke at Christ as most glorious and at himselfe in comparison of Christ as unworthy to loose his shooe latchet Moses honors the reproaches of Christ Let us therefore consider a little further of it you may the read the like gracious disposition in Moses he so prizes Christ that every thing belonging to Christ seems honourable to him he esteemed the very reproaches of Christ above all the treasures of Egypt and those are lesse then a shooe latchet Hebr. 11.26 in untying a shooe latchet there is neither shame nor pain but for a man to be reproached for Christ if any thing be base and dishonourable sure it is that For a man that was taken to be the sonne of Pharoahs daughter and for him not to be ashamed of the people of God nor of being reproached with them yea so far from being ashamed as to think it greater riches then the treasures of Egypt he was sure gone far in his esteem of Christ that man truly worships Christ that honors the reproaches of Christ above al other things But yet there is something more in it then this in this worship of Christ in our minds We honour or worship Christ in our minds when we make him the cheifest and esteem nothing more worthy to be knowne then to know the Lord Jesus Christ John 17.3 This is life eternall to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Now when the soul esteemes nothing more worth the knowing then Jesus Christ this is an honouring of him 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined not to know any thing among you save Christ and him crucified and Phil. 3 7 8 9 10. He lookes at all things as losse and drosse and dung that he might be found in Christ not having his owne righteousnesse but might know the power and vertue of his resurrection This is that which the Apostle did prize in his Judgment as more honourable and comfortable then any thing under the Sun and this was an evident signe that Paul had Christ for this is an ordinary experiment in nature no man hath any blessing Naturally men desire to know the worth of blessings but he would know the worth of it if a man have a Farme or a yoak of Oxen he will prove them Luke 14.19 a man will know aforehand if he can but when he hath it then he will prove it and truely so is it with every one that hath the Lord Jesus he is desirous to prove Christ he would know by experience what the vertue and power of his death is how it pardons his sin and mortifies his corruptions and he would know the power of his resurrection strengthening and quickning grace in him and the power of Christs ascension He that hath Christ is inquisitive to know all the vertue that is in Christ assending into the presence of his Father and sitting at the right hand of God to rule all Creatures in heaven and in earth for the Churches good and subduing our enemies and bringing us to glory in the end A man that hath Jesus Christ he is inquisitive to know all the vertue that is in Christ he thinks in his mind there is nothing better worth the knowings then to know and feel the vertue and power of Christ Jesus in his heart And this is the first part of the worship of Christ though we be yet doubtfull whether we have Christ or no Yet it is an evidence to the soul that thou hast him because thou dost worship him and so highly prize him in thy minde and if thou couldest but know him and thy part in him this is the chiefest comfort thou canst pitch thy minde upon certainly he is thy beloved since he is to thee the chiefest of ten thousand Secondly a man worships Christ Two parts of the worship of Christ is in the wil affections not only by an act of his mind but a man hath Christ likewise when he hath him in the deep affection of his heart when he deeply affects him in his heart as his chiefest good The former was an act of the Judgment and understanding this belongs to the heart will and affections Plal. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee or in earth in comparison of thee and Psal 42 1â— my soul pants or breathes after thee my God He was then a banished man from the congregation and it was a weary sad time to him his soul panted like a chased Deare for the rivers of water his soul was athirst for God! Oh when shall I come and appeare before him this is such a longing desire when a man wants Christ As that it is called hunger and thirst Matth. 5. such a desire as cannot be satisfied but with meeting with that which the soul doth hunger and thirst for give an hungry man a house full of gold and he is hungry still but give him meate and then you satisfy him So in this case the soul that hungers after Christ give him profit and pleasure and you give him nothing but his soul is fit to perish for want of Christ Deep measure of worshiping of Christ this is a deep worship we put upon Christ and in so affecting of him we have him when the soul hath the Lord Jesus the highest and chiefest cause of rejoycing it hath is only its having of Christ Gal. 6.14 if he have his part in Christ that is his Crown and his Portion he counts it a goodly portion his lot is falne into
to be the Lords and offer themselves up to him and when God requires it of us we yeeld our selves to him and desire God to be a God to us then he is our God and we are his people by way of Covenant 2 Cor. 8.5 They gave themselves first to the Lord and then unto us by the will of God when we have bestowed our selves upon God he is not wanting to receive us to bee his people Now for further opening of this It was said this Covenant was made with God by way of sacrifice Psal 50.5.7 that was according to the sacrifice which the people of God did solemnly offer before God of which you read Exod. 24.3 to the end of the eighth ver Moses told the people the words of the Lord and the people answered with one voyce and said All the words which the Lord hath said wee will heare it and doe it They promise themselves to be an obedient people to God what ever he commands them that will they hear and that will they do And on the other side Moses tooke the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled it upon the people and by this meanes they did passe into Covenant with God It implyes thus much when we come to make a Covenant with God we professe our selves as guilty of death and therefore look up to Christ desiring that his death might be imputed to us and we thereupon offer our selves soules and bodies to bee obedient to God to the death onely we require this back againe of God that as we give up our selves a sacrifice to him so that the Lord Jesus Christ might be imputed unto us and the blood of Christ and the life of Christ might be communicated to us his life of righteousnesse and holinesse and of eternal glory all that life that is in Christ might become ours this doth God require of them and this is to make a Covenant with God by way of sacrifice for the Burnt-offering vers 5. was a Type of Christ the Meat-offering was a Type of the peoples giving up themselves to God and this is to make a Covenant by sacrifice we confesse we deserve death but for time to come we desire to give up our selves to do and suffer his will onely we desire that the blood of Christ might be sprinkled upon our souls and that we might live in his sight Now those that have thus made a Covenant with God hee calls them his people and Saints Thus you see what it is and wherein this Covenant stands sometimes some branch of this is expressed in other Covenants God promises to Abraham that he will be a God to him that is he will not only be a good Father to him nor only a good Master or Tutour nor only a good King nor a good Phisitian but what soever is good that is in God and it is but a drop but a sparke of the well-spring of life in him all the goodnesse that is dispersed in the creature flowes from him there is goodnesse in a good Father or Magistrate or Minister or Friend but when God undertakes to bee a God to us he promises to be to us whatsoever is good in the creature a good Father a good Friend a good Phisitian whatever is good for soule and body he will bee all in all to us and that partly in his owne person and partly in so ordering matters Extent of the Covenant on Gods part that all those things wherein his goodnesse is communicated he will so dispose them that we shall see a goodnesse of God in them all we shall see the presence and goodnesse of God in all the blessings we partake in this world he will be whatsoever is needfull for us in every kind and though any meanes should faile yet God will not faile us this do we desire of God God a fountain of goodnes to his when we desire him to be our God God is an heape and fountaine of goodnesse and he undertakes so to be us Now as wee expect this from God that he would be a God to us so we desire also and offer our selves back again to God to be obedient to his will and to waite upon him for all that which he hath promised us to expect it and to waite for it And when we undertake to be obedient to him not that we promise it in our owne names and for our owne parts but in the behalfe of every soule that belongs to us as wee desire a blessing upon all that belongs to us so we offer up our selves to God and our wives and children Extent of the Covenant on our part and servants and kindred and acquaintance and all that are under our reach either by way of subordination or co-ordination so farre as in our power we may reach either by Commandement or counsell we do as much as in us lyes promise to God that we and our housholds wil serve the Lord Josh 24.15 hee and his houshold that is his children and servants and all that are bought with mony they will all serve the Lord this they offer to God as a Father in a family he and his so much as he is able will prevaile with them to keep Gods Commandements and God will be a God to them all a Father and Master a Magistrate and Minister Husband Friend and Phisitian and all and whatsoever is good thus you see how God comes to be ours by way of Covenant For further clearing of this poynt there is a three-fold Covenant Covenant three fold wherein God doth bind himselfe to his people and we back again to him according as there is among the reasonable creatures 1 The first is Between Prince and People so the high Priest made a Covenant between him and between all the people and between the King that they should be the Lords people and such a Covenant there is usually in all well governed Common-wealths unlesse the King comes in by way of Conquest and Tyranny but in well settled Common-wealths there is a Covenant and Oath between Prince and People 2 There is a Covenant between Man and Wife of which it is said Prov. 2.17 Which forsaketh the Guide of her Youth and forgetteth the Covenant of her God These are all called the Covenant of God he is a party in the Covenant ever 3 Another is an Oath or a Covenant of God to passe betweene Friend and Friend such was the Covenant between Jonathan and David 1 Sam. 20.16 Now there is a certain Covenant between God and his people in al these that look what a King requires of his People or the people of a King the very same doth God require of his people and the people of God that offers himself to be a God to his people that is a Governor a Provider for and a protector of his people to fight their Battels for them and to guide and rule them in peace and justice and the people undertake to be