consist of Promises they are many Promises of this life and of the life to come Promises absolute and conditional Promises of Grace and to Grace and they are therefore called better Promises and so because in respect of the Fathers their good things were even wholly contained in Promises as the Ceremonial Law was contained in Ordinances and they saw nothing in the one but in the Type and nothing in the other but in the Promises they did salute them afar off and imbracing them died in the faith of them but they never received the thing promised Heb. 11. Joh. 8.57 only as Abraham desired to see my days says Christ and he saw it and was glad And it is sometimes called the promise because they are all one in Christ being in him all yea and amen as lines in a Center are one follow any promise to its Original as rivers unto the head and rise of them and they will all lead you unto Christ and yet they are Promises in themselves many as the lines are in the Circumference though but one in the Center Ephes 2.12 the Apostle Paul useth a quite different expression Strangers unto the Covenants of promise he doth as it were make the promise but one for substance and the Covenants many the Covenants are many because of their manifold delivery being severally renewed and yet in all these in several ages the promises the same as if but one promise 2. How and in what order is Abraham to be considered in this Covenant and in receiving this promise In this Covenant Abraham stands as a publick person as a common root Rom. 11. or as a common Parent unto all the faithful unto the worlds end as one that did receive the Promise not only for himself but for all those that should after his example believe in Christ and become his Children and therefore he is said to be the father of the faithful Rom. 4.16 and they that do believe are Abrahams seed and also heirs of the Promise For as Austin hath observed there are three sorts of Fathers and of Sons some are according to nature and others are secundum Doctrinam according to Doctrine so Paul was father to Timothy having begotten him by the Gospel others secundum imitationem according to imitation as filii Abrahami nos sumus cujus fidem imitamur we are Abrahams children if we imitate his faith And this the Lord doth for a double end 1 To put an honour upon his servant as a great reward of his faith and therefore he changed his name calling him the Father of many Nations as one that was the root and first in the Covenant and they all coming in at second hand under Abrahams Covenant and therefore Mic. 7.20 it is mercy to Abraham Mic. 7.20 and truth to Jacob because in Abraham after a sort the Covenant did begin not that to him the Covenant of Grace was first revealed for it was made known unto Adam and Abel was justified by faith Heb. 11.3 but because unto Abraham was the clearest discovery of the Covenant and the Lord did in the most solemn manner enter into Covenant with him therefore it is mercy to Abraham that being the foundation of making the Covenant as his truth and faithfulness is of keeping the Covenant 2 The Lord does it thereby to make Abraham as it were a Type of Christ that it may be continued unto posterity that the way by which God intended to dispense the Grace of the Covenant was from one common head or root as the first Covenant to the first Aam and all his posterity so the second Covenant with the second Aam of whom first Abraham and afterwards David were the fullest Types and resemblances Thus that the Lord might honour Abraham his friend with the highest honour as the root of all the Faithful and that this manner of conveyance of the Grace of the Covenant from one common root might be made known and thereby mans heart led unto Christ the root and Prince of the Covenant therefore it was made with Abraham as a publick person and the father of us all 3. What is meant by Christ here the seed of Abraham not seeds as of many Here Interpreters are divided There is a twofold seed of Abraham to which they have an eye according unto these two promises In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed Gen. 22.18 Christus in individuo Christus in aggregato and Gen. 17.7 I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and answerably unto these they observe in Scripture a twofold Christ Christ Personal and Christ Mystical so 1 Cor. 12.12 the whole Church is called Christ and the sufferings of the Church are called the sufferings of Christ Ephes 1.23 and the fulness of the Church the fulness of Christ as Col. 1.18 Here some say is to be understood Christ personal for two reasons 1 The person to whom the promise is made is the same in whom all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed but this is by Abraham in reference to this seed It 's true all the faithful as they are the seed of Abraham they are blessed with faithful Abraham but they are not that seed in whom all the Nations of the world shall be blessed Rutherf Triumph of Faith p. 51. Gen. 22.18 that is in Abraham as this seed should come out of his loins and it refers us only to the person of Christ which cannot be understood of Christ Mystical therefore Ambrose saith of this promise Impletum est in Christo ideoque non in multis sed in uno firmata est promissio 2 Because it is said verse the 17. the Covenant was made before of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erga Christum or ad Christum in or to Christ speaking of the same seed that he had spoken of in the verse before now this promise and Covenant was not confirmed in Christ Mystical but Christ Personal in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen And hence Pareus and divers others do conclude it to be understood Individuè de uno Christo ex quo omnis spiritualis benedictio in fidelem diffluit c. Individually of Christ from whom all spiritual benediction flows Others do conceive it is to be understood of Christ Mystical 1 From the order that is here mentioned the promise is made first unto Abraham and then unto his seed therefore the seed here spoken of must be such a seed as comes to have a right to the promise as second Bulkley of the Gospel-Covenant p. 37. in order unto Abraham but this cannot be Christ Personal for he has not a right unto the Promise from Abraham but Abraham from him and therefore it must be understood of Christ Mystical who are to look upon Abraham as the root and themselves as branches 2 They argue from the Apostles scope in this place which is to prove that
in one and the same Covenant And what makes us become the Sons of Christ It 's the same that makes us the Sons of Abraham and that is Gal. 3.29 They that are Christs are Abrahams seed it is our coming under the Covenant of Christ that makes us of his posterity 2. It 's a wonderful comfort to a Christian to stand before God in the righteousness of Christ to be made the righteousness of God in him it was that which Paul desired and that which the Saints glory in Rev. 12.1 The Churches glory lies in imputed righteousness Phil. 3.8 and there are two things required to justifie a sinner 1 There must be a perfect righteousness found out that must as a garment cover all the sinfulness of the Soul 2 There must be an Application of this Righteousness unto him that wants it that it may truly become his and this is to be had no-where but in Christ Mal. 4.2 and therefore He is called the sun of righteousness 1 For perfection There is but one sun but there is in the Sun all fulness of light it is the fountain of it And so it is with Christ he is but one but there is all righteousness in him whatever is required to justifie a sinner before God 2 There is a communication or application of his righteousness unto us by the imputation â—f the Father for the Sun hath not its light for it self but that it may be communicated â—nd therefore he is called Jehovah our righteousness The fullness of it is seen in this Jer. 23.6 That 〈◊〉 is the righteousness of Jehovah not the essential righteousness of Christ as God but â—hat which was wrought in his human nature unto which the Godhead gave an efficacy â—nd excellency and yet it is ours also and therefore he is said to bring it in Dan 9. There was â—o righteousness in the World but Christ brought it in or did cause it to come as the â—ord signifies Now how comes it to pass that Christs righteousness is imputed to us and â—ccounted to us It is not by promise made unto us for till a man be justified he is an â—â—emy unto God and hath right to no promise and therefore formally this promise is â—ade unto Christ that brings justification with him Isa 53. By my knowledge shall my righteous â—â—rvant justify many And how come we to partake in justification Only as we are justiâ—â—â—d in him who is our head who died under the guilt of our sins as a publick person â—â—d so he rose from the dead and therefore 1 Tim. 3.16 he was justified in the spirit â—ot only before men but before God also for he had sin imputed by God as well as he was reputed a sinner by man and he was so accounted in our stead as our surety therefore he rose for our justification Rom. 4. last And there is a justification upon a man as â—oon as ever he consents to the Covenant the righteousness of the Covenant belongs to â—im so that if the Covenant had not been made with Christ and these promises performed unto the Soul in Christ we could never have been justified in Gods sight and therefore though we are said to be justified freely by Grace yet it is through the righteousness of Christ There is Grace in God to impute his righteousness unto us but it is according to the Covenant of God with him which was the ground why he did perform this righteousness 3. It 's a wonderful comfort to have a share in the merits of Christ and in the purchase that is made thereby for as by the sin of man there was a curse incurr'd and an inheritance forfeited so in the redemption wrought by Christ there must be the Law satisfied and a new inheritance purchased For there are two parts of this redemption there is an old debt to be paid and there is a new purchase to be made Bare satisfaction of the old debt and performing the obedience unto the Law as our surety that was due from us is not enough the payment of an old debt will not make a new purchase therefore in Christ there must be something that must exactly answer the Law and that will pay the debt of the Law that was due from us and there must be something that must be above the Law which is called superlegale meritum and that will also purchase us a new inheritance There are three things necessarily required to this merit to make a new purchase 1 It must be proprium a man must give of his own and so no man can do Of thine own have we given thee for all things are of thee 2 Indebitum something that is not due that a man doth not owe that which is a mans duty he must say when he hath done it he is an unprofitable Servant 3 The reward must not be of grace but of debt and justice due but there is no such thing in any thing man can do for eternal life is the gift of God It is by grace we are saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2.8 9. All this meets in Christ it was his own for he thought it no robbery to be equal with God and he did lay down his own life and it was free it was not due for it could not have been a sacrifice had it not been voluntary And it was perfect there was infinitely more worth in him than is in all the Souls that he hath redeemed and all the glory that he hath purchased and therefore his subjects do set a higher price upon his person than they do upon his benefits as God the Father himself doth Question How should a man come to get an interest in this merit The Lord gives Grace and Glory we can merit nothing It 's true as our surety paying our debt by the agreement with the Father you shall be free but there is a Covenant between the Father and the Son not only that his satisfaction shall be ours Isa 49.6 but his purchase ours also for the Lord hath given him not only to raise up the tribes of Jacob but also for salvation to the ends of the earth As he hath a seed Heb. 1.2 so he hath an inheritance for he is appointed heir of all things and in him we have an inheritance being with him Coheirs Rom. 8. And all is because we come under his Covenant 4. In respect of the promises of the Covenant of Grace for it 's a Covenant that doth consist in Promises Heb. 8.6 it is a Covenant that is established by Law that is firmly grounded upon better promises Heb. 8.6 Now wherein are they better promises whenas to Adam God did promise life and salvation not only here but hereafter 1 They are better because all the promises of the first Covenant were conditional as rewards of Grace but it did not promise Grace 2 They are better because they
order of Gods as we see in David the Lord was provoked against him that he smote Vzzah with death because they sought not God according to the due order and if matters of order be so great what is it for men to vary in matters of faith Col. 2. and to change the covenant of God it's made a great offence Esa 24.5 To change the ordinances of God much more that which is the foundation of all Ordinances the everlasting Covenant A man could not act upon a more dangerous way of sinning than to change the covenant of God that he hath made with his people 2 By this means there is a great injury done unto children which are the Embryo's of the Church of God and Christ saith It 's dangerous to offend one of these little ones they shall be sure of a rebuke from Christ for of such is the kingdom of God to admit any into the Church of God that the Lord would have secluded is a high provocation and a great unfaithfulness in them that have the power of the Keys but to seclude any that the Lord would have admitted is a greater provocation The covenant of grace is not only a covenant Gal. 3.15 but a testament and that is amongst men accounted so sacred that no man disanulleth it or addeth thereunto and if we could say that children were secluded from the covenant because they cannot restipulate then to blot their names out of the last Will and Testament of Christ is a horrible injury to the persons and a very great presumption in the man But there are two special places that I would name to you for this one in 1 Cor. 10.1 2. Our fathers all passed under the cloud and through the sea were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea The scope I conceive to be this where there are the like priviledges of grace there will be the like punishments but we have the like priviledges of grace that they had therefore we may expect altogether with them the like punishments Estius so Estius says of the benefits that they received they were eorum praefigurativa prefigurative of those which we now receive by Christ and therefore he pitches upon two extraordinary Sacraments of the Jews in which if in any thing they might seem to be priviledged but he says that they were also as types and examples unto us and that the Apostle had such an intention is plain to me and that he intended them as sacramental types 1 else he would never have called them spiritual meats and drinks 2 Else he would never have singled out barely these two giving to one the name of Baptism and to the other the name of spiritual Meats The first noted protection for them and their children passing under the cloud and direction also for the cloud did not only go before them as a guide but it was spread also over them as a covering it 's said Num. 9.15 16 19. That the cloud covered the Tabernacle and so it was always that the cloud covered it by day and this was a type of that special protection that the Lord seals unto parents and their children in their Baptism for they are baptized in the cloud and their passage through the red Sea and their preservation from Pharaoh doth signifie properly our deliverance from all our spiritual enemies and is commonly made a type of it in the Scripture and this was a mercy that was vouchsafed unto them and unto their children Now if the Apostles reason shall be of force we must have the same priviledges in Baptism that they had in these or else the Apostles reason doth nor can not conclude Again Baptism is typified by the salvation of Noah and of his family in the Ark and the resemblance seems to lye in this that as the Ark was the Ordinance of God appointed for the safety of the Church in the general Deluge and a family-salvation the father with the child so Baptism is the Ordinance that the Lord has appointed for the salvation of the Church from the general destruction that shall befal the world of ungodly and it doth run by families also Now by this means all these incouragements are denied unto the infants and the families of the Saints which are the great priviledges in the Scripture given unto them as they were unto Israel and happened unto them but for types only and therefore have their accomplishment in their antitypes under the Gospel 3 Hereby the practice and prayers of the Churches of Christ and all the ancient Saints of God are without any Scripture-ground causlesly condemned and rejected as profanations of the Ordinances of God Consuetudo Ecclesiae matris in baptizandis infantibus nequaquam spernenda est nec divina credenda nisi Apostolica esset traditio Aug. de Genes ad literam Tom. 3. p. 464. And it is a dangerous thing for men to blaspheme the Tabernacle of God and them that dwell in Heaven Rev. 13.6 it 's an expression of the true Church of God and to have a mouth given to a man for that end is not the least spiritual judgment as vers 5. there was a mouth given him so to speak and he opened his mouth this way 2. Hereby we may be informed of the cruelty of unbelieving parents men that do not only exclude themselves from the grace of the Covenant but as much as in them lies their posterity also Non parentes sed peremptores Bern. as far as concerns the ordinary way and means of bringing them into Covenant with the Lord. And these are of two sorts 1 Some that are actually without the Church of God 2 Some that are not cast out through the neglect of the Church but yet they ought so to be 1. Unto them that are actually cast out from being a Church unto God and of this number I look upon the Papists to be Abest ut eos baptizemus qui corporis integri membra conseri negarunt Quum in hoc ordine sint Papistarum liberi quomodo baptismum illis administrare liceat non videmus Calv. epist p. 175. whose children are to be secluded from Baptism themselves being not in Covenant nor owned as a Church of God for I cannot but assert with Doctor Whitaker and many others of the Worthies of this Nation Ecclesiam Romanam non esse Catholicam imò ne veram quidem Ecclesiam particularem sed deserendam esse dicimus ab omnibus qui servari volunt tanquam Antichristi Satanae Synagogam De Eccles q. 6. 1 That Church which the Lord has cast off as a Harlot and as the greatest enemy to the Church of God that ever was that he does not owne unto himself as a Church but so has the Lord cast off the Churches of Rome therefore he does not owne them as Churches unto himself it 's Babylon the great the mother of Harlots and she is set every where in opposition to
1 Joh. 4.24 and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and truth 5. That the great motives unto duty and the great restraints from sin be taken from these It 's a matter of great consequence not only that we do the duties that God requires but also what motives they are that fill the sails in our performances For a man to perform high duties upon low motives argues a heart full of flesh to preach the Gospel is a high service but to do it to serve a mans belly or his pride to gather Disciples after him that he may have the credit of a Teacher of others and be cryed up amongst them this doth in a great measure blast all his service therefore let men look to their motives in their performances And so for sin it 's not enough to abstain from sin but a man is to have an eye upon the principle that lyes the restraint upon him what it is many a man may be kept from sin for fleshy aims as Haman refrained himself till he came home and so King Joash during all the days of Jehoiada the fear of man will restrain lust many times where there is no fear of God There are as it were several topicks from which the arguments and reasonings of the soul are taken for the Word of God is quick and powerful c. Heb. 4.12 the one refers to principles for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the seat of principles and the other to the dianoetick faculty a mans arguments and reasonings from those principles and there are some high and noble motives suitable to the nature of grace and there are some low and sinful motives agreeable to the nature of flesh and the Word of God is a curious discerner of both and it 's a great matter from what topicks a man doth take the argument that does mainly act his spirit in duty and as the highest rule of duty is to be found in the attributes of God so the noblest motives unto duty are to be found in them also Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments and turn to the Lord your God for he is merciful and gracious he is long-suffering slow to anger and of great kindness who knows if he will return and repent And Gen. 17.1 I am God all-sufficient walk before me and be upright There are arguments enough to be taken from God and those of the highest kind to quicken a soul in all duties required of him And so it is also as to restraint from sin Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness Heb. 12.29 Let us have grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Exod. 34.14 Thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God 6. That they may be unto the Saints the ground of prayer and that is in three things 1 They desire that God would manifest his attributes it 's something of God that they would have discovered therefore they cry out with the Psalmist Psal 57.3 O send out thy light and thy truth send forth thy mercy and thy truth it is the discovery and manifestation of an attribute that is the great thing the people of God do beg in all their prayers Num. 14.17 Let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast said 2 It 's the great argument that they use in prayer the main argument of faith is from an attribute and a mans interest therein Remember me O Lord for this and pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy Nehem. 13.22 Psal 115.1 2 Chron. 14.11 for thy mercy and for thy truths sake And Asa argues from the power of God It 's all one to thee to save with few as with many 3 They do come to God under such an attribute suitable to the mercy that they beg and their faith is staid thereupon and 't is a great matter to look upon God under an attribute that answers our necessity as Christ when he would speak of Judgment Mat. 11.24 Joh. 17. Num. 14.14 and give God thanks for it he call him righteous Father and when he begs Sanctification for his people he calls him holy Father and so when Moses prays for the pardon of sin he calls him the Lord merciful and gracious 7. That they may admire and adore the Lord for the excellencies that are in his Divine Nature and that they may give him the glory of every attribute Glory is but the shining forth of an excellency the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effulgence and brightness of it Heb. 1.3 and our giving glory is but the reflexion of this excellency Now we give God the glory of his works and of his going forth unto the creature but we should not only give him the glory of these but also of the excellency of his own nature there is none holy as the Lord who is a God like our God pardoning iniquity If we had hearts truly spiritual we would admire God more for the excellencies that are in himself than for all his goings forth to the creature and so the Saints and Angels in Heaven do 8. That in the manifestation of every attribute and the working of it for his people the Saints may rejoyce and particularly give God the glory of that attribute which he hath now so eminently put forth for them and that they may glory in their inheritance thereby Psal 21.13 Be thou exalted O Lord in thy own strength so will we sing and praise thy power I will sing of thy power Psal 59.16 17. and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble To thee O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and the God of my mercy Rev. 4.8 and so do all the Saints holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which is and was and is to come The attributes of God are the last city of refuge that the Saints can flye unto Prov. 18.10 even the Name of the Lord is their strong tower and when the Lord doth make bare his arm and takes to himself his great power and sends forth his mercy and relieves his people in their distresses Oh! how then do the Saints triumph and rejoyce in him The last refuge is in God and the highest triumph is in God and these are the glorious ends for which God has made over his attributes unto the Saints § 3. See the glory of this inheritance that of the creatures is indeed glorious and that of promises is more but the foundation of all and top of all lyes in attributes It 's of no small concernment for a soul to know the glory of his own inheritance partly because there is a prophaneness of heart in all men that do undervalue spiritual things as well spiritual priviledges as spiritual truths or spiritual graces with
given them upon their understandings from without 4 He doth order all their actions that there is not any thing they do but it is according to the rule and dominion that he hath over them not a sparrow falls to the ground without my Father The lot is cast into the lap but the determination is from God not the smallest or the meanest ordinary and casual things but they are at his dispose all come under his government and are subjected unto his dominion 1 From him all is received 2 Unto him all shall give an account Kings and Rulers he is the Judge of all the Earth and they that now judge shall then be judged and Christ himself shall give up his account unto the Father as he is Gods King he rules from him and for him 3 Unto him at last all shall be reduced it 's true by way of oeconomy and dispensation for a while there is a Kingdom in the hand of the Angels and the Magistrates and in the hand of Christ but Christ shall put down all rule and authority and he shall give up his own into the hand of the Father that God may be all in all so that all Nations shall be returned unto him as of him are all things so to him shall be all things 3 It is an absolute Dominion for it 's wholly according to his will 1 He hath none to give laws unto him or set him down the rules of his government all other governours in the world have their rules set them by which they are to rule and to dispense all things but he doth whatever he will in heaven and in earth he doth pluck up and he doth build up he doth kill and he doth make alive and all is at his will and he doth whatever he will in heaven and in earth and in the sea Dan. 4.32 according to his will he works in the armies of the heavens and in the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou none can restrain him none can call him to an account for it and say Why hast thou done this Shall the clay say to the Potter Why hast thou made me thus he gives not account of any of his matters he only rules by will without giving a reason Therefore amongst the creatures there is no such thing as an absolute Monarchy in which men should rule by will for men are to rule as men that is by reason and by love an absolute Monarchy is but absolute Tyranny there must be known rules by which they must govern but so doth not the Lord there is none to prescribe to him for his will is the rule of goodness non ideò volitum quia bonum sed ideò bonum quia volitum a thing is not therefore willed by God because good but it 's therefore good because willed for there is nothing that is good antecedent to the will of God 2 It is absolute in respect of the greatest things all being under his dispose not only mens temporal but their eternal estates he can shew mercy unto one because he will and he can harden another and it is because he will one shall be for the glory of his grace and another for the glory of his justice and he doth it freely and hath no reason but his own will one shall be high and another low one in honour and another in dishonour one shall be imployed and another laid aside one shall be raised from the dunghil and set amongst Princes and made to inherit the Throne of Glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them 1 Sam. 28. he will sometimes work by means and according to their nature and sometimes he will lay the means aside and he will work without them and sometimes contrary unto them that the battel shall not be unto the strong nor the race to the swift nor favour to men of understanding but there is a disposing a time and a chance which shall befal them all Eccles 9.11 by which he doth mean the disposing of the highest power but it is called chance quia illa ordinatio ab homine non cognoscitur that ordination is not known to man and all is that man may find nothing after him he will not go by any ruled cases that so all the world may see that he hath an absolute Soveraignty and hath no other rule for his government but his will only § 2. This Soveraignty of God is during the stage of this world committed into the hand of Christ as Mediator for he it is doth act and exercise all the attributes of God as all threatnings are executed by him and by him all promises are performed so all the attributes of God are exerted by him and therefore Col. 1.15 He is the image of the invisible God there we may see all the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ Joh. 5.22 He hath committed all judgment to the Son judicium dominium significat he it is upon whose shoulders the government is he bears up all things and he rules all things by the word of his power in heaven and in earth and therefore he is called 1 Tim. 6.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The only Potentate not that God the Father is put out of authority but he rules in and by his Son as he will at the last day execute judgment by him and he hath given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man and this Kingdom that he hath received he shall surely give up unto the Father again 1 Cor. 15.24 And the Kingdom of God which is committed unto Christ is twofold spiritual and providential 1. It is spiritual by which he doth rule in the souls of the Saints in heaven and in earth in the one it is a Kingdom of Glory and in the other of Grace which is called the Kingdom of God Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God consists not in meat and drink but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost The kingdom of God comes not with observation Luk. 10.21 the kingdom of God is within you and in this Kingdom 1 he sets up a Throne in the souls of men and appears unto them in his glory as a great King and they see him and know him so to be Rev. 4.3 there is a glorious high Throne and the Lord sits thereon and they do worship before him they look upon him as a King upon his Throne though it be called a Throne of Grace 2 As a King he gives Laws unto the soul and binds the inward man that what they do is for conscience sake Rom. 13.5 Act. 23.1 I have lived in all good conscience for Conscience is regulated by a Law that 's a good conscience and none can prescribe laws to conscience but God alone for it is in vain for man to give a Law unto that which he cannot
That they may stand in aw of the threats of God under the second covenant Pag. 164 The difference between the covenant made with Christ and with us lies in these things 1 It was made with Christ primarily as a publick person for the Elect but it is made with every one of us in the second place as we are members of Christ 2 It is made with Christ immediately and for his own sake but with us mediately in him 3 The promise made unto Christ was from everlasting but the covenant is made with us when we believe 4 All the promises of the second covenant belong unto Christ as his purchase and unto us of promise 5 Christ as to his covenant hath no surety but we have a surety of ours ibid. It is the duty of every one to enter into this covenant with the Lord. 1 If they come not under this covenant they have no interest in God 2 It is only in this covenant that all the persons have undertaken peculiar offices for the good of men 3 Otherwise God regards them not nor any thing they do 4 This is a matrimonial covenant and it is a covenant of friendship 5 God and the soul know not how to live asunder 6 This covenant is the last that God ever intends to make with mankind Pag. 165 That we enter into covenant with God it is required 1 That we hear the words of the covenant and know aright the terms of it 2 That we deny our selves 3 Bear his yoke 4 Not shrink at the cross but take it up Pag. 168 God requires of all those that enter into covenant with him that they should make conscience to keep it Pag. 171 Saints have many promises of the second covenant not accomplished to them in this life because they walk not exactly according to the rules of this covenant Pag. 172 A man once in covenant is ever in covenant 1 Because the love of God that made the covenant is everlasting 2 Because it is made with the persons of men 3 Because union with Christ puts them into this covenant and that is indissoluble 4 Because the righteousness of this covenant is everlasting 5 Because Christ is the surety of it 6 Because the everlasting principle of grace in the soul doth always lay hold of and cleave unto the covenant Pag. 173 Saints are yet to be exhorted not to break the covenant 1 Because of the falseness of their hearts 2 Because of the slothfulness and heedlesness of their spirits in whatever is good though bound by many bonds 3 Because thereby they may be quickned to seek to God for grace to keep it 4 Fear those sins which come nearest covenant-breaking Pag. 174 That Saints may keep covenant they must 1 Get a true heart 2 A stablished and fixed heart 3 Exercise faith upon the grace of God in this covenant Pag. 175 Saints being entred into covenant ought to improve their interest in it in all their ways 1 In reference to themselves 2 In reference to God Pag. 177 A fourfold relation is the necessary result of this covenant hereby Christ becomes 1 our Father 2 our Husband 3 our Friend 4 our Lord. ibid. Saints hearts should be always in such a frame as to receive the mercies of the covenant which consist 1 In a believing heart relying upon the grace of the covenant notwithstanding seeming impossibilities 2 In a continual expectation of the promise And yet 3 A resigning it unto the will of God whether he will bestow it in this life or no. 4 In desiring mercy no further than it may make them holy Pag. 179 Saints in this covenant ingage themselves that whatever God bestows in mercy they will return again in duty Pag. 180 Saints having given up their names to God in this covenant they ought often to renew it 1 Because of the unbelief of their spirits 2 To manifest the sincerity of their hearts 3 Because of the falseness of their hearts 4 Because thereby they lay the greater engagement upon them 5 Because of the forgetfulness of their hearts 6 Because of their ignorance and blindness Pag. 184 He that renews covenant must 1 Be deeply sensible of breach of covenant 2 Resolve to break all other covenants 3 Consider the terms of the covenant anew 4 Do it with a free and full consent 5 Be willing to bind himself in the highest way to obedience thereto 6 Do it with earnest desire to God for grace to keep it Pag. 186 The times and seasons of renewing are 1 After an eminent falling into great sin 2 In time of publick humiliation 3 Of publick reformation 4 After special deliverance or mercy as a testimony of thankfulness 5 When the heart is bent to back-slide 6 At the Lords Supper Pag. 188 The benefits of this renewing covenant are 1 It is a testimony of the truth of repentance 2 It 's the foundation of consolation 3 It 's a means to establish the heart 4 It brings mercies 5 It improves graces 6 It fortifies against temptations 7 It strengthens union with Christ 8 It is a door to communion with God 9 It keeps from or recovers out of back-sliding 10 It is the spring of duty and action Pag. 190 CHAP. IV. The Covenant of Grace is referring to the Seed of the Faithful Gen. 17.7 The Covenant that God made with Abraham is the same that all the Faithful stand in unto the worlds end Pag. 193 Though in the manner of its administration there is a great deal of difference yet as to the substance of the covenant the Confederates are the same and taken in upon the same grounds ibid. That the children of believing Parents are taken into the same covenant with them is a point of great concernment and ought earnestly to be contended for because 1 It exceedingly advances the grace of God unto parents and makes much for their consolation 2 It is one of the great arguments the Scripture useth to draw men in to believe 3 It is the only difference God hath put in his word between the children of believers and strangers 4 It is the only ground believers can have for the salvation of their children that die in their infancy Pag. 193 Ever since the Fall God hath taken children into the same covenant with their parents Pag. 195 When parents are cast out of covenant the children are also Pag. 196 Children of believing parents are members of the visible Church ibid. Thence there is a holiness comes upon those children ibid. God hath made glorious promises to the posterity of the Saints Pag. 197 That children are so taken in is Gospel and to be believed as any other part of the covenant ibid. God will take children into the same covenant with their parents 1 To shew the extent of the grace of the second covenant 2 Because a great number of the Elect are the children of Saints 3 To shew his peculiar love to their seed 4 This is the surest
is Christs King and Lord so he is the Saints 1 He gives them a Law 2 Carries them through their service 3 Destroys their enemies 4 Receives their accounts 5 Rewards them Pag. 321 As the Father stands unto Christ in the relation of a friend or companion so he doth to the Saints Pag. 323 As Christ is the true Vine so the Father is the Husbandman Pag. 324 The visible Church is in Scripture compared to four trees 1 To an Olive-tree 2 To a Palm-tree 3 To a Cedar 4 To a Vine Pag. 325 The Church is compared to a Vine 1 For its excellency 2 Spreading nature 3 Fruitfulness 4 Want of continual husbandry ibid. God the Father is said to be the husbandman 1 Because he plants the Vine 2 Fences it 3 Hires labourers 4 Waters it 5 Prunes it 6 Purges the fruitful branches that they may bring forth more fruit Pag. 326 As the Father is the fountain of the life of Christ so in him he is the fountain of spiritual life unto his Saints Pag. 328 Joh. 6.57 largely explained ibid. Whoever hath an interest in one Person of the Trinity hath at the same time an interest in them all Pag. 331 Yet there is a distinct interest in them all to be attained Pag. 332 The high advancement of the creature lies in union with the Persons Pag. 333 There is more in union with the Persons than in all other benefits whatever ibid. It is our title unto the Person that gives us a title unto all the benefits ibid. If there is such an interest in the Persons every man should examine himself whether he hath that interest Pag. 334 The way of getting this interest is by closing with the Son Pag. 335 If a man be entitled to the Persons there will be the drawing out of his heart towards each Person ibid. There will never be a fulness of assurance till the Persons that have given an interest in themselves do also witness their interest Pag. 336 We are to exercise faith upon all the Persons thus made over under the second covenant ibid. The objects of saith that the soul is to take in in each of the Persons are 1 The Persons themselves we are to believe the record of them all 2 The soul is to rest upon all the promises that in Scripture are made concerning these Persons 3 Faith is to rest upon the love of them all 4 Also upon the appropriated acts of each Person and rely upon them for the performance of them 5 Faith should expect all the Attributes of God to be distinctly exercised by all the Persons 6 Also it should distinctly close with them all in their witnessing ibid. The acts of faith that are distinctly to be put sort upon them all are 1 A fiducial knowledge that the Persons are made over to us 2 A casting of our selves by distinct thought upon each of these Persons 3 A drawing virtue from all the objects of faith 4 A resignation of the soul to God 5 An exercising distinct acts of communion with all the Persons Pag. 339 That there is a distinct communion with all the Persons proved Pag. 340 This communion doth consist 1 In the love one of another 2 In acting one for another 3 In visitations 4 In imparting of counsels 5 In mutual delights in their interest one in another 6 In calling upon one another for further fellowship and communion ibid. Arguments to stir up hereunto 1 This is the great end of the covenant of grace 2 All Christ hath done and suffered was a preparation hereunto 3 There is sweetness in fellowship 4 All mercies are obtained by it Pag. 342 CHAP. V. God in the Covenant of Grace makes over himself in his Alsufficiency That there is enough in the Alsufficiency of God to supply all a mans wants in this life and in the life to come proved at large Pag. 344 That the Alsufficiency of God is by covenant made over unto the Saints proved 1 By promises 2 By instances Pag. 347 The grounds and reasons of it are 1 His own love 2 The insufficiency of all things else 3 Because God would have the happiness of the creature to concenter in him alone 4 Because he will have the creature perfect with him 5 To make up the banks against the greatest temptation that ordinarily befals men 6 To make the soul fear to lose God above all things because its alsufficiency is in him 7 That the creatures may thereby be kept in their own place 8 That the soul may hereby live on God immediately Pag. 349 The Alsufficiency of God belongs unto none but his own covenant-people Pag. 353 The reasons why God suffers his own people to be in as great wants as other men are 1 That their alsufficiency may be in him alone and that they may trust perfectly in him 2 That they may be made partakers of the sufferings of Christ. 3 That God may be alsufficient to them in the loss of all things and want of all things 4 Because it is very sweet to God when we follow him through a wilderness 5 Gods great glory is to manifest his Attributes in their sufferings 6 As our supplies come from God so there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency that is sweeter than the mercy it self Pag. 354 Though wicked men may have great sufficiency in outward things yet 1 It is not from their interest in his alsufficiency 2 It is their portion 3 It is given as a snare to themselves and others Pag. 356 Those are justly reprovable that claim an interest by covenant in God and yet expect a sufficiency in the creature 1 Hereby they dishonour God 2 Themselves 3 The creature to whom they flye for sufficiency can do neither good nor evil 4 The creature cannot reach unto the best in man his soul 5 The creatures have no good in them but what is borrowed 6 Retiring to creatures in straits causes God to leave them Pag. 358 Those that place any sufficiency in themselves are also justly reprovable Pag. 361 There is a twofold sufficiency the heart is apt to go out unto 1 In respect of gifts and inward abilities either acquired or infused 2 In respect of grace received ibid. The evil of a self-sufficiency in respect of gifts 1 They are anothers and not our own 2 They are given to wicked men 3 It is to serve Satan in the highest way that can be 4 These gifts cannot be exercised without Divine aid 5 Nor made successful 6 It will provoke God to take them away ibid. In respect of grace received 1 It is quite contrary to the nature of grace 2 No man can act his own grace 3 Grace is but a creature 4 It makes grace an Idol Pag. 363 There is a great proneness in the best to place their sufficiency in grace received both as to matter of strength and comfort Pag. 364 The great policy of Satan therein Pag. 365 To
temptations shall quicken them to wisdom and watchfulness 8 And tend to the greater increase of their glory Pag. 406 The Providence of God as it respects men is for the good of the Saints Pag. 409 Providence orders all things in reference to their own spiritual good 1 For conversion 2 Instruction 3 Deliverance out of danger 4 Preservance when there is no visible support 5 Consolation 6 When lusts are high and temptations impetuous Pag. 410 There is a special Providence over godly men for the good of others that are good in present and after-generations 1 In improving their parts 2 In drawing out their graces 3 In their sufferings 4 Labours 5 Examples 6 Prayers 7 Faith Pag. 411 The Providence of God over-rules all things for the good of the Saints in reference to evil men 1 They have a being in the world and a standing in the Church for the Saints good 2 God stirs up the spirits of wicked Magistrates for the good of the Saints 3 He stirs up the spirits of wicked men to stand for a good cause and to assist the Saints 4 He doth them good by their persecutions 5 By their sins 6 Their desertions 7 Their restraints Pag. 414 The Providence of God is also concerned in the smallest things for the good of the Saints Pag. 417 Whatever the Lord doth by means he can work immediately by his own hand without means Pag. 420 In the means he uses there is an immediate concurrence of his own Power to the producing the effect Pag. 421 God doth sometimes delight to work without means by his own immediate hand ibid. This immediate acting of Providence is wholly for the good of his people Pag. 422 Gods immediate promise or ordering things in the use of means is for the good of his people 1 He appoints the means 2 He blesses the means 3 He raises up means unexpectedly 4 Most unlikely Pag. 425 The Providence of God orders all things that work from a necessity of nature for the good of his people 1 The Sun 2 The Stars 3 Rain 4 The Earth 5 The Seas 6 The Winds Pag. 427 All casual providences are for the good of the Saints as dreams lots ordering the wills and affections of men the fall of a house c. Pag. 428 The Providence of God doth order all good things for the spiritual good of his people 1 Their calling 2 Their habitation 3 Opportunities to exercise grace 4 Society 5 Preservation in service dismission from it 6 Posterity Pag. 429 The Providence of God orders all evil things either of sin or punishment for the good of his people Pag. 432 The Providence of God orders the sins of the Saints themselves for their good and that 1 In respect of the being of sin 2 Rising of sin 3 Actings of sin 4 Raging of sin ibid. In respect of the being of sin in them that thereby 1 He may exalt the grace of Justification to them 2 That there may be a continual conflict in them 3 That they may be kept humble 4 Be exercised in prayer and repentance daily 5 That the patiente and forbearance of God may be more exalted 6 To shew how great a grace the gift of perseverance is 7 To keep them in a continual longing for glory Pag. 433 In respect of the rising of sin in them 1 That all lusts break not forth continually 2 When lust doth not rise when the object is present 3 To shew them such a sin is in their nature which they either never considered or repented not of 4 To make them hate sin more 5 To awaken them 6 To be matter of continual repentance Pag. 435 In respect of the actings of sin 1 That they may see the power and tendency of sin 2 That if they be deserted of God they shall be drawn into all kinds and degrees of sin 3 That they may see how weak all means are against it 4 That they may fear to be delivered up unto the power of Satan 5 That they may exercise repentance of all kinds 6 That they may be willing to dye Pag. 437 In respect of the rising of sin This tends 1 To a new conversion in them 2 To discover the strength of sin the power of temptation and of Christs Intercession 3 To bring them to confession 4 To make them diffident of their own strength 5 To make them walk in fear ever after 6 To fit them for service 7 To be matter of humiliation to them all their days 8 To put them upon the greater mortification of sin 9 To make them more tender towards others 10 To be an argument for their consolation Pag. 439 The Providence of God orders the sins of other men also for the good of his people In general 1 Hereby they may read what they were 2 What they are delivered from 3 Hereby they are admonished what they are in their own nature if God leave them to themselves 4 And be minded of the ends sin brings men to to fear them 5 And put them upon many duties towards them which will turn to their account Pag. 442 In particular the Saints are gainers by the plots of wicked men by their counsels by their attempts against them and by their executions Pag. 443 TABLE Of SCRIPTURES more distinctly explicated Genesis Ch. Vers Pag. 2. 17 1-4 3. 15 195 3. 20 198 3. 22 23 4. 1 199 4. 7 18 4. 14 205 208 4. 25 199 5. 24 378 6. 5 434 8. 21 ibid. 9. 9 198 9. 27 199 208 210 11. 17 4 12. 2 194 17. 1 343 377 378 17. 2. 113 17. 7 8 160 260 21. 12 205 45. 5 6 7 432 50. 20 ibid. Exodus 19. 5 217 24. 7 10 283 38. 8 epist p. 2 Numbers 7. 7 8 9 169 14. 24 378 Deuteronomy 4. 23 185 4. 27 176 4. 51 194 5. 2 3 184 5. 5 87 6. 7 185 29. 14 15 202 29. 19 57 Joshua 24. 22 23 376 Judges 2. 1 398 5. 20 427 2 Samuel 23. 5 156 2 Chronicles 13. 5 182 30. 8 161 Job 1. 6 407 29. 4 17 38. 31 427 Psalms 12. 6 163 25. 14 186 44. 17 18 192 50. 5. 190 63. 8 192 74. 20 183 76. 10 393 83. 3 402 84. 11 347 87. 4 5 235 91. 3 407 110. 3 388 110. 7 172 144. 15 253 Proverbs 6. 14 443 8. 22 23 135 310 11. 16 epist p. 1. 17. 16 430 18. 10 373 21. 16 7 Ecclesiastes 1. 15 444 5. 6 398 Canticles 6. 3 188 6. 8 392 Esaias 4. 5 422 9. 6 235 10. 6 7 432 10. 24 404 17. 1 343 28. 15 187 35. 6 424 38. 14 188 42. 6 424 49. 1 2 128 50. 5 188 57. 6 297 60. 20 347 Jeremy 9. 25 207 11. 16 210 14. 22 372 17. 1 18 18. 18 443 31. 14 346 33. 20 418 35. 6 7 178 Ezekiel 1. 12 20 383 48. 35 218 Daniel 4. 17 380 7. 2 3 210 9. 24 329 9. 26 348 9. 27 165 239 Hosea 1.
of Creation and stipulation the one is natural and necessary and the other voluntary Thus God binds the Creature to himself by all imaginable engagements to prevent future Apostasie By the one we are bound to God and by the other God is bound to us God as a Creator has absolute Soveraignty but yet that man might not think much to yield obedience God is pleas'd to engage himself to a recompence The Covenant God made is double according to the twofold state of Man 1 In his state of Integrity And this was faedus amicitiae a Covenant of friendship between persons never at variance 2 In his state of Corruption When man by sin had broken the first and brought himself under the Curse thereof then God brought in the Covenant of reconciliation and that was faedus misericordiae that is a Covenant of mercy And these Covenants were made with two representative heads the first and the second Adam for in them the Lord looks upon all mankind and it is a mans being in either of these that brings him under either Covenant for God will deal with men both in a way of Sin and Righteousness by way of imputation and the ground of all imputation is union In the first Adam all sin and all die because by their union they stand under his Covenant so in the second Adam we are made the Righteousness of God in him We are in him therefore we are righteous in him we live in the Lord and die in the Lord and hence it is that to all those who are in the first Adam the first Covenant stands in force to this day for Adam was a publick person a head that represented all Mankind The Commandment belong'd to the Nature the Tree of Life was not a personal Sacrament but given to the Nature and the curse of the Covenant doth not seize upon Adam's person but the nature of man in him Gal. 3.10 And the duty of the Covenant must be as large as the curse of the Covenant and so large must the Covenant it self be Now the curse comes upon all Mankind therefore to them the duty did belong and they are federates in this Covenant all that are the Sons of the first Adam are all under Adam's Covenant And this will appear from the conveyance of Adam's sin in the guilt of it Rom. 5.12 for upon whom the curse is inflicted unto them the sin is imputed death came in by sin But how is it that they die who never sin'd Though they never sin'd in their own persons yet in their head they sinned Men are in Adam two ways Legally and Naturally now seeing his sin is imputed to us because we stood under the same Covenant then so long as a man stands guilty of Adam's sin which he does till he be ingrafted into Christ so long he is under Adam's Covenant 2. Every man that is under the curse is under that Covenant that inflicts the curse but all Mankind by nature are under the curse therefore the curse is the curse of the first Covenant Joh. 3. ult and the Gospel does not make men miserable but leaves them so He that believes not on the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him that is only by accident as the mercy of it is contemn'd so indeed it heightens the sin and aggravates the condemnation but the curse is properly the curse of the first Covenant the Gospel in it self speaks nothing but blessing As a Physician that is sent to cure a man if through the malignity of the Disease and the frowardness of the Patient he cast away the Potion the Balm that would cure him he dies of the Disease not of the Physick Christ came voluntarily under a Covenant of Works Gal. 4.4 and submitted to all the obedience of it and he was made a curse for us that is in our stead to redeem us that were under the Law It cannot be meant of the Ceremonial Law for that the Galatians were never under and it cannot be meant of the Law as a rule for direction and as a bridle for restraint therefore it must be meant with respect to the Law in some way as a Covenant not as a Covenant of Grace therefore as a Covenant of Works 3. To be freed from the Law as a Covenant is a special fruit that the Saints have by Christ and by his Death Gal. 3.13 He delivers us from the curse of the Law now a man can never be freed from it as a curse that is not freed from it as a Covenant we are not under the Law condemning but under Grace pardoning justifying and accepting or else as Beza and others have it under the Law irritating as the dam makes the waters swell the higher but under Grace not only pardoning and justifying but healing and sanctifying And this follows upon the Law as a Covenant broken and if this be a special priviledge that men have by being in Christ then they that are out of Christ are under the Law as a Covenant still for Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness The righteousness that the Law requires is to be found in Christ alone therefore Moses Law was to be laid up in the Ark Christ came not to abolish the Law but by his obedience to fulfil it and establish it 4. From the dealing of God with all men answerable to the Covenant under which they stand and his different dealing with them shews their different Covenants 1 He exacts perfect and personal obedience in their own persons There is indeed in the Gospel commutatio personae a commutation of the person but non Justitiae not of the righteousness but no unregenerate man can attain to this his Covenant admits no Mediator So that Christ's obedience goes not to perfect his Ephes 2.12 Without Christ c. 2 He rejects their best works for the least failing Isa 1.11 12. but under the Covenant of Grace if there be but a willing mind it 's accepted 2 Cor. 8.12 2 Chron. 30.18 19. 3 He hates the persons for the works sake Gen. 4.7 Gal. 3.10 but under the New Covenant he loves the service for the persons sake He had respect to Abel and his offering the weakness of the service did not cause the person to be rejected He never hates their persons when he is angry with their works but he deals with unregenerate men under another Covenant 4 All things are turn'd into a curse for this Covenant being broken speaks nothing but curse as we shall see when we come to speak to the Sanction or the appendix that which is added unto the Covenant to inforce obedience which is but accidental in case of disobedience and that is in the day thou eatest thereof dyâ—ng thou shalt die § 2. But before we speak to this particular let us note these things by the way 1. Why doth God add this threatning unto Adam surely it was that he might by it be
Rom. 4. is directly opposed to the work of faith and therefore we find Abraham denied his reason and shut his eyes against it when he came to believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he did not judge of it this way and that way he did not dispute it but rested in his word alone And therefore the Apostle asks 1 Cor. 1.20 where is the wise man the scribe and the disputer of this world The more wisdom men have and the greater improvement of reason the greater disputants men are the farther off usually from faith and the greater enemies thereunto 3. All a mans own righteousness either what a man has done before his conversion as Paul or what he can do after his conversion may be so abused and relied upon as to derogate from the righteousness of God for when men are convinced of their sins and see that there is something wanting to their Salvation then they think they will do something more as the young man in the Gospel What shall I do to inherit eternal life he had a confidence in what he had done and fearing lest that might fall short there was something more that he was willing for to do When men are once convinced of their sins they cannot look upon any thing that they have done that will satisfie and their good deeds will not weigh down their bad but then they say Mic. 6.6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God will he be pleased with thousands of Rams c. As if their after-obedience should make amends for their former sins And so under Popery at this day many do fast and macerate their bodies watch and pray and chastise themselves by scourging and going Pilgrimage give away all their Goods to the poor and betake themselves unto a voluntary Poverty shut themselves up in a Monastery and Hermitage and seclude themselves from all the comforts of this life yea even Princes and Emperours lay down their Kingdoms and cast away their Crowns and betake themselves unto a private life and all upon this ground that these shall be opera satisfactoria satisfactory works Luth. in Gal. 5. and so expiatory for their former sins And hence it is that men convinced of their sins labour as for life to satisfie God and to quiet their Consciences And when men have wrought hard all their days with such expectations as these they are hardly brought off to come to Christ as stript naked of all and to acknowledge that all their righteousness is an abomination And these are the mountains that are to be cast down the high imaginations and presumptuous thoughts of themselves before they can come to Christ and the casting down of these is a preparing the way for the Lord. 4. When mens Consciences are awakened and sin revived by an almighty work of the Law and the second Covenant offered to them then they say the news is too good to be true there is no mercy for them whatever God intends to others surely he can never think thoughts of peace to them he will never take such toads and serpents as they are into his bosom to have communion with him and they say there is no hope While men are in peace and sin lies sleeping at the door so long a mans self-love and self-flattery makes it easie to presume and he says It 's a small matter to believe for God is merciful and Christ died for sinners And if there be but a few men that shall be saved yet he doubts not but he shall be one of that number But when once God discovers his sin and awakens his Conscience then the man says Though the greatest part of mankind should be saved and if there were but one man in the world that should be condemned surely he should be the man If a man had come to Judas after his Conscience was awakened on the sight of his sin before he hanged himself and told him be not discouraged though thou hast committed a great sin Christ is the Saviour of the world and it is but believing in him and this sin shall be pardoned and thy soul saved He would have answered you as Spira did when they did exhort him to believe That they were as good bid him to fulfill the whole Law and bid him lay hold upon a star in the firmament For a man to see sin to be an infinite evil and God to be a provoked God ready to take vengeance and Hell open and himself ready to drop into everlasting destruction and yet now for him to cast himself into the arms of everlasting mercy and relie for his eternal happiness on the favour of an almighty and a sin-revenging God and say If I perish I perish I will rest upon him and trust to his mercy whether he save me or damn me For a man by an exclusive act to shut out all other hopes and ways and confine his thoughts to free Grace alone and to leave himself at the mercy of God Psal 10.14 and at his foot-stool to be willing to be at his dispose it 's that which the unbelief and despair of a mans heart upon the apprehension of the guilt of sin will never be brought unto without an act of Almighty power Ephes 1.19 Therefore we read in Luk. 3.5 to make way for Christ there be vallies to be filled as well as mountains to be levelled and laid low Before men are humbled they are mountains too high to submit to this righteousness and being humbled they become vallies and are too low to rise up and to imbrace the Grace that is offered by the Prince of the second Covenant Now so far as a man does not submit to the righteousness of God so far he desires to stand under the first Covenant still § 4. In a man under the Covenant of Works there are two things 1 An answerable spirit 2 Suitable fruits And if a man desire both these then we may conclude he desires to be under this Covenant 1. They that under the Covenant of Works have an answerable spirit a spirit that does always accompany this Covenant Rom. 8.15 We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear c. Now this was the natural fruit of this Covenant Gal. 4.24 for it has only gendered to bondage since the fall unto Adam in innocency it was a Covenant not of bondage but of freedom but being broken all that come under it are children of the bond-woman and the spirit that does accompany it is a spirit of bondage For there is a twofold spirit that is answerable unto the twofold Covenant and with the change of a mans Covenant there follows a change of a mans spirit and never till then now this spirit is a spirit of fear to witness guilt a fear of Gods presence and a fear of Gods judgments Amos 1.10 Heb. 2.15 Isa 33.5 Fearfulness has surprized the hypocrite and as Cain says
confirmed and therefore called the blood of the Covenant now to despise all this is to trample under foot the greatest and the highest honour of the Son of God for a man to bear old Adam's image still shews that he prefers the Image of the first before that of the second Adam so for a man to stand under Adam's Covenant still shews that he despises the Grace of the second Covenant in comparison of the Glory of the first 4 It is a sin against the Covenant it self and all the Promises thereof this Covenant God has highly honoured with a more glorious head and the righteousness of it is a more glorious righteousness the promises of it better promises and the stability of it far beyond that of the first Covenant for it is an ordered and an everlasting Covenant a Covenant confirmed by an Oath now for a man to bring down that Covenant that God has exalted and in a mans heart and practice and ways for him to exalt the first Covenant above it is the greatest injury thereunto that can be 5 It is a sin against all the happiness and hopes of the godly for all their comfort comes in from this Covenant as they look upon all their curses to proceed from the first Covenant 2 Sam. 23.5 Though my house be not so with God says David yet God has made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my hope Now it is a great evil that men should not be affected with that sin which is against the generation of Gods children against the hope of Israel A man should be deeply humbled and bewail this contrariety of spirit that is in him to the way of the Gospel and to the grace of the Gospel And apply the righteousness of Christ for the pardon of this sin also for as his blood was shed for them that shed it so there is grace in the second Covenant for them that have despised it and have to their utmost exalted the first Covenant above it and there is in the grace of God pardon to be found for them that reject or endeavour to frustrate the grace of it For if righteousness be by the Law Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2. ult 2. Whereever the Covenant of Grace is preached be jealous and watch over thy own heart because there is in thee a principle of contrariety unto it and the grace offered therein this hath been the manner of Gods people when they have been apprehensive of evils in them it has made them the more watchful against them Job will not trust his eyes without a Covenant nor David his tongue without a bridle because they knew how suddenly corruption would break forth and therefore the exhortation is Keep thy heart above all keepings c. God has offered the righteousness of his Son that thou mightest be made the righteousness of God in him and he has given his Son as a Covenant to the Nations that as by one man sin and death reigned so righteousness and life should reign by one Christ Jesus but thou hast a principle of pride in thee and thou dost desire to establish thy own righteousness and thou wouldest not submit to the righteousness of God he is offered but thou wilt none of him Whensoever the second Covenant is preacht take heed of this root of bitterness that it do not rise up and cause thee to reject Grace and forsake thy own mercy truly whosoever does read how quiet this lust was in the Pharisees and they went on as a river runs smoothly without a damm and they wrought for life and by their own obedience they did as with rattles still their Consciences but as soon as Christ came and preacht the righteousness and grace of the second Covenant to them how did this lust rise in them even to the rejecting the Counsel and Grace of God against themselves and even rising up unto the unpardonable sin and so the Papists before Luther found out the righteousness of Faith by an imputed righteousness they were all quiet but afterward this one man odium impetum totius orbis sustinuit And this is the Doctrine preached by the Angel that did fly in the middle of Heaven with the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 19.7 8. and declare then great Babylon begins to fall 3. Be never satisfied till thou find in thy soul the contrary grace and that is a desire of being translated that thou maist be under the first Covenant no more consider there will come a day shortly wherein God will judge the world in righteousness and he will judge every man according to the terms under which he stands Now if thou be found under the first Covenant thou art found in thy own righteousness the Law genders to bondage it works nothing but wrath it speaks nothing but curse and in this Court thou wilt surely be cast only under the second Covenant there is a Chancery a Court of mercy and grace and there is yet a City of refuge to be found before thou beest dragged to the Lords Tribunal go therefore and fly unto the Lords sanctuary go now and acknowledg thou hast stood out long against that grace that must save thee if ever thou beest saved and that thou hast despised that Covenant under which if thou stand not thou art everlastingly undone and tell the Lord thou canst as well cast off Adam's image as translate thy self out of Adam's Covenant tell the Lord who only has made the new Covenant so he only can plant souls into it for the father is the Husbandman and he has undertaken to transplant souls out of the old stock and bring them into the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.27 Therefore I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God by the blood of the Covenant by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him that you seek a Translation and content not your selves to stand under the first Covenant and do this whilst it is called to day while the offers of the Covenant of Grace last before the Portcullis be let down the black Flag hung out the talent of lead laid the irrevocable decree of God gone forth to seal up the measure of your iniquity and shut thee up under the Law and the curse of it for ever God will not have the Grace of the Covenant nor his Son the Prince of the Covenant nor the Blood of the Covenant always despised and rejected by obdurate sinners it shall not always stand at the door as if the Lord needed entrance and admittance and if once God take away this offer of the Grace of the second Covenant and dismiss thee unto the bar of the Law thou art certainly condemned and cursed for ever for not believing in Christ does not only bring thee under wrath but leave thee under it thou rejecting the remedy which is the Grace of the Gospel and thou art then eternally undone for
shall be effectual to a mans pollution Vse 1 § 5. See here the malignity and the vile nature of sin and what a deadly disease it is when that which God did give of purpose to destroy it will increase it We say that is a very deadly disease that you can apply no physick but it does stir up the disease and it 's increased by it and all that you can take feeds the disease so here sin must needs be a deadly thing that the law should increase it which in its own nature should abate it There are two truths that should be always in a mans eye God to be the chiefest Good and Sin to be the greatest Evil. There is no one thing that does set forth the evil of sin more than this that the Commandment of God which doth forbid it curse it condemn it should improve it It 's no wonder then if mercies make men more wicked and if crosses add to mens sins for the very Law of God and his threatnings and restraints thereof will do it if any thing make sin appear to a man to be out of measure sinful and a disease incurable in it self this will 2. See hereby the vanity of that Doctrine that says Moral perswasion is sufficient unto conversion God enlightning of a mans mind and shewing him what is his duty and what is required of him and perswading of his will it is according to these able to imbrace it and so turn unto God and duty and herein is the drawing of God the Father when as we see that when God does set a mans duty before him in the Law with all the threatnings of it and all the promises of it this is so far from converting the man that it improves his sin sin and makes it the more to rage against God and become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore there is an inward work of God an Almighty Power put forth in changing the heart and converting of the will Moral perswasions may make a man more wicked but they will never convert him or make him the more holy without this inward work put forth by God in changing the heart 3. See here what is the proper rise and ground of that unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost It is by a curse of the first Covenant coming upon to the word of God that it is an occasional means lust opposing it to make sin rise the higher and first it brings forth in a man sins against knowledge and afterwards sins with malice and despight If the Law had never been revealed again but man had been left as many of the Heathens are who have but that small glimmering of light which some do call the remainders of the Law within them which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 2. They shew the works of the law written in their hearts this sin had never been heard of in the world it is a sin proper unto the Church of God and cannot be committed out of the Church where men are enlightned in the truth and sin takes occasion from the Law to break forth into despight against it 4. See what a vain thing it is for a man to glory in any Church-priviledge The Jews did stand much upon it and doubtless it was a great mercy that unto them did belong the giving of the Law and the Promises and unto them were committed the Oracles of God and therefore they rested in and made their boast of the Law c. Rom. 2.18 19. And what fruit had most of them by the Law it did aggravate their sins in the guilt of them and drew forth their sins in the power of them unto the greater height and in many of them even to the sin against the Holy Ghost And so it does many men that live under the Gospel at this day they have no other fruit by their ordinances and of the word of God amongst them but to make them more exceedingly wicked 5. See what a misery it is to be in a state of unregeneracy he that is so is wicked by nature and every thing wâ—â— make him worse See also what a mercy restraining grace is to a man that is unregenerate when we read of Judas and how Christs reproof did heighten his malice and of the Pharisees how by Christs Sermon their rage was drawn forth and they gnashed their teeth upon him c. What a mercy is it should every soul say that all the Sermons that ever I have heard of Christ c. should not have wrought the same effects in me long ago Luther saith that reading that place Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and understanding it only de justitia activa scilicet punientè of Gods punishing justice Non amabam imo odiebam justum punientem Deum tacitaque si non blasphemia certe ingenti murmuratione c. odi istud vocabulum poenitentiae I did not love but hate the just and punishing God and by a silent great murmur if not blasphemy I did hate that word Repentance Now that it has not been so to every one of us and we sinned against the Holy Ghost and in the highest acts of direct enmity that there had been no hope of mercy seeing that we cannot say that we have done it ignorantly Oh what a mercy is restraining Grace 6. Lastly how should it engage the people of God to thankfulness that God has freed them from this great misery that now the Law should subdue their lusts and not enrage them and if it does at any time yet it 's not to bring forth fruit unto death not to have a full dominion over them how should it make them fear when they read or hear the Law lest it should add to the disease Oh! how ought people to pray and Ministers pray that they may not be a curse and that the word which they hear and preach may not ripen their sins and draw out and improve their corruptions but their graces and make them holy CHAP. IV. The Rigor and Coactive power of the Law Gal. 5.18 But if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the Law SECT I. Wherein the Coactive power of the Law consists § 1. THere is a double sense of these words given by Interpreters and both may very well be put together The Apostle having said before That in a godly man there are two contrary principles flesh and spirit and they lust and act one against another so that they cannot do the things they would but when they would do good evil is present with them he adds here a consolation to bear up their hearts in this which is the greatest conflict upon earth between flesh and spirit in the same heart and that which made them to look upon themselves as miserable men all their days Rom. 7.24 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law that is though there
self-accusation and self-condemnation together with perfect fear perfect sorrow and despair for ever SECT II. Whence the Law hath this Coactive power WHence is it that the Law hath this Coactive power It does arise from these ground §. 1. 1. From the Sovereignty of God in the Law it is the Royal Law as being the rule of mans duty and the whole will of God concerning him that rule according to which man should walk in which he should be accept Eccles 12. ult Rom. 2.12 and by which he shall be judged at the last and great day for they that have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law And Christ that shall be the Judge saith I will not judge you but there is one that judges you even Moses in whom ye trust And though man has sinned and broken the Law and endeavoured to cast it off yet he is held still under the authority and soveraignty of the same Law Rom. 7.1 2 A man is subject to the law as long as he lives and so long as a man lives in a natural state so long he is under this Law as a Covenant and the Law does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord it over him in full dominion for the Law rules in the authority and soveraignty of God it is the great Expansum that God has spread over the rational world of mankind while they â—re in their natural state by which they are to be ruled and by which they shall be judged â—nd this is the main ground of all the rigor and coaction of the Law 2. There is in unregenerate men a natural conscience I call it natural as our Divines use 〈…〉 say because it acts only by natural principles and is in every man naturally in opposiâ—on to a renewed conscience which I conceive to be an ability in the understanding of a â—han to judg of actions and states according unto the rule that is prescribed by God Gal. 6.16 Rom. 2. 1 Conâ—â—ience must have a rule and that rule is the Law of God which is regula regulans whereâ—s conscience is only regula regulata as a rule ruled by the Divine Law 2 The things subâ—â—â—cted unto the judgment of conscience are a mans actions and his state and that not only â—hat he has done but what he is to do and conscience does pass a sentence of Good and â—â—d Evil upon both what is to be imbraced and followed and what is to be avoided and â—â—ough custom in sinning wear out the power of conscience exceedingly and in some men 〈…〉 is less than in others for they have their Conscience seared 1 Tim. 9.2 as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sigâ—fies and so to harden the place or else to cut off with searing some men have very brawny â—â—d insensible Consciences and do seem to walk without any Conscience at all as to live â—ithout God in the world and so walk without Conscience in the world and are less unâ—â—r the power of it than other men are yet there is no man but his Conscience has a power â—er him to constrain him to duty and restrain him from sin in some measure and that by 〈◊〉 authority of the Law of God And if God awaken Conscience by some great affliction â—â—our of death or judgment the power of it will quickly appear over them we may see 〈◊〉 Judas who was a Devil a man exceedingly given up to spiritual wickedness and one 〈◊〉 had a very seared Conscience for Christ had told him it had been good for him never to have been born we see all the other Disciples did abhor and fear the very hearing of the â—ct yet Judas afterwards with a brazen face asks Christ Master is it I but yet when â—od did awaken Judas's Conscience we see the power that the â—aw had upon him c. 3. The Spirit of God comes into the Consciences of men for Conscience is a relative â—culty and does not work by it self but does accuse and excuse by the concurrence of â—â—e spirit and the spirit that is given a man is answerable unto his Covenant The second â—ovenant makes men sons and the priviledge of it is the adoption of sons therefore the â—irit that accompanies this Covenant is a spirit of adoption and makes them all free-men 〈◊〉 the Covenant is a free Covenant it is Gal. 4. resembled by Sarah the free woman but â—â—e first Covenant unto man fallen is a Covenant that genders to bondage and there are â—ne under it but bondmen and therefore it is resembled by Hagar the bondwoman Now â—â—e spirit of this Covenant is a spirit of bondage and all that it works in a man is fear and â—rrour binding a man over to wrath upon neglect of duty and threatning vengeance and â—lling the soul with horrour and amazement telling a man of wrath and judgment to come â—â—d the constraint that is upon his soul in reference to these is very great 4. There is in a man a principle of self-love desiring good and fearing of evil for no â—atural man can act from a higher principle than self in whatever he does and therefore it is â—race that gives self-denial So much self-denial so much grace so much self-seeking so much â—â—rruption there is in every man Hence it is when a mans Conscience does tell a man of the â—od of obedience and the happy end thereof as Balaam did see it and therefore desired â—at his death might be like unto the Saints and a Herod may reform and do many things â—â—d so many do good rationally that never did it obedientially do it to do good to themâ—â—ves but never to bring glory unto God as we see it in Jehu and yet many men having tasted of the powers of the world to come and having had some great apprehensions of the good of the ways of God they may go very far and be constrained to do much for God as we see it in Alexander that afterwards proved an Apostate and a Persecutor and yet did much for God for a season and afterwards fell away And when Conscience doth tell a man of the danger of sin and presents to a man Hell and wrath as the consequence of it though it be a way that seems good to a man yet it leads down to the chambers of death and carries a man to the end of his journey and tells him that the fiery lake is but a little before and comes with the threatning of God as the Angel did to Balaam with a drawn sword in his hand a man may say I will turn back again if my way be perverse before thee and he may turn away from the sins that he loves most dearly he may cast up his vomit with the dog and leave the mire with the swine but it is only in fear of some evil and not from a principle wrought in a man that is the ground thereof There is a double principle that moves all things either
unnecessary He that appointed the city of refuge did as necessarily appoint an avenger of blood to pursue or else men vvould not have fled unto that city Will you say this is preaching damnation and driving men to despair vvas it not preached by Christ whose heart was so full of love and thoughts of Grace and who wept over Jerusalem he preached the Law and published it for his seeds sake Truly when we preach the Law we preach Salvation and not damnation intentionally the Lord did deliâ—er the Law for Salvation to serve the ends of the Gospel and so we do preach it and â—et if it proves not so it is by accident by reason of the corruption of the heart of man â—he damnation that it meets withal is thence Therefore see your folly and be ashamed of your ignorance It is a high act of Grace and one of the greatest priviledges that Believers have by Christ that the Law is a servant to the Gospel and yet that Mercy you despise and that Grace you do not love you are to be ashamed of your folly and unthankfulness herein 3. It should teach Ministers that the Law must be preached to the same intent that it was revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator and to the ends of the Gospel and that not only the curses and threatnings of the Law but the precepts and duties of the Law also In the curses and threatnings of the Law our Divines have usually sent men to Christ to bear those but duties have been pressed though not without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian Orat. 17. but that a sufficiency is to be had in him and acceptance from him yet not laying Christ as the foundation of duties as he should have been in time past but men have been prest to duty without a through discovery of a mans Union with Christ as the ground of his assistance and acceptance as there should have been and so men have been put upon duties in a Moral or Legal way as if they had wrought them by their own strength and had a power in themselves though without Christ by reason of their imperfection they could not be accepted and so the way of the Gospel hath not been so clearly discovered and the subserviency of the Law unto the Gospel-grace as it should When the Law is so preached that men are stirred up to seek for Grace in another and to obey him and when the Grace of the Gospel is thus offered as that it inables a man to walk in the way of the precepts of the Law this is indeed to preach the Gospel when a man does so publish the Grace thereof that he does also publish the Law as a servant thereunto 4. See how the heart of God is much in the Salvation of Sinners and to exalt the Grace of the Gospel and honour and magnifie Mercy Isa 53.10 it is now that he would force men to accept of it If men were left unto themselves Christ should never be accepted but die in vain and not a man ever be saved though there were a city of refuge unless there were also an avenger of blood it is not enough for to offer mercy a moral perswasion will not do it but there is without a Law compelling breaking and within there is a spirit drawing and the drawing of the Father Joh. 6.44 lyes in a great measure in this work of the Law the Lord bringing the soul so low that the Blood of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel is precious and a man will accept him upon his own terms and say This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners Thus is the Son a servant unto the Father Isa 42.1 and the Law also a servant to the Son and put into his hand and this shews how much the heart of the Lord is on this work and next to the subjecting of his Son is the subserviency of the Law thereunto Vse 2 It should stir us up to make use of the Law in subserviency to the Gospel for so long as we are in this life the ends of the Gospel are not accomplished there is still sin to be discovered and restrained and condemned there are inward principles the Law in the heart to be perfected and there are duties in which men are to be directed in their whole course and so long as the ends of the Gospel are not attained so long the Law is still to be used and this is that mentioned 1 Tim. 1.8 1 Tim. 1.8 The Law is good if a man use it lawfully that is when it is used by us as it was delivered and published by Christ not for Justification so as to exact righteousness and acceptation from it not to set it up against Christ and the Grace of the Gospel to make the way of the Gospel void as the Jews did Rom. 10.3 but in the hand of a Mediator and for the ends of it and they are the great things of the Law it is the Royal Law and therefore it is a dangerous thing to abase it and therein to take the name of God in vain And as to neglect the Salvation of the Gospel so to despise the convictions or instructions of the Law When the Law is used to discover sin and to keep a man always low and humble in the sense of his own vileness it makes him set a high price upon Christ and the Mercy and Grace of God in him and makes him to keep close to him to keep in the city of refuge because the avenger of blood is without the gate to expect him and that which did at first bring a man in will keep him in for Christ is made a curse for us There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And when a man comes once to delight in the Law of God it is sweeter to him than honey and dearer to him than thousands of Gold and Silver upon this ground because it furthers the Salvation of the Gospel as Paul says I delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man so far as a man hath an inward principle of conformity to the Law and is regenerate so far the Law is his delight the more a man is sanctified Mat. 11. ult the more precious and sweet it is to him the Commandments of Christ are not grievous but he doth willingly take up the yoke of Christ because it is sweet and light and profitable There is a sweetness in obedience as vvell as an ease and there is a profit also for there is a fruit unto holiness here as vvell as the end everlasting life and vvhen the Lavv does bring a man dovvn to follow the Lamb whither soever he goes and to vvalk humbly vvith his God and say Lord what wilt thou have me to do this is properly for a man to use the Law lawfully for the Law
Because the Lord will honour his Son as the second Adam and the glory of the first Adam was a Covenant and an Image and so shall the second Adam be And he must have a seed also to whom these shall be conveyed Isa 53.8 The word signifies generation In whom he shall see his seed and prolong his days as Psal 72. and Christ is his Son in both generation and succession naturally as they bear his Image and legally as they stand under his Covenant and the Lord will honour the second Adam as he did the first in both these the Lord having made Adam the type of him that was to come 3. That hereby the Lord might honour the Creature the Covenant is the staff of beauty because it is the great beauty and glory of any people that God hath taken them into Covenant Zach. 11.10 specially if we consider the second Covenant to be Matrimonial and the Lord doth thereby betroth him unto himself in loving kindness and mercy and faithfulness as Hos 2.18 the great honour of the people of Israel Deut. 26.18 was that they were a people peculiar unto God thence he is called the God of Israel and this is the great honour of the Saints which makes them more excellent than their neighbours because they have God so nigh them to be their God in Covenant 4. That it may be the greater obligation unto men to obedience Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant with thee thou shalt therefore keep my Covenant And it is the great answer unto all Temptations I am in Covenant with the Lord as a woman that is married it is a sufficient answer unto all other suiters I am already married unto another Je◠13.11 As a girdle to the loins of a man so have I caused the whole house of Israel to cleave unto me that they might be unto me for a name and for a praise The Lord bound them to him by Covenant and it is a great aggravation of sin that the Lord loves us and we forget the Covenant of our God therefore Adultery is aggravated above all other sins Hos 3.2 A woman beloved of her husband yet an adulteress how abominable is it 5. To sweeten obedience and make it the more free and voluntary when a man takes it upon himself and gives the hand to the Lord 2 Chron. 30.7 8. which was the custom amongst men when they entred into Covenant Ezek. 17.18 and that men might see that their good always goes along with their duty and that God that did command to obey did promise to reward and therefore did it not ex indigentia sed potentia out of indigence but from power Christs goodness extends not unto God as munificentia by way of munificence Austin puts the difference between man and God in this as the Earth drinks up the water so doth the Sun-beams also one out of its own necessity but the other out of its power so God requires duty out of bounty for your good always that he may reward it Grace does not destroy but raise and rectifie self-love Christ in his obedience had a glory set before him and so had Moses a respect to the recompence of reward There is a love of reward which is lawful when it is not this that is the only thing that lancheth a man forth in a duty but only fills his sails but when it is mercenary love and has respect to nothing in the duty but the loaves this is sinful and it is this Covenant that makes the yoke of Christ easie and profitable having an eye to the exceeding great and precious promises which engages a man to have respect to all the Commandments for the Lord doth delight to allure men into ways of holiness and duty Hos 2.14 Lastly the Lord will have it so 1 That by the promises of this Covenant he may sanctifie a man change his image and make him partaker of the Divine nature and that every one of them may carry the soul continually to Christ as streams to the fountain 2 Pet. 1.4 in whom they are Yea and Amen 2 That this may be the ground of a working faith and a lively hope and a fervent prayer all which are grounded only upon the promises of this Covenant for had there not been a Covenant between God and us there had been no place for faith no ground for hope and no room for the prayer of faith which only is bottomed upon a promise 3 Whatever is done in this Covenant it is God that has the first and chief hand therein and we do not enter into Covenant with him but he enters into Covenant with us first though the Covenant be mutual yet it is called the Lords Covenant as Christ faith unto his Disciples Joh. 15.16 You have not chosen me but I have chosen you they did chuse Christ as every believing soul doth but the love first began on Christs part and so it does also in this Covenant 1 Joh. 4.10 Not that we loved him but he loved us and me love him because he loved us first so we do not begin the Covenant with God but the Lord doth begin with us and the motion came from him alone God the Father is not passive in it but active he was content that Christ should reconcile us to him As it was to David an acceptable service of Joab in reconciling his Son Absalom to him because his heart did run out to him so God the Father is active in this work he is in Christ reconciling the world and all that Christ does is by the Fathers appointment and he is his servant in it and it is the pleasure of the Lord and he doth love to have it so and had not he imployed Christ in this work there had never been a reconciliation between God and man As it is true by our Union with Christ we are joined to or as the word signifies glewed to the Lord yet the Union doth begin on Christs part first and Christ unites himself to us by the Spirit before we can by our faith be united to him so it is in the Covenant also it does begin on Gods part and as it was the Womans great dishonour to be first in the transgression so it is the Lords great glory to be first in the reconciliation And therefore when Adam after his fall stood trembling and could expect nothing but a sentence of condemnation the Lord was pleased to reveal a new Covenant to him for the Text saith he was afraid and he hid himself so unto Abraham the motion of a Covenant was from the Lord and not from Abraham There is a Grace preceding which works Grace and there is also a Grace co-operating that acts Grace but it is preventing Grace that is the first § 3. The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us which will appear if we consider the particulars of it 1. The Purpose and intention of
sure rather than to bring in Christ in this Covenant but as our surety and servant barely to supply our defects Object § 3. The Covenant is chiefly seen in the promises of it and is therefore called The covenant of promise and preferred before the old Covenant because stablished upon better promises and therefore that which in this verse is called the promise made to Abraham and his seed is verse 17. called the Covenant so that the nature of the Covenant is chiefly seen in the promises thereof the Covenant being nothing else but a confluence and collection of promises as the Sea is of Waters and all the promises meet in the Covenant as the beams in the Sun or lines in the Center Now there are many promises in this Covenant that cannot be made first unto Christ and then to us for there are some promises made unto Christ alone and cannot belong unto us but unto him only virtute muneris by virtue of his office namely that he should see no corruption that he should by his knowledge and righteousness justifie many that he should see of the travail of his soul and should dye as a grain that he might not abide alone So there are many promises that belong to his members only and cannot be made to Christ as the promise of giving Christ yea Gen. 3.15 even the promise of Christ himself is but part of this Covenant and the very bestowing of Christ is a fruit of the Covenant How then can the Covenant be made first with Christ when it is by this Covenant that Christ is given And there are some promises that cannot be applied to Christ without dishonour to him the promise of pardon of sin giving repentance taking away the heart of stone healing backsliding and pouring upon them clean water that they shall be cleansed from their filthiness now to say that those promises are made to Christ which suppose corruption and imply imperfection were very dishonourable to Christ who hath no sin to be pardoned no corruption to be purged no backsliding to be healed no grace to be perfected But he hath a fullness in him and that fontis of a fountain for himself and to overflow upon all his members How can these promises be looked upon as made unto Christ the head of the Covenant Answ 1. In the Covenant made with Christ God the Father's giving him is to be considered two ways 1 As it is an honour unto him 2 As it is an act of special grace and mercy unto us 1 As it is an honour done to him and so the first promise of giving Christ is made to Christ Isa 42.6 the Lord doth promise to give him as a Covenant to the Nations For the Lords intention was from eternity to glorifie his Son and to exalt him as the Prince of the second Covenant for Gods intention was to glorifie himself in Christ two ways 1 In a way of meer grace by conferring upon his humane nature the highest honour and excellency that a created nature was capable of by the personal union with the Godhead which Divines commonly call gratia unionis the grace of Union that thereby there might be the fullest communication of the Godhead upon him and the highest complacency and delight in him 2 In a way of reward Phil. 2.7 8. 1 As a reward of his own obedience unto the will of his Father therefore God hath highly exalted him 2 As a reward of his sufferings for his members for by the acceptation of the righteousness of Christ for them and imputing it unto them Christ is rewarded by whom they have access with boldness to the throne of Grace which though it be justice unto Christ yet it is mercy unto us And thus will the Lord make Christ the fountain of all good unto his elect and this is as you have heard first promised unto him that the Lord will prepare him a body give him a humane nature take him into personal Union with himself and in that nature give him unto man with a Covenant and an Image and so the giving of Christ is by promise first made unto him and his coming in the flesh is but the fulfilling and the accomplishment of this promise 2 We may consider it as an act of special grace and mercy unto us and so to us Isa 9.6 a son is born and to us a child is given So he is the promised seed unto the Saints that promise which all the Saints of old lived in expectation of that waited for the consolation of Israel so the giving of Christ unto the World is by promise made unto the Saints and so the giving of Christ unto the Saints hath its foundation laid in a promise made unto Christ to give him as an head with a Covenant and an Image and having promised this unto Christ now he adds a promise unto the Saints that he would give him so unto them as the work of vocation in bringing of souls home unto Christ It is not so properly and formally a promise made to us as it is to Christ That God would let him see his seed and prolong his days upon earth and give him the heathen for his inheritance c. and all in pursuance of that antient Covenant between the Father and the Son when he did agree with him for all the elect and chuse them in him as their head and all that is done in time is the fulfilling of what the Father did promise the Son and they come unto us only at second hand as we are looked upon as one with Christ and so the Lord giving us unto Christ and Christ unto us and we being apprehended of him he gives us faith to apprehend him again So it is in this but so that the very giving of Christ is by promise made first unto Christ and then unto us as the other great promises are I will be thy God he is first Christs God and then our God and he is his God as Mediatour no way but by Covenant and our God in him And I will send my spirit he hath the promise first made to him to receive it in its fullness and dispense it and it is conveyed unto us only as we are one with him our head So the promise of Christ also is made unto him first as a point of special honour and unto us as a special favour 2. For the other sort of promises of pardoning of sin giving grace and repentance they are made first unto Christ as the price of his blood and part of his purchase and of that reward that the Lord did intend to bestow upon him for God gives no souls to Christ but those that he hath purchased and bestows no grace upon them but it is done unto Christ as a reward of his purchase and service and as a perfecting of his mystical body till they come unto the fulness of the age of the stature of Christ for the Church it self is a
by his own free and voluntary condescension We were first sin and he was made sin for us we a curse first and he made a curse for us so we were first under the Covenant of Works and he did freely subject himself to be made under the Law he took our nature that he might communicate his to us so he takes our Covenant and subjects himself to it that he might impart unto us his Covenant and bring that into the World But as for the Covenant of Grace it was made first with him and we come under this Covenant only by Union with him Gal. 3. las◠his voluntary union with us as our surety brought him under our Covenant and our voluntary union with him as our head brings us under his Covenant The curse came upon him by our Covenant which we were first in and the blessing comes upon us by vertue of his Covenant in which he was first SECT III. Christs Headship in the Covenant applied Vse 1 § 1. IT instructs us first to observe the rich and free Grace of God that hath given his Son as a Covenant to the Nations which mercy the Prophet Isaiah exalts Isa 42.6 To us a child is born to us a son is given and the giving of his person was the highest honour and the greatest gift but yet it will be more heightned in our thoughts if we consider the ends for which he is given and the glorious retinue of all grace that follows him For he is given as a head with a Covenant and an Image and we admire God that hath laid up all grace in Christ to dispense unto us that of his fulness we may receive grace for grace This is to give him but half of his glory as he is the Churches head and the second Adam for he doth bring a Covenant into the World as well as an Image and in this respect happily amongst others he is called the Angel of the Covenant 1st It is a free gift there are three things in a gift 1 It is not ex debito of debt God did not owe unto man a Covenant it was all free grace it was that made him enter into a Covenant at first barely to sweeten mans obedience and therefore that man might be willing to be bound to obey God himself is content to be bound to reward him But when man had broken the first Covenant and was perfidious before God now to enter into a second Covenant this makes the Grace of God the greater because otherwise he should have perished under the curse of the first 2 It is not ex pretio by price there is no price that did purchase the Covenant though all the benefits and blessings of the Covenant are purchased by Christ yet the Covenant it self is grounded only upon free grace and it is this Covenant that is the ground of all the acts of Christ and the acceptation of them all is grounded only upon free Grace in the Covenant and compact between him and his Father 3 Not ex merito of merit from any thing that we can do for there is not the least blessing in the second Covenant but it is of Grace and the reward is not reckoned of debt but of grace and if all the benefits of the Covenant be so much more the Covenant it self from whence comes all the grace we have to do any thing pleasing in the sight of God 2dly The greatness of the gift is seen in the love of the giver There was a love manifested in the first Covenant but yet it was not such by which he did intend that any of the Sons of men should be saved He has said That by the works of the law shall no man be justified and the inheritance is not by the law c. But the second Covenant did proceed from Gods electing love which is exactly suited thereunto for Ephes 1.3 4. he doth observe the same order in the benediction that he did in election And the more difficulties love breaks through the greater it is Cant. 8.7 Now our Covenant-breaking might provoke God to withdraw his love and yet the greatness of his love is seen in the duration of it The first Covenant was broken and thereby that love was turned into hatred and God became our enemy as common love will end in everlasting hatred but this is from his everlasting love and therefore it is an everlasting Covenant 3dly The greatness of it is seen in our necessity We were 1 under a Covenant broken and therefore under the curse of it 2 It was a Covenant without a Mediator for God could not enter into Covenant immediately with us being fallen as we have heard at large therefore there was in the first Covenant no commutation of the person we must answer for it in our own persons the soul that sins must dye 3 A Covenant that promises no spark of repentance 4 A Covenant that promises no mercy or acceptance upon repentance and therefore man had been left in a remediless condition even as the Devil at this day 2 Pet. 2.4 being bound in the chains of darkness 2 Pet. 2.4 which is nothing else but the curse of their Covenant Now in this condition it is the Gospel of Christ the Grace of God that brings salvation Tit. 2.11 Life and immortality is brought to light thereby 4thly Consider the excellency of this Covenant The first Covenant indeed is that under which the Angels stand by which they do injoy happiness and glory but this is the Covenant under which Christ stands of which he is the Glory the Prince the Messenger the Mediator of a better Covenant which the Angels admire and were it offered to them would change their Covenant and cast away their own righteousness that they might come under the Covenant of Grace by which Covenant the Saints enjoy all their happiness and glory in Heaven and have the promises of the life that now is and that which is to come 5thly That Christ is given as a Covenant doth heighten the promises thereof and make them of a far more glorious nature Rev. 21.7 than those under the first Covenant For I will be thy God and thou shalt have an interest in all that is in me for thy good as truly as it is mine for my own glory The promises are infinitely heightned because he that is the Prince of the Covenant was worthy and capable which no meer creature could be 6thly This makes the promises of it sure unto all the seed for with Christ God cannot break Covenant and there is nothing in this Covenant but is purchased as well as promised and the righteousness is everlasting sin can never spend it Heb. 7.22 Surety of a better testament A surety not only of the old Covenant to pay the debt but also of the new to perform the duty so that God expects all from him and accepts all as it doth proceed from his hand 2. This instructs
the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour Rom. 9. yet this Decree could not actually take place without sin had come between and now sin has interposed there are some that belong to the Election of Grace and they are chosen out by vocation which is nothing else but electio actuata election actuated and the eternal Decree of God doth exempt them from the common condition of the rest of the world as we see Rom. 9. there the Jews are cast off and they are all in one outward condition but the difference lies in this there is a remnant according to the Election of Grace and the Election does obtain when the rest are hardned and therefore we are said to be born of the will of God in opposition unto all things in nature whatsoever Rom. 11. Joh. 1.13 Rom. 8.29 for vocation is the first-born of Election Of his own will he begate us by the word of truth c. The generation of Christ was an act of his nature and therefore necessary but the generation of Saints is an act of the will of God and therefore free it 's wholly to the praise of the glory of his grace and this his will is manifested in this Eph. 1.11 That he did from all Eternity elect some and reject others according to the counsel of his own will Now that the Lord may make it manifest that it 's an act of free grace therefore he will sometimes reject the children of the Kingdom as the Jews are called men born in the Church Mat. 8. and unto whom the Kingdom of Christ did seem by a natural right to belong and to descend unto them and he will send forth and call men from the East and from the West to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God he will cast off the bidden guests and will send out to the high ways and hedges and compel men to come in that he may manifest that you are begotten of his own will for the praise of his grace 3 Because since the Fall the Lord has appointed another way to convey life unto his people and that is not by generation from the first Adam but by regeneration from a second Adam and therefore the Lord will surely honour his own way and he will not convey the grace of the Covenant from parents unto their posterity but from him only who is the second Adam and is therefore called the everlasting Father Esa 9.6 Esa 9.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint renders it that is as the Apostle says He hath subjected to him the world to come Heb. 2.5 so he is made the father of the world to come Heb. 2.5 and all the Saints that come thence shall acknowledge that they all hold of him as a father as it is said Psal 87.4 5. of the Ordinances of Sion Psal 87.4 5. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there and of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her that is that what Nation or Kingdom soever any of the Saints were in they may for their first birth mention Egypt and Babylon but for their second their new birth they shall know and acknowledge that it was in Sion and by the mighty work of God in the Ordinances therein so I may say of the Lord Jesus Christ that whomsoever they may call father on earth whether within or without the Kingdom yet they shall all owne the Lord Christ as their Father in reference unto their eternal states and in reference unto the world to come and therefore he is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non solùm Spiritus vivus but also vivificus not only a living Spirit but a quickning Spirit a Spirit that makes us alive also for Joh. 14.19 he says Because I live you shall live and the Apostle Paul saith The last Adam was made a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. Bernard and Rev. 22.16 he is said to be the Root of David and he is therefore said to be the Fountain of the gardens Cant. 3.15 it is from hence that all flourishes therefore grace shall not be entailed upon posterity but as the Father quickens whom he will so also the Son shall have life in him and power of quickning whom he will Upon these grounds it is that the spiritual and the saving graces of the Covenant are not conveyed from parents unto their children by a lineal descent but the Covenant in reference to grace from the parents is wholly made void and as God many times has a seed of grace running through the loyns of the wicked so he does many times cast off the children of the Saints and as he said of Ismael But my covenant will I establish with Isaac Gen. 17.21 so God saith of Believers children that he will not establish his Covenant with them as to inward grace 2. Yet the Lord will continue the Covenant from parents to children by a kind of lineal descent in reference to the external priviledges of the Covenant and they shall be conveyed from parents unto the children who shall have a Covenant-right as the parents priviledge and the grounds of it are these 1 Because the Lord will have a visible Church out of the loyns of his own people therefore when he takes in their parents into a Church-covenant he takes in also their children they are the children of the kingdom because they are the children of the Covenant that God made with their parents He doth indeed take in as Proselytes some here and some there but the visible Church is chiefly and generally made up of such confederate parents and their children and to make a visible Church there is required outward ordinances and priviledges that there may be a difference put between them and the rest of the world Exod. 19.5 that they may be unto God a holy and a peculiar people and this may be where the graces of the Covenant are not dispensed yet the priviledges of the Covenant must It 's true there are tares among the wheat in the same field and there are goats feeding amongst the sheep in the same pasture it 's not grace as you heard makes a man a visible member of the Church visible for it cannot be seen it cannot properly come under any humane judgment but it 's grace makes a man a member of the invisible Church into which Christ only admits and that which Christ only judges and not man 2 The Covenant is entailed in reference to the priviledges thereof that the Lord might magnifie and exalt his love unto parents the more and that it might be a great inducement to come into Covenant with God because the promise shall be unto you and your children even unto them that are afar off or as many as the Lord shall call not only
till then our iniquities are then perfectly blotted out when the time of refreshment shall come then a man shall be perfectly acquitted from all sin for ever and have an absolute sentence past upon him by God and in his own soul for ever As the Lord did give his Son by degrees and yet there is a further giving of him when he that is gone before shall come again and fetch you also there are degrees of giving of the Spirit and there is yet a further degree to come when the weak shall be as David so the Lord will be your God hereafter more eminently than he has been in giving you not only grace but glory Now as the Lord doth take up and possess the soul to himself as his habitation so he does more and more become a God to that soul who is never perfected till he come to glory till he enjoy him as he is Vse 1 § 4. 1. Look on the promises therefore as precious and store thy soul with them for they are all that you have to shew for an interest in God in this life that by which you hold your inheritance all is in promises the richest adornment and furniture that the soul can have in this life is grace and promises and therefore have thy inward man filled with them Vse 2 2. Upon all occasions stay thy sinking soul upon a promise for it 's as firm as the faithfulness of God and it 's grounded thereupon If there be any truth in the Covenant of Grace it lies in the promises of it on Gods part and we should observe the performance of promises as we do of prophecies Psal 144. as Austin says Ingrate Legis debitum cernis redditum non credis promissum Vngrateful wretch thou seest the debt of the Law paid and yet believest not the promise Vse 3 3. Look unto all the promises for their accomplishment The heirs of a promise have a great happiness that they have such an inheritance It 's â—er be as low as Hell with a promise Ego quidem sine Verbo ne in Paradiso optarim vivere at cum Verbo etiam in inferno vivere sacile est Luth. than with Adam in Paradise without it For it 's in the promises of the new Covenant in which the glory and the stability of the Covenant lies but if they be so sweet and precious in the contemplation and in the working of faith upon them while they are in hope only what must they needs be in the fruition The Wise man says The desire accompished is sweet unto the soul there is an unexpressible sweetness in it when the desire comes it's a tree of life it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vitarum of lives there are all lives in it and it sets a man as it were in Paradise again And this is one thing that will make Heaven the sweeter because it is a perfect accomplishing of all those promises with which the soul was feasted and entertained here with the hopes of in its pilgrimage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysostom for Christ will be the sweeter when we come to Heaven because having not seen him yet we loved him here and we shall find him to be the same Christ in all things that before we heard him to be in the Gospel And so the society of the Saints Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the rest of the Saints in Heaven so much the more precious will they be by how much our hearts have been taken with any of them while they lived here and for this cause the promises may well be called precious 2 Pet. 1.4 2 Pet. 1.4 the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies either precious or honourable to him that believes he is precious 1 Pet. 2. or an honour 1 as they are the price of his blood who was the Saviour of the World 2 as they are the evidences of our inheritance and all we have to shew for Heaven 3 as they are instruments of purification and sanctification 2 Cor. 7.1 2 Pet. 1.4 But 4 they are specially precious in this 1 that they are Gods part of the Covenant 2 this has been the happiness of the Saints and the contrary is noted as an imperfection in their condition here Heb. 11.13 These all dyed in faith not having received the promises it 's spoken of the ancient Saints of whom it 's said some of them attained promises and others of them received them not but only saw them afar off and saluted them c. and to attain promises is reckoned with stopping the mouths of lions and quenching the violence of fire and hereby there is more of God made known Exod. 6.3 By the name of Jehovah I was not known to them It 's spoken in reference unto the accomplishment of the promises and their attaining of them there is something further that God discovered and his name Jehovah further manifested to the Saints 3 specially in our times upon whom the ends or as some render it the perfections of the world are come for as the great harvest of the Church shall be in the latter days of the world so there shall be the great harvest both of prophecies and promises for the ancient Prophets did speak of good things to come but it was manifested unto them that they did not administer for themselves but for us 1 Pet. 1.12 they should be gathered to their Fathers and never live to see the good things that the Lord would do but should dye in the Wilderness as many of the ancient Saints of Israel did and never inherit the promised Land for all the things that the Lord hath spoken shall have their accomplishment at the sound of the seventh Trumpet shall the Mystery of God be finished Rev. 10.7 They are glorious things that the Lord has spoken of the latter days of the world and it 's a great unworthiness and lowness of spirit in Saints that they should be content and sit down satisfied whilst they go without any part of their inheritance and that they should think much of any thing they have attained si dicas sufficit c. It 's true that we are less than the least of all his mercies and we should think every one of them great to express our thankfulness but we should not think any of them great to nourish our slothfulness He that has an interest in the great God must strive to have his heart formed into a holy greatness of mind there is a lowness of spirit that does no ways become men that have high hopes and high expectations to be content to go without any thing that God has promised he has promised not only truth of grace but growth as the willows by the water-courses strength of grace strengthned with all might according to his glorious power comfort of grace as the Apostle has it to be filled with a spirit of consolation and to walk in the assurance
to perform the promise is Gods part and to press God with his promise is our part I will do it for you says tne Lord yet I will be inquired of by you that I may do it for you ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened and there is no way that ever any creature could attain any thing of God but this way Upon this very ground Christ himself if he will attain from God he must ask and so 't is with the Angels and so 't is with the Saints in Heaven Dan. 4.17 they cry How long Lord How much more is it to be with dust and ashes 3. That the Lord may honour his own Ordinance and testifie how much he doth delight in the worship of a creature and that thereby he might make it a double mercy For ungodly men to receive blessings as a fruit of Providence unto them it comes always single that is in the thing only but unto a godly man that has it as a fruit of the promise it 's always a double mercy mercy in the thing and mercy to the man not only an accomplishment of Gods promises but the return of the mans prayers the exercise of Gods faithfulness unto us and of our graces towards God and there are no mercies so sweet as those that come in with the exercise of grace in the attaining of them Deum orationibus ambiamus coelum tundimus misericordiam extorquemus as Tertullian says of the power of the Saints prayers because of his delight in the exercise of their graces And there is no duty wherein the graces of the Saints do act with more life and power than they do in prayer there is magna conjunctio a great concurrence of grace in them as we see it in Abraham in his prayer what strong acts of grace he puts forth Gen. 18. The nearer the soul draws to God the fountain of its life the more lively it works and moves the swifter the nearer the centre and there is no duty in which the soul draws nearer to God than it doth in prayer and hath more immediate communion with him than when he is upon his knees before the Throne of grace 4. And lastly the way to attain promises is a patient waiting for them till the Lords time come for it 's true of promises as it is of prophecies though the vision be for an appointed time Hab. 2.3 yet wait for it for it will come and will not tarry It 's a speech like unto that in Luk. 18.7 8. though he bear long with them yet he will avenge them speedily it may tarry long in respect of the time prefixed by us and may seem long to us but it shall not be long when the time comes that is appointed by God The Lord commonly does in the answering of prayers as he does in the fulfilling of Prophecies it 's a great while before the Prophecy seems to speak or to give any hope of its accomplishment as it was in the deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon but yet when once it begins but to dawn its day immediately in a manner it strangely and suddenly breaks forth that the Saints of God can scarce believe their own eyes they are like unto them that dream And so it is in the return of their prayers also as in the calling of the Jews they are as dry bones and they are scattered here and there all the world over but the bones shall come together and it shall be so suddenly done that the Lord saith A Nation shall be born at once and before Sion travelled she brought forth and so it is in the answer of Prayers as it was with Elijah he prayed seven times and his servant looked and there was nothing and yet he continued praying at last there appeared a Cloud like unto a mans hand and by and by the Heavens were covered over with Clouds and then the rain fell when it begins once to appear that the Clouds do break away a little the Lord doth strangely hasten the work and there is a glorious concurrence and falling in of all causes to its accomplishment there is a time of the Promise's accomplishment Acts 7 1◠and a great part of the Mercy is in the season of it the Lord doth not delay because he is unwilling to bestow it or because the Mercy comes hardly off for he knows that to our hasty Nature bis dat qui citò but the Lord doth defer it that he may improve the Mercy by the season of it for Gods time is best and not ours my time is not yet come though your time be alwayes ready all Christs Miracles were so much the more glorious by the seasons of their putting forth and so are Gods Mercies also the more magnified in coming to us in the fittest time he does wait to be gracious that is that he may bestow the Mercy when we are fittest to receive it and our hearts are best prepared for it As in judgement to a wicked man the Lord does watch over him for evil and he shall be ensnared in an evil time as a Bird in an evil snare judgement shall come upon him when he least expects it and is least prepared for it he shall be cut off as the foam upon the waters Hos 10.7 sicut aquae superiores ferventis ollae Jerome for the word spuma doth signifie a bubble that does arise from heat c. when they are swelled up and hold up their heads on high and be lifted up above the rest of the waters then they shall suddenly be cut off As I say there is a time for judgment that Justice doth watch over men for evil so there is also a time for Mercy that Grace does watch over men for good there is a time for the Promise to bring forth as well as the threatning and therefore it 's said That by Faith and Patience the Saints have inherited the Promises and there is as well a Patience in waiting as in Suffering Zeph. 2.1 2. let Patience have its perfect work in you in this respect also that you may be intire and perfect wanting nothing Hebr. 10.36 But the Soul will be ready to say I could be willing to wait Gods time if I could be sure to attain the Promise at the last but what grounds are there to support and underprop my heart that I shall receive the Promise and not miss of it in the end Now the grounds to assure the Soul thereof are these 1. The faithfulness of God the Promises are therefore confirmed by an Oath Heb. 6.17 that by two immutable things wherein it 's impossible for God to lye we might have strong Consolation Quid est Dei juratio nisi promissi confirmatio Aust. infidelium quaedam increpatio An Oath amongst Men puts an end to Controversie much more should the Oath of God put an end to all Controversie and Disputes in the Soul and
seeing his face which is his Essence or seeing him as he is which is reserved for them 2 There is nothing but this in the life to come that can make them happy It 's true there shall be in this Paradise a confluence of all good things and there shall be every way perfection fulness of joy rivers of pleasures for evermore Consider 1 the glory of the place it 's the Palace of the great King and if there be so much glory and magnificence in Kings Palaces what is there in the Palace of him that fills all and is all and is the King of Kings Paul was taken up into the third Heaven and yet he was not glorified but afterwards he had a thorn in the flesh and had need of the grace that should be sufficient for him so that to be in Heaven is not that which makes the Saints happy therein the formalis ratio the formal reason of their happiness doth not lye and therefore says Paul I desire to be dissolved not to be in Heaven Phil. 1.23 but to be with Christ which is best of all It is more to be with the Lord Christ than to be in Heaven and therefore Luther said well Malim praesente Deo esse in inferno quà m absente Deo in coelo c. I had rather be with God in Hell than without God in Heaven 2 There is a glorious society for we are gathered here unto the innumerable company of Angels and the souls of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 24. we be here as Tertullian says Angelorum candidati the Candidates of Angels c. Zac. 3.7 and I will give thee places to walk amongst these that stand by but as it is here in the Communion of Saints there is a great deal of sweetness yet herein is not the perfection of the happiness of the Saints but it 's in a higher communion so it is glorious to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God but they have all of them their happiness from the same fountain and that is in God himself 3 There shall be a glorious and a full enjoyment of Jesus the Mediator Joh. 17. he doth pray that they may be where he is that they may behold his glory and it 's that which Job doth glory in I know that my Redeemer lives Job 19. and that I shall see him with these eyes and Paul also longed to be dissolved and to be with Christ and to be ever with the Lord. But the height of the happiness of the Saints cannot consist in this partly because Christ himself as he is Mediator has a happiness in another Psal 16. thou shalt shew me the path of life and there is an eternal life promised him as well as promised us and therefore he having his own blessedness from another he doth direct us unto a higher Fountain of our blessedness and partly because that which was not the highest object of our faith can never be the greatest ground of our joy Now Christ as Mediator is not the highest object of our faith and hope and therefore cannot be the perfection of our joy 4 In Heaven there will be a perfection of graces For when that which is perfect is come 1 Cor. 13.12 13. then that which is in part shall be done away and this is after a sort a mans happiness and therefore the School-men do distinguish between beatitudo subjectiva objectiva subjective and objective beatitude There is a blessedness in us which doth consist in the perfection of grace in the man for glory is nothing but grace perfected and that haply is the meaning of the souls of just men made perfect that is their graces are perfected in them Heb. 12. and what is lacking in any of them is supplied that which is in part is done away and this doth indeed wonderfully perfect the soul but grace perfected is but a creature though it be the new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 and we are Gods workmanship created in Christ unto good works and therefore it hath but a finite good that can never make the soul of man happy which was ordained for an infinite good The perfection of grace is but a consequent of happiness for we shall therefore be like him because we shall see him as he is Therefore in the life to come there is nothing for the happiness of the creature both men and Angels to consist in but the Essence of God 4. It will appear from the nature of blessedness that nothing can make the creature blessed but the Essence of God and that will appear in three things 1 Nothing can make a man blessed but that which doth perfect his graces Now there is nothing can do this but the beatifical vision which is a vision of God in his Essence answerable to a mans vision of God 1 Joh. 3.3 such is the perfection of the image of God in the man Now while we know in part so long we are sanctified but in part for the vision of God is transforming 2 Cor. 3. ult but it is a perfect vision that doth work in the soul a perfect sanctification seeing God in his back parts will not do it it 's seeing his face this doth perfect the Angels they behold the face of their Father and so it shall do us when we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 There is nothing can make a man happy but that which makes him impeccable because the soul will still be in fear so long as he is a sinner Adam had a posse non peccare a power not to sin but that did not make him happy there must be a non posse peccare an impossibility of sinning now this only the vision and essence of God can give and therefore Suarez de beatif Vis saith Visio beatifica excludit omnem defectum tum erroris tum inconsiderationis ideò facit voluntatem impeccabilem The beatifick Vision makes the will impeccable c. 3 There is nothing can make a man happy but that which gives unto the soul a fulness of satisfaction Psal 17. ult when he sees his face he shall be satisfied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it notes a fulness and an abundant satisfaction so that the soul desires no more In beatitudine impletur omne desiderium beatorum All desire of the blessed is filled up in blessedness Aquinas Now the soul will never be satisfied while it sees any thing beyond what it doth enjoy till the soul can write a nil ultra c. There is primum verum a first truth and till the understanding come unto that it will never be satisfied in inferiour truths and there is ultimum summum bonum a last and chiefest good and till the soul comes to that it will never be satisfied in inferiour goods but the soul will be always aspiring because it sees something further to be attained donec requiescat in te until
comprehended by any finite understanding even the Angels themselves cannot know all that is in God for an infinite Being cannot be known and comprehended but by an infinite understanding We shall know so much of Gods Essence as will tend unto our perfection though we cannot find out the Almighty to his perfections As for the measure of the manifestation it depends ex sola Dei voluntate dispensatione arbitraria wholly on Gods pleasure As there are different degrees of grace in this life and the Lord doth give unto men different degrees of light according unto the measure of grace that he has appointed them unto so he has appointed them also to different degrees of glory says Christ To sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father As the souls that he shall save are given by the Father so also the measure of their grace and their glory is appointed by the Father and answerable unto the degrees of glory that they are appointed by the Father such shall be the manifestations of God unto them when they come unto glory therefore as glory is of grace so are the degrees of glory also as here the Lord dispenseth divers gifts as he will so he doth in Heaven some have more of the presence of God and clearer discoveries than others have because it 's not by necessity of nature but by an act of the will And therefore whereas some do object we cannot see the Essence of God perfectly therefore not at all because Essentia est simplicissima most simple and if we see the Essence of God we must see all his Attributes and so the knowledge of God c. and we must know as much as God knows c. it 's true if God did glorifie his people as a natural Agent we might conclude he must ad ultimum potentiae discover himself to the utmost but seeing he doth it as a voluntary Agent who acts certo moderamine by a certain measure so much of his Essence they shall know as he will discover and that shall be so much as is for their perfection though not to his perfection Quest 4 § 4. How doth the Vision of Gods Essence conduce unto the happiness of the creature It makes the creature happy in these particulars Answ 1. A man hath hereby a full and perfect accomplishment of all the promises for as the end of Christ is but to bring us unto God the same is the end of all the promises it 's but to bring the soul unto God He has indeed given us exceeding great and precious promises 2 Pet. 1.3 4. There are promises for the way and for the end for this life and for that which is to come and the top and the coronis of them all lies in this that he doth give himself and till the soul do attain this it is never satisfied Omnino non me satiaret Deus nisi promitteret seipsum ipsum vitae fontem scio sitio esurio August Now how sweet is a promise that a man has waited long for and prayed long for The desire attained is a tree of life how much more then is the fulness of a mans desires when all of them are attained and accomplished in him who is the well of life c. 2. In this is the accomplishment of all the whole purchase of Christ the accomplishment of all the works of the Son and Spirit in the Mediatory Kingdom says the Apostle Peter Ye are begotten to an inheritance immortal and incorruptible and undefiled and without holiness no man shall see the Lord therefore holiness is the way to vision 1 Pet. 1.5 and the highest end of the work of Sanctification it 's but to make you meet inheritors with the Saints in light Col. 1.12 Now it 's a joy unto Christ to see his work carried on in the world to see his grace and glory communicated to us to see of the travel of his soul and therefore shall it not be so to us to see it accomplished in our selves That though the blood of Christ were as it were shed in vain in respect of many persons unto whom it was offered they trample under the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing yet to us it 's not in vain but the grace of God has been effectual to bring us unto glory 3. Then God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 that is as Christ is now all in all Col. 3.11 so after this life God shall be all immediately when the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ in reference unto this life Luther shall be at an end Quicquid frustulatim ab omnibus creaturis nobis mendicandum est in hoc seculo ille unus omnium nobis instar erit What God is now to us by bits in the creatures he will be then in himself c. The power and efficacy and sweetness of things is much abated by their manner of conveyance as we say in the Galenick Physick and as comforts from the Spirit in the joys of the Holy Ghost are far beyond those that come in by the creatures though God may be enjoyed in them both because it is more immediately dulcius ex ipso fonte Now all things are of God that we have here in this world but it 's but by the creatures but when God shall be immediately all in all all things shall come from himself and from his own hand as when God doth punish men by the creatures it 's much less than when he doth it immediately as it is the wrath of God in Hell which shall be the immediate executioner so it is when God doth comfort men by the creatures and by himself immediately there is as much difference in the one as there is in the other 4. There shall be perfect Sanctification for by his vision we shall be like him there is an image begun in this life but it 's not perfected God being all in all in Heaven we shall read his will 1 Joh. 1.3 and our duty in his own face for ever 1 The ways of instruction shall be no more as now we have here in this life but as in ways of consolation God shall be all in all Austin so in ways of instruction also Sine codice in verbo leges Thou shalt read in the Divine Word without a book and we shall know him as he is and the reason of all his actings and dealings with us Quicquid nos latet ibi ratio erit manifesta cur hic electus iste reprobatus cur alius moritur in infantia alius in senectute c. 2 Our wills shall be made perfect for the souls of just men are made perfect and they shall be perfectly determined unto good that they shall have non posse peccare an impossibility of sinning for ever impeccability in Christ was from the hypostatical Union but it
spreads the dung of their sacrifices upon their faces Mal. 3.3 It doth imply two things 1. That the Lord doth reject their Sacrifices with indignation as if they had offered dung in their solemn feasts 2. Summo dedecore eos afficiam I will spread the highest reproach on them so Mercer as you do unto a man when you cast dung in his face the Lord will reject their services and instead of honouring them in them he will cast shame upon them also whereas the services of the Saints are 1 accepted ordine supernaturali as flowing from a heavenly and supernatural principle and 2 ad vitam aeternam ordinata services appointed unto an eternal reward Other mens services are not thus accepted but as they come from a principle of nature so they shall have no higher reward they shall rise no higher than the head of the spring from whence they flow 6. There is a Communion also that the people of God have with the Father 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ There is a communion that the Saints of God have distinctly with all the persons when they receive mercy from them all and rejoyce in the love of them all and they do return to them again all the glory of the grace of them all as faith is distinctly to be exercised upon all the persons so the soul should strive to have a distinct fellowship and communion with all the persons 1 A man should pray to the Father for saith Christ Your Father knows that you have need of all these things 2 You are to give thanks to the Father who has blessed you with all spiritual blessings 3 You are to rejoyce in his love says Christ I will love him Eph. 1.3 Joh. 14.21 23. and he shall be loved of my Father I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loves you you are in his bosom receive all gifts from him as from a Father and come to him as to a Father as one that has communion with him and access to him as unto a Father 4 Glory in the witness of the Father Joh. 5.7 for there are three that do bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one you are not only to have the Spirits testimony and seal upon your evidences but the Fathers also bearing witness in your souls testifying unto you the adoption of sons There is a glorious communion that the Father gives unto his people as Christ had with the Father so may you also in and through him SECT III. The Relations undertaken by the Father and Christ in this Covenant § 1. THE Father having in this manner made over himself in Covenant to his people they have an interest in all the relations of the Father for we are not only related unto Christ but by him to the Father and as we are to exercise faith upon Christ under all relations so we are also upon the Father and these relations are both honourable and comfortable also to the Saints 1. God the Father is our Father says Christ I ascend unto my Father and your Father Joh. 20.17 Mat. 5.16 to my God and your God that they may glorifie your Father which is in heaven Be you merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful and therefore says the Apostle Rom. 1.7 Grace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ c. Now what is there in such a relation as this is unto God the Father We shall see what it was unto Christ the only begotten Son of the Father and see how in all things he is a Father to us as he is unto Christ though it be in a lower way for Christ in all things must have the preheminence 1 It is the great honour that is put upon Christ as Mediator Joh. 1.14 Luk. 1.35 that he is the Son of God we saw his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God and in this he is exalted above the Angels Heb. 1.5 Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son and I will be unto him a Father Bernard and he shall be unto me a Son c. Altissimi Filius ac proinde co-altissimus ipse ejusdem penitùs altitudinis dignitatis And in this manner the Saints do partake pro modulo it is the greatest priviledge of the Saints that they do receive from union with the Son and that in which they are exalted above the Angels That as they do stand before God in a higher righteousness in their justification for though the righteousness of Angels be perfect in its kind yet it 's but the righteousness of a meer creature but the righteousness of Christ is called the Righteousness of God 2 Cor. 5.21 which though it were wrought in the humane nature and therefore was not the essential righteousness of God for that could not be imputed yet it was that which being wrought by him that was God and man the Godhead had an influence into it and gave it an excellence and efficacy so they have a higher sonship in their adoption that is it 's founded on a higher right than that of the Angels even in the Sonship of the second person in the Trinity for Christ as Mediator was not a Son by adoption but by generation his humane nature being taken into the same person did by virtue of that grace of union partake of the same Sonship for there was not a double Sonship of Christ one as he was God and the other as he was man for subjectum filiationis est suppositum the subject of filiation is a person as the School-men speak Now as Christ had great glory from other things in relation to the Angels Dan. 9.24 for he is the Head of Principalities and Powers and to the Saints he is the King of Saints the holy of holies and from all the creatures for he is the beginning of the creation of God and is the head over all things to the Church yea in reference to God himself for he is Gods King I will set my King and the man Gods fellow but there is none that is a term of so high an honour unto Christ as this that he is the Son and it 's this that the Lord doth publish to the world as the ground of all the rest Isa 4.5 Psal 2.7 I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son c. so it is with the Saints they are called the glory and the first-fruits of all the creatures the excellent ones Kings and Priests unto God to whom the Angels are but servants and ministring Spirits but yet there is no title of honour like unto this that they are called the Sons of God Men do glory
distinct objects for faith to work and rest upon as mercy and justice and holiness and wisdom and faithfulness and the soul should not only be content with a general apprehension that he hath an interest in them all but should be distinctly drawn forth and exercise distinct acts of faith upon them all And as it is in Christ there are distinct excellencies in him there is the Holiness of his Nature the Holiness of his Life and the fulness of his Satisfaction the glory of his Merit and a soul that hath an interest in Christ and is made one with him hath immediately an interest in all these but yet the Lord requires that the faith of his Saints should be exercised about them all and have their apprehension raised by the glory of them all As a man that believes any one part of the Word of God doth believe the whole Word of God at the same time for faith that doth close with any Divine Truth aright doth it upon this ground to rest upon God tam in revelatis quà m revelandis as well in what is revealed as what is to be revealed as it was with Adam and the Angels unto whom there are made daily new discoveries of the will and counsel of God that they never knew before but yet there is not a precept Eph. 3.10 promise or threatning in the whole Word of God but it is a distinct object of faith and the Lord would have the apprehensions of his people particularly set upon them that they may be particularly affected with them and see and admire the grace of God in giving them an interest in this promise and in that threatning So it is true that a man that hath an interest in the Son of God hath an interest also in God the Father and so a man may consider it discursivè discursively but the Lord would have the soul stay upon the particular interest he hath in the Father and the glory thereof and upon the particular interest he hath in the Son and the glory thereof also As it is in point of assurance though he that hath the witness of the Father and the Son hath the witness of the Spirit also and he that is assured of the love of one may be assured of the love of them all yet there is a distinct bringing home of the love of each person to the soul so that a man doth not by way of discourse only reason himself into the Father Son and Spirit who having one nature have also one love and if I have a testimony of the love of the Son in me I have also a witness thereby of the love of the Father also but when the soul is particularly drawn out and distinctly affected with the love of each of the persons his apprehensions are raised by reason of this interest and so it is in the work of faith also and the ground of it is this 1 because all the glory that God hath by us here is when he is exalted in our hearts for Gods glory is in the hearts of his Saints as all their melody is in their hearts Ephes 5.19 when all things in the inward man are in tune and set right Exod. 15.2 He is my God and I will exalt him Now as our apprehensions do rise in the consideration of the glory of any thing that is in God God hath the more distinct glory thereby for as he hath given us variety of ordinances and he will be honoured by us in them all so he hath propounded to our faith distinct objects and he will be honoured by our faith in them all for as you heard the glory that God hath in this world chiefly is in the hearts of the Saints they only do glorifie him actively all things else do it but occasionally that is by giving them an occasion to glorifie him 2 Because there is a distinct sweetness and vertue that comes from every one of these when the soul is distinctly drawn out to them and they are distinctly exercised as Phil. 3.10 says the Apostle That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his sufferings c. When a man looks upon the death of Christ there is a vertue will come out of it and if upon the sufferings of Christ there is a vertue will come out of them all and they have all of them their peculiar and proper vertue upon the soul The Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 2.14 a savor of knowledge now it is here as it is in a Posie there are many flowers put together and they do yield a very fragrant smell that is very refreshing and delightsom but he that will be affected with each flower must take them all apart and he will find that each of them hath its distinct and proper savor which unless the man had taken apart he would never have known and so it is also in all the glorious excellencies that are in God and in Christ Vse 2 § 2. The second Use is of Exhortation and that 1. To stir you up to consider the glory of this interest in the Persons this was that did most affect Christ Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance it is his interest in the Father that mainly his heart doth glory in He had several other interests that he might have boasted of for he was Heir of all things Heb. 1.3 but in a more special manner he hath a glorious inheritance in the Saints Eph. 1.18 which may be interprâ—â—â— either that his inheritance is in them for they are his both dono and merito by a gift and by a purchase also or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for inter as it is rendred Acts 26.18 To give them an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the Saints have a great inheritance to glory in they are heirs of promises yea they inherit all things but the main of Christs glory is his inheritance in the person of the Father and that should be also the glory of the Saints and here consider 1 that the high advancement of the creature lyes in union with the persons as the highest advancement of the humane nature of Christ lyes in the personal Union the grace of Union is far greater than the grace of Unction that he was made one with the second Person in the Trinity and the advancement of our nature is more by our mystical Union with the Person of Christ than in all the benefits we receive from him but there is a higher union that this tends to and that is an union with all the persons in the Trinity thereby for communio fundatur in unione Now having communion with all the persons it argues that we have an union with them all and as we have a higher union with the person of the Son than the Angels have so we have
seek a sufficiency in themselves and too much omit fastning upon the Lord Jesus who is our Saviour to the uttermost c. Now we come to shew the evil of a self-sufficiency in both these more particularly 1. In respect of gifts for a man to look upon himself and grow in love with his own shadow and to depend upon them and glory in them consider the evil of it in these particulars 1 They are another mans goods they are not thine own men are ready to think so of riches and honours that which is without a man but as for the abilities of his own mind they think those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper goods if any thing be but yet as it is said of riches it 's true also of gifts and all those inward qualifications Luke 16. they are another mans and they are so in a double respect 1 Because they are given thee from another What hast thou that thou hast not received he that doth boast of 1 Cor. 4.7 or trust in any thing that he has received he doth thereby say that it is his own and that he has not received it for if thou hast received it then thy dependence is upon another and not upon thy self mendax de proprio loquitur cùm autem in bonis laudabilis vita ducitur Prosper ad Demest p. 866. Dei est quod geritur Dei est quod amatur 2 They are another mans as riches are for they are given thee mainly for the good of another grace is given a man for himself and is properly his own 1 Cor. 12.7 but gifts are given for the Church and for the edifying of others the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal and therefore thou art but as a steward of every gift and thou must dispense them and lay them out for the good of the family to give them their meat in due season and if not this will be the benefit that thou wilt have by thy gifts that thy account will be the greater and there will come a time that the same Spirit that is now thy Teacher will surely be thy Accuser Luke 16.1 for wasting thy masters goods Accepta bona dissipamus quando iis nec ad ipsius honorem nec proximi aedificationem nec ad propriam salutem utimur Stella There is a double difference between gifts and graces 1 Grace is for a maâ—â— own salvation but gifts are for the Churches edification and therefore they are but prâ— hoc statu for this state and there is an end the gifts that the Angels have are but for the edification of the Church Dan. 9.23 Rev. 19.10 1.4 He sent and signified it by the Angel unto his servant John and when the Elect of God shall be gathered and the Church of Christ perfected and the Kingdom given up to the Father then as the protection of Angels shall cease for there shall be no more use of it so these qualifications this influence of the Spirit of Christ upon the Angelical nature by way of gifts shall cease also 2 Some put this difference that the Spirit to some gives gifts as a Spirit assisting only but not dwelling there where he assists by gifts but where grace is there is a residence of the Spirit and that not only according unto the gifts and effects as in the other but according to the essence for we are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost Now to dedicate a Temple to another is to give Divine honour which is not to be done unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit for they are but creatures and therefore the Spirit doth not dwell in them barely by his gifts but according to his essence Habitat verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantùm per dona sed quoad substantiam neque sic dat dona ut ipse alibi sit sed donis adest creaturam suam conservando gubernando addendo The Spirit dwells in Believers not only by gifts but according to his essence neither doth he so give gifts as to be absent himself but he is present c. Luther 2 He doth give them unto wicked men and therefore there is no sufficiency to be placed in that in which God puts no difference Psal 68.18 Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also not only those that were rebellious and are now converted but those that live still in rebellion Christ received many gifts to dispense unto these Christ is in the Scripture set forth as a Head and as a Root he gives graces as Head unto the Church which is his body Joh. 15.1 2. the fulness of him that filleth all in all but as he is a Root he spreads himself into a visible Church upon Earth so he gives much sap and greenness unto those that bear leaves only and therefore it was a good saying of Luther in one of his Epistles Potentior est veritas quà m eloquentia potior spiritus quà m ingenium major fides quà m eruditio A little grace is to be preferred before abundance of gifts and a little of the Spirit of Sanctification above the fulness of the qualifications of the Spirit for the Lord doth cause this Sun to shine upon the evil and unthankful and doth continue it unto them for a while as a Spirit of Qualification to whom nevertheless he will be for ever as a Spirit of Condemnation hereafter 3 When a man depends upon these and places his sufficiency in them he serves Satan in the highest way that can be that is with the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God Mat. 12.44 45. we read Mat. 12.44 45. there is a house swept and garnished it 's the house that Satan will chuse to himself to inhabit above all other places in the world and therefore he places a strong garrison there of seven Spirits for there is no soul whom he takes so much delight in and in which he doth love so much to dwell as he doth in such a man and therefore it was a great speech of Austin of Licentius a man of a great wit but of an unsound mind Abs te ornari diabolus quaerit Accepisti à Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum in illo Satanae propinas teipsum The Devil seeks to be adorned by thee c. It was the abuse upon the vessels of the Temple that in Beltshazers time they must be brought forth and used in the worship of their gods which was but the Devil instead of a God the gifts that a man has are the utensils of the Temple of the Holy Ghost and therefore above all others Satan loves to be served with those and if the Devil do but puff a man up with either of these Luther Potentia justitia sapientia that 's the house he delights to dwell in now for a man to serve Satan with his wealth or his honour is a
great evil but with the immediate works and gifts of the Spirit of God is a far greater provocation 4 That which you place your sufficiency so much in remember you cannot act without Divine aid a man that has received gifts cannot exercise and use those gifts that he has received The Apostle doth distinguish between all these three there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gifts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Offices and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effects or Operations of the same graces now as the Spirit doth appoint every man his office and gives unto every man his gift so he doth give unto every man a success as it pleaseth him and therefore though Paul may plant and Apollo water yet it is God that gives the increase and the success is not always answerable unto the labour that is bestowed even in the best we see it in Christ himself he did spend his whole life and his very radical moisture in labour Esa 49.4 as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie and yet he doth himself complain That he had laboured in vain and spent his strength for nought c. So when the Prophets had received a Spirit of Prophecy and the Apostles a gift of Miracles yet notwithstanding they could not act it when they would but when the Spirit of the Lord came upon them as it was with Samson and therefore it 's a kind of a Proverb that Luther has in Gen. 4.4 Spiritus Sanctus non semper tangit cor Prophetarum The Spirit doth not always touch the Prophets heart so the Apostles had a gift of healing but they could not heal when they would and therefore when Epaphroditus had been sick and was nigh death also Paul who had the gift of healing for when they brought from him but handkerchiefs and aprons the diseases departed from them yet he cannot now heal him who was so dear to him and whose ministery was so useful it 's not in a mans power therefore to act his own gifts he cannot use his own abilities at his own pleasure as there is an ability in a man to gather and know much of God by his works that are in the world yet it is according as God did point and direct his understanding or else he could never do it Rom. 1.19 it is manifest in the creation of the world for God has shewed it unto them and to know what seed to sow and with what instruments to thresh and when the ground is fit for seed and when it is sufficiently plowed c. It is God that doth instruct him to discretion Esa 28.26 The men of might cannot find their hands they were men of strength and they were skilful in war but they could not use it at such a time they could not find their hands it is unto them as if they had no strength as if they had had no skill for they have no use of them therefore remember this when you place your sufficiency so much in these things 5 As they that have these gifts cannot act them of themselves without Gods assistance so neither can they give success to them or make them in any measure effectual the best men have but their measure Rom. 12.4 God has not given all gifts to one man and therefore the greatest and the best and most eminent member of the body shall have need of the gifts of the meanest there is a supply of every joynt unto the edifying of the body there is something in the meanest Saint that thou maist despise as weak-gifted yet it is wanting in thee and thou canst not give success to thy greatest endeavours but he that gives the gift must give the blessing mundus non potest esse sine personarum discrimine Luther there must be Princes and Rulers and Governors sed dona non sequuntur illas differentias c. and so it is here the effect doth not always follow the abilities but a man of lesser gifts shall bring forth more fruit to God than he that thinks himself most sufficient For the Lord resists the proud and gives grace to the humble he will give the success there where he may have the glory and many times a man of great ability is laid aside though he labours yet he brings nothing to pass and a man of lesser parts is blessed exceedingly and the reason is the one is too great in his own eyes or in the eyes of others and therefore the Lord cannot use him non patitur in regno suo superbiam God cannot bear pride in his Kingdom 6 When we place our sufficiency in them that will provoke the Lord to take them away from us there are two things that provoke God exceedingly one is being weary of our work as it was in Moses and the other is when we do exalt our selves in our work and put an excellency upon our selves for our own actings therefore says the Lord From him that hath not shall be taken away he will put thee out of thy stewardship if thou waste his goods to maintain thy own pride and there is nothing in the world doth blast the parts of men more and provoke God to take them away in judgment and the man dies besotted he withers in all the greenness that did appear so fresh in him Joh. 15.6 he doth in this saith Luther as Vespasian when he saw there was no way to take men off from seeking wealth In Gen. 4.4 aequo animo patiebatur eos ditari with a patient mind suffer men to be rich but he said Divites spongiam esse there would come a pressing time when men that gathered so much for themselves should go empty away remember this ye that forget the Lord and place a sufficiency in any gift that God has given you the Lord will certainly deprive thee of it and thy folly shall be made manifest 2. When men do place not only sufficiency in their gifts but in grace received which a man also is very apt to do and let me tell you it is the highest spiritual pride in the world and is an abuse of the highest gift and grace of God 1 Consider it is quite contrary to the nature of grace which is to live in another and to fetch all from another and therefore it is an unnatural sin 2 No man can act his own grace Deus agit immediaté 3 Grace is but a creature and may decay in the degrees of it and it doth oftentimes I and in the essence it would also if it were not preserved by an almighty power Rev. 2.4 for it is not in its own nature immortal seed 4 It doth make grace an Idol and so it provokes the Spirit to withdraw from his own graces so that he shall delight to see the ruine of his own workmanship Object But you 'l say Do not we read in Prov. 14.14 That a good man is satisfied from himself and that there is a sufficiency
that the Saints should seek in themselves Answ 1 Remember this is not in opposition to God or apart from God but in subordination to God 2 There is a double sufficiency 1 Not receiving an addition of good so God only is sufficient 2 As containing all things necessary and so there is a sufficiency in grace for it brings all things into the soul and fills it 1. There is a great proneness in the best men unto this great evil that having received grace they place their sufficiency in it and that for matter of strength and matter of comfort 1 As to matter of strength a man that has received grace is apt to think that he being made alive from the dead is able now to perform those vital actions that flow from this life surely now I can hear I can pray and can perform the duties of godliness as becomes a living man or if by the power of sin and the strength of temptation the outward act be hindred and interrupted yet they cannot hinder the inward workings of the Spirit and as I am able to do that which is good so I shall be able to resist that which is evil so that as grace is in me a well of water springing up to everlasting life in the duties of holiness so also it will of it self work out the mud of corruption that Satan and the old man doth cast into it from day to day and we see this in Peter he had received a principle of grace and his heart was warmed with a true fire the principle of the love of Christ whom he loved so greatly that he thought it impossible that he should so far forget it as to deny him and therefore he speaks for himself after the resolution or presumption of his heart Whatsoever other men do yet though I should stand by him alone come what will come I will confess him in the face of danger I will never deny him and so many a man doth by the strength of grace received promise himself security from some sins and therefore they are secure in themselves and exceeding censorious of others It is true men will say I cannot resist rovings of heart and vain desires and sinful love and carnal fear and inordinate passions c. but for drunkenness and adultery murder persecution of the Saints or Apostasie from Religion and the Truths of God I hope I am secure from these and the man walks not in fear of them and it 's very common for young and weak Christians so to do and they are exceeding bitter and censorious against other men and they immediately question their estates whom they see do fall into these sins which they ignorantly conceive that the very being of grace secures them from And so it is in respect of duties having received grace he doth conceive that he can pray and hear and perform the duties of Gods worship in another manner than a natural man can for he has received a new principle and therefore having done a duty at one time having trusted God or shewed forth an act of love to God he thinks he can do the same at another time and by this means a man is the less solicitous for an immediate supply for the discharge of such duties as he is to perform he thinks that he has received a stock sufficient to defray the charge It is true says he if I am put upon a greater temptation or upon the performance of any higher duties then I shall see reason to go unto Christ for a supply but as for these ordinary things in both kinds the grace that I have already received is sufficient for it according unto that ordinary and natural way of concurrence of God with his own grace which doubtless he will delight in as he doth concur with the creatures in the common actions of their lives and so a mans sufficiency in point of strength is much in reference unto the strength of grace that he has received either to perform duties or to resist sin And 2 as it is for matter of strength so it is for matter of comfort also having received grace from God men turn in upon themselves and by a reflection upon their own graces they think to raise their spirits under any desertion or dejection whatsoever and therefore when they walk in the dark at any time they are immediately poring upon their own graces to see what witness their own spirits will give unto them and by the evidence of their own hearts they conceive that they can comfort themselves at any time when they are in a doubt in the matter of their estates towards God Principale speculum ad videndum Deum est animus rationalis inveniens seipsum hoc speculum verus poenitens non cessat quotidie inspicere Bernard de inter Domo The principal glass of seeing God is the rational soul which a true Penitent inspects daily Now a man looks into his own spirit and sees his own face in this glass and upon this glass he that should see God sees himself and by this means thinks to raise and quicken and comfort himself from day to day which is the true reason why most Christians spend much more time in looking upon the witness of water than upon that of blood or of the Spirit on the witnesses upon Earth much more than to the witnesses in Heaven 2. There is a great policy of Satan therein if it were in the power of the Devil man should never receive any good from God for he that envied the good estate of man at first in which he was created touched him with the same devillishness that was in himself and thereby became a murderer from the beginning for he left no good in the man In me Rom. 7. that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing and he doth as truly desire and endeavour from the same principle of envy to keep out all good as at first he did to cast it out but if the Lord will sow wheat and the envious man cannot prevent the seed-time then he will take the opportunity to sow tares also with the wheat that he shall dishonour God with the grace that he has received from him and with it sacrifice unto himself who is under Satan the great Idol and by honouring himself he doth sacrifice unto Satan all the while and so a man placing his sufficiency in grace received even grace it self if it were possible should tend unto his destruction that was a special grace and with special and eternal love was given for his salvation for Satan looks upon grace in the Saints as being the image of God and as his greatest enemy and that which he hates more than he does the souls of men or any thing in the world for his main malice is at godly men only because they bear Gods image for his hatred is directly against God it is unto us but collaterally and in the second place
a Saint looks upon himself and the greatness of the service that he is called to he says Who is sufficient who can do any thing of this great work but when he looks upon the alsufficiency of God for his supply then he saith Who is insufficient I can do all things and the greater the service is that any man is called unto and the greater difficulties he encounters with the more he is to take hold of the alsufficiency of God 3. It doth disburden the soul of all its troublesom afflictions of all a mans cares and fears and sorrows it 's this that doth discharge the soul of them Psal 27.1 2. The Lord is my light and my salvation Psal 118.6 whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my glory The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do to me It is an interrogation of knowledge and of contempt c. it doth silence all a mans doubts answers all his objections when the soul saith I am a child I cannot speak God saith I will give thee a mouth the people are hard-hearted and insufficient but I will give thee strength of spirit answerable to thy opposition We know not what to do but our eyes are unto thee I fear death but God is in life and death alsufficient he is the God of the dead as well as of the living the creatures are but vials in the hand of God I will not pour out my wrath upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak 2 Chron. 12.7 he is but the vial and they are no other who are imployed by Christ as instruments of vengeance against Rome the vials are put into their hands it is but so much wrath in such a measure and executed by one hand and by another hand so they are for good also it is but such a measure of good done by them and of service but the alsufficiency is of God still and this brings a sweet rest unto the soul fies Sabbatum Christi there is a gracious and a holy rest of Christ in such a soul as this is 4. It 's this that doth fulfil all a mans desires Open thy mouth wide saith the Lord and I will fill it Austin pateres in te angustias thy straits are not in me but in thy own heart in thy own bowels open thy mouth wide and I will fill it for I am the fountain of thy life there is no man can open his mouth so wide that the alsufficiency of God will not fill it so that as the Lord is called the fear of Israel that is he was the sole object of his fear the adequate object of it he did fear him and he did fear nothing else so he is the desire of his people also as Christ is called the desire of all nations they desire him and they desire nothing else it is all terminated in him so that a man hath not any thing else to desire and the greater difference the Lord puts between men the higher he doth advance them the more he doth make over this as their portion and they are satisfied with it Levi was separated unto the Lord of all the Tribes of Israel but he must have no portion in the Land of Canaan but the Lord is his portion and who would not prefer the lot of Levi before that of all the Tribes though he had no inheritance with them And this makes the soul in all dangers bold as a Lyon quiet in the greatest commotions De me comburendo consultatur Luther at coelum non ruet credo certus sum habeo qui causam defendat etiamsi totus mundus in me solum insaniat Luth. ad Stampic If there want means he can work without them if the means be weak he can act above them and so the soul is in his sufficiency at rest Now study and try your interest in this alsufficience if we delighted as much in spiritual things as we do in the things of the earth it would be unto us the sweetest study for what can be more delightful than for a man to read over his own evidences that having tasted the sweetness of all his comforts he may also take a view of the tenure and title by which he holds them 1 Pet. 1.7 the Apostle saith that there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.7 the tryal of a mans faith that is more precious or more honourable for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both the tryal of faith is better than the tryal of gold 1 By tryal a man attains a certainty and that is precious for according unto the excellency of the thing so we do prize a certainty in it gold being of all metals the most in price therefore we are the most exact in our tryals of it we have the test the touch-stones and the scales c. and all because we would not be deceived but faith is more precious therefore a certainty therein is more precious that a man may know that he doth not embrace a fancy his faith is not adulterate but is the faith of Gods Elect. 2 There is a purity that doth arise from the tryal for by the tryal of gold its dross is purged ab adulterino distinguitur à scoriis purgatur c. so it is with faith also when it 's tryed by affliction from God or by examination from our selves it appears the better when the infirmities that cleave to faith are as dross to the gold for there is something wanting in faith still 3 The tryal of gold is but for this life ad exiguum tempus est utilis for it is gold that perisheth but the tryal of faith refers to the life to come for by faith a man lays hold of eternal life and the purer the faith is the surer the hold is 4 The tryal of gold makes it the more precious unto men we esteem tryed gold above other and therefore the most precious gold is set forth by it Rev. 3.18 so it is with tryed faith it makes it the more precious unto God and therefore he doth try it ut coram ipso gratior fiat tryed faith is more precious in Gods eyes as tryed gold is to ours as the word of the Lord is a tryed word though the people of God do prize the whole word of God that it is dearer to them than thousands of gold and silver yet there is no part of the word that hath so high a price with them as a tryed word as the word of faith the more it 's tryed is the more precious with us so the grace of faith the more it 's tryed it is the more precious with God and if the tryal of faith be so precious what is the tryal of a mans interest which is that unto which the tryal of all graces tends for the witness of water as well as of blood is that we may know whether we have eternal life abiding in us
and they are cast out as a branch and wither but during the time of their continuance in this kingdom till he has cast them out for their rebellion there is a government that the Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth exercise towards them and over them for the good of his Saints And this will appear by the expressions that we meet with in Scripture 1 They are his servants Joh. 8.35 the Church is compared to a house a family as it 's called the family of God and the house of God and of this family Christ is the Master now there is a special imployment that he has for every one of his servants and they are under his special command and dominion it is true this family is made up of servants and of sons and the servants may have a greater rule in the house than the sons but yet both under the authority of the housholder only he rules over the one as a Master and over the other as a Father but both are in subjection Cant. 6.8 there are in the Church sixty Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number some are truly married unto Christ and have a true right and authority in the family by their marriage-union with the King for the woman shines by the beams of her husband but there are Concubines that came in only for lusts sake and that did bear fruit but it was never from a marriage state and there were Virgins that were companions only that were not married neither did they in a manner bear fruit but were for attendants only and the King has a special rule and dominion over all these c. 2 The Church visible is compared to a great House 2. Tim. 2.20 some expound it de mundo but contextus nos ducit ut de Ecclesia intelligamus non de extraneis disputat Apostolus sed de ipsa familia Dei Calv. there is not a vessel but it has its use though all have not the same use nor of the like honour yet all are for use and all are for the Masters use so that there is a special dominion that is exercised over them all as well the vessels of wood and stone as those that are of gold to imploy them where he will and as he will in what service he pleases for it is his will that makes their use to differ it is for the Saints sake that he makes use of them so that all Gods dispensations towards unregenerate men in the Church is for their sakes all the husbandry that is exercised about the unfruitful branches is for the sake of those that have a blessing in them for the wicked shall have no benefit by it in the great day of the Lord the greater rule the Lord has exercised towards men the greater will their abhorring be the nearer they have been to him the further off shall they be from him the higher they have been exalted to heaven the deeper shall they be cast down to hell Mat. 11.23 there is utter darkness for the children of the kingdom Mat. 8.12 And this we may reduce unto four Heads 1 their graces 2 their gifts 3 their services 4 their sins and in all these the dominion of Christ over them is for the good of the Saints 1. Their graces are ruled by Christ for the Saints there are common graces which the Lord doth give unto unregenerate men in the Church common illuminations by which they see much glory and beauty in spiritual things and yet had never their eyes anointed with eye-salve and there are many common works upon the wills of men letting in a taste of the goodness of spiritual things so that the heart is much taken with them and makes out after them and there are many tendencies to the new birth Hos 13.13 we see them set forth to us Heb. 6.3 4. which is meant of the common graces of the Spirit of Christ under the Gospel which he works upon the souls and consciences of unregenerate men which are only from the Spirit assisting and not from the Spirit informing which flow not from union but from conviction and therefore from which in time they will surely fall away there is a great beauty that the Spirit of God in such common works doth put forth upon the souls of unregenerate men though it be but as the Sun shining upon a mud-wall or as a curious robe put upon a dead carkass it cannot keep it from stinking because there is not a principle of life in it 1 Hereby the Lord restrains their spirits There is a restraint without by a power that is upon the Devil by which he is restrained from doing the mischief he would else do but there is a restraint within upon the lusts of men and that is by some special works of the Spirit of God upon them Exod. 34.24 No man shall desire thy land c. and the Spirit restraining is for the Saints sake as well as the Spirit renewing Psal 76 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee Psal 76.10 and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accinges thou shalt gird up sometimes the Lord lets mens lusts loose and sometimes he does gird them up as he doth the Sea in a girdle of sand or else the Saints of God who are always as sheep amongst wolves would surely be devoured by them for their soul is amongst lyons Now they are common works that do exceedingly restrain the sins and the rage of unregenerate men and bind up their spirits both in reference unto persecution and the wrongs done by them as also in reference to corruption and the evil example given by them also 2 Hereby the Lord doth fit them for service for even the vessels of dishonour are for service in the house also though they be but of wood and stone c. Now though gifts do immediately qualifie them yet they are common works that do make them to exercise those gifts and are unto them as oyl to the wheels in the use of them as a temporary Believer he may be an eminent Professor and the house that such a one builds is far more glorious in outward shew than that of a Saint for they are both called builders Mat. 7.7 and many men do service for God but they are cold in it because they are acted only from without Rom. 16.18 whose God is their belly Non ità glacies frigus sicut Elcius alii sed ego rem seriam agebam ut quòd diem extremum horribiliter timui c. Luth. and this will make a man seem to act from an inward principle as if he had received life from the Spirit and were made alive from the dead and thereby even ungodly men do many times give a great testimony unto the principles and the practices of the Saints that they acknowledge them and seal unto them and yet nevertheless there is in them a principle to hate them
last days of the world Acts 3.21 there shall be a wonderful change in the creatures doubtless before the last day when the Ass shall eat clean fodder Esa 60.17 or provender and when the stones shall be silver and gold and out of the earth shall come brass c. and when the lyon shall lye down with the lamb Esa 11.6 which some as Lactantius do understand literally to be fulfilled terra aperiet foecunditatem suam rupes montium melle sudabunt non bestiae sanguine alentur non aves praedâ Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 4. The earth shall discover its fecundity the rocks sweat honey c. When Christ shall come to the wedding his servants shall put on their gay apparel and this is the new Heaven and the new Earth which shall begin before and shall in the glory for the substantials of it remain after the Lord by the last fire has purged the world unto which the world is reserved now in this also all the creatures belong unto the spiritual Kingdom of Christ § 4. We have seen that the spiritual Kingdom is in the hand of Christ for the good of the Saints and that 1 in that inward dominion that he has over them in whose hearts he dwells by a spirit of regeneration 2 over them that belong unto this Kingdom by profession only 3 over all the creatures reductivè how they all belong unto the spiritual Kingdom 1 as they tend to perfect their graces 2 as they belong to the priviledges of the Saints There is yet one head remaining and that is how Christ the Mediator who is King in this spiritual Kingdom doth rule and order the Angels that they have an influence and do conduce to the advancement of the spiritual Kingdom and they are of two sorts Angels on Earth his Ministers and the Angels in Heaven for they are both Officers in the spiritual Kingdom under Christ the King and their Kingdom begun with that of the Mediator and he that did set them up will also put them down before he give up the Kingdom unto the Father for they must give up their account unto Christ and Christ must give up his unto the Father for he saith Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the children that thou hast given me 1 Cor. 15.24 1 Cor. 15.24 He shall put down all rule and all authority and power the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some refer it unto all powers opposite unto the Kingdom of Christ and they say that all these he shall put down non modò ut non praevaleát sed ut planè non sit Now he doth over-rule them so that they do advance that Kingdom which they intend to oppose for he rules in the middle of his enemies but then they shall not be able to oppose now he defeats all their plots but then he shall destroy their persons also but others do refer it unto the powers set up by Christ which then he shall put an end unto when the end of that institution is accomplished and that not only unto the mediatory Kingdom which is to last but until the Saints are perfected and till they all come unto the unity of the faith and to a perfect man c. but it is expounded also de principatu Angelico they shall have no further hand in the government of the spiritual nor of the providential Kingdom but during this present state both these powers are to continue till he that did set them up shall put them down and in the continued ordering and rule of these much of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ doth consist and they do much conduce unto the perfection of the spiritual Kingdom and therefore I shall instance in them both 1. For the Angels upon Earth for so the Ministers and Messengers of God are stiled Judg. 2.1 Judg. 2.1 An Angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochim it is most probable that it was a Prophet one that spake to them in the name of the Lord and some conceive it to be Phineas the Priest because he is said to come from Gilgal whereas Peter Martyr well observes if it had been a heavenly Angel it would have been rather said Coelo descendisse c. Eccles 5.6 That he descended from Heaven and Eccles 5.6 Say not before the Angel it is an oversight that is before the Priest before whom the errours of their rash vows were to be confessed Rev. 2.1 Levit. 5.4 5. Rev. 2.1 To the Angel of the Church c. and it is both a term of office and a term of honour for they as well as the heavenly Angels are sent forth for the good of the Elect and they are but Messengers they must do their office and it is also a term of honour for the Lord takes them into the highest imployments and administrations and therefore it is unto an Officer that the promise is made Zac. 3.7 Zac. 3.7 If thou walk in my ways and keep my charge thou shalt judge my house and keep my courts and I will give thee galleries to walk in amongst them that stand by Now Christ being the King of the spiritual Kingdom we shall observe how he doth govern and rule and order things for the Saints sake that he did set up a Ministry in his Church it 's true that he doth give them a Commission to preach the Gospel to all Nations and the sound of it goes forth unto all the earth it comes unto them that are hardned as well as to them that are converted by it but it was only for the sake of the Saints that he did it or else he had never appointed such an office therefore Eph. 4.12 the end of the Ministry is for the perfecting of the Saints and for the edifying of the body of Christ there are indeed many inferiour and subordinate ends there is finis minùs principalis and many of these are attained also by one and the same action and yet it is the principal end that was really the intention of the efficient without which he would never have done it though he also takes in many lesser and inferiour ends it 's true that there are many ends that by the preaching of the Gospel the Lord doth accomplish upon the wicked of the world but yet he had never sent the Gospel for these ends nor set up a Ministry for the publishing thereof but it was only for the Saints for their gathering and their perfecting c. 2. It is for the good of the Saints that he doth furnish them with gifts and abilities for so great an imployment it is onus humeris Angelicis formidandum who is sufficient for these things It requires the highest abilities attainable by the art of man and the grace of God 1 Cor. 4.1 we are stewards of the mysteries of God Parmenid non ad politias regendas aut bella gerenda c. but that the mysteries of God the truths of the
a while see what he can do with him 2 Sometimes in just judgment God doth it when his people sin against him and depart from him the Lord doth leave them in the hand of the Devil as a prisoner that he may correct them and so recover them as a father leaves his child in the hand of a servant to correct so as he stands by and sets the measure to it he shall but correct him in measure Rev. 2.10 He will cast them into prison for ten days as he did Paul he was buffetted by Satan to prevent sin he did leave him to correct his sin 3 In an ordinance of Excommunication 1 Cor. 5.5 being delivered to Satan he doth exercise tyranny over him to stir up the guilt of sin within him and to torment his conscience and God departs from him in point of comfort for 2 Cor. 2.7 it was that he might not be swallowed up with over-much sorrow therefore it is sorrow that is the fruit of this Ordinance c. 2. Yet all this doth the Soveraignty of God order and over-rule for the good of the Saints There are two things that the power of Satan is wholly exercised in temptation and affliction 1 He is a Tempter in us and that both as he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clem. Alexandr speaks 1 He doth effectually stir up sin within us and he works effectually in the children of disobedience and 2 In any sin that is stirred up in us he is a worker together with us to bring it forth unto perfection for it 's not only to beget sin in us but to perfect it that he doth aim at 2 He is an Accuser of us unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accuser of the brethren Rev. 12.10 as Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satan doth plead against them before God and before men and in their own consciences also stirring up of guilt in them also and he hath his accesses unto Heaven and he doth put up his desires unto God against us and doth lay our sins unto our charge before the Throne of Justice and demands justice against us Zac. 3.1 2. for Zac. 3.1 2. Satan stands at his right hand which was to accuse for the Accuser stood at the right hand and it was to resist him the right hand being chiefly the instrument of action therefore it was to hinder him in the great service that he was now about to do and to object against him before the Lord his filthy garment with which he was cloathed at his appearance before the Lord. Now both these the temptations and the accusations of Satan the Soveraignty of God doth rule and over-rule for the spiritual good of the Saints which I shall make appear in these particulars and therefore Bernard calls him Malleus terrae and he saith Terit electos in utilitatem reprobos conterit in damnationem pag. 300. 1. There is a restraint upon him that he shall tempt them no more than is for their good He will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10.13 It is true that Satan is subtle in his temptations and he doth take a measure of the spirits of men that so he may proportion his temptations unto them some spirits are too low for some temptations as their understandings are for some opinions Now Satan therefore doth not suggest such depths unto them but deals with them in a lower way but there are some temptations that would not take with some because their spirits and their understandings are above them and he deals with them in a higher and in a more ingenious way Now as Satan doth take a measure of the spirits of men in every temptation so doth God also take a measure of their grace that it shall be so much and no more for there are some temptations that the grace that is in some men could not bear and therefore the Lord doth proportion it in wisdom and in mercy it is true unto wicked men it is otherwise there is a power that is beyond the strength of the common works that are upon them an opportunity of temptation that turns them off as leaves that are shaken with the wind but it is not so with the Saints Ad mensuram permittitur tentare Diabolus sed qui dat Tentatori potestatem ipse tantato praebet misericordiam August tom 8. p. 435. 2. Satan shall tempt no further than it shall be for the subduing of corruption men are delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh but it is an over-ruling hand of the Soveraignty of God who doth temper such poyson into a wholesom medicine and what the enemy did intend should kill that shall be a means to cure And therefore Luther doth deride the Papists in this who having spoken in his Covent unto one of the Society of a Purgatory and they objected it against him that he did grant in his writings a Purgatory also he answers them That he doth grant a Purgatory but it is this of temptation only by which the Lord is pleased to purge the souls of his people and that makes them to come out the more refined hoc Purgatorium fictum non est c. Great hath been the gain that the people of God have had by their temptations this way yea even by those temptations in which they have been foiled Nescit Diabolus quomodo illo insidiante furente utatur ad salutem fidelium excellentissima Dei sapientia c. Aug. tom 3. p. 218. 3. It doth mightily improve their graces we see it in Job we know what the end was that God made with him as all afflictions improve graces and make the land fruitful as the rain doth though it make the way foul so there is not a greater affliction than temptation for a man to be left to be as the sink into which the Devil shall empty all the filthiness that is in that unclean spirit therefore this also shall turn into the increase of grace wherefore Luther's saying That there are three things make a Divine Meditation Oration and Tentation is most true for grace opposed is much improved a soul had never seen such high acts of grace had it not met with such high opposition It 's true in it self it doth not increase grace for it is opposite unto it but by an Antiperistasis it doth debemus esse Dialectici non pugnamus ut homines sed ut Christiani Luth. and therefore the Spirit of Christ will improve his own work in us by our temptations also 4. We have by this experience of the power of Christ in us Experimental knowledge is a knowledge upon tryal and such a knowledge a man can never have till he be brought unto a tryal there is many a man that doth presumptuously think that he can do much and resist much but when he comes to the tryal he is weak as