unbelief was overruled by Gods Providence for the honour of Christ. His inâ—redulity was an occasion to manifest the certainty of Christs Resurrection If credulous Men or those hasty of belief had only seen Christ their report had been liable to suspicion Solomon maketh it one of his Proverbs the simple believeth every word Here is one that had sturdy and pertinacious doubts yet brought at last to yield However this is an instance of the proneness of our hearts to unbelief especially if we have not the objects of Faith under the view of the senses and how apt we are to give Laws to Heaven and require our terms of God 3. Christs condescension in two things 1. In appearing again verse 26. on the first day of the next week to shew how ready he is to honour and bless his own day and to give satisfaction to poor doubting souls by coming again to them and it was well Thomas was there at this time 2. In giving Thomas the satisfaction of sense verse 27. reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side With what mildness doth our Lord treat him though under such a distemper unbelief is so hateful to Christ that he is very careful to have it removed and in condescension grants what was his fault to seek 4. The next thing is Thomas his Faith verse 28. And he answered and said my Lord and my God He presumeth not to touch Christ but contents himself onely to see him and having seen him makes a good confession 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Observe The two Titles given to Christ God and Lord He is God the Fountain of all our happiness and Lord as he hath a dominion over us to guide and dispose of us at his own pleasure 2. Observe The appropriation or personal application to himself My God and my Lord. Hence we may observe 1. That God leaveth some to themselves for a while that themselves and others may be more confirmed afterwards Thomas his Faith was as it were dead and buried in his heart and now upon the sight of Christ quickned and revived we must not judge of men by a fit of Temptation but stay till they come to themselves again Who would have thought that out of an obstinate incredulity so great a Faith should spring up suddainly 2. We may observe Thomas that is with much ado awaken'd makes a fairer confession then all the rest They call him their Lord but he his Lord and God 3. We may observe again that true believing with the heart is joyned with confession of the mouth Psal. 116.10 I believed therefore have I spoken 4. Hence you may take notice of the reality of the two natures in the unity of Christs person for he is both Deus Dominus But how cometh he to acknowledge Christs Godhead he did not feel the Divinity of Christ in hands or side or feet Videbat tangebatque hominem confitebatur Deum quem non videbat neque tangebat saith Austin Herein his Faith was beyond sense he felt the manhood and acknowledgeth the Deity 5. Hence we may observe that those that are rightly conversant about Christ and the mysteries of his Death and Resurrection should take Christ for their Lord and their God Thomas saith my Lord and my God and his confession should be the common confession of all the Faithful I shall quit the three first and insist only on the two last I therefore begin with the fourth observation 4th Hence you see the reality of the two Natures in the unity of Christs person The name of God is joyned with the Title of Lord therefore the name of God belongeth to him no less then the title of Lord Thomas when he saith my Lord he seemeth not to have satisfyed himself till he had added this other name and title my God now this importeth the reality of his Divine Nature for these three reasons 1. Those things which are proper to God cannot ought not to be transferred to a meer Creature but this title of my God is a Covenant title and so often used in Scripture and therefore Christ was God 2. To whom truly and properly the Names and Titles of things do belong to him that which is signified by those Names and Titles doth belong also For otherwise this would destroy all certainty of speech you cannot speak or write unless words signifie what in vulgar use they are applyed unto there could be no reasoning a signo ad rem significatum from the sign to the thing signified If I should call a brute a Man or a creature God how can we understand what is spoken or written the argument is the more cogent because a name is an implicite contracted definition as a definition is a name explained and dilated As when I say a man is a reasonable creature so a God is one that hath power over all blessed for ever 3. The greater any person is the more danger there is of giving him titles that do not belong to him for that is to place him in an honour to which he hath greater pretensions then others but no right especially doth this hold good in Religion it is true in Civils To give one next the King the Title of King would awaken the jealousie of Princes and breed much inconvenience but especially doth this hold good in Religion where God is so jealous of giving his glory to another Isa. 42.80 Therefore the greater the dignity of Christ was above all other creatures the more caution was necessary that the name of God might not be ascribed to him if he were only mere Man and it did not properly agree to him for the more dangerous the error the more cautiously should we abstain from it 4. Consider the person by whom this title was given by a Godly Man No godly man would call an Idol or a Magistrate or a Teacher or a King or an Angel or any created thing above an Angel His Lord and his God But this was done by Thomas one bred up in the Religion taught by Moses and the Prophets and the chief point of that Religion was that God is but one Deut. 6.4 Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. This was one of the sentences written on the fringes of their garments and 't is quoted by Christ whose disciple Thomas also was Mark 12.29 And explained by a learned Scribe which came to him Mark 12.32 Well master thou hast said the truth for there is but one God and there is none other but him Now Thomas knowing this and the first Commandment Thou shalt have no other Gods before me If he were not perswaded of it would he say to Christ My Lord and my God 5. The Person to whom he spake it He said to him Not to the Father but to Jesus of Nazareth My Lord and my God Surely as the Saints would not derogate from God so Christ would not
was represented without a bloody sacrifice Partly from the nature of the thing and the fulness of the satisfaction required untill all that was finished Iohn 8.20 death was that which was threatned to sin death was that which was feared by the sinner Many ignorant people will say the least drop of Christs blood was enough to save a thousand Worlds if so his circumcision had been enough without his death but Christ is not glorified but lessened by such expressions Surely his death was necessary or God would never have appointed it his bloody death suited with Gods design Gods design was to carry on our recovery in such a way as might make sin more hateful and obedience more acceptable to us 1. Sin more hateful by his Agonies Blood Shame death no less remedy would serve the turn to procure the pardon and destruction of it Rom. 8.3 By sin he condemned sin in the flesh that is by a sin offering God shewed a great example of his wrath against all sin by punishing sin in the flesh of Christ his design was for ever to leave a brand upon it and to furnish us with a powerful mortifying argument against it by the sin-offering and ransom for souls Surely it is no small matter for which the Son of God must dye At Golgotha sin was seen in its own colours There he shewed how much he hateth it and loveth purity Secondly To commend obedience Christs suffering death for the sin of man at the command of his Father was the noblest piece of Service and the highest degree of Obedience that ever could be performed to God beyond any thing that can be done by Men or Angels There was in it so much love to God Pity to Man so much Self-denial so much Humility and Patience and so much Resignation of himself to God who appointed him to be the Redeemer and Surety of Man to do this office for him as cannot be parallel'd The great thing in it was obedience Rom. 5.14 By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous So ' Phil. 2.7 God was not delighted in mere blood but in blood offered in obedience All his former actions together with his Death and Sufferings make but one intire Act of eminent obedience but his painful and cursed death so willingly and readily undergone was the crowning Act. The formal reason of the merit was that Christ came to fulfil the will of God by which will we are sanctified Heb. 10.10 therefore his death was necessary Fifthly From this Ransom and act of Obedience there is a Liberty resulting unto us for the redeemed are let go when the ransom is paid Now this Liberty is a freedom from sin that we may become the Servants of God Rom. 6.22 Being made free from sin ye became servants of righteousness Christ came not to free us from the duty of the Law but the penalty and Curse thereof to free us from the duty of the Law is to promote the Devils Interest No he freed us from the Wrath of God that we may serve him chearfully to establish Gods Interest upon surer and more comfortable Terms to restore us to Gods favour and service To Gods favour by the pardon of sin to his service by writing his Laws on our Hearts and Minds Sometimes our Redemption from the Curse is spoken of Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Sometimes our Redemption from Sin Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity And so by consequence from the power of the devil which is built on the curse of the Law and reign of Sin Satans power over us doth flow from the sentence of the condemnation pronounced by the Law against sinners and consists in that dominion sin hath obtained over them If the curse of the Law be disanulled and the power of sin broken he is spoiled of his Power Col. 2.14 15. Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross And having spoiled principalities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them Sixthly That we are not partakers of this Liberty nor of the benefit of this Ransom till we are in him and united to him by Faith for the Text saith in whom we have redemption by his blood Certainly we must be turned from Satan to God before we are capable of receiving the forgiveness of sins Acts 26.18 We do not actually partake of the priviledges of Christs Kingdom till we be first his Subjects Who hath delivered us from the power of Satan and hath translated us in the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins Christ and his people are an opposite state to the Devil and his Instruments while we are under the opposite power we belong not to Christ and the priviledges of his Kingdom belong not to us but as soon as we are translated and put into another estate then we have the first priviledge remission of sins Look as in the fall there was sin before guilt so in our reparation there must be conversion Renovation or Repentance before Remission We are first effectually called or sanctified and then justified and glorified Mans recovery to God is in the same method in which he fell from him It is first brought about by a new nature and communication of life from Christ. He regenerateth that he may pardon and he pardoneth that he may farther sanctifie and make us everlastingly happy Thirdly That remission of sins is a part and a principal part of Redemption I. How is it a part or fruit of Redemption I Answer Redemption is taken either for the Impetration or Application 1. The Impetration or laying down the price that was done by Christ upon the Cross. So it is said Heb. 9.12 Christ by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for us Then was God propitiated the deadly blow given to the Kingdom and Power of the Devil and the Merit and Ransom interposed by the virtue of which we are pardoned the obtained redemption and remission of sins is a fruit flowing from it and depending upon it as an effect upon the cause 2. The Scripture considers Redemption in its Application Besides laying down the price there is an actual deliverance and freedom by virtue of that price This is either begun or compleat The compleat redemption or freedom from sin and misery is that which the Godly shall enjoy at the last day Rom. 8.23 We which have the first fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Eph. 1.14 In whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with that spirit of promise which is the earnest of our
person when he giveth him glorious qualities and powers or by revealing and manifesting those glorious qualities which he hath or when he doth receive him and treat him agreeably to his Glory The meaning of Christs prayer then must be of one or other of all these senses when he prayeth that the father would glorifie him with that glory that he had with him before the world was if you take it in the first sense he dâ—sireth that God would bestow upon him as Mediator or God Incarnate a Glory sutable to that Glory he had with him from all Eternity If in the second sense he desireth his Glory may be revealed or become conspicucus in his humane nature If in the third that God would receive him honourably and agreeably to that Glory which sense is the chiefest for it containeth the other two The meaning then in short is that he might be received to the full enjoyment of that glory which he had before the World was Christ was from all Eternity the glorious God this Glory of his Godhead by his humiliation was not diminished and lessened but obscured and hidden and therefore prayeth that he may be received by the Father and openly declared to the World to be the Son of God Or that the Glory of his Godhead might shine forth in the person of Christ God-man Well then before any creature was Christ had a divine Glory how had it he The enemies of this Truth say by decree or designation not by possession but that cannot be he that is not hath nothing if he had not a divine being how could he have divine Glory before the World None can say Paul was an Apostle of Christ before the World was because he was appointed or designed to this work yea none can say he had Faith and brotherly love when he was yet an unbeliever and persecutor yet it pleased God to separate him from his Mothers Womb and predestinated him to have these things Again then all true believers may thus pray to God glorifie me with c. for they are thereunto appointed but this is absurd Besides if he had it then how could he want it now The decree is the same it remaineth then that Christ had a being and substance in the Godhead before any of the Creatures were made VSE 1. This serveth for the confutation of those Atheists that say Christ took upon him the appellation of a God to make his Doctrine more authentick and effectual they confess the morals of Christianity are most excellent for the establishment of Piety and Honesty but mens inclination carrying them more powerfully to vice then vertue this doctrine would not be received with any reverence if it came recommended to them by a mere man and therefore Christ assumed the glorious appellation of the Son of God or pretended to be God A blasphemy very derogatory both to the honour of Christ and Christianity and quite contrary to the drift of the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament The Messiah promised in the Old Testament was to be God all the Prophets agree in that Jesus Christ proved himself to be God both by his Word and Works and the Apostles still assert it Could they that lived in so many several Ages as the Prophets and Apostles did lay their heads together and have intelligence one with another to convey this Imposture to the World Surely if Christ be the Messiah promised in the Old Testament as clearly he is then he is God for that describeth him to be such and if Christ usurped this honour how did God so highly favour him with such exâ—raordinary Graces by iâ—spiring him with the knowledge of the best Religion in the World to authorise him with miracles to raise him from the dead And must this Religion that condemneth all frauds and doing evil that good may come of it be supported by a lye or cannot God govern the World without countenancing such a deceit or is it possible that such Holy persons as our Lord Jesus and his Apostles were could be guilty of such an Imposture Did they do this by command of God No surely for God which is the God of Truth would not command them to teach a lye or to make use of one He hath power enough to cause the Truth to be embraced by some other means and a greater injury cannot be done him then to go about to gratifie him with what he hateth much less would God have commanded a mere man to call himself his Eternal Son and God equal to him which is a blasphemy and sacriledge as well as a lye the greatest of the kind for mortal man to take upon himself to be the eternal God If it were not by his express commandment would he suffer such an attempt to go unpunished would he witness from Heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased would he have raised him from the dead and so ingaged the World to believe in him and adore him Acts 17.31 2. If Christ were before all things let us prefer him above all things This consideration is of great use to draw off our hearts from all created things and to lessen our respects to wordly vanities that they may be more earnestly fixed on what is eternal and glorious He that was before the world was will be when the world shall be no more Christ is from Everlasting to Everlasting Psal. 90.2 to him should we look after him should we seek he is first and last the beginning and ending It is for an Everlasting blessedness for the injoyment of an eternal God that our souls were made He that was from the beginning will be when all things shall have an end it is he that should take up our minds and thoughts How can we have room for so many thoughts about fading glories when we have an Eternal God and Christ to think of What light can we see in a Candle when the Sun shineth in his full strength All things in the World serve onely for a season and then wither and that season is but a short one You glory in your Riches and preeminence now but how long will you do so To day that House and Lands is thine but thou canst not say it will be thine tomorrow but a believer can say my God my Christ is mine to day and will be mine to all eternity Death taketh all from us honours and riches and strength and life but it cannot take God and Christ from us they are ours and everlastingly ours Secondly We come now to the second point his sustaining all things by his Almighty power and by â—im all things consist Doct. II. That as Christ made all things so he doth sustain them in being and working Let me explain this how the creatures are preserved by Christ. 1. This is to be understood not only meritoriously as a moral cause but efficiently as a natural cause of the creatures sustentation for the Apostle
arrogate what was proper to his Father Therefore as his disciples would have been tender of giving it to him so he would have refused this honour being so holy if it had not been his due But Christ reproved not but rather approved this Confession of Faith therefore it was right and sound Christ had said to him be not faithless but believing and then Thomas saith My Lord and my God And Iesus saith to him Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed There is no rebuke for ascribing too much to him 6. The conjunction of the Divine and Humane Nature is so necessary to all Christs functions and offices that less would not have been sufficient than to say My Lord my God The Functions and Offices of Christ are three to be a Prophet Priest and King 1. To be a Prophet Matth. 23.10 One is your master even Christ. Now to be our master and teacher 't is necessary that he should have the humane nature and divine conjoyned The humane nature that he might teach men by word of mouth familiarly and sweetly conversing with men and also by his Example for he perfectly teacheth that teacheth both wayes by word and deed And 't is a mighty condescension that God would come down and submit to the same Laws we are to live by His divine nature was also necessary that he might be the best of teachers for who is such a teacher as God and that he might teach us in the best way and that is when God taking the nature of man doth vouchsafe to men his familiar convâ—rse eating and drinking and walking with them offering himâ—â—â—f to be seen and heard by them As he of olâ— taught Abraham Gen. 18. accepting his entertainment nothing more profitable or honourable to men can be thought of In Christs prophetical Office four things are to be considered 1. What he Taught 2. How he Taught 3. By what Arguments he confirmed his Doctrine 4. How he received it from the Father 1. What he Taught Christ preached but chiefly himself He revealed and shewed forth God but by revealing and shewing forth himself Ioh. 14.9 He called men but to himself he commanded men to believe but in himself Ioh. 14.1 He promised eternal Life which he would give but to men believing in himself He offered Salvation to miserable sinners but to be had by himself He wrought a fear of Judgement to come but to be exercised by himself He offered remission of sins but to those that believed in himself He promised the Resurrection of the dead which he by his own Power and Authority would bring to pass Now who could do all this but God A meer man if faithful and holy would have turned off men from himself to God 2 Cor. 4.5 For we preach not our selves but Christ Iesus the Lord and our selves your servants for Iesus sake They designed no honour to themselves but onely to Christ they were loth to transfer any part of this glory to themselves so would Christ if he had not been God Therefore what should his disciples say but my Lord my God 2. How he Taught There is a twofold way of teaching one Humane by the mouth and sound of words striking the Ear the other Divine opening and affecting the Heart Christ used both wayes As the humane nature was necessary to the one so the divine to the other As the Organs of speaking cannot be without the humane nature so the other way of teaching cannot be without a Divine Power When the Disciples came to Christ Lord increase our Faith Luk. 17.5 he did not answer as Iacob did to Rachel when she said Give me children or I dye Am I in the place of God Christ after his Resurrection did not onely open the Scriptures as was said before but Luk. 24.45 He opened their understandings that they might understand the scriptures And he opened the heart of Lydia Acts 16.14 And poured the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost Acts 2. and by the same efficacy teacheth the Church wherever it is scattered 3. If you consider By what Arguments he confirm'd his Doctrine By many and the greatest Miracles not done by the power of another but his own and her required men to believe it Matth. 9.28 Believe ye that I am able to do this Whence had he the power to know the Thoughts of Men to cure all sorts of diseases in a moment to open the Eyes of the blind to raise the dead to dispossess Devils but from that Divine Nature which was in him Was it in his Body and Flesh then it was finite and in some sort Material Was it in his Soul Understanding Will or Phantasie or Sensitive Appetite how could it work on other mens bodies Therefore it was from his Divine Nature My Lord my God 4. How he received this Doctrine from the Father Did God ever speak to him or appear to him Is there any time or manner or speech noted by the Evangelists when God made this Revelation None at all If he were a mere Creature or nothing but a Man surely that should have been done He revealed the most intimate Counsels and Dâ—crees of God as perfectly knowing them but when or how they were revealed to him by his Father is not said which if he had been mere Man would have conduced to the Authority of his Message and Revelation But all this needed not he being a Divine Person of the same essence with his Father Therefore My Lord my God 2. His Priestly Office The Humane Nature was necessary for That for the reasons alledged by the Apoâ—â—le Hâ—b 2.14.17 And also the Divine Nature that there might be a Priest aâ— well as a Sacrifice There had been no Sacrifice iâ— he had not been Man and no Pâ—â—â—â—t if he had not been God to offer up himsâ—lf through the Eternal Spirit Heb. 9.14 The sacrifice must suffer the Priâ—â—t Act and besides he could not â—nter inâ—o the Hâ—â—venly Sanctuary to present himself bâ—forâ— God for us Heb. 9.24 Thâ—n â—he Hâ—â—venly Sanctuary and Tabernacle need 〈◊〉 to be made before he entred For as the Earthly Priest made the Earthly Tabernacle before he ministred in it so the True Priest was to make the Heavenly Tabernacle as the Author to the Hebrews saith in many places But to leave that the Priest was to expiate sins by the offering of a sacrifice instead of the sinner So Christ was to satisfie the Justice of God for sinners by his Mediatory sacrifice Now this he could not do unless he had been God as well as Man The Dignity of his Person did put a value upon his sufferings without this how shall we pacifie Conscience representing to us the evil of sin and the dreadfulness of Gods Wrath And the exact Justice of the Judge of all the World Rom. 3.25 26. especially when these apprehensions are awakened in us by the curse of
good to his own Indeed God is ours as well as we are his but our being his draweth along with it much comfort and blessing But to speak of these apart 1. The Appropriation or claim of Interest is a sweet thing If God be your God why should you be troubled ' Psal. 16.5 6. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot The lines are faln unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage You have a right to God himself and may lay claim to all that he hath for your comfort and use His Attributes yours his Providences yours his Promises yours what may not you promise your selves from him Support under all Troubles relief in all necessities You may take hold of his Covenant Isa. 56.4 and lay claim to all the priviledges of it 'T is all yours 2. This dedication this resignation of our selves to Gods use to be at his disposing without reservation or power of revocation is often spoken of in Scripture Isa. 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords another shall call himself by the name of Iacob and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel The meaning is to give up their names to God to be entred into his Muster Roll and to be listed in his service Rom. 6.13 Yield up your selves to God as those that are alive from the dead 'T is the immediate fruit of Grace and new life infused in us A natural man liveth to himself to please himself and give satisfaction to his own Lusts. Grace is a new Being and Life that inclines us to Live and Act for God As soon as this life is begotten in us by the power of his Spirit our hearts are inclined towards God and you devote your selves to serve and please him As your work and business was before to serve the Devil the World and the Flesh so now to please serve and glorifie God Secondly The Reasons why it becometh Christians to be able to say My Lord my God 1. Because our interest in him is the ground of our comfort and confidence 'T is not comfortable to us that there is a God and that there is a Lord that may be terrible to us The Devils believe and the damned spirits feel there is a God and there is a Lord but their thought of God is a part of their Misery and Torment Iames 2.19 The more they think of God the more their Horrour is increased to own a God and not to see him as ours the remembrane of it will be troublesome to us 2 Sam. 30.6 David comforted himself in the Lord his God There was the comfort that he had a God to go to when all was lost and that God was his God So Heb. 3.18 I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation If God be our God we have more in him then trouble can take from us So Luk. 1.47 My Spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour When you make particular application to your selves it breeds strong comfort 2. Because nothing strikes upon the heart with such an efficacy as what nearly concerns us affects us most The love of Christ to sinners in general doth not affect us so much as when 't is shed abroad in our own Hearts by the Spirit Gal. 2.20 He loved me and gave himself for me that draws out our hearts to God again and is quickning motive to stir us up to the life of Love and Faith So Eph. 1.13 In whom ye trusted after ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation 'T is not sufficient to know that the gospel is a Doctrine of Salvation to others onely but to find it a doctrine of Salvation to themselves in particular That they may apply the promises to their own heart A Christian is affected most with things according as he is concerned in them himself It bindeth our obedience the more firmly when we know that we are particularly ingaged to God and have chosen him for our God and our Lord. 3. Bacause without a real personal entring into Covenant the Covenant doth us no good unless every one of us do choose God for our God and Lord and particulary own him Every man must give his hand to the Lord and personally ingage for himself 'T is not enough that Christ ingage for us in being our surety but we must take a bond upon our selves Something Christ did for us and in our name he interposed as the surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 Something must be done personally by us before we can have benefit by it You must give up your selves to the Lord. It is not enough that the Church ingage for us but every man must engage his own heart to draw nigh to God Ier. 30.21 Who is he that ingageth his heart to dâ—â—â—â—igh to me 'T is not enough that our Parents did engagâ— for us Deut. 29.10.11 12. They dâ—d in the name of their little ones avouch God â—o be their God as we dovote dedicate and ingage our Children to God in Baptisme But no man can savingly transact this work for another We ratifie the Covenant in our own persons 2 Cor. 9.13 by a professed subjection to the gospel of Christ. This is a work cannot be done by a Proxy or Assignes unless we personally enter into Covenant with God for our selves our dedication by our Parents will not profit us we shall be as Children of the Aethiopians unto God Amos 9.7 though Children of the Covenant all this will not serve these are visible external priviledges But there is something required of our Persons every one must say for himself My Lord and my God And this must not onely be done in words and by some visible external Rites that may signifie so much As for instance coming to the Lords Supper that is the New Testament in Christs Blood Luk. 22 2â— 'T is interpretativè a sealing the New Covenant between Christ and us God giveth and you take the Elements as a pledge and Token that God and you are agreed That he will give you himself his Christ and all his Benefits and you will walk before him in newness of life Now to rest in the Ceremony and neglect the Substance is but a mockery of God As many rend the Bond yet prize the Seal care much for the Sacramâ—nâ— that never care for the Duty it bindeth them unto If your hearts be hearty and well with God you come now personally â—o enter into Covenant with him But this business must not be done onely exterâ—ally but internally also 'T is a business done between God and our Souls though no outward witnesses be conscious to it God cometh speaking to us by his Spirit in this Transaction Psal. 35.3 Say unto my soul I am thy salvation And we speak to God Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my Portion saith my soul. There is verbum mentis