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
mans God is to have an interest in infinite mercy and power and grace the God of my mercy and the God of my strength c. and have the Lord thine in a way of communion and fruition that the Lord will impart himself so as to become my portion the Covenant of Grace being a Covenant of Friendship and this is much more if we consider it is not in our own but in Christs right and therefore I having naturally no distinct title unto God yet being under his Covenant he is become my God as he is Christs God John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father my God and your God 2. This Covenant brings in a righteousness beyond that of the Angels 1. It is the righteousness of God Dan 9.24 and not meerly of a creature 2. It is a righteousness that sin can never spend an everlasting righteousness it is a Garment that will cover all the sins of the Elect of God a Sun of righteousness that though it enlighten all the Stars and the Earth yet every day it goes forth as a Bridgroom out of his Chamber as full of glory as ever it was 3. It is a Covenant by which Heaven is opened which was before shut against all the sons of men Heb. 10.20 we have access with boldness into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and a living way which he has consecrated through the veil c. when Heaven was shut by sin there was no way to open it but the Lord himself to descend from Heaven and to take upon himself a created nature so that the way to Heaven is by Christs Incarnation and Satisfaction in the Flesh and it is the way that Christ has made new because the old way was shut and man cast out of Paradise a Type of Heaven and it is a new way because it shall never wax old as the former Covenant did and a livingway because it gives life unto the Passenger that walks to Heaven in it and in the way of the Law there is no Life to be found but this is a living way a man finds life in it though the Law indeed was a way to Heaven but a man must bring life with him that will walk in it And by this opening of Heaven we have a double benefit 1 All good comes out of Heaven to us John 1. ult 2 We ascend up to Heaven to receive the mansions that are prepared for us and so Heaven is our home our House not made with hands and all by this Covenant 4 It is by this Covenant that a man hath the service of all the Angels and the inheritance of all the creatures it 's Christ whom the Angels serve and they ascend and descend upon the son of man there was no such thing under the first Covenant they were our fellow servants but our servants they were not till the grace of the second Covenant was made manifest it is first Christ that they serve the Lord bringing his only begotten Son into the world he saith Heb. 1.6 1 Cor. 3.21 Fidelibus est totus mundus divitiarum Jo. 5.22 and let all the Angels of God worship him and of all the creatures 't is said all things are yours for they are Christs Inheritance and ours only as we are in him there is dominium Politicum and Evangelicum a Politick and Evangelick dominion they have the use and the good of all the creatures 5 It 's by this Covenant that your Government of the World is changed and committed into another hand the Lord hath committed all judgement to the Son Christ is now King of Nations as well as of Saints and he has as Mediator a providential Kingdom as well as a Spiritual he is the Head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.22 a head of Guidance as well as of eminence the Keys of Hell and Death are committed to him the Government is upon his Shoulder as the great Officer that the Lord employs Esa 9.6 and it is our happiness that he that is our Head and Husband hath the rule of all things in his hand should the Lord have continued to have governed the world he must without a Mediator have destroyed it according to the first Covenant and the rules of his Government therefore the Lord saith I cannot go before you but I will send mine Angel take heed of him and obey his voice and it 's the happiness of the world that the Lord Christ raigns Let the earth rejoyce c. 6 It is by this Covenant that the world stands he upholds all things by the word of his power had not he put under his hand Heb. 1. the Earth had melted and come to nothing he establishes the earth for the curse of the first Covenant coming upon the creatures must have received them all Yet that 's not all but that the earth should stand firm and that by his word he shall raise the earth and elevate the creatures this is much more for there is an earnest expectation of all the creatures for a deliverance as well as of the Saints and hence we look for a new Heaven and a new Earth What change soever shall be made in the creatures at the last day whether in substance or in quality it shall be perfective not destructive for it is a promise that the Saints expect and pray for and all the creatures do groan and wait for when the glory of the Sons of God shall be made manifest Vse 3 § 3. It 's for consolation it is this in which the soul lives and the privation thereof is the death of the soul in Hell where it is utter darkness Now as in the first Covenant there is a life of Comfort in the duties of it he that doth them shall live in them Heb. 10.38 Gal. 2.20 so there is the second Covenant also and therefore the just is said to live by faith as the other by doing shall live in it so he shall by believing in believing he shall live not only a life of holiness but a life of comfort and therefore as the second Covenant is the better Covenant because it is established or founded upon better promises so the comforts that do flow from those promises are higher and more glorious consolations and therefore all the ordinances and promises of it are called the breasts of consolation Esa 66.11 Heb. 6.18 out of which a man may suck and be satisfied the comforts of the second Covenant are strong consolations that which is powerful and able to bear up the spirit in the greatest assaults of temptation either from sin or Satan 2 Thess 2.16 and it is everlasting consolation and good hope through grace and such were not the comforts and consolations of the first Covenant But the more immediate any mercy and comfort is and the nearer it is to the fountain of Consolation the sweeter it is now
man to ingage the Attributes of God against himself as to ingage against those that have an interest in the Attributes of God for the Covenant that God hath made with his people is offensive and defensive and the Lord will surely appear for them it 's therefore a design that did never prosper in the hand of any that did undertake it nay be sure thou wilt perish under the power of those attributes there is no such way to turn the edge of them all against thee as this is as it was said of Canaan It 's a land that eats up the inhabitants so we may say of this it 's a work that devours the workers the Lord will rebuke Kings for their sakes if they touch his anointed and there is no vengeance like unto that of the Temple thou wilt surely perish in thy own opposition for it doth arm all the Attributes of God against thee and they do arm the Church against thee and therefore the worm Jacob must thresh the mountain Isa 41. and when the strength of the Churches enemies is greatest and their hopes highest when they are folded up as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards Nah. 1.10 they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry and in the same place where they did expect the destruction of the Church they shall be sure to find their own Mic. 4.11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say Let her be defiled and let our eye look upon Sion but they know not the thoughts of the Lord neither understand they his counsel for he shall gather them as the sheaves in the floor Arise and thresh O daughter of Sion for I will make thy horn iron and I will make thy hoofs brass and thou shall beat in pieces many people c. They are to the world as a burdensom stone all men will be lifting at them till they be broken in pieces by them it 's their own folly to dash and fall upon them percussum è pectore ferrum 2. It 's a Use of direction to the Saints that have an interest in God as their God in Covenant and so are intitled unto all the Attributes of God 1 Exercise faith upon every attribute and thereby make it to be your own in the use and improvement thereof Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might that is let your faith take hold of the strength of God and thereby let it rise unto such a height of confidence as if you had almighty power in your own hand to exercise if thou be in any streight and dost want wisdom to direct thee in thy way be thou wise by the wisdom of God and let thy faith raise thee up unto that height of confidence that it is as impossible for Satan to out-wit thee as it is to go beyond infinite Wisdom and so if thou sin at any time question thy pardon no more than if thou hadst infinite mercy in thy own hand and wert able to pardon thy self for it 's all made over to thee in this one promise I will be thy God for that which is originally and essentially in God that by our dependency becomes ours as truly as if we were the subjects in which it doth reside 2 It should raise up in a man a holy greatness of mind suitable unto such a priviledge and it 's a thing of no small concernment that the people of God should be raised up to such a holy greatness for it would free them from those vain hopes and fears and those low imployments that now they are busied about for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is nothing great here below a man should look upon all things with the eye of God to have all the Attributes of God made over to him if dangers offer themselves the soul is not surprized for as God sits in Heaven and laughs them to scorn when the workers of Babel did build a Tower to their own confusion so do the Saints also the virgin the daughter of Sion doth laugh thee to scorn c. If wisdom shew it self and a man hath to do with the policy of an Achitophel he fears it no more than folly and believes it shall be as he prays Lord turn it into folly and he laughs at the plot And if the guilt of sin rise up in his conscience he can say Though I have sinned and am a sinner yet God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and grace is free Jesus Christ is ascended up into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God for it 's a fault in the Saints they think when they sin it 's their duty to question their estates their interest in God and it 's good to question it for tryal and examination but not by way of diffidence unto a mans dejection for the way to increase a mans sanctification is not to weaken his faith in the point of justification and if the power of sin do prevail yet a man goes forth against it in the strength of the Lord and he saith Though it be to 〈◊〉 impossible yet it is possible with God and his power is ingaged for my perfection and this were to live the life of God as grace is called Eph. 4.18 3 Sing unto God the praises of every Attribute for as we should look through all that is in Christ that our hearts might take in whole Christ and the Church doth so Cant. Psal 21.13 5 and Paul Phil. 3.7 8 9. so should we of all the Attributes of God also Be thou exalted in thy own strength O Lord so will we sing and praise thy power and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of trouble Observe the attributes that at any time God discovers to thee in thy straits specially and unto those sing praises it 's all that the Lord expects as a return for all that his attributes work for you that you should give them glory and the way to ingage any Attribute of God for you again is to give it the glory of any of the former discoveries thereof and the way to disingage an attribute is to neglect to give that attribute its glory when it has been put forth Cessat gratiarum decursus ubi cessat recursus c. Where the recurse or return of graces ceaseth the decurse or flowing forth of fresh graces ceaseth For the Lords aim under the new Covenant is the glory of the attributes of his nature as well as the glory of the persons that they all of them may have their due place and order in our hearts and as the Lord doth distinctly put them forth in their order for a man as his necessity does require so he does expect that we should take them as our portion and rejoycing in the Lord therein give unto them in our hearts their particular and distinct honour for the Lord
but Rev. 14.1 they have the Fathers name also written in their foreheads Rev. 14.1 It was an ordinary manner in those parts that servants should receive the name of the master for a mark of the person for whom they lived and Souldiers the name of their General or chief Commander c. and this mark was sometimes in the right hand and sometimes in the forehead so that they are professed servants not only of Christ but of God the Father also whose servant Christ is in all that he doth and therefore Rev. 11.16 17. The kingdoms of the earth are said to become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ not only Christs Kingdom but the Fathers Kingdom also though it 's true that the actual and immediate administration of it is in the hand of the Son Joh. 5.23 The Father judges no man yet in the Son the Father reigns There is a time for the regress of Christs Kingdom into the hand of the Father that he may immediately administer it again as he did from the beginning and that I conceive is meant by the subjection of the Son 1 Cor. 15.28 Then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him 1 Cor. 15.28 c. He is subject during all the time of his Kingdom for he does rule but as the Fathers servant and he says As the Father gave me commandment even so do I but there is a greater subjection that yet Christ must shew unto the Father 1 He is now the Fathers servant and yet so as he rules the world and therefore as you have heard he is called God the Fathers King but after the day of Judgment having put down all rule and all authority and power that was substituted by him he shall give up his government into the hand of the Father and he shall rule the creatures as Lord of all things as Mediator no more but having brought them under his government unto the Father he together with that great Church and general assembly of the first-born shall come under the immediate government of the Father for ever 2 He is now the Fathers servant and subject to him but it is in a secret and unobserved way the government is in his hand though the Father rules in him but then he shall lay down all at the Fathers feet before men and Angels and become subject to the glory of the Father § 3. God the Father stands unto Christ in the relation of a Friend or a Companion and so he calls him Zac. 13.7 the word there doth properly signifie two things Zac. 13.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Socium a mans companion one that he doth enjoy intimate communion and fellowship with 2 Amicum sive proximum a friend Christ is one that is near to God the Father one with whom he doth enjoy the most intimate society and so much the expression of his being in the bosom of the Father doth intimate Joh. 1.18 Joh. 1.18 for there are three things which it notes 1 arctissimam conjunctionem the nearest conjunction 2 ardentissimam dilectionem the most ardent love 3 secretissimorum communicationem Jam. 2.23 the communication of the deepest secrets it is used of wives Deut. 13.6 and of friends Luke 16.23 Now there are four great acts of friendship as the Philosopher has observed 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benevolence Arist Ethic. l. 9. c. 9. Deut. 13.6 a true well-wishing desiring his good as the good of his own soul as we read thy friend which is as thy own soul Thus as the Son seeks the glory of the Father so does the Father seek the glory of the Son as truly as his own glory so Joh. 14.13 That the Father may be glorified in the Son and therefore he saith He that honours not the Son honours not the Father Joh. 5.23 so he doth seek the salvation and good of the Saints even as his own glory for as he will be glorified in the Son so he will also be glorified in the Saints and therefore though the Lord Jesus Christ be in glory already yet he is not satisfied with his own glory but takes care that his friends may be partakers of it and therefore he will leave Heaven once more that he may come again to fetch you for his glory is not perfect without you and this he doth as he is the Fathers servant also because the glory of the Father as manifested is not perfected till all the Saints be brought home to him and are glorified with him 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concord friends have one mind idem velle idem nolle est firma amicitia to will and nill the same thing is firm friendship Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth chuse the same things so it is with Christ Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one that is we have the same will and we act in the same time we carry on the same design and so it is with the Saints also and therefore he doth by an almighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Isa 56. subdue their will unto his will that they chuse the things that please him and they say always Not my will but thy will be done and therefore Salvian makes this the happiness of the Saints Lib. 1. de guber Dei p. 8. quia ex voto agunt humiles sunt hoc volunt pauperes sunt pauperie delectantur sine ambitione sunt ambitum respuunt c. because they live by prayer they are humble c. 3 In friendship there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beneficence a readiness and a willingness to do all good unto the party beloved so is God the Father a friend to Christ he gives him glory he sets him at his own right hand and gives him dominion over the works of his hands and has put all things under his feet Psal 8. And so he is a friend unto the Saints also for he has made them heirs of all things and has given them all things necessary unto life and godliness the most precious things he bestows upon them himself and his Son and his Spirit his Grace the ministry of Angels and he has subjected all the actings of his Providence unto their prayers and they all work together for their good he doth imploy them in the highest and most honourable services and he doth bestow upon them the greatest rewards 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All friendship is in communion Arist Eth. 1. so the Father is a friend to Christ Joh. 5.20 The Father loves the Son and shews him all things that he himself doth Abraham is called the friend of God and therefore there is such a fellowship that the Lord has with him that he cannot hide from Abraham the thing that he means to do and so there is a communion that he has with the Saints a constant communion they come and sup with him and
perfected here below the Kingdom shall be given up into the hands of the Father again and thus Christ as Mediator as sent by the living Father so he received from him a fourfold life and therefore may be fitly said to live by the Father Joh. 5.26 But it may be objected from Joh. 5.26 As the Father hath life in himself so he has given to the Son to have life in himself How is it said that Christ hath life in himself when he receives his life from the Father I answer Christs meaning is this he did publish himself to be the fountain of life and he doth commonly tell you that there is a double fountain of life 1 there is the living Father but so life could not have been derived unto us being dead for there is no way to receive any thing from God but by the hand of a Mediator therefore the Father hath appointed another fountain of life and that is his Son and in him he hath laid up life as in a common Treasury though as Mediator the fountain of his life be in God yet in reference unto us the Father hath given him to have life in himself it 's not spoken of him as he is man but as he doth raise the dead by an Almighty power and they shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live as he is an everlasting Father and begets souls unto the Lord and as it is given unto him and therefore it must belong to him as Mediator and not as God and it is said He has given this power to him because he is the Son of man therefore the meaning is that God the Father being the fountain of life man being fallen and separated from God and dead in trespasses and sins now if the Lord will convey life unto us it must be by another hand and therefore he hath made the Son the fountain of life and the fulness thereof to dwell in him and so the Son has life in himself as the Father has life in himself the Father conveys it to the Son and the Son receives it of purpose to derive it unto us 3. Having seen what the life is that the Son receives from the living Father and how he lives by the Father let us in the next place consider how we that are members live by the Son also and it will appear that answerably to the life that Christ received from the Father so is he the fountain of life unto the Saints 1 A life of Justification for he is become Jehovah our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 2 Cor. 5.21 we are made the righteousness of God in him so that there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus for the debt is paid and the bond is cancelled for the Lord hath brought in an everlasting Righteousness and such as sin can never spend Thus we live by him a life of Justification he is made unto us of God wisdom and righteousness 2 We have from him a life of Holiness and Regeneration we are dead in our trespasses and in the uncircumcision of our life till by him we are quickned and therefore 1 Cor. 15.44 it 's said The first man Adam was made a living soul that was his state in his creation and God did breathe into him the breath of life and he became a living soul that is such a nature as he had such he could propagate unto his posterity and so from the first Adam we are made living souls but if they were dead Adam could not revive and quicken them again and therefore that belongs to the second Adam he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in spiritum vivificum for a vivifick spirit we have the unction from the holy One 1 Joh. 2.20 and therefore the Spirit that we receive and that dwells in us is the Spirit of the Son he is the head from whence our influences come and he is the root from which all our sap is derived it is of his fulness only that we receive grace for grace 3 We receive from Christ a life of consolation for he it is that sends the Comforter the message is Esay 61.2 he is sent to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captive and to publish the acceptable year of the Lord the year of Jubilee the time of rejoycing Isa 57.15 his work is to revive the spirits of the contrite ones he gives them strong consolation and good hope through grace Hab. 3.2 and that 's the meaning of that place Hab. 3.2 Revive thy work in the middle of the years The Church was then in captivity and in great affliction and they were as dead men under the hand of God it is such a reviving that they beg and all the incomes that the Saints have from the Spirit of consolation it is a life that is derived unto them from the Lord Jesus Christ from whom the Spirit of Sanctification comes from him comes also the Spirit of Consolation 4 We receive from Christ a life of Glory he is gone to Heaven as our Fore-runner and having prepared a place for us he will come again and fetch us we can never be received up to glory if Christ had not been first received and then he receives us also into the same glory we enter into our masters joy it is his by a personal purchase and propriety it is ours by our mystical union and fellowship with him only and therefore it is said That he doth raise us up at the last day And Phil. 3.21 He shall change our vile body that it may be like to his glorious body and when he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.3 so that our life is hid with Christ in God but when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory Col. 3.3 4. God the Father is the fountain of life unto the Saints and that two ways 1 as he is the fountain of life unto Christ and as he lives by the Father 2 As by the Fathers appointment and decree he is made the fountain of life unto us 1 As the Father is the fountain of life unto Christ for Joh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live if he did not give himself we could not live by him Now Col. 3.4 And when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall you also appear with him in glory Christ is our life causativè non essentialiter c. and he gives us life because he hath life in himself but that is given him from the Father there is a righteousness in him by which we are accepted and the fulness of habitual grace in him by which we are sanctified all this is laid up in him by the Father it is upon this ground only that he is the fountain of life unto us because he himself lives by the Father therefore in all the glory of Christ Rom. 5.10 the Father should be honoured
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
and yet the Lord did it in judgment as he was an instrument in his hand he did gather the riches of the Nations as eggs none opened their mouth or peeped against him how much more unto him that God hath in judgment made the god of this world will the Lord permit such power Omnis voluntas dÃaboli semper est injusta sed tamen Deo permittente justa est potestas Bern. The Devils will is of himself but his power is of God and therefore he is mighty 3. The malice which doth set his power on work though it be against all mankind yet it is specially against the Saints It is true indeed that it is against all mankind and therefore his great labour is to draw all men to be partakers with him in the same sin and the same torments it is the fire that is prepared for the Devil and his Angels that they may all of them be cast into the same Lake and though he know it will but increase his own torment yet there is this power of envy in him that he will destroy them though it tend so much the more unto his own hurt in the end but his malice is in a special manner against the Saints the spiritual combate is mainly between the seed of the woman and of the serpent Gen. 3.15 it is against Michael and his Angels Rev. 12.8 9. But why is Satan so much against the Saints above all men in the world 1 Because God hath set his love upon them therefore Satan hath set his malice against them 2 They are the members of Christ whom above all he doth hate as having a Kingdom set up of purpose to destroy his Kingdom 3 As they bear the image of God and carrying thereby the greatest treasury within them for as Chrysostome hath well observed Satan is as a thief he will not come to rob where nothing is to be had but where the treasure is he will not rob stones and straws but Jewes 4 They conquer him for it is out of them that he is cast out which he looked upon as his house as his own portion Mat. 12.44 5 They shall surely judge him at the last day Tunc maximè saevit quum hominem ex laqueis liberatum videt tunc plurimùm accenditur cùm extinguitur Tertul. 4. There is amongst the Devils a kind of policy and order in carrying on of this design so that though there be no love in them one to another for that is not amongst the damned in Hell all natural affection ceases there yet there is a kind of faithfulness they being by the same sinful principles carried on unto the same end and therefore there is a Prince of Devils there is a kind of government amongst themselves in tendency to the deep designs which they are to prosecute not but that they were all of the same nature but the same God who in judgment subjected mankind to his power he giving up himself hath subjected the Devils also unto the power of him that was the chief of Devils and was first in the transgression that they have a kind of order amongst themselves to carry on their ends there are the gates of Hell which some do interpret the Counsels of it there are orders and methods and devices amongst them and therefore Luther hath observed it Diaboli regnum politiam inter se habent usque diem judicii ubi Christus evacuà bit omnià 5. The end of all this power and this policy is the highest that malice can invent and that is the destruction of all the Saints for the name of the Devil is Abaddon and Apollyon the Destroyer in two Languages and Job 33. His life draws near to the grave and his soul unto the destroyers it is to destroy their souls that he doth aim with an eternal destruction and Eph. 6.12 it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in supercoelestibus in the things of eternal concernment things of Heaven he doth not contend with us about Estates and Dignities and Dominions here below such contentions are too mean for him but it is a contention that is for souls Psal 91.3 the promise is He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler or the hunter which some do apply unto the Devil as he is one that hunts to lay snares for souls nothing else will content him Satans speech is the same with that of the King of Sodom Take you the goods give me the souls if the world were his as he makes it to be when he says to Christ All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me he would give all for a soul he tempts souls with money to be his c. 6. This Kingdom of Satan is so under the Soveraignty of Christ that he doth order it wholly and rule it and over-rule it for the good of the Saints 2 Tim. 2.20 22. The Church of God is compared to a great house and there are some vessels to honour and some to dishonour but they are all of them for the masters use and for the use of the house and therefore we see when the sons of God come together Satan himself also appears before God Job 1.6 Job 1.6 partly being over-ruled by the power of God as a creature and partly being inclined by his own malice as an executioner he is desirous to be imployed by God as a vessel of dishonour as being one that hath mortis imperium the power of death c. and therefore he cannot deceive Ahabs Prophets without leave nor can he enter into the herd of swine without leave neither can he possess the man that had the Legion when the Lord Jesus will cast him out his authority is limited and though he be never so high and exalted up to heaven yet he doth fall from heaven as lightning if the Lord command it and so he cannot deal with Job till the Lord permit him and he cannot move beyond the bounds of his permission Diabolo potestas quaedam est plerunque tamen noceret non potest quoniam potestas injusta est sub potestate August 7. God may and many times doth give up his people into the hand of the Enemy their Rock hath sold them and not only into the hand of bodily enemies but even into the hand of this spiritual enemy also who is the great enemy therefore called Satan which signifies an Adversary so he did Hezekiah the Lord left him and so he did David the Lord moved him the Lord did it by giving Satan leave and by leaving David in his hand and Job 2.6 Behold he is in thy hand only spare his life 1 Satan doth always desire it and the Lord doth sometimes in judgment unto Satan grant his unjust desires Luke 22.31 Satan hath desired to winnow thee and so Job 2.3 Thou hast moved me against him he did make a challenge and desired God that he would stand by and leave him in his hand
he is strong not by his own power for the ten Kings give their kingdoms to him and he doth exercise the power of the former beast before him and it is said Dan. 8.25 He shall be broken without hands that is by the breath of the Lord and the brightness of his coming 2 Thess 2. by an immediate manifestation of God against him not by any power of second causes for the people of God may expect the same immediate workings of providence for them that they have had in times past Esa 10.26 He will stir up a scourge for them according to the slaughter of Midian and he shall lift it up after the manner of Egypt Now as for that of Egypt it was by an immediate appearance of God when there was no means used and so for that of Midian Judg. 7.19 20. they blew the Trumpets and they broke their pitchers and that was all that was done which was a means that of it self had no influence into the effect but the Lord set every mans sword against his fellow and such immediate discoveries and actings of providence the Lord doth promise unto his people and they may expect them from him in all their straits when the enemy comes in like a floud c. 5. They may expect immediate deliverances Laban came out against Jacob with an evil intention but he saith Gen. 31.29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt but the God of your fathers spoke to me yesternight saying Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad And so Balaam had a will to curse the people of God and he wanted no incouragement and solicitation from the King of Moab to do it and yet remember what Balack consulted and what Balaam answered And the instance of Abraham when his hand was up to flay his son and the Lord called to him out of Heaven Stay thy hand Mic. 6.5 and thereby it was a Proverb reserved in the Church of God ever since Jehovah jireh In the Mount will the Lord be seen that is when all means and hopes of preservation is past that they look upon themselves as to be sacrificed now they may expect an immediate appearance of God for them 6. For their immediate Support if the Lord call Moses to him into the Mount he shall there be mantain'd forty days and nights and neither eat bread nor drink water but his support shall come from an immediate hand and so it was with Christ also in his temptation by Satan when he had fasted so long when the Lord does deny his People the means he doth give them a support in himself that they shall have no want of the means as it is in a spiritual way so it is also very often in a providential way that when the Lord denyes the means he doth give unto his People a support in himself that so they may learn to trust unto him and to know that they have an interest not only in his mediate but in his immediate Providence and that the special Providence of God towards his people has both these parts in it to shew that though they see not Providence in the use of all the ordinary means yet that they tempt not God nor look for all things in a common way in the use of means that it may appear that they trust in God alone and can shut their eyes and say I know not how it will come in I see no means but there is a Providence that is above means with him the fatherlâ—ss find mercy So it is in all inward afflictions also and distresses of Conscience the Soul has many times nothing to look upon but an immediate and almighty hand all means fail they have gone from Ordinance to Ordinance and they have waited when a Messenger one of a thousand should be sent to them but there is none that can speak peace to them there is no fruit of the lips to refresh them and when the mans soul draws near to the Grave and his life to the destroyer then he doth immediately lift up the light of his countenance and thereby his soul is revived again and delivered from going down into the pit that as the Lord Jesus Christ when there was nothing of creature comforts to uphold him for they all forsook him and fled then the Promise of the Lord was made good Isa 42.6 Isa 42.6 I will hold thee by the hand and I will keep thee when all the creatures withdrew their succour not one of them did hold forth their hand to him now there was from the Father an immediate and a secret support so it is with the Saints also Psal 37.24 Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast away for the Lord upholds him with his hand but there is sometimes an immediate income that is known unto the Soul the Lord lifts up the light of his countenance in the darkest night when he sees nothing but Hell and Destruction before his Eyes which is called the hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 and the new Name and the white Stone Rev. 2.17 They had no Manna till they were in the Wilderness and all hope of support from creatures did fail now the Manna comes and such are the incomes of the Spirit into the Soul and a new Name and a white Stone when he comes to judgment upon himself and he is ready to pass an eternal sentence upon himself counts himself free amongst the dead like them that lye in the Grave whom thou remembrest no more never to have a good look from God now the Lord comes in with a sentence of absolution and gives a man a name that none knows but he that has it but then the Lord will make him to know it it is speaking peace from the Lords immediate voice as the Martyr when he came to the Stake and had no means of comfort in a Desertion before now he cryes out He is come he is come It is with many a Soul as with the woman that had the issue of blood twelve years and had waited upon the Physicians attended on the means which God had appointed and spent all her time and pains upon them and yet was not the better but rather the worse and she is reserved for an immediate cure by Christ and an immediate rouch from him shall do the work that as Bernard observes concerning the time when Christ came in the flesh which is in Scripture call'd the fulness of time Non apparebat Angelus non loquebatur Propheta cessabant velut desperatione victi tunc dixi ecce venio c. so it is with the coming of the Spirit also when all means have been used and all fail and the soul is ready to sink under the burden now the Spirit saith Lo I come the soul did before find that there were everlasting arms under it and that it did hang as the Earth upon nothing did not know how it was
sent which is a term of Office the Father sends the Son and the Son from the Father sends the Spirit Joh. 14. When the Comforter is come which I will send from the Father Now Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant Heb. 12.24 and the Spirit the seal of the Covenant Ephes 1.13 the Covenant is the Covenant of Promise and the Spirit of the Covenant is the Spirit of Promise and the Person that transacts all from each Person within us in reference to this Covenant as Christ does all with God without us in reference to this Covenant Thence in Prayer we are said chiefly to pray to God the Father and Christ teacheth us to say Our Father c. not that we are not to pray to all the Persons but because the other Persons have undertaken their peculiar Offices in reference to the Prayers of the Saints the Spirit within us as a spirit of supplication indites our Prayers and stirs up affections answerable to our Petitions and groans unutterable and Christ as our High Priest receives this Incense and offers it and as the great Master of Requests tenders our Prayers unto the Father and they are received out of the Angels hand therefore in Scripture we are chiefly directed to pray unto the Father so though all the Persons Father Son and holy Spirit do enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the Covenant in Scripture is said to be chiefly made with God the Father because of the Offices that the other Persons have undertaken in the administration of this Covenant and the Grace thereof 3. It will appear by this because all things in this Covenant are from him and the other Persons in all the Offices that they undertake do it by his appointment the original of all is in the Father 1. The plot and the project was his to reconcile sinners to himself by a second Covenant and all that the Son does therein is not his own will but the will of him that sent him and it is by this will of the Father that we are sanctified the original and foundation of all the benefits that we have from Christ in this Covenant is from this will of the Father Heb. 10. the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do The plot and platform was by him laid and as with reverence be it spoken David said the platform of the building of the Temple was shewed unto him and the design was his though Solomon his Son built it so it is here the plot and the form was laid by the Father but it was the Son that did build the Church 2. The Person with whom he would make this Covenant he did design Joh. 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me And he shall give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me Rev. 13.8 2 Tim. 2.19 And therefore there is Gods book of Life and the Lambs book and they do exactly answer one another the latter being but a transcript only out of the former The foundation of the Lord remains sure and hath this seal c. 3. He doth appoint how much Grace and how much Glory he will dispense unto every one of them by this Covenant the Lord has made Christ the Treasurer 1 Joh. 5.11 and as it were a Feoffee in trust Ephes 4. but Christ does not dispense Grace unto all alike there is a fulness of the age of the stature of Christ but all Saints do not attain to the same stature in Grace neither shall they in Glory the difference is in the appointment of the Father for in dispensing of Grace as well as in meriting of the same Christ is but the Fathers servant and does his will 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 4. It was the Father that employed Christ in this great work to be the Mediator of this Covenant he did not take it of himself and of his own motion but as the Father enters into Covenant so he appoints the Mediator of the Covenant Isa 49.8 He gives him as a Covenant and he did call him to be a Priest therefore you read Mat. 12.18 My servant whom I have chosen 5. He did confirm this Covenant by an Oath and thereby made it unchangeable or else it could never have been And there is a double Oath 1 An Oath to Christ Psal 110.4 making him a Priest by an Oath 2 An Oath to all his federates Heb. 6.17 18. 6. He has delighted in this Covenant and spent infinite thoughts upon it and it is therefore called the pleasure of the Lord. Isa 53.10 How many are thy thoughts to us ward c. Psal 40.5 it is the speech of Christ unto his Father as appears afterwards If I should speak of thy thoughts unto us they are more than can be expressed and all these thoughts are in reference unto this Covenant and his thoughts of peace towards the Elect which he delighted in from everlasting And by all this it will appear that though all the persons be in Covenant with the Saints under the second Covenant yet it is chiefly God the Father § 2. God will after the fall deal with his people in a Covenant-way though mankind did prove unfaithful and break the Covenant of their Creation and so should have perished for ever under the curse of it Covenant breaking being the great aggravation of all transgression and therefore though it was an act of grace and meer goodness before yet now a man would have thought the Lord should have tried man in a way of Covenant no more but only have ruled him in a way of Soveraignty and given him a command and if he did not obey to have taken him away as he saw good but God will deal with man in a Covenant-way Mic. 7. ult Rom. 15.8 1. The Lord will do it thereby to make known his mercy and his truth and he doth manifest both these in the Covenant there is mercy in making the Covenant and mercy infinitenitely the more because it is now with a perfidious and sinful people whose hearts have not been stedfast with the Lord and there is truth and faithfulness in keeping it and there was no way for God to shew forth his faithfulness but this by continuing a Covenant and to be constant in it from a mans conversion unto his glorification for spiritual mercies and for temporal Psal 111.9 he is always mindful of his Covenant he has commanded his Covenant for ever that is to stand fast for ever his Faithfulness is as the Mountains and as the Ordinances of Heaven and you may as soon change the one as the other and this Faithfulness under the second Covenant is so much the more seen because of our unfaithfulness unto him when the unfaithfulness of man cannot make the faithfulness of God of none effect 2.
Mountains and the Kingdoms of the earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord. And Zach. 6.8 There is a spirit that in a way of providence will never leave stirring up the spirits of men till this great work be effected For the Lord hath said Sit thou at my right hand till I have made thy enemies thy footstool And he shall have a name written upon his right hand and forehead King of Kings and Lord of Lords 2 On Christs part if he might disregard us now he is in Heaven yet his Covenant and ingagement is unto the Father of Heaven he hath promised and vowed obedience and therefore as he hath as our surety performed all that which he was bound to in his state of humiliation so he will also do in his state of exaltation and glory apply all the benefits of his death and attain all for you that he hath purchased for you and will come again to fetch you for he arose as your surety and he is exalted as your representative and is gone to Heaven as your forerunner and therefore he vvill surely gather in his Saints compleat their number and perfect their Graces and their light The light of the moon shall be as that of the sun and the weak shall be as David for courage and boldness in the cause of God and the stronger Christian that was before as David Zach. 12.8 Heb. 12.27 shall have even the courage of an Angel of God before him 5. When you see God making good his Covenant unto Christ in any of the parts of it rejoyce in it If you loved me you would rejoyce because I go to the father Love does divide griefs and multiply joys He is your Husband your Head your Friend and Surety in the good that is bestowed upon him you may have a share Now when the Lord plucks down Enemies defeats Counsels shakes Mountains out of their places works great changes in the earth the foundations are cast down all this is but to make a place for the throne of Christ that he may be exalted in the earth and that this Stone may fill the earth Rev. 11.16 17. There be great breaches made by God in the World but the Saints do rejoyce in them as Paul did though he Preached the Gospel in much affliction yet so Christ be Preached and exalted whatever become of me I do and will rejoyce So though I undergo never so much yet all this while God is performing his Covenant unto Christ for his sake we should be glad Vse 6. Pray unto God that he would perform his Covenant to his Son Phil. 2.5 The things of Christ are and should be very precious to a gracious Soul and a man should seek unto God for the accomplishment of all things concerning his Son and there are no Prayers that come up unto the Lord with so much acceptation as those do If you desire to know whether Christ prays for you in Heaven and takes care for you see what affections he works in you to pray to God for the accomplishing of the promises made unto Christ while he was upon the earth his great care was for you when his death drew near yet he takes care to comfort you John 14.1 And when he was near his sufferings yet he lays up prayers for Peter beforehand and now he is in Heaven he is not so taken up with his own glory but that his care is towards his people he hath seven eyes and seven horns Rev. 5.7 perfection of wisdom and power for your good Now as he lays out himself for you so do you for him also and press God with his ingagement to his Son and he can deny thee nothing let thy prayers be for the Kingdom of Christ and the accomplishment thereof say Thy Kingdom come Let the Lord reign and let his name be exalted Psal 7.2 and let his comeing in glory be hastened when he shall be made glorious before men and Angels let us always say Come Lord Jesus come quickly SECT II. The Covenant of Grace made with Christ as the Churches Head § 1. THat the Lord Jesus Christ is the person with whom primarily and principally the second Covenant is made must be considered two ways 1 In respect of the Office that he hath undertaken 2 As he is the head of the Church and makes up one body with them And these two are to 〈◊〉 distinguished and have in the Covenant distinct considerations for there are some promises that belong unto Christ alone as made unto his office the promise of bringing Jacob to him of assistance and acceptance in the work of justification by his righteousness and the honour of having a name above every name and the Angels of God to worship him of a resurrection from the dead without seeing corruption which though promised unto David yet never was fulfilled unto any of the Types but in his own person as the Apostle sets it forth Acts 13.36 37. For David saw corruption And there are other promises that are made unto him as he is our Head and to us in him in which together with him we have a share and are made partakers And there are some acts of office which belong unto him alone which though we have benefit by yet we have no share in for redemption belongs unto him alone and there is no other name given under Heaven but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and as there is but one Mediator for satisfaction so but one for intercession also for none hath to do with the Censer to offer Incense upon the Golden Altar that hath not also to do at the Brazen Altar to offer sacrifice and though in our justification Justitia Mediatoris the righteousness of the Mediator is imputed unto us yet not Justitia Mediatoria not the mediatory righteousness The righteousness of the Mediatorship belongs to him alone who is Jehovah our righteousness Jer. 23.6 Therefore this first branch of the Covenant though it were made with Christ for us for whatever he was and whatever he did was for us for us he descended into the lower parts of the earth and for us he ascended far above all Heavens yet it was not a Covenant made with us formally for the acts were to be performed by him without us and the promises made unto him though for our good yet were not made unto us But the Covenant that now we are to speak of is the Covenant of Grace made with us but with Christ primarily and principally and with us in him as he is the head and we his members Doct. The Covenant of grace made with the Saints is primarily and principally made with Christ as he is the Churches head and the second Adam In the opening of this Doctrine I will 1 give you some Demonstration for the proof of it 2 Give you the Reasons or Grounds of it 3 Answer some Objections that may arise against it 4 Make
purchased possession Act. 20.18 whether it be in grace or glory and therefore Christ looks upon all graces and all priviledges as part of his due from God the Father and that they should be bestowed upon them for whom he laid down a price And therefore we read that though Christ while he was upon earth was a man of sorrows and had little comfort in this World yet he did take delight in this the fulfilling of the promises unto him in the conversion of Souls and perfecting Saints When the Woman of Samaria was converted he said Luk. 16.20 'T was his meat and drink to do the will of his father he rejoyced in spirit that souls were converted and that the mysteries of the Gospel were revealed unto babes And Joh. 11.15 when he called Lazarus from the Grave they said he is dead and he said I was glad for your sakes to this end that you might believe he rejoiceth that there was an opportunity to add unto their faith and that it might grow and increase one degree more It was the joy of his heart to see of the travel of his soul Isa 53. And there are three things that Christ hath respect unto herein 1 His sufferings past and therefore he doth in his intercession always sprinkle his blood before the mercy seat his blood is a speaking blood he hath laid down the price and therefore surely he expects the purchase 2 It is the joy of his heart now he is in Heaven to see the graces of his people grow and flourish it is the meat that he is said to seed upon as we see Cant. 5.2 I have mingled my wine with my milk and eat my honey c. and thou art the fairest amongst women thou hast ravished me with one of thine eyes c. It 's a joy to the Angels when a soul is converted and a joy to the Ministers the Angels upon earth when they grow in grace and stand fast in the faith And if the servants and children of the Bridegroom rejoyce in it how much doth the Bridegroom himself rejoyce in it 3 In reference to the glory that is to come at the day of Judgement he comes to be admired in his saints 1 Thes 1. and afterwards he doth present the Church unto God the Father which some conceive to be the giving up of his Kingdom that God may be all in all and he shall have an eternal glory that shall be reflexed upon him from the Saints who shall sing for ever hallelujah unto him who is the head and King of Saints Therefore all these promises are made first unto him and do principally belong unto him and he is most concerned in them that if they be not fulfilled he shall be the greatest loser by them lose his sufferings past and his delight for the present and his glory to come so that in the performance of them God hath a special respect to Christ and they belong unto us and are fulfilled unto us only as we are in Christ and no otherways 2. There is in these promises an active and a passive a giving and a receiving 1 They are made unto Christ as the giver and unto us only as those that must receive all things from him the Oil is poured first upon his head Isa 53. and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand of his fulness we receive grace for grace he hath given him power over-all flesh John Ephes 5. Heb. 12.2 that he may give eternal life unto those that are given him he gives repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins he washeth them and sanctifies them for he is the prince of life Act. 3.15 the author and the finisher of our faith the Captain of our salvation that in all things he may have the preheminence 2 The passive part of these belong unto the Saints but it is as they are one with him and as they have an interest in all this grace received by their head that it may by him be dispensed unto them for 1 Joh. 5.11 he hath laid up all their life in him for all the promises are made unto his seed though in a different order and in different respects some promises made formally to him and some promises fulfilled in his members Object 2 This will bring Christ under both Covenants for we heard before Gal. 4.4 that he came under the Covenant of works he was made under the Law and now this Doctrine doth bring him also under the Covenant of Grace Answ Indeed no meer man can stand under both Covenants Gal. 4. no more than he can be born of two Mothers The two Covenants are the two Mothers and a man can no more be under both Covenants than it 's possible for him to grow upon a double root to be a member of the first and at the same time to be a member of the second Adam But the Lord Jesus Christ came under both Covenants Tit. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 1 The Covenant of Grace was made with him from all eternity and therefore there is a promise made and eternal life given us before the World began and it was in this Covenant that Souls were given to Christ all that he should save and therefore he hath a Book of Life Rev. 13.8 Those that were given him in Covenant he took their names and upon this Covenant he did rejoyce in the habitable parts of the earth before there was either earth or inhabitant Prov. 8.31 And it was the Covenant of Grace that was first made and was first intended as being stablished between God and Christ before the World began as a Parent may make a Covenant or take a Lease in behalf of his Child before he is born or in being but this Covenant was not actually to take place it being a Covenant of reconciliation and in the hand of a Mediator till the first Covenant was broken and then comes in the manifestation of the second Covenant life and immortality being brought to light by the Gospel 2 But when this Covenant was to take place Christ finds all mankind under the Covenant of their Creation and that broken and they brought under the curse of it and now the Covenant of Grace cannot take place unless he will come under the first Covenant and thereby abolish it the sin against the first Covenant could never be pardoned unless he be made sin and the curse of the first Covenant could never be satisfied unless he be made a Curse and the Covenant it self never abolished for any unless he be made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law as a Covenant that they may be translated Gal. 4.5 Only there is this difference Christ being under both Covenants man was first under the Covenant of Works and Christ came in in the second place as our surety standing in our stead paying our debt and therefore he puts his name to our bond
easier for the Mountains to remove out of their place and to stay the Sun in its course to change the Ordinances of Heaven than for the Covenant of peace to be broken with his people 2 Unto the surety of the Covenant for though we fail yet he does not fail he did undertake under the first Covenant to pay all the debt we owe and it is his righteousness alone by which we stand righteous before God and in the second Covenant he hath undertaken to present us without spot and to make all our services acceptable and well pleasing in his sight and the argument is a good one that Moses uses in behalf of the people of Israel pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt even until now for the sins of men cannot make void the faithfulness of God 3. Rejoyce in the Covenant and make it the matter of your delight even Covenant-mercies for 2 Sam. 23.5 This is all my salvation and all my delight that the Lord hath made an everlasting Covenant with me in all things ordered and sure the sweetness doth not lie so much in the mercy as in the tenure by which we hold it it is in the Covenant and this is the only true ground of all a Christians joy it is his whole salvation and therefore should be all his delight Exod. 24.7 8 9. the people of Israel did enter into Covenant with God Moses read the book of the Covenant to them and they consented and said all that the Lord hath said we will do and then the glory of the Lord appeared and they â—aw the God of Israel not as we shall see him in Heaven face to face but some visible manifestation of his presence amongst them there was and he laid not his hands upon them that is he did not destroy them but they saw God and did eat and drink that is they rejoyced in the Covenant that they had made with God and they saw that God did manifest unto them the signes of acceptance in this Covenant and therefore they kept a holy feast and did rejoyce exceedingly before the Lord and when they entred into Covenant â—n the time of Asa 2 Chron. 15.15 all the people rejoyced at the oath for they had sworn with all their heart and they sought God with their whole desire and he was found of them it is that which the Lord expects that men should glory in him and make their â—oast of him that he is pleased to be confederate with them 4. Plead your interest in Covenant mercies for it is in the Covenant that the power of all your prayers does lie God is not indebted unto any men in the world but the children of the Covenant or not so much unto them as to his own promise Austin Conf. dignaris eis quibus â—mnia debita dimittis etiam promissionibus tuis debitor fieri and therefore the Lord saith â—ut me in remembrance plead thou Esay 43.26 Psal 74.20 c. you that are the Lords remembrancers keep not siâ—ence have respect unto the Covenant for all the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty there is all manner of cruelty executed and yet men hide it under â—ir and specious pretences and these latibula impiorum lurking places of wicked men are â—alled the dark places of the earth c. Now in such a time as this when there was nothing â—ut cruelty executed the enemies did roar in their Congregations and did triumph in their wickedness and the more spoil any of them could make upon the Temple the more famous he was it was when Jerusalem was taken now what have the poor people of God to look upon nothing but put God in remembrance of his Covenant have respect unto thy Covenant and so should all the Saints do in their prayers go to God and plead the uprightness of thy heart in the middle of all thy failings Lord though thou hast smitten us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death yet have we not gone back from thee and so doth Hezekiah when he comes to die remember Lord that I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and it is this that is the condition that thou hast made of the Covenant of Grace not a perfect way but a heart perfect with God and therefore men in Covenant are said to plead with God for themselves and for the Churches because they only have an interest in him and they can by grace claim mercies from God but other men cannot and so doth Christ manifest his desires to the Father according to the Covenant Zech. 1. And the Lord answered the Angel with good and comfortable words and so a poor soul shall find the Lord will do with him also in all his supplications to God and pleadings with God He will answer him according to his hearts desire 5. Expect that God shall deal with thee according unto this Covenant and so thou maist judge of all his wayes towards thee for God does always dispense himself unto a person according to the Covenant under which he stands and this is that which deceives most men in the Church because they hear of the Covenant of Grace and do live under the outward priviledges thereof though for the state of their persons they be under the Covenant of works yet they expect that Gods dealing should be to them according to the tenour of the second Covenant and therefore if they do sin and afterwards ask pardon they conclude that God will give pardon and grace and that what services they do find acceptance with him and shall have from him a reward It is true with them that are in the Covenant of grace it is so but this is the great deceit when a man doth transire de genere in genus and from the priviledges of the one Covenant apply them unto a person that is under the other Covenant If thou sin thou maist expect pardon and if thou do duty thou that art under the second Covenant maist expect acceptance and if thou be afflicted thou must look upon it as an act of the Fathers love whom I love I rebuke and chasten and if thou dost sin look that God should visit thy offences with a rod for God in faithfulness doth afflict his own children and if the frowardness of thy heart be not overcome by it he will put forth an almighty power of loving kindness to draw thy heart to him with the cords of thy love Esay 57. I have seen thy wayes and I will heal thee Some promises of the Covenant are absolute the immediate fruits of free grace and the soul may expect these without preparation or condition but some promises are only upon condition now in the Covenant thou hast no ground to expect them without the condition be performed Vse 4 § 4. Having given up
rejection by immediate parents that there is of reception but the rejection may be in the one without respect unto Ancestors therefore it must be so in the reception also 1. There are some Ordinances that are purely so and may be dispensed to all that will partake in them but there are some Ordinances that are such as carry also priviledges with them and belong not unto all men that will receive them but in Scripture are appointed to some only and amongst these chiefly are the seals of the Covenant which are not to be administred to all men for Christ did never appoint his Ministers to baptize all mankind but Believers only and their seed whom he takes into Covenant with himself 2. I look upon Baptism as a great Ordinance 1 As being one of the first Institutions of the New Testament and which the Lord Jesus Christ himself subjected unto by the hand of a servant 2 In respect of the things signified and sealed thereby which are our first union with Christ the great promise of the Spirit of Sanctification our Redemption by Christ and communion with him in his Death and Resurrection 3 It being the Ordinance of publick admission into the visible Church for as under the Old Testament the admission was by Circumcision so under the New it has always been by Baptism They were baptized and added to the Church 3. It being an admission into the visible Church it is a power committed unto men unto whom the power of the Keys is committed for as admission into the Church invisible is an immediate act of Christ so admission into the Church visible is committed unto the Officers under Christ Mat. 16.19 I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven in Scripture a Key is symbolum potestatis a symbol of power as Esa 22.22 and this power is twofold 1 Supreme and absolute which is in the hand of Christ who is said to have a double power the Keys of Hell and Death and the Key of the Church called the Key of David Rev. 1.18 3.7 and this is by some called the Key of Royalty he being the Head and King of the Church but there is also 2 A power subordinate and limited potestas oeconomi the power of a steward as Beza does expound it a power of Ministry by which all the affairs in his house as visible may be acted and ordered according to his mind for the ends that he has proposed and this is a Key of Ministry which some do call a Key of Charity Esa 22.22 Rev. 3.7 and these Keys are for opening and shutting the doors of the visible Church and therefore the persons to whom they are committed whether they be committed to the Church first as the first subject or to the Officers we need not now dispute they both have an authority to open the Kingdom of Heaven unto some and to shut it unto others 4. Christ owns their acts no further than in them they walk by his rule and observe his order as it is in Excommunications and Ejections if they be clave errante they do not bind in Heaven as we see in the putting out of the Synagogue by the Pharisees and by Diotrephes his usurped power as also by that of Antichrist who ordains Joh. 3.10 Rev. 13.17 Mede That no man must buy or sell save he that had the mark anathematis Ecclesiastici censura innuitur Now as such Ejections are not owned by Christ so neither are Admissions that are not according to the same rule because they are exercised errante clave and therefore all that labour is in vain and is a meer abuse of the power of the Keys and so a dishonour put upon the Ordinance of Christ in the one as well as in the other because the rule is transgressed in both for he has in his Word given rules for the one as well as for the other 5. The trust committed unto Officers in this kind is exceeding great and therefore the account will be dreadful for what is a particular visible Church but a golden Candlestick and the Sponse of Christ and the Body of Christ Now how great a trust is it to be imployed in things of so high concernment and how dangerous must the errour needs be to espouse a soul to Christ that he neither can nor will owne for his How great a wrong is it Now the nearer the relation the greater the transgression and so it is to place a member in the body of Christ that he abhors and therefore Admissions and Ejections of Church-members are some of the greatest acts of mens lives and should be done with greatest heed and the greatest solemnity and how shall that Officer appear before the Lord at the last day who through ignorance knows not Judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summumque futuri judicii praejudicium Apol. c. 37 39. or through carelesness or custom regards not the rules of Christ in either of them which Tertullian says was the greatest mischief that could befal the Heathen Hoc solum sufficit neutra ultioni quòd vacua exinde possessio immundis spiritibus pateret To leave men out of the Church as a possession of Satan to leave a man to Satan and to deliver him to Satan admits not much difference and so for their receptions they were solemn things for what can be greater than to receive a man into the Kingdom of Heaven or to deliver a man unto Satan and bind his sins upon his conscience until the coming of the Lord 6. There ought to be as great care in one Sacrament that it be not misapplied as there is in the other It is granted that to administer the Supper of the Lord in a promiscuous manner to all without distinction were a great evil a giving of the childrens bread to dogs a great means to harden the hearts of profane men in an evil way looking upon themselves as having a right to all the priviledges of the Saints though they be such as hate holiness and by this means great breach of trust in them that do administer it and therefore the Church in ancient times did proceed with much wariness and tenderness in it as appears by the instance of Chrysostome and they took the same care for Baptism also they must be audientes and afterwards competentes before they were admitted unto Baptism and therefore the rule in the Nicene Council as it is recorded by Balsam is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no unbeliever be baptized without sufficient instruction and tryal c. They were first to be instructed in the Principles of Religion and if well catechized yet not by and by to be admitted unto Baptism because the tryal of those things do require time and if a man had scandalously sinned there was a great deal of care taken of readmission as we see how much there was of the incestuous Corinthian before he
surely then if the Childrens right come from the Parent it must be from the faith of the Parent which only gives himself a right thereunto Here are four things to be spoken of Answ 1 That it 's not the Grace and saving faith of the Parents that gives either them or their children right unto external Church-Priviledges 2 That it 's a visible Profession of faith that does it 3 Yet it is not a bare Profession and a bare living in a Christian Church that is sufficient either for the Person to claim a title or for the Church to admit of it 4 I will give an answer to the Objections that are before mention'd of the entrance into Abrahams Covenant and having a title to be call'd Abrahams Children 1. I say it is not Grace regenerating and sanctifying that gives a title either to the Parent or to his seed and that I shall prove by these particulars 1. If men that have no Grace that were never regenerated never new-born to God may have a Covenant-title then that which gives a man a title is not Grace but a man that has no Grace that was never born from above may have a true title therefore it 's not their Grace that gives them this title Here consider 1 That the Church of God is either Invisible or Visible the Invisible Church is the Church of the first-born Heb. 12.23 whose names are written in Heaven and consists only of regenerate and Believers in truth this is the body of Christ the Spouse of Christ and the fulness of him that filleth all in all But as for the Visible Church it is made up of visible Saints and it does enjoy visible Ordinances as we see in the Church of the Jews and in all the converted Churches of the Gentiles they did all imbody for the publick Worship of God 2 This visible Church has visible Members and visible Priviledges as the Church invisible has invisible members and invisible Priviledges Indeed it is unto these that all the spiritual Promises of the Covenant do belong and all the saving Graces of the Covenant are conferr'd but yet there are many visible Priviledges of the visible Church which none but the visible members according to the Rules of the Word are to partake of we have these summed up in eight particulars Rom. 9.4 5 6. These are the visible Priviledges of the visible Church 3 Unto these a man that has no saving Grace may have a right according to the Rules of the Word and being looked upon by the Word as a visible member of a Church he has by the same Rule a right to the visible Priviledges which belong unto a Church-member A man may be a true member of the visible Church without Grace for the Net gathers of every kind some good and some bad Matth. 13.47 and into this Society many are called that are not chosen there be foolish as well as wise Builders and Virgins unclean as well as clean Beasts branches in Christ as he spreads himself upon Earth into a visible Church that bear no fruit and yet are truly said to be members and grow as members of the Church and therefore the Jews are said to be broken off Rom. 11.19 that the Gentiles might be grafted in now what were the Gentiles grafted into not into the Church invisible for many of them have no saving Grace never were regenerated therefore they were grafted into Christ spreading himself into a visible Church upon Earth and what were the Jews cast off from not from being members of the Church Invisible for there the calling and election of God is without repentance he knows who are his and he never casts out whom he knows to be his All the Jews were call'd Loammi they are not my people Rom. 9.26 they were once owned by God as a peculiar people and as a holy Nation unto him but now he will be no more styled their God and as men may have a visible standing in the Church and a visible right of membership without Grace so a man may partake in and have a right to the visible priviledges of a member though he have no Grace Rom. 11.17 Thou being a wild Olive Tree wast grafted in amongst them and to what end were they ingrafted it was that they might with them partake of the root and fatness of the Olive-tree this root and fatness cannot be meant of saving grace for if they had partaken of them Pareus they had never been broken off therefore it 's meant of outward priviledges only therefore the Gentiles have their priviledges into which they are ingrafted that is installed as well as the Jews had and yet it 's not saving grace in them that entitles them unto this priviledge because he says Let them also take heed for all this lest they also be broken off as the Jews the natural branches were 2. These external priviledges are such as belong to the visible Church into which men must admit and they cannot judge of the truth of grace and regeneration by an infallible judgment and therefore there must be some visible signs which as rules they are to act by in things of so high a nature As the Church is distinguished into visible and invisible so there is a double power of the Keys answerable 1 The Lord Christ has a Key of Royalty Rev. 3.7 as you have heard the Key of David which I conceive to have respect to the Church only and he admits into the Church invisible and it 's by vocation and union with Christ which is the end or terminus of vocation 2 There is a Key of charity as some call it though improperly yet true in this respect because it 's only the judgment of charity that they can proceed by and not of infallibility and this is an act belonging properly to Church-officers Mat. 6.19 by virtue of an institution of Christ unto that end and they that are imployed in this work cannot judge infallibly of the truth of grace in any they admit Though it 's true that the tree is much known by the fruit yet we find that Peter did baptize Simon Magus and the Church admitted Ananias and Saphira and those mentioned in 1 Joh. 2.19 they were admitted amongst them though afterwards they appeared not to be of them and that which was said of Israel is true still of the visible Church They are not all Israel that are of Israel The Church invisible has no Officer but Christ alone and he admits by a judgment of infallibility but the visible Church has visible Officers who are to proceed by a known rule and Baptism being the ordinance of admission is by them to be administred to persons as visible and not as invisible members of the Church all these therefore that are to be admitted by them must be admitted by a known rule which they can judge of which is not truth of grace for that they cannot know it
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
Creature or as a Son for now he is not the Creature that God made him your spot is not the spot of his children for you bear not his Image or Similitude Now in the second Covenant the Soul has his relation unto God and propriety in God that was his happiness in his Creation and if ever he be made happy again his propriety unto God must be restored Therefore that is the purpose and intendment in the Second Covenant to restore that which is lost by the breach of the first Covenant and our great loss by the Fall was the loss of God and a propriety in him though we also lost the Creatures and forfeited our lives and souls lost our selves yet our great loss was the loss of God and if the Lord should have restored unto Man the inheritance of the Creatures again yet all this would never have repaired his loss unless he had found out a way for to make over himself again 2. Without this the Creature could never be happy for wherein doth happiness consist but in these two things There must be Proportion and Propriety a good that must fill up all the desires of the Soul and a man must have an interest in it Now if the Lord should give a man all the Creatures they are not a proportionable good because they are finite and they are without Propriety in them they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a proper good it will be therefore another mans and may remain unto another And though it is true that God is a proportionable good as he is also unto all even the Devils and damned Spirits so as to make them happy for he is an infinite good yet they cannot be made happy by him because they have no propriety in him these two must concur to the happiness of the Creature Now if when Man had fallen God should have restored him unto his Inheritance in the Creatures again yet they could never have made him happy because they wanted these two ingredients his happiness therefore consists mainly radically and fundamentally in his personal interest and propriety and there was no way left to make him happy the former way being made void but by a free and a gracious promise God by Covenant and Gift made himself freely over to him that is all the persons in the Trinity unto the Creature for his happiness and therefore we may see that was the great intendment in the Gospel of Grace for that which is ultimum in executione last in execution is primum in intentione first in intention The highest happiness of Man in Glory is the injoyment of God when God is all in all to him and the full fruition of Christ and the Spirit for therein is the last and great accomplishment of all these personal promises as we shall see afterwards now in this consisting the happiness of man this was the great and first intendment of the Gospel to make over God to him in all the persons for his highest advancement and perfection 3. These Promises are the grounds of our Union with all the persons in the Trinity That there is such a Union between Christ and the Soul is plain and that it is not only unto Christ as Man but unto Christ as God-man and there is a Union that we have after a sort therefore with the Godhead of Christ and there is a Union with the Spirit which also is clear 1 Corinth 6.17 He that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit and by this means there is a Union also with the Father John 17.21 I would that they might be one as we are one not only one in themselves but one with us after a resemblance of that unspeakable Union that is between the Father and the Son and therefore God is said to dwell in us 2 Corinth 6.16 we are said to dwell in him 1 Joh. 4.16 the Church is said to be in God and the Faithful to be in Christ Jesus 1 Thess 1. and to work in God John 3.21 most of their works are wrought in God and this Union is begun in this Life and so far as it is wanting so far is the Creature imperfect it 's the perfection of this Union in Heaven that is the full happiness and perfection of the Creature and it 's by vertue of these promises that this Union between God and the Creature is begun and Heaven that is the perfection of this Union is nothing else but the accomplishment of these promises the Promise in the fulness of it makes Heaven 4. It is in this Union that the foundation is laid of all Communion Communion is properly of persons though it be in things Men can with things have no fellowship this must be properly between persons 1 Joh. 1.3 Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ and there is a fellowship of the Spirit also now all fellowship is grounded in Union and the very Communion of Saints that they have with all the persons doth prove that they have a Union with them also Now it 's an interest you see in the person that 's the ground of fellowship as the Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Friendship and it 's likened to a Marriage Covenant Now all matrimonial Communion is grounded upon the interest that they have in the person each of other so that the Husband is not his own and the Wife is not her own they have by their own consent freely made over the interest and propriety of themselves unto each other that now they are not at their own dispose wthout the mutual consent each of other and so it 's in this also it 's our Union with the person that is the ground of our Communion and all our personal interest in any of the persons is grounded upon these personal promises by which the persons are made over to the Saints and it is in these personal promises that the Glory of the second Covenant does consist it 's said to be established upon better promises Hebr. 8. The first Covenant did promise Life and Happiness which could not be without God and the injoyment of God for the Life promised must be answerable to the death threatned which is an eternal separation from God and from all Communion with him in Hell therefore the Life promised must be a fruition of God in all ways of Communion in Heaven But yet there is something more in these particular promises of the Gospel Covenant 1. It 's true that Adam had a personal interest in God but yet not such an interest as the Saints now have for the Lord was a God to Adam to reward him persevering in ways of obedience here and to be himself his reward in Heaven but it was but while he continued in ways of obedience God was not made over to him therefore he did not say I will make over to thee my Mercy to pardon thee if thou sinnest and my Grace
and just that forgives us our sins As all the precepts of the Law are to be resolved at last into the authority of the Law-giver so all the promises of the Gospel are to be resolved into the power and faithfulness of him that made the promise so that every promise is but a line to lead the soul into this centre first unto Christ unto whom the promises were first made and through Christ unto God who made the promises It 's full of sweetness when a man can look upon all the creatures in the world and can say all things are mine all shall work together for my good when he can look into the precepts and promises of the Word and can say I have claimed it as mine inheritance for ever for it is the joy of my heart but much more when the soul can look upon the attributes of God which are as far above creatures and promises as the Heaven is above the Earth in comparison and can claim a propriety in these also and therefore it 's the Motto of the Saints Tolle Deum nullus ero Take away God and I am nothing If I had all the creatures in the world and all the promises in the Word yet if I have no interest in God all these could be no good to me 3. It 's the last refuge of the Saints in this life The name of the Lord is a strong tower Prov. 18.10 and his name is his attributes called the Memorial of God it 's the property of men to flye to the city of refuge that is next unto them and at hand and therefore in danger the Saints are apt to betake themselves unto creatures and think that their mountain shall stand strong but then God breaks all their hopes and expectation in the creatures and the mans provision proves to be made of snow and it melts away Esay 66.11 and being thus beaten off from creatures now the Saints betake themselves unto promises and they suck these breasts of consolation But when the soul looks upon himself and finds his unsuitableness unto them and his title but baffled he can find no sweetness in them now unto what shall the soul flye it comes to Attributes and under them it sits down securely and can rejoyce in the Lord when creatures fail Hab. 3.18 19. and when a man has not a promise that his soul can pitch upon yet he can say The Lord the Lord merciful and gracious and from thence though he hath not a promise yet he can gather as it were a half-promise and that is who knows if he will return and repent c. Joel 2.14 The Lord in this doth delight to train up the soul to an immediate dependence and therefore doth often reduce a man unto such extremities that he may see the foundation upon which all his mercy is built and therefore as he deals with comforts and signs in reference unto Christ so he deals with creatures and promises in reference unto God Now God gives unto his people the consolations of the promise and signs of his grace to refresh them in their way that they may be unto them as grapes in the wilderness but yet he will sometimes hide the consolations of his Spirit and withdraw his light and sometimes will hide the light of a mans own graces from him on purpose that a man may flye unto Christ and see that it is in him only that we hold them and from him we must fetch them also the Lord will let his people enjoy the comfort of promises and of creatures but sometimes he will turn away from us as it were the comfort of them both that our souls may retire unto him alone in whom our happiness and comfort doth consist so that a man that has for many years walked in the light of Gods countenance and enjoyed the assurance of his love yet shall be brought unto acts of recumbency again and to lanch out into the fulness that is in Christ and the all-sufficiency that is in God as if he were to begin all anew and therefore Bernard de Amore Dei cap. 2. has such an excellent speech of himself who did daily strive to see his interest in God Manibus pedibúsque sursum tendo ad te sed respiciens factum sum mihi ipsi de meipso laboriosa taediosa quaestio I do greatly tend upward to thee but beholding the work I am a tedious question to my self Now he says his heart is filled with joy in his interest in God Clamo vociferor Domine bonum est nos esse hìc sed repentè cado in terram quasi mortuus respiciens nihil video me ubi priùs eram invenio in dolore scilicet cordis afflictione spiritûs c. I cry Lord it 's good being here but presently I fall on the earth as dead and looking back see nothing c. Now in such withdrawments blessed is the man whose God is Jehovah and in the failing of all the rest of his comforts yet he can rest and stay his soul upon this Rock of Ages 4. This shall be the only happiness of the Saints in glory when this promise shall be perfectly fulfilled for there will come a time when both creatures and promises shall cease for the earth and all the works thereof shall be burnt up when the Heavens do shrivel together as a scroll and then the good things of thy life-time will take their leave for ever for God did but set up the stage of this world to be as the wilderness through which the Saints should pass into Canaan but the stage of this world shall be taken down and all the promises of God shall come to an end for they shall all of them speak in their due time and not lye there is a time for the finishing of the whole Mystery of God Rev. 10.7 and the Decrees of God shall bring forth in mercy or in wrath and the promises shall be delivered of all the blessings that are in them and the threatnings shall be eased of all the plagues that are in them Now when both these inheritances shall cease what has a Saint then to live upon Now he has a higher inheritance and that is of Attributes for then God shall be all in all and in him alone shall the happiness of the creature consist 1 Cor. 15.28 and it is observable that then our perfect happiness begins in God when creatures and promises are come to an end and therefore the soul that has his interest in him can take his leave with delight of all creature-comforts as never to have use of them more as Elijah did part with his mantle when he was taken up into Heaven because they see that it shall be infinitely made up in God though it come not in in this low way as it did unto his people in times past suitable to their low estate while they walked as servants upon the
is not a God of confusion he loves to have every thing done distinctly he cannot delight in a general confession of sin because generals do not affect nor afflict neither can he take pleasure in a general thanksgiving and blessing of his Name but he delights to be honoured by distinct apprehensions in the soul and as it brings the greatest honour unto God so it will surely bring the sweetest consolation unto the creature Eph. 4.24 4 Get a resemblance of every Attribute stampt upon thy heart There is a double image that we read of that of God after which we were created and that of Christ according to which we are renewed Rom. 8.29 Now as we must get an impression of all the graces that be in Christ receiving of his fulness grace for grace that we may be conformable to the image of Christ so we must also of all the Attributes of God that we may be made conformable to the image of God there is something in grace that doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make us God-like as Nazian And he that is a Christian saith Ignatius is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man that carries God with him wheresoever he goes he has an image of the Omnipotency of God and may say I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me and also of the Eternity of God he doth all things upon eternal principles and unto eternal ends and of the Immutability of God his heart is established and will not shrink he is not changed with evâ—ry wind but he is steddy in his course as the Sun going forth in its strength 1 This is the only ground of assurance that thou hast an interest in that attribute for if it work no resemblance of its self in thee 2 Cor. 3. ult it is none of thine For beholding would transform thee into the same image if thou wouldst know whether thou hast an interest in any of the graces of Christ look into thy own heart and on the prayer of Christ in Heaven look into the workings of thy own heart and see if there be any resemblance between Christ and thee and then thou maist conclude it so it 's here also if thou hast an interest in any Attribute there is a resemblance wrought in thee 2 This will give thee a ground of assurance that it shall be put forth for thee or else it will be exercised against thee he that shews mercy shall attain mercy and on the contrary he shall have judgment without mercy that shews no mercy and therefore it 's of great concernment to the Saints that they may have in themselves an image and resemblance of every Attribute for though their portion lye not in that but in God yet in that is a great ground of their assurance that it 's theirs and shall be acted for them in its season CHAP. III. The Beatific Vision of Gods Essence explicated and applied SECT I. What the Saints Happiness in the Vision of God is § 1. WE now come to the second particular in this great Promise and that is The Lord doth hereby make over his Essence to his people In the Essence of God there are two things which the Lord himself distinguishes his face and back parts Exod. 33.23 Similitudo ab hominibus sumpta quos non agnoscimus nisi ex parte Calvin si aliò conversa sit eorum facies c. The similitude is taken from men whom we know not but in part if they turn their face from us It notes to us that weak and imperfect knowledge that we have of God or can have in this life which is but as if a man should see a mans back and no more whereas ex oris vultûs intuitu perspicua est cognitio The perfect knowledge we have of a man is by his face only so here the one of these is agreeable unto the state in this life and that is in the attributes and the other is agreeable unto the state of the life to come for here we do behold God non sicuti est sed sicuti vult Bernard not as he is but as he wills In the opening hereof there are these particulars to be spoken to 1 That all the happiness that the Saints shall have for ever is nothing else but a fruit of the promise which they have here a right unto 2 That their portion lyes in the very Essence of God 3 The manner how this becomes happiness unto them and that is by way of Vision 4 The nature of this Vision as it conduces unto happiness is to be opened also and how the creature can be said to see God in his Essence or as he is 1. All the happiness that the Saints shall have in Glory for ever is nothing else but that which is in the promises here made over to them Godliness has the promise of the life that now is 1 Tim. 4.8 and that which is to come and therefore the life to come and all the glory and happiness of it is in nothing else but a fruit of the promise Heb. 6.12 and so the Saints are said through faith and patience to inherit the promises and therefore eternal life is said to be promised before the world began so that eternal life is but a fruit of the promise Tit. 1.2 and Heaven is but a promised inheritance though it 's true that refers unto a promise made unto Christ and not unto us for a purpose there might be concerning us before we were but a promise doth suppose the partie to whom it is made subsisting This promise therefore was made unto Christ as representing our persons as standing in our stead as being our surety one that received a Covenant and a promise for us and therefore Heaven is a Kingdom which he has promised unto them that love him Jam. 2.5 and so Chap. 1.12 and this is the promise that the Lord has shewed us even eternal life 1 Joh. 2.25 Hence there is a double distinction that is commonly used by our Divines 1. That the Saints have a double right to Heaven There is 1 Jus ad rem a right to the thing as an Heir has to his Land in his nonage which as yet he enjoys not because he is not meet for it he is not able to manage it and therefore is under Tutors and under Guardians till the time appointed by the Father and so it is with the Saints till they be made meet Col. 1.12 2 There is jus in re when a man has a right to it as being in possession of it It 's true that we have not so a right to Heaven because we look on it but by an eye of faith 2 Cor. 5.7 and we rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. and it is by faith that we walk and not by sight and that argues that we have not the thing in possession but in expectation only but when we
come to possess it it is none other but what in the promise we had a right to it is the fiducial vision that we have of God in this life that as it prepares the soul so also gives us an interest in the beatifical vision which is only proper to the life to come 2. Divines say That the Saints have a threefold title unto Heaven and Glory in this life 1 in pretio as there is a purchase made for Heaven is as well a purchased possession as any thing that we do injoy in this life There are two things in the satisfaction of Christ there is debitum legale a legal debt so he paid the old debt and there is superlegale meritum a superlegal merit and so he made a new purchase answerable unto the two benefits by Christ which the Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 1.7 14. we have by him redemption and an inheritance c. 2 The Saints have another title and that is jus promissionis in the promise for it is a promise intailed upon them as it was made unto Christ before the world began Eternal life is made first unto him and it is that which he himself doth glory in thou shalt shew me the path of life Psal 16. in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore And by virtue of the same Covenant and promise the Saints do claim eternal life that Jesus the Mediator of the Covenant did though it belong unto him primarily and unto them only in his right and at second hand 3 They have a title in primitiis in the first-fruits as they have received the first-fruits of the Spirit So Israel had unto Canaan God did give them a promise many hundred years before but yet they were strangers unto their own inheritance that the Lord had promised them and many of them dyed in faith not having received the promise as Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Patriarchs did but when the Lord had once brought them into the borders of the land and they had tasted the grapes of Eskol this gave them a further title because they had tasted of the good land that the Lord had promised them And so it is with the Saints who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit and in them tasted that the Lord is gracious for the first-fruits are a further pledge of the crop it is called an Earnest which is a further security than barely a promise therefore all the happiness of the Saints that they shall have in Heaven is a fruit of the promise and they do enjoy glory by virtue of the same Covenant that they obtain grace which is therefore called an everlasting Covenant not only because it shall never be broken as a Covenant of salt which stands for ever but because the fruit of it is to everlasting in a mans eternal inheritance § 2. The portion of the Saints lies in the very Essence of God which will appear to us by these demonstrations Psal 16. ult 1. By clear Scripture Psal 16. ult In thy presence is fulness of joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in faciebus in thy face is fulness of joy according to Gods own language thou shalt see my back parts but my face thou shalt not see and live therefore it is in the face of God that the fulness of the joy and the happiness of the Saints doth consist for in that the happiness of Christ as Mediator who is our head doth consist and when we come to Heaven we have not a happiness apart from Christ as if he had one happiness and we another for we do enter into our masters joy and 1 Joh. 3.3 it is see him as he is that is not as he does now discover himself pro captu humano according to our capacity in a glass and in a riddle rather as he is not than as he is but we shall see him with open face according to his Essence that is as he is 2. The ultimate object of faith is that in which the happiness of the Saints doth consist and that which is the highest thing in the promise in that doth the glory and the perfection of the creature lye Now there are many intermediate objects of faith but the ultimate is glory 1 Pet. 1.21 So 1 Pet. 1.21 Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God And the last thing in the promise is eternal life and that being once attained all the promises are at an end therefore it is in the Essence of God that eternal happiness lyes 3. Without this nothing can make the Saints happy 1 Nothing in this life can they have in this life four things 1 They have glorious promises but those are but of an inheritance to come and we believe that which we see not and therefore hope for it for faith and sight are opposed there is a fiâ—â—â—al presentiality unto faith in the promise but it is not beatifical and therefore an inheritance of promises will never make a man happy because it keeps the soul in a continual longing and in an hungring and thirsting condition and therefore is unsatisfied 2 Of graces but they are also imperfect because they do not make a mans soul perfect Heb. 12.24 till a man be actually united unto God the Fountain of all happiness and perfection he can never be happy it 's true Gratia electis infunditur ut actiones peragant ordinatas ad vitam aeternam Grace is infused into the Elect that they may perform actions ordinate to life eternal as Aquinas But these graces have respect unto an eternal reward they do but make us meet for a further mercy Col. 1.12 to make us meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light 3 In creatures a mans happiness does not consist in them because they are finite and the soul is ordained to be happy in an infinite good and therefore when a man shall be made happy by going to Heaven to enjoy God he doth take his leave of the creatures they were his inheritance in his way and were to him a viatick but afterwards God shall be all in all and a man goes to God with joy 1 Cor. 15. and is glad to see the Moon under his feet so the Saints of God in this life continue still longing for their future happiness 4 There is an inheritance of Attributes Rev. 12.1 and so the Saints have an interest in God here and a vision of him for they may behold him in his back parts and live as the Lord discovered unto Moses Now no man can be perfectly happy in this life and therefore the discovery of God in his Attributes being the way of Gods revealing himself in this life there is a higher way of manifestation in which the happiness of the Saints doth consist and that is a
is more of God discovered in the meanest Saint than there is in the Sun Moon and Stars and in the most glorious creature Dan. 12. 't is said They shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their father the glory of the Sun is not to be compared unto them c. To see beauty is a great delight to the eye but much more for souls to see their own beauty to see the image of God in the Saints here is glorious and to see it in a mans self is more comfortable much more taking shall it be and more comfortable to see it hereafter when it shall be perfected 5. They shall see all things that concern themselves in God Adam had a Law written in his heart that was the guide of his way and the Saints have also in their hearts a rule as well as in the book but the Saints in Heaven have no other book but God Beati in Deo vident omnes actiones circumstantias ad se pertinentes The blessed see in God all actions and circumstances that belong unto them This is the book in which they shall read lectures in his face for ever the Dectatis speculum the glass of the Deity as their happiness shall be wholly in God for God shall be all in all so their direction shall come from him immediately and so shall their consolation and their acceptation they shall see that God is pleased with them for ever whatsoever they put their hands to and they shall be no more in doubt of the rule and go with their way hid no more as many of the Saints here walk uncomfortably because sometimes their duty is hidden from them the rule in some particular cases is dark to them and they droop many times because they know not what to do though their eyes be lifted up yet be of good chear poor soul it shall be otherwise when thou comest to enjoy this vision of God in glory 6. It shall be a vision that shall be everlasting we shall behold his face for ever here in this life in our greatest discoveries of God there is an interruption a veil that is drawn between us and our God and though now we are sometimes in the light by and by we walk in darkness again but in Heaven the discovery shall be perpetual we shall see his face so that he will never hide his face from us more we shall never lose the sight of God unto eternity God will never withdraw himself from us for he doth embrace you with everlasting mercy and sin shall never interpose or cause an Eclipse This is the extent of this glorious Vision which shall never be accomplished till thou come to glory here we are to have it in our eye continually and to exercise faith about it O walk in the hope of it for here is the happiness of the Saints and if the Attributes of God that are discovered to them and made over to them be not sufficient to make them happy yet surely there is enough in the very Essence of God himself know he is thy God in Covenant quantus quantus est and if there be enough in him to make himself happy surely there is enough to make thee happy also and therefore blessed is the soul whose God is Jehovah SECT II. Questions touching the Beatifick Vision resolved § 1. FOR the further opening of this point it being of highest concernment as that wherein the perfection of our blessedness lyes there are several Questions to be resolved 1 Why the happiness of the creature must consist in vision 2 Whether this vision can attain to the Essence of God to see God as he is in himself or no 3 Whether it be only an intellectual vision or corporal with the bodily eyes also 4 What is the happiness that doth follow upon this vision that we may see how this vision doth conduce to the blessedness of the creature Quest 1 It 's true that the happiness of the creature lyes in God who is the chief good but why should it consist in the Vision of God Answ 1. Our eternal happiness doth consist in vision because this is the way by which God doth dispense all things unto us it being the only way that is agreeable to the rational nature for as the Lord doth expect that all that comes from us should be reasonable service modo naturae rationali proportionato proportionate to our nature so all that he doth communicate unto us he doth it in a rational way this is the way of nature and this is the way of grace and therefore the Lord will make it to be the way of conveying all things to us in glory 1 This is the way of Nature the will of man is appetitus rationalis a rational appetite and therefore it can receive nothing unless there be a Dictamen of the understanding that goes before and answerable to the Dictamen such is the choice and election of the will and hence come such various impressions upon the will sometimes there is a good inclination and a good purpose or resolution the man is almost perswaded and by and by the will is off again because the understanding represents things otherwise not holding on in its former light and when there is in the understanding an ultimum dictamen a last dictamen then doth the will firmly and constantly close and therefore sin came in that way Satan knew that there was no corrupting of the will but by the understanding for an immediate access to the will there was not therefore the woman was deceived and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lyes in the understanding properly This is the way of nature there must be a light in the understanding and that brings resolution and election and all things into the will and acts it 2 This is the way of Grace also the Lord when he will change the will doth it first by a spiritual illumination of the understanding and from thence there doth by the power of grace come an effectual determination of the will to embrace that ultimum dictamen last dictate of the enlightned understanding and that makes a free and chearful choice of that supernatural good which is to the understanding by a spiritual and heavenly light discovered and clearly apprehended thereby there is a teaching that goes with the drawing of the Father Joh. 6.44 And so it is for all growth and increase of grace also for grace is improved in the same manner as it is at first created men grow in grace as they grow in knowledge 2 Pet. 3.18 as the Lord will enlarge the affections so he doth first raise the apprehensions of the man 3 Glory being in some respects but the perfection of the same grace for Divines commonly say that grace and glory differ but in degrees therefore the way that the Lord took in the one he doth take the same in the other also as he sanctifies the man modo
connaturali in a connatural way so in the same way he glorifies him as it is in this life vision doth increase grace and answerable to the degrees of vision such are the degrees of grace so it 's perfect vision that doth perfect grace in the same way that Satan brought sin and death into the soul 1 Tim. 2.14 namely by the understanding for the woman was deceived as it is in 2 Cor. 11.3 so the same way will the Lord bring in grace and life into the soul it comes in by the understanding the eyes of our understanding being enlightned by a spirit of revelation Eph. 1.17 18. and the same way doth glory enter into the soul namely by the understanding also and therefore it must be in a way of vision 2. Divines do commonly conclude that the main and essential part of glory doth consist in contemplation This is life eternal to know thee the only true God Joh. 17.3 Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God And Heb. 12.14 For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It 's the happiness of Christ in thy presence or in thy face is fulness of joy it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Plural Now the manner of the Hebrews is to put the Plural Number when the excellency and transcendency of a thing is expressed as Cant. 1.3 Thy love is better than wines or else to set forth the great variety of the glorious discoveries of God which the Lord gives unto his own people in Heaven and in this is the fulness of the joy of Christ after his Resurrection from the dead and so it is with the Saints Psal 17.15 Psal 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The Saints sleep in the grave and they do awake unto the vision of God and they shall see his face in righteousness and they shall be satisfied with his image the which in the original doth signifie full and perfect satisfaction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that there is no place to receive any more There is a great satisfaction in the discoveries of God to the soul here in this life in the joy of the Holy Ghost they do rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious but yet there is still something to be added they are not in such a condition but their faculties may be enlarged and their satisfaction increased but there is a full satisfaction hereafter unto which there can be no addition But what is meant by his image and likeness Here some do understand it of the image of God created in us which shall then be perfectly restored when they come to glory the good work that is begun in this life shall not be perfected till in the day of the Lord. Phil. 1.6 Though I do not find the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any where used in Scripture for the image of God created in man or renewed in him but two other words yet this word I find in Scripture to be put either for a corporeal or an intellectual image Exod. 20.4 Thou shalt not make a graven image or the likeness of any thing in heaven above not make unto thy self a corporeal or visible representation of an invisible God 't is said Num. 12.8 the image or the similitude of God shall he behold it 's spoken of an intellectual image and representation of God in a glorious manner unto the understanding full of glorious excellencies though under no shape and this was a priviledge that the Lord would give Moses a further discovery of himself beyond what he would do to any man upon earth And so I should take the meaning to be here it 's not the image of God in us but the discoveries and manifestations of God unto us that is unto our understanding in which our fulness of joy and satisfaction doth consist Cùm tenebrae mortalitatis transierint manè astabo contemplabor When the darknesses of mortality have passed away in the morning I shall stand and contemplate Austin In contemplatione divinorum maximè consistit beatitudo Beatitude consists in the contemplation of divine perfections Aquinas It 's true that this shall be the greatest torment in Hell the contemplation of their misery and the reflexion upon their own lost and irrecoverable condition it 's concluded that poena damni the punishment of loss is the greatest part of the torments there and that can no otherwise afflict or be a torment but by the contemplation thereof and surely in this doth the blessedness of God consist namely in beholding of his own perfections and the glorious persons delighting themselves in each other for the Lord is blessed for evermore and from everlasting when there was no creature but his blessedness lay in himself and the contemplation of himself was his blessedness and if this do make the Lord blessed surely then in the contemplation of him much more must the blessedness of the creature consist therefore happiness must consist in vision 3. Because the understanding is the leading faculty by which all good is brought into the soul it 's true that the souls in Heaven are called souls made perfect Heb. 2.3 Beatitudo cùm sit summa perfectio perficit totum Beatitude seeing it is the highest perfection perfects the whole soul in all the faculties thereof There are three things wherein the happiness of the Saints doth consist 1 A perfect Vision or perfect understanding 2 A perfect Fruition which is nobilissima operatio voluntatis the most noble operation of the will Medina 3 Perfect Joy and exultation joy unspeakable and glorious everlasting joy upon their heads Psal 16. ult in thy face is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and by this means the whole soul is made perfect but yet the leading faculty still is the understanding and for this cause seeing blessedness comes in by the understanding Psal 17. ult satisfaction also comes into the whole soul by those revelations manifestations visions and discoveries of God made unto the soul Aquinas saith of blessedness that it is in intellectu primariò in voluntate per consequens secundariò In the intellect primarily and in the will by consequent and secundarily Seeing therefore that this vision doth carry with it Fruition Delectation and whatever may make the whole soul to become perfect therefore it 's no wonder if the Lord is said to be the portion of his people by way of vision and the blessedness of the Saints be said to consist therein Quest 2 § 2. Shall the Vision of God in glory be corporeal or shall it be intellectual only discoveries of God unto bodily eyes or unto the eyes of the understanding only Answ 1. The Essence of God in glory cannot be seen with bodily eyes it cannot be a corporeal vision which is manifest 1 from Scripture 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwells in light
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
is in the Saints from the beatifical Vision 5. We shall have perfect communion here while we are at home in the body we are strangers to the Lord it 's true we have here a fellowship but it is with much imperfection and frequent interruptions dulce commentum sed breve momentum Joh. 17.24 I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me that they may behold my glory This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luk. 23.43 And they shall be ever with the Lord. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ The communion that we have here is but begun but it shall be perfected for ever Our communion here has much imperfection in it partly because of sin which separates between us and our God for answerable to our conformity such is our communion amor complacentiae love of complacence is grounded thereupon and partly through our weakness there is much that we are not capable of the manifestation of there is much that we cannot see and live Now that being taken away and healed by the beatifical vision we are able to take in what we cannot of God here though as our weakness and imperfection is begun to be healed here in this life we are so far capable and we shall be fully capable when it shall be fully healed Here also is much interruption 1 by sin we provoke God to hide his face from us 2 For our tryal the Lord doth many times hide his face to exercise our graces but neither of them shall be hereafter we shall sin no more and the time of our tryals will come to an end the Lord will never turn away from us but he will cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us without a cloud for ever 6. There shall be fulness of Fruition Austin says Frui is more than uti frui finis est usus mediorum frui est cum gaudio uti Fruition is of the end but use of the means c. Fruition is the delight and satisfaction that the soul has in the possession of the thing that it has attained Psal 17. ult satisfied with thy likeness there are pleasures for evermore such pleasures as the men of this world never tasted nay the joys of the Holy Ghost are such as eye hath not seen but the joys of Heaven are such as the Saints have not tasted when there is no place left for desires hunger and thirst have an end the soul thirsts for God no more In Heaven they cannot pray Austin because they stand in need of nothing to perfect their happiness all is enjoyed in God and they see all to be theirs and that they are out of danger of losing their happiness and even in this life there is much sweetness in the sealing work the work of assurance because a man sees all is his and that there 's no danger of miscarrying as to his eternal state much more is it there when he is in possession of all those glories that the Lord gave him the first-fruits of here SECT III. Application Vse 1 § 1. FIrst see here the folly and the misery of all unregenerate men who place their happiness in any thing else that is not God and forsake God and the happiness that is to be had in him for the creatures sake 1. See their folly sin is never seen aright unless it be seen to be a foolish and an unreasonable thing Psal 14.1 The fool has said in his heart that there is no God and this fool is every unregenerate man and the great folly of a man lies in his utmost end or else his great wisdom for he that doth erre in that is a fool though he have all the wisdom of the world beside all his wisdom without this tends to no other end but to deceive and undo himself and therein doth the wisdom of a godly man properly consist that he doth never miss his utmost end and therein the meanest Saint is wiser than all ungodly men though they may be counted the wise men of the world Consider 1. What a folly is it for a man to frame to himself a happiness for he that gave him a being he only can appoint him to an end he only can prescribe him a rule therefore he that will be faber foelicitatis the framer of felicity unto himself he doth make himself a God and create his own Heaven which will prove but a fools Paradise in the end for God hath appointed for man no other happiness but in himself in his Essence lies his portion and without this nothing in this world should satisfie neither doth it a gracious heart that is truly wise Tua non satiunt nisi tecum omnis copia quae non est Deus meus egestas est tolle Deum nullus ero c. Thy good things satisfie not unless with thy self All abundance which is not my God is want Take away God and I shall be nothing These are the speeches of grace and godliness that carry a man directly towards God Now for a man that is Gods creature to create to himself a happiness and an imaginary Heaven is the greatest folly in the world because it consists only in imagination the excellency of all things here below as a mans portion being but a fancy only as the word is Act. 25.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much fancy And as a dreaming man that dreams he is full and when he awakes his soul is empty so it is with them on whom the Lord pours out a spirit of slumber and though they dream of Heaven yet they awake in Hell There are several ranks of creatures as the Lord has pleased to set them in the world all being in his hand as clay in the hand of the potter Now a man may as rationally chuse to himself another shape than God has given him and degenerate into a beast as chuse to himself another end and fancy another happiness and perfection in that condition in which he is created This is certain he that will walk by his own rule and will be his own master he must look to be his own Saviour and he that will appoint to himself an end and will create his own Heaven must expect that shall be his Hell in the end 2. When you forsake your happiness in God you turn unto creatures that have no worth or sufficiency in them and therefore Jer. 2.13 they are called broken cisterns Jer. 2.13 1 They are cisterns comforts they have none in them but what they put into them for a cistern has not a spring the water doth not arise out of it what therefore if God put no comfort into the creatures the cistern is but empty it will have no water all the comfort that is in the creatures God puts into them there is none of them can hurt us apart from God nor comfort us apart from God and therefore the Saints in all
them all the good things that they enjoy below and all that communion which they enjoyed here with him where they see his back parts there they shall see his face for ever and therefore it 's beyond the hopes and the expectation of the Saints ◠Thess 1.10 He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe Now the ground of admiration is the over-plus of expectation they shall say as the Queen of Sheba did of Solomons glory We have heard of thee here below but the half was not told and this glory lies in God alone It 's true there is not the meanest reward but it is beyond the desert of the best of our services and it is meerly free grace that rewards them but if the Lord should give a man as he did Nebuchadnezzar Egypt for his hire Kingdoms and Nations as the reward of his services that he did in this life and yet say to him at the last day You have your reward you were herein for ever miserable 4. Thy portion in the creatures will fail thee for ever and deceive thee as a brook that passes by for all flesh is grass and the glory and the pride of it is but as the flower of the field and it will be said to thee In thy life-time thou hadst thy good things for as you brought nothing into this world so it 's certain that you can carry nothing out but the soul shall be stripped of whatever is dear to it here below for they are this worlds goods and given but as a viaticum in the way till a man come to his journies end and whether they be ad regnum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad supplicium as Chrysost it 's all one they are not of any use in the life to come and therefore when all men have acted their parts here and are gathered into their own place then there shall be a general conflagration of the world when the earth and all the works of men shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3. for they are but for the present time of this life and they will afterwards be of no further use to a man for ever but hereafter God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 and God will work all things by himself immediately Here he doth comfort us by the creatures and rules us by Angels by Magistrates and Ministers but that shall not be in the life to come for he will work all himself immediately In this life we are to be taken up about God the knowledge of God and the love of God but we are busied with many things else cumbred about many things and we are to take care of the things of this life in our calling which interrupts our abiding with God but these imployments are but for the support of humane society in this present state that we might serve God and the good of Community but we shall be taken up with God and the things of God only in the life to come and with God immediately not God in the creatures as now we are In this life we take pleasure in many things besides God the works of God are sought out by his servants and we please our selves with the comforts that he has given us in our way for in this life God heaps variety of benefits upon us he loads us daily with his benefits but after this life there shall be but one great reward and a man shall go out unto creatures for nothing unto eternity there shall be a comfort in them but not out of necessity but variety all of them seeing God in themselves and in each other but if a mans portion be in any thing without God I tell thee thou must leave it behind thee Isa 50.11 when thou comest to lie down in the grave and so having kindled a fire you compass your self in your own sparks you shall lye down in sorrow All the comforts of an ungodly man in this life are compared to the light of a candle not only because they are maintained by creatures base matter here below but also because they will go out in the end for the longest candle will end in a snuff but now the light of the godly and their comfort being in God it shines as the Sun more and more unto the perfect day 5. It shall be unto you according to your desire you shall never have any part or portion in God for ever that which is thy sin shall be thy punishment as Christ made it to them that were invited they shall never taste of my supper so it shall be with you you will have no interest in God neither shall you have unto eternity depart from me you cursed cursed with eternal destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power 2 Thess 1.9 and this is called utter darkness It 's true our Divines commonly say that the Torments of Hell are of two sorts 1 Poena damni something privative which is the loss of God and the happiness of the Saints 2 Poena sensus which is something positive a punishment inflicted by God immediately upon soul and body But it 's said commonly by Divines that it 's the first that is the greatest part of a mans torment and it 's that which makes Hell properly such which is demonstrated 1 from the meritorious cause of it which is sin There are in the Law two things 1 the precept 2 the prohibition Now the mind of the Law-giver was most in the precept and therefore the omission is a greater offence than the commission if they be apart considered now the punishment of loss is proportioned unto the omission of the precept as the punishment of sense is unto the commission of the sin 2 It will appear in this that the blessedness of the Saints in Heaven doth mainly consist in the vision of God that they shall see him face to face and in this is the happiness of the Angels and Saints yea of Christ himself Psal 16.1 therefore on the contrary doth the misery and damnation of the wicked lie that they shall be deprived of the vision of the face of God for ever Mille gehennae poenae at nihil est quale à gloria Dei excludi à Deo odio haberi c. Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in oratione de extremo Judicio 6. He that has his portion in any thing below God and not in the Essence of God God will be ingaged against him for ever and his judgment shall flow from God immediately For either thou must have thy happiness in him immediately or else thy misery will come in immediately from him for ever for as after this life God will not govern by the creatures nor comfort by the creatures so neither will he afflict or punish by them but it shall be from his own immediate hand therefore the fire of Hell is not material fire as some
us Kings and Priests unto God and the Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever c. They have each of them their peculiar glory of the distinct works that they themselves have wrought and all of it is grounded upon this distinct interest that the Lord doth promise to the Saints that he will be their God 5. When the Saints come to glory their communion with all these glorious persons shall be perfected they shall not only have perfect sanctification but communion and as their communion in this life is not with God only but with all the persons distinctly having hearts affected with love and sensible of the communion of them all so it shall be much more in Heaven for the communion here that we have shall be perfected Now in Heaven we shall have not only the vision of God that is of his Essence but also of all the persons we shall see God in Trinity as well as in Vnity for what we have here by faith we shall have there by sight but here we have that by faith therefore we shall see them there or else we cannot see him as he is and according to our vision so shall our communion be but we shall have a distinct fellowship and sweetness in the Father Son and Spirit for ever Now the grounds of it are these 1. That our happiness might appear to consist in the vision and fruition of them all therefore they are all of them distinctly made over by Covenant to us we shall not only see God in his Unity but in his Trinity also not only the glory of the Divine Essence but the excellency of each of the persons This is a mystery now that is inconceivable unto us which we are not to pry into which the Angel in a vision told Austin while he was studying and did endeavour to comprehend he did but attempt to empty the Sea with a spoon into a pit Scrutator Majestatis opprimitur à gloria This Mystery is here discovered only to the faith of the Saints but that revelation which is in this life imperfect shall be perfected in Heaven and our knowledge which in a way of faith is imperfect for faith is a grace that doth suppose imperfection that shall be perfected in vision for in Heaven whatever doth suppose sin or implies imperfection shall be done away therefore the Father as distinguished from the Son and the Son from the Father the nature of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost which now we have only revealed unto us that it is so the nature and the manner of it we shall understand so far as the creature is capable of such glorious and inconceivable mysteries and then in them all shall our happiness consist and our soul is to have its portion in them all 2. That the soul may honour them distinctly for the aim of God in the new Covenant is not barely the glory of the Divine Essence and to exalt in the hearts of the Saints the Attributes of the Nature but the excellency of the persons also that they may honour the Son Joh. 5.23 as they honour the Father that they may give glory to the Father Son and holy Spirit and may cry always day and night Holy holy holy Rev. 4.8 repetitâ acclamatione unum Jehovam celebrant quem etiam trinum agnoscunt Bright And the Lord doth in Scripture exceedingly stand upon a distinct glory and to that very end requires not only a general and confused but a distinct acknowledgment not only that we should know God to have all goodness and all sufficiency in him but the particular attributes and excellencies that are in God and not only to know Christ to have all fulness in him but that the soul see the several offices and the particular excellencies that are laid up in Christ as the Church doth Cant. 5. for as else a man can never give God glory till his particular excellencies be known and discovered so a man will never be in his own soul affected with it for they are particulars that do affect as whilst the Queen of Sheba heard but a general report of the wisdom of Solomon she was so far affected as that she was moved to come a great journey even from the farthest parts of the Earth to hear his wisdom but when she saw his wisdom in the particulars of it when he had answered all her questions and she had seen all his glory there was no more spirit left in her 1 King 10.5 they were the particulars that did affect his wisdom and his house and his servants c. As it 's in confession they are not generals that do affect it 's a small thing for men to say That they are all sinners and they have broken all the commands but when a man sees his sins in the particulars set down in order before him then is his soul amazed and he doth abhor himself never till then and so it is in thanksgiving also Now because that all the persons shall be glorified and they shall all have great glory therefore it must be distinct and that it may come from a heart truly affected with it also therefore he must give unto each person his distinct glory 3. That a man in this life may exercise distinct acts of faith upon them all Joh. 14.1 You believe in God believe also in me not only to the glory of God the Father but of the Son and Spirit also that faith may have an eye unto God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as Eph. 1.14 and unto Christ as the Son in whom he is well pleased as Mat. 17.3 therefore he is in the bosom of the Father able to reveal all his Fathers counsels unto the Saints and interceding as he is the Son and therefore is very powerful with him Joh. 3.16 he cannot deny the cry of a Son Heb. 7. ult Though Christ as he is God cannot pray because he can stand in need of nothing that he should go out of himself for for he is God all-sufficient 1 Cor. 3.11 Rev. 4. yet it is the Godhead that gives an efficacy to all that is done in the humane nature There are two things Christ does as he is a Priest 1 His Satisfaction and the sufficiency thereof is put upon the Godhead in the Scripture Acts 20.28 The blood of God and We are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 and Heb. 9.14 He offered himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God 2 His Intercession and though he doth intercede by the power of his satisfaction for he doth enter within the most holy place and doth sprinkle the blood with the incense his blood is a speaking blood yet the prevalency of his Intercession is commonly put upon the strength of the relation between God and him Psal 2.7 8. Thou art my Son c. Ask of me and I will give thee
make their abode with him Joh. 14.23 They dwell in God that is in the sense and the apprehension of his love from day to day 1 Joh. 4.16 they are in the Father and in his Son Christ friends do impart secrets and divide grief 1 Thess 1.1 and multiply joys and because we cannot ascend up unto God therefore he will come down to us We will come to him and dwell in him c. There is a great deal of sweetness in society where a man loves We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in companies but there is none like unto that that is between Heaven and Earth I saw heaven opened and the Angels ascending and descending upon the sons of men Joh. 1. ult Joh. 15.1 § 4. As Christ is the true Vine so the Father is the Husbandman Christ is not here spoken of as a head in heaven for so he has no dead members but it 's spoken of him as spreading himself into a visible Church which is sometimes compared unto a Vine Jer. 2.21 and sometimes to an Olive-tree Rom. 11. and of this Vine the Father is the Husbandman or the Vine-dresser for there are branches in this Vine that do bear no fruit parentes pampinarii Now there is a double act of the Father in this relation 1 The unfruitful branches he takes away that is all hypocrites and unsound-hearted in the Church visible he takes away partly because they dishonour the root and partly because the husbandman has no fruit by them Cant. ult 11 12. For who is he that plants a vineyard and doth not drink thereof he lets it out unto vine-dressers c. and it was to yield for the fruit of it a thousand pieces of silver there is nothing more hateful than an empty Vine Hos 10.1 and these branches he takes away and they are cast out 1 They are cast out of the hearts of Gods people and out of their prayers and in the end they are cast out of their society 2 They wither their gifts wither and their former seeming graces from which they had their greenness decay their lamps go out 3 Men gather them Hereticks gather them or profane men gather them for they shall be gathered together in bundles those of their own kind and all those spiritual judgments that compleat a man for separation from God befal such a man and this punishment is from God the Father who is the Husbandman 2 All the branches that are fruitful he doth purge them that they may bring forth more fruit There are two parts of Sanctification and there is a growth of a Christian seen in them both there is a growth in grace the new image is more visibly seen and there is a growth in mortification or the decay of the old image the new man is renewed day by day and the old man decays day by day c. In visible Churches the purging of the members is the Fathers act the remainders of sin are the great misery of a Saint Now to whom should a man look to be cleansed It 's true that it 's the sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon the conscience by which it is done but it is properly the act of God the Father applying this blood for every degree of grace in the one or the other it 's an act of the grace of the Father But more particularly here are three things to be spoken to for the opening of this relation that we may receive the fruit and taste the sweetness thereof 1 How and in what respect is Christ compared to a Vine 2 Why is he said to be a true Vine 3 How is the Father said to be the Husbandman and what doth he unto this Vine as he is the Husbandman 1. How and in what respect is Christ compared to a Vine and here we are to consider that the visible Church is in Scripture compared in Scripture to four trees because there is no one that is able to resemble it 1 It 's compared to an Olive-tree Rom. 11.17 Jer. 11.16 Rom. 11.17 and that for its profitableness for the Olive-tree is for light which makes the lamp to burn and there is all light in the Church and it 's for nourishment to be eaten Lev. 6.15 16. and so there is all food in the Church and it 's for ornament for oyl makes the face to shine Psal 104.15 the trees of the Lord are full of sap c. 2 It 's compared to a Palm-tree Psal 92.12 The righteous shall flourish like a paâ—m-tree which lives always so there is a flourishing and a greenness and glory that is upon the Church of God and that in the greatest winter of affliction when other trees do cast their leaves Again a Palm the more weight it has hung upon it the more it grows and the deeper it takes root as the Walnut-tree the more it 's beaten the more it bears 3 It 's compared to a Cedar Psal 92.12 and Ezech. 17.23 He shall grow as a cedar in Lebanon 1 For its deep rooting for it 's the strongest of all the trees as the wood of it is of all other least subject unto putrefaction so in respect of the deep rooting of it it 's of all other trees least subject unto subversion so the Israel of God is said to be He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon Hos 14.5 c. 2 For its growth and height it 's therefore called the Cedars of God Psal 80.10 3 For it's spreading nature the boughs spread to the Sea and the branches to the River therefore the birds make their nests and sing in the branches of it Psal 104.17 4 But the Church is specially in the Scripture compared unto a Vine 1 for its excellency for in the Parable of Jotham this is recorded amongst the most excellent the Vine the Fig-tree and the Olive Judg. 9. 2 For its spreading nature for it will not only compass the house but it will fill the land Psal 80.9 3 For its fruitfulness it is the fruitful Vine and the excellency of its fruit is such Psal 128.3 Judg. 9.13 that it is said by it to chear God and man Judg. 9.13 it 's said to chear God and man where by Elohim I should understand great men the great ones as well as the mean ones are cheared and revived by it Some do expound it of God and how the Lord was pleased with it and it was offered unto him in Libamina for a drink-offering 4 Of all trees there is none requires so much husbandry and such a continual labouring about it it is a tree that hath more enemies than any other whether they are suckers from within which call for continual pruning or beasts from without which will surely waste the Vine and root it up or else the Foxes Cant. 2.15 for they all will spoil the Vines and prey upon the grapes and it 〈◊〉 in this respect that the Church
quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.5 they are made alive unto God 3 There is a death in sorrow and under misery as the Jews were in their Captivity they were dry bones dead and their restoring of peace and comfort was a resurrection from the dead Ezech. 37.12 and so Heman is free amongst the dead as they that are wounded and lye in the grave c. and in opposition thereunto there is a life of consolation 1 Thess 3.8 1 Thess 3.8 Now we live if you stand fast in the Lord that is this will be one of the greatest comforts of our lives our happiness our glory and crown of rejoycing c. Rom. 7.9 Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the law once alive in performances and alive in presumption alive in comforts alive in confidences and that is the meaning of Hab. 2.4 The just shall live by his faith Hab. 2.4 and in the same sense it is used Heb. 10.38 He that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.38 now the just shall live by his faith There is a double sense of these words 1 In matter of Justification Gal. 3.11 No man is justified by the law it is evident for the just shall live by faith 2 In matter of consolation in any affliction and so faith doth not only make a man live keep body and soul together but it makes a man live a comfortable and a chearful life also non est vivere sed valere vita c. 4 There is a death eternal which is an everlasting separation from the vision and fruition of God who is the fountain of life and so we read of the second death and so there is a life of glory Joh 3.36 He that believes not in the Son of God shall not see life but the wrath of God abides upon him and Heaven is commonly in the Scripture called everlasting life c. Now in all these respects the Son lives by the living Father and they that are one with him do live by him 1. Christ as Mediator receives from the living Father a life of justification he was made under the Law and under the curse 2 Cor. 5.21 it pleased the Father to make all our sins meet upon him he did bear the sins of many he did appear the first time of his coming into the world loaden with transgression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he shall appear the second time without sin Heb. 9.28 and this was by the Fathers imputation Hostilem incursum designat c. and his voluntary susception but when he arose from the dead he is acquitted by God the Father and therefore is said to be justified in the Spirit i. e. by his own Godhead and 1 Pet. 3.18 he is said to be quickned by the Spirit that is he raised up himself by the power of his own Godhead so being raised he is justified that is he is acquitted from the guilt of all the sins that he did before lye under and so he is taken from prison he did not break prison but he was released and had a fair discharge and the judgment that was past upon him he was absolved from Isa 53.8 Now as the sentence of his condemnation came forth from the Father so must also his justification and as he says Joh. 16.10 Ye see me no more to note that his death should fully satisfie and his sacrifice be perfectly offered as for other Priests they came often to present their Sacrifices which were imperfect and the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin off the sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. He received from the living Father a life of holiness and sanctification Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell What fulness is here meant Plenitudo gratiae habitualis an habitual fulness of grace Joh. 1.16 Of his fulness we have all received grace for grace as he was anointed by the Father he received not the Spirit by measure Joh. 3.34 for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him It 's true that grace in the humane nature of Christ which is the subject of habitual grace is not infinite for that only belongs to the Holiness of God but yet there is all fulness in it because it 's laid up in him that he might dispence it and there is a sufficiency and there are supplies of the Spirit for all the Saints and therefore he is called Dan. 9.24 The most holy Dan. 9.24 or holiness of holinesses the humane nature is capable of more grace and therefore of greater glory by reason of its personal union than all the creatures in Heaven and Earth either men or Angels for he is the Son of Righteousness 3. He received from the living Father a life of consolation It 's true if we look to his condition amongst the creatures so he was a man of sorrows but if we respect his communion with the Father and the fulness of the consolation of the Spirit for where the Spirit is truly a Spirit of Sanctification there also he is in perfection a Spirit of Consolation so he is said Psal 45.7 To be anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows his blessed Soul had experience as of greater and higher priviledges so of far greater comforts than of the creature men or Angels and though it 's true that when he bore the sins of men and the wrath of God there was substractio visionis and therefore he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as extra confortium vivere Mar. 14.33 to live without society he was to be sequestred as in a wilderness and set apart unto grief and to nothing else yet it was but for a short time for as the Sun did recover its light again so did his Spirit also and his Soul was filled with unspeakable joys as he before under-went unutterable sorrows therefore he says Joh. 15.10 I kept my Fathers commandment and abide in his love my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth c. Psal 16.11 4. He received from the living Father a life of glory Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and therefore Rev. 3.21 Rev. 3.21 He that overcomes I will grant to sit with me upon my Throne even as I overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne c. Jesus Christ has a Throne on which he now sits ruling the Nations having received a Kingdom from the Ancient of days and he has a Throne in the Church a Throne is set in Heaven Rev. 4.2 and there is a more glorious Throne to be erected at the last and great day when he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory c. but all this while Heaven is the Fathers Throne and when the works of God are
extrà which are terminated in the creatures and are meerly acts of will now faith is not only by this means to be exercised and taste the sweetness of the acts of will ad extrà but the acts of nature ad intrà for I have an interest in that Father as the Father that did from all Eternity beget the Son and I have an interest in that Son that was begotten by the Father so that those acts of nature that were of God before the world was they have all some respect unto me and I can taste a sweetness in them all that as I have not only an interest in the absolute perfections of God which are his Attributes but in the relative perfections of God also which respect the persons so I have not only an interest in and benefit by all the actings of the Atrributes of God but by the eternal actings of the persons also that we may see how high it reaches and that there is nothing in God but it is as truly for our good as it is for his own glory therefore we may rejoyce in them all 5 A mans faith should expect all the Attributes of God to be distinctly exercised for him by all the persons a man has an interest in them all in all the works that they do put forth for as they are three in their subsistence so they are but one in their Essence and therefore all the Attributes of God come in unto them all the Son thinks it no robbery to be equal with the Father Phil. 2.6 for he is found in the form of God that is in the nature of God subsisting in the nature or essence of God and therefore Divines do commonly when they prove the Deity of the Son and Spirit shew that the Attributes of God are in Scripture given unto them as Esa 9.6 Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father Prince of peace that 's given to the Son and to the Spirit is given Omnipotency Omnipresence and Omniscience c. Now when the Father comes to work he has the power of God the wisdom of God the holiness of God put forth for the accomplishment of his work and so have the Son and Spirit also and therefore we see that the Son could not miscarry in any thing that he did and though he dyed yet it was impossible that he should be held by death Acts 2. because he had the power of the Godhead to carry him through and so it is with the Persons in all their operations and undertakings for men in the work of our salvation and therefore it is good for a man not only to exercise faith upon the Attributes of the Divine Nature in common as they are infinite and absolute perfections but as those Attributes are to be found in each of the persons and to be exercised for us in all their appropriated actions and by this means the Attributes of the nature are made over not only by the Essence but also that they shall be all of them exercised by each person acting according to their own acts which they have undertaken and so we have an assurance of the acting of the Attributes for us in a threefold way and a threefold cord is not broken 6 As it is the recumbency of faith so it should be in the assurance of faith also it should distinctly close with them all in their witnessing as well as in their working 1 Joh. 5.6 7. 1 Joh. 5.6 7. There are three that bear record in heaven it is not only a testimony to the truth of the Gospel but it is a testimony also given unto the state of the Saints for they have the witness in themselves for it is that they may know that they have eternal life vers 13. which could not be unless the testimony were given in the heart and a mans state put out of controversie Now though they be one in Essence and though their testimony do agree in one yet they are three in their witness in the word and in the heart now under the Law in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established we receive the witness of man but the witness of God is greater the same God who hath but a few witnesses amongst men but two witnesses Rev. 11.3 yet he will not let a mans assurance go without a full testimony there shall be two classes of witnesses some on Earth and some in Heaven and they shall be three of each of them therefore as in acts of recumbency we are to close with the love of all the persons so in acts of assurance we are to close with the witness of all the persons and thus we see that there are distinct objects of faith upon which it is to work in them all 2. Now let us come to consider the acts of faith that are distinctly to be put forth upon them all as 1. There is to be a fiducial knowledge hereof that the persons are made over to us for as faith without works is dead so faith without knowledge is blind therefore faith is commonly set forth by knowledge in the Scripture Joh. 17. ult and Phil. 3.8 9. To know him and be found in him c. But it is not every knowledge but that which is described Col. 2.2 and Tit. 1.1 A knowledge of the mystery of God and the Father and of Christ a knowledge that draws an acknowledgment with it that carries the consent of the soul with it and he sits down under it and lies under the power thereof a sapida scientia a knowledge of a truth that lets in the savour of the goodness of it with the truth 2. The soul is distinctly to cast it self by distinct thoughts upon each of these persons as when a soul comes to Christ he sees his need of him that he is undone without him he sees the excellency that is in him and thereupon he doth leave himself with Christ and will look out for salvation in no other there is an exclusive resolution against all other ways and a full determination to go this way only and if I perish here I will perish so when a soul sees all this and sees his need of the persons and the glory that is not only in Christ but in the Father and the Spirit and sees that without an interest in them he is undone for else there are no benefits by them thereupon he doth distinctly resign himself unto each of them for as all the promises of the Gospel being distinct objects of faith have not their due honour unless we exercise distinct acts of faith upon them so it is true also of all the persons much more because Christ is set forth as an object of faith therefore we rely upon him so we should upon the Father and Spirit also and therefore Christ looks upon it as a dishonour that being set forth to them they did not distinctly believe in him 3. Faith
O God and thy glory for thy loving-kindness is better than life When a soul is thus taken with a sight of God that if a man had no dependence and were put into a condition as perfect as the Angels and had need of nothing yet then to come into his presence and to behold his face because we delight in him this is properly an act of friendship and of familiarity that should be between God and the Saints 4. There is an imparting of counsels between the persons Christ was given out of the bosom of the Father There is not any discovery that is made to the Saints Joh. 1.18 but it comes out of the same bosom Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I mean to do Gen. 18. surely the Lord will do nothing but he reveals his secrets to his Prophets Amos 3.7 1 Sam. 9.15 The Lord told Samuel in his ear there is a Vrim and Thumim for the Saints still and the Lord gives them a spiritual skill here to make use of it so as to know the secrets of the Almighty We took sweet counsel together c. and the Saints also do impart their counsels to God 1 Sam. 1.15 I have poured out my soul before the Lord. There are indeed a generation of men that dig deep to hide counsel from the Lord. Isa 29.15 It is true that there is no secret hid from him but it is their endeavour so to carry it as they might not only blind the eyes of man but of God also but a Saint opens his heart to him there is no secret that he is willing to hide from God but there are such sighs and groans that he doth open when he hath to do with him 5. There are mutual delights in their interest one in another and they do love to profess it The Lords portion is his people Israel is the lot of my inheritance the Lord is my portion says my soul and says God They are the first-fruits of the creatures unto me and they are those that do consecrate all the rest to me without which all the rest were profane and have a curse upon them c. O Lord thou art my Lord says the soul early will I praise thee I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Esa 4.4 5. A man often glories in his interest here in this world but herein doth the Saint glory that he can say I am the Lords and that he can call himself by the name of Jacob and can subscribe with his hand to the Lord and a great part of the fellowship of love is in a mutual profession of their interest each in other And I will be yours for ever there is nothing in me or that I can do but is at your commandment 6. They call upon one another for further fellowship and communion There is a call of the Father 's upon vocation Joh. 6.44 which is called drawing vocatio alta secreta a secret and deep vocation Austin And there is a calling unto communion as Rev. 22.17 The Spirit saith Come and the Bride Come Now as in witnessing 1 Joh. 5.7 8. For there are three that bear record in heaven c. they do all give a testimony but it is done by the Spirit in the Name of the Father Joh. 16.13 Son and Spirit for Christ says He shall take of mine and give it unto you so he doth in calling also he doth speak sometimes in the Fathers name and sometimes in the Sons name Open unto me come away my beloved c. and the soul always saith Come and therefore draws near unto God continually and all is but to see the face of God and that he may have some fellowship with him who is the God of his life God is his centre and there is a tendency of soul to God for godliness is nothing else but tendentia animae in Deum the tendency of the soul to God there is something in the heart that doth echo unto God again when he calls a soul to communion to seek his face the soul answers Thy face Lord will I seek But it may be objected How can it be seeing God is in Heaven that we should see him and have such intimate fellowship here below 1 God hath said I will dwell with you the heart is the habitation of the great King of Heaven and Earth Joh. 14.23 he hath said he will come to you and dwell with you and sup with you 2 There is a Spirit also that will carry your souls up to him again as the Prophet Ezechiel was carried in the visions of God to Jerusalem Rev. 1.10 and John was in the Spirit on the Lords day c. though the body be upon Earth the soul may be in Heaven with the Lord and there all the Saints long to be all their delight is in the mean while in the intercourse that passes between God and their souls by sweet fellowship and communion here 3. The Arguments to stir you up thereunto are these 1 Consider this is the great end of the Covenant of Grace it is not only peace but good will it is a Covenant of Friendship and the end of friendship is fellowship and our end should not fall below Gods end 2 See the great preparation that the Lord hath made thereunto all that Christ is said in Scripture to have done is but to give us access unto God and all that he hath suffered it is all but to bring us to God 1 Pet. 2.21 And we have access by him to the throne of grace Eph. 3.12 and it is the great end of all the workings of the Spirit also to bring us to God and strengthen us with might for through him we have an access by one Spirit to the Father Prov. 5.18 3 There is a sweetness in fellowship as 't is said of the wife Let her be to thee as the young Hind and pleasant Roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love and 2 Sam. 1.26 Thou wast very pleasant to me thy love to me was wonderful c. and yet there are no men but have burdensom dispositions which they discover sometimes more than at others but who would not walk with the great God who is Love and Holiness and Wisdom in perfection whose paths are all pleasantness and whose ways are peace There are pleasures at his right hand for evermore Psal 16. 4 All mercies are obtained by it when the Lord doth meet his people he doth bless them Exod. 20.24 there is no communion with him but there is blessing from him and there is no blessing from him but by communion with him but the special blessing of all other is an Assimilation a man is made like him When he shall appear we shall be like him 2 Cor. 3.18 c. 1 Joh. 3.3 We are chosen to shew forth the praises of God 1 Pet. 2.9
and prove a curse and not a blessing 4. Because it is very sweet to God when we follow him through a wilderness and see nothing but an alsufficiency in him through a land not sown Jer. 2.2 then you shew your love to him and he looks upon it as the day of your espousals Hos 9.10 I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness it is a proverbial speech when you have none to look to but God Drusius when you are in a land of drought it is never so pleasing unto God as when we are brought into a wilderness and yet there to follow him and the Lord doth never speak so sweetly to us as when he doth deprive us of these outward things that our hearts may stay upon him alone and therefore Hos 2.14 he says I will allure her into the wilderness what was there in the wilderness that might allure her The wilderness has a double consideration 1 It was a place of affliction and so there was nothing to allure for no affliction for the present is joyous but grievous 2 The wilderness was a place of manifestation where God did shew himself in his Ordinances and in his mighty works and if the wilderness be so there is an alluring in it and then saith God will I speak to her heart O when God brings into the wilderness and gives discoveries of himself there are the greatest comforts and the sweetest speakings unto the souls of his Saints the Lord doth not fail them in their time of need 5. Gods great glory is to manifest his Attributes in the sufferings of his people and it is the great work that he doth in the world and the greatest comfort that the Saints have is to see the Attributes of God drawn forth and to work for them Jer. 2.31 Have I been a wilderness to Israel It 's true says the Lord I brought them into a wilderness and did allure them thither but when they were there I was not a wilderness unto them they found all in me though the earth afforded them nothing yet there was nothing wanting from Heaven it was not a wilderness when they were in the wilderness See an instance of it Jer. 29.22 there were two false Prophets that did strive to make provision for themselves and they pleased the people Jer. 2.29 and said The King of Babylon should not carry them away captive they spoke lies in the name of the Lord and we see what became of them but Jeremiah that made no provision for himself did not as Baruck seek great things for himself we see how he is provided for even in the enemies hand Jer. 39.11 12. Look well to him do him no harm but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee how good is it to look up to God for all our supplies and not to distrust his goodness and power in any danger or strait that we may be exposed to 6. As our supplies do come from God so also there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency and that is sweeter than the mercy it self the Lord loves to give unto his people every mercy that they need and as it is lined with love so it shall be faced with love that the mercy shall come in according unto the promise and he can look upon it as the birth of the promises as a pledge and a fruit of interest in the alsufficiency of God it 's a great thing and is much more than the blessing it self if it were a thousand times multiplied that all the promises lead a man to Christ the foundation of them all 2 Cor. 1.20 they do lead a man as beams to the Sun so when the mercy leads a man to his interest in the alsufficiency of God that 's more than the mercy it self when a mâ—n sees it 's given in to the bargain when he seeks first the Kingdom of Heaven all things in this world shall be added to him Psal 6.33 though they are in themselves but small yet they are magni amoris indicium there is a great deal of difference between a kiss and a reward though there may be a greater bounty in the one but there is more love in the other and so far as the people of God taste that the Lord is gracious so far they taste his love is sweeter than all unto them for if there were not love in the gift there were no relish in it we use to despise the gifts only of enemies and indeed the hearts of all the Saints do so far undervalue them as Luther that they can tell God Let thy gifts of this worlds goods only be to another but let me have a smile from thy face one kiss of thy mouth and it shall chear me more than corn or wine and oil as for all other things they are but as Luther said of the Turkish Empire mica canibus projecta a mite cast to the dogs because there was no love in it therefore a little that the righteous hath is better than the riches of many wicked as a little that the righteous doth is better than the pompous services of many wicked persons because there is love in the one and none in the other and without this all is as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal Object 2 You say that none have an interest in the alsufficiency of God but his Covenant-people But we see that the men of the world have great sufficiency Psal 73.7 they have more than heart can wish they enjoy all manner of abundance that one would think the alsufficiency of God were made over to them rather than to the Saints one would have thought it to have been the portion of Dives rather than Lazarus For the wicked fare deliciously every day c. Answ It 's true indeed that many wicked men who are strangers to God and his Covenant have great sufficiency in outward things but yet 1 though it be from the alsufficiency of God for he it is that is the Fountain of common mercies he doth cause the Sun to rise upon the unjust c. he opens his hand and fills every living thing it is he therefore that is said to fill their bellies with his hid treasure Psal 17.14 but yet it is not from their interest in his alsufficiency they have all from God but they have no interest in God it 's one thing to receive mercy from God ex largitate from an overflowing of his goodness and another thing to receive it ex proprietate from an interest in his goodness There are some benefits by Christ that wicked men have that have no interest in Christ there are many works that the Sun doth effect in the earth when it never shines and so it 's with Christ he vouchsafeth good things to many a soul in whose Horizon he doth never rise there is a great difference in the manner of conveyance 2 A sufficiency they have
the Lord shall so lead thee that thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone tibi nocere non possunt sed coguntur inservire 2 Stones were for bounds and Land-marks and they shall not be removed but you shall continually enjoy the bounds of your own habitation they shall not be removed it shall be as sure as if you were in league with the Stones that they shall not depart from your bounds 3 Cocceius hath out of Vlpian a certain punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant whence they did use to heap stones upon a ground that it might never be plowed to hinder its fruitfulness Thus the sense is The Stones shall be at league with thee that none of them shall hinder the fruitfulness of thy land and make it lye barren and untilled as in judgment they might doe Now if there be a Covenant by God made with all these for his people then surely the Motions and the Actings of all these shall be for the good of his People But you will say In what particular do all these little things work for the good of the Saints It will clearly appear in these particulars 1. In the smallest things the people see God and their spirits are elevated and raised up to behold him in them for not only the Heavens declare the Glory of God Psal 19.1 but even the meanest Creatures in all their motions do it Repraesentat quaelibet herba Deum Now there is a threefold Vision of God in this World in his Works and in his Word and in his Son and it is of special use that the works of God are unto the Saints in all their being and motions that they can see something of God in them Our Communion with God depends upon our Vision of God and the more we see God in all things the more we converse with him Now there is not the least of all the Creation of God but it doth represent him to us and we look upon it as a footstep of God it is that which doth raise up our hearts unto Heaven while we are upon Earth and causeth us to look upon nothing small that hath so glorious a Creator and so wise a Disposer in minimis lauda magnum says Austin when he speaks de culice there is much of God to be seen and the heart is much to be over-aw'd not only in the lesser things of the Word but also of the Works of God 2. It is unto the people of God matter of praise even in the actings of the meanest of the creatures to see how they work unto an end that they know not but the wise disposer of them knows all their motions and directs them unto his end the out-goings of the morning and evening do praise thee that is objectivè and occasionaliter as they give unto his people matter and occasion of praise In the creation the Morning Stars did sing Job 38.7 and so they do in all the Executions of Providence also fitting them for this end and guiding them to this end c. Austin in Psal 148. blames those that dislike and find fault with the works of God In officina non audent vituperare fabrum tamen audent reprehendere in mundo Deum Perdidisti Hallelujah A man doth lose his praise and the matter and occasion of it which is unto a Saint a great loss for praise is his delight and he loves the occasion of it 3. There is great matter of Meditation even in these ordinary things such as do mightily affect the Souls of the Saints it was so to David Psal 148.7 8 9 10. Praise the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapours stormy wind fulfilling his Word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars Beasts and all cattel creeping things and flying fowls and how can this be Nudae creaturae Deum celebrant Moller dum ad mirandam ejus sapientiam potentiam quotidie ostendunt The dangers prevented and the good things conferred such as are secrets unto us and we know not we consider not of as Luther saith of himself in the like case Somnia nostra observat quando nescimus nos vivere c. equidem odi carnem meam quòd haec scio vera esse iis tamen non seriò afficior c. It gives the Soul high matter of Meditation puts it into the Mount with God 4. It is unto the People of God a great ground of exercising their Faith and that in two things 1 Upon the word of Promise that all these creatures are his by Covenant in all their motions and therefore he has not a common interest in them with the rest of the world but they come unto him from another hand and he receives them by another tenure Now any mercy that has the respect of the Covenant put upon it is infinitely heightned unto them the smallest mercy enjoy'd by Covenant is better than the greatest without the Covenant it is better be as low as Hell with a promise than in Paradise without it therefore it is true that other men walk upon the Stones and they hurt them not and the Beasts break not in upon them the Sun shines and the Rain falls upon them yet here is the sweetness to a Believer This I enjoy as a fruit of an everlasting Covenant as an heir of Promise and as a Pledge of an eternal Inheritance 2 It will be a ground to exercise a mans Faith for a support if the Lord cloath the grass of the field how much more will he cloath you and if he feeds the Ravens he will surely not starve his Children nay if the supply of all the Creatures will be a Provision for you you shall not want it they shall all act for you and if it were possible to put a Saint of God in this life in such a condition as he should want the supply of all the creatures at once they should surely all work for his good for the Lord provides them of purpose and for that very end that they may work for you and therefore are they continued in their being and to that end are govern'd by him 5. The Love of the People of God is drawn out by them exceedingly even by small Mercies for it is not the greatness of the Blessing but the abundance of Love discovered to the soul in it that takes a gracious heart for we love him because he loved us first And as his love is discovered such are the outgoings of our love to him again Now these small things may be magni amoris indicium an ordinary turn of the creature may testifie a great deal of love from God to the Soul as when Israel came out of Egypt Joh. 19.36 not a Dog did move his tongue Exod. 11.7 if they had the matter had not been great for in the night they use to bark but though there was a great cry amongst the Egyptians
coming from Italy meeting with him and they instructing him in the way of the Lord more perfectly this was happy for him to meet with such company hoc providentiae meritò tribuendum est insomuch that the people of God bless God unto Eternity one for another as the Martyr acknowledged it as a wonderful glorious providence unto him that he was cast into prison for there he became acquainted with that Angel of God John Bradford so Austin doth acknowledge much of the goodness of God to him in the society of Nebridius But there is an excellent story of Junius in this kind he being in Leyden for his studies sake there arose a great stir and tumult in the City insomuch that many of the inhabitants fled away for safety and he amongst the rest fled to save his life and being in the country thereabouts he came to a country-mans house to beg some victuals the country-man received him and very courteously entertained him and he began to talk with him about matters of Religion which the country-man performed with so much zeal and affection ego malus Christianus siquidem Christianus c. una eadem hora gratiam suam in utroque explicavit Deus à me scientiam rusticus ego ab eo zelum c. And he saith it did abide upon him mente fixâ that he was not able to put the impression out of his mind and the Lord made it useful to him all his life after c. 5. In their preservation in service and their dismissions from service 1 There is a preservation in service that they shall be continued to do the work for which the Lord has appointed them and they shall not be cut off till they have finished their work so it was with the Lord Jesus Christ Luke 13.32 Go tell that Fox It 's true Luk. 13.32 that he was a subtle enemy and one that did want no skill to bring those bloody designs he had to pass but yet there was a time set for Christs work to day and to morrow and the third day and during that time all his enemies were not able by power or policy to reach him and then afterwards I shall be perfected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I shall have perfected the work of my ministry and the perfection of a mans work is the perfection of the man he is never perfected till then and so it is with the two Witnesses they shall not be killed till they have fulfilled their Prophecy there is no putting any man out of imployment till the Lord discharge him a man that has any work to do for God no man can stop him in it before it is finished 2 When their work is done they shall have a very gracious dismission and they shall lie down with honour the best of the Saints have but their time of service and they shall receive their discharge but they shall come to their grave in a full age as a shock of corn in the season thereof Job 5.26 Some men have a longer and some have a shorter time of service but all have but their time As sinning is a warfare and wicked men in that do receive their discharge and it is in providence ordered so that they dye when it is in judgment to them when they least expect it and are least prepared for it so godly men dye when their graces are perfected and their work is finished and never till then and therefore when they sought Luthers life so much yet he could write this upon the wall of his Study I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord c. And there are some men upon this account can laugh at dangers in a way of service and deride threatnings as the crackling of thorns under a pot because they say My time is not in your hands neither the time of my life nor of my service and he that imploys me will uphold me and will maintain me till the time of my dismission shall come and then I shall go off the stage of this world in mercy and lye down in peace and rest upon my bed after the time of my labour is ended 6. There is a special Providence in blessing and providing for their posterity God has a special providence over those that come out of the loyns of his own for indeed he has so ordered all his Decrees as that the greatest part of the Elect comes out of the loyns of the Saints Prov. 20.7 His children are blessed after him there is grace in a special manner that is promised unto them but 't is a blessedness that doth descend upon them by virtue of their parents Covenant Esa 59.21 My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever and Esa 44.3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring c. as Austin was filius lacrymarum the son of his mothers prayers and tears and the Lord did give an answer by giving the soul of her son unto her that he was graciously converted unto the Lord and proved an eminent instrument for service in the Church of the Lord. The Saints can with Jacob pronounce upon them a blessing when they dye and that out of faith in the promise and the Lord willsurely make it good unto them but we are begotten not of blood Joh. 1.13 And therefore though many times ungodly men may and do come out of the loyns of the Saints and the spiritual part of the Covenant is not made good unto many of the posterity of his own people yet the outward part of the Covenant surely is though the Covenant for matter of grace be unto Isaac yet there is another part of it that is made good to Ismael Twelve Princes shall he beget he hath the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth God doth in outward things strangely supply them and provide for them when the children of the wicked are vagabonds and beg their bread Psal 37.25 Yet I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread Psal 37.25 Not that a godly man may not be brought to beggery or to live upon the charity of another Jesus Christ himself was so he was poor and so poor that the women Luke 8.3 his followers did minister unto him of their substance to supply his necessity in this life but there is a fourfold interpretation of that place of Scripture 1 Begging of bread is taken for extremity of poverty the seed of the righteous are never so poor but the Lord doth find out a way of support and supply for them he has said That the just shall inherit the earth 2 It is not meant that it was never so that they were never poor but in Davids experience he had never found it so 3 There is another interpretation of Muis
to a more particular acquaintance with sin and self therefore the Lord doth let such lusts rise up in a mans heart A man that haply never thought that he could be tempted to be an Atheist and deny that there was a God the Lord will let forth such sinful risings and motions in his heart that he shall be ready to call all into question and see that it is possible for the corruption of his nature to make him like that fool that saith in his heart there is no God and a man that never questioned whether the Scripture was the Word of God or no for it is the faith that he hath been brought up in which he received from his parents yet the Lord will let that lust rise in thee which may bring thee to question the authority of the Scriptures whether they be of God or no. There is in a man a principle that tends to a denial of the doctrine of godliness and this principle lies deep and works mightily in our lives and therefore that they may see that this root of bitterness is in them the Lord will suffer them to rise up unto actual thoughts and then the man will say I thought I should never have doubted whether there was a God or no or a Heaven or Hell or a Scripture but now I see to what my natural corruption is ready to lead me and by this means his soul is not only humbled for those bosom-principles of Atheism but these bosom-principles of Religion are laid anew and more firmly in the soul which else would not have born the stress of a work of grace upon them 4 That a man may be drawn out to hate sin the more therefore the Lord doth let it rise in a man and infest him As a mans darling lust that has risen in him most and most troubled him that sin when he is converted he hates above all other Hos 14.8 and so Rom. 7. there is not only the being of sin but the rising of it Rebelling against the law of the mind and leading me captive to the law of sin and death when I would do good evil is present with me that the soul may see its misery the more and so hate its adversary the more for to love God and hate sin is our great work and the more the goodness of â—od is discovered unto us the more we should love him and the further the evil of sin is discovered unto us the more our hearts should be ingaged to hate this also It is true a man should hate sin in the root hate it at all times but specially when it rises within us and presents it self to us with the greatest enticement as Christ hated Satan always but then specially when he assaulted him with a temptation to worship him so should we deal with sin as Junius faith of himself he being a modest man a wanton woman came to kiss him and he gave her a box on the face he hated impudence at all times but specially when it was offered him and so it is in this particular also when lust doth rise in the soul presenting it self to be chosen he hates it then most as wicked men hate godliness always but specially when it comes nearest unto them and they are pressed to it then their hearts rise against it 5 The Lord doth in his Soveraignty permit that lusts should arise in his people but it is to awaken them and the Lord makes this an excellent remedy against a secure condition for if his people will sleep God has three ordinary ways to awaken them 1 By letting out corruption 2 By affliction 3 By desertion it is the first of them is the worst because there is not a greater evil than sin and there is not any thing that doth use to affect the hearts of godly men and awaken them more than to find former lusts revivâ— in their hearts which they thought had been dead long ago A man has formerly set himself to mortifie such a lust and prayed against it and used all means and now he hath through mercy in a good measure attained it but the man grows proud and secure and carnally confident then the Lord lets his lust revive again and the man shall see that his enemy is not dead but that the said root of bitterness still remains only the Lord by his Soveraignty permitted it to spring forth for such an end 6 It is that which is matter of repentance to the people of God continually they are not humbled barely for the sins of their lives that break forth in their conversation in the world but also those sins that do arise in their hearts and they do apply the Righteousness of Christ for the one as well as the other and they are more humbled for lust rising in their heart if they could be separated than for lust breaking forth in the act because this defiles the inward man the soul and so it 's said of Hezekiah That he humbled himself for the pride of his heart so confidence in creatures is what we ought to be humbled for and weep in secret for our pride and repent of all the inward risings of sin in our heart though not any discovery of it be made in our lives and conversation § 4. 3. The Soveraignty of God is seen in the actings of sin also and therein it doth order all for the good of his people sin shall not be always kept within bounds as fire in the bosom but it shall appear in the life many times and the members shall become weapons of unrighteousness lust conceived shall bring forth sin as there are many thousand lusts stirring in the heart that do never come into act they are conceived but do never bring forth there is much plotting in the world against godliness but they do bring forth the wind Esau says I will slay my brother Jacob but he never did it and Gâ—hazi had in his heart a hankering after Vineyards and Olive-yards c. and so they in Neh. 4.11 We will come upon them and destroy them and they shall neither see nor know c. But the act doth not succeed accordingly there are many devices in the hearts of the crafty when their hands cannot perform their enterprise Job 5.12 and so the Lord doth with sin in the souls of his people but yet sometimes it shall break forth into act it was as new wine in the soul and the act shall give it vent it was secret but the Lord by an act will permit it to be visible and legible when it was in the soul it is but thirst in the desire but it is drunkenness in the act when it is come to the full and all this doth the Lord permit by a supreme providence for the good of his people 1 That they may see the power of sin and the tendency thereof it is such a filthiness as would overspread the whole man it is a leprosie in the
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
promise now mercies that are the fruit and birth of the promises are the sweetest for they are children of the promise that are children of the Covenant Zeph. 2.2 and the promise of God doth as well travel with mercy as the threatnings of God travel with judgement seek the Lord before the decree bring forth it is not to be understood de decreto Dei occulto sed promulgato of the secret decree but of the sentence declared in Gods word as Calv. observes and so do the promises bring forth also now a man that is an heir of promise should walk in the expectation of it that his heart may be fit to receive it continually Jer. 11.4 5. and that God may perform unto him all that he hath spoken obey my voice do all that I command you that I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your Fathers The true reason why we many times fail of the mercy is because we are not prepared for it and our heart is not in a frame for Covenant-mercies and therefore doth the Lord defer them and wait to be gracious Esay 30. for mercy is like unto cordials given unto foul stomachs which do but increase the peccant humour sometimes Deus non exaudit propitius God doth not hear in mercy and sometimes exaudit iratus he hears in wrath c. it will not be given in mercy but in judgement if unto a heart unprepared for then duty becomes duty to us when our hearts are prepared to receive the command and a man can say O Lord my heart is ready and then mercy doth become mercy when the heart is prepared to receive it before the mercy come and the mercy of the Covenant doth consist in both giving the mercy and preparing the heart to receive it fitting the vessel and then filling it Now a frame of heart fit to receive mercies consists in these particulars 1. A believing heart relying upon the grace of the Covenant notwithstanding all seeming impossibilities and so Abraham though his body was dry and Sarahs womb dead yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not dispute and reason the case pro and con and looked not at the probability of the thing but at the grace of the Covenant Psal 118. and the love and power of God therein so David many bulls are come about me they compass me in on every side but they are extinct as the fire among thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them c. and I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord. As Luther when all the world was up in arms against him as it were odium impetum totius orbis sustinuit yet he saith vincet mea audacia in Christo ultimum illorum jam pallentem furorem brevi efficiam ut anathema sit esse papistam My confidence in Christ shall overcome their fury they be men that are fit to enter into Canaan and to receive the promise of the Covenant that can say of the sons of Anak and the Cities walled up to Heaven we can overcome them they be bread for us their defence is departed from them their Rock is not as our Rock c. 2. When a soul is kept watchful and in a continual expectation of the promise I watch for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning he did expect God should come Psal and therefore though he did tarry yet he would watch for him and he doth set himself upon his watch tower Luke 12.35 and this is for a man to stand having his loyns girt and his lamp burning as one that expects the return of his Lord from the marriage and he opens to him immediately Surely it is such a soul that God will pour out the mercies of the Covenant upon he will make him sit down to meat and gird himself and serve him c. Whereas we go without mercies many times because mercy is offered and we are not ready to receive it the Lord knocks and goes away again the soul doth not open a man cannot say my heart is prepared Cant. 5. looking for and hastning to the coming of the day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.13 3. When a mans heart though in expectation of the mercy yet is weaned from it and resigns it unto the will of God whether he will bestow it or no whether in this life he shall have the mercy he desires or whether he will pay him all in the life to come if he have the mercy now he does not look upon it as his portion but only as solatium a solace a viatick for his way as if he be deprived of them fit exercitium justi injusti supplicium Prosper de vit contempl He has the exercise of the just and punishment of the unjust And so David was in expectation of the Kingdom for it was one of the sure mercies of David yet it is said Psal 131.1 2. His heart was as a weaned child to prepare him for that mercy God had weaned him from it before ever he should injoy it and it is a noble frame of heart to be always in a readiness to resign a mercy before a man has the possession of it and to be contented to let God take as well as give what his soul waits upon him for 4 When a man desires a mercy no further than it may make him holy for the Covenant of God is a holy Covenant Luk. 1.72 and the mercies of the Covenant are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13.34 which is the word that the Septuagint doth use Esay 55.3 and Luke renders it according to the translation and not according to the Hebrew that which in the Hebrew is mercies they render holy things and indeed mercies they cannot be unless they tend to promoting holiness in the soul and when a man with Agur fears mercies lest they should draw away his heart Prov. 30. give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient he feared the snare that is in prosperity the hook that is in the bait with which many a man is taken and thereby drawn away from the things of God and few are as Jehosophat who had Silver and Gold in abundance and his heart was lifted up in the wayes of the Lord 2 Chro. 17.6 his heart was incouraged the more in a way of holiness and when a man desires mercies quae nos ornare possunt pariter munire which may as well fortifie as adorn us Prosper The soul of a child of God desires he may have mercies that may be his defence as well as his ornament there are mercies that do adorn men but they do also insnare them and betray them to the enemy nay such a soul desires Heaven not so much for the perfection of his happiness as for the perfection of his holiness which nothing can perfect but the beatifical vision when he shall appear we shall
be like him for we shall see him as he is answerable to our vision of him such will be our conformity to him Mercies unto wicked men are suitable to their services they give to God unsanctified services and God does give them unsanctified rewards and their services are seemingly services but really sins so are the mercies that God gives them seeming blessings but really curses they are indeed blessings in the thing but as they draw out their corruptions so they are curses unto the men So Iratus dat amanti quod malè amat as Austin saies God gives it in wrath as he did to them Quails c. and though they were fed to the full yet he sends â—anness into their souls he gave them their hearts desire in wrath 5 By this Covenant you do ingage your selves that whatever God bestows in mercy you will return again in duty that you may injoy nothing apart from God but as the Lord saith of his people in Covenant they are his portion so you also say of God he is your God and as all that is in him is made over unto you so you will be his people and all that is in you shall be made over unto him and should be laid out or laid down for him and you shall resign to him whatever he shall call for and this is for a man to hate Father and Mother and his own life and acknowledge as David did of thine own have we given thee God gave it unto them and they do return it willingly unto God again that which is a Samuel asked of God shall be also lent unto the Lord and the soul never desires or expects good from any mercy from which God hath no glory for a man is a servant to God and it is all the Master 's that the servant hath of gains as the Law saith Cant. 8.11 Servi sunt res Domini quicquid acquirunt acquirunt domino c. Solomon had a Vineyard and he let it out to keepers and he expected the fruits thereof even a thousand pieces of Silver and of the Husbandmen to whom the Vineyard was committed the Lord expected fruits c. a soul is never so well pleased as when it brings forth fruit for God and lays out his strength to the uttermost that he may bring in a revenue of glory to the Lord his God 6 When all the duties of the Covenant are performed by us in the fittest time and in the highest and the best manner 1 In the fittest time as the Lord takes the fittest time to show us mercy so should we also take the fittest time to perform our duty to him and it 's a great matter to know the season there is an accepted time there is a day of salvation 2 And also we must perform it in the highest manner as David said It is for the Lord and therefore the house must be magnificent this have I done out of my poverty though he offered the wealth of a kingdom And the Lord says to Israel Wouldest thou offer this to thy prince I am a great king God expects we should perform all our duties with that reverence and exactness as we do when we offer any gift or present to a Ruler over us 2. We are to improve the Covenant in reference unto God for the obtaining all the mercies of the Covenant because therein the Lord hath in faithfulness ingaged himself Debita reddit nulli debens c. God pays debts and yet is debtor to none but to his own faithfulness So do they Isa 63.18 19. The Lord was departed and had sold them into the hand of strangers and they possessed their Land they pray Return for thy servants sake the tribes of thy inheritance the people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while we are thine thou never barest rule over them and thy name was never called upon them they were never a people whom thou tookest into Covenant as thou hast done unto us And so Isa 63.9 Be not wroth very sore nor remember our iniquity for ever behold I beseech thee we are all thy people Jer. 14.8 9. O thou the hope of Israel the saviour thereof in the time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land why shouldest thou be as a man astonished as a mighty man that cannot save if thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name Thy name is called upon us we are thy people in Covenant The Lords portion the lot of his inheritance for God is always mindful of his Covenant and in pursuance thereof he doth whatever he doth in the world if he give Christ it is with respect to the Covenant he hath raised up an horn of salvation Luk. 1.72 that is a strong and powerful Saviour for he has laid help upon one that is mighty And all is that he might perform his Covenant unto our fathers and to remember his holy Covenant Christ and all the mercies by him which are given to us are a fruit of the Covenant that was made with Christ before the world was Lev. 26.41 42. if their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they accept the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham and I will remember the land Now How should a man improve his Covenant in reference unto God 1. Consider rightly the latitude of Covenant mercies and the greatness of them for it is in this Covenant that all your salvation lies that your hearts may be carried out answerable to the vastness of the loving-kindness of God and that no mercy of the Covenant may be left unconsidered and untasted of but that you may have a taste that the Lord is gracious in every one of them and that a man may see that it is the weakness of his heart and the lowness of his spirit that he doth not press towards them all for the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.9 He labours whether present or absent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are ambitious c. habet sapientia sui generis superbiam and therefore a godly man is not willing to leave out any thing either of the graces or the priviledges of the Covenant for they are Covenant mercies that are the precious mercies of your lives the flower of all the mercies of a mans life it is therefore said to be a Covenant stablished upon better promises the first Covenant did promise life for ever in Heaven as it did threaten death for ever in Hell but yet there are better promises as he said Est aliud in Christo formosius salvatore There is something in Christ more beautiful than a Saviour so there is something in the Covenant that is better than Heaven 1 The Lord hath made over himself to us in this Covenant He is not ashamed to be called our God to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee