inquiry of every one who lies in any measure under the power of it convinced of Immortality and the Judgement to come is concerning the Righteousnesse wherewith to appeare in the presence of this Righteous God This more or lesse they are solicirous about all their days and so as the Apostle speakes Heb. 2. 15. through the feare of death they are subject to bondage all their life They are perplexed with feares about the Issue of their Righteousnesse least it should end in death and destruction Unto men set upon this Inquiry that which first and naturally presents it selfe for their direction and assistance assuredly promising them a Righteousnesse that will abide the triall of God provided they will follow its direction is the Law The Law hath many faire pleas to prevaile with a Soule to close with it for a Righteousnesse before God It was given out from God himselfe for that end and purpose it contains the whole obedience that God requireth of any of the sonnes of men it hath the promise of life annexed to it doe this and live the doers of the Law are justified and if thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandements yea it is most certaine that it must be wholly fullfilled if we ever think to stand with boldnesse before God This being some part of the plea of the Law there is no man that seeks after Righteousnesse but doth one time or another attend to it and attempt its direction many do it every day who yet will not own that so they doe This then they set themselves about labouring to correct their lives amend their ways performe the dutys required and so follow after a Righteousnesse according to the prescript of the Law And in this course doe many men continue long with much perplexity sometimes hopeing oftener fearing sometimes ready to give quite over sometimes vowing to continue their Consciences being no way satisfyed nor Rightiousnesse in any measure attained all their days After they have wearied themselves perhaps for a long season in the largenesse of their ways they come at length with feare trembling and disappointment to that conclusion of the Apostle by the workes of the Law no flesh is Justifyed and with dread Cry that if God marke what is done a misse there is no standing before him That they have this Issue the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 9. 31 32. Israel who followed after the Law of Righteousnesse attained not to the Law of Righteousnesse wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the workes of the Law it was not solely for want of indeavour in themselves that they were disappointed for they earnestly followed after the Law of Righteousnesse but from the nature of the thing it self it would not beare it Righteousnesse was not to be obtained that way for saith the Apostle if they which are of the Law be heires faith is made void and the Promise made of none effect because the. Law worketh wrath Rom. 4. 14 15. The Law it selfe is now such as that it cannot give life Gal. 3. 21. If there had been a Law given which would have given life verily Righteousnesse should have been by the Law and he gives the reason in the next verse why it could not give life because the Scripture concludes all under sinne that is it is very true and the Scripture affirmes it that all men are sinners and the Law speaks not one word to sinners but death and destruction therefore the Apostle tells us plainly that God himselfe found fault with this way of attaining Righteousnesse Heb. 8. 7 8. He complaines of it that is he declares it insufficient for that End and Purpose Now there are two considerations that discover unto men the vanity and hopelesnesse of seeking Righteousnesse in this path § 32 1. That they have already sinned for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God Rom 3. 23. this they are sufficiently sensible of that allthough they could for the time to come fullfill the whole Law yet there is a score a reckoning upon them already that they know not how to Answer for Do they consult their guide the Law it selfe how they may be eased of the account that is past it hath not one word of Direction or Consolation but bids them prepare to dye the sentence is gone forth and there is no escaping 2. That if all former debts should be blotted out yet they are no way able for the future to fulfill the Law they can as well move the earth with a finger as answer the perfection thereof and therefore as I said on this twofold account they conclude that this labour is lost by the workes of the Law shall no flesh be justified Wherefore Secondly being thus disappointed by the severity § 33 and inexorablenesse of the Law men generally betake themselves to some other way that may satisfy them as to those considerations which took them off from their former hopes and this for the most part is by fixing themselves upon some wayes of Attonement to satisfy God and helping out the rest with hopes of Mercy Not to insist on the ways of Attonement and expiation which the Gentiles had pitched on nor on the many wayes and inventions by works satisfactory of their own supererogations of others indulgences and Purgatory in the close that the Papists have found out for this End and purpose it is I say proper to all convinced persons as above to seek for a Righteousnesse partly by an endeavour to satisfy for what is past and partly by hoping after Generall Mercy This the Apostle calls a seeking for it as it were by the works of the Law Rom. 9. 32. not directly but as it were by the works of the Law making up one thing with another And he tells us what Issue they have in this businesse Chap. 10. 3. Being ignorant of the Righteousnesse of God and seeking to establish their own Righteousnesse they were not subject to the Righteousnesse of God They were by it Enemies to the Righteousnesse of God The ground of this going about to establish their own Righteousnesse was that they were ignorant of the righteousnesse of God had they known the Righteousnesse of God and what exact conformity to his will he requireth they had never undertaken such a fruitlesse businesse as to have compassed it as it were by the works of the Law yet this many will stick on a long time Something they doe something they hope for some old faults they will buy of with new obedience And this pacifies their Consciences for a season but when the Spirit comes to convince them of Righteousnesse neither will this hold wherefore 3. The matter comes at length to this Issue they look upon themselves under this twofold qualification as 1. Sinners obnoxious to the Law of God and the curse thereof so that unlesse that be satisfied that nothing from thence shall ever be laied to their
else is pretended is licentiousnesse So the Apostle argues Gal. 4. 6 7. he hath sent forth his spirit into their hearts crying Abba Father wherefore ye are no more Servants no more in bondage but have the liberty of Sons And this Liberty respects in the first place the family from whence the adopted person is translated it is his setting free from all the obligations of that family Now in this sense the liberty which the Saints have by Adoption § 12 is either from that which is reall or that which is pretended that which is reall respects a twofold issue of Law and Sinne. The morall unchangeable Law of God and Sin being in conjunction meeting with reference to any persons hath and hath had a twofold issue 1. An Oeconomicall institution of a new Law of Ordinances keeping in bondage those to whom it was given Col. 2. 14. 2. A Naturall if I may so call it pressing off those persons with its power and efficacy against sin whereof there are these parts 1. It s rigor and terror in commanding 2. It s Impossibility for accomplishment and so insufficiency for its primitively appointed end 3. The Issues of its transgression which are referred unto two heads 1. Curse 2. Death I shall speak very briefly of these because they are commonly handled and granted by all 2. That which is pretended is the power of any whatever § 13 over the conscience when once made free by Christ. First then Believers are freed from the instituted Law of Ordinances which upon the testimony of the Apostles was a yoke § 14 which neither we nor our Fathers in the faith could beare Acts 15. 10. Wherefore Christ blotted out this hand writing of Ordinances that was against them which was contrary to them and took it out of the way nayling it to his Crosse Col 2. 14. and thereupon the Apostle after a long dispute concerning the Liberty that we have from that Law concludes with this instruction Gal. 5. 1. stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free 2. In reference to the Morall Law the first thing we have liberty from is its rigor and terror in commanding Heb. 12 § 15 18 19 20 21 22. We are not come to the Mount that might be touched and that burned with fire to the whirle-wind darknesse and tempest to the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard besought that they might heare it no more But we are come to mount Sion c. As to that administration of the Law wherein it was given out with dread and terror and so exacted its obedience with rigor we are freed from it we are not called to that estate 2. It s Impossibility of accomplishment and so insufficiency § 16 for its primitive End by reason of sin Or we are freed from the Law as the instrument of Righteousnesse since by the impossibility of its fulfilling as to us it is become insufficient for any such purpose Rom. 8. 2 3. Gal. 3. 21 22 23. There being an impossibility of obtaining life by the Law we are exempted from it as to any such end and that by the righteousnesse of Christ Rom. 8. 3. 3. From the Issue of its transgression 1. § 17 Curse There is a solemne curse enwrapping the whole wrath of Cod annexed to the Law with reference to the transgression thereof and from this are we wholly at liberty Gal 3. 13. By being made a curse he hath delivered us from the curse 2. Death Heb 2. 14 15. and therewith from Satan Heb. 2. 15. Col. 1. 13. and Sin Rom. 6. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18. with the World Gal. 1. 14. with all the attendances advantages and claime of them all Gal. 4 3 4 5. Col. 2. 20. without which we could not live one day That which is pretended and claimed by some wherein indeed § 18 and in truth we were never in bondage but are hereby eminently set free is the power of binding Conscience by any Lawes and constitutions not from God Col. 2. 20. 21 22. 2. There is a Liberty in the family of God as well as a liberty § 19 from the family of Satan Sons are free their obedience is a free obedience They have the spirit of the Lord and where he is there is Liberty 2 Cor. 3. 18. as a spirit of Adoption he is opposed to the spirit of bondage Rom 8. 15. Now this liberty of our fathers family which we have as Sons and children being adopted by Christ through the spirit is a spirituall largenesse of heart whereby the children of God do freely willingly genuinely without feare terror bondage and constraint go forth unto all holy obedience in Christ. I say this is our Liberty in our Fathers family what we have liberty from hath been already declared There be Gibeonites outwardly attending the family of God that doe the service of his house as the drudgery of their lives the principle they yeeld obedience upon is a spirit of bondage unto feare Rom. 8. 15. the Rule they doe it by is the Law in its dread and rigor exacting it of them to the utmost without mercy and mitigation the End they doe it for is to fly from the wrath to come to Pacify conscience and seek righteousnesse as it were by the workes of the Law Thus servilely painfully fruitlessely they seek to serve their own conviction all their daies The Saints by Adoption have a largenesse of heart in all holy obedience saith David I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts § 20 Psal. 119. 4 5. Esay 61. 1 Luke 4 18. Rom 8. 2 21. Gal. 4. 2. 5. 1 13. Iames 1. 25. Ioh. 8. 32 33 36. Rom. 6. 18. 1 Pet. 2. 16. Now this Amplitude or Son-like freedome of the spirit in obedience consists in sundry things 1. In the Principles of all spirituall service which are Life and Love The one respecting the matter of their obedience giveing them power the other respecting the manner of their obedience giving them Joy and sweetnesse in it It is from Life that gives them power as to the matter of obedience Rom. 8. 3. The Law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus sets them free from the law of sin and death it frees them it carries them out to all obedience freely So that they walk after the Spirit v. 1. that being the Principle of their workings G. 2. 20. Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God the life which I now live in the fiesh that is the obedience which I yeeld unto God whilest I am in the flesh it is from a Principle of life Christ living in me There is then power for all living unto God from Christ in them the spirit of life from Christ carrying them out thereto The fruits of a dead root are but dead excrescencies living Acts are from a principle of life Hence you may see the
monument of the Glory of God in giving such inconceivable Excellencys to the Son of man And this is the second thing considerable for the endearing of our soules to our beloved 3. Consider that he is all this in one Person We have not been treating of two a God and a man but of one who is God and § 22 man That Word that was with God in the beginning and was God Joh. 1. 1. is also made flesh v. 14. not by a conversion of its selfe into flesh not by appearing in the outward shape and likenesse of flesh but by assuming that holy thing that was borne of the Virgin Luk. 1. 55. into personall union with himselfe Soe the Mighty God If. 9. 6. is a Child given to us that holy thing that was borne of the Virgin is called the Sonne of God Luk. 1. 35. That which made the man Christ Jesus to be a man was the union of soul and body that which made him that man and without which he was not that man was the subsistence of both united in the person of the Son of God As to the proof hereof I have spoken of it elsewhere at large I now propose it only in generall to shew the Amiablenesse of Christ on this account Here lyes hence arises the Grace Peace life and Security of the Church of all believers as by some few considerations may be clearely evinced 1. Hence was he fit to suffer and able to beare whatever was due unto us in that very Action wherein the Son of man gave himselfe a ransom for many Math. 20. 28. God Redeemed his Church with his own blood Act. 20. 28 and therein was the love of God seen that he gave his life for us I Joh. 3. 16. on this account was there room enough in his breast to receive the points of all the swords that were sharpned by the Law against us and strength enough in his shoulders to beare the burthen of that Curse that was due to us Thence was he so willing to undertake the worke of our Redemption Heb. 10. 7 8. Lo I come to do thy will O God because he knew his ability to go through with it Had he not been man he could not have suffered had he not been God his suffering could not have availed either himselfe or us he had not satisfyed the suffering of a meer man could not beare any proportion to that which in any respect was infinite Had the Great Righteous God gathered together all the sins that had been Commited by his Elect from the foundation of the world searched the bosomes of all that were to come to the end of the world taken them all from the sin of their nature to the least deviation from the rectitude of his most holy Law and the highest provocation of their Regenerate and Unregenerate Condition and laid them on a meer holy innocent Creature O how would they have overwhelmed him and buried him for ever out of the presence of Gods love Therefore doth the Apostle premise that glorious description of him to the purging of our sinne He hath spoken to us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world who being the brightnesse of his Glory and the expresse image of his person vp-holding all things by the word of his power hath purged our sinnes Heb. 1. 2 3 It was he that purged our sinnes who was the Sonne and heire of all things by whom the world was made the brightnesse of his Fathers glory and expresse image of his person He did it he alone was able to doe it God was manifested in the fiesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. for this worke the sword awaked against him that was the fellow of the Lord of Hosts Zach. 13. 7. and by the wounds of that great shepheard are the sheep healed 1 Pet. 2. 24 25. 2. Hence doth he become an endlesse bottomelesse fountain § 23 of Grace to all them that believe The fulnesse that it pleased the Father to Commit to Christ to be the great Treasury and store-house of the Church did not doth not lie in the humane natrue considered in it selfe but in the Person of the Mediator God and man Consider wherein his Communication of Grace doth consist and this will be evident The Foundation of all is laid in his satisfaction Merit purchase these are the morally procuring cause of all the Grace we receive from Christ. Hence all Grace becoms to be t his all the things of the new Covenant the promises of God all the Mercy Love Grace Glory promised became I say to be his Not as though they were all actually invested or did reside and were in the humane nature and were from thence really Communicated to us by a participation of a portion of what did so inhere but they are morally his by a Compact to be bestowed by him as he thinks good as he is Mediator God man that is the only begotten Son made flesh Ioh. 1. 14. from whose fullnesse we receive and grace for grace The reall Communication of Grace is by Christ sending the holy Ghost to regenerete us and to create all the habituall grace with the dayly supplys thereof in our hearts that we are made partakers of now the Holy Ghost is thus sent by Christ as Mediator God and man as is at large declared Ioh. 14. 15 16. of which more afterwards This then is that which I intend by this fullnesse of grace that is in Christ from whence we have both our beginning and all our supplys which makes him as he is the alpha and omega of his Church the beginner and finisher of our faith Excellent and desireable to our soules Upon the payment of the great price of his blood and full Aquitment on the satisfaction he made all Grace whatever of which at large afterwards becomes in a morall sense his at his disposall and he bestows it on or works it in the hearts of his by the holy Ghost according as in his infinite wisdome he sees it needfull How glorious is he to the Soule on this Consideration that is most Excellent to us which suites us in a wanting Condition that which gives bread to the hungry water to the Thirsty mercy to the perishing All our relifes are thus in our beloved Here is the life of our soules the joy of our hearts our reliefe against sinne and deliverance from the wrath to come 3. Thus is he fitted for a mediator a daysman an Umpire between God and us being one with him and one with us and § 24 one in himselfe in this onenesse in the Unity of one person His Ability and universall fitnesse for his office of Mediatour are hence usually demonstrated And herein is he Christ the wisedome of God and the power of God Herein shines out the infinitely glorious wisedome of God which we may better admire then expresse What soule
8. to know our selves in reference unto these three is a main part of true and sound wisdome for they all respect the supernaturall and immortall End whereunto we are appointed and there is none of these that we can attaine unto but only in Christ. 1. In respect of sinne there is a sence and knowledge of sin left in the Consciences of all men by nature To tell them what is good and evill in many things to approve and disapprove of what they doe in reference to a Judgement to come they need not goe farther then themselves Rom. 2. 14 15. But this is obscure and relates mostly to greater sinnes and is in summe that which the Apostle gives us Rom. 1. 32. they know the Judgement of God that they which doe such things are worthy of Death This he placeth among the common Presumptions and notions that are received by mankind namely that it is Righteous with God that they who doe such things are worthy of Death And if that be true which is commonly received that no Nation is so barbarous or rude but it retaineth some sense of a Deity then this also is true that there is no Nation but hath a sense of sinne and the displeasure of God for it For this is the very first notion of God in the World that he is the Rewarder of good and evill hence were all the Sacrifices purgings expiations which were so generally spread over the face of the Earth but this was and is but very dark in respect of that knowledge of sinne with its appurtenances which is to be obtained A further knowledge of sinne upon all Accounts whatever § 24 is given by the Law that Law which was added because of transgressions This revives doctrinally all that sense of good and evill which was at first implanted in man and it is a glasse whereinto whosoever is able spiritually to look may see sinne in all its uglinesse and deformity The truth is look upon the Law in its Purity Holinesse Compasse and Perfection its manner of delivery with dread terrour thunder Earthquakes fire the sanction of it in death curse wrath and it makes a wonderfull discovery of sinne upon every account its pollution guilt and exceeding sinfullnesse are seen by it But yet all this doth not suffice to give a man a true and thorough conviction of sin Not but that the Glasse is cleare but of our selves we have not eyes to look into it the Rule is streight but we cannot apply it and therefore Christ sends his Spirit to convince the World of sinne Joh 16 8. who though as to some ends and purposes he makes use of the Law yet the work of conviction which alone is an usefull knowledge of sinne is his peculiar work And so the discovery of sinne may also be said to be by Christ to be part of the Wisdome that is hid in him But yet there is a twofold regard besides this of his sending his Spirit to convince us wherein this wisdome appears to be hid in him 1. Because there are some neere concernments of sinne which are more clearly held out in the Lord Christs being made sinne for us then any other way 2. In that there is no knowledge to be had of sinne so as to give it a spirituall and saving improvement but only in him 1. For the First There are Fower things in sinne that clearly § 25 shine out in the Crosse of Christ. 1. The Desert of it 2. Mans Impotency by reason of it 3. The Death of it 4. A new end put to it 1. The desert of sinne doth clearly shine in the Crosse of Christ upon a twofold account 1. Of the Person suffering for it 2. Of the Penalty he underwent 1. Of the person suffering for it This the Scripture oftentimes very emphatically sets forth and layes great weight upon Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the World as that he sent his only begotten sonne It was his only sonne that God sent into the World to suffer for sinne Rom. 8 32. he spared not his only sonne but gave him up to death for us all To see a Slave beaten and corrected it argues a fault committed but yet perhaps the demerit of it was not very great The correction of a Sonne argues a great provocation that of an only sonne the greatest imaginable Never was sinne seen to be more abominably sinfull and full of provocation then when the burthen of it was upon the shoulders of the son of God God having made his sonne the sonne of his Love his only begotten full of Grace and Truth sinne for us to manifest his indignation against it and how utterly impossible it is that he should let the least sinne goe unpunished he lays hand on him and spares him not If sinne be imputed to the deare sonne of his bosome as upon his own voluntary assumption of it it was for he said to his Father Lo I come to doe thy will and all our iniquities did meet on him he will not spare him any thing of the due desert of it Is it not most cleare from hence even from the blood of the Crosse of Christ that such is the demerit of sinne that it is altogether impossible that God should passe by any the least unpunished if he would have done it for any he would have done it in reference to his only Sonne but he spared him not Moreover God is not at all delighted with nor desirous of the blood the teares the cryes the unexpressible torments and sufferings of the sonne of his Love for he delights not in the anguish of any he doth not i afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men much lesse the sonne of his bosome only he required that his Law be fulfilled his Justice satisfied his wrath atton'd for sinne and nothing lesse then all this would bring it about If the debt of sinne might have been compounded for at a cheaper rate it had never been held up at the price of the blood of Christ. Here then Soule take a view of the desert of sinne behold it farre more evident then in all the threatnings and curses of the Law I thought indeed mayst thou say from thence that sinne being found on such a poore worme as I am was worthy of death but that it should have this effect if charged on the sonne of God that I never once imagined 2. Consider also further what he suffered For though he § 26 was so excellent an one yet perhaps it was but a light Affliction and triall that he underwent especially considering the strength he had to beare it Why what ever it were it made this fellow of the Lord of Hosts this Lion of the Tribe of Judah this mighty one the wisdome and power of God to tremble sweat cry pray wrestle and that with strong supplications Some of the Popish devotionists tell us
made partakers of his Glory he would part with all he had for their sakes Ephes. 5. v. 25 26. There would be no end should I goe through all the instances of Christ's valuation of Believers in all their deliverances Afflictions in all conditions of sinning suffering what he hath done what he doth in his Intercession what he delivers them from what he procures for them all telling out this one thing they are the apple of his eye his Jewell his Diadem his Crowne 2. In comparison of others All the world is nothing to § 17 him in Comparison of them They are his Garden the rest of the world a Wildernesse Cant. 4. 12. A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Spring shut up a Fountaine sealed They are his inheritance the rest his enemies of no regard with him So Isa. 43. 3 4. I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour I gave Aegypt for thy ransome Ethiopia and Seba for thee since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life The reason of this dealing of Christ with his Church in parting with all others for them is because he loves her she is precious and honourable in his sight thence he puts this great esteem upon her Indeed he disposeth of all Nations and their interest according as is for the good of Believers Amos 9. 9. in all the siftings of the nations the eye of God is upon the house of Israell not a graine of them shall perish Looke to Heaven Angells are appointed to minister for them Heb. 1. 14. Look into the world the Nations in Generall are either blessed for their sakes or destroyed on their account preserved to try them or rejected for their cruelty towards them and will receive from Christ their finall doome according to their deportment towards these despised ones on this account are the pillars of the Earth borne up and patience is exercised towards the perishing world In a word there is not the meanest the weakest the poorest Believer on the earth but Christ prizeth him more then all the world besides were our hearts filled-much with thoughts hereof it would tend much to our consolation 2. To answer this Believers also value Jesus Christ they have an esteem of him above all the world and all things in the § 8 world You have been in part acquainted with this before in the account that was given of their delight in him and enquiry after him They say of him in their hearts continually as David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and whom in Earth that I desire besides thee Psal. 73. 25. Neither Heaven nor Earth will yeild them an object any way comparable to him that they can delight in 1. They value him above all other things and persons Mallem said one ruere cum Christo quam regnare cum Caesare Pulchra terra pulchrum coelum sed pulcherrimus dominus Jesus Christ and a dungeon Christ and a crosse is infinitely sweeter then a Crown a Scepter without him to their soules So was it with Moses Heb. 11. 26. He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches then the Treasures of Aegypt The reproach of Christ is the worst consequent that the wickednesse of the world or malice of Satan can bring upon the followers of him The treasures of Egypt were in those days the greatest in the world Moses despised the very best of the world for the worst of the Crosse of Christ. Indeed himselfe hath told believers that if they love any thing better then him Father or Mother they are not worthy of him A despising of all things for Christ is the very first lesson of the Gospell Give away all take up the crosse and follow me was the way whereby he try'd his Disciples of old and if there be not the same minde and heart in us we are none of his 2. They value him above their lives Act. 20. 24. My life § 10 is not deare that I may perfect my course with joy and the ministry I have received of the Lord Jesus Let life and all goe so that I may serve him and when all is done enjoy him and be made like to him It is known what is reported of Ignatius when he was lead to Martyrdome let what will said he come upon me only so I may obtaine Jesus Christ. Hence they of old rejoyced when whipped scourged put to shame for his sake Act. 5. 41. Heb. 11. all is welcome that comes from him or for him The lives they have to live the death thay have to dye is little is light upon the thoughts of him who is the stay of their lives and the end of their death Were it not for the refreshment which daily they receive by thoughts of him they could not live their lives would be a burden to them and the thoughts of enjoyment of him make them cry with Paul Oh that we were dissolved The storys of the Martyrs of old and of late the sufferers in giving witnesse to him under the Dragon and under the false Prophet the neglect of life in women and Children on his account contempt of torments whilst his name sweetned all have rendred this truth cleare to Men and Angells 3. They value him above all spirituall Excellencys and all other righteousnesse whatever Phil. 3. 7 8. Those things which were advantage to me I esteemed losse for Christ. Yea also I account all things to be losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things and doe esteem them common that I may gaine Christ and be found in him having recounted the Excellency's which he had and the priviledges which he enjoyed in his Judaisme which were all of a spirituall nature and a participation wherein made the rest of his country men despise all the world and looke upon themselves as the only acceptable persons with God resting on them for righteousnesse the Apostle tells us what is his esteem of them in Comparison of the Lord Jesus they are losse and dung things that for his sake he had really suffred the losse of that is whereas he had for many yeares been a Zealot of the Law seeking after a righteousnesse as it were by the workes of it Rom. 9. 31. instantly serving God day and night to obtaine the promise Act. 26. 7. living in all good conscience from his youth Act. 22. all the while very zealous for God and his institutions now willingly casts away all these things lookes upon them as losse and dung and could not only be contented to be without them but as for that end for which he sought after them he abhored them all When men have been strongly convinced of their duty and have laboured many yeares to keep a good Conscience have prayd and heard and done good and
Grace and infinite vertue and worth from the dignity of his Person and surely He yeelded not that long course of all manner of Obedience but for some great and speciall purpose in reference to our Salvation 4. That had not the Obedience of Christ been for us in § 17 what sense we shall see instantly it might in his life have been required of him to yeeld obedience to the Law of Nature the alone Law which he could be liable to as a man for an innocent man in a Covenant of Works as he was needs no other Law nor did God ever give any other Law to any such person the Law of Creation is all that an innocent creature is liable to with what Symbols of that Law God is pleased to adde And yet to this Law also was his subjection voluntary that not only consequentially because he was borne upon his own choyse not by any naturall course but also because as Mediator God and Man he was not by the institution of that Law obliged unto it being as it were exempted and lifted above that Law by the Hypostaticall Union yet when I say his subjection hereunto was voluntary I do not intend that it was meerely arbitrary and at choyse whither he would yeeld obedience unto it or no but on supposition of his undertaking to be a Mediator it was necessary it should be so but that he voluntarily and willingly submitted unto and so became really subject to the commands of it But now moreover Jesus Christ yeelded perfect obedience to all those Lawes which came upon us by the occasion of sinne as the Ceremoniall Law yea those very institutions that signified the washing away of sinne and Repentance from sinne as the Baptisme of John which He had no need of himselfe This therefore must needs be for us 5. That the Obedience of Christ cannot be reckoned amongst § 18 his sufferings but is clearly distinct from it as to all formalityes Doing is one thing suffering another they are in diverse predicaments and cannot be coincident See then briefely what we have obtained by those considerations and then I shall intimate what is the streame issuing from this first spring or Fountaine of purchased Grace with what influence it hath thereinto 1. By the Obedience of the Life of Christ you see what is intended his willing submission unto and perfect compleat fulfilling of every Law of God that any of the Saints of God were obliged unto It is true every Act almost of Christs obedience from the blood of his Circumcision to the blood of his Crosse was attended with suffering so that his whole life might in that regard be called a death But yet looking upon his willingnesse and obedience in it it is distinguished from his sufferings peculiarly so called and termed his Active Righteousnesse This is then I say as was shewed that compleat obsolutely perfect Accomplishment of the whole Law of God by Christ our Mediator whereby He not only did no sinne neither was there guile found in his mouth but also most perfectly fulfilled all Righteousnesse as He affirmed it became him to doe 2. That this obedience was performed by Christ not for himselfe but for us and in our stead it is true It must needs be that whilest he had his conversation in the flesh He must be most perfectly and absolutely holy But yet the prime intendment of his accomplishing of holinesse which consists in the compleat obedience of his whole life to any Law of God that was no lesse for us then his suffering death That this is so the Apostle tells us Gal. 4. 4 5. God sent forth his Sonne made of a Woman made under the Law to redeeme them that were under the Law this Scripture formerly named must be a little farther insisted on He was both made of a Woman and made under the Law that is obedient to it for us The end here both of the Incarnation and Obedience of Christ to the Law for that must needs be understood here by the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is disposed of in such a condition as that he must yeeld subjection and obedience to the Law was all to redeeme us In those two expressions made of a Woman made under the Law the Apostle doth not knit his Incarnation and death together with an exclusion of the obedience of his life And he was so made under the Law as those were under the Law whom he was to redeeme Now we were under the Law not only as obnoxious to its penalties but as bound to all the duties of it That this is our being under the Law the Apostle informes us Gal. 4. 21. Tell me yee that desire to be under the Law It was not the penalty of the Law they desired to be under but to be under it in respect of obedience Take away then the end and you destroy the meanes if Christ were not incarnate nor made under the Law for himselfe He did not yeeld obedience for himselfe it was all for us for our good let us now look forward and see what influence this hath into our acceptation 3. Then I say this perfect compleat Obedience of Christ to the Law is reckoned unto us As there is a truth in that the day thou § 20 eatest thou shalt dye death is the reward of sinne and so we cannot be freed from death but by the death of Christ Heb. 2. 13 14. So also is that no lesse true do this and live that life is not to be obtained unlesse all be done that the Law requires That is still true if thou wilt enter into life keep the commandements Math. 19. 17. they must then be kept by us or our surety Neither is it of any value which by some is objected that if Christ yeelded perfect obedience to the Law for us then are we no more bound to yeeld obedience for by his undergoing death the penalty of the Law we are freed from it I Answer How did Christ undergoe death meerely as it was penall how then are we delivered from death meerely as it is penall yet we must dye still yea as the last conflict with the effects of sinne as a passage to our Father we must dye Well then Christ yeelded perfect obedience to the Law but how did he doe it purely as it stood in that conditionall do this and live He did it in the strength of the Grace he had received He did it as a meanes of life to procure life by it as the tenour of a covenant Are we then freed from this obedience yes but how farre from doing it in our own strength from doing it for this end that we may obtaine life everlasting It is vaine that some say confidently that we must yet work for life It is all one as to say we are yet under the old covenant hoc fac vives we are not freed from obedience as a way of walking with God but we are as
purpose The most frequent Adjunct of the Communication of the Spirit is this that he is given and received as of Gift he will give his holy Spirit to them that aske him that which is of gift is free the Spirit of grace is given of grace And not only the Spirit of Sanctification or the Spirit to Sanctifie convert us is a gift of free grace but in the sence whereof we speak in respect of consolation he is of gift also he is promised to be given unto Believers Hence the Spirit is said to be received by the Gospell not by the Law Gal. 3. 2 that is of meer grace not of our own procuring And all his workings are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free donations He is freely bestowed and freely workes and the different measures wherein he is received for those ends and purposes of consolation which we shall consider by Believers which are great various and unexpressable arise from hence that we have him by donation or freegift And this is the Tenor whereby we hold and enjoy him a Tenor of free donation So is he to be eyed so to be asked so to be received And this also faith takes in and closeth withall in our Communion with the Comforter The Conjunction and accord of his Will with the Guift of Father and Sonne The one respecting the distinct operation of the Deity in the Person of the Holy Ghost the other the oeconomy of the whole Trinity in the worke of our Salvation by Jesus Christ. Here the Soul rejoyceth its selfe in the Comforter that he is willing to come to him that he is willing to be given him And seeing all is Will and Gift Grace is magnifyed on this account 2. The Authority of it thence he is said to be SENT § 16 Chap. 14. 26. the Father will send him in my name and Chap. 15. 26. I will send him unto you from the Father and him will I send to you chap 16. 17. This mission of the holy Ghost by the Father and the Son as it answers the order of the persons subsistence in the blessed Trinity and his procession from them both so the order voluntarily engaged in by them for the accomplishment as was said of the worke of our Salvation There is in it in a most speciall manner the Condescension of the Holy Ghost in his Love to us to the Authoritative delegation of Father and Son in this businesse which argues not a disparity dissimilitude or inequality of Essence but of Office in this worke It is the Office of the Holy Ghost to be an Advocate for us and a Comforter to us in which respect not absolutely he is thus sent Authoritatively by Father and Sonne It is a known maxime that Inaequalitas officii non tollit aequalitatem naturae This subjection if I may so call it or inequality in respect of office doth no way's prejudice the equality of nature which he hath with Father and Sonne no more then the mission of the Son by the Father doth his And on this Authoritative mission of the Spirit doth the right Apprehensions of many mysterys in the Gospell and the ordering of our hearts in Communion with him depend Hence is the sinne against the Holy Ghost what it is I doe § 17 not now dispute unpardonable and hath that Adjunct of Rebellion put upon it that no other sin hath namely because he comes not he acts not in his own name only though in his own also but in the name and Authority of the Father Son from and by whom he is sent and therefore to sinne against him is to sinne against all the Authority of God all the Love of the Trinity and the utmost condescension of each person to the worke of our Salvation It is I say from the Authoritative mission of the Spirit that the sinne against him is peculiarly unpardonable It is a sin against the recapitulation of the love of the Father Son and Spirit And from this consideration were that our present businesse might the true nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost be investigated Certainely it must consist in the contempt of some operation of his as acting in the name and Authority of the whole Trinity and that in their ineffable condescension to the worke of Grace But this is of another Consideration 2. On this account we are to pray the Father and the Son § 18 to give the Spirit to us Luk. 11. 13. your Heavenly Father will give his holy Spirit to them that aske him now the Holy Ghost being God is no lesse to be invocated praied to and called on then the Father and Son as elsewhere I have proved how then doe we aske the Father for him as we doe in all our Supplications seeing that we also pray that he himselfe would come to us visite us and abide with us In our prayers that are directed to himselfe we consider him as essentially God over all blessed for evermore we pray for him from the Father and Sonne as under this mission and delegation from them And indeed God having most plentifully revealed himselfe in the order of this dispensation to us we are as Christians generally do in our Communion to abound in answerable addresses that is not onely to the Person of the holy Ghost himselfe but properly to the Father and Son for him which refers to this dispensation 3. Hence is that great weight in particular laid upon our § 19 not grieving the spirit Eph. 4. 30. because he comes to us in the name with the Love and upon the condescension of the whole blessed Trinity To doe that which might grieve him so sent on such an account for that end and purpose which shall afterwards be mentioned is a great aggravation of sinne He expects cheerfull entertainment with us and may do so justly upon his own account and the account of the work which he comes about but when this also is added that he is sent of the Father and the Son commissioned with their Love and Grace to communicate them to their soules this is that which is or ought to be of unspeakable esteeme with Believers And this is that second thing expressed in the manner of his communication he is sent by Authority He is said to be powred out or shed on us Titus 3. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 20 that holy Ghost which he hath richly powred out upon us or shed on us abundantly And this was the chiefe expression of his communication under the old Testament the mystery of the Father and the Son and the matter of commission and delegation being then not so clearly discovered Isaiah 32. 15. untill the spirit be powred on us from on high and the wildernesse be a fruitfull field and the fruitfull field be counted for a forrest that is 'till the Gentiles be called and the Jews rejected and chap. 43 3 I will powre my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon
sheds him abundantly or powers him on us so He sheds abroad or powres out the Love of God in our hearts Not to insist on the expression which is Metaphoricall the businesse is that the Comforter gives a sweet and plentifull Evidence and perswasion of the Love of God to us such as the soule is taken delighted satiated withall This is his work and he doth it effectually To give a poore sinfull soule a comfortable perswasion affecting it throughout in all its faculties and affections that God in Jesus Christ loves him delights in him is well pleased with him hath thoughts of tendernesse and kindnesse towards him to give I say a soule an overflowing sence hereof is an unexpressible mercy This we have in a peculiar manner by the H. Gh it is his proper work as all his works are works of Love and kindnes so this of § 9 communicating a sense of the Love of the Father mixes it self with all the particulars of his actings And as we have herein peculiar communion with himselfe so by him we have communion with the Father even in his Love which is thus shed abroad in our hearts so not only do we rejoyce in and Glorify the Holy Ghost which doth this work but in him also whose love it is Thus is it also in respect of the Sonne in his taking of His and showing of it unto us as was declared What we have of heaven in this World lyes herein and the manner of our fellowship with the Holy Ghost on this account falls in with what was spoken before 4. Another Effect we have of his Rom. 8. 16. The spirit it selfe § 10 bears witnesse with our spirits that we are the Children of God You know whose Children we are by nature children of Satan and of the curse or of wrath By the Spirit we are put into another capacity and are Adopted to be the children of God inasmuch as by receiving the spirit of our Father we become the children of our Father Thence is he called v. 15. the Spirit of Adoption Now sometimes the soule because it hath somewhat remaining in it of the principle that it had in its old condition is put to Question whether it be a child of God or no and thereupon as in a thing of the greatest importance puts in its claime with all the Evidences that it hath to make good its Title The spirit comes and beares witnesse in this case An allusion it is to judiciall proceedings in point of Titles and Evidences The Judge being set the person concerned layes his claime produceth his Evidences and pleads them his Adversaries endeavouring all that in them lies to invalidate them and disanull his plea and to cast him in his claime In the middest of the triall a person of known and approved integrity comes into the Court and gives Testimony fully and directly on the behalfe of the claimer which stops the mouthes of all his Adversaries and filles the man that pleaded with joy and satisfaction So is it in this case The soule by the power of its own Conscience is brought before the Law of God there a man puts in his plea that He is a Child of God that he belongs to Gods family and for this end produceth all his Evidences every thing whereby Faith gives him an interest in God Satan in the mean time opposeth with all his might sinne and Law assist him many flawes are found in his Evidences the Truth of them all is questioned and the soule hangs in suspence as to the issue In the middest of the plea and contest the Comforter comes and by a word of promise or otherwise overpowers the heart with a comfortable perswasion and bears downe all objections that his plea is good and that he is a child of God And therefore it is said of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When our Spirits are pleading their Right and Title He comes in and bears witnesse on our side at the same time enabling us to put forth acts of filiall obedience kind and Child like which is called crying Abba father Remember still the manner of the Spirit 's working before mentioned that he doth it effectually voluntarily and freely Hence sometimes the dispute hangs long the cause is pleading many years The Law seems sometimes to prevaile sin and Satan to rejoyce and the poor soule is filled with dread about its inheritance perhaps it s own witnesse from its Faith Sanctification former experience keeps up the plea with some life and comfort but the work is not done the conquest is not fully obtained untill the Spirit who worketh freely and effectually when and how he will comes in with his Testimony also cloathing his power with a word of promise he makes all parties concerned to attend unto him and puts an end to the Controversy Herein he gives us holy Communion with himselfe The soule knows his voyce when he speaks nec hominem sonat There is something too great in it to be the Effect of a created power When the Lord Jesus Christ at one word stilled the raging of the Sea and Wind all that were with him knew there was Divine power at hand Math. 4. 39. And when the Holy Ghost by one word stills the tumults and stormes that are raised in the Soule giving it an immediate calme and security it knows his divine power and rejoyces in his presence 5. He seales us We are sealed by the holy Spirit of promise Eph. § 11 1. 13. and grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption chap. 4. 30. I am not very clear in the certaine peculiar intendment of this Metaphor what I am perswaded of the mind of God in it I shall briefely impart In a seale two things are Considered 1. The nature of it 2. The use of it The nature of sealing consists in the imparting of the image or character of the seale to the thing sealed This is to seale a thing to stampe the character of the seale on it In this sense the effectuall Communication of the image of God unto us should be our sealing The Spirit on Believers really communicating the image of God in Righteousnesse and true Holinesse unto the Soule sealeth us To have this stamp of the Holy Ghost so as to be an evidence unto the soul that it is accepted with God is to be sealed by the spirit taking the Metaphor from the nature of sealing And in this sense is our Saviour said to be sealed of God Joh. 6. 27. even from that impression of the power wisedome and majesty of God that he had upon him in the discharge of his Office 2. The End of sealing is twofold 1. To confirme or ratify any grant or conveiance made in writing In such cases men § 12 set their seales to make good and confirme their grants and when this is done they are irrevocable Or to confirme the testimony that is given by any one of the