their much speaking and stand upon their justification I fast twice in the week and pay tythe of all that I possess says the Pharisee The Apostle Rom. 9.31 says They followed after the righteousness of the Law by their own performance of the works of the Law And to this end because they could not rise up to the spirituality of the Law they did therefore bring down the Law by their interpretation unto their own obedience and all was to make their own righteousness available for justification Therefore Paul saith Concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless Phil. 3. The young man says All these have I kept from my youth Therefore the Papists teach That men may perfectly fulfill the Law Bellar. de Justific l. 2. c. 2 3. and do also some works of Supererogation over and above the Law that the formal cause of Justification is inherent righteousness though Christs righteousness is the meritorious cause Christ having merited that our righteousness may justifie c. And though not works by nature yet by Grace even Faith it self as a work is that which God accepts being performed by us instead of all the righteousness required in the Moral Law These and many more are the ways by which men seek to establish their own righteousness in matter of Justification 2 As for Salvation also All men would be working and doing something for Heaven Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life What shall we do to work the works of God Joh. 6. They were all upon a way of doing they did expect a reward for all They had a high esteem of their own services and therefore they did boast themselves and glory in them it 's the law of saith only excludes boasting Rom. 3.27 The Creature being sinful is lifted up by works proud of a little God knows And therefore Jehu says Come see my zeal for the Lord of hosts and there is nothing in the world that the pride of man will appear more in than in righteousness for pride is an overweening apprehension of a mans own excellency and the higher the excellency the greater the pride Rom. 7.9 I was alive says Paul without the Law alive in performances and alive in presumptions he thought he had done much for God and therefore his zeal did rise to a madness in persecuting of the Church It 's a hard matter for a man to be a painful Preacher a zealous professor a faithful Statesman or a man that has laid out himself for the publick any way but his heart will swell with privy pride therein yea even though he do profess to despise and to disesteem the praise of men § 3. But now more particularly so far as any man does not submit unto the righteousness and the grace of the second Covenant so far he manifests his desire to be still under the first Covenant but all men by nature refuse to submit to the righteousness and the offers of the second Covenant and therefore they desire to continue under the first The Scripture speaks of mens actions and dispositions many times interpretatively not as they are in the intention of the sinner but as they are in truth and in the interpretation of God Prov. 8. ult Men are said to love death all those that hate wisdom and despise Christ and live without him love death Now men will all say that they do hate death but yet in Gods interpretation they hating the only way and means to life they do all of them love death So we read in Ezech. 8.5 They did these abominations that I might go far from my sanctuary It was not their intention in so doing actually and formaliter but interpretative it was because they had set up an image of jealousie in the Sanctuary which would provoke God to remove and yet if they had been asked they would all have said they would by no means have the glory of the Lord to remove So men do not actually desire to be under the first Covenant but yet so long as they reject the offers and the grace of the second so long in Gods interpretation they do desire to be under the Law still and their rejection of the better Covenant offered argues they like and love that under which they are and reject the righteousness of God which is the same which is called the righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of faith as the Apostle says Phil. 3.9 Not having my own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is of God by faith And it 's called the righteousness of God partly because it is found out by God and by God only imputed and therefore is only an act of free grace whereby God will make a sinner righteous before him Rom. 1.17 and partly because Christ offered himself by the eternal spirit without spot to God which is his own Divine nature and so unto all the actions and the sufferings of his Humanity the Godhead gave an efficacy and an excellency even from his person they being all the actions and sufferings of him that was both God and Man And unto this righteousness men through the pride and unbelief of their spirits and contrariety to the Gospel will not submit They have not subjected themselves unto the righteousness of God 1. All a man's sins do stand out and will not submit to the righteousness of God for whoever imbraces the offer of the second Covenant and the grace thereof must take Christ for Sanctification 1 Cor. 1. as well as for Justification for he is made both and he came with water and blood to answer those ways of legal purification and so he must come into every soul but above all sins a mans darling his right hand and his right eye must be parted with and therefore Christ says Joh. 5.44 How can you believe that seek honour one of another The power of any lust in the soul will keep it from believing and accepting of the grace and mercy that 's offered in the second Covenant And so through the power and dominion of sin men cannot submit to the righteousness of God And how miserably is many a man held in captivity this way we all see they are by the snares of darkness led captive by Satan at his will 2. All the gifts and abilities that are in a man are against it for faith is the highest self-denial 2 Cor. 8.2 and gifts do puff up and therefore not many wise are called The wisdom of this world is enmity against God and all their parts and learning their wisdom whether it be natural or acquired doth make them but the stronger enemies and set them the farther off from Christ Hab. 2.4 now this stands in the most direct opposition to faith for that soul that is lifted up his heart is not upright in him In troublesome times to have a mans heart born up by a fleshly prop
a seal of the Covenant which he had broken and in flying unto the seal of this Covenant he might still seek righteousness and life thereby if not in a natural way as a Creature yet in a spiritual way as a Sacrament And he might think the same Covenant remained of which he did still enjoy the seal therefore to shew that there was no way to attain life by that Covenant broken God shuts him out from the seal of it also because he had appointed a way to life for man by Christ a far more glorious tree of life who is therefore said to be in the middle of the Paradise of God And this is a more glorious way for God because in it his justice shall be seen and satisfaction given and a safer way for man also wherefore seeing that to the first tree of life he had still access and the Lord perceiving in man this disposition to depend on it he not only forbids it but placeth an Angel with a sword drawn to keep him from it that he might have no hopes of life in this way either by it as a Creature or by it as a Sacrament Afterwards Cain was a son begotten in the image of his father he offered Sacrifices but it was not in faith or with an expectation to be accepted in the promised seed Heb. 11.4 and yet he expected to be accepted and when he saw he was not his pride was turned into rage and great discontent Gen. 4.5 and his countenance fell But upon what ground did Cain expect acceptance it was for the work done only and therefore all unregenerate men that come to God in a legal way Luther calls Cainistas Deo offerentes non personam sed opus personae Cainists offering to God not the person but the work of the person Which shewed plainly that he expected to have been accepted and rewarded for his work done alone according to the tenure of the first Covenant without a Mediator and therefore God speaks to him according to the rules of his own Covenant as Divines commonly observe If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted This being the great difference between the two Covenants in the first Covenant the person is accepted for the works but in the second the works are accepted for the persons sake And when the Lord took the people of Israel unto himself as a peculiar people of all the Nations of the Earth and entered into a Covenant with them though God did not intend to set up this Law alone as a rule by which any man since the fall should attain righteousness and life but as a Covenant of Grace with Evangelical offers of Grace to bring them to Christ and therefore gave it in the hand of a Mediator yet the Lord kept it in the form of a Covenant of Works that it might be the more effectual to drive men to Christ and so serve Gods ends But they stuck to the Law as a Covenant of Works even the generality of that people and did seek righteousness and life by the obedience of it and it grew even the common sense of the Nation as we see it in the young man Mat. 19.16 What shall I do to inherit Eternal life Eternal life he thought must be got in a way of doing and it was the error which prevailed amongst the Pharisees the most learned amongst the Jews Phil. 3.6 7. Paul counted his former legal righteousness gain to him pro merito that which should bring him in a great revenue of glory at last And it is recorded by the Apostle as the great sin of their Nation Rom. 10.4 to go about to establish their own righteousness and not submit to the righteousness of God not to look upon Christ as the end of the Law for righteousness unto every one that believes And when the partition-wall was broken down and God had lifted up Christ as an Ensign to the Nations the Law went forth of Zion and the waters issued out of the Sanctuary these were the first tares which the envious man did sow to put men upon setting up the Law as a Covenant and to seek life upon impossible conditions as by their perfect fulfilling of it and therefore they must do as the Pharisees did when they could not come up to the Law they must by their own interpretations as well as their traditions bring the Law down to them and enervate the Law And therefore the Apostle takes much pains to confute it and to perswade us against seeking righteousness and life by the works of the Law Rom. 3.4 Gal. 2.3 4. and Satan being beaten out of this then his next design is to seek to join both Covenants together and perswade men to seek righteousness and life by fulfilling the Law and believing in Christ also And so partly by our own obedience we shall be justified and accepted and wherein we come short Christs righteousness comes in to make it up We read in Act. 15.5 that there were some of the sect of the Pharisees that did believe and had received Christ as Mediator and acknowledged him that yet said It was needful and they ought in duty to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses Which Doctrine afterward the Apostles and the Church of Jerusalem disavow as a thing they had no warrant for to preach So in Act. 21.20 there were many thousands that believed and yet were leavened with this error they were all jealous of the Law which made the Apostle speak so exclusively as he does Rom. 3.28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law And since the Primitive times we see what Doctrine has been found out by the Papists that good works do justifie a man in the sight of God and Christ has merited this that opera renatorum good works after conversion shall be the matter of their righteousness and Christ will supply what is wanting And hence it 's taught That they may fulfill the Law nay do more than the Law requires in works of Supererogation c. And others turn Faith into a work and say That it's faith that 's accepted of God as the matter of our righteousness instead of the righteousness of the Moral law and not the righteousness of Christ made ours by imputation And he that shall observe what confidence men do place in their works how they labour for life and rest in the duty done and expect acceptance for it and how they boast themselves of their own performances and how far most men are after a duty from a humble looking up to Christ for acceptance of it as if they had done nothing for a man should indeed work as if he expected to be accepted for his works and yet rest as perfectly in Christ for acceptation as if he had done nothing he shall see that it is a disposition that is deeply rooted in men to expect justification by their works § 2.
Gen. 4.14 Every one that meets me will kill me Now when men are acted by this spirit from day to day they are full of guilt and fear and all this does not awaken them to seek out for a remedy and to cry out unto Christ from day to day for a spirit of adoption the spirit of a child in Gods account they are well pleased with it and they desire it As a man that walks in the ways of sin and is acted by the spirit of the world and groans not under it but is willingly led captive by Satan at his will he desires to be acted by that spirit so a man that walks under bondage from day to day and sees not his misery desires to be led by the spirit of bondage which is the spirit of the first Covenant 2. This spirit has suitable fruits As the spirit of Adoption is a spirit of love and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost so it 's with men also that are acted by a spirit of bondage that spirit has its fruits also and they are commonly such as these three 1 They that are under this Covenant do place their Religion in outward performances There was a righteousness that the Pharisees had under which they rested and that was making clean the outside of the cup and platter as a whited wall as a painted sepulchre and their Consciences are satisfied with it as it was in Paul before the commandment came and sin revived he was as concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless 2 They do all their services without a Mediator they do not bring their sacrifice to the Priest the Lord Christ and they do not bring their Incense to be mixed with his odours but they come in their own names and offer services unto God immediately without a Priest and though they may talk of Christ yet they come not to him for acceptance and to have the iniquity of their holy things taken away but if the duty be done they expect it shall be accepted 3 They do all with a legal spirit performing it as a task and are glad it is over It is by the second Covenant that the yoke of Christ is easie it is otherwise such a yoke that man cannot bear Rom. 7.6 Men serve not in the newness of the spirit but in the oldness of the letter To serve in the newness of the spirit is to serve spiritu novo spontaneo with a new free spirit and therefore in the oldness of the letter that is in a slavish and a servile manner when a man only looks at the duty commanded without as a task as an act of obedience but not as an act of faith Heb. 8. It is the second Covenant that writes the Law in the heart and makes the duties sweet and pleasant unto a man by putting into a man an inward principle of love answerable unto the things that are required putting into a man an inward disposition answerable to the Law that a man delights in the Law according to the inward man and men living in the strength of a legal spirit contenting and pleasing themselves therein this is a plain argument that they are acted by the spirit of the first Covenant and bring forth the fruits thereof and their contentedness under it shews that they desire and love so to be SECT II. The Causes why men desire to be under the Law § 1. BUt how can this be that men knowing themselves sinners and under the curse of the Law and that unto justification by the Law a perfect obedience is required which it is no more possible for them to yield than it is to stay the Sun in its course or remove the Earth out of its place and therefore the life promised therein is unto man fallen upon an impossible condition because all the imaginations of his heart are evil and only evil continually and in his life there dwells no good thing and therefore it is said to gender to bondage and all that are under it are bondmen The case standing thus How comes it to pass that there should be in the heart of man a continual desire to be under this Covenant still The grounds of it are taken from a threefold principle that is in the heart of man A principle 1 of Ignorance 2 Of Enmity 3 Of Pride 1. From a principle of Ignorance and that 1 of the Law and the nature of the first Covenant and mens condition under it 2 Of the Righteousness of Christ and the Glory of the second Covenant 1. Ignorance of the Law and mens state under that Covenant 1 Men are naturally ignorant of Gods intent in giving the Law and therefore look upon it as a Covenant by which they should attain righteousness and life Mat. 19.20 Christ answers the young man according to his own principles Good Master saith he what shall I do to inherit eternal life Christ replys Keep the Commandments For he looked upon it as a way of obedience in which he should attain Salvation And so all men would work for life and that is given as the reason why the Galatians were so greatly bewitched by false teachers and drawn away from the truth of the Gospel to join something of the Law with Christ in the matter of Justification because they did not know wherefore the Law was given Gal. 3.19 20. They seeing a Covenant made with Abraham and a promise of free grace and of righteousness and life without works an inheritance by promise and 430 years after a Law given requiring works and promising life upon perfect obedience thereof they did not know how to conceive but that either God did repent of and revoke his former Covenant or else they must be both joined together in the matter of Justification and life now to answer this the Apostle acquaints them with the end why God did give the Law it was not to set it up as a Covenant alone that any man should attain righteousness and life thereby for unto man a sinner it is impossible and inexorable it can neither be obeyed nor endured but he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was not given as a Covenant by which men should attain life as it was to Adam in the state of innocency as if God did intend any man should be saved thereby neither was it published to make void the Covenant of Grace but it was added not by way of opposition but subordination that it might be as Hagar to Sarah a handmaid to further the ends of the Gospel and to advance the grace of it that it might be as the avenger of blood to the City of refuge and make men look for the Law in the Ark Christ Who is the end of the law for justification and that it might be the perfect rule of the obedience of the Gospel This men being ignorant of they look upon the Law as a Covenant of works and all that they do in obedience thereunto is to gain
threefold power sin has from the law 1 Of condemnation and so the law saith Luther that is weak through the flesh for justification is through the flesh powerful to condemnation The law does strengthen sin by its condemning power 2 Of Conviction for the discovery of sin is by the law and it 's through the law only that sin does trouble the Conscience and convince the sinner Paul saith I was alive without the law once i. e. in his unregenerate estate but his sins were before alive only they lay hid as colours in the dark Now when the Commandment came sin did appear to be sin it being discovered thereby so that the strength of sin as to Conviction is by the law 3 As to Irritation By the law lust is drawn forth and improved and provoked and so sin receives a power from the law also and therefore they that have the clearest discoveries of the law their sins are improved and made stronger than other mens as it appears by the people of Israel Zech. 5.6 8. there was an Ephah Zech. 5.6 8. which is the greatest dry measure amongst the Jews and it is wickedness that is in it that sets forth the fulness of their sins and we see what it was that did fill it up sin taking occasion from the Commandment Jer. 1.11 as a rod of an Almond-tree their sins did ripen in the greatest colds that which a man would have thought should have been a means to have kept sin under that was a means to improve and increase it As a basket of Summer-fruits which is sooner ripe than other fruits Jer. 24.2 Amos 8.1 they were divided into two sorts the good figs very good but the bad very bad such as could not be eaten the rain does ripen the briers and thorns as well as the corn Heb. 6.7 8. therefore the law of God does improve mens sins and ripen them and hasten judgment for them 1. In every unregenerate man there is the seed of all sin Rom. 1.26 Act. 13.10 they are filled with the fruits of all unrighteousness full of all subtlety and all mischief a fountain of sin a treasury a bundle of folly Let Satan come when he will and he will find something that is in us Though all sins break not forth actually in every man yet vertually and seminally all sins are in every man 2. Lusts are acted and drawn forth by degrees as water out of a fountain it casts not forth all at once your experience teaches that the more it is drawn the quicker the spring is no man is suddenly very bad sin ripens as a child in the womb first lust is conceived Jam. 1.14 Ezek. 7.10 Isa 59.4 and then it brings forth sin and sin finished brings forth death It first brings forth the bud and then the blossom and afterward the fruit as Serpents do first the egg and afterwards the Cocatrice c. 3. Unto men in an unregenerate state there is nothing that is not a means to draw out and improve their lusts and this is the curse upon every thing unto them and therefore Tit. 1.15 To the unclean all things are unclean Rom. 8.28 To a gracious heart all things work together for his good because they are all means to subdue his corruption and improve his graces so to another man all things improve his corruption 1 All Creatures 1 Joh. 2.16 whatsoever is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye or the pride of life There is no Creature but draws out some lust or other and therefore the lust is put for the thing it self for every Creature shall improve his corruption there is nothing that he sees with his eyes but sin takes occasion by it to make the man more exceeding sinful If he look upon the Sun in its brightness his heart is enticed c. He cannot look upon a woman but to lust after her they have eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2.14 2 All opportunities draw out his corruption as Gehazi said As the Lord liveth I will go after him and get something of him And the Harlot Prov. 7. The good man is gone from home c. 3 All estates do draw out his corruption if in prosperity he does wax fat and kick and as the pasture so is his filling his heart is lifted up and he forgets the Lord and if afflicted with Ahaz he sins yet more so that sin takes occasion by all the ways and dispensations of God towards the man and as sin is improved and takes all occasion by all other things so it does by the law of God also and so as a godly man grows from grace to grace from faith to faith so does a wicked man from sin to sin from one degree of wickedness to another § 3. But the main thing in opening of the point is this How sin takes occasion by the Commandment and what improvement the law that forbids sin and discovers sin can give unto it There are several acts of the law by which sin is improved Rom. 7. 1. The law as a glass doth discover sins I had not known lust but by the law says the Apostle Paul Now in this sin takes occasion by the Commandment three ways 1 It does act many sins because they are forbidden that there is nothing in the sin that should else carry the heart to it but only we affect things forbidden In sins where there is neither pleasure nor profit yet how do the hearts of men run out to them even to new oaths and new-invented blasphemies as if they were the flowers of speech for which no man can give a reason but this because it is forbidden As Hyperius gives advice unto Divines not to revive ancient Heresies in their reproofs lest thereby they do teach men those errors they went about to refute For the very hearing of a blasphemy is enough to take the heart as we see by experience daily and the very speaking of some things as sins is enough to draw out the lusts of men towards them Thus sin takes occasion by the Commandment 2 The discovery of the Law makes sin the more exceeding sinful because it is against light which shews it unto his Conscience and yet the man does it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment to become the more out of measure sinful 1 When the Commandment forbids and discovers a thing to be evil and sin takes occasion thereby to mince it and in a politick manner to conceal it self Sin would do the thing and yet elude the force and the spirituality of the Law as the Pharisees the Law said Thou shalt not swear but they said to swear by Heaven is lawful and it is lawful to swear by the Temple but not by the Gold of the Temple The Law saith Men should nourish their Parents but they said it is Corban a gift c. And so the discovery of the Law makes a
Christ If he had not spoken to them they had had no sin but now they had no cloak for their sin To the unclean all things are unclean Tit. 1.15 And all those things that are means of cleansing to the Saints they are unto unregenerate men means of polluting Mercies Afflictions Ordinances that which is the refiners fire and the Lords furnace to the one it proves not so to the other but the bellows are burnt and the wicked are not taken away yet the people are not purged c. and so by their means of cleansing they become so much the more exceedingly unclean and above all things in the world herein does the curse lye that it defiles the soul and prepares it for eternal wrath The word that goes out of my mouth shall not return unto me void or in vain Though it may and commonly doth return in vain in respect of any profit unto them that hear it but it shall not return in vain in respect of the corruptions and pollutions it leaves upon the soul it may not profit them but it shall pollute them There are in the Law of God several Properties and sin takes occasion from them all 1. There is a spiritual depth in it that reason and all the natural abilities of a man cannot understand as we see 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man perceiveth not the things of God The word in the Greek signifies a man with all the abilities and possibilities of nature however raised and improved yet there is something in the Law of God that it cannot attain unto there is a literal rational part of the Law that men may know but there is a spiritual part of it that they cannot know and therefore Mat. 13.13 Seeing they see not there is something in the Law that they do see and something that they do not see they cannot see that that is above the search and the discovery of reason at the highest and best and therefore the wisest men in the world have been blind therein so that we may say where is the wise man the scribe and the disputer of this world 1 Cor. 1. Here is only place for Faith the Law cannot be known but by a spirit of revelation as David prays Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonders out of thy Law Now from hence sin takes occasion by the Commandment and it will not believe what it cannot comprehend The Athenian Philosophers laught at the Resurrection and the Corinthian Doctors counted the preaching of the Cross foolishness that ever any man should believe Salvation by a Crucified Saviour and the Jews derided it in Christ that he should be the Saviour of others who could not save himself c. And truly this has been the great reason of all the Heresies that have been in the world because there is a wisdom of the flesh Rom. 8. that is not subject unto the law of God neither can it be that will undertake to try the deep mysteries of the Word and to weigh them by her ballance and so because it cannot understand them it rejects them This was the ground of all Heresie from the beginning and Luther says Superbia mater omnium haereticorum pride is the mother of all heresies and so Augustin Page 20. and Polycarp in his Epistle ad Philip. when he would describe the Hereticks of those first times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to methodise the Oracles of God according to mens pleasure is the first-born of Satan And this has been the occasion taken by men to deny the Trinity of Persons and the Personal Union of Christ the Godhead of the Holy Ghost and of all the errors of the Socinians and the Arminians And this has made Popery and all those things take so with men because they are both agreeable to reason and to lust and Popery being a Doctrine so exactly fitted to corrupt reason it did so easily overspread the whole face of the world but sin takes occasion from a profoundness and depth of things revealed in the Law to deny them and deride them as foolishness 2. They are not only above reason and so rejected because they are above it but there is a plainness and simplicity in the Gospel and a great deal of seeming meanness and folly and there is much in reason to be said against it and here men are offended and they stumble at it For a man to forsake Father and Mother and to hate them yea and his own life also to lay down all when the Lord shall call for it rather than to offend him or dishonour him in the least for a man to go sell all that he has that he may have treasure in Heaven there is much that reason has to say against this a man looks at it as folly and such Doctrines he is offended at And this is the true reason of all the human ornaments and blandishments that men desire in the dispensation of the Word that there may be something to take the fancy while the Conscience does evade the blow 3. The Law is hard to be understood and therefore men put variety of interpretations upon it and are said to wrest the word they put false glosses upon it 2 Pet. 3.16 and in this the corruptions of men are drawn forth and take occasion to stand for them being put to it as the Pharisees were who did unlord the Law and take away the ruling power of it by putting a sence upon it that the Spirit of God never intended and so by subtil distinctions and evasions take away the spiritual part of the Law 4. The Law hath a difficulty and impossibility unto man faln and at this men are offended and say who can be saved and they reject it as impossible for the law is weak through the flesh 1 Cor. 10.25 Rom. 8.3 and by the works of it can no man be justified in the sight of God Men object God does require that of the Creature which it cannot perform and how can this stand with the justice of God The Law was not originally impossible for man had an ability perfectly to obey it but it is now become accidentally impossible it is through the flesh weak and so Legally impossible but Evangelically possible 5. From Satans working with the Law and God giving a man over unto his power and the efficacy of his deceit to a blind mind and a hard heart and a desperate resolution in a way of sinning There is a double design that the Devil has upon man 1 He would conform him to himself and stamp upon him his own image and therefore in all bodily lusts and acts of collateral enmity his aim is to draw men unto direct enmity thence he can be content to go out of men in many outward and gross lusts that he may draw them into spiritual wickedness the more and the more any man comes unto that the more perfectly he is a Devil Satans aim is
to the terms of the same Covenant and these are the grounds why the way of Translation must be a way of Union SECT III. What the difference in a mans state before and after his Translation is Q. 3. WHat is the difference in a mans state before and after his translation How is a a mans condition changed from what it was before 1. His state is changed in Gods account and the Lord looks upon him no more as the Son of Adam and as growing upon the old root though God has in his eternal Purpose chosen his elect in Christ and given them to him before the world began yet they are not actually in him according to the rules of the word till they be converted and ingrafted into him and therefore they as well as others are dead in trespasses and sins and are without God and without Christ in the World Rom. 4.16 Gal. 4. But being once converted Abraham is their Father and Sarah is their Mother and they are Children of the bondwoman no more 2. Being in Christ and their Covenant changed they are under the Law and the rigour of it no more For that requires perfect holiness to justification and life in a mans own person Rom. 10.5 Rom. 5.16 17. The righteousness that is of the Law saith This do and thou shalt live And therefore it 's said By the offence of one man death reigned and not only so but it 's also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one offence But now faith is imputed unto a man for righteousness not of him that works but of him that believes in him that justifies the ungodly 3. Before he was under the Curse of the Law and the condemnation of it For the Law says Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book But now Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ there is a Supersedeas for the Curse Gal. 3.13 He has delivered us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us 4. Before he had right to no promise to no blessing by promise but now he is become an heir of Promise Gal. 4.28 We as Isaac are children of the promise c. There is a double right unto blessings there is a right of providence and of promise a jus politicum a jus evangelicum a publick and evangelick right An unregenerate man may have a right of Providence to Blessings but it is only a man in Christ that has a right of Promise and though he possesseth nothing yet he has a jus haereditarum an hereditary right hereditary to all things All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.22 5. A mans covenant being changed God is reconciled for the Covenant is a Covenant of reconciliation so that the Lord does look on him as an enemy no more A man stands in no relation unto God before his Covenant is changed but as he is Gods creature but when there is a translation out of the first Covenant into the second a man is said to be in God and to dwell in God and God in him God is now Christs Father and our Father his God and our God whereas before they were enemies to God 1 Thes 1 1. Joh. 4.16 2 Cor. 6.16 and God to them 6. A mans Covenant being changed his sufferings and services are accepted as being Christs for Joh. 15.5 it is fruit in him and born by vertue of Union with him that only is accepted of God Gal. 2.20 says Paul Nevertheless not I but Christ liveth in me Hos 14.8 Our sins indeed are our own but all our duties are his because they are done by vertue of Union with him and all that is done by us is tendred unto God as his Rev. 8.3 And as his passive obedience after a sort is said not to be full till all the obedience of the Saints is filled up Col. 1.24 so it may be said of his active obedience also and all our sufferings are Christs Gal. 6.7 Heb. 13.13 7. All things work together for good unto him whose Covenant is changed Rom. 8.28 Whereas to a man under the first Covenant God does watch over him for evil and every thing proves but an execution of the curse of his Covenant his blessings become curses according to the threatning I will curse your blessings his Table is made a snare and the Ordinances of God are cursed to him and he is cursed in every thing that he puts his hand â—nto but to a man in Christ not only all the blessings but even what is in it self a curse is â—lessed to him death is yours as well as life 8. Sin has no condemning power in a man in Christ though it 's true sin remains in him 1 Cor. 3. â—hich is in its own nature damnable that is it does deserve damnation yet it can never infer â—â—mnation it can never bring it upon a man 1 Joh. 5.12 because he that is in Christ is passed from death 〈◊〉 life 9. A man is brought into a state of communion with God for all communion is grounâ—ed on union There can be no communion with God till a man receives the Spirit of God for regenerate and unregenerate men are of another Generation and there is no more a principle of fellowship with God in a man before conversion than there is in a beast to have â—â—llowship with a man natural parts and natural conscience cannot do it if we believe we â—â—ve fellowship with the father and not else 1 Joh. 1.3 10. A man then becomes one with all the Saints and of the same body with them Ephes â— 10 There is a gathering together under one head and being a member of the Church of â—he first-born whose names are written in Heaven for from the head all the members are â—tly formed and bound up in the bundle of the living SECT IV. The APPLICATION Vse 1 1. IF the way of Translation be by Union then labour for Union with Christ and be not satisfied with any thing else Truly the state of Grace does not lie in the change of a mans opinion or the change of his actions simply but in the change of a mans Covenant and his Image and the foundation of both are laid in a mans union this was the Apostles great aim to be found in him Phil. 3.7 8. For as the branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the vine neither can you except you abide in me for without me or separated from me â—ou can do nothing And without this all a mans Religion is worth nothing before God Joh. 15.4 5. Here I will shew what is the ordinary and usual way of Vnion and what a man must or â—an do towards his own Vnion I will not now enter upon the grand controversie about â—ur preparatory works unto Faith and Union which is insisted upon from that Scripture Making ready a
in whom all happiness â—es whose very Presence makes Heaven should be made a curse that he who only hath Immortality should give himself unto death that the Incomprehensible should be comprehenâ—ed and Eternity have a beginning and the Ancient of days become a child who can â—ut admire that such things as these should be united and all to make a righteous and a holy God and a sinful creature to become one again So for the Distinctions to see God in Christ dividing between the guilt and stain of sin the guilt Christ will take upon himself by Imputation but he will not take the stain of sin to distinguish between the sin and the sinner that the sin shall be damned and the sinner saved God will take sin off the sinner that there should be a change of the person but not of the righteousness that the guilt of all sin should be taken away perfectly at once but the stain of it blotted out by degrees A mans Covenant is at once renewed and his image but in part so for God to distinguish between the Law as a rule and the Law as a Covenant and the Lord will utterly abolish it in the one respect but not in the other In all this is seen the Majesty and Wisdom of God therefore as our Divines use to say If there had been a Council called of Men and Angels after the Fall how a way might be found out to answer the different demands of the Attributes of God Mercy inclining to spare the Creature as miserable and Justice requiring vengeance upon the Creature as sinful how Mercy and Justice may be satisfied and God and Man be reconciled how God satisfied and the sinner saved how the sin may go to Hell and the sinner to Heaven how the Curse of the Law may be executed and yet the Grace of the Gospel exercised towards man all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth could not have found out a way so I may say in this particular the Creature must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own rule a rule it must have to walk by which must be the manifestation of Gods will or else what it does can never be accepted Tert. for Deo serviendum est non ex arbitrio sed ex imperio And this is the Eternal rule that God will have his Creatures to walk by as answering his holy nature and can be no other and therefore if we walk not after Gods rule Gods curse must follow us Now take away and abolish the Law as a Covenant and so the curse will be thereby removed and now for God to do this and yet to continue the Law as a rule to take that away that was against a man and yet to continue that which was for him it was that which all the wisdom of the Creatures could never have found out a way to accomplish that the Law as a Covenant might be abolished and yet as a rule continued for ever CHAP. VIII To all that are in Christ the first Covenant is made subservient to the second Gal. 3.17 18 19 And this I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disanull that it should make the promise of none effect for if the inheritance be by the Law it is no more of promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise Wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of transgression till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator SECT I. The subservience of the first Covenant to the second in general § 1. HAving largely opened to you the Doctrine of the first Covenant we are come at last to conclude it in these three heads 1 A mans Translation out of this Covenant with the nature and necessity thereof 2 The abolition of this Covenant unto all that are in Christ that it is a writing cancelled 3 The subordination thereof unto the Gospel and Covenant of Grace Of the two first we have formerly treated and come now to speak of the last and so to conclude the Doctrine of the first Covenant There are in this Chapter two principal parts 1 Here is a Doctrine confirmed 2 Here are some Objections against it answered and cleared 1. Here is a Doctrine confirmed in which Satan had bewitched the Galatians and they had fallen off from it and that is Justification by the righteousness of Christ alone without the works of the Law and this the Apostle proves by several arguments 1 That which conveys the gifts and graces of the Spirit by that a man is justified in the sight of God but that is not by the works of the Law but by the Doctrine of the Gospel v. 2. 2 All men that are Abrahams seed must be justified the same way that Abraham was but Abraham was justified by faith for he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness Rom. 4.21 22. Therefore they that are justified by faith only are the children of Abraham 3 Justification and blessedness are upon the same persons and that either to them that are of faith or of the works of the Law but it is not by the works of the Law but by faith that they are blessed with faithful Abraham 4 They that are under the curse cannot receive Justification and Life from the Law but they that are under the Law are under the curse 5 God has said that the just shall live by faith but the Law is not of faith that is it does not require faith and propound that way of salvation and life but it requires obedience for it saith He that does them shall live in them 6 If a man do make a Covenant he does disinable himself by his subsequent acts to break it for by his own act he is bound how much more then is the wise God engaged to keep his Covenant who is not as man that he should repent therefore his acts are firm and unchangeable like himself So that the Covenant with Abraham being made 430 years before an after-act in giving the Law cannot make it void 2. Now the Objections follow It will be said that the way of Justification and Salvation by the Law and by the promise are directly contrary or contradictory one to the other the Law is not of saith if the inheritance be by the Law it is no more of promise so that Justification and Salvation cannot be by them both they cannot stand together and therefore it should seem that God did repent of his promise to Abraham and disanulled it or else why would he for four hundred and thirty years after reveal the Law as a quite contrary way to Heaven one by doing and the other by believing It should seem therefore that the Law doth make the promise of God of none effect or at least that God would have both stand together For if a
King should at first make a Proclamation unto Rebels that they should live if they would accept of pardon and then afterward should publish a new one that they that would live should keep the Law either a man would conclude that the King had called in his former Proclamation and made it null or else would have them both stand together and so it is here God did at first promise righteousness and life to be had by believing and afterwards he did publish a Law requiring duty Surely either the Lord did repent of the former and so that Covenant is become of no effect or else it seems he would have both joined together and man should be justified and saved partly by doing and partly by believing Now to this objection the Apostle answers Answ 1 Gods intention in giving the Law was not thereby to make the promise â—oid and of none effect for God did purpose to justifie the Heathen by faith and the inâ—eritance is still by promise the Covenant made with Abraham was a Covenant established by an Oath that nothing should arise de novo to make an alteration in it 2 Gods intention was not to join the Law and the Promise together in the matter of Justification and life because they be quite cross and contrary one to another therefore by the righteousness of the Law no man can be justified in the sight of God they do directly deâ—â—oy each other if the inheritance be by the Law it is no more of promise and therefore 〈◊〉 man can be justified by both 3 Yet God having revealed the Law after the Promise and seeing he will have them â—oth to be perpetual and lasting they must stand together and a way must be found out â—ow they may and not cross one another nor destroy or disanul each other for the Law 〈◊〉 not against the promise of God God forbid we should think so then if they cannot and together in a way of ingrediency they may very well in a way of subserviency if not 〈◊〉 co-ordination they may in subordination both tending to honour the Mercy and Grace of â—od in his Son the one primarily and the other secondarily as an appendix or an additiâ— thereunto And so much the Text does clearly manifest 1 In that it 's said the Law was added was an appurtenance to something else and was not set up as that way alone by which men â—â—e to attain righteousness and life now added by way of conjunction it cannot be they câ—â—not mix together and be concauses of the same thing and in the same kind therefore it must be by way of subordination the one as the principal the other as the accessary or additional 2 It is said that the Law was given in the hand of a Mediator that is by the ministry of a Mediator 1 Moses was the Typical or the Notional Mediator for he stood between God and the people in receiving of the Law Deut. 5.5 and Christ was the real and universal Mediator And hence it will appear that it was not set up alone as a Covenant of Works as 〈◊〉 was at first for that was faedus amicitiae a Covenant of friendship when God and man â—ere not at variance when man stood before God in his own righteousness and there was 〈◊〉 difference nor variance between God and him for a Mediator is not a Mediator of one tâ—erefore God giving it in the hand of a Mediator doth clearly manifest that he did not set it up as a Covenant alone 2 The real Mediator was Christ though Moses Typical and Christ did not by his Ministry bring in this Covenant of the Law to make void the Covenant of Grace which was the better Covenant of which he was appointed Mediator the Covenant that was made with him as the seed and with all the Saints in him Ver. 16. Seeing therefore these two must stand together and the former cannot be disanulled by the latâ—er hence then it must needs be inferred that Gods intention was in publishing the Law to â—o it in subordination unto the Gospel and the second Covenant and that so it is to stand â—nd to be made use of by the Saints Hence the Doctrine that lies before us is this 〈◊〉 Doct. That for all those that are in Christ God has made the first Covenant subordiâ—ate unto the second The whole use of the Law unto the Saints and of all the parts of it is â—hat it may be a servant to the Gospel and as to be freed from the Law standing alone as a Covenant is the greatest part of a mans Christian liberty so to have the Law of God pressed â—pon the new Covenant and standing in subordination to the Gospel as a servant is a great â—art of a Christians dignity and a right understanding and apprehension of both these opens 〈◊〉 very great door unto all Gospel-mysteries § 2. Now that I may be understood we are to consider that the Law is taken in Scripture two ways as it was given by God upon Mount Sinai for a double end 1 It is taken largely Jer. 31.33 2 Cor. 3.3 for the whole Doctrine delivered by God upon Mount Sinai with the Precepts and the Promises thereof and so Grace is the Law written in the heart it is the Epistle of Christ ministred by us 2 It is taken strictly setting down an exact rule of righteousness and promising life upon condition of personal and perfect obedience And so the Apostle says Rom. 10.5 6. That the law is not of faith the righteousness of the law speaketh in this manner he that doth them shall live in them Now if we take the Moral Law as given upon Mount Sinai in the first sense so it is a Covenant of Grace but if we take it in the latter sense so it is a Covenant of Works for the Lords intention in giving the Law was double unto the carnal Jews to set forth to them the old Covenant which they had broken and yet unto the believing Jews it did darkly shadow and set forth unto them the Covenant of Grace made with Christ and therefore it was not only delivered as a rule of righteousness but in the form and terms of a Covenant this do and thou shalt live 1 In the first sense the Law given upon Mount Sinai was a Covenant of Grace for this Law does teach them 1 That the Lord was their God now since man sinned God is the God of none but in Christ 2 This Law did set forth God to them as shewing mercy pardoning iniquity not visiting iniquity a God forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and there is no pardon but under a second Covenant 3 All the Sacrifices they were Types of Christ and they were commanded in the second Commandment and they did all belong unto the Covenant of Grace and did shew that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and God did ratifie this Covenant by blood which he
sprinkled upon the Book and upon all the people and all things under the Law were cleansed and sanctified by blood Exod. 24.23 therefore the Law in the administration of it unto them was never intended by God to set forth a Covenant of Works but it was a Covenant of Grace and is usually called a Covenant Deut. 29.10 11. They stood to enter into Covenant with God that he might establish them to be a people to himself and that he might be unto them a God Deut. 26.17 18 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and he hath avouched thee to be his people So that the Law was given by Moses in Gods intention plainly as a Covenant of Grace unto all those that were able to look upon the intent of God therein 2 But yet the Lords intention was also that it should be a copy of the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam before his fall which was never wholly blotted out of the mind of man because God would not have that wholly to perish and be forgotten and therefore it was delivered after a sort in the form of the Covenant of Works and in this respect the Lord has made it a handmaid to the Gospel not that the Lord did intend it for a Covenant of Works as if men should attain righteousness and life thereby but as faedus subserviens a subservient Covenant as that which in this manner God would make use of to advance the ends of the Gospel and the new Covenant By all this you see that the Covenant of which Circumcision was a sign and a seal was not the Covenant of Works but was the same that was made with Abraham because the Covenant was the same Circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of Faith and continued amongst the Jews in this Covenant and that Covenant that binds to the observation of the Ceremonial as well as the Moral Law is not a Covenant of Works but the Covenant made upon Mount Sinai did bind to the Ceremonial Law also nor was the Covenant that God made with Moses a Covenant of Works for Moses was Heb. 11.23 a Believer but Exod. 34.27 it is called the Covenant which I made with thee and with all Israel when I stood before the Lord forty days and he wrote the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments But more particularly the Lord did intend to make the Law given upon Mount Sinai a copy of the Covenant of Works and to be materially and for substance the same that he did make with Adam and with all mankind in him in the state of his integrity 1. Death reigned from Adam till Moses Rom. 5. Gen. 4. ult and therefore sin came in and we see that murder was a sin in Cain and publick worship was a duty Men did begin to call upon the name of the Lord so that the Law was in the World before Moses and it was not only written in the hearts of men 2 Pet. 2.5 So Beza Gen. 6.5 but it was taught in the publick Ministery before Moses for Noah was the Preacher of Righteousness and in the Ministry of the Word we know that the Spirit of God did strive with men Gen. 6.3 The word in the Hebrew is to strive in judgment and by way of argument for conviction so that the Law was given to Adam and Noah and Abraham as well as unto Moses and was for substance the same 2. It is given in the form of a Covenant of Works with a this do and thou shalt live and so it was afterwards by Christ and by the Prophets also preached it was to the carnal Jews plainly a Covenant of Works not in Gods intention but by their own corruption they going about to establish their own righteousness Rom. 10.3 and not subjecting themselves to the righteousness of God it is set forth to them as a Covenant of Works Now if the Lord will not give it as a Covenant why does he not propound it as a rule and lay down the precepts without any such terms of a Covenant as if men should attain life by it when he did never intend to deliver it as a Covenant in which men should attain life by doing but by believing Thus the Lord did that the terms of the first Covenant might be promulgated to the World and that they that did still desire to be under the Law might not plead ignorance of the terms that God required in the Law if they did expect life and happiness thereby 3. Though I say it be for substance and materially the same yet in many circumstances it differs from Adams Covenant for this was a Covenant of such promises and sanctions annexed to it as were not in the Covenant made with Adam and a Covenant confirmed by blood and thereby sanctified which Adams Covenant never had and therefore though it did for substance agree yet in many things there was a difference This Covenant given unto Adam in a state of Innocency and for substance renewed upon Mount Sinai when it was by sin wholly obliterated and blotted out God has made a handmaid or foedus subserviens a Covenant subservient to the Gospel it is Hagar Gal. 4.23 but the Covenant of Grace is Sarah and it is given in the hand of a Mediator not only by Moses but by Christ also for Christ delivered the Law to them Act. 7.38 Moses was in the Wilderness with the Angel who spake to him in Mount Sinai and with our fathers and what Angel was it but Christ he that saith I am the God of Abraham and he that was also tempted in the Wilderness and the Apostle says We are come to Jesus whose voice then shook the earth in the giving of the Law 1 Cor. 10.4 Heb. 12.25 26. it was his voice and then by an enumeration of particulars how the Lord has made every part of the Law as it is materially the first Covenant a servant to the Gospel for the discovery of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound and the Apostle says Rom. 5.20 I had not known sin but by the Law and also for the conviction of Conscience and the imputation of sin Rom. 5.13 sin is not imputed where there is no Law and for the condemnation of sin that it may be a Schoolmaster to bring the sinner unto Christ the avenger of blood Gal. 3.10 a killing letter and the ministration of death to kill them and hew them and it restrains sin and puts a bridle upon a man and is a means of conversion the curse of the Law is sanctified and the threatnings sweet when the curse is taken out death has no sting the grave has no victory and it is to all under the second Covenant a rule a companion and a counsellor The Law is to be considered as I told you two ways 1 Largely as containing all the Doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai and all things that may
paid in no coyn but Love again 3 The love and free-grace of God can do man no good unless it doth work in you love to him again and as he loves you freely so do you love him thankfully as no benefit that comes from him is saving to you unless it proceed from love so there is no duty that comes from you is pleasing unto him unless it proceed from love and the proper fruit of this love is to work in you love to him again 4 If you despise his Love you shall surely feel his wrath and there is nothing in the world that doth inflame the wrath of God and make his fire burn so fiercely as Grace despised and Love turned into wantonness For if Love will not win you what will Vse 3 3. How should this comfort us when we do turn to God and specially how should it encourage a back-sliding sinner to return No man hath such misgiving thoughts as he hath Erubescit conscientia erubescit oratio c. Tert. Hos 14.4 but yet remember he will receive you graciously Return you back-sliding children he will heal your back-sliding and love you freely There is no sin so great that free-grace cannot pardon there is no mercy so good that free-grace cannot bestow and therefore above all things beg of the Lord that the apprehensions of this Love may be shed abroad in your hearts it is this only that can make the promise sure because it is of Grace this will assist us in all duties arm us against all temptations sustain us in all conditions answer all objections that can be made against the peace and comfort of the soul and truly when all works in a man cease and the guilt of sin doth wear out the testimony of blood and the filth of sin the testimony of water and the soul hath nothing to fly to he is then fain to cast anchor here rest upon the Grace of God in the Covenant who promises mercy freely loves for his own sake and because he will to shew the absoluteness of his will and the unchangeableness of his Counsel towards poor sinners for ever Cogitatio suffulta est as de Deiu upon the place Isa 26.3 and here the soul is staid in the greatest desertions and darkness that can be and there is a sweet peace that follows in his soul and there is nothing can stay sinking thoughts and spirits like this when apprehensions of free-grace are put under a soul to support it That there is nothing can separate from the love of God that being the first cause there can nothing arise de novo that can make it void and of no effect CHAP. II. The Covenant of Grace as made primarily with Christ the second Adam Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made he saith not to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ SECT I. The Covenant made with Christ Personal in regard of his Office § 1. WE have formerly spoken of the Person that made this Covenant whose Covenant it is and who had a chief hand therein it is the Lords Covenant We do now come unto the second thing and that is the Persons that are taken into this Covenant with whom this Covenant was made The first Covenant was made with the first Adam and with all the posterity that came from him by natural generation and is therefore fitly called Foedus Naturae the Covenant of Nature The second Covenant is made with the second Adam and with all those that are in him and because it belongs not unto all therefore is stiled Foedus Gratiae the Covenant of Grace and this Scripture holds forth a threefold subordination of the persons received into this Covenant 1 Christ 2 those that are in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc Rom. 2.4 3 their seed also The Apostle had proved in the former part of the Chapter that men are justified by faith only and not by the works of the Law and that the same way of Justification that there was unto Abraham God did intend to justifie all the Elect by for Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and he was herein the common father of all that should believe For they that are of faith the same are the children of Abraham the father of the Circumcision and of the Uncircumcision also and therefore he received the sign of Circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Now Abraham being herein a common root and father unto both Jews and Gentiles there was but one way of Justification for both and that for ever And whereas it is objected that Abraham was justified by faith before the Law was given but the Law being published and that in the form of a Covenant this do and live this seems to disannul and to make void the promise and the ancient way of Justification of Abraham and to set up another Now the Apostle comes to prove the stability and unchangeableness of this Covenant from the manner and custom amongst men and their transactions one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word in the Greek signifies both a Covenant and a Testament and therefore we render it for both one in the Text and the other in the Margent pactionem so Beza Testamentum so the Vulgar Now if a man make a bargain and confirm ingross and seal it and deliver it to the benefit of another it becomes unchangeable and irrevocable to the person that did it and he is bound to it and cannot revoke it or if a man make a Testament and then die it is amongst men counted sacred and no man can diminish or add thereunto If men whose Wills are mutable who may err and repent do by their own acts disenable themselves to revoke their Covenants much more the great God who is in his Wisdom infinite able to foresee all inconveniencies that nothing can arise de novo that he knew not of before and who is in his purposes unchangeable and cannot repent surely if he make a Covenant it is sure and stable that no after-acts of his shall make it void and of none effect but to Abraham and his seed was the Covenant thus made long before the Law was given therefore the Law given afterward cannot make it void and if the Covenant be the same then the way of Justification and Blessedness must be still the same Here are three things to be expounded 1 What is meant by the Promises 2 How Abraham is here to be considered in receiving of the Promises 3 What is meant by Christ here this one seed to whom the Promises were made 1. By Promises the whole Covenant of Grace is meant He doth call it the Covenant in the former verse and the Promise in the singular number in the verse following and the reason is because the main of the Covenant doth
populi nomine fidem obedientiam So that the righteousness of the Covenant being only to be found in him and to be made ours by imputation and a gracious acceptation as we are one with him thence it doth plainly appear that the Covenant is made with him in the first place and we come to have an interest in the everlasting righteousness of it at second hand as we are one with him and so we are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. last Quest But is not the righteousness of the Covenant required of us also Answ It is true that perfect obedience in nature and life is required of us as well as of Adam in the state of innocency and so far as we come short of it we sin but yet in the Covenant of Grace it is not required as the righteousness of the Covenant and as that righteousness by which I am to stand righteous before God as afflictions in the Covenant of Grace are not laid upon the Saints for satisfaction to God but for correction c. but it is required and that perfectly 2 Cor. 7.10 That we should cleanse our selves from all filthiness and perfect holiness in the fear of God to manifest the truth of our union with Christ The branch cannot bear fruit of it self Joh. 15.5 without me saith Christ you can do nothing and you do hereby manifest that you are one with me As James 2.24 Abraham was justified by works according to James a man is justified not by Faith only and yet Paul saith that a man is justified by Faith alone without the works of the Law Rom. 4. A mans faith doth justifie his person before God and a mans works do justifie his faith before men and it is that we may shew forth the vertues of him that hath called us 1 Pet. 2.9 and that it may appear that our union with Christ is not a notion and no more but that it is real and powerful and our Faith is lively because it is a working Faith and this righteousness now imputed unto us as we are in him he will never leave till he hath perfected in us Ephes 5.27 That he may present us unto himself without spot or wrinkle this is a work that he hath undertaken unto his Father but yet so as the righteousness of the Covenant is to be found in him alone and made to be imputed only as we are one with him in Gods account and acceptation so that still the Covenant is made with him primarily because in him only the righteousness of the Covenant is to be found and comes unto us at second hand 4. All the promises of the Covenant are made unto him primarily and unto us only at second hand and as we are one with him they are made first unto him and therefore they are called the sure mercies of David and Ephes 1.3 Isa 55.3 God has blessed us with all spiritual mercies in heavenly places in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 they are made in him that is unto us as we are in him and so they are accomplished If the promises of God were by deed of gift only from the free grace of God they might be made unto us immediately for God may give to whom he will but they are all of them a jointure or an endowment upon a Marriage which can neither be either rationally or legally claimed without an interest in the person All the Promises are as the lines and circumference they all meet in union with Christ as the center for they are all made unto Christ and unto us only so far as we are members of Christ Gal. 3. last Being Christs we are become heirs of the Promise and no otherwise God deals with a people in this as a Father takes an inheritance of a Child in his infancy or it may be unborn and he keeps it in his own hands for him till he comes to years and then puts him into possession thereof So it is with the Saints they are maintained a long time in the womb of Gods election before they are brought forth in a work of calling and regeneration and being called they are not capable of receiving of many of the promises they are in their infancy but yet these promises are conveyed from God to Christ as an inheritance which he receives as a publick person a common Father in their behalf which in Gods time he will put them also in possession of 5. All the graces of the Covenant be first bestowed upon him The Spirit as the Oil is poured first upon the head and afterwards it runs down upon the skirts of his garments Psal 133.2 So Psal 45.7 He is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows and 1 John 2.20 We receive an unction from the holy one Joh. 1.16 Of his fulness we receive grace for grace 1 Joh. 5.11 God has given us eternal life and that life is in his son It is laid up in him as in a common treasury even the whole Image of God that he doth intend to bestow upon us in grace and glory it is given unto us and laid up in him for us but yet it is in him and not in us he has received the spirit without measure he is the Son of righteousness Isa 6.57 and our healing is in his wings There are as you may see three steps or degrees of conveyance in this life 1 The living Father as the fountain 2 Christ saith I live by the Father And it is given him to have life in himself as the chanel or way of conveyance 3 You live by me All the graces of the Covenant do actually belong unto him and unto us as we are one with him and therefore it is commonly called the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as that which is originally in him as in the fountain or principle and conveyed unto us only by union as we are members of his body so we have an influence from him as the head and no otherwise 6. All the priviledges of the Covenant do primarily belong to him and unto us only as we are in him he is the Son and from him we receive power to become the Sons of God he is the heir Jo. 1.12 Psal 8.4 Heb. 2. and we co-heirs with him Rom. 8.17 He has put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen c. This is spoken primarily and principally of the man Christ Jesus he is called Gods servant and in him we are servants also he is a King and a Priest and we are made by him Kings and Priests unto God the Father Rev. 1.6 he is the first beloved and we in him he first accepted and we in him he first justified and we in him he first overcomes and we in him we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our Testimony we sit together in heavenly places He judges the world and we in him and when we come to
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
deterr'd from sin and kept in obedience to the Covenant All the threatnings in the Word since the Fall are but conditional which argues that it is to no other end but that they might be avoided and prevented He tells us the danger before that we may escape God under the first Covenant will'd that Adam should have continued in his obedience and avoided the curse of it and the Lord to manifest he neglected no means to this end created in him a holy nature gave him a righteous and an easie Law made a glorious promise to his obedience added a fearful threatning upon his disobedience therefore God did not will the death of a sinner And we may say with the Scripture He doth not afflict willingly the children of men Lam. 3.33 but as Tertullian says of the earnest prayers of Gods people so I may say of importunity in sinning Coelum tundimus We assault Heaven he says Misericordiam I put it vindictam extorquemus We extort vengeance 2 But God had decreed the fall of Adam and that this curse should come and it could not have been against his will how can it be said then that God will'd his obedience and continuance therein There is good ground for a double will of God which the Scripture speaks of a will of complacence and a will of efficacy approbationis effectionis a will of approbation and of effection the one is a general and a conditional will manifested to the Creature whereby the Lord approves and rewards obedience and perseverance therein in all persons whomsoever And this is his revealed will without determining any thing of particular persons in whom he will work this obedience But the other is a secret will toward that particular person in whom he will work this obedience and to whom he will give grace to continue in it God did in his revealed will manifest to Adam what he did require of him what he delighted in and what he would reward him for but he did not tell him that he would give him grace and a supernatural assistance to cause him to continue in obedience but he left him to the mutability of his own will and in the hand of his own Counsel God wills that all men should be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth 1 Tim. 2 4. God wills that all men should believe but he will not work faith in all men He wills that all men should be saved but he will not bring all men to Salvation he wills the one voluntate approbante by a will of approbation but the other decernente by a decreeing will So Davenant his answer to Gods love to Mankind pag. 220. 3 Threatnings and Promises are of great necessity and use even to a creature in the state of Innocency with whomsoever God will deal in a Covenant-way even the purest Creatures may and ought to make use of them and to fear to offend God because of his wrath for even our God is a consuming fire Now of what use could this have been to Adam in innocency having no sense or fear of sin or suffering but more of this afterwards 4 Even the Creature in the state of innocency has nothing in it to satisfie the Holiness of God he gives a command and adds a promise but as if the Lord were jealous of him he adds a threatning to keep him in obedience and so he did with the Angels he put no trust in them he charges even them with folly Job 4.18 though not with actual yet with possible folly The best Creatures as Creatures are changeable therefore the Holiness of God can never take full contentment and satisfaction in any thing but in Christ who is by the personal union impeccable 5 How comes it to pass that this Tree proved so hurtful to man That totum genus humanum per infinitam successionem perdiderit It destroyed all mankind throughout such an infinite succession Luther proposes the question and says the cause was not in the fruit for fructus protulit nobilissimos it produced most excellent fruit but the ground was in the Word of God and his prohibition Arbor vitae vivificat virtute verbi promittentis arbor scientiae occidit virtute verbi prohibentis the tree of life vivifies by virtue of the word promising and the tree of knowledge kills by virtue of the word prohibiting It 's the Word of God that is the cause of life and death to the Creature God exalts his Word above the best of the Creatures and it is dearer to him than Adam was in Innocency or the Angels he has exalted it above all his Name Heaven and Earth shall pass away rather than a tittle of it and therefore he will not now spare us for the breach of it But why did God give Adam this Commandment having given him so freely all the other Trees of the Garden Preceptum exploratorium Paraeus Arhor diviri cultus fuit why should he forbid him this one it was a precept for trial a tree of divine worship They were not one tree says Luther though here so called collectively but Nemus quasi sacellum quoddam a wood as it were a Chappel God loves to try the obedience of the best of his Creatures to give them matter and occasion to exercise the Graces that he has given them As every word of God is a tried word and has been in the furnace often and Gods people have found it true so every grace wrought by that word is a tried grace and the trial of it is to the Saints now and so it should have been to Adam precious as the Apostle Peter says The trial of your faith is more precious than gold 6 But what need had Adam of such a Tree being he had a Law written in his heart of obedience to all Gods requirings as the Sun has a law of motion He was freely and fully carried after it by a command within he was a living Scripture a walking Bible but yet the best of the Creatures had need as of daily assistance and direction so also of daily admonition and a publick Monitor The Angels themselves as they have new service daily to do for God so they have a new supply from the spirit of Christ to quicken them daily We read in Ezek. 1.13 there is a spirit of fire that goes up and down amongst the living creatures which denotes the active daily and vigorous supply of the Spirit of Christ and the constant working of it Surely men may see yea those that are learned in the School of Christ what need there is of a Ministery Some say what need is there to have the same things taught that we know as well as they do and may be better Yet though you do know them there is need we should stir you up by way of remembrance 7 But why should it be so great an offence to eat of this Tree seeing God made it pleasant to the eye and
But here it may be men will wonder that time should be spent amongst us in beating men out of this being under the first Covenant and getting life upon impossible terms to undertake perfectly to keep the Law and to seek justification by works seeing we are neither Jews nor Papists We know we cannot fulfill the Law but that there is iniquity in our holy things and we are so far from resting in our duties that we acknowledge our righteousness is as filthy rags that if God should look upon them as they are he must needs abhor them and us for them and therefore surely there are none amongst us that do so all this labour might be spared for we are so far from desiring it that we disclaim it and abhor it But I answer to this Answer that a man ought to read in other mens practices his own inclination this was a desire in Adam 1 Cor. 15.49 and in his Posterity who do all bear the image of the earthly for as face answers to face in the water so sin is alike in all men and that man perfectly likes an example of sinning in others that does not reflect upon himself and see that there are seeds of it in him that doth not read his own nature in another mans life 2. If there be the seeds of it in thy own heart then though it never should break forth into act yet there is just cause that God should loath thee for it as we do Toads though they hurt us not And indeed the main part of our enmity against God and Gods against us lies in the contrariety of our nature to him Col. 1.21 we are naturally enemies to God in our minds and this is the top of all a godly mans humiliation this is but a part of all that evil treasure that is within Psal 51.7 and there is more in the Ware-house than in the Shop And that Christian is never kindly humbled for any sin if his humiliation ends in the sin it self and ascend not to the fountain that is within him that raging sea that always is casting out mire c. We know that in the Saints there is no lust perfectly mortified in this life Rom. 6.6 for sin dies a crucified death and therefore though in a Saint it be still upon the Cross and dying daily yet it shall never be perfectly destroyed till this corruptible shall put on incorruption The Saints have the seeds of this sin of trusting in themselves in them also and this lust will not lye idle in them the flesh will lust against the spirit Gal. 5.17 and it shews how prone the nature of man is to it and the actings of it because it has shewed it self so in all ages And therefore one being asked why Pelagianism did spring up in all ages answered Because there were Pelagianae fibrae in the hearts of all men So if this be asked you Why this lust of carnal confidence always breaks forth into sinful acts c. you may also answer There are fibrae of it in the heart of all men Therefore if God have kept this lust from acting in thee so much as it has done in others O be thankful for so great a mercy but be careful that thou say not that it is not in thee because God has restrained the lust from acting for then it may be just with God to give a man over to the power of it and he shall see by experience that it 's a mercy to have it restrained seeing he cannot be wholly freed from it in this life It 's a great evil when God preserves men from sin for them to think there is no such danger in it Take heed lest God let out such a lust upon thee that will make thee a mourner all thy days and remember how presumptuous Peter was against his denial of Christ yet how soon he was guilty of it And how apt are Christians for not prizing a preservation from gross sins to walk fearlesly and then God often leaves them to the power of lust and shews them the mercy of his former restraint Indeed all lusts in the heart of man do not act alike some lusts do work directly and press men to sin as that of Whoredom and Drunkenness a man has distinct thoughts about them but there are some that do work indirectly and in a secret way to guide men in their practise and yet never come into distinct thoughts but work as principles that lye low and a man acts in the power of them and yet observe them not as in a Watch every one may observe the wheels that move but every one does not observe the spring from whence their motion proceeds as a Scholar that speaks and writes Latin he does not think of the rules of Grammar every sentence he speaks and yet those rules have an influence into every word and his whole discourse is framed after those rules so there are some sins as Atheism c. a man it may be never says in actual thoughts that there is no God and yet this principle sways with a man and is at the bottom of every sin And so it is with this sin it may not come into actual thoughts that there is Eternal life to be had by our works and we will exclude the righteousness of Christ and yet it may have a very great influence upon the man in his whole course as being a fundamental and mother-sin 1 So far as any man does desire to establish his own righteousness so far he desires to be under a Covenant of Works for justification and life but this is the disposition of every man by nature therefore every man by nature desires to be under the first Covenant still this was the great fruit of it amongst the Jews Rom. 10.3 and the words are very significant Going about to establish their own righteousness i. e. seeking or studying for it as students use to do It signifies to labour for a thing with a mans utmost endeavour even with all his might as Mat. 6.32 After these things do the Gentiles seek and it answers to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.31 Rom. 9.31 They followed after the law of righteousness but they attained it not The law of righteousness is the righteousness of the Law that is justification by it for the righteousness of the Law to be fulfilled in them by their own personal obedience not by faith but by works this they followed after with all their might And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imbecillitatem propriae justitiae denotat denotes the imbecillity of their own righteousness that it could not stand alone but they must set it up and support it and make it stand by their own opinion and presumptions Now you see this all along how men expect acceptation with God for their services Isa 58.1 Wherefore have we fasted and thou regardest not Men do think to be heard for
righteousness and life 2 Men are naturally ignorant of the spiritual meaning of the Law Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the law once Here the Apostle speaks of a double state in which he was 1 In times past in the state of unregeneracy without the Law not in the letter for he was bred up at the feet of Gamaliel and one that knew the Scripture from a child but without the Law in the spiritual sence of it in its glory power latitude spirituality and holiness which are the wonders of the Law that men by nature have not eyes to see which David prays for Psal 119.18 and which unto men by nature are accounted strange things 2 But there is another state and that is when the Lord was merciful to Paul in his Conversion The commandment came i. e. in a lively vigorous and spiritual manner having a spirit of life accompanying it whereas before it was but a dead letter and it brought in such a light as did discover the secret thoughts and intents of his heart and laid the whole inward man open even the inward parts of the soul And whereas before he was alive in performances able as he conceived to perform all the righteousness of the Law without blemish and therefore full of self-justification and conceits of his own righteousness and high expectations of Salvation Now sin revived that is in the guilt of it in his Conscience and he begins to see his own misery and sinfulness and lost condition which before he thought was very good Now he saw all his own righteousness which before he so highly esteemed and so much set by to be nothing but dross and dung And natural Conscience looks upon obedience to the Law as consisting only in the outward act and if that be performed Conscience is satisfied if men pray and hear they are not solicitous for the acceptance of their persons before their services can be accepted nor for the light manner of performance and the curing of their inward man towards God therein which doth plainly shew that though they understand the Law in the letter and stick to it therein yet they are not acquainted with the spirituality of the Law 3. Men are ignorant of their miserable condition under the Law Gal. 3.10 as many as are under the Law are under the curse Gal. 4.21 You that desire to be under the law do you not hear the law that is hear it you do but you understand it not Si Deo obtulisset putamen nucis in fide opus bonum etiamsi adeó parvum adeò vile ut culmum tollere si verò desit fiducia opus bonum non est etiamsi omnes mortuos suscitet homo sese comburendum permittat Luth. neither consider that being sons of the bond-woman you are bond-men for your Covenant being broken genders unto bondage and there is a spirit of bondage that will follow upon this state of bondage and as bond-men you shall not abide in the house for you have no part or share in the inheritance because the inheritance is not by the law but of promise Men under this Covenant stand before God in their own names they bear their own sins and must be justified by their own righteousness for this Covenant admits no Mediator there is none to represent their persons or bear their sins or pay their debt or endure their curse but all must needs be done in their own persons if they do any duty they expect it should be accepted of God for the goodness of it and it is rejected of God for the failings of it because whatever is born of the flesh is flesh and in their Covenant God requires perfect obedience and will accept none other and yet there is not the meanest service of the Saints under the second Covenant performed in faith but it is accepted if they offer but a cup of cold water Now men perform duties because they are commanded and they think that they have done good service and look that they shall be accepted and rewarded but never consider that if their persons be not accepted their services cannot be but that their best services are sins in Gods account and rejected and that all the promises of pardon and grace repentance and acceptance upon repentance all these belong not unto them for their Covenant admits no such thing Some may see the defilement of their nature and their misery because of the image which they bear but very few are apprehensive of their misery by reason of the Covenant of bondage under which they stand 4 Men know not how to distinguish between the doing of duties and the right manner and method of doing them for all men are ready to look upon them as duties required by God and if so he will accept them because he has required them And therefore when Luther did bid men not only take heed of their sins but of their duties for these might destroy them as well as the other and called them base and beggarly elements and dung and dross presently they said he spoke against good works Now here men distinguish not of the doing and of the method in doing for the duties of the Law must be performed by the graces of the Gospel and in the way of the Gospel and therefore we say that believing must go before any other of the great works of God e're a soul can be accepted Luther de bonis operibus primi precepti and therefore Luther gives this rule Whatsoever a mans conscience and faith toward God is such are his works which flow from the same principle but where there is nothing of faith the edge is wanting to good works and the whole life erroneous and all goodness as nothing I say that good works are accepted if faith which gives a man an interest in Christ and a change of a mans Covenant goes before We should bring naked Christ and a naked soul stript of all things else together we would have you take Christ for your husband and duties for the servants of Christ While faith is to deal with Christ in the business of Justification and acceptative works should be shut out and there sponsus cum sponsa faith and Christ alone but if faith walk abroad in the world works must stand at the door and follow as the handmaid and the necessary consequents of faith Now men hearing that duties are commanded by God they are apt to conceive that they must be done and being done shall be accepted though it be not according to the method of the Gospel and that when we speak against resting in them as duties of the first Covenant we speak against good works whereas we would have them performed but by a man whose person is accepted his Covenant changed and that by the principles of the Gospel the faith of Christ in his heart and also unto the ends of the Gospel 2. They are ignorant of the righteousness of Christ as
in point of Justification and Condemnation but in the two former as to Irritation and Coaction it is but liberty begun because sin in us is not perfectly destroyed therefore so far as there are remainders of sin in the Saints See Pareus in Rom. 7.5 they are lyable to an Irritation and a Coaction but yet in a far different manner from that which is in unregenerate men as will be shewed afterwards § 2. The Apostle having in the former Chapter spoken how sin entered into the world and death by sin and how righteousness and life entred by the Lord Jesus Christ that as sin reigned unto death so grace should reign through righteousness unto life eternal and shewing the fruits of this righteousness killing sin in us Therefore we are dead to sin and the old man is crucified and the body of sin is destroyed that we should not henceforth serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin for sin is a Lord and so long as the servant lives he is in subjection to his master but the servant being once dead is free from his master it 's a speech taken from all civil subjection which began with sin and ends with death Now sin is compared to a Master or a Lord to which a man is bound while he lives but being dead he is freed from the power and dominion of sin Rom. 6.11 12. Rom. 6.11 12 Therefore count your selves dead unto sin and let not sin reign in your mortal bodies any more Ver. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace Not under the Law as a Covenant and so irritating sin and exasperating it but under Grace that is subduing sin and hell Some refer these words to the dominion of sin and a mans freedom from that and some to the dominion of the Law and a mans deliverance from it as a Covenant but the main current of Interpreters make the Law the husband and the strength of sin to be by the Law unto condemnation and unto irritation as the Law does occasionally inflame the heart to evil and lust is enraged thereby and they say the Law is dead unto us as a Covenant it is a bond cancelled and taken out of the way Col. 2.14 and so we are dead to the Law by the body of Christ that is Christ as our surety having paid our debt satisfied the Law and received the discharge we are dead to the Law it has no more power to charge sin upon us See Ambros to Jerom. also Estius Calvin Par. c. nor to stir up sin within us they make the Law to be the husband the Soul the wife and the children to be the fruits of Sin which through the irritating power of the Law it does bring forth in us even all manner of concupiscence But other Interpreters as Beza Gomar and some others conceive that the husband is Sin the wife is every natural man that is in the flesh and the fruits are all sinful words and actions that do proceed from sin which are fruits unto death as the other husband is Christ the wife a Believing soul and the fruits all the fruits of Righteousness and Holiness which are called fruits unto God and therefore some have put them both together and so Reinolds in one place he calls Sin the husband Psal 130. the use of the Law p. 368. and in another place the Law the husband and the difference is not much whether we understand it of sin which takes occasion by the Law or of the Law as it does inflame and irritate sin for both of them may be truly said to be dead unto the Saints and they dead unto them though it seems by the ensuing Objections most probable that the Law is the husband Now the Apostle comes to answer a double Objection which ariseth hence For if sin take occasion by the Commandment and if it have a pollutive power by the Law and as he saith Verse the fifth The motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit to death then it seems there is a double evil that flows from the Law sin and death for by the Law the motions of sin work and by the Law men bring forth fruit unto death The words are an answer unto the first objection which lyes thus That which doth increase sin and sin works by it that is in it self sinful but the Law doth increase sin and sin works by the Law c. The Apostle answers it two ways 1 By Negation it doth not follow though the Law doth increase sin and sin works by the Law c. that the Law is therefore sinful Absit God forbid it is an abominable inference for the Law is holy and just and good and a beam of that infinite Holiness that is in God and by which Gods Holiness does shine forth upon us therefore the Law is not sinful for that which only does discover sin is not sin but it is the Law only that doth discover and forbid sin therefore c. 2 By a Translation of the guilt laying the blame upon corrupt nature and the sinfulness thereof which the Law doth forbid and discover for the Law entered that sin might abound and therefore of it self gives not occasion to sin Yet sin took occasion when none was given and did draw evil from that which is good in it self and suckt poyson from that which is holy For the Law is holy as well when it does by accident enrage sin as when by it self it discovers it Doct. Every man out of Christ is under a Covenant of works and under the irritating power of the Law The Law forbidding sin and discovering sin in him has no other fruits but to enrage it and increase it as Chrysostome says the flame of lust is increased thereby for without the law sin is dead that is ratione cognitionis it lyes dead man knows it not to be sin and comparativè ratione irritationis in point of irritation But the more clearly the law is discovered the more bitterly and violently does corruption work against it Whiles the law doth not come in a clear and convincing manner sin is quiet and a man does not sin with so much rage and violence against the law as he does after the discoveries thereof Sin was dead that is it did not put forth its utmost power to draw forth all manner of effects till the law came and by this means sin is made exceeding sinful as it is rendered by Erasmus sin is not only discovered but improved and so it is made exceeding sinful So that the fruits of the law to a man under the first Covenant is this Sin takes occcasion by the Commandment it does ripen his sins and improve them and it draws forth in him all manner of uncleanness 1 Cor. 15.56 The strength of sin is the law There is a
even in all his temptations of the Saints as well as wicked men to touch them Jon. 6.7 Job 5.19 and to leave in them an impression and stamp of his own devilishness and therefore the more men sin against knowledg and with despight and disaffection unto God the more he is pleased with it for as God loves holiness in the spirituality of it and the nearer a man comes unto conformity to God the more God delights in him so Satan loves sin in the spirituality of it and the nearer a man comes in conformity unto Satan the more spiritual his wickedness grows and Satan delights to act that man of all other 2 The dearer any thing is unto God the more Satan delights to abuse it unto this end and the more God hath set up any thing against sin the more Satan does endeavour to make that a means to draw men unto sin sometimes he seeks to abuse the Creatures of God and stir up lust by them as when a man looks upon the Sun when it shines and his heart is enticed thereby sometimes he looks upon a Woman and lusts after her sometimes he looks upon the Wine when its colour looks red in the glass and thus the Creatures of God are abused by Satan to draw out the lusts of men and whatever is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the ey and the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.15 16. Sometimes he abuseth the servants of God he will enter into Peter and he shall become a tempter unto Christ that he saith Get thee behind me Satan and the woman that God gave man to be a help she shall by Satan be made a dart and sometimes the Law and the Gospel which specially God has set up as a remedy against sin shall act it and improve it and draw it forth Now God leaving a man under the power and dominion of Satan the God of this world who works effectually in the children of disobedience he is as a conquerour over them and triumphs in this that he has made use of the Law of God and the Gospel of God that is made against sin to increase and ripen it yea even the motions and common works of the Spirit of God the heart of man rising and making head against them are the great means by which Satan draws men to the great transgression even to sin against God with despight and revenge § 3. But here is a question Question Are believers who are engrafted into Christ and come under him as a father as the second Adam that is have their Covenant changed as well as their image are these wholly freed from the law in respect of the irritation of it Rom. 6.14 it is said Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law but under grace Which as has been declared is not to be referred unto a mans justification as being freed from the Law for righteousness and life and from the curse of the law for death and condemnation but it is spoken of a mans Sanctification a man is not under the Law as irritating sin and increasing it but under grace not only pardoning but sanctifying and subduing it and in this respect the dominion and the ruling power of sin is taken away in the godly though the being of it remain The Apostle speakes wholly in this place in reference to a mans state of unregeneracy Vers 5 When we were in the flesh the motions of sin that were by the law c. And he speaks this in reference to his own estate before conversion I was alive without the law once and I had not known sin but by the law nor lust to be a sin and the danger of it but that the Law of God discover'd it unto me and so in my former state Sin took occasion by the Commandment and wrought in me c. The word in the Greek signifies to work a thing throughly and effectually and to work it out Phil. 2.20 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling And Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but to perform or go through with the work I find not a power to do it And so sin by the Commandment wrought in him effectually or wrought in him which we heard before all manner of Concupiscence all lust was thereby drawn out Hath the law of God no such work upon a regenerate man one that is a believer does not sin in a regenerate man take occasion by the Commandment Is a Believer as perfectly freed from the Law for irritation as he is for condemnation Answer Christ says If the Son make you free you are free indeed and the special part of our liberty with which Christ has made us free is in being freed from the Law as a Covenant Some as Paraeus and others do distinguish thus Liberty from the Law is twofold 1 Perfect in respect of justification and condemnation that their perfect obedience to the Law is no way required for the one neither shall any of the transgressions of the Law be imputed for the other 2 Inchoate which is but begun in the Saints and shall be perfected and so they are delivered from the Law only for irritation and coaction but so long as sin remains in them so long they shall never be perfectly delivered from the Law in either of these But to make this plain and bring it down in the particular branches of it unto the meanest understanding There are many things to be considered which I shall now proceed to lay down to make out this general and received Doctrine that is so commonly delivered by our Divines 1. There are remainders of corruption in the best of the Saints Grace destroys the reigning of sin but not the being of it You read how that Abraham the father of the faithful had his unbelief and Moses the meekest man in his generation had his passion and provocation and spake unadvisedly with his lips David a man after Gods own heart yet he complains of his secret sins and Paul that great Apostle had the law of his members rebelling against the law of his mind 2 Cor. 7.1 There is a filthiness of flesh and spirit that is to be purged out as there is something wanting in their Graces and therefore they have a daily growth in Sanctification so there is something remaining of their corruption which requires a daily growth in their mortification therefore they are compared to the Moon Cant. 6.10 which has some spots in it because not wholly enlightned by the Sun they do defile themselves and therefore had need daily to wash their feet Joh. 17.10 2. These remainders of sin in them as they are promoted by Satan so they give Satan an access unto their spirits and are as the seed for him to work upon they are to him a seminary and so much as Satan has in a man so much power he has over him says Christ
and that denial increaseth to an oath and that swearing multiplies to cursings and to imprecations upon himself in the highest kind as the word is in the original as if he had wished Mat. 26 74. I would I might never find mercy at the hands of God or come where God hath to do that I might be separated from God eternally and damned body and soul if that I know the man And Isa 57.17 says God For the iniquity of his covetousness I smote him and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. Theodosius was an Emperour of a very meek sweet and gracious temper yet a Temptation so far got the head of him that upon an occasion of a Tumult in Thessalonia a servant of his that he had in a special manner respect for being slain he commanded an universal Massacre throughout the City that in a very short space 3000 men were slain by his command and that by a wile being invited to behold a Play for which cause the Emperour himself was by Ambrose kept from the Sacrament It were strange to consider unto what a height even the sins of godly men from the remainders of corruption that is in them may be improved 6. For the improvement of sins in godly men Satan may and commonly does make advantage of the Law of God and the commands and restraints thereof whereby sin will take occasion See it in King Asa the Prophet did prophesie and he put him into Prison because he shewed him his sin and instead of repenting for it he increased it for he was in a rage temptation had got hand over him and by the reproof Satan did stir up his lust And even the Gospel is by Satan turned into wantonness and all the Grace of it yea and all the glorious works of Grace upon a mans heart sin will take occasion from Gods drawing nigh and wax wanton under his love there is not any part of the Law of God or the Works of God or the Providence of God that Satan will not make use of and sin take occasion by to stir up and to improve corruption in a man even those remainders of sin that are in a Saint Quest § 4. If a godly man be under the irritation of the Law as well as a wicked man where then lyes the difference that a man in Christ is said not to be under the Law in this respect The difference lyes in these three things mainly Answ 1. An unregenerate man has no other use of the Law but this all the fruit that he has by it is to improve draw out and increase his sins but a godly man being under another Covenant as he has the Law written in his heart in his regeneration so he has by the Law Grace increased in the continued work of his Sanctification Joh. 17.17 there is in respect of his regenerate part a power of Sanctification and the whole Law of God tends to that end in him and this the Law works in him per se as he is regenerate though it works the other per accidens as far as he is unregenerate Grace receives strength by the Commandment according to the law of the mind as sin does according to the law of the flesh in the one sin is restrained and subdued in the other sin may be restrained but it is increased and as a damm set upon the waters which â—â—â—es them swell the higher 2. Through sin may â—â—â—e occasion by the Law in the regenerate yet this does not constitute sin in dominion it doâ—â— never rise up so high in a regenerate man as to amount unto a compleat raign and dominion as Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you so that a man should obey it in the lusts thereof for in the highest improvement of sin by the Law in the regenerate there is another law in the mind a spirit that lusts against the flesh that a man cannot be given up unto all iniquity it does never work in him all manner of concupiscence as it does in the unregenerate so as to make a man always go on in a presumptuous way of sinning but Grace and the spirit of Grace gives a check to it because a man loves the law of God and its precepts according to his inward man 3. Lastly it does never so far prevail in the regenerate as to bring forth fruit unto death as it does in the unregenerate Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin that were by the law wrought in me to bring forth fruits unto death But as the law is made a servant unto the Gospel so both the precept and the curse of the law is made subservient and subordinate this way for as the remainders of sin in the godly are sprinkled with the blood of Christ so are all the temptations of Satan and the improvements of sin by the law which is unto all unregenerate men a part of the curse of their Covenant sanctified unto the regenerate and are a means to shew them their own vileness and to humble them deeply before the Lord as we see it in Peter and David and to make them hate sin the more and to make them the more watchful over their own hearts and lay the faster hold upon Christ and the Grace offered in the Gospel by faith and to ply the Throne of Grace by constant and daily prayers and the more to long for their adoption and redemption and so this improvement of sin by the law does tend in the end to the further subduing of sin and at last to the utter abolishing of it that so the remainders of sin being wholly done away Satan may stir up sin and sin may take occasion by the Commandment no more And so as other fruits of the curse of the law are blessed and sanctified unto them as their afflictions their temptations and death it self so shall these fruits of the curse be also sanctified unto them and tend to their sanctification and end in the perfection of their holiness at the last So that as death is swallowed up in victory in a mans resurrection so is sin also in a mans perfect sanctification unto which through the Grace of the Gospel sin it self was over-ruled to be a means for as there are two ways of a mans pollution so there are also two means of a mans sanctification there are proper and natural means as Satan and a mans own lusts c. and there are occasional means as the law of God so there are of a mans sanctification the Word and the Spirit and the Ordinances and there are occasions which in their own nature do work no such thing but Grace takes occasion from the one as corruption does from the other the temptations of Satan and the improvement of sin by the law being sprinkled by the blood of Christ shall be as effectual to a mans sanctification as the other being not sprinkled with the blood of Christ
a principle of life within or else a principle from without either weights or springs as it is in Clocks or Watches which makes the motion so many men may move to duty and abstain from sin not from an inward principle of life in the one or the other but from a weight without 5. There is in every unregenerate man a sinful and unrenewed heart deceitful above all things Jer. 17.10 and desperately evil a heart fully set in him to do evil and because this is natural therefore his heart is fully bent to go this way so that let him be constrained to do duty yet he will hate the duty that he does and count it a weariness and look upon it as a burden Mallet non facere si posset impune and say When will the Sabbath be gone And let him be kept from sin yet he will love it still if you chain up a Beast from the prey yet his inclination will be after it and keep the stone from the Center and force it up into the air as often as you will it will still return and when it comes down to the earth and can descend no further yet it will have a tendency thereunto So Conscience thâ—â— is meerly natural counts it its misery and affliction to be kept from sin for restrain it from sin never so much it will at last break these bounds and will be carried on with the greater fury greediness and violence because of the former restraint that was put upon it and the Devil will enter with seven worse spirits the dog will return to his vomit and the latter end will be worse than the beginning it had been better that man had never known the way of righteousness for he will be more wicked than if he had never known it Thus let the man have a heart set upon lust and let the power of the Law come into his Conscience acted by the Spirit it 's no wonder if it so far over-awe the man as to restrain him from sin and constrain him to duty § 2. But is a godly man that is under the Covenant of Grace wholly freed from the Coaction of the Law Answ This distinction was laid down in the beginning that though the main part of our Christian Liberty consists in being freed from the Law yet this liberty is in this life either inchoata or perfecta in respect of justification and condemnation A godly man is perfectly freed from the Law as a Covenant but in respect of Irritation and Coaction he is freed from these effects of it only in part We have seen how far the Irritation of the Law remains even in the regenerate and it is like lime which does quench those fires sometimes kindles 〈◊〉 Sin while it does remain and is acted by Satan may take occasion by the Commandment and produce woful effects even in the Saints so for the Coaction of the Law they are not wholly freed from it so far as they are unregenerate and the law of the flesh remains in their members the Law is of use to them and a handmaid to the Gospel and they do and ought to make use of legal motives to constrain to duty and to restrain from sin and the Law is to be preached to the regenerate to this purpose Heb. 11.25 1. To constrain to duty many times The Saints are to make use of the Law and the good things thereof so did Moses he had respect to the recompence of reward and the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.9 We labour whether present or absent that we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ and knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Again Heb. 12. ult Let us have grace to serve him acceptably for our God is a consuming fire These be the helps that the Lord has given us and it were our sin not to make use of them there is no man but he finds so much deadness and backwardness in his flesh that he shall be forced to call in this help many times Mark 9.44 2. And to restrain a man from sin also Christs exhortation is Cut off your right hand and pull out your right eye for it 's better to go to heaven maimed than having two eyes to be cast into hell where the worm dies not c. And if Adam in the state of Innocency had need of the threatning of the Law to deter him from sin much more a godly man that is holy but in part Yet there is a great deal of difference 1 in a godly man this is not the only principle that acts him as it is in the unregenerate for an unregenerate man would never do duty while he lives were it not from this Coaction of the Law out of a principle of self-love and natural conscience for he does duties as a godly man commits sins and he must say that which I hate do I but in a godly man there is another principle also there is a law of his mind an inward disposition the law written in his heart a new and divine nature and his obedience to God is natural to him as it is for a tree to bring forth fruit in its kind and a fountain to cast out mud and to work out any thing that is contrary to it 2 As this is not the only so it is not the main principle that works in them but there is the Spirit of Christ that dwells in them and leads them and there is a law of love that does mainly act them in all they do 1 Joh. 5.3 they abstain from Sin as from Hell and that which they see all evil in and as that which is dishonourable to God and defiles their own beauty for Sin is the souls deformity as Grace is the ornament of the soul and he does duty from an ingenuous and free spirit And therefore Christ says Take my yoke upon you for it is easie Whence so far as a man is regenerate he is a law unto himself and he would be kept from sin and carried on to duty if neither of these were but only from a principle within 3. The more a regenerate man is acted by legal principles and the less love he has to spiritual duties the less spiritual he is and therefore his desire is always to be led by the Spirit of God and he always prays to God for his free Princely Spirit SECT III. The APPLICATION § 1. WE may hence learn what a miserable estate a man is in being under the first Covenant every thing is a burden to him because it is a constraint upon his spirit the thing he does he hates he has a contrary principle within him which he would indulge and gratifie Now there being in a man the same nature and the command of God lying upon a man this may and this does commonly put a force upon him to perform duties of the law but that
because the law binds him over unto wrath and tells him that sin lies at the door 3. If we look upon the constraint the misery is as great also as not to do the thing we would so to be forced to do the thing we would not is no small misery and therefore Mal. 1.13 They say what a weariness is it which some render a weakness defatigatio and some molestia a trouble and all is because there is a force without contrary to a principle within Haman was by the command of the King forced to lead Mordecai's Horse and to proclaim before him This shall be done unto the man whom the King delights to honour how may we conceive this went against his spirit and it was as bitter to him even as death it self and the reason was because he had in him an inward principle of enmity and contrariety against Mordecai and so it is with every unregenerate man towards God and therefore though the law does force them to an outward observance yet they do hate that very outward obedience that they do perform and the law that enjoins it When the Saints of God have been commanded to do outward honour and observance to the dunghil gods of the Heathen for so they are called they have chosen death rather from an inward principle because they hated obedience to false Gods Now as a godly man would count it a misery and the greatest burden of his life to be forced to bow himself before an Idol so there is a principle of enmity in a wicked man unto the true God for they are all enemies to God and so they do hate to do observance also and any outward obedience unto the true God and as a godly man hates his sins because he is tempted to them by the law of his flesh so does a wicked man hate duties because he is led captive to them by the law of the Lord and therefore whatever they do in outward appearance they do it not before the Lord because they hate it when they do it § 2. We may hence learn the ground of all that hypocrisie and flattery that is expressed by unregenerate men towards God and Christ whom they hate with a perfect hatred it is all of it from the constraint of the law and as the coaction of the law has a further place in men so is a mans hypocrisie the deeper and becomes either gross hypocrisie or formal hypocrisie as Divines do commonly distinguish it the one is hid from others and the other from a mans self and yet all this while the man does but act a part as a Stage-player for so the name Hypocrite signifies And therefore we see unregenerate men abstain from those lusts which they dearly love and are brought to outward conformity in duties which they do truly hate and have no inward principle to perform We see the humiliation of Ahab c. and the observation and reformation of Herod the dissembled obedience and forced flattery of the wicked Jews and in the offers of other ungodly men at Religion Psal 78 34 â—5 36 and their hot beginning upon the ways of God But all this proceeds only from the Coaction of the Law and the power that it has even upon the hearts and consciences of the worst of men Hos 8.14 Hos 8.14 it is said For Israel has forgotten his maker and buildeth Temples c. A man would think that they that did build Temples had God much in their mind and did honour him highly building a Temple to his honour but yet all this was done in Hypocrisie and Will-worship They that repaired and beautified the Sepulchres of the Saints departed that were put to death surely it did argue they did highly esteem them and they did it in honour both of their persons and graces as Joseph did to the person of Christ and the Pharisees Mat. 23.29 who did build the Sepulchers of the Prophets yet Christ said it was all in hypocrisie for while they pretended to honour the Saints they did seek to destroy him that was the King of Saints Thus we see mens taking up an outward conformity unto the Law of God and some inward suitableness as being enlightned by the Holy Ghost tasting of the heavenly gifts c. which is the highest kind of hypocrisie such as is in a temporary believer who has the greatest shews of love to Christ and to duty and all this proceeds from this coactive power of the Law that God has upon the conscience of unregenerate men and this may come to a great deal of seeming delight and a man may seem to take great satisfaction in it The Lord says of Israel They delight to know my ways with their mouth they shew much love Isa 58.2 but their hearts go after their covetousness Ezek. 33.31 And many seem to have a great deal of seeming zeal for God and duty and Christ says Joh. 16.2 The time will come when they that kill you shall think they do God good service And Luther says of himself Tantus eram sanctus ut paratissimus fuerim omnes si potuissem occidere c. I was so great a Saint in mine own esteem that I was ready to slay all if I could c. And this he did not for worldly ends and for advantage sake but out of a blind zeal for Religion Therefore they that take away the restraining of the Magistrate in the things of Religion upon this ground because it will but make men Hypocrites may upon this ground take away the restraining power of the Law of God also In some respects as to prevent the outward dishonouring God before men and corrupting of others it were to be wished that all unregenerate men were come so far as to be Hypocrites and it was not wished amiss of the Father who said I could wish that all were Hypocrites It were better in respect of other men and honouring God before the world though it would be never the better in respect of a mans self for feigned love and secret flattery is in Gods account as bad as open enmity nothing so dangerous in men esteem as a false friend Judas was more hateful to Christ than all his Persecutors because he came to betray the Son of man with a kiss § 3. The next Use is of Examination Vse 4 Seeing that the Law has this power even upon unregenerate men that it can restrain from sin and constrain to duty and that godly men do duty and abstain from sin by vertue of the law written in their hearts how shall a man know that he abstains from sin and does duty by the law of his mind from an inward principle in his heart or else is only constrained from a law without and not from a law within for the Love of Christ constrains the Saints to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts Whether we forbear to sin and abstain from it and perform duty and be much
people prepared for the Lord. This Union is wrought by the Spirit of the â—ord Jesus by cutting off the soul from his old root for there is at least in order of nature a cutting off before a grafting in Rom. 11.24 1 Pet. 2.5 We as living stones are built upon him a spiritual house a holy temple Therefore Isa 28.16 Thus saith the Lord God Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone c. A foundation that is a sure â—nd a firm foundation for the repetition does signifie excellency and certainty Isa 26.3 He shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Matt. 7.24 Now there are but two foundations the Rock and the Sand a man must be removed and taken off the one before he can be built upon the other Rom. 13.14 Union with Christ is compared to putting him on as a garment a man must put off his old garment before he can put on the new and the wedding-garment which every man by nature is without It is a Matrimonial Vnion and a man must be dead to his former husband that he may be married to another says the Apostle I through the law am dead to the law Rom. 7.4 Gal. 2.19 Rom. 7.9 that I may be married to another Again I through the law am dead to the law that I may live unto God Paul in his state of unregeneracy was alive to the Law that is in the performance of it he thought he could keep the whole Law and expected by it that righteousness that should save him but now the Commandment came in a lively and effectual manner by the mighty working of the Spirit upon his soul convincing him of his guilt and his inability that for the curse of the Law he lay under it and the condemning power thereof by reason of his guilt and that he was able to perform no duty that the Law required through the inability that was in him and so he became dead unto it that is he expected life thereby no more and trusted upon his own strength no more for he knew he was able to do nothing and he that knows he is able to perform no duty of the Law and can expect no reward of the Law he is dead unto it Joh. 16.8 And this is done 1 by a work of Conviction convincing the world of sin that is that a man is in a state of sin under the guilt and power of it under the guilt of it that he is in his own person lyable to the wrath of God for it and that all the curses of the Law are his portion and that by nature Hell is his proper place and he is so under the power of it that he can perform no duty nor resist any temptation cannot subject himself unto the Righteousness of God nor to the Law of God he is in a state of impotency and of enmity and if the Lord do offer him Grace and come to convert him he cannot but resist and there is some special and darling lust in the cords of which he is held that will prove his destruction 2 And by a work of Humiliation the pleasure of all a mans former sins are dampt and taken away and the man is dead to them all and he cannot taste them as in times past and making a man to look upon himself as a miserable and undone man to loath himself to lye under the fear and expectation of wrath that the Law has threatned Acts 2.37 Rom. 7.9 and his guilty condition has deserved which is the proper work of the spirit of bondage to be pricked in his heart for a man to die to look upon himself as a dead man and to be dead in his own apprehension full of confession of his own sin and condemnation of himself as the Prodigal son Father I am unworthy to be called thy Son 3. There is a mighty and a glorious work of revelation discovering to a soul the good will of God the Father and of Christ which is called the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.18 revealing his son in a man Gal. 1. And convincing a man of righteousness in Christ Joh. 6. for the salvation of sinners that there is a holiness in the Person of Christ and a sufficiency in his Righteousness for the salvation of sinners This is called seeing the Son Joh. 6.40 which is not barely a notional knowledge which a man had before of Christ but a knowledge and apprehension of Christ and his Glory let into the soul such a knowledge as a man never had before seeing Christ to be a proportionable good to the Saints one that is able to save to the uttermost and one that he may have an interest in and he may become his for ever Joh. 12.44 Which when the Prophet saw he wondered all men did not believe in him his Glory did so ravish him and if a man that slighted Christ before once discern this presently he has an high esteem of this excellent person To them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 And they look upon him with another eye than ever they did in time past and this was the plot that God the Father delighted in before the World was and that Christ was but the Father's servant in all this that he did and that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that God was not averse to the work as an angry Judge but that Christ would bring souls to God and the Father did love to have it so and that all was the fruit of his own everlasting love to sinners before the world was 1 Joh. 3.16 That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And then all the offers of Christ the calls and the invitations of God and his compassionate intreaties that are in his Word all these begin to take place upon the soul Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters come and buy whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely That the price is already paid and that the blood of Christ was shed to cleanse sinners the Angels need it not the Devils can have no benefit by it it was given only for poor lapsed man and therefore it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is the drawing and the teaching of the Father Joh. 6.44 not but that it is done by the Spirit also but it is said to be the work of the Father because the offer of Christ being Gods gift is presented unto the soul in the Fathers name with a command from him to accept of him and to believe in him For this is his Commandment that we believe in him whom he hath sent because him has God the Father sealed And this took Luther so much when he understood the righteousness of God that
a glass Jam. 1.24 He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty Here it is spoken of the Moral Law as Beza observes in opposition unto the bondage of the Ceremonial not that the Moral Law is a Law of liberty or can set us at liberty of it self but it is so to them that are in Christ because it is a Law written in their hearts and they are stablished by a free and a Princely spirit There is a double glass that the Scripture holds forth in which Christians should often look as this here and that in the 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 Per legem peccati cognitio per fidem abolitio Ambros in Rom. 3. that in the one they may see themselves and in the other they may behold their Saviour even the Glory of the Lord. The Law is the one and the Gospel is the other Now the great use of this glass is that a man may see his own spots and deformities that his sin may be discovered and therefore the Text says it was added for transgressions And of this use of the Law the Scripture speaks often Rom. 30.20 By the Law is the knowledge of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound I had not known sin but by the Law And Rom. 7.13 That sin might appear sin and by the Commandment become exceeding sinful that is that he might see sin in the extent of it and its utmost vileness and filthiness and therefore he shews that there could be nothing worse than it he calls it by no worse name than its own sinful sin as to call Satan a devilish Devil is not so bad as to call him sinful Angel for sin being the worst of evils can have no worse name than it self and therefore when the Apostle says it did appear to him in the utmost sinfulness of it then he says it did appear sin Lex est Index peccati non genitrix the Law is the Index of sin â—ot the Parent As the light enters and discovers filthiness that before was there but it lay â—id in the dark And these Scriptures do direct us to sins of two sorts which are discovered â—y the Law 1 Original sin which is called the offence which was in the world beâ—ore the Law even from Adam for by one man sin entred into the world and by him it passed â—pon all mankind 2 Actual sins whether of the heart or of the life all the inordinate â—otions of the spirit tending unto evil which the Scripture calls lusts Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust 〈◊〉 be a sin unless the Law had said unto me Thou shalt not lust Here I must speak unto two â—hings 1 How does the Law discover sin 2 How by discovering sin is it a handmaid and 〈◊〉 servant to the Gospel 1. How does the Law discover Original sin and that cursed frame of nature which is in â—ery sin 1. By shewing unto a man as in a glass that primitive holiness and righteousness in which he â—s created For the Law indeed is primitive justitiae speculum the glass of primitive justice â—or that image of God in which man was created was nothing else but a perfect conformity 〈◊〉 the nature of the Law and will of God in every thing So that as Christ while he was â—pon earth in his humane nature was a perfect pattern of that obedience that the Law requiâ—ed so that all that he did was agreeable to the Law in every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.21 and he has therein left as a copy to write after so was Adams nature and so should also his life have been he should have known no sin neither should any guile have been found in his mouth he should â—ave been as it was said of one a living Scripture and a walking Bible a living Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so â—hat whatever the Law of God now requires of us that at first God created in us Now when a man compares himself with this Law and sees how unanswerable he is in every thing he does he thereby comes to see how he has utterly lost the righteousness and holiness that was in him at the first and the glory of his Creation his Mind that was in the Creation as full of light as the Sun is is now darkness it self and his Conscience is now feared his heart that was tender unto God is now hardned his Memory that was firm is now frail and leaking and his Affections that did move rationally and orderly as the Stars in their courses â—re now full of nothing else but confusion madness and disorder â—â—d his Thoughts the immediate issues and the first-born of his soul always excellent spiritual and useful but now polish vain and unprofitable flying up and down like atoms in the air to no end 2. A man looking upon this rule does not only see a privation of what formerly was his â—appiness and his glory but he sees now the quite contrary Act. 13.10 an opposition in him to the Law of God in every thing that he is an enemy unto all righteousness and full of the fruits of all unrighteousness the image of the Devil upon him so that look how the heart of the Devil works against God and duty so does his for he is as like him as a child can be like his father There is a touch that Satan has left upon a mans spirit and this is upon his whole soul 1 Joh. 5.19 also all the faculties of it are turned the wrong way all of them are taken off from God and duty and therefore a man when he is converted is said to return and when the Lord calls him he is said to hear a voice behind him but novv by sin he is turned quite avvay and there is this devillishness in him that he is the more contrary unto any duty because God commands it and is carried vvith the greater violence after any sin because God forbids it sin taking occasion by the Commandment which comes nearest unto direct â—â—â—ity that can be to do things by way of revenge which is the Devils sin 3. The Law discovers Original sin by shewing the dominion of it a man cannot resist it he cannot cast it off it has a double authority in the man the dominion of a Lord Rom. 6.14 and of a King a power of command and thence some expound sin mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 7.6 to be the husband and it is not much material which whether the Law irritating sin or sin irritated by the Law be the husband and so sin has a power of love also an interest as a husband to perswade and therefore there must be obedience men obey it in the lust thereof for he that hath authority over us to command and a power to persvvade the heart also he can procure obedience to all his commands vvhen he vvill but so has sin and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an encompassing sin vvhich he cannot cast off Heb. 12.1 vvhich he has no povver to resist it so besets him in every faculty that he cannot take it avvay 4. The Lavv discovers the filthiness of Original sin that it is mire it is vomit 2 Cor. 7.1 Jam. 1.21 it is filthiness it self nay that it is the excrement of naughtiness it has defiled the soul it defiles all creatures that are for a mans use Hag. 2.11 as the Leper whatever he touched is unclean To the soul of man the Sun in his glory was not to be compared if a man had been cast into Hell as a Diamond into the dirt it could never have defiled him his Holiness like a Diamond would have shined bright notwithstanding but since the soul is defiled with sin the defilement is so deep that nothing can wash it out it is a stain that will remain to eternity upon all that are not washed in the blood of Christ as spots in scarlet and crimson much soap will not serve turn to take them out the fire of Hell will not purge sin and therefore when men have been there millions of years they are as black and filthy and as unpurged as at the first entrance into that place of darkness and horrour c. 5. The Law discovers that Original sin is the seed of all sin and it contains virtually all sin in it Jer. 6. Jam. 1.14 it is sin in the fountain an evil man out of the treasure of his evil heart casts out evil things murder and adultery A man is tempted by his own lust it is his father and it is his mother lust conceives and brings forth sin all actual sins are much more in the heart there is a beam in the eye and a dimness in the heart and I conceive by all occasions also sin is drawn out and he can look upon no creature but he conceives sin from it 1 Joh. 2.15 whatever is in the world is the fuel of lust there is nothing but is the object and draws out some lust in the heart 6. The Law discovers the deceitfulness of Original sin that all the lusts of a mans heart are deceitful lusts Ephes 4.24 Jer. 17.9 Jam. 3.15 Heb. 3.13 and the heart is deceitful above all things who can know it that a man can never fathom the bottom of it for there is a devillishness in it that whatever policy there is in Hell all this is in sin the wisdom of the flesh will take all opportunities to sin and make provision for the flesh and by often sinning mens hearts are hardned and they use much policy also in drawing others to sin and to keep them off from that which is good to set them upon things that are unlawful or else to pervert and poyson them in those things which are lawful to make an improvement of every occasion and to grow upon the sudden beyond what a man could have imagined as we see it in Peter from lying he proceeded even to cursing and damning himself Hab. 2. Deut. 25. Ephes 4.19 Jud. 11. Isa 56. 7. The Law discovers the unsatiableness and unweariedness that is in Original sin and the infiniteness that is in it it is compared to drunkenness the more men drink the more they desire and it is like Hell that is never satisfied the pleasures of sin enlarge the soul but never fill it there is a greediness in sin men pour out themselves they are greedy dogs that can never have enough there is such a dog-like appetite after sin they do evil with both hands earnestly always modo modo non haberet modum and therefore eternity of punishment is reserved for it God dealing with the creature not according to his actions but intentions the sinner would have it infinite extensively and intensively and therefore peccat in aeterno suo c. he sins in his eternity and God punisheth in his eternity 8. It discovers the demerit and effects of Original sin that it brings a man under the curse which is all evil and the wrath of God in Hell all the curses in Gods book and all the plagues of Gods Justice all the torments of Hell which either infinite wisdom can find out or infinite power inflict and that to eternity and that not only upon himself but upon all the creatures for his use Cursed is the ground for thy sake and cursed shalt thou be in thy house Rom. 8.20 and the curse enters into the timber and there is a vanity of corruption brought upon them all it turns a land into barrenness makes the Stars fight against them and the Clouds to drop vengeance and there is the desert of sin written in the drops of rain it hinders the influences of Heaven binds up the influences of the Pleiades which no man can do c. 2. The Law sets before a man and discovers his actual sins and that in many particulars It shews a maâ—â— what dishonour every sin does unto Gods glory a man gives not glory to the God of Heaven but debases him as much as in him lies by casting dishonour upon him saying The way of the Lord is not equal Is God unrighteous I speak as a man says Paul he despises his Justice turns his Grace into wantonness and gives the glory of God to any thing else for in every actual sin a man sets up a new God and serves the Devil in it who is the God of this World The Idols of mens hearts as well as of their hands strike at the very Being of God and also at the excellency of Gods rule the Law being the Septer by which the Lord rules and that by which his Soveraignty is seen in the world Rom. 7.12 it is the glorious royal Law the perfect Law it is holy just and good infinitely surpassing all the Laws of men I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad And not only the holiness of the Law but the harmony of it is opposed he that breaks one is guilty of all he that neglects any one command willingly is undoubtedly an hypocrite and he disobeys all for sincerity is accompanied with universality Then the Law opened in its spirituality shews a man the intention of his heart much more than it does in his actions and the intent of the sin goes beyond that of the sinner it shews also the infection of it upon others for evil words corrupt good manners it is as rottenness a plague a gangrene there is an infection in them all This one act of sin would defile the whole man as we see it has done in Adam and the Angels that fell the act defiles the nature and the nature defiles the man the least vain thought deserves death and the least idle word qualifies a man for Hell and therefore there is more evil in the least act of sin than there is good in all the
there is a virtual league with death and with Hell Job 5.23 they shall be at league with Sin and Hell as a good man is in league with peace and rest A formal league with Sin and Hell they are not capable of but a virtual covenant and a league taking off acts of hostility Whatever a man is in Covenant with he fears no danger from and men walk as if Death and Hell were at an agreement with them and they fear no evil but are setled upon their lees and they make lyes their refuge and under vanity they hide themselves There is says Bernard a twofold evil Conscience a peaceable evil Conscience and a troubled evil Conscience And the first state is more dangerous when a man is like unto the dead Sea as some are like the raging Sea which latter is better than the former upon such a soul let wrath be discovered and judgement threatned it is but speaking terrour to a deaf man nay to a dead man nay let plagues be executed and not only so but let the hand of the Lord be lifted up eminently in the threatning and they will not see nay let it fall down in the judgement and they will not see Bray a fool in a mortar and his folly will not depart But he is as a man lying down in the middle of the Sea and as one sleeping on the top of a Mast he sees no danger there is nothing that he can lay to heart but he says Psal 49. I shall have peace as Deut. 29.19 While he lives he blesseth his soul Now comes the Law as a Hammer unto such a soul and that sets before a man its absolute Soveraignty over the man it is the Royal Law shews a man that God is an enemy to him and writes bitter things against him and it is this Law by which he will surely judge him at the last day Zach. 1.6 and though he may fly from it a while yet it will overtake him though the decree may bear a great while a judgement in the womb of it yet it will at last bring forth and for ought thou knowest it may be Hell before the morning there is but a thread of patience between thee and everlasting burnings That shews a man the vanity of all his former hopes and plucks off all that cobweb lawn and varnish that the Devil has cast upon his actions and state and there is a storm that overflows his hiding place the Lord lets him see in Spiritual judgements as he does in Temporal judgments when men promise themselves great things that the bed is too short the covering too narrow for him to rest upon Then offer him the pleasures of sin and he cannot taste them they are to him the greatest detestation Oh how bitter is it to remember that which was formerly sweet to commit and what a terrible companion is that sin in the guilt of it that was in the act of it most delightsome The bitterness of sin is so great that all the comforts of the creatures cannot sweeten it as Judas he cast down the thirty pieces of silver quickly he had no pleasure in his money So a soul crys out My iniquity is gone over my head and as a sore burden too heavy for me to bear § 3. 2. The Law of God condemns the sinner says the Apostle Sin revived and I died Rom. 9.7 Hos 6.5 2 Cor. 3. The ministration of death and condemnation c. There is a hewing and a slaying by the words of the Lord he doth smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he does slay the wicked Jer. 6.11 And therefore the word of the Lord is called the fury of the Lord what fury or vengeance soever is poured out upon a land or soul it is all by this word that is the instrument and these are the effects thereof The Law saith Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law and Conscience makes the assumption truly this curse is my portion The soul of man is not more prone to sin than it is to self-justification every man desiring to establish his own righteousness And the great work that we have in the Ministry is this to beat them from their own confidences men will not pass the same sentence upon themselves that the Law does If men would but look upon themselves in this glass and stand unto the sentence of this judgment they would not be so severely judged by the Lord but there are ways of self-deceiving from that abundant self-love and self-flattery that is in the heart of man that they desire to be deceived and there is no man in the world that can be so great a flatterer of another as every man is of himself 〈◊〉 does smooth over himself and makes all please as a flatterer doth Psal 36.2 Jer. 23.31 therefore the false â—rophets are said to smooth their tongues that there may be nothing that may distaste 〈◊〉 be unpleasant and so men will not own their own condemnation they will not â—â—e shame But when the Law comes and the Spirit of God therein gives in evidence aâ—â—inst the man brings forth the hand writing and chargeth a man with his pride and unâ—â—â—anness and hardness of heart and says this thou hast done then the soul says I have â—â—ed in betraying the innocent blood I have done exceeding foolishly Men and brethren what â—â—â—l we do to be saved Now every word of the Law comes home to him with life and with â—â—er and all the curses of the book he reads as his portion and says This is the inheriâ—â—e that Adam has left me and this have I also purchased for my self Tertull. There are a generatiâ—â— of godly men in the world that read over the Promises of the Gospel and they do claim 〈◊〉 as their portion and their inheritance for ever but they are nothing to me they are 〈◊〉 childrens bread and I am a dog a devil Truly the Devils are better creatures and were 〈◊〉 to do the Lord more service and yet they perish under the curse of the Law and they â—â—ble at the sentence of it and there is as much hope of a Devil Jam. 2.19 in the state that I am in 〈◊〉 as there is of me I know God is merciful but not beyond the rules of the Word whilst the Word speaks wrath all the men in the world cannot speak peace to me Every â—â—tion is a curse to me and there are no Providences that I can look upon in mercy my â—â—â—ngs are cursed and my ordinances are blasted they shall add to my sins and hasten my â—â—eance It 's wonderful that seeing the time of patience has its period the Lord has â—â—â—â—hed it forth to so great a length that I have had thirty or forty years cut off of eterâ—â—â— as a respite of those eternal torments These are the workings of men
the hearts of wicked men for ever 3. The Spirit of God does make use of the Law as a glorious instrument in this work for he works in restraints partly by the Law of God within and partly by the works of God and afflictions without but all his aim is that men may not find their hope Rom. 1.16 The Gospel is the power of God to salvation that is the great and glorious instrument of the power of God so is the Law also an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the Spirit of God does work by the Word and answerably to the Word and not above it or without it It is so called by the Lord Jam. 3.2 If any man offend not in word Jam. 1.26 Jam. 3.2 he is able to bridle the whole body to put a bridle to any thing in Scripture does signifie to moderate that thing and restrain all the rage and exorbitances of it Isa 37.29 I will put a book in his nostrils and a bridle in his lips Now what is the bridle that does restrain the enormities of the tongue see vers 15. It is the perfect law of liberty and this also is the bridle for the whole man Psal 149.8 9. Psal 149.8 9. To bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles in fetters of Iron and this honour have all his Saints To be bound in chains signifies two things Subjection and Restraint now how do the Saints of God do it the fire goes out of their mouths Rev. 11. that is Rev. 11. it is partly by their prayers and partly by their words setting the the Law of God before them and by this means they bind them for they bind up their lusts they restrain their sins and they bind over their Consciences unto wrath and all the Judgements denounced in the Word of God they do as it were execute them by their bringing them upon them as Zach. 1.6 Hos 6.5 Glass Rhet. Sacr. Ezek. 20.37 Psal 2.3 So that they do by the Law of God lay chains upon their Consciences and they execute judgements upon their souls and for that cause it is conceived that the Law is called the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 because 1 as a bond it doth bind to obedience and all disobedience it does restrain 2 The Law is counted a bond by men Psal 2.3 Let us break their bonds and thick weighty cords it is meant the Law of the Lord which brought them into subjection and they count it cords and bonds which are a token of three things 1 Of bondage 2 Of burden 3 Of baseness and that also may be the meaning of that expression Gal. 3.22 For the Scripture has concluded all under sin c. And thereupon Luther says Lex carcer est c. the law is a prison for it does restrain mens lusts they cannot walk at large as they desire to do in ways of evil and he says It is with unregenerate men under the restraints of the law as it is with wicked men in prison he that is shut up does not hate his sin but hates the prison and the thief is grieved at heart that he is not free nor at liberty to steal § 2. How does the Spirit of God make use of the Law for the restraining of sin The Lord has a working upon the hearts of both regenerate and unregenerate men and he has mighty acts of restraint upon them both and they are the wonderful workings of God in the world a man that shall consider the rage and malice of wicked men may wonder that the earth is not more filled with violence there being so many Nimrods mighty hunters of men in the earth that men are not made as the fishes of the Sea the greater to devour the less without controul breaking forth into all excess of riot and blood touching blood Yea he that shall consider the rage and madness that is in the hearts of the Saints themselves as we see it in Asa he put the Prophet in prison when in a rage and David caused them to pass under axes and sawes and harrows and that of Peter who did curse and damn himself and that of Theodosius by whose command seven thousand men were slain in the City of Thessalonica he would soon conclude truly the very mercy and grace of God in restraint is great And he that shall see the horrible abominations that men break forth into from day to day and the strange Apostasies that are come into the world he must conclude even restraining Grace is a great mercy and that this is a glorious and an excellent use of the Law 1 Tim. 1.9 wherein it is wonderfully serviceable to the Gospel Indeed the Apostle says 1 Tim. 1.9 that a man uses the Law lawfully when he knows and considers that the Law was not given for a righteous man There is a double interpretation of it that is most common 1 The Law is not given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not laid upon a godly man as a burthen for he has not only a Rule without but he has also Grace within that dictates to him a living Law within himself So that a godly man lives above the Law for he has a Law within as well as a Law without to restrain him from sin he has an inward principle that makes him hate every false way and what should an obedient and well managed Horse need a bridle for 2 The condemning power of the Law is not for the righteous man against such there is no Law the Magistrate should be nothing else but Gods Vicegerent and he is not a terror to good works but to evil but yet while the Saints of God do live here and are sanctified but in part they need the Law to restrain their lusts and corruptions afterwards when their Graces shall be perfected they shall need to call in no external help of a Law either to restrain from sin or keep them in duty or to quicken them to it but now corruption gets the head many times of the Law within that a man is induced to call in the force of the Law without also and the best of the Saints make use of many legal considerations and motives to constrain and restrain them in this world 1. The Law does restrain sin when the Lord sets before a man the perfection of it It is therefore called a perfect law of liberty this was the perfection in which man was created this was the perfection of the human nature of Christ a perfect conformity unto this Law in nature and life for he was a living Law And this is the perfection in Glory when the Saints shall have a conformity unto this Law and from hence the soul stands in awe of it the Lord shewing a mans abasement and imperfection so far as he comes short of the Law 2. The Law restrains sin so far as the Lord demonstrates its Authority Jam. 2.8 The Royal or Princely Law
wherein the Authority or Soveraignty of the Great King does appear for wherein does the authority of Princes lye but in their Laws and he is counted a rebell that does disobey them and that of the Apostle Rom. 2. Through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God and the Nomothetick power is that wherein the greatness and the height of Majesty lyes and this Law we are subjected to by bond of Creation as having received our being from the Lord and by a bond of Stipulation having given up our consent to the Law having given the hand unto the Lord c. and as being the rule by which the Lord will judge men at the last day and this kept Joseph in awe against the importunity of his Mistress How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God the Majesty and Authority of God is despised in it and the Soveraignty of the Law being exalted in his heart carried with it a kind of moral impossibility for there be natural and moral impossibilities as the Apostle in the 1 Cor. We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth And sometimes the people of God in the violence of a temptation have been forced to fly to the Commandment as in the point of self-murder one was fain to do the temptation was so impetuous that he was forced to repeat the Commandment for some hours together Thou shalt do no murder thou shalt do no murder 3. Sin is restrained from the Curse of the Law and the Judgements that it does denounce against offenders and the several examples of the executions of them says Job Chap. 31.23 Destruction from God was a terror to me and because of his highness I could not indure And 2 Cor. 5. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men And observing the several examples of Judgments and the Curse of the Covenant upon wickednesses which are wrought that others may see and fear and do no more wickedly When a man looks upon the Judgements that are abroad as the Curse of the Law executed a man should say I will not transgress It was the sin of Judah that at the Captivity of Israel she would not be warned and would not receive correction for that man that has the Law against him has God against him 4. Sin is restrained from the Harmony of the Law he that breaketh one is guilty of all c. This makes men stand in awe of the Divine Commands 5. From Gods love to the Law it being that which is so dear unto God Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not an iota of the Law which is dearer to God than Heaven and Earth The Saints are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they have a conformity unto God in all things they love what God loves and they hate what God hates Says the Psalmist I hate them that hate thee Psal 119.10.4 yea I hate them sore as if they were my enemies Through thy precepts I get understanding He says He did love the Law as his portion and inheritance as that which was sweeter to him than honey and his obedience unto which did bring him in all his comfort and therefore I have refrained my feet from every evil way this is my life and this is my wisdom in the sight of the Nations Lastly What authority and command the Law of God has in the hearts of men is that that Gods eye is much upon and with such men he is pleased and the power of Gods Grace is seen mainly in the awe of the Law upon their hearts and lives which other men despise and cast behind their back says the Lord To him will I look that trembles at my word Isa 66.2 And there is a man that fears an oath My heart stands in awe of thy Word else I had broken forth and given way to corruption but I durst not Isa 11.6 A little child shall lead him that which is most easily done and 2 Chron. 32.12 see the charge against Zedekiah for he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. If a man come to us from God and in the name of God if we despise him we despise the Lord. § 3. How is the Law from its restraint upon lust a servant and a handmaid unto the Gospel This will appear also in these Particulars 1. The great end of the Gospel is to establish the Earth and to continue the World for by sin an utter destruction should have come upon men and upon all the creatures for mans use only there is a stop put upon Justice for a time the change of the Covenant bringing in a change of the Government and the Kingdom that was before the fall administred by God immediately is now committed into the hands of the Son as he is God-man our Mediator So Psal 8. He has put all things in subjection under his feet Isa 49.8 and he has given him as a Covenant to establish the earth And it is upon this ground that those expressions are Psal 93. The Lord reigns he is clothed with Majesty the world is established that it cannot be moved And Psal 97.1 The Lord reigns let the earth rejoice All this is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ and his Government that is committed to him by the Father under the second Covenant and by vertue thereof since the fall And this the Lord doth by the restraint of the Law two ways 1 Hereby the lusts that are in a mans heart are kept under that they destroy not one another for lust is cruel see it in the second man that ever was in the world and he that first actually brought murder into the world and Nimrod a hunter of men before the Lord and as cruel to men as if they were beasts nay they are themselves Beasts and have the cruelty of Beasts and men would be as the fishes of the Sea the greater would devour the less they have no King over them and are acted by the spirit of the Devil and his name is Abaddon the destroyer his delight is wholly in destruction and if the Lord did leave men to the violence of their lusts and the impetuosity of temptation they would overflow as water over-running all banks and bounds and blood would touch blood where either as some say by blood is meant murder Hos 4.2 or all manner of horrible wickedness and so some take it so there is all manner of cruelty and all manner of unnatural wickedness even to the destroying of one another as we see it in Egypt every mans sword shall be against his brother and in the cruelty at the destruction of Jerusalem Now how comes it to pass that it is not so every where Only from the restraint of the Law laid upon the spirits of men and by this means the world is quieted as Luther in Gal. 3. hath observed Diâ—bolus regnat in toto orbe terrarum impellit homines
ad omnis generis flagitia sicut ergo hominibus obsessis vincula catenae injiciuntur ne quem laedant sic toti mundo qui est obsessus a diabolo adest Deus legibus cohibens manus pedes ne praeceps ruat in omnis generis flagitia 2 The Lord has set bounds unto the sins of the World as well as unto the sins of particular persons and Nations which when they have by degrees filled up judgment shall come upon them to their destruction As there was a fulness of sin when the Flood came upon the world and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth so there is a fulness of sin when the World shall be burnt and when all the wicked have filled up their measure then shall the fire of Gods wrath be kindled upon the World unto which it is reserved Only then when the World was drowned because there was a holy seed remaining upon the earth the Lord did spare the earth for Noahs sake because there was a blessing but when all the Elect of God shall be translated from this earth to Glory then there shall be an utter destruction and the earth shall be burnt up at least refined by fire Now if there should not be a restraint laid upon the lusts of men every one that is now a Serpent would become a Dragon and they that now sin as men would act like Devils and the measure of mens lusts would be quickly fulfilled and the end of the World would be suddenly hastned Now because God has appointed a time that the World shall stand for Gospel ends and to shew forth the Grace of the Gospel that mercy may rejoice and triumph over judgment therefore he does restrain the lusts of men that the fulness of the sin of the World may be filled up by degrees 2. It does exceedingly exalt the Gospel and the Grace thereof that it does make such a use of the Law as is unto man fallen above the nature of the Law and contrary to the use that sin does make of the Law 1 It is above the power of the Law unto man a sinner for the Law is become weak through the flesh Rom. 8.4 as we see they that know the Law yet pour out themselves to all excess of riot and give themselves over unto all manner of abominations He that says thou shalt not commit adultery doth himself commit adultery c. All this shews that the Law of it self is weak it can forbid sin indeed but it cannot restrain it as it can require duty but it cannot enable a man thereunto but as Bernard has observed It commands without grace and it punishes without mercy Restraining Grace in respect of sin and assisting Grace in respect of duty comes not from the Law but from the Spirit that is given in the Gospel working with it 2 It is contrary to the use that sin makes of the Law for sin takes occasion by the Commandment and the Law is so far from being a means of restraining lust that by the Commandment corruptions are improved and increased Rom. 7.8 11. the flood rises the higher by the damm that is made against it and there is this devillishness in sin that it does take occasion by the Commandment to deceive a man that is it does work in a man a greater apprehension of the sweetness of it and a greater desire to it and longing after it because it is in the Commandment forbidden and from the very prohibition does arise the strength of the temptation a man should never have had his heart so much carried out after it if the Lord had not forbidden it and then a man says Stollen waters are sweet and the bread of deceit is pleasant Now when Satan and sin shall take occasion by the Commandment to improve corruption and to draw it forth that the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel should make a quite contrary use of it to restrain it and bind it up it does much exalt the power of the Gospel and the spirit of the Gospel which works with this Law 3. Restraining Grace which the Spirit of God does work in a man by the Law is of great use and does mightily exalt the Grace of the Gospel in preserving from open violences and immoralities 1 In reference unto the Saints that they are not destroyed for they are sheep in the midst of wolves their souls are amongst lions and therefore it is a wonder that they are not destroyed it is God that lays a restraint upon their enemies lust sometimes and they desire it not and sometimes upon their acts and they cannot effect it Abimelechs lust was restrained in reference to Abraham I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her And as to Laban God laid a charge upon his spirit and so it was with Herod in reference unto John the Baptist and it is by this restraint laid upon the hearts of wicked men that the lives and liberties of the people of God are preserved and this is every day as great a miracle in some respect as to set bounds to the Sea that it do not overflow and as to stop the Lions mouths or to hinder and restrain actum secundum the second act of the Fire in the Babylonish Furnace that it did not burn so much as the garments of the three Children and that your peace and prosperity and that the progress of the Gospel is not interrupted that the Devil does not cast some of you into prison and seek your blood as in time past it is not that he is not as truly the Destroyer still as in times past but the Lord restrains the lusts of men that he cannot act them and draw them forth as he has done formerly 2 In reference unto wicked and ungodly men that live in their sins and perish in them Though it is true while the corrupt will prevails and a mans enmity to God remains so long is a man a sinner before God in every thing because he is in his habitual frame of heart an enemy unto all righteousness Austins Epist 144. But it is a great common mercy that wicked men have by the Gospel that their lusts are not let out to the uttermost and the greatest judgment that men can be given over to is to be given up to their own hearts lusts delivered over unto the power of sin and to be acted by Satan to the highest and the utmost as Judas the Devil entred into him it was but a higher degree of acting of him in a way of wickedness The restraint that is acted upon them lessens the guilt and does not spread so much in the defilement the act of sin does intend the habit Nor is it so dangerous and infectious unto others for sinners in their actions are corrupters and by their example taint many with evil ways and words the more their restraints are the less will their judgement and condemnation be and
they grow above ground the more they spread under ground lop them continually that they grow not above and they will by degrees wither and die Grace doth grow by the actings of it and so does sin and if a man should have Grace in his heart and yet never bring forth fruit though it could not wholly die because it it an immortal seed upheld by the Spirit of Grace yet it would never thrive There is a double way that the Devil takes to increase sin in a wicked man 1 He doth infuse all the devillishness into them that he can the Devil entred into Judas and put it into his heart to betray Christ the wicked one toucheth them 2 All that wickedness that is in them he does act and draw forth to the utmost And there is a double way of the decay of Grace 1 By stirring up and strengthning the contrary principle of sin 2 By hindering Grace from acting in all things and so though it be immortal seed yet in the degrees of it it will decay So it is here the Spirit of God infusing a new principle and restraining and hindering the actings of the old by this means sin dies by degrees and the heart is weaned and taken off from it and this is done by the Law SECT IV. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it is a Rule § 1. WE have thus far considered the Law as it is in its subservience to the Gospel as a glass discovering sin and as a bridle restraining it now we come to the third Consideration as it is a Rule to guide and direct a man in all the ways of obedience and it is a Rule within and a Rule without 1. It is a Rule within that is the Spirit of God given by the Gospel or the second Covenant doth make use of the Law of God as an Instrument of Conversion and so plants in a man a rule of holiness and obedience in his own heart a principle of conformity unto the will of God in all things The Law indeed cannot do this of it self looked upon as a Covenant alone for so it is a dead letter but as it is in the hand of the Spirit Rom. 7.9 The saving knowledge of the Law is brought in by a secret and yet sacred blast of the Spirit of God breaking in and blowing when he listeth Now that the Law is an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the conversion of souls is plain 1 Every part of the Word of God has a converting power if the Spirit of God be pleased to concur with it for every part of the Word of God is seed to beget as well as milk and strong meat to nourish if any part of the Word of God be ingrafted in the heart it will change the stock of what nature soever 2 It is that which is attributed to the Law Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Indeed there is some difference about the word converting some say it is reviving or returning the soul when going down to the pit thou sayest Return again but it is returning from sin as well as sorrow and therefore Act. 7.38 called verba viva vivificantia living and life-giving oracles which give life here and bring to life hereafter 3 That is the promise of the new Covenant I will put my Law into their hearts and write it in their inward parts for no man has by nature the Law of God in his heart for the image of sin and the law of sin is upon the heart of man by nature Gen. 6.5 Rom. 12.2 1 The Law of the Lord is by sin blotted out of the hearts of men that image of God and conformity unto his will is taken away which they had at first and they have a new law the law of sin there 2 It is the Law put into the heart by the Spirit of God that is the rule of all a mans inward obedience and conformity unto God Adam had the Law written in his heart not only a Law without but inward dispositions conformable to it within and when man had blotted it out God wrote it in tables of stone but now he will put it into the hearts of men so that they shall have an inward principle answerable to the Law-rule without and whatever he does require in the Law something within shall answer to it but this Law is put in by the hand of God 3 In Conversion God does put in the whole Law into the heart of man what Law is it but the Moral Law that which is a Rule of a mans way without is the Rule of a mans heart within and God will put it so therein that it shall never be blotted out again by sin for he will write it there that it may remain Litera scripta manet c. but more particularly observe 1. That no man hath in him the Law of God by nature but all are enemies unto the Law in their minds they are not subject unto it neither can be and therefore the Apostle says Rom. 8.7 When the Commandment came c. it was a coming Commandment not of his own fetching it is therefore said to be a voice crying behind us This is the way walk in it for every man by nature hath another law the law of sin the law of his members which stands in opposition to the law of his mind the image he has upon him is the image of the Devil and he has contrary dispositions in his inward man unto God and to the will of God in all things not formed by the word Rom. 12.2 2. That which is written there is the Moral Law There are two great principal parts of a mans holiness Faith and Obedience and because the ground of Obedience is Faith therefore it is commonly called in Scripture the Obedience of Faith and answerable unto these are the two great principal parts of the Word there are the precepts of the Law and the promises of the Gospel and both these the Lord makes an ingrafted word the foundation of a mans faith is the Promise and thereby a man is made partaker of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and the foundation of a mans obedience is the Precept for in the regeneration we are renewed after the image of him that created it therefore writing the Law in the heart is a renewing of the image of God which in Adam we had lost and that was a knowledge of the whole will of God in whatever concerned Gods glory and his own duty and he had an inward ability and disposition of soul in all things to submit himself thereunto with cheerfulness So that in the fall the Law of God that was written in our hearts that was stamped upon us and concreated with us was utterly blotted out and now the renewing of this Law in our inward man is our regeneration a putting the same dispositions within us that were
gives up himself unto it as the perfect law of liberty that wherein his happiness lyes this is that which makes the yoke easie and the Commandment not grievous and the ground of it is because the Law is written in his heart and this is to serve Christ in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter not barely to have a duty in the letter injoined which is that which only prevails with other men to perform duty whilst all that is in their heart is against it they do it and yet hate the duty when done and the Law that injoins it but here is the Spirit of God renewing and working in a man such dispositions of heart which answer the duties of the Law in all things so that a man loves the duties and the Law that commands them as setting him about a service that he is pleased with so that it is the Law that is the yoke of Christ and it is writing it in his heart that makes it an easie yoke In putting the Law as a rule into a mans heart the Spirit of God doth let a man see 1 The Holiness of the nature of God Ephes 4.24 for man was in this created after God neither did the Creature behold the Holiness of God any other way than in the Law which doth forbid the least blemish and defilement all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Herein a man sees the glory that was stampt upon him in his creation for his heart was nothing else but a perfect copy of this Law created in it and in this conformity in his inward man to the Law of God did this image principally if not wholly consist 3 This is a perfect resemblance of the Holiness that was in the humane nature of Christ in whom the Law was fulfilled for there was no sin in him He knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth he was a lamb without spot or blemish he was a living Law 4 This is a perfect copy of that conformity unto God that is in the Saints and souls of just men made perfect When he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 The law of his mind shall be perfected and the law of the members wholly destroyed Now we are conformable to the will of God but in some degrees for that perfectio graduum perfection of degrees is to come but the Spirit of God will go over our hearts and write more and more of this Law in us till we be made in all things answerable thereunto And in our conformity to the Law glory being nothing else but Grace perfected shall our conformity unto God in Heaven be where we shall not be like God in part as here we are but shall be wholly conformable to him which is the perfection which we strive for and aspire unto and therefore the Scripture calls this our perfection Paul saith 2 Cor. 13.9 I long for your perfection that is a perfect writing of the Law in the heart and this fits a man for Gospel-Ordinances and the perfection hereof is the reward of the Gospel for the Law written in the heart is the foundation of all obedience unto the Law and the perfect writing the Law in the heart is the highest reward of all the Promises and all the obedience of the Gospel § 2. As the Law is a rule within being planted there by the Spirit given in the second Covenant which does change a mans nature and doth give a man inward dispositions suitable thereunto a law of the mind so is the law a rule to guide and direct a man in his way unto which all the Saints are to give heed from which they are to learn their duties and by which they are to judge of all the ways of God and the ways of the world the Law is added unto the Gospel Fides efficit quod lex imperat as the rule to the hand of the workman the rule is able to do nothing of it self it is a dead thing it is the hand only that does the work and if the hand can do nothing aright without the rule the Law can work nothing being dead without the Grace of the Gospel that only inabling a man to perform all acts of obedience and yet the Grace of the Gospel does inable a man to no other obedience but that of which the Law is the rule Christ himself tells us that his intention in coming was not to destroy the Law of God or put an end to it or make it void Mat. 5.17 Think not that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets and interpreters of the Law Now there are in the Law but three things to be considered either it is for Justification for Condemnation or for Direction Now for Justification unto all that are in Christ it is by Christ abolished no man is justified by the works of the Law but by the Grace of Jesus Christ and for condemnation also for he hath delivered us from the curse of the Law and was made a curse for us There remains now no other proper use of the Law but for Direction as it is a rule and therefore either Christ has destroyed it wholly or else he will have it remain in this last sense and so the next vers 18. tells us Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away and the whole frame of this world fall to pieces before the Law shall pass away therefore it doth remain for Direction unto the Saints unto the end of the world So Rom. 3.31 the Gospel does not destroy but establish the Law the word in the Greek doth signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strengthen and make a thing firm that was falling before so by the sin of man the Law became weak through the flesh neither to be fulfill'd in the precept of it or the curse but men must be for ever satisfying it now the Gospel comes and it makes the Law firm 1 In our Surety for in him is the precept fulfilled and the curse born he did fulfill all righteousness 2 In us because by the Grace of the Gospel we do attain strength in some measure to obey the Law which is encreased more and more till in our nature and actions we shall be made perfectly conformable unto the Law in Heaven and so the righteousness of the Law perfectly fulfilled in us the Lord perfecting his good work that he has begun in the day of the Lord so that the Law remains as a rule to Believers being not abolished but established by the Gospel 2. The Gospel sends us unto the Law as a rule of duty Luk. 16.30 31. They have Moses and the Prophets the Law and the Expositions of the Law and the Lord requires Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul as well under the Gospel as under the Law And Jam. 1.25 He that looks into the perfect Law of
liberty and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word and therefore Jam. 2.8 we are exhorted to fulfill the royal Law and to keep the precepts of the Law and to walk in them The whole Law as to its second Table is fulfilled in this one word Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and for this cause Christ in his first Sermon frees it from its corrupt glosses and interpretation of the Pharisees and restores it unto its spiritual sense because it was to be of a perpetual use in the Church of God and it is so perfect a rule that Christ added no new precept to it but only interpreted and expounded the Law and restored it unto its primitive and original glory 3. Christ has left us an example and he is unto us not only the principle of holiness from whence it is derived Mat. 11.29 Phil. 2.5 but also the pattern to which it is conformed Joh. 13.15 Now the acts of Christ were of two sorts 1 Acts of Office as he was a Mediator by which he merited of God the Father pardon and acceptation for us and so we cannot imitate him but there are 2 acts of Moral obedience which he did as our Mediator and as our Pattern and in these we are to follow Christ unto this day for his whole life was nothing else but a spiritual Commentary upon the Law of God and herein we must be followers of all men as they follow Christ because there is a defect in all mens conformity to the Law but so there was not in Christ Joh. 4.3 4. So far as we come short of it even the best of the Saints we sin for what is sin but a transgression of the Law therefore to the Saints the Law is a rule of obedience or else they should never transgress it and if a man would try and examine his ways he must bring it to the rule for it is a rule for examination Adam was bound to the Law and therefore his least transgression was a sin and we are bound as strictly as Adam was and so far as a justified person comes short of universal obedience unto the whole Law he sins as well as Adam in the state of innocency only in the Gospel by the Mediation of Christ the sin is pardoned Therefore under the Gospel there is no other rule of obedience but the Law of God and every sin is a transgression thereof Christ came into the world to be made a curse for sin but not a cloak for it the Saints are bound to the Law under the danger of committing sin though not under the danger of incurring death and therefore sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression and Christ when he would shew a sin has recourse to the Law and also in all his temptations and so Act. 23.5 some expound that of Paul I wist not brethren that he was the high Priest because it is written Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy people c. 5. The Law hath all the properties of a rule 1 It is recta right the Law of the Lord is holy and perfect Psal 19. 2 Nota known it is promulgated and made known in the authority of God himself I have written to them the great things of my Law and they have counted it a strange thing 3 Adaequata answerable unto the thing to be measured by it and so is this Law spiritual Rom. 7. and gives laws to the spirits of men and to their words and their actions there is no case can fall out that there is not a rule to be found for it in the word Psal 119.96 were our eyes opened to behold the wonders that are there I have seen an end of all perfections but thy law is exceeding broad In all the laws of men we can look beyond them but there is a latitude here Psal 119. that we cannot reach it was to David his counseller and it is such a counseller that you cannot put that case to it that it cannot resolve and fully clear if thou give ear unto it when thou walkest by the way it shall lead thee and when thou risest up it shall walk with thee as a friend and counseller 6. That is the rule of obedience to a man in this life by which God will judge him in the life to come and according to which he will reward him Rom. 2. They that have sinned under the law shall be judged by the Law as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse Joh. 12. There is one that judges you even Moses in whom you trust And Paul says The Lord will judge men according to my Gospel And the greater Grace there is rejected the greater shall their judgement be but the curse that is executed upon wicked men in Hell is the curse of the Law which the Lord Christ did undergo for those that are his and the reward both here and hereafter is very great in keeping of them there is great reward in this life the fruit is unto holiness and in the end everlasting life And though the Law be to all unregenerate men a Covenant of Works and a curse of the same Covenant made with Adam yet this is made a handmaid unto the Gospel and is the only rule of all Gospel or new obedience the strength to perform it is from the Gospel but the duties to be performed are from the Law the ability to walk is from the Gospel but the way in which we must walk is the way of the Lords precepts Objections answered § 3. There are some Objections against this that are necessary to be cleared not that I desire to enter upon a Controversie or a Polemical discourse but because it will help us to understand many Scriptures and so happily free us from many snares in which men are sometimes taken Object 1 Mat. 11.13 Luk. 16.16 It is said That the Law and the Prophets were till John since the Kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it therefore the Law was to last no longer and is not therefore as you say to be preached as a servant unto the Gospel because its service and its prophecie is ended for in John Baptists time it did expire it lasted so long and no longer Answ 1. It cannot be the meaning that the Law and the Prophets were to cease Luc. 16.17 and to be wholly abolished for Christ immediately confirms them and says Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than a tittle of the Law shall pass which words are added as Interpreters generally observe to prevent that objection against or misinterpretation of this Doctrine of Christ the Law and the Prophets were till John but yet mistake me not as if I would be understood acsi post haec lex in ecclesia exauctoratae esset as if henceforward the Law should be abrogated Cartwr for Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass than
both these 1 In reference to the precept of the Law and the Remunerative justice of God so God did require of his Son that he should perfectly obey that Law that man had broken and this obedience of Christ consists 1 In this That it must proceed from a nature perfectly answering the Law Heb. 7.26 he was holy and harmless c. 2 Holy actions Matt. 7.3 Joh. 8.29 Rom. 8.2 5 19 he did fulfill all righteousness and it is becoming him so to do He knew no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth 3 Herein he did continue and persevere unto the end He doth always the things that do please him and these go unto Gods satisfaction and to our justification as by Adams actual disobedience many are made sinners so by Christs active obedience many are made righteous Rom. 3. last Dan. 9.23 Rom. 8.3 And he saith he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it And the way of the Gospel doth not make void the Law but establish it and there are two parts that Christ must act to finish transgression and make an end of sin and to bring in an everlasting righteousness and therefore the righteousness of the Law is said to be fulfilled in us and it is the righteousness of the Law and that which doth exactly answer the Law in all things Ambros It is fulfilled in us while it is imputed to us 2 In reference to the curse of the Law and the vindicative justice of God and herein are four things 1 He must represent our persons and therefore he is called a surety that must stand instead of the debtor as the sacrifice did dye instead of the man And he is said to bear our names in his heart as the High Priest did upon his breast-plate as one that represented all these before God and therefore he is said to be made sin for us and a curse for us and to suffer the just for the unjust for us that is in our stead Therefore we need not say how can one person make satisfaction for so many thousands Truly there is a worth and an excellency in the person of Christ equivalent to the persons of all the elect and he did as their surety represent them all before the Lord. 2 He must bear their sins and all the guilt of them 't is all charged upon him 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that knew no sin The greatest sinner says Luther Christ was because he bore the sins of all the elect of God God did make to meet on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 Psal 40.12 Gal. 3.13 He did confess our sins as his own Mine iniquities have taken hold of me God did impute sin to him 3 He must suffer our Curse He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us the chastisement of our peace was upon him when God made his Soul an offering for sin 4 He must pay the utmost farthing and that he did John 16.10 of righteousness Because I go to my father and you see me no more It was an argument that the debt was paid for the High Priest entred into the most holy place once a year but I go to the Father where I should never have come if I had not discharged the debt and I have done it once for all and therefore you see me no more He is gone into Heaven he was taken from Prison he was put into the Grave as a Prison and as a Malefactor but to shew that our debt was satisfied the Lord sent an Angel as a publick Minister of Justice Psal 110. last and did open the Grave and gave him a release he did lift up his head having drunk of the brook in the way And all this Christ did perform not of his own will meerly and of his own accord but he did it in obedience to a command John 10.18 I lay down my life and take it again for this commandment I received of my father Thy law is in the midst of my bowels Psal 40.7 8. it is the law of dying to be made a sacrifice And he saith Psal 40.7 8. In the volume of the book it is written of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some do understand it of the Book of Gods Decrees and so this of Christ was first the Lord priviledging him to be the Churches head in the first page of this Book it was written of him that he should do his will others understand it of the Book of the Scriptures the Prophecies and Predictions of Christ in them and the Lord in them did foretell what past between the Father and the Son at the Council Table of Heaven before ever Christ came into the World the Lord Christ said Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldest not it would not satisfie him but thou hast told the World of me that it was thy will that I should do it and I am ready to obey Gal. 4.4 c. Thus was Christ made under the Law as our surety and laid down an answerable price unto whatever the Law and Justice of God could expect of us 2. Christ did whatever is required unto mans sanctification 1 He gathers them Other sheep I have that are not of this fold them I must bring in Joh. 10.16 Joh. 8.39 it is spoken as a duty that lay upon him which God required of him I must do it it is the will of him that sent me that of those that thou hast given I should lose none but raise them up again 2 He must govern them and erect a throne of grace in their hearts and rule in them Isa 40.10 11. His arm shall rule for him and he shall feed his flock as a shepherd gathers the lambs with his arm 3 He sanctifies them receives the spirit for them and dispenseth it unto them Isa 42.1 2. He is my servant I put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles And therefore he went to Heaven as a publick person as the second Adam and having himself received the Holy Ghost he doth send forth the gifts and graces of it more abundantly for Christ is in Heaven by vertue of Office and it was necessary in that respect that he should depart from us because by Covenant he was to perform some acts of office in Glory he was to go before and prepare a place for you 4 To be their Advocate and plead their cause and the word as Cameron observes is in opposition unto an accuser 1 Joh. 2.1 Rev. 12.10 Satan is the great Accuser of the brethren he doth accuse the brethren before God day and night And we see Zac. 3.1 2. Satan stands at his right hand as the manner of accusing was in antient times as we see in Jobs instance but Christ makes answer for them there is a difference between Christ as a surety and as a publick person who
Covenant there is an oath made by God the Father to Christ and there is an oath also made to us there is an oath made unto Christ and therefore he is said to be made a Priest by a Covenant oath Psal 110.4 and the oath to us Heb. 6.17 18. Who are heirs of promise that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie c. God having taken up unchangeable counsels concerning this Covenant he did therefore to shew the Immutability of his Counsel confirm it by an oath and being so engaged he cannot go back though that be true also because he is faithful and cannot deny himself Yet because his counsel was unchangeable and he did never intend to alter his Covenant for ever therefore he did swear that he might shew how much his heart was in it and that he did never intend to change it but his counsel in it was unchangeable And this Doctrine I do the rather pitch upon in opposition to the licentious tenent of the Antinomians from the former Doctrine The Covenant of grace is made with Christ and he has undertaken to perform all duties required of us and bear all the curse for us as he was our surety therefore say they all is required of Christ and nothing of us and so though we walk never so loosly and corruptly yet God will require all at his hands and while Christ doth not fail the Covenant on our part can never be broken Indeed this is a truth that God has laid help upon one that is mighty and he does expect all at Christs hand because he can never fail the Covenant cannot be broken for he is the surety thereof but yet we must remember withall that we come under the same Covenant with Christ and we in our place are bound unto the same obedience and so far as we come short we sin and may be charged with unfaithfulness before God though this shall never break the Covenant nor be imputed unto a man to his destruction because this Covenant has a surety yet as the Covenant with the first Adam bound all his posterity unto the same duty so does the Covenant made with the second Adam also only a man might have broken the first Covenant for himself though he could not break it for all mankind but under the second Covenant a man cannot break the Covenant for himself so as not to be capable of mercy upon repentance because the second Adam is the surety thereof 2. The Reasons why it was necessary that the Covenant of Grace should be made with all the faithful and not with Christ only as their head are Reason 1 1. To answer those great ends why God will deal with man in a Covenant way 1 The Lord will enter into Covenant that he may declare his glory not only in a way of goodness but in a way of faithfulness In the Creation the Lord did shew forth much power and wisdom and in the Law much holiness But there was no way to manifest his faithfulness Mic. 7.20 but by Covenant The Lord hath chosen you above all people that you might know that he is the Lord the faithful God And Rom. 15.8 9. there is the truth of God to the Jews herein manifested and the mercy of God to the Gentiles who were strangers and not before taken into Covenant so that it is hereby the Lord doth gloriously manifest an Attribute and that which shall manifest an Attribute must be no small matter and therefore when the Lord doth shew his power he doth create the Heavens and the Earth and lays the beams of his Chambers in the waters raiseth such a roof as the Heavens and lays such a foundation as the earth and settles it upon nothing if he will shew his love he will give his Son and if his grace he will pardon sin and if his holiness he will give a Law if his mercy to the vessels of mercy give them Heaven a kingdom of joy and glory and if his wrath he will make Hell So that whatever the Lord hath done in the world is for the manifestation of himself and that which shall make manifest any Attribute of God to the World must needs be some great thing It is only this entering into Covenant that hath manifested the faithfulness of God he had not been else known to be a faithful God unto the World as Exod. 3.6 says the Lord By the name Jehovah I was not known to them that is as a God fulfilling of the promises So by the name of a God faithful and true he had not been known but in reference to the Covenant and the faithfulness of God was so much the more manifested by this Had the Lord only entered into Covenant with Christ he keeping the Covenant and yielding obedience to it the faithfulness of God had not been put to that stress and trial as it hath been now that the Covenant is made with man and he unsteady therein and does transgress it and forget the Covenant of his God and yet that the Lord should towards him remember his holy Covenant still and our unfaithfulness not make the faithfulness of God of none effect and the people of God therefore notwithstanding all their unfaithfulness to cast themselves upon the Covenant of God and the promises thereof as David did 2 Sam. 23.5 and his words yet to be found as it were tryed words Psal 12.6 The words of the Lord are pure words tryed as silver seven times Psal 12.6 c. The fire that tries these words was that of affliction and when a man is brought into a streight and then casts himself upon a promise and thereby has experience of the truth and faithfulness of God therein then it is said to be tryed and all the people of God have had experience of it so often that there is no dross to be found in it no more than can be conceived to be in gold and silver purified seven times 2. The Lords intention was to honour man also and it 's one of the greatest and highest dignities that the Lord hath put upon his people Jer. 13.11 to bind them unto himself for a name and a glory and Deut. 26.18 19. the Lord did avouch them to be his people to make them high above all people and therefore the staff of beauty mentioned in Zach. 11.10 is the Covenant between God and his people I brake my staff of beauty that I might break my Covenant which I made with all the people c. and it is a Covenant of friendship a Covenant of marriage and in all this there is an honour and a kind of equality and it 's the ground of all the honour that the Lord doth put upon us for our union with Christ is grounded upon our Covenant with God Had the Lord taken Christ into Covenant with himself only he had indeed honoured his Son but not his Saints but now to make them
Jews and Gentiles do grow 2 It is put for Abraham with whom this Covenant was first made and in whom after a sort the Covenant began and so I conceive Root is taken vers 16. If the root be holy so are the branches neither is there any inconvenience to say that the Covenant is the Root upon which Abraham and all the rest of his branches did grow and also that Abraham was the Root from which his seed did grow up into Covenant for he was the Root only by virtue of the Covenant which did in a manner begin with him and by virtue of this Covenant all his seed were as so many branches to grow upon him and were owned as a Church unto God 3 As the Olive-tree is the Church and that is but one and the Root is the Covenant and that is but one so the branches of this Olive-tree are to grow upon this Root and though many of the natural branches were broken off yet that does not make void the Covenant the Root still remains the same for others to be grafted in upon and some branches were grafted in that were taken out of another stock and that never grew upon this Covenant and their grafting in was being made members of the Church who were before strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and the Covenant of promise and standing upon the Root was being taken into Covenant so that he that is taken into Covenant is thereby made a Church-member Whosoever therefore is taken into Covenant with God and hath a federal relation unto God that man is grafted into the Root and is made a branch of the true Olive-tree and grows upon the same Root that all the Saints of God do grow on and therefore to be taken into Covenant and to be made a member of the visible Church is in the notion of the Spirit of God and in the language of the Scripture the same thing Whence it appears that there is but one Covenant between Jews and Gentiles one Root that bears them both 2. Though the Covenant be the same in substance yet it is under different administrations In the Covenant three things are carefully to be distinguished for the external Ordinances thereof There are three things in the Doctrine of the Covenant that are carefully to be distinguish'd 1 There is a twofold being in Christ one by a Mystical Union so he that is in Christ is a New Creature and the other by an external Profession and so as Christ is a Vine spreading himself into a visible Church 2 Cor. 8.17 he has many unfruitfull branches 2 The Covenant has two parts 1 One inward and spiritual which is by Faith and Conversion and the benefits of it are Justification Adoption and Sanctification which is the Covenant spoken of Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts 2 Another external which entitles a man to the outward priviledges only and this is the Covenant in regard of the outward administrations owning them for a visible Church of God thus God is said to break with the Jews for the Covenant of Grace in the spiritual part of it is everlasting Zach. 11.10 and cannot be broken 3 Answerable to this two-fold consideration of the Covenant so there are different Seals annex'd thereunto unto the spiritual part of the Covenant there is added the Seal of the Spirit which is secret between God and the Soul Eph. 1.13 4.30 and unto the external part of the Covenant there are added visible Seals before men and these visible Seals are different amongst the Jews and the Christians the Ordinance and Seal of Admission amongst the Jews was Circumcision but it 's Baptism amongst Christians therefore the administration is varyed though the Covenant remain the same Heb. 9.10 and for this cause the times of the Gospel are call'd the times of Reformation that is when all these weak and beggerly Elements though they were Gods Ordinances should be removed and new and more spiritual and unchangeable Ordinances stablished in their room for the Ordinances and Administrations of the Gospel are those that shall never be changed but continue the same to the end of the world as they are the best so they shall be the last as these Two places do clearly prove Matth. 28.19 Go teach and baptize all Nations and I am with you to the end of the world therefore that administration shall never be changed and 1 Cor. 11. Ye shew forth the Lords death till he come therefore that Administration shall last unto the second coming of the Lord. Heb. 8.7 There is a double time that the Saints of God in all ages have had a special eye upon they in the Old Testament upon the times or as it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the season or the fit time appointed by the Father for the reformation of all things and there is a time that the Saints in the New Testament are to have an eye upon and that is the time of the restitution of all things which referre to the same time 2 Pet. 3.13 and Revel 21.1 a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and Earth is passed away c. Heb. 8.8 and it is therefore commonly call'd a New Covenant because though it be the same yet it 's under new outward administrations and this was prophesied Dan. 9.27 Dan. 9.27 he shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week That is in the last seven years of that Provincial Kalender the Seventy two weeks which was the time of the continuance of the Jewish Church and Worship after their return out of Babylon in the last seven years thereof Christ the Messiah should establish the Covenant with many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's meant of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles and bringing them into the Fellowship of the Gospel and the New Covenant who were before strangers to it and it is said Multitudes should be converted and in three years and a half that is half the week by the Ministry of Christ the Jewish Sacrifices and Oblations and all their Ceremonies shall be disanulled and the administration changed and that shall make way for the destruction of their City and State 3. The administration being changed in reference to the new Administration the Jews and the Gentiles are upon equal terms and have an equal right one as well as another whosoever freely and voluntarily submits thereunto A mans external right to the Covenant comes from his subjection to the present administration under which God has put the Covenant the Covenant of Grace was the same which God revealed unto Adam immediately after his fall in that first Promise Gen. 3.15 and when the Saints did gather into visible Churches or Societies and thereby separate themselves from the world to worship God in a Communion of Saints it was the external Priviledges of the same Covenant Gen. 4. ult
heart hast thou done these great things that is of thy own free grace and unexpected Love because thou wouldst have mercy and yet it is Mercy to Abraham but it is Truth to Jacob c. Mic. 7. v. ult and therefore Austin calls the promise Chirographum Dei Gods Bond it is the bond or hand-writing that God has given the creature to assure him of Heaven so that as the Apostle calls the Law Chirographum contra nos Col. 2. a bond against us so are the promises the bond that is for us because they do speak God to be with us 4. All this is through Christ both making and performing 2 Cor. 1.20 so it is in him that the promises are Yea and Amen as all the precepts of the Law though given to us yet they are principally required of Christ as our surety and the transgressions of them are laid upon him so all the promises of the Gospel though they be made unto the Saints yet they be primarily made unto Christ as our head and representative for as we have heard he is the seed with whom the covenant is made and he is given unto us as a covenant so he is primarily the Heir of promise and as in respect of possession Esa 49.8 we enter into his inheritance called our masters joy so in respect of the promise and reversion we come under his covenant and so partake of his inheritance and have no further any promise made to us than as we are one with Christ and no promise is performed to us but by virtue of union with him and therefore it's Christus in aggregato Christ mystical that is the proper subject of all the promises and their accomplishment is to himself as the head and to the Saints as the body § 2. Why doth Gods part of the Covenant in this life mainly consist in promises It 's true that these promises shall end in performances and Heaven is the accomplishment of all the promises it is a promised as well as a purchased possession when the Saints are all gathered home all the promises shall be at an end and therefore in that respect faith shall cease for the object of it shall be taken away and therefore the acts of it must needs come to an end though it 's true that the habit of faith as well as all other graces being a part of the image of God and the new creation of Christ is of an eternal nature but yet the Lord does mainly dwell with his people in a way of promise and the covenant on his part doth run in promises 1 Cor. 2.5 7. 1. The life that the Saints live in this world must be a life of faith and not by sight there is another life though we live by faith and not by sight here that in glory is reserved for us and another manner of living and the main objects of faith are the promises Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4.19 21. He staggered not through unbelief He did not reason pro and con about it because faithful is he that has promised and he will also do it he is able to perform It 's true there is a faith that rests upon the whole Word of God as true and good and so the soul receives it but yet the object of faith by which the soul rests on God is mainly the promise so that as obedience is the Law written in the heart so also the object of faith is the promise written in the heart the Lord lets in the promise and the soul rests thereupon and if the Lord had not dealt so in a way of promises our life could never have been a life of faith 2. They are the great grounds of our hope and thereby the Lord will sweeten our obedience he doth not give forth a bare command as an act of Soveraignty but he adds thereunto a promise as an act of Grace Heb. 6.18 The Lord willing to shew the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that we might have strong consolation who are fled for refuge to the hope set before them which hope we have as an anchor to the soul And the Anchor is cast under water and takes hold of something that is not seen as yet for if I see it why do I yet hope for it Now though it 's true a godly man should not yield obedience meerly for reward yet a man may have respect to the recompence of reward and though it is true that this should not be the great thing that should launch them forth in duties of holiness yet this is a good wind to fill the sails the Lord letting him see that there is an inseparable communion of Gods glory and our good also duty and mercy 〈◊〉 hand in hand and that the Lord requires no duty but it is for our good always t◠he may perform unto us the promise that is annexed thereunto There is an amor merc◠〈◊〉 love of reward that is not mercenary Heb. 12.1 Christ had the joy set before him that did sweete 〈◊〉 sufferings he had a glory and a posterity promised him and Moses had respect also to the recompence of the reward Heb. 11.25 And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look at the things that are not seen that is the scope and the main aim of the soul in all our obedience active or passive and by this the Lord doth delight to sweeten our way 3. The promises are the great means of the souls purification 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us purge our selves having these promises and perfect holiness And by these great and precious promises we are made partakers of the Divine nature The promises are the Treasury of all that grace that God doth intend to bestow upon his people and from thence do the Saints fetch it Isa 12.3 for they are the wells of salvation and it is by this that the soul is fitted for the performance there is a being made meet and 't is the promise that made them so as a mans beholding of God in himself doth transform him perfectly into the image of God Col. 1.12 2 Cor. 3.18 so beholding God in the promise does transform a man by degrees into the image of that holiness that is in the promise A man looking upon himself sees his heart as a barren wilderness as empty of grace as the first Chaos was of form and beauty Now he says what is impossible with man is possible with God and the soul sucks a promise and is thereby changed into the image thereof 4. That they may be the rule of the prayers of the Saints for his will must be the rule of our prayers as well as of all other acts of our obedience the precepts of the one and the promises of the other we must ask according to his will if we hope to speed and therefore our prayers should be nothing else but pressing God with
Father Son and Spirit in one and the same essence and therefore if any man say a person is something or nothing I say it is something it is Essentia Divina cum proprietate sua hypostatica the Divine Essence with its relative propertie As what is the Father He is God begetting the Son and what is the Son He is God and begotten of the Father c. and so the Father is infinite and the Son infinite because they have all Three an Unity of Essence which is infinite and therefore there is no reason why there should be so much exception against the title of Person as some of the looser sort would seem to take it being a word that doth most fully that I know express the nature of the thing that we can have and most answers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Apostle Heb. 1.3 Who being the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person and upholding all things by the Word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high but call them either Persons or Subsistences so the thing be the same I shall not contend for the words 3 But suppose that the manner of it we were not able to express yet it is and should be enough unto us that the thing is clearly set down in Scripture and that we walk by grounds of faith and not by reason it is enough to us that there is but one God and yet that Father Son and Holy Spirit are three and are yet said to be one if we could not describe how three are one nor how one is three yet the deep things of God we must not bring unto the rule of our blind crooked and presumptuous reason a quomodo or how in the things of God is hateful unto God and not agreeing to the nature of faith Col. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is very unbeseeming Christians Take heed lest any man spoil you through philosophy the word notes to make a prize of you and carry you away as Pirates do another mans goods and so there is many a man made a prize of at this day Philosophy is nothing in it self but rectified and raised reason and res Dei ratio est Tertullian and whilst reason is subordinate unto Religion and a hand-maid it 's of excellent use but when it will step out of its place and will needs be a Judge in the things of God then it 's vain that man that will bring down the Scripture unto the rules of his own reason will quickly be made a prey of by any seducers Cum de rebus sibi subjectis pronunciat philosophia audienda est Daven sed cùm de rebus ad fidem spectantibus explodenda When philosophy judgeth of things that belong to her let her be heard but when she judgeth of things belonging to faith let her be exploded Dav. And this has heen the true ground of all these Heresies of Arminianism and Socinianism which have especially in these latter ages pester'd the world because they will arraign the highest Truths of God at the Bar of their own blind and presumptuous Reason and Understanding And this is that which in answer to it Justin Martyr often pressed De recta fidei confessione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 375. It becometh the Churches adherents to measure divine things not by humane reason but according to the intention of the Spirits doctrine So having in the same Book affirmed the Union of the two Natures of Christ he addes pag. 382. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you ask me the manner of this Vnion I am not ashamed to say and confess my ignorance therein but rather I glory in this that I do upon the authority of God believe that which my reason cannot comprehend nor my tongue express Vse 2 2. Exercise faith upon all the persons grounded upon these promises and walk in the love of them all and expect the sealing of them all and so much these promises will carry you unto Exercise faith upon all the persons grounded upon these promises they are the great and ultimate objects of faith now faith is imperfect that takes not in all the objects of faith and it 's a greater imperfection for a grace to fail in its object than to fail in any of the acts of it The Apostle 1 Thess 1. speaks of some defects in faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and truly these are the great defects there be abundance of objects of faith that faith doth not act upon because we know but in part c. nay the greatest suspicion that a man has of his faith lies in this if any object of it be willingly neglected as in a mans obedience it 's a great ground for a man to question the sincerity and the truth of it if the meanest duty thereof be willingly neglected so it 's ground enough to question the sincerity and truth of our faith much more if a man do observe the lesser duties of obedience and be precise in them but the great and weighty things of the Law are neglected by him so it 's here if a man take in lesser and inferiour promises but as for the promises of the persons which are the great things of the Gospel they are neglected and faith acts not upon them Here a mans faith should take in these particulars 1 That all the persons have a special hand in the salvation of a sinner and that by these promises every believer hath an interest in them all in reference unto these works Opera ad extra sunt indivisa It 's true they having one and the same nature and essence what the one of them doth the other doth also whatever thing the Father doth the same thing doth the Son likewise But yet though these be not opera propria proper works yet they are appropriata appropriate There are peculiar works attributed unto each person as 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ Now suitable to these appropriated works so should a mans faith eye each of the persons and his interest in them When the soul is conversant about Election faith then must look upon God the Father and when about Redemption then faith must look upon God the Son and when upon Sanctification then faith must eye the Holy Ghost because these are the works that the Persons have undertaken under the second Covenant to accomplish in mans salvation and they are by promise made over to these ends 2 One main intendment of God in the Gospel is not only to advance the Attributes of the Divine nature to glorifie his Justice and his Mercy and Grace by making higher discoveries of them than ever could have been shewed forth under the old Covenant but it is also to
not the holy Spirit by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption do not resist the Holy Ghost do not tempt him lest he forsake you and say I will strive with you no more A man should fear the evil aspect of any word of God and the estrangement of any promise of God that he should be in such a condition that he cannot go to it with boldness and comfort and be kept off from an Ordinance of God that he cannot eat the Passover with the people of God in the season of it how much more when a man shall look up upon the Father Son and Spirit and sees any of these estranged from him for they seek the glory one of another and delight to have each other honoured in the hearts of the Saints and if thou walk unworthily towards any of them they are all of them provoked and displeased thereby § 3. Let us now take a view of the particulars how and in what respect each person doth make over himself unto the Saints in the second Covenant that we may see how they have an interest in them all 1. God the Father makes over himself in Covenant unto the Saints as he is the Father Joh. 20. therefore Christ calls him My Father and your Father my God and your God The Saints also call him our Father 2 Thess 1.1 In God our Father c. Christ is his Son by nature as he is God and as Mediator he is taken into the same Sonship by the grace of personal Vnion Luke 1.35 That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God And we are also taken into the same Sonship by the grace of Adoption by virtue of the mystical Union even as the Manhood of Christ is by the personal Union Now what is it to have an interest in him as a Father that we can call him Abba Father The sweetness of that relation is very great unto the Saints for he is the Father of mercies and he is the Father of lights 2 Cor. 1.3 Jam. 1.17 by which Majesty Holiness and Perfection is intimated for so much Light doth signifie 1 Joh. 1.5 and therefore he is said to dwell in light and Heaven to be an inheritance in light and he is the Fountain and Father of all Light whether it be lumen fidei or lumen gloriae Col. 1.12 the light of faith or the light of glory and from hence Saints looking upon God the Father making over himself unto them are greatly affected considering 1 they have the honour of such a relation and truly the highest honour of the Saints is that of Sonship as it was the highest honour of Christ in his relation that he was the Son of the Father and we count it a high honour to stand in relation unto a Prince as David said Is it a small matter to be Son-in-law to a King It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a priviledge or prerogative to be called the Sons of God Behold what manner of love the Father has shewed us Joh. 1.12 13. that we should be called the sons of God! Now we are the sons of God in this life we have this title of honour put upon us though it is true our condition doth not seem answerable unto such a relation adoptionis fructus nondum apparet c. 1 Joh. 3.2 2 We may be sure to be acquainted with his secrets and see all his actings for the Father loves the Son and shews him all that he himself does he did so to Christ and in your measure he will deal so with you also for the Son is in the bosom of the Father and therefore he knows his mind and his purpose The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Joh. 1. â—8 i. e. the secrets of his counsel with them and the secret of his providence over them his Law is in their hearts 3 He loves you as a Father My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And we know the bowels of a father to his son by Abrahams to Ismael for his everlasting state his love did rise so high though we are begotten not of the will of man but of God And though Absolom were a disobedient son yet David doth love him so that his heart went out to him even when he rebelled against him there is an efficacy in love 4 As a Father he 'l hear your prayers Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me I know thou hearest me always whatever you ask of the Father he will give it you also that are his children It is by our sonship that we prevail with God in prayer at any time we have an Advocate in the Father The Father himself loves you saith Christ and therefore whatever you ask the Father be sure you shall speed and Christ argues the case with us Why should you doubt this If you know how to give good gifts to your children that are evil how much more shall your heavenly Father give to them that ask 5 He will as a Father give you a supply for all your wants The Father loves the Son and has committed all things into his hand all judgment is committed to the Son so he will give you as a Father the greatest gifts he gives his Son his Spirit he will give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him he will give grace and glory he doth not think Heaven too dear for them because they are sons and his own Essence he will make their portion and happiness 6 He rejoyceth in your prosperity here in your well-doing when wisdom is justified of her children he rejoyceth in their well-doing a wise son maketh a glad father he loves to see them prosper to see their graces grow and their souls thrive that they may have all good things both here and hereafter 7 He spares them in their services as a father spares his son that serves him though they be weak he doth not reject their offerings and he doth accept the will for the deed does not deal with us as an enemy that watches for our halting but as a father we do not stand without as the rest of the world do but we come into the inner Court. 8 Lastly they have an interest in him for correction Whom I love I chastise says God and in all their afflictions he doth pity them as a father Eph. 3.12 he doth correct in judgment not in fury but in measure c. it is for their profit that they may say it was good for them c. But more particularly this must be premised How and in what respect each of the Persons have made over themselves to the Saints under the second Covenant that under the first Covenant all the persons had an equal hand in the same things and there were not opera propria but what the Father is said to do that the Son and Spirit also are said to do so
plainly that they did seek a country so when we see the Saints of God to seek after no creature-sufficiency and not to place their happiness and the stay of their lives upon them it is a plain argument that they have their sufficiency in something else there is something else that doth bear up and elevate their spirits which can be nothing else but the acting of their souls upon the alsufficiency of God Vse 5 § 5. All you that have an interest in the alsufficiency of God walk before him and be upright Gen. 17.1 2. for what need a man to turn aside to any other what need had he to hasten after another god Psal 16.4 If the alsufficiency of God be yours he that is self-sufficient for his own happiness surely he will be alsufficient for yours and therefore there is no need to wander after the pleasures of sin or the comforts of the creatures if there be no defect to be supplied what need had we to call in any other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect good seems to be alsufficient Aristot If there be a perfect good it must needs be sufficient for that is perfect unto which nothing can be added if the creatures be added unto the Lord he is never the more perfect therefore if the creatures are wanting there is no defect no deficiency in him and if we need no other why should we trouble our selves to make out to another to do any thing in vain we count it folly to take in many things for that which may be supplied in one frustra fit per plura c. therefore keep God to thee and thou shalt want nothing Here is a double duty required from the alsufficiency of God to all his Covenant-people 1. To walk with God Walk before me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before my face in conspectu meo as in my sight as being under mine eye in whatever thou dost put thy hand unto There are three expressions take in a mans whole duty towards God in the way and in the course of his conversation 1 Walking with God Gen. 5.24 Enoch walked with God 1 It is a term of reconciliation that the enmity between God and the man is taken away for they are friends that walk together Amos 3.3 2. Two cannot walk together unless they be agreed so that a man must be in a state of reconciliation 2 It 's a term of communion that in a mans way he should have fellowship with God in his whole course and in all the actions of his life for that is a mans walk and therefore 2 Cor. 6.16 when the Lord hath communion with his people he is said to walk with us and when we have communion with God we are said to walk with him Luther extra causam justificationis nemo potest bona opera satis magnificè commendare Luth. and a man is to walk with God not only in religious duties but also in all the common and ordinary actions of his life a man should not only do what the Lord doth command but he should do it unto the same end for which it was commanded and that is that he might enjoy communion with God therein 2 There is a following of God or a walking after him Num. 14.24 it 's called following of the Lamb that implies three things 1 A walking by rule for a man must go no where but where he sees the footsteps of God before him 2 It is coming up unto the exactness of the rule that he doth follow the Lord exactly he doth not miss one step where he sees God to have gone before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this Eph. 5.15 is walking circumspectly 3 It is walking with God unto the end and so it implies a perseverance it is not a going a part of the way after God and then to turn back from following him but it is to follow after him and to continue unto the end and so it is said That the Lord called Abraham to his foot Esa 41.1 and this is to follow the Lord fully or as it is in the Original implevit post me he did fulfil after me c. 3 There is a walking before God that is with a constant respect unto his all-seeing eye he sees the eye of God always upon him and he sees that to be a holy eye that no sin can scape it nothing can blind it all things are naked and open before it and he that doth observe it it is unto this end that he may judge it that he may give unto every man according as his works shall be and that 's the meaning Luke 15.21 I have sinned against heaven and before thee by Heaven the Learned do understand the presence of God who doth dwell in Heaven and therefore Psal 73.9 They do set their mouth against heaven Mollet Ad veram sapientiam pertinet ut Deum praesentem cuncta inspicientem jugiter attendamus Carth. that is contra Deum audacter sese efferunt Mat. 21.25 The Baptism of John was it from Heaven or from men that is from God and that was the great thing that without regard unto the greatness of God and his glory without respect unto his presence and his holiness and his all-seeing eye he sinned against him and that did affect him and that also did cut the heart of David I have done this evil in thy sight and yet I had no fear of thy glorious presence and thy all-seeing eye so that there are these six things necessary to a mans walking as becomes a Saint in reference unto God 1 he must be in a state of reconciliation 2 he must walk by rule 3 he must go to the exactness of the rule 4 he must persevere and continue unto the end and not turn away and draw back 5 he must have an eye upon the presence of God and his eye in all he doth 6 he must do all this that he may enjoy fellowship and communion with the Lord in his whole course 2. That we be upright or perfect with him there is a perfection of the Saints in this life even while their souls are imperfect Heb. 12.23 and it consists in two things 1 When the soul in its choice and bent cleaves unto God alone and goes out after no other Psal 18.29 God will be yours if you will be his you must be unto him and to no other Hos 3.3 God can admit of no Corrivals with him 2 When there is a perfection in the inward man all grace is there in truth the whole new man the whole Law of God is written in the heart he respects the whole Law of God leaves none of his Commandments out in his practice it 's not enough to know the will of God but there must be a doing of his will his practice must answer his knowledge and when all these are in you and abound then you are said to be perfect
and this is the ambition and the endeavour of every child of God that the law within may fully answer the law without that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished to every good work as well as every good word and may be ready in season and out of season always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that his labour shall not be in vain in the Lord this is our perfection to glorifie God always in our hearts and in our lives c. CHAP. VI. The Soveraignty of God made over to the Saints in the new Covenant SECT I. How and why Gods Soveraignty is made over to the Saints Doctr. § 1. I Now come unto the second particular implied in the fourth Head and that is the Soveraignty of God which is made over in this promise I will be thy God for God doth imply a Supremacy Rom. 9.5 He is God over all Eph. 4.6 There is one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all c. And hence the Observation is That God hath in the new Covenant made over his Soveraignty and Supremacy over all things to the Saints so that it shall be truly exercised as for his own glory so for their good also And for the handling of this point I must shew 1 What the Soveraignty of God is 2 That it is by the Father committed into the hands of Christ 3 That it was by the Father committed and is by Christ exercised in the behalf of the Saints in all the administrations of it 4 The grounds or the reasons of it why it was necessary that to whom he should be a God they should have an interest in him as he is Lord of all 5 The Application of all 1. What is the Soveraignty of God It is that absolute and universal Authority which he hath over all things as being the works of his own hands and so much Christ teaches his Disciples to acknowledge Mat. 6.13 Thine is the kingdom Psal 10.2 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven and his kingdom ruleth over all and therefore he is called a great King Mal. 1.14 King of kings and Lord of lords and therefore all things are said to be in the hand of the Lord Deut. 33.3 all the Saints are in his hand Esa 50.2 Is my hand shortned Isa 50.2 Now there is a hand-ruling a hand-providing a hand-protecting a hand-assisting a hand-inflicting and a hand-dispensing for all these are to be understood by the hand of the Lord in the Scripture And this Kingdom and Dominion of God 1 is universal there is no restraint or limitation of his Kingdom it doth reach unto all things in Heaven and in Earth his Kingdom ruleth over all he doth whatever he will in Heaven and in Earth and in the Sea and in all deep places and therefore he is commonly in Scripture called The Lord of Hosts The Lord of Hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our refuge Jam. 5.4 c. Jam. 5.4 The crys of them enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath or Hosts all the creatures are under his power as their absolute Commander in chief all is but his Army and he is the General of them he doth order and marshal them all at his pleasure There are four respects why he is called the Lord of Hosts 1 propter numerum multitudinem they are many not a few but the whole army of them from the Angels in Heaven unto the meanest creatures the whole host of them is in his hand under his power and at his dispose 2 Propter ordinem dispositionem they are not barely a number but they are ordered and placed in their several conditions and ranks Joel 2.7 Joel 2.7 it is expounded of the Locusts and Caterpillars that the Lord did threaten and he saith They shall every one keep their ranks even in the most disorderly condition of things there is an order that the Lord doth set the stars in their courses shall fight Judg. 5.20 c. the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab exaltationibus suis from their Towers it 's a Metaphor taken from fighting from Castles or some high places of strength from their Towers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint renders it and so we also render it in their order and in their courses as God hath set them 3 Propter praeparationem they are an army and therefore prepared for the battel ready to go upon all services any design that the Lord would appoint them for they have their weapons in their hands Ezech. 9.1 Every man with his slaughter-weapon in his hand the very Flies and the Lice the Caterpillar and the Canker-worm they are all of them armed and all of them ready for service when he doth command them 4 Propter subordinationem obedientiam they all of them go at his commandment they continue to this day according to his ordinance for all are his servants they do dispatch his commands for he saith to one Go and he goeth c. as it is said of the Angels Ezech. 1.14 Their going and returning is as a flash of lightning with the greatest readiness and dexterity that can be every one of them moves in their own due order with all possible speed that can be 2 It is supreme his government is independent upon any other all other Authorities are from God and therefore they all hold of him Dan. 4.17 The most High rules in the kingdoms of mortal men c. deponit reges disponit regna à Deo sunt omnes potestates quamvis non omnium voluntate magnus est Caesar sed Deo minor he deposeth Kings and disposeth Kingdoms c. and therefore saith the Lord Ezech. 21.26 I will overturn overturn remove the diadem and take away the crown Yea the Lord Jesus Christ though he be King of Kings and the great and the only Potentate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet he received the Kingdom from another Esa 9.6 Dan. 7.14 he gives a Kingdom and Power and great Dominion he doth commit all judgment to the Son he hath a government but it is given him and though he be our Lord yet he is therein but the Fathers servant c. and therefore he doth rule so as none other doth 1 He gives all what being he will according to his Soveraignty and therefore there are several degrees of beings they were all in his hand and there is an election unto being and unto the order of being 2 He doth appoint them to their end as he made all for his own glory and they shall be unto his glory so in what way he will glorifie himself by them some in mercy and some in judgment some vessels unto honour and some unto dishonour 3 He doth give them what law he will some have a law written in their nature there are ordinances of the heavens and some have a law
the Covenant as broken while they do so continue have no more benefit by a Priest than the Devils have only to man there is a possibility and not unto them but the second Covenant is a Covenant with a Priest and there is a threefold office of a Priest 1 He does present their persons for he stands in their steads he bears their names two ways upon his heart and upon his shoulders 2 He offers a sacrifice for their sins and does carry the blood into the most holy place and doth sprinkle it before the Mercy-seat 3 He presents their requests and desires unto the Father together with his own upon the same Altar of the Godhead which is the Golden Altar Heb. 7.22 for he ever lives to make intercession for us 4. In the Covenant of Works there is matter of glorying and boasting in a mans self if a man abide in the Covenant and the reward is of debt Rom 4.1 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeed Adam might have come into the presence of God and have said Lord I have fulfilled thy Commandment I have done thy whole will c. And as the Lord Jesus Christ did I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do now glorifie me with thy self now justifie me bestow upon me the grace and life that thou hast promised c. But under the second Covenant there is no place for either there is no debt for all is of grace to give the will and the deed and to pardon the failings and defects of any thing we do that we are accepted it is meerly of Grace And there is no boasting for all is done by the strength of another and through the acceptance of another For Christ is made to us Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption that he that glories may glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 And so boasting is excluded by what law not by the law of works but by the law of faith Rom. 3.27 For the soul says Ephes 2.9 I was in the same condemnation with them that perish and the Lord had mercy upon me because mercy pleases him not for mine own righteousness but according to his own mercy he saveth us Tit. 3.4 5. Now it is impossible therefore for a man to be under both Covenants because the terms and â—he conditions of the one are contrary and destroy the other § 5. It may be asked Quest Whether a godly man while he lives here having a double principle the one from the first Adam and the other from the second Adam he may not also have a double Covenant state and a double Image partly the Image of the first and partly the Image of the second Adam partly of the earthly and partly of the heavenly Why may not a man also say that so far as he is flesh he is under the Covenant of Works but so far as he is regenerate he is under a Covenant of Grace For so some of our Divines have spoken of late Consider a regenerate man in his natural being and so he is ever under the Law and as often as he sinneth is under the sentence of death but as he is in Christ so he is free from the Law by Grace c. A godly man has a double principle and this doth argue a double image Answ and the corrupt principle that is within him is a remainder of the image of the old Adam and the gracious principle is the image of the second Adam begun in him But yet this cannot infer a double Covenant because the Image respects his nature but the Covenant does respect his Person Now it is with a man as it is with Christ there are two natures in him and they have two properties the one eternal and the other in time the one is infinite and the other finite the one mortal and the other immortal but if we look upon his Sonship that is but one because it respects his Person filiatio est suppositi filiati filiation is of a person so though a man have two very different natures in him of flesh and spirit the one from Christ and the other from Satan and in the one a man does resemble God and in the other the Devil yet they argue not two Covenants quia faedus pertinet ad suppositum the Covenant belongs to the person 2. A double Image may stand together and though indeed they seek to destroy each other the flesh lusting against the spirit because they are contrary yet it shall not prevail But the two Covenants do actually necessarily and immediately destroy each other because the terms are contrary and therefore unless a man may stand righteous before God in his own righteousness and in the righteousness of Christ at once unless he may be an heir of the Curse and of the Promise unless he may be justified and condemned unless his sins may be pardoned and his righteousness imputed unless he may appear before God in himself and in another he cannot be said to be under both Covenants for the terms of the Covenant are such that they do necessarily destroy each other 3. The change of a mans Covenant is a legal act an act of God upon a mans being once in Christ God does account a man as one under the Law no more as God did count Abraham righteous and counted him the father of the faithful so that it is an act of God without a man and upon him and this is perfect and may be at once and a man is truly translated out of the Covenant of Works the first day of his conversion and shall never be looked upon as one under that Covenant more Phil. 1.6 but there is a good work in a man which is the change of a mans Image and that is perfected by degrees and therefore the remainders of the old image do remain and as God does make the Covenant of Works from which a man is delivered a servant to the Covenant of Grace so he does the remainders of the old image in a man also SECT III. The APPLICATION Vse 1 § 1. THe Use is of Examination whether a mans Covenant be changed or no and whether he be translated out of the first Covenant There is no change of a mans Covenant but by union with Christ for the Covenants were made with a double head the first and the second Adam and it is our union with them that brings us under their Covenant A man comes not under the Covenant of the Angels he has not the righteousness of the good nor the sins of the bad Angels imputed because he is not one with them he that is in the first Adam is still under his Covenant and he that is in the second Adam is translated from the first Adam Rom. 8. 1 Joh. 3.24 Rom. 8.9 Now how should a man know whether he be one with Christ or no for he that is in Christ is no more under the Law as a Covenant
nor under the curse Now hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit if any man has not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Now wheresoever the spirit of Christ is it is a spirit of mortification as Rom. 8.10 for Christs Spirit had the same end that Christ had 1 Joh. 1.8 1 A mans darling lust is mortified for a man converted hates every sin but especially these as a Deer that is shot is not quiet till the Arrow that has wounded him be taken out Psal 18.23 Hos 14.3 and the Psalmist says I was also upright before him and I kept my self from my iniquity There is no greater sign that a man is acted by the spirit of the Devil than indulging this way of sinning 2 A man conflicts specially against spiritual sins for those sins make a man most conformable to the Devil as for gross sins restraining grace and a natural conscience will go far to keep them under all sins are from the Devil either per modum servitutis or imaginis in a way of servitude or image Pride and contempt of God and drawing others to sin and delighting in it hating godliness in others obstinacy and impenitency c. these sins argue whose children we are That we are of our father the Devil for his lusts we do c. Spiritual lusts are his image 2. Where the Spirit of Christ dwells the spirit of the second Covenant he is a spirit of Sanctification Joh. 3â—6 there is a renewing of the inward man that which is born of the spirit is spirit the spirit of God is not only water but fire which turns all into it self it is a spirit of Wisdom and a spirit of faith love meekness and of a sound mind conforming the outward man making him follow the Lord fully he is willingly ignorant of no truth he does not hide his eyes Numb 14.24 nor stop his ears from hearing of it nor does he imprison any truth in unrighteousness he will walk up to his light in every thing though duties be difficult to honour God and own his people before the world as we may live to see it a crime to countenance a profession of godliness yet this man that has received another spirit as Caleb had can let the world see that all his delight is in the Saints and though he should be reckoned singular and go alone with Athanasius and Luther yet he still keeps on his way notwithstanding all opposition and lays out all that is in him and dear to him for Christ and if he perish in a way of duty he perishes Luk. 11.21 he will venture life and all for God as Nehemiah and Hester did Vse 2 § 2. Hence we may see the sinfulness of an unregenerate state in this That all of you that are so are strangers to the Covenant of promise and this is set forth by the Apostle as that state of sin in which the Gentiles lay before their conversion Chrysost Chrysostome says that they were not only separated from this Covenant and without it but wholly strangers to it and though as to the terms of the Covenant we be not so great strangers now because the Gospel of Grace is made known to us yet all they that do not accept of the terms of the Covenant but do stand out in their unbelief and do not imbrace the Lord Christ offered in the Gospel they are as truly in Gods account still strangers unto the Covenant of Promise as the Gentiles were before the Gospel was preached unto them and let no man say What are we all Heathens will you put us into the same condition with them Let me tell you the Covenant of Grace has been offered unto you and the terms of it plainly set before you And they are 1 God will be yours if you will be his he will be wholly yours so as you must be wholly his Cant. 6.2 I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine Bernard says Mea non placent nisi mecum Christ will neither marry a Widow nor a Harlot Lev. 21.14 he will have the first Love and the whole Love Hos 3.3 Thou shalt be unto me alone and unto none other 2 Thou shalt give all that is thine unto him and he will give all that is his unto thee thou shalt have an interest in what is his but so as Christ will have an interest likewise in all that is thine He â—hat does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple thou must follow the lamb whithersoever he goes thou must forget thy own kindred and thy fathers house forsake yea hate thy â—wn life if it come in competition with thy duty and love to Christ for a man to be willing 〈◊〉 reserve any thing at his own dispose that he may enjoy a-part from Christ it is a token 〈◊〉 a false heart and the Lord abhors it To do as Ananias and Saphira did keep back part 〈◊〉 the price reserve something that they would not give up and yet pretend to give up all â—is abominable to God and that man that does not consent unto the Covenant upon these â—â—rms does not give the hand unto the Lord and subscribe with his hand unto the Lord 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 30.8 he that is not willing to come and take of this water of life Isa 44. Rev. 22. his name shall â—e blotted out of the book of life c. If he do not accept of nor consent to the Covenant â—â—at man though he live in the Church he is in Gods account as a Heathen and a stranger 〈◊〉 the Covenant of Promise as truly as they that live at the furthest ends of the earth to â—hom the offer of a second Covenant never came and in some respects are worse than they â—â—erefore we read that David calls the Ziphims though they were the Inhabitants of Judah Ezek. 16.3 Hos 12.7 Amos 9.7 Isa 1.10 â—â—rangers and Sauls Courtiers that were wicked men and persecutors of him he called Heathens and Saul himself he calls Cush and that as one well observes not without some â—llusion unto his fathers name Cush an Ethiopian Psal 7.1 and it 's said Rev. 11.2 The â—utward Court shall be trodden down of the Gentiles which is meant of those that receive the â—ark of the Beast and bear his image for Popery is nothing else but Paganism under a â—orm of Christianity and therefore such are Gentiles in Gods account and the Lord meaâ—â—res all with one line He will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised Jer. 9. ult 8. 9. â—gypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moah and all that are in the â—â—ermost corners that dwell in the wilderness for all these Nations are uncircumcised and all 〈◊〉 house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart c. The misery of not being translated into the second Covenant has been