in him 2. To consider the Time allowed you is this present time Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the Day of Salvation 3. To consider the Danger of rejecting neglecting or refusing Peace and Salvation by Jesus Christ How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Know O Sinners that Ministers set Life and Death before you Hear and your Souls shall live but he that Believeth not shall be Damned He that Believeth hath Everlasting Life but he that Believeth not shall not see Life but the Wrath of God abideth on him What do you say Sinners Will you strive to take hold of Jesus Christ Believe in him cry to him for Faith resolve to lay down your Arms What Answer shall I return to my Great Master Do not make a Pause but speedily come to a Resolution your Lives are uncertain Lastly This severely reproves all that cast Affronts or Contempt through Pride Envy or Prejudice upon any one of Christ's Ambasdors or that abase deride or raise up evil Reports on him Christ takes it all as done to himself also it reproves such who account them as their Brethren and shew them no more respect than to others may be not so much but slight and despise them and hardly speak Friendly to them not considering the Place and Office they are in But no more at this time SERMON VII Shewing the Nature of the Proclamation of the Gospel and the Terms thereof ISA. Liv. x. Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Doct. THAT there is a Covenant of Peace made or agreed on and stands firm in the behalf of all God's Elect. We shewed you that this Peace is proclaimed 1. What the Proclamation is 2. Who the Ambassadors are that Christ hath appointed to proclaim it I shall now proceed to the next thing under this Head 3. I shall open the Nature of this Proclamation And then 4. Shew you the Terms upon which Peace is offered Would you know what is contained in this Proclamation First Then know it contains a clear and full Declaration of all those Covenant Transactions between the Father and the Son about the Restoration of lost Sinners before the World began the Gospel reveals those Mysteries that were hid from Ages and Generations It is called The Revelation of the Mysteries which were kept secret since the World began Not only that Mystery that the Gentiles should be Fellow Heirs of the Inheritance but the Mystery of the Covenant Purpose and Design of God and also of the Incarnation Life Death Resurrection Ascention and Intercession of Jesus Christ. I say it contains the Revelation of the Mystery of these things and not only the History of them I. It reveals that Infinite Love Mercy Grace and Goodness of God 〈◊〉 to lost and undone Sinners which astonisheth the very Angels of God to behold To make all Men see what is the Fellowship of the Mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God The Good Angels are not Teachers of these Mysteries but Learners and Admirers of them the Gospel is to them as a Mirror or Looking-glass to behold and contemplate the Divine Wisdom of God in every appearance of it but especially in this the last and great Revelation thereof II. It reveals the great Love of God the Father In this was manifested the Love of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten Son that we might live through him That he might die to raise us to Life to be Crown'd with Thorns that we might be Crown'd with Glory to be made a Curse for us that we might be made the Blessing of God in him there could be no higher demonstration of God's Love than this is III. It reveals the Love of Christ which hath a Breadth a Length a Depth and a Heighth in it and passeth Knowledge Is it not an amazing Declaration or Revelation of the Infinite Love of Jesus Christ our Lord Who tho he was God should condescend to die for such vile Rebels and wretched Sinners as we were Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us from that near and intimate Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of Christ Christ's Life is here called the Life of God as elsewhere his Blood is called the Blood of God God is said to purchase the Church with his own Blood IV. This Proclamation is a Declaration or a Revelation that God in Christ is reconciled to his Elect that is the Price is paid tho the Blood may not be yet sprinkled When we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Through the Blood of his Cross God is satisfied and his Wrath is appeased that the Atonement is madefully perfectly and for ever by one Sacrifice he hath perfected for ever them that we Sanctified V. It doth not only declare but also proclaim this Peace and Reconciliation Deliverance is proclaimed to the Captives The Lord hath Anointed me to Preach good Tydings to the Meek he hath sent me to bind up the Broken-hearted to proclaim Liberty to the Captives and the opening the Prison to them that are bound To proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord c. or the Year of the Great Jubilee The Sinner is told his Debts are paid requiring him to believe this nay Proclamation is made of Free Pardon to all that believe That they shall not perish but have Everlasting Life and that God hath received the uttermost Farthing of our vast Debt and that Christ hath received a Discharge as our Surety for all the Elect and that he hath not done what he did in part or by halfs but that it is fully wholly and compleatly done and that for ever our Faith adding nothing to that Satisfaction The Gospel doth not proclaim a Conditional Peace or Reconciliation or that God is only reconcilable so that if the Sinner performs his part God will be fully reconciled that is if the Sinner repents believes is Regenerated or answers the Rule of the Promise as some speak I know no such Conditional Gospel or Proclamation but those Conditions which Jesus Christ was to perform which was not only to reconcile God to us but us also to God Can that be the Condition of Life on our part which Christ hath engaged in the Covenant to do viz. to bring us into a State of Peace Them I must bring Nay God hath promised to give us a new Heart and put a new Spirit into us Moreover Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and Remission of Sins
given thee Luther was contented to be counted a Devil so that Christ might be exalted others make their End their God but these make their God their End The Glory of God saith one should be the Golden-Butt at which all our Arrows of Duties are shot the only way to be Crown'd in Heaven is to cast our Crowns at Christ's Feet on Earth VI. God's Covenant-People can say there is nothing which they enjoy that is of any worth without God be injoyed with it Therefore they know to want God is the greatest Evil and to enjoy God is the greatest Good if God be withdrawn all their Comfort is gone 't is Day when we have him but 't is Night when we want him What is Health and no God Riches and no God Pleasures and no God Honours and no God Relations Wives Children Friends and no God A little will do with God nay if we have nothing besides him we have enough nay all but if we have all other things and no interest in God we have nothing VII They that are God's peculiar People are a Holy People a Heavenly People a Humble People To this Man will I look that is Poor and of a Contrite Heart and that trembleth at my Word God resisteth the Proud but giveth Grace to the Humble Be ye Holy for I am Holy My People shall be willing in the Day of my Power in the Beauty of Holiness c. VII They are an Obedient People they walk in God's Ways and keep his Precepts For all People will walk every one of them in the Name of his God and we will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever They yield Universal Obedience to God or do whatsoever Christ says and that too because they love him and also they are constant in their Obedience they keep God's Precepts always even to the end IX They are an Upright People a Sincere People Sincere in their Obedience Surely they are my People Children that will not lie not Children of Deceit or Falshood but Faithful and Upright in Heart They are called The Assembly of the Vpright that is Sincere Worshipers of God Israelites indeed in whom is no Guile no Falshood or no reigning Hypocrisie Moreover they are called The Generation of the Vpright Men of clean Hearts and Undefiled in the way or Perfect ones i. e. they want no Essential thing of True Christians X. God's Gospel Covenant-People are an United People being constituted or incorporated into a Church State according to the Institution of Christ in the New Testament being separated from the World in Worship and all Evil Traditions Customs c. Worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth giving themselves up one to another keeping all the Ordinances of Christ as they were once delivered to the Saints owning the Holy Scriptures to be the only Rule of their Faith and Practice having regular and ordained Officers viz. both Pastors and Deacons and walking in Love and watching over one another as becometh Saints XI Lastly The peculiar People of God love all the Children of God even such that differ from them in some things that are Circumstantials they love as Christ loves As they love him that begat so they love them also and all them that are begotten of him If God was your Father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God saith our Saviour he that loves the Father will love the Child so far as he resembleth the Father By this shall all Men know ye are my Disciples if you love one another He that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death And this is a sign that they are passed from Death to Life Brethren this Love is not in Word and in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth also How doth it appear you love your Wife your Children Even so let it appear you love all the People of God i. e. let nothing be too dear to part with for their sakes speak well of them and do much for them and bear them always upon your Hearts when you are at the Throne of Grace If you would approve your selves to be God's People this being so what shall we think then of him that hates any one of the Children of God or bears Malice in his Heart against him and reproaches him Thirdly I shall shew you what a great Blessing and Priviledge this is 1. Can there be a greater Priviledge than to be made God's own peculiar People For hereby God is their Father and they his Children 1. He loves them as his Children 2. He Feeds them as his Children 3. He Cloaths them as his Children 4. He Teaches them as his Children 5. He Pities them as his Children Isa. 63.9 10. 6. He Guides Leads and Protecteth them as his Children 7. He Chastens them in Love as his Children Heb. 12 5 6 7. 8. And lays up for them also as his own Children If Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ O! what an Honour is it to be the Sons and Daughters of God 2 Cor. 6.16 Of the Great God the King of Heaven and Earth Nay to be Begotten and Born of him Joh. 1.12 13. 2. They have the Priviledge to dwell in his House nay to dwell with God and to walk with God and to have Communion with him 1 Joh. 3. Moreover 3. Their Enemies are God's Enemies and their Friends are God's Friends the Angels that are God's Servants are their Servants and are sent to Minister unto them c. 4. They are Espoused by Jesus Christ they are the Jewels of his Heart Mal. 3.17 or his chiefest Treasure 5. God will never leave them nor forsake them And 6. All things shall work together for their good 7. And he will Crown them at last with Glory and Immortality Question What Assurance hath God given that they shall be his People for ever 1 Answ. Because his Love is Eternal or Unchangable his Love is their Security nothing can separate them from the Love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. The Decree and eternal Election of God is their Security 3. Because the Mercy of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord endureth for ever 4. Because the Goodness of God indureth also for ever 5. Because his Covenant and Faithfulness can never fail in which they are made his People 6. Because he hath put his fear into their Hearts that they shall not depart from him 7. The Promise and Oath of God is their Security 8. They are Justified and Pardoned for ever 9. Christ's Suretiship is their Security they are put into his Hand and none can pluck them out These Things have been fully opened already as you have heard 10. The Death Resurrection Ascention and Intercession of
Children of Wrath before they believe Faith also must be somewhat more than an Evidence the Soul having that in its actual possession which it had not before 2. Because they that believe God says Are passed from Death to Life that is from a State of Death and Condemnation into a State of Life and Justification See Joh. 5.24 1 Joh. 3.14 3. Because the Holy Spirit in Convictions represents the state of an Elect Sinner to himself to be before Grace wretched and miserable who is a true and faithful Witness and cannot lie Brethren as the first Adam and all in him were Condemned by the pronunciation of the Sentence of the Holy God in Paradise so the second Adam or all his or all in him are for ever Justified And as whilst we remain in the first Adam his first Sin is imputed to us so not till we are in Christ is his Righteousness to our actual and personal Justification imputed to us tho I grant Foederally and Representatively in Christ it was imputed before to all the Elect yet 't is through the reception of Grace or the infusion of the Spirit whereby Faith is wrought that the Soul receives the Atonement and comes actually possessed with the Blessing of Peace The God of Hope fill you with all Joy and Peace in believing There is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God And this because they have not an actual Interest in Christ Where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty and therefore Peace and in none else 7. And thus the Sinner is brought to God and comes to be taken into the Covenant of Grace the which the Spirit doth renew and confirm in his Baptism Rom. 6.1 2 3 4 5. and which is further renewed and confirmed to him in the Holy Ordinance of the Lord's Supper which is a Sign or Pledge of the New Covenant in or by Christ's Blood Hence called The New Covenant in his Blood 8. Moreover let it be noted That a Man may be in a State of Grace and Peace and yet not know it all that have Faith or do believe do not know they have Faith or believe but have Doubts about it 1 Joh. 5.13 all injoy not what they have in possession therefore true Faith as to the Essence thereof cannot be a simple Evidence to the Soul of what it hath nor a full Perswasion that Christ is mine and I am his for if so then he that has not this Evidence or Assurance is no true Believer or if he lose it he loses the very Essence of Faith and so ceases to be a Believer Moreover it would then follow that there are no weak Believers or Babes in Christ for every Babe must be a Strong Man were it thus For is not he a strong Christian that has a clear Evidence of his Justification and a full assurance of Eternal Life 9. There is no steady and full Injoyment of this Spiritual Peace without keeping up and maintaining a War against Sin also this War is maintained by every Faculty the whole Soul being united in carrying it on and also against every Sin Moreover it is a War in which the Soul by the Spirit prevails Sin shall not have Dominion over you c. 'T is a resolute War or carried on with uttermost Revenge against Sin and likewise always even to the end of our Days and if called to it to resist unto Blood striving against Sin All my Brethren that have Peace with God or are Reconciled to him are at War with Sin Satan and the World resolving never to be Reconciled to these Enemies or be at Peace with one Sin whilst they live 10. Our Peace as to the degree of it as in our selves is and will be according to that degree or measure of our Faith we have a weak and doubting Believer hath but little Peace in his own Conscience he being too subject to ground his Peace on his good and lively Frame or to judge of his Justification by the degrees of his Sanctification or inherent Holiness tho the State of the weakest Christian is as safe as the strongest yet he has not that Peace and Comfort others have But no more as to this Secondly I shall open the Nature of this Peace 1. It is Peace with God the Mighty God God is hereby become our Friend all Enmity or Wrath in God against the Soul is gone for ever and all Enmity that was in the Soul against God is removed or taken away also there being a Mutual Peace and Reconciliation I do not say God can no more be offended with the Soul but if he be yet he will not be provoked to Wrath or to let out his against such a Person any more for ever 2. All the actings of God towards his People are in Love tho the poor Believer perhaps cannot see it thus but fears the contrary My Brethren God receives us into his intire Affections and le ts out his Love and Bowels towards us and acts always towards us as a tender Father to his Children 3 We hereby enter actually into a League with God God takes the Soul into an everlasting Covenant of Peace and the Soul also takes God to be his God in the same Everlasting Covenant as you have heard which Covenant all the Powers of Hell and Darkness can never break or violate the Peace and Union with Christ in this Covenant is indissolvable The Covenant of my Peace shall not be removed saith the Lord Tho we may sin yet God will blot them all out Sin nor Satan nor the World nor Life nor Death neither any thing else can separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord their Sins and Iniquities I will remember no more All the Attributes of God are for us and no Accusation of Satan can provoke God against us so as to become our Enemy True Sin or Satan may spoil the sensible Peace and Comfort of our Souls but they cannot spoil our Peace with God or break our Union 4. It is Soul-Peace Spiritual Peace O! how great how sweet and precious is that Peace Earthly Peace National Peace Congregational Peace and Family Peace is good and to be prized But what is any kind of Peace to true Spiritual Soul Peace As no Trouble no Sorrow is like Soul-Trouble so no Peace is to be compared to Soul-Peace Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them 5. Such have Peace also with the Holy Angels the Angels of God are at Peace with them that God is at Peace with they are hereby become our Friends and take our part and fight for us and against the Devil our grand Enemy they War against the Evil Angels who hate and envy us And they Minister unto them that shall be Heirs of Salvation nay the Angels of God encamp round about them that fear him They also War against
of his Son as Mediator for tho the Father might make the first Proposal of this to his Son yet 't is by Christ's Undertaking that God is pacified c. He was made a Curse for us therefore as by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation so by the Righteousness of one the Free-gift came upon all Men unto Justification of Life For as by one Man's Disobedience many were made Sinners so by the Obedience of one shall many be made Righteous As Adam brought us into Debt and made us obnoxious to Divine Wrath so Jesus Christ hath paid our Debts by his active Obedience to God's Law and by bearing that Wrath on his Soul and Body which our Sins had brought upon us For the Transgressions of my People was be stricken 2. See how the Mediator prevails with God for instead of God's demanding an inherent Righteousness a Righteousness wrought out in our Persons he accepts of an Imputed Righteousness wrought out in the Person of his own Son in our Nature as Mediator Who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption In the Lord shall one say have I Righteousness and Strength And then on the other side 1. Christ is of a mollifying Temper towards Man for he brings Man that he might partake of the Blessings of Peace to forego or give up all his own Righteousness as good for nothing nay to account it as Dung in point of Justification at God's Bar or when it is compared to the Righteousness of God in Christ and instead of seeking Justification by our own Righteousness or by our Faith and sincere Obedience utterly to renounce it and to submit to the Righteousness of God That we may be Justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus 2. Not to work to be Justified not to repent or love God to be Justified But to work not but believe in him that Justifies the Vngodly 3. Not to work for Life but from Life i. e. from a Principle of Life wrought in the Soul not to change one Work or Act of the Creature in Justification to another Work or Act of the Creature I mean not to renounce all Works of the Law in point of Justification and to include Gospel-works or Faith and Obedience as part of our Justifying Righteousness before God no no but to exclude all manner of Works Faith and Obedience whatsoever and to rest upon Christ alone or on his Righteousness exclusive of all the Creature doth or can do 4. And tho the Soul sees he is already Justified and accepted in the Beloved and for ever delivered from Wrath and Condemnation yet to live a Holy Life and renounce all Sin and Iniquity from a Principle of Faith and because Sin is so hateful unto God and so abominable in his Sight and because Christ is his Lord therefore to do all things whatsoever he commandeth him and all this in Love to Christ not to seek his Acceptance and Justification by the Worth of his Faith and Obedience but in Christ and to account himself an Vnprofitable Servant when he hath done all that Christ hath commanded him 5. Christ never leaves his Elect until he hath brought them to these Terms XIII A Mediator whose Mediation is rejected after long Patience leaves the Offended and Obstinate Person to the Severity of that Law he hath broke and under the Sentence thereof So my Brethren will the Lord Jesus Christ after long Patience and Forbearance leave all Obstinate Rebellious and Unbelieving Sinners to the Severity of the Law of God which they have broken and to the Wrath and Vengeance of God He that believeth not is Condemned already All are condemned in the first Adam and their Condemnation will be aggravated upon them because they reject the Offers of Peace or the Mediation of Jesus Christ and believe not in him and indeed all Men would do this was not Infinite Love shewed and Power put forth towards some according to God's Eternal Purpose in Election XIV A Mediator leaves no liberty of an Appeal after he hath passed the definitive Sentence Moreover it is some times left to him also to pass that Sentence So my Brethren the Lord Christ at the last Day will leave no room for any Sinner to appeal to any other Court or Person there will be no relief for God the Father hath committed all Judgment to the Son he will therefore pass the definitive Sentence against all Mankind in the Day of Judgment For the Father Judgeth no Man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son All Judgment in the Administration of the Mediatory Kingdom is given to Jesus Christ and in and by the Son will God Judge the World Because he hath appointed a Day in the which he will Judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all Men in that he hath raised him from the Dead The Mediator of this Peace shall Judge all Men he shall execute Judgment because he is the Son of Man and this God will do That all Men may honour the Son even as they honour the Father Which shews that the same Honour and Divine Worship is due to Christ that is due to God the Father he being the very same Eternal God So much at present as to Christ's Work as Mediator of this Covenant of Peace And now let me apply this before I proceed to the next thing which is the Suretiship of Christ. APPLICATION 1. We infer from hence that Sin is exceeding sinful O what Evil is there in Sin That nothing can atone for it nor make our Peace but the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ the Mediator It is not his bare Pleading but it must be done by his bleeding or dying for us or in our stead And O how great was that Breach which nothing could make up but such a Bloody Sacrifice 2. We also infer from hence that God's Love to us in Christ is an amazing and wonderful Love our Peace shall be made tho it cost God the Blood of his own dear and beloved Son God so loved the World How was that Who can conceive of the greatness of it Even so as he gave his only begotten Son to die for us even for his Enemies God commended his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us for when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Not that God was only reconcileable but by that Sacrifice God was reconciled our Faith doth not reconcile God to us but we thereby receive the Atonement or the Blessing of Peace and Reconciliation 3. We infer likewise from hence that the Love of Jesus Christ was wonderful and his Condescention exceeding great What did God take our Nature into Union with
as the Glory of Christ and of the Holy Spirit therefore let him primarily have the Honour of our Peace and Salvation O how did Love and Bowels move towards us in the Heart of God the Father from everlasting III. Exhort Also be exhorted to prize and highly esteem of the Lord Jesus Christ from what you have heard concerning the Covenant because Christ is the Sum of the Covenant I will give thee for a Covenant to the People 1. Christ is originally and fundamentally the Covenant saith a Worthy Writer he is the Original Root out of which this Covenant sprang and he is the Foundation upon which it is grounded Behold I say in Zion for a Foundation a Stone a tried Stone a precious corner Stone a sure Foundation c. God fixt his Eye on Christ and entered into Covenant with him he is the Foundation Stone of this Covenant had there not been a Mediator found there had been no Covenant of Peace ever made nor any Redemption for poor Sinners 2. When it was first revealed it was expressed by his Person viz. The Seed of the Woman nothing else is mentioned there yet this contains the first Revelation of this Covenant to Fallen Man And what was the Covenant of Grace as revealed to Abraham but Jesus Christ In thy Seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed Thus Christ is represented as the Sum of the Covenant 3. Christ is the Covenant primarily as the same Author notes and by Propriety As Fire is hot for it self and all things hot for it and by participation With Christ the Covenant was made as the chief Party with Believers it was made in Subordination to him with him it was made at first Hand with us at second Hand Now Brethren this certainly is true therefore all Promises were made first to Christ and first fulfilled to him and all Acts of God's Love terminate first upon him and come to us through him Who has made us accepted in the Beloved Had not God's Love been fixt first on him as Mediator it had never run out to us all Covenant-Blessings are in him Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus Christ as our Head is the Repository or Seat of all Divine Blessings Christ is the Jewel the Riches or the Sum of all things in the Covenant as Life Righteousness Pardon Peace c. And he that receives this Jewel receives all things with him From hence he is compared to a Cluster of Camphire 4. Jesus Christ saith the same Author is the Covenant eminently because he is the chief Blessing of the Covenant there is not such another Promise in all the Bundle of Promises contained in the Covenant If thou knowest the Gift of God c. Christ is the Gift of God yet certainly our Author forgot that God the Father and the Holy Ghost are given as well as Christ in the Covenant but when Christ is given God the Father and the Holy Spirit is given He that has the Son has the Father also All other things in the Covenant are saith he but as the Garnish of this Jewel 5. Christ is the Covenant virtually he is the just value of all the Bargain he is of as much worth as all that is promised If you would know the worth of the Covenant consider the worth of Jesus Christ. Moreover my Brethren they that have Christ have all that is promised in the Covenant 6. Jesus Christ purchased all that good which is in the Covenant when we say God is our God we must say he is our God in Christ or by Christ or through his Redemption and Procurement 7. Christ is the Covenant comprehensively or summarily he is the very Compound or Abridgment of the Covenant he is the whole Covenant by way of Stipulation on our part c. 8. Jesus Christ is the only way of Conveyance of all Covenant Blessings through whom we receive all we need or that is Communicaed unto us Moreover the Tender of the Covenant and Interest in it is contained in the free Tender of Christ and Interest in him Get Christ be but in Christ and thou art in the Covenant Sirs when God gives Christ to a Sinner the whole Covenant is performed to that Person and he that receives not Jesus Christ shall never have one saving Benefit or Blessing thereof And thus may Christ be called the Covenant But IV. From hence also we may infer the wonderful worth that there is in the Blood of Christ It is not only precious Blood in respect had unto his Person whose Blood it is viz. the Eternal Son of God but also in respect of that Atonement it hath made and that Wrath it has appeased and that Peace it has procured and in regard of those Infinite Blessings and Priviiedges it hath merited for us and that precious Soul it Sanctifies O prize this Blood What will become of them that contemn and slight this Blood and the Vertue and Efficacy that is in it Or account it as the Blood of another Man or as an unholy and unprofitable thing it had been better for such if they had never been Born V. We may moreover from hence see the absolute necessity there is of the Work and Office of the Holy Spirit in order to the Application of the Blood of the Covenant and all Covenant Blessings unto us The Holy Ghost deserves my Brethren equal Glory with the Father and the Son The Holy Spirit must plant Grace in our Hearts or be a Vital Principle in the Soul it is he which infuses sacred Habits from whence all Vital Acts proceed by the Spirit we come to have the root of the matter in us from whence all Spiritual Fruit flows 't is the Spirit that draws us to Christ that unites our Souls to him without it the Death of Christ profits no Man it is he which sprinkles his Blood on our Consciences O let our Mediations swim in the unlimited Ocean of Love and Divine Goodness and magnifie all the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity VI. We may furthermore learn from hence to see what absolute necessity there is of the Revelation of this Mystery through the Word or Holy Gospel what signifies all Natural Religion doth naturally light in Man discover any thing of our Redemption and Reconciliation by Jesus Christ And from hence let us be moved to abhor those New and Cursed Notions which at this Day so much prevail which tend to raze the very Foundation of the true Christian Religion for such that contemn all revealed Religion contemn the Christian Religion From hence also VII We may perceive the Necessity of True and Saving Faith and likewise the Excellency thereof no Man is possessed of this Peace that has not the Faith of God's Elect He that believeth not is Condemned already and shall be Damned unless
Time Therefore it will be Wisdom in all to forbear too hard Censures of this Worthy Person Let us wait to see what will be produced by Divine Providence between this and the end of the Year 1700. No doubt but amazing Revolutions are ready to break out in the Earth God will overturn overturn overturn till he come whose right it is viz. our Lord Jesus Christ and it shall be given unto him Things look abroad as if we may expect a Religious War and such an one doubtless will be produced when God puts it into the hearts of the Ten Kings or some of them to hate the Whore So that from the whole we may expect God will yet take Peace from the Earth tho blessed be his Name we enjoy a little repose at this time But what may such Princes and People expect who having got Peace from abroad continue or raise an Open War against the Lord and his People at Home nay shew their Rage and Malice more since in persecuting them than before Oh! That all of us may be stirred up to cry to the Lord mightily for those poor People and against their Enemies as they are Foes and Opposers and make War against the Lamb and those that follow him These things tend to cause me to conclude that the Present Peace in the European World may not last long My Brethren Peace made between Kingdoms and Nations may soon be broken or removed But there is a Peace which being made shall be lasting and never be removed And this brings me to the Words of my Text For the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee The Text containeth a most Gracious Promise in which are Five Things to be considered I. Who it is that makes this Promise II. To whom the Promise is made III. What is contained in the Promise IV. The Spring or Rise of the Promise V. The Stability of the Promise I. It is GOD the great God and Father of Mercy which makes this Promise he that made and created us see verse 5. For thy Maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his Name the God of the whole Earth shall he be called A Promise of Peace from such a King is worth regard and to be prized by all to whom it is made II. This Promise is made unto the Gentile Church and therefore it wonderfully behoveth us to consider it and lay the matter to heart some of those great Promises contained in the Writings of the Prophets do peculiarly refer to the Jews the Natural Seed of Abraham but this wholly and particularly respecteth the Gentile Church as you may see if you read v. 1. Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into Singing and cry aloud thou that didst not travel The Jewish People were in a Legal Covenant Married to the Lord and many among them were spiritually espoused unto him and brought forth blessed Fruit the Church of Israel had a numerous Off-spring but for a long Period of Time we poor Gentiles were passed by God espoused us not the Gentiles were not Married or taken into a Covenant Relation with God until the Times of the Gospel and it was upon the Rejection and casting off of the Jews that they were grafted in as Paul shews at large Rom. 11. Now the Reasons why the Gentile People are called or excited here to Rejoyce and Sing may be these 1. From what precedeth in the 53 d. Chapter where mention is made of the Sufferings Humiliation and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows c. ver 4. He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities For our Iniquities that is for all the Iniquities of Gods Elect not only for them among the Jews but them also amongst the Gentiles Therefore Sing O Barren sing ye Poor Gentiles for Jesus Christ Dyed for you he bore your Transgressions 2. Upon the Consideration of the Promise of the Father to Jesus Christ in respect of them as well as any other Chap. 53.10 He shall see his Seed or the Travel of his Soul even them amongst the Gentiles as well as them amongst the Jews i. e. He shall see all them for whom he Died brought into a Covenant Relation with himself even Married to him and his own gracious Image stampt upon them they shall be called he shall see them Converted he shall enjoy them and imbrace them in his Arms and they shall lie in his Bosom They are called upon to Sing as I conceive in respect of that great and glorious Priviledge of there being thus Married to Jesus Christ who before had no Husband For thy Maker is thy Husband 3. From the Consideration she is delivered from the shame of being Barren see ver 4. Cry aloud thou that didst not Travel c. 4. Upon the Consideration of her numerous off-spring For more are the Children of the Desolate than the Children of the Married Wife saith the Lord verse 1. Enlarge the Place of thy Tents and let them stretch forth the Curtains c. verse 2. For thou shalt break forth on the Right Hand and on the Left This shews that there should be a Multitude of the Gentiles Converted unto Jesus Christ yea a far greater number than of the Jews which hath been made good in the Gospel Days and will yet more abundantly in Times that now draw very near when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in But O! How barren is she now that once was the Darling of Heaven and the only Church and People of God hardly one Jew to be found throughout the Earth that owns the true Messiah or is a Believer or a true Christian. 5. Because she shall never suffer shame any more though for a short Time she was forsaken and seemed not to be regarded by the Lord but being now Espoused she shall perpetually be Beloved and injoy Christs special Favour 6. From the Consideration of the Covenant that God has made with Christs for them For the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my Kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed c. This brings me to the next Thing III. Which is that which is contained in the Promise viz. Peace Peace is a sweet Blessing Peace with Men is highly esteemed but this is Peace with God which is far better and exceeds all kind of Peace whatsoever Yea Peace by Vertue of a Covenant a Covenant made by God himself The Covenant of my Peace saith the Lord. IV. We have the Spring or Rise of this Promise or the grand Motive that moved God to enter into this Covenant of Peace or to make this Promise viz. His Love and Mercy Saith the Lord that
the Fallen Angels he had not been unjust if all Adam's Posterity had been cast into Hell and not one Soul saved as he is not unjust in throwing all the fallen Angels into Hell for ever without affording one of them any Relief Redemption or hope of Recovery neither is he obliged to save the whole Lump of Mankind either in a way of Justice or Mercy because he is pleased to save a remnant of them God was at the liberty of his Will whether he would make this World or not it was I mean the only Act of his Sovereignty its actual existence in time was according to his absolute Decree and Purpose from Everlasting and according to his absolute Sovereignty he governs and disposes of all things and may do what he will with his own All Nations tremble before him whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive The most High doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou So he hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy and compassion on whom he will have compassion and whom he will he hardeneth He called Abraham and revealed himself to him and let the most of Mankind in his days remain ignorant of him as to Salvation by Jesus Christ He also entred into a Covenant with the Seed of Abraham and gave them his Laws and Ordinances he did not do so to any other Nation And in Gospel Times he called a few poor and illiterate Fishermen and such like Persons and let the Pharisees and Learned Rabbins remain under the power of Sin and Satan and all this as the act of his own absolute Sovereignty and Good Pleasure of his Will as our Lord sheweth At that time Jesus answered and said I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight So now at this day he sends the Gospel into one Nation and not into another and then also in such Nations where the Gospel is Preached it is but here and there clearly opened Nay and many who come under the powerful Ministration of the Gospel have it only come unto them in Word that which is the savour of life unto life to some is the savour of Death unto Death to others Now from whence is all this but meerly from the Sovereignty of God or good pleasure of his Will for It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy God's special Love and Election is not from any Man 's willing or running it riseth not from Natural Powers emproved not from his Desires Good Deeds or Good Inclinations or from the fore-sight of his Faith and Obedience but from and of God's meer Mercy Sovereign Grace and Favour The Truth is to deny God to have the power of his own Free Act in dispensing his own Sovereign Bounty is to Eclipse his Glory and to render him to have less Sovereign Power than that which he hath given and alloweth to Mankind May not a Man shew his Favour and Goodness in redeeming a few Captives out of a Multitude who wilfully brought themselves into Bondage but he must redeem them all or be unjust Or cannot a Man give a bountiful Gift to One or Two poor Men in a Parish but he must bestow like Bounty to all the Poor in the said Parish Or can't a King contrive and enter into a Covenant of Peace for a few Rebels that have with a Multitude of others taken up Arms against him but he must be charged with Injustice because he did not extend like Favour in the said Covenant to them all sure no Man in his right Senses will deny him this Liberty And now Shall not GOD have like power to dispense his Sovereign Grace to whom he pleaseth who is said to do all things according to the pleasure of his own Will and eternal purpose in Jesus Christ Proposition VII And from hence it appeareth That the Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace For tho the Covenant of Peace in respect had to Christ as our Mediatour Head and Surety was upon the Condition of his Merits yet as to the Design End and Purpose of it in respect of us it was only an act of Pure Grace hence said to be according to the good pleasure of his Will Ephes. 1.5 And to the praise of the glory of his Grace v. 6. 1. It was the Free Grace of God the Father to vouchsafe us a Substitute a Saviour a Mediator of this Peace and to Choose Ordain and Appoint his own Son to be the Person and to accept him in our stead Oh! What Favour is this God so loved the World c. 2. And it was the Free Grace of God the Son to engage himself to the Father to enter into this Covenant to make our Peace the Glory of Both Persons equally shine forth to the amazement of all in Heaven and Earth the Counsel of Peace was between them both 3. Nay my Brethren the Free and Rich Grace of God in this Covenant is to be adored even as to the Main and Ultimate End and Design thereof Not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given to us in Christ before the World began The whole Contrivance Foundation and Rise of this Covenant of Peace is of love and Grace Neither do we receive any Grace from God in Time but as it results from the Covenant of Peace made with us in Christ before all Time But this I purpose to enlarge upon further when I come to open the nature of the Covenant Proposition VIII And as the Covenant of Peace is the Govenant of Grace so it results from God as an act of Infinite Mercy It is therefore a merciful Covenant it was not made with Man considered in his State of Innocency for Man as so considered could not be the Object of God's Mercy for tho God appeared very good and gracious to us in our First Creation and as we came out of his Hands and that many ways Yet such was our Happy State that we stood then in no need of Mercy for where Mercy is shewed it is to such that are in Misery but before Man fell he knew no Misery Pain or Sorrow but when God first cast his Eyes upon us and entered into this Covenant of Peace with his own Son for us he saw us lie in our Bloud and fallen under his Divine Wrath and Anger and this indeed the very name of the Covenant of Peace doth import There was no need of Peace had there not been a War or a fearful Breach between God and us and that this Covenant results from God's great Mercy read again
my Text Saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee God foresaw us cast out like a wretched Infant in the day of its Nativity whose Navel was not cut neither washed in Water nor salted nor swadled at all and what doth God say more None Eye pitied thee to do any of these things for thee but thou wast cast out in the open Field to the loathing of thy person in the day thou wast born This was the time of his Love and also of his Pity and tender Mercy And when I passed by thee I saw thee polluted in thine own bloud ver 6. that is when he was first concerned for us in this Covenant of Peace and entered into that holy Compact with his own Son Behold thy time was a time of love and I spread my Skirt over and covered thy nakedness yea and I sware unto thee and entered into Covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine This was the time of God's entering into Covenant with his Elect viz. it was with them in Christ and what of this is actually accomplished on us in Time in our own Persons is but the execution of all that Grace Pity and Mercy manifested to us in Christ from Eternity he then shewed his Eternal Purpose of Compassion towards his Chosen and he then said in his blessed Covenant to them live I should now proceed to the next general Head but shall say no more at this time SERMON II. ISA. Liv. x. the last part of the Verse Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Doct. THAT there is a Covenant of Peace made and agreed on and standeth firm in behalf of all the Elect of God The last Day we spoke to those Explanatory Propositions proposed to be opened by way of premise And now to proceed to the next General Head Secondly I shall endeavour to open the main or chief transactions about the bringing in this Covenant of Peace There are my Brethren Six Things to be considered in a Covenant of Peace among Men and so also in and about this Covenant I. A Treaty or a Solemn Consultation or a Treating about the Terms of Peace II. An Agreement upon the Terms proposed III. Who the Mediator is of this Covenant of Peace together with his Work and Office IV. The Ratification of the Covenant V. The Proclamation or proclaiming the Peace VI. The Time when the Peace shall commence and who are included in it and what is required in order to their actual possession and enjoyment thereof My Brethren These are the main things that are contained in and about a Covenant of Peace among Men as the chief Covenant Transactions and my Purpose is to speak unto these Six things particularly Tho I grant there is some difference between a Covenant of Peace between Kingdoms and States among Men and this Covenant especially concerning the Work of the Glorious Mediator of this Covenant and a Mediator of Peace concluded between Earthly Princes and States As we God assisting shall make appear But to proceed I. Concerning the Treaty or Treating about this Covenant My Brethren Commonly Princes and States appoint their Extraordinary Embassadors or Plenipotentiaries to Treat about the Terms upon which they design and are willing to conclude a Peace after a ruinous and destructive War They do not Treat about it in their own Persons but the Treaty of Peace in this Covenant was only between God the Father and God the Son Sinners then had no actual Being or did not exist and therefore could not send any Plenipotentiary to agitate Matters on their behalf It is true Our Lord Jesus Christ is called The Messenger of the Covenant whom we delight in He is indeed our Delegate Messenger or Trustee but the Father alone and not we Delegated that Office and Power to him for us and on our Behalf out of his own Sovereign Grace and Goodness before the World began This Name of Messenger of the Covenant doth 1. Denote Christ's Dispensatory Employment Work and Office and his free and voluntary condescention to undertake in this Treaty according to the Design Purpose and Will of the Father as our great Trustee Embassador and Plenipotentiary And 2. He may not only be called The Messenger of the Covenant as our great Representative to Treat with the Father in Eternity upon the Terms of our Peace but also in his being sent from Heaven to Earth actually to work about and accomplish all things that were agreed on between them both concerning the making of our Peace He travelled from Heaven to Earth on this Errand and to effect this blessed Work 3. He may be so called because he is the Messenger that published the Happy News of the Peace contained in this Covenant in the clear and glorious Ministration of it Hence it is said it was first began to be spoken by the Lord. Our Lord Jesus is the great Apostle and Chief Minister and Messenger of the New Covenant a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not Man 4. He is the Messenger who doth interpret open and explain all those dark and obscure Mysteries contained in the Covenant of Peace that were kept secret and hid from the beginning of the World He is that Messenger one of a thousand All things saith he are delivered unto me of my Father and no Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any Man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him No Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him But no more as to this now 1. I shall prove that there was a Covenant between God and Christ or a blessed Treaty about our Peace before the World began see Psalm 89. v. 3. I have made a Covenant with my chosen God first chose his Son as the Representative Covenanting Head and Surety of his Elect and then Treated with him about the Terms of our Peace It is said to be made with David but no otherwise than as he was a Type of Christ. It is Jesus Christ who is the true David My Mercy will I keep for him evermore and my Covenant shall stand fast with him Hence our Blessed Lord it is said was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God 2. Here are the two Covenanting Parties the Covenant of Peace is between them both that is between the Lord of Host and the Man who is the Branch betwixt them it was consulted agreed to or concluded I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was that is as the Covenant-Head of all God's Elect or as Mediator and Peace-maker between God and them and this setting up that clearly implies a Covenant or holy Compact that was between them both 3. The consent of two Parties
bloud was To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God v. 25. To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus vers 26. that is That no wrong might be done to the Essential Purity of God's Nature or Rectitude of his Will nor yet to his immediate Justice by which he cannot but hate Sin and for it require a Satisfaction 3. In regard of the Truth of God's Threatning pronounced against all Mankind in Adam upon his Disobedience legal Threatnings are such that they admit of no Pardon without Satisfaction be made to the Justice and Holiness of God and this was signified by all those Typical Sacrifices and Offerings under the Law therefore in vindication of the Truth or Veracity of God together with the Honour Equity and Sanction of the Law there must be Satisfaction made or no Peace with God for fallen Mankind and this could not be done but by such a Mediator as Jesus Christ is For that which could not be done by Men or Angels nor as a simple Act of God's Mercy without the Impeachment of his Holiness Truth and Justice c. could not be done at all But no pardon no Peace could be procured by Men nor Angels nor as an absolute or simple Act of Mercy without the Impeachment or eclipsing the Glory of the Attributes of God's Justice Truth and Holiness c. therefore it could not be so done at all 4. To say God might have entered into a Covenant of Peace for us any other way than by the Mediator Jesus Christ or through his Death and Atonement would as one observes reflect upon his Love to his own dear Son For why should the Son of God be made a Curse for us or suffer the cursed Death of the Cross to make our Peace if Peace could be made any other way without the least injury to the Justice Law or Holiness of God c. No doubt my Brethren but that the Son of God had been spared if he had foresaw that our Peace might have been made some other way Moreover would it not then follow that there might have been two Ways to obtain Peace and Reconciliation with God which is contrary to what our Blessed Lord says No Man cometh to the Father but by me that is cannot come to have Peace with God any other way but by me by my Death or through my Blood nor without believing or depending upon me For thus it is with the adult 5. There is no other way of Peace with God and therefore a Necessity of Christ's Mediation because without the shedding of Blood there is no Remission no Pardon and so no Peace there could be no discharge from the guilt of Sin no removal of the Punishment of Sin nor any Purgation from the filth and pollution thereof without the Blood of Christ be shed 6. Because it is positively said There is no other Name given under Heaven whereby we must be saved If there is no other Name Way or Means given but by Jesus Christ then there is a Necessity that our Peace be made alone by him But this is so therefore there is a Necessity of Christ's Mediation In the next place we will enquire what is absolutely necessary for the Mediator of our Peace to do or were Requisites in him according to the Articles agreed on in this Covenant to make our Peace with God 1. A Mediatour of this Covenant of Peace must understand the Nature of that difference or breach which was betwixt God and Man and what Terms the Holy God who is the Injured Party stands upon and must have granted him if ever our Peace be made and who but Jesus Christ who is God knew this It was he only that well knew what it was that could satisfie Infinite Justice Had it been proposed either to Men or Angels to resolve this Question i. e. By what Means shall fallen Man come to be reconciled to God and God be righted as touching all that wrong Sin and Sinners have done him What Answer think you could they have made Alas no meer created Being could resolve such a Question 2. He that is the Mediatour of this Covenant or that maketh our Peace must not only know what will do it but also he must be able to answer all God's Demands both in respect of his Law and Justice and also be able to supply all our Wants and Necessities He must seek the Honour of the Blessed God and equally seek and be able to relieve poor Sinners and none but Jesus Christ could do this who is an indifferent Person or one equally related unto both he being both God and Man in one Person 1. He being God the one and the same Eternal God he could not know what concerned the Glory of his Father and therefore would not could not eclipse his Glory 2. And he being Man he could not but sympathize with the poor Creature and as being God he did not only know all our Wants but he is able also to supply them This brings me to the next particular III. The Mediator of this Covenant must therefore be every ways suitably qualified or capacitated for this Work and Mediatorship and to this end I say he must be God nay God in our Nature for a meer Man could not satisfie Infinite Justice his Obedience or Sufferings else could not therefore have been meritorious For it was from the Union of the Divine Nature with the Humane that put such a Worth or meritorious Efficacy in his Sacrifice I say Jesus Christ our Mediator must be God 1. Because those Evils which he was to expiate could never be taken away by any Person that was not God or whose Sacrifice or Atonement had not an infinite Worth and Satisfaction in it because Sin is against the Infinite Majesty of Heaven 2. Jesus Christ as Mediator must be God because otherwise he could not sustain or bear in his Body and Soul that great weight of Sin and Wrath laid upon him for if but the guilt of one Sin was laid on any meer Man it would sink him down to the lowest Hell much more then would the weight of all the Sins of God's Elect have sunk down the Lord Jesus Christ when laid upon him had he not been God but a meer Man How doth David cry out of the burden of his Sins Mine Iniquities are gone over mine Head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Nay my Brethren when our Sins were laid upon our Lord Jesus Christ and he began to bear and feel the weight of them tho he was God how did he cry out and he began to be sore amazed and said My Soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto Death Tarry ye here and watch and he went forward a little and fell on the Ground The weight of our Sins and
Art thou deserted God is faithful he remembers his Covenant he will return again Dost fear thou shalt some time or another depart from God Read the Covenant Promises I will put my fear in their Hearts and they shall not depart from me Dost thou fear thou shalt suffer want yea want Bread See the Covenant He will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly If therefore there be any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies 't is all in this Covenant Lastly It is an everlasting Covenant He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant As it was made from everlasting so it will abide to everlasting 't is compared to God's Covenant of the Day and Night Jer. 33 20. Thus saith the Lord If my Covenant of the Day and Night and that there should not be Day and Night then may also my Covenant be broken with David my Servant Covenant Love is everlasting Love Christ's Covenanting Obligation was an everlasting Obligation Covenant Espousals are everlasting Espousals I will betroath thee to me for ever Covenant Redemption is eternal Redemption and Covenant Salvation is an everlasting Salvation Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting Salvation But my Salvation shall be for ever SERMON XI Shewing what is contained in the Covenant of Grace or what the Gifts Grants and Priviledges which are Vouchsafed to all Comprehended therein ISA. Liv. x. Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Doct. THAT there is a Covenant of Peace made or agreed on and stands firm in the behalf of all God's Elect. My Brethren I shall now proceed to the next thing Fourthly The Fourth General Head proposed was to shew you what is contained in the Covenant of Grace I mean the Gifts Grants and Glorious Priviledges vouchsafed to all those Persons that are comprehended therein The First and chief Gift which is given in this Covenant is God himself and in speaking to this 1. I shall God assisting shew you how God comes to be our God in this Covenant 2. Shew you what this of having God to be our God doth import 3. I shall shew you what a wonderful Gift Grant and Priviledge this is I. My Brethren how Man had God to be his God at first in the Covenant of Works I shall not speak of here 't is evident that by breaking the first Covenant he lost God or that Blessed Covenant Relation he stood in to him but now we have a new Title God is ours again and on better and more sure Basis viz. upon the account of Christ's Mediation and Satisfaction I will be your God compared with Jer. 32.38 Cap. 24.7 and 30.31.33 Now that these Promises refer to the Covenant of Grace See Heb. 8.8 9 10. And finding fault with them he saith Behold the Days come saith the Loâ—d when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judeth ver 8. Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers in the Day when I took them by the Hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt Because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not v. 9. For this is the Covenant c. I will put my Laws in their Mind and write them in their Hearts and I will be to them a God c. This being as I said the great and chiefest Gift and Grant in the Covenant I shall proceed to shew how God comes in this Covenant to be our God 1. Originally and Primarily by vertue of that Covenant made with Christ as our Head and Representative thus he became our God I ascend to my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God 2. By his own free Donation through that Atonement Christ hath made God gives himself to us to be our God 3. Nay by what ways Soever we become God's People by the same ways he becomes our God as I shall have occasion to shew you afterwards Secondly What doth this import for God to be our God 1. Negatively not meerly our God by Creation for so he is the God of the Fallen-Angels and the God of all Vngodly Reprobates in the World they are his Creatures or were made by him 2. It doth not imply his being our God as he was the God of the whole House of Israel which was by vertue of a Legal and Typical Covenant for tho in that Covenant he was their God and an Husband to them yet for all that for their Disobedience he cast them off and utterly rejected them and now they are so no more his People that Covenant and Covenant Relation being quite dissolved and removed for ever Therefore it follows that was not the Covenant of Grace into which all the Natural Seed of Abraham as such were taken the Covenant of Grace can never be removed 3. Neither is he our God simply by an external or visible Profession or by vertue of our own external Personal Covenanting with him for many of these God will disown and be ashamed to be called their God 't is one thing to have the Christian Name and profess the Christian Religion and another thing to have a saving interest in God Men may in this sense be in Christ and yet as withered Branches be cut off and cast into the Fire But in the Affirmative I. God is our God in this Covenant by way of special interest it denotes our peculiar Relation to God 1. As a Father is related to his Children whom he either hath begotten or adopted even so God in this Covenant is our God and Father 2. Or as a Husband is related to that Woman whom he hath in his most indeared Affections Espoused and Married to himself 3. Or as an Heir is related to an Estate or an Inheritance which was purchased for him and made sure to him for ever 4. Or as a Redeemer hath an interest in such Persons whom he hath redeemed for himself and bought and purchased for his own Service and to be for him and not for another Thirdly I shall endeavour to shew you what an amazing Blessing this Grant or Gift in the Covenant of Peace is i. e. for God to be our God I. It is a choice and precious Blessing for God to give himself to us according to that Grant to Christ in the Covenant because it is a clear Demonstration of his Special Peculiar and Eternal Love and Election No Man can say he was beloved from everlasting till he is effectually called 't is not a Man's having great Riches Honours Pleasures Sweet Relations Wealth Health and Prosperity no but 't is his having Saving Grace To kiss the King's Hand is a great Favour but it is a far greater Token of Special Love to be made his Queen and Royal
have not only Crucified the Flesh or are become dead to Sin but have Crucified the World also But God forbid that I should Glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the World is Crucified unto me and I unto the World The World careth not for them and they care not for the World they are dead to the Honours Pleasures and Riches of the World Moses contemned all the Glory of Pharaoh's Court yea all the Pleasures of Sin and Riches of Egypt and so do all God's sincere People contemn this World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 3. They that are God's peculiar People are become dead to the Law to that cruel Husband and to all their own Righteousness accounting it but Dung or a dead Carkase or Dogs-meat in comparison of Christ Ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ c. The Union with that Husband is dissolved they seek not Life and Justification by the Law or are not in love with Self-Righteousness but dead to it whilst others make an Idol of it and trust in it 4. They have renounced themselves also and confess they are not their own but that their Souls their Bodies their Substance their Graces their Gifts their Time their Strength their Lips and their Lives are all the Lord's and for him for as all that God hath which is communicable is theirs or freely imparted to them and for them so all they are and have they account it is the Lord's they being but only Stewards of all they have and do possess Shall such think that they are the Lord's who live to themselves seek themselves or only bring forth Fruit like empty Vines to themselves No they that are the Lord's People esteem all they have to be his and for his Service and are willing to render it up to him when he calls for it Nay they have given God their Hearts not their Lips only or their Tongues nor their Ears nor their Substance but their Hearts also My Son give me thy Heart God complains of some that drew near to him with their Lips and sate before him as his People sate and with their Tongues shewed much kindness but saith he their Hearts went after their Covetousness after the World these God's Soul abhors and he will not own them to be his People Some give their Hearts to Pleasures to strange Women and to Vanity and to meer Folly and others give their Hearts to Riches but God's Covenant-People give their Hearts to him not a part of the Heart but their whole Heart they love the Lord their God with all their Hearts with all their Souls and with all their Strength Others have their Hearts divided between God and the World between God and their Lusts but such that love not God with their whole Heart hate him for the lesser Love is accounted Hatred in Scripture II. They that are God's peculiar Covenant-People are Begotten and Born of God for they this way as you heard become his Children there are none my Brethren that are the Lord's People by Adoption but they are his also by Regeneration they have his Image formed in them they are like to their Father in Holiness Heavenliness in Humility Mercy Meekness Love Goodness Charity c. they partake of the Divine Nature every one resembles the Son or Daughter of a King Then said he unto Zeba and Zalmunna What manner of Men were they whom ye slew at Tabor And they answered As thou art so were they each one resembled the Children of a King They are nobly descended they have sublime Spirits Holy Hearts Desires Aims and Ends in all they do they are not meer Dunghil-Rakers like the Men of the World but far excel all others The Righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour he has an excellent Spirit Life and Principles in him III. They that are God's Covenant-People Trust in him as their God as well as Love him as their God all People trust in their God tho it be a God of Gold or Silver a Worldly Man's strong Confidence is his Wealth he makes Gold his Hope So they that have God to be their God trust in him depend upon him They that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee They trust in the True and Living God God is their Hope their Confidence they rely upon his Power his Mercy his Love his Faithfulness his Covenant and on his Blessed Promises and this at all times in Afflictions Desertion Temptations c. and when called to any hard Service in Prosperity and in Adversity in times of Want and Necessities and in Times of Fulness in Life and also at the Hour of Death This tends my Brethren to the Glory of God and by this they shew what a value and esteem they put upon God How often does David say he trusted in the Lord and because God was his God O my God I trust in thee Job says Tho he slay me yet will I trust in him Tho they see not feel not or have no sensible Comfort or Relief yet can and will trust in God tho God hides his Face or they walk in Darkness and have no Light IV. God's peculiar People highly love value and prize the Lord Jesus Christ They can say with David Whom have I in Heaven but thee Neither is there any on Earth that I desire besides thee They have tasted how good the Lord is and beholding his Beauty can say He is the chiefest among Ten Thousand they live upon Christ fetch all their Comfort and Hope of Salvation from him and rejoyce in him alone Serving God in Spirit and have no Confidence in the Flesh. Moreover when they have done all things that Christ hath commanded they look upon themselves Unprofitable Servants they live in him to him and by him their living in him shews Christ is their Life their living to him shews Christ is their ultimate End their living by him shews Christ is their Strength they receive the Spirit and so live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit they bring up the bottom of their Lives to the top of their Light they do not only know what is to be done but do what they know the Darkness of Carnal Professors will be the blackest because their Light seemed to be the clearest but these are better inwardly in substance than outwardly in appearance in a word they are as much in love with the Imployment of Holiness as with the Injoyment of Happiness or to be Holy here as well as Happy hereafter or to live to God on Earth as well as with him in Heaven V. God's Covenant-People ascribe all the Glory to him and take all the Shame to themselves Both Riches and Honour come of thee the Power the Glory and the Victory is thine and of thine own have I
so Good yea so Precious so Sweet in his Love and Favour that I am not able to express it as if he should say Therefore pray taste your selves and then by experience you will find it to be as I say Solomon also found by experience this was the best Trade Wisdom is better than Gold and to get Vnderstanding rather to be chosen than Silver Yea better than Rubies all things that may be desired are not to be compared to it Solomon had the experience of all other Things he had Riches in abundance Honours beyond all Men on Earth and Pleasures of all sorts and such Wisdom also which no meer Man ever attained to yet he cries out Vanity of Vanity all things are Vanity Doubtless God might let him try the Nature of all Worldly good or whatsoever the Heart of Man could desire that by him all Men might know even by his Experience the emptiness and vanity of them no Man ever decry'd the Vanity of all things under the Sun more than he did And in the close of all by that experience he had how doth he commend Spiritual Things or the Merchandise of Wisdom i e. the Love and Favour of God in Christ or our Lord Jesus Christ himself whom he sets forth under the Name of Wisdom Moreover Moses chose rather to Trade in these rich and rare Commodities than in all the Treasures and Glories of Egypt or of Pharaoh's Court nay he esteemed the Reproaches of Christ greater Riches or much better than all the Riches and Treasures of Egypt or all the Pleasures of Sin for a Season Also you may take Paul's Experiences on this account What says he But what things were Gain to me those things I counted Loss for Christ yea doubtless I account all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but Dung that I may win Christ. In his Judgment all things in comparison of Christ were but as Dung or Dogs-meat O! that every Soul that hears me this Day would but endeavour to play such a Game as Paul did or get such Experiences as he had 5. By this Trade also the Soul is inriched with all the Promises of God precious Promises exceeding great and precious Promises Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises Whereby that is through the Knowledge of God in Christ That by these ye may be Partakers of the Divine Nature Those Promises by which we partake of the Nature or Image of God must needs greatly inrich the Soul it is by and through them we attain to an Impress of the Divine Nature or Divine Qualities and Dispositions as Knowledge Righteousness Mercy Goodness Holiness c. They are full Promises suitable Promises suited to every Condition and seasonable Promises and also sure and certain Promises 6. Because this Trade inriches both the Soul and Body too they that drive this Trade in a right manner shall have their vile Body changed and made in likeness to Christ's Glorious Body and be Crowned with Glory for evermore 7. This Trade through Faith in Jesus Christ gives the Soul full Satisfaction it fills it with Joy and Comfort for as hereby we come to have a likeness to God so also to have Communion with God and Jesus Christ it is therefore a most sweet and honourable Calling it makes us happy while we live and happy at Death also Thus in respect of the Subject these Merchandises do inrich it appears it is the best Trade in all the Earth Secondly This will further appear by considering of the Nature of the things about which the Soul Spiritually Trades I. They are Things of great Worth Riches or of an Inestimable Value This appears 1. In respect of the great Price by which they were bought which was the Blood of Jesus Christ they cost an Infinite Sum of rich Treasure 1 Pet. 1.18 19. Who would not highly account of Things bought with such a Price and part with all things for them as Paul did The Merchant-Man sold all he had and bought the Pearl of great Price The Redemption of the Soul is precious c. That which is most costly is commonly most preferred My Brethren Jesus Christ did not over-buy them he never repented that he laid down so great a Price to purchase them for us O costly Ware saith one O dear bought Goods For which the Pearl of great Price went Will you not value those things highly which the Son of God bought with his own Heart's Blood 2. They are Heavenly Things Heavenly Riches What are the Nature of all Earthly Things to Heavenly Things Alas God gives the Things of this World to his Enemies to such that hate him What said Luther of all the Turkish Empire It was but a Crust that God casts to a Dog Brethren we shall never fully know the Worth and Nature of Heavenly Things till we come to Heaven 3. They are Incorruptible Things and Things that Thieves can't steal and Things that corrupt not perish not they are not the worse for keeping their Nature changes not all other things perish in the using and as our Lord shews Moth and Rust corrupteth them But God is unchangable and Christ is the same Yesterday to Day and for ever The Word of God is incorruptible which liveth and abideth for ever 4. They are Vnsearchable Riches no finding out perfectly either the Quality or Quantity of this vast Mine of rich Treasure To me who am less than the least of all Saints is this Grace given That I should Preach among the Gentiles the Vnsearchable Riches of Christ What are the Spanish Gold Mines or the Riches of Mexico or Potosi to Christ's Riches Mines of Gold may be exhausted or such that have those Mines may be poor as the Spaniard is Brethren Millions of Millions live upon Christ yet his Treasure is full the Riches of Christ are permanent abiding Riches With me are durable Riches and Righteousness 5. The Riches procured by this Covenant in this Trade are not only Soul-satisfying but also Soul-fatening Riches Eat that which is good and let your Soul delight it self in fatness These were those Riches that satisfied Divine Justice and appeased Divine Wrath and that quiets a guilty and wounded Conscience they fill the Soul faten the Soul They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures They shall be fat and flourishing c. 6. They are certain Riches the Riches of this World are called Vncertain Riches they make themselves Wings and fly away Besides they will not avail in the Day of Wrath they will stand in no stead then nor any ways profit the Wretched Sinner at Death nor in the Judgment Day But Godliness is profitable for all things
Trust and Dependance And what is that but filthy Rags We have nothing to part with but cursed Filth and Pollution 2. Sirs whatsoever you have which is good it is his own Of thine own have we given thee saith David 'T is true we must give him the Glory of our External and Internal Riches Gifts Grace Righteousness but this is but to give him what is his own If thou art Righteous what givest thou him Or what receiveth he at thine Hand 3. He gave us Grace from whence our Tears of Sorrow proceeded Christ Reaps nothing but what he first Sowed it was his Grace his Spirit that broke our Hearts it was his Spirit that created Faith Love Hope Humility c. in us we only Trade with Christ's Money Secondly Christ makes sure Returns certain Returns 1. They that Sow in Tears shall Reap in Joy Again he saith Your Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. 2. Christ is our great Insurer he keeps an Insuring Office in Heaven and hath ingaged his Faithfulness and Holiness to make us sure and certain Returns you shall not go forth Weeping but he assures you that you shall return Rejoycing and bring your Sheaves with you Thirdly Jesus Christ makes quick Returns 1. Nay we sometimes meet with Returns when 't is in our Hearts to Trade with him before we venture out in Trading Before they call I will answer and whilst they are yet speaking I will hear Object But sometimes we do not presently receive what we ask of God in Christ's Name 1 Ans. God answers us sometimes tho not in that manner or in that thing we request of him yet he gives us that which he sees is better for us 2. He gives us always quickly or right early that is when he sees the Fruit is ripe and good for us or in the proper Season Vnripe Fruit is not good 't is hurtful you know 3. When we are fit to receive the Mercy desired and know how to improve it to his Glory and our Profit then we shall have it and would you have it sooner 4. He may forbear sometimes to give us what we ask because we ask amiss or to try our Faith Love Patience c. but God must be Judge and not we of what is best for us and of the time when given to us also APPLICATION 1. Bless Christ for the Covenant of Peace upon the account it opens such a happy Trade or procures for us such free access to God 2. We infer that Sinners are wofully blind that so few will study this Trade they will not Trade to Heaven nor deal in Spiritual Things 1. Satan has blinded their Minds And 2. The World is got into their Hearts they are for present Things for sensual Things sensual Pleasures Profits Honours 3. They know not the way how to Trade Christ is the Way but they know him not they will Trade in forbidden Goods even with their own Money c. They think by their Tears by their Repentance by their own Faith Righteousness and Obedience to procure all things they want even both Justification and Eternal Life 3. Train up your Children in this Trade labour to instruct them into the Knowledge of Jesus Christ bring them up in the Way that they should go 4. This also reproves such that grow weary of this Holy Calling or that decay or waste their Stock and grow poorer and poorer every Day 1. The Price of Heavenly Commodities are fallen in their Esteem Prayer Reading Meditation Christian Converse Church Communion Peace with God and Peace of Conscience too is but of little worth now with them 2. Their Faith is low their Love to Christ his Truth and People is decay'd their heat of Zeal is gone 3. They are but little at Home do not watch their own Hearts or are more abroad to find faults in others and spying the Moat that is in their Brother's Eye Quest. Can 't Men Break that follow this Trade Answ. False Traders false Professors may nay will Break and come to nothing 1. They Set up without a Stock I mean without true Saving Grace 2. They Trade with their own Money or have Confidence in the Flesh and trust in their own Strength which had almost undone Peter 3. They are far in Debt and see not the way of coming out they do not see that all their Debts are paid by Jesus Christ. 4. They Trade not alone in Christ's Name nor are they strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 5. They look one way and Row another look Heavenward but their Hearts are Earthly 6. They prize Earthly Riches above Heavenly Things so that 't is no wonder if these Break but no true Christian I have proved can ever Break or be Undone 5. Be exhorted to Trade for Heaven and to buy of Christ Buy of me Gold tried in the Fire c. Buy the Truth and Sell it not Do not only Cheapen his Wares but resolve to buy Do you not love Gold O! Buy presently you hear how without Money What are all Things here free And yet do you not like the Terms Alas Proud Man would fain pay for all he has this Plague reigns amongst those of this Generation Directions to Trade to Heaven 1. Trade with God by Christ make use of this Blessed Correspondent come to God by him or you will get nothing obtain nothing Hitherto you have ask'd nothing in my Name and therefore received no more 2. Know and be assured that by the Peace Christ has made you may freely Trade and come to God but be sure see that 't is in Faith you come to him or you will never speed plead the absolute Promises 3. Observe the Motions of the Spirit Mariners set out with the Wind and Tide so must you The Wind blows where it listeth God's Spirit will not always strive with Men. 4. Mind the Exchange-time Merchants will not fail here O! see you do not neglect God's Publick Worship no lose not one Opportunity if it be possible one Neglect in this case had almost ruined Thomas When Ministers Preach you ought to hear nay you must hear 5. Be sure you keep up Closet Prayer much of this Spiritual Trade lies in this Duty also you must labour to pray in Faith and also fervently cold Prayers will never prevail with God 6. Keep up your Acquaintance with Jesus Christ you that are Believers see to this and you that are Sinners see that you get Union with him Acquaint thy self with him and be at Peace thereby good shall come to thee without Union there can be no Communion with Christ Brethren here is great Complaint of Badness of Trade may be 't is a Judgment because this Trade is slighted or so much neglected O! remember this is your general Calling and it must have the perferance whatever business is neglected this must not How did God blast the Jews in
himself What is the Lord of Heaven and Earth Born of a Woman The Ancient of Days became a Child of a Day old He that was in the Form of God found in the Form of a Servant Shall God purchase his Church with his own Blood This is amazing to think upon 4. We infer from hence also how wonderfully God hath hereby exalted and magnified Man Christ is a Man truly Man tho God as well as Man he that is God is a Man Forasmuch as the Children are made Partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same and by this means we are nearly related to God he is our Kinsman the nearest of Kin had under the Law the Right of Redemption to raise up Seed to the Dead Christ is our Kinsman our Brother and by this means the Inheritance even God and all he hath is setled on the whole Heavenly Family or on all his Seed or Elect What can exalt Man more than this O what greater Honour could be conferred on our Nature then for the Son of God to assume it into Personal Union with the Godhead 1. Hereby we are made near to God even nearer than the Holy Angels Verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Angels are not the Spouse of Christ they are not Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh but Christ is flesh of our Flesh and Bone of our Bone and hereby also we have a nearer Union with God than Adam had in Innocency nay as I said nearer than the Angels have for Believers are Christ's Mystical Body Christ is the Head of the Church For both he that Sanctifieth and they who are Sanctified are all of one for which Cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren 2. Our Nature hereby as one observes is the Store-house or Treasury of all that good which God intends to dispense to Men and Angels Moreover Angels and Men Worship God in our Nature that is Jesus Christ God-man And how astonishing is this 3 Moreover God in our Nature shall be the Judge of Men and Angels the Man Christ is God's Equal God's Fellow And 4. What Dignity and Honour is it then to be espoused to such a Prince 5. This speaks great comfort to Believers Christ who is Mediator is near unto God and as near unto us the Father hath Called Chosen Anointed and Accepted of him in our behalf he can sympathize with us he knows our Infirmities and he hath always God's Ear and God's Heart and represents us and our Cause to the Father Exhortation Sinners Will not you accept of Peace 1. Shall such a Mediator make your Peace nay die to make your Peace with God and shall any refuse to accept of that Peace which he hath made 2. The Terms are not hard but easie it is to believe in him to trust in him to believe he hath made your Peace or that God in him is reconciled 't is to sue out your Pardon through Faith in his Blood Take a few Motives to stir you up thus to do 1. Consider that you cannot have Peace with God any other ways There is no other Name given under Heaven whereby you can be saved 2. That whosoever cometh to him receiveth him believeth in him resteth upon him shall not Perish but have Everlasting Life 3. Consider how able he is to save He is able to save all that come to God by him and to save them to the uttermost tho they are never such great Sinners abominable Sinners prophane Sinners 4. Consider the Necessity of the Application of his Blood or of that Atonement which he hath made He that Believeth not shall be Damned if ye believe not that I am he that is that I am the only Messiah the only Mediator the only Saviour and that I am able to save you Ye shall die in your Sins 5. Consider the woful Condition of such that reject Jesus Christ or lay not hold on his Strength or that slight his Mediation or that think to find Peace some other way some think to have Peace by the Law by the Moral Law either as it is written in the two Tables or as it is written in the Hearts of all Men or by the Light of their own Natural Conscience others by a new Law turning the Gospel into a Law and so bring in and seek to establish their own Righteousness Alas If there had been a Law as Paul shews that could have given Life then Christ is dead in vain These cast great Contempt upon the Mediation of Jesus Christ nay strive to frustrate the grand Design of God in contriving our Salvation by his Son Jesus Christ which was to magnifie his own Free Grace alone and to abase the Creature that no Man might boast or glory in himself but that all might be ashamed and confounded for ever Question What Offices doth Jesus Christ exercise as he is Mediator 1 Answ. I answer Divines generally assert That he exerciseth a threefold Office and this every one ought to know and also the Work of Christ in respect had unto each Office or what peculiarly relates to his Priestly Office and what to his Kingly Office and what to his Prophetical Office c. A little to each of these 1. He is a Priest and as a Priest he is the Propitiation for our Sins he hath satisfied Justice by a condign Price the Price of the Blood of him who is God he paid our Debts to the last Farthing as a Priest he laid down the atoning Sacrifice and thereby quenched the Flames of God's Divine Wrath and Vengeance which ootherways would have fed on us to an endless Eternity 2. And as a Priest he interceeds now in Heaven that all those for whom he died may be called and have the Merits of his Blood applied to their Souls and that all that are called and do believe may have all that Grace which they need bestowed upon them to help them to resist Temptations and to be supported under all Trials and Afflictions and be enabled to perform all Holy Duties and have all their Sins pardoned If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous he presents his Righteousness the Deserts Merits and Satisfaction of his Blood for Remission of all their Sins neither can Sin be charged at any time upon any Believer as to that Vindicative Wrath which is due to it because he pleads the Satisfaction of his own Blood as their full Discharge from the Guilt and Punishment thereof for ever for otherwise Justified Persons might again come under Condemnation which they cannot For there is now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. And thus was Christ a Priest i. e. On Earth he eminently Sacrificed and Offered up himself to God How much more shall the Blood of Christ who
that is that were not actually his People nor own'd and acknowledged so to be we lost this Relation to God by the Fall when God ceased to be our God by way of Special interest we ceased to be his People 5. They shall be my People this denotes the certainty of their Special Vocation and of our being his People for ever He shall see his Seed all that the Father hath given to me shall come unto me that is they shall believe in me c. Now in speaking unto this Promise Grant and Priviledge 1. I shall first shew you in what Respect or Consideration we may be said to be God's People 2. Shew you what kind of People God's Covenant People are I mean such that are actually owned to be his People 3. Shew you what a great Blessing this is 4. Apply both these great Priviledges together I shall wave several Acceptations by which a People may be called God's People that I may directly come to the Business in Hand 1. We may be said to be God's People and he our God decretively or by virtue of God's Eternal Election God chose Christ as our Head and all the Elect in him See our Lord's Words Other Sheep have I that are not of this Fold them I must bring He calls them his Sheep and yet then they were ungodly and unbelieving ones So he said to Paul I have much People in this City they were his People decretively tho not actually his at that time 2. The Elect were God's People Foederally or by virtue of that Holy Covenant made betwixt the Father and the Son as I hinted before and now that this Relation also arises from those Covenant Transactions is most evident for Jesus Christ struck Hands with the Father in behalf of all God's Elect to procure this Priviledge But a little further to open this pray consider that there is a Foederal Union and Relation as when the Father of a Young Man and the Father or Guardian of a Young Damsel shall mutually agree and Covenant that they two shall be Man and Wife even thus God the Father and God the Son Agreed and Covenanted in behalf of all the Elect Christ was as I may say their Guardian yea and also he Covenanted to Espouse and Marry them to himself for ever and God the Father gave the Elect to Christ in this Covenant Moreover herein he had the advantage of others for may be such a Young Man as before mentioned might not Love the Person his Father Covenanted with her Guardian to be his Wife or he might not be able to obtain her Affections but Christ's Love was set upon his intended Spouse from everlasting and also he knew how to gain our Love and unite our Hearts to himself and that by sheding his Love abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 The Love of Christ hath in it a Physical Operation And thus my Brethren by Covenant and the free donation of the Father we become God's People or in a remote sense were thus brought into this Blessed Relation to him Thine they were that is by Election and thou gavest them me Again he saith I pray not for the World but for them that thou hast given me for they are thine 4. The Elect are God's People by virtue of Christ's Purchase he bought them with his own Blood Ye are not your own for you are bought with a price c. and it was that they might be a peculiar People unto God Hence the Apostle saith Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of Good Works or a famous or principal People as the Greek Word renders it Without this Price had been laid down we had never been brought into this Relation unto God 5. They are God's People by Renovation or Regeneration Of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth 6. By Conquest also Believers are brought into this Relation God hath subdued them unto himself he has by his Victorious Grace overcome them and this way they are made his Liege People and he becomes their God and Soveraign as having rescued them out of the Hands of Sin and Satan those cruel Tyrants whose Slaves Subjects and Servants they were before Christ has set them free or made them a free People indeed to and for himself 7. The Elect are actually the Lord's People by the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit or by virtue of their Mystical Vnion with Christ by the Spirit which is the Bond of this Union on Christ's part and by this means we come to chose Jesus Christ as the only Object of our Affection and Blessed Bridegroom of our Souls and also hereby we take God to be our God and thus we are actually and personally brought into this Relation to him in which sense and in respect of these and the two last things mentioned we were not his People before for notwithstanding the Covenant Agreement of Parents or a Marriage by Proxy betwixt great Persons yet they must after that actually and personally be Married together before they can injoy each other or properly be said to be Man and Wife And so my Brethren it is here for notwithstanding the Decree and Purpose of God and his eternal Compact and Donation and also notwithstanding the Purchase of Christ yet till by the Spirit we are united to Christ and do believe in him close in and imbrace him and enter into an actual Covenant with God in and by Jesus Christ we cannot be said to be properly God's People for before this we were the Children of Wrath and the Slaves of Sin and Satan But so much to the first thing proposed Secondly I shall endeavour to shew you what a kind of People these are that are thus brought into Covenant with God I. They that are God's peculiar People have renounced all other Lords from having any claim to them or interest in them 1. They have broke that Covenant which they had made with Sin that Union is dissolved their Love to Sin is gone for ever I do not say the Being of Sin in them is gone no Sin will be in their Hearts and in their Conversations too but it is not in their Affections they approve not of it they regard it not The Evil which I hate that do I saith Paul I have vain Thoughts saith David to love Sin is worse than to commit it and to hate Sin is better than to leave it a Good Man may commit Sin and yet loath it and a wicked Man may leave Sin and yet love it Ye that love the Lord hate Evil Ye do so or else you are none of God's People i. e. it is your Character and also your Duty 2. They have renounced the Love of this World they are dead nay Crucified to the World they that are God's peculiar People