Heaven we shall but enter into our Masters joy Thus every thing that concerns the Covenant belongs first unto him and then unto us and therefore we may safely conclude that the Covenant made with the Saints of Christ it is with Christ primarily and principally and with us at second hand 7. Lastly the great and principal respect that God hath in this Covenant is to him alone and unto us only as we are in him in all the transactions of the Covenant 1 In all the service that we tender unto God by vertue of this Covenant God doth not primarily respect it as it comes from us but as it comes from Christ as fruit in him Joh. 15.2 1 Pet. 2.5 as the Lord doth not meerly make that a ground for Christ says I do not say that I will pray the father for you Jo. 16.27 for the father himself loves you he would thereby pitch their faith upon another ground to assure them that the prayers he makes in our behalf are answered and that it is the love of the Father as well as the mediation of the Son but he loves them in him also and therefore respects their prayers principally as they do proceed out of the Angels hand 2 In all the mercies of the Covenant the primary respect is unto him and it is bestowed upon you only for his sake For thine own sake and for thy words sake 2 Sam. 7.21 Which Glassius and some others do apply unto Christ that Word of the Father though it may be meant as others do expound it for his own promise sake respecting his truth Mic. 7. last therefore Zach. 1.14 though they pray never so long Seventy years yet it is never accomplished till Christ prays and then the Lord answers the Angel with good words and comfortable words he is by and by zealous for Jerusalem And therefore Daniel says Dan. 9.17 Hear the prayer of thy servant cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake Now if all things that concern the Covenant be in this manner made unto Christ primarily and unto us only as we are in him to him for his own sake and unto us only for his this doth plainly show that the Covenant of Grace though it be made with the Saints yet it is primarily and principally made with Christ § 2. Now we come to the Grounds why this Covenant must be made with Christ first and with us only as we are members of Christ and in him 1. Because the Covenant of Grace is a transcript of the eternal purpose of God in election and doth fully set forth the way how the ends of Gods electing love should be effected Now the ends of Gods electing love are 1 The praise of the glory of his Grace 2 The glory of his Son 3 The holiness and happiness of the Saints These ends are suitably accomplished by this Covenant Ephes 1.3 4 5. Ephes 1.3 4 5. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as he has chosen us in him Here three things are observable 1 It is spoken of Christ as Mediator as God-man for in him we are blessed in him we are chosen but our blessings proceed from Christ as Mediator 2 The order of the election we are chosen in him that is in him as the head and therefore he is first elected as he is first beloved In whom I am well pleased well pleased with his people Matt. 3.17 all the members of Christ but first with Christ and with them only as they are in him and one with him 3 According to this order so are all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace dispensed for he hath blessed us in him as he hath chosen us in him according to the order of election such is the order also of benediction Now the blessing of the Covenant of Grace being only in pursuance of the Election of God the Order of God therein must be answerable to the Election which is first of Christ and afterwards of all the Saints of God in him It 's true there is but one Election as there is but one Covenant but yet there is an Order in Election as well as there is in the Covenant first Christ is elected and we in him as the Lord entred into Covenant first with him and with us in him as a head Here consider 1 that the great and the highest end of the counsel of God in Election next unto his own glory was the glory of his Son for this is the Order of God that the Father may be glorified in his Son and the Son glorified in the Saints and in the last day Christ shall be admired in them that believe 2 Thes 2.10 and that in the glory of Christ God the Father may be glorified and that God may be all in all when the Son also is subject to him Therefore they that make Christ to be chosen only in remedium peccati 1 Cor. 15. and bring him in only by accident for the reparation and restitution of man fallen I think entertain an opinion dishonourable to Christ and far below that great plot of God in Christs Election He is said to be the first-born of every creature Col. 1.15 which I conceive not to be spoken simply of Christ as God but as Mediator it is said before that he is the image of the invisible God If it be spoken of him as God then he is equally invisible with the Father but as Mediator in whom all the glorious Attributes of God do shine forth so he is the Image of God and so I conceive it to refer to the Election of Christ as being Jesus the first-born in the womb of Election the like unto that is Prov. 8.23 c. and in the first going forth in his Decrees towards the creature therefore Christ was first elected and the highest ends of God in the counsels of Election next unto the glory of himself was the glory of his Son 2 This glory of the Son he doth intend to accomplish two ways 1 He will in the fullest manner communicate himself to the Son he will in the highest way delight in him there could not be towards any creature the fullest communication and communion because all communion is founded in union and the higher the union the more glorious the communication Now between God and the creature there was a natural union as between the cause and the effect and there was a voluntary union by Covenant and answerable to these was the communication of God to the creature either ordine naturae or gratiae but yet there being a higher union this must make way for a higher communication and therefore God intending to communicate himself to his Son in the highest way he doth first in order priviledge him to be personally united to a created nature and in this nature he can take full delight which he could not do
one with the Son and to enter into the same Covenant with them and in their own persons that he hath established with the Son it doth highly honour the Saints and exalt the grace of God towards them also 3. That the Lord might bind men unto him more firmly in a way of obedience and that the obedience might be made the more sweet Man was bound unto God by a bond of creation and from whom he had his being unto him he did owe his service but the Lord will bind him unto him with a further cord and bond of stipulation the one was natural and necessary and the other voluntary and though he did owe obedience had there been never a promise made him of a reward yet much more when the Lord will bind himself by Covenant to reward his meanest services The ground of the Covenant is love Deut. 7.7 8. 2 Cor. 5.19 Jer. 31.3 Hos 2.19 and God loves the Saints also in his Son and is willing to be reconciled to them in him and a man may say the yoak of Christ is not only easie but profitable also Matt. 11.29 because it hath a promise annexed to every service and for this cause was the Covenant made with the Saints that they might be a willing people in all their obedience there being a promise going with the duty in whatever was required of them 4. That the people of God might exercise faith in their prayers putting these bonds in suit that the Lord hath made over unto them when they look upon themselves as sons of Abraham Heirs of Promise and Children of the Covenant c. and thereby they come with a great deal the more boldness before the throne of grace as David 1 Chron. 17.23 24. Let the thing thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and his house be established for ever do as thou hast said that thy name may be magnified for ever the Lord of Hosts is the God of Israel even a God to Israel For because thou hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray before thee now Lord thou art God and hast promised this goodness to thy servant let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant that it may be before thee for ever for thou blessest O Lord and it shall be blessed for ever have respect unto the Covenant for all the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty Reason 2 2. There is a Covenant made with the Saints also that they may see that they are as strictly bound to obedience in their own persons under the second Covenant as they were under the first Covenant and that the doctrine of the Gospel though it be a Doctrine of liberty yet is not a Doctrine of licentiousness there is as much of duty required of us now as there was then and so far as we come short of the Law we sin and every such transgression is so far as it prevails a Covenant-breaking on our part and an act of unfaithfulness but the Covenant cannot be broken because we have a surety which the first Covenant had not and the righteousness of this Covenant sin can never spend it is an everlasting righteousness therefore that Doctrine that saith God requires all of Christ and nothing of you is a Doctrine of sinful liberty it 's true That he takes satisfaction in his Son and he makes you accepted in his beloved and therefore he will never suffer his faithfulness to fail for Psal 102.28 Thou art the same and the children of thy servants shall continue c. yet in point of duty he expects from us uprightness and perfect obedience so that it is your sin and unfaithfulness if you perform it not as it was required of the first Adam so of all his posterity and as of Christ so of all his posterity also 3. That the Saints also may stand in awe of the threats of God under the second Covenant it 's true there is no curse there for it is a covenant of blessing but yet there is a double anger in God paterna hostilis ira simplex redundans c. I will visit their offences with a rod and that with many sharp and lesser trials and yet my Covenant I will not break they shall be the sure mercies of David still therefore Psal 119. he saith Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me because God had in Covenant undertaken to preserve him to his kingdom therefore he could not else have been a faithful God and there is also a faithfulness in the threatning executed as well as there is in the promises performed and that the hearts of the people of God may stand in awe thereof therefore it is necessary that as they should remember all duty was not so performed by Christ but that there is duty also in their place required of them and all suffering was not so undergone by Christ but that there may be suffering reserved for them also though not as a part of the curse of the first Covenant nor for satisfaction yet as the threatning was for their unfaithfulness under the second Covenant so it is inflicted for their humiliation and sanctification § 3. Wherein lies the difference between the Covenant made with Christ and with us 1 It was made with Christ primarily as a publick person for all the Elect but it is made with every one of us in the second place as we are members of Christ and so being in him we come under his Covenant 2 It is made with Christ immediately and for his own sake there was no mediator between God and Christ 2 Sam 7. Dan. 21.9 but the Lord accepted of his ingagement and relyed upon his faithfulness in performing his duty as Christ did upon Gods faithfulness in fulfilling his promise and whatever the Lord performs unto us it is for Christs sake but it is with us mediately in him he being the mediator of the Covenant and of all the mercies thereof 3 The promise made unto Christ was made from everlasting before the foundation of the world 2 Tim. 1.9 Rev. 13.8 it 's said The Lamb had a book of life before the foundation of the world it cannot be understood of election for he himself as mediator was elected therefore it is spoken in reference to this Covenant that God did make with Christ before the world was Prov. 8.22 he being from the beginning and this Covenant was to take place immediately after the fall but the Covenant with his people is made with them when they believe and are ingrafted into Christ faith being nothing else but a consent unto the Covenant and the terms of it on our part and therefore that is an act done by the creature in time when a man is converted and therefore notwithstanding the Covenant made with Christ yet the elect themselves Ephes 2.12 till they be converted are said
Esau who did despise the birth-bright Heb. 12. and partly that the soul understanding it may receive satisfaction and see an all-sufficiency in it Aristotle for godliness hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-sufficience going with it as it is 1 Tim. 4.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfect good seems to be self-sufficient and for this cause the Apostle prays for a spirit of illumination Eph. 1.18 That the eyes of their understanding being opened they might know what is the hope of their calling and the riches of this inheritance which God has prepared for the Saints that God whose are all things and of whom are all things yet his portion is his people they are of all people his peculiar treasure and what a glorious inheritance the Lord has chosen to himself in them making up one glorious body with the Lord Jesus Christ Now if it be necessary the eyes of our understanding should be enlightned to know the glory of Gods inheritance in us how much more the glory of our inheritance in Gods attributes that the soul may be able to rejoyce in the goodness of the Lord and say Thou art my portion says my soul that as Calvin observes upon that place Zac. 9.12 Satis praesidii in uno Deo There 's safeguard enough in one God so it may be said of all things else there is wisdom enough and holiness enough and all to be had in him and it is enough if it be in him alone There is a threefold inheritance that Christ hath stated upon his people for Christ is heir of all things 1 by Nature and Generation 2 by Donation as he was man now the first belongs unto him alone and he cannot communicate it and the other he doth impart unto us as we are one body with him and as we partake with him in the same Sonship so we do also in his inheritance Eph. 1.14 and this inheritance of Christ the Saints have a treble benefit by 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is the Heir of all things we have by him an inheritance of creatures as Christ is God he comes not under an act of Gods will and therefore it 's spoken of him as he was Mediator 2 He has an inheritance of promises for they are all made first unto him Gal. 3.16 2 Cor. 1.20 to him were the promises made not of seeds as of many but as of one who is Christ and therefore it 's in him that all the promises are Yea and Amen as we were chosen in him he was first elected and we in him so the promises were first Yea and then Amen in him and by virtue of our union with him unto us 3 There is a higher inheritance and that is Psal 16.5 that the Lord is the portion of Christ The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup Psal 45.7 c. Answerable unto this is the inheritance that Christ has made over unto the Saints who as they are fellows with him in his Unction so they are Coheirs with him in his Inheritance Rom. 8.17 as they have an inheritance in creatures for all all things are yours whether life or death and also in promises 1 Cor. 3.22 which is beyond what they have in any of the creatures so they have an inheritance that is far beyond both these and that is in God himself Rev. 21.7 He shall inherit all things I will be his God Heb. 6.12 Now if we consider it we shall see that there are great riches in this to have all the attributes of God theirs is greater than to have all the creatures and the promises of God made over to them 1. The Attributes of God are nothing else but the transcendent perfections that are in God the Divine Nature shadowed forth to us according to the capacity of the creatures in which the Lord as in his back parts that is pro nostro modulo according to our capacity makes known himself unto us and causes his goodness to pass before us and if the Lord would take any soul of us as he did Moses and in this manner discover himself there is nothing in the world would affect the soul like unto it for if these be the perfections of God how infinitely must they needs exceed all things that are in the creatures for they are all in him after the manner of a God and therefore all the attributes may be predicated of God in abstracto he is Wisdom and Holiness and Mercy c. because they are all of them the Divine Nature all the excellencies that are in the creature are received from him and therefore surely there is infinite more in himself Thence the Saints have been more taken with the Divine Excellencies that are in the Nature of God immediately than in all the blessings and benefits that come from him 1 Sam. 2.2 as Hanna after the blessing she had received from him she admires his goodness and the excellency that is in him there is none holy as the Lord and who is a Rock save our God and if the Saints did not do so their love were not of a right kind Austin plus diligere attractum quà m sponsum meretricius amor to love the token more than the bridegroom is adulterous love 2. This is the foundation of all our interest and all the comfort of it either in creatures or in promises How comes it to pass that all things are yours and promises yours c. but because the Lord is our God and therefore it 's brought in as the foundation of all blessedness having spoken of all creature-comforts in the highest he adds this Psal 144. Blessed are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. There is a blessedness therein without the creatures and the only foundation of blessedness in the creatures lyes in this 1 In creatures consider this is the difference between the portions of godly men and wicked men they may both possess the same thing but with a different temper and the one has only a title unto creatures as a gift of God but the other as he has a title unto God the one has them by a single and the other by a double title and so a little that the righteous has is better than great riches of many wicked because he has all that he has conveyed unto him from his interest in God as the Original thereof 2 In promises it 's true that their inheritance in them is very glorious far beyond that of Adam in Paradise but yet the foundation of all the promises is an attribute and they must all lead the soul unto God and his interest in him that did promise for Faithful is he that has promised and he will also do it There is a promise of pardon of sin but still it is to be resolved into an attribute 1 Joh. 2.1 He is faithful
Lord and we are enemies unto God and are deeply rooted in enmity in our minds both by secret flattery and by open hostility every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1.21 Rom. 1.30 haters of God but now God is no more an enemy unto us but he loves us with the same love that he loves the Son Joh. 17.23 and they are no more enemies unto God but they are called the friends of God and the Lords possession the Fathers inheritance is in the Saints Eph. 1.18 The riches of his inheritance in the Saints Thus it is God the Father that offers reconciliation when you are a great way off he doth run to meet you and he doth fall upon your neck and kiss you and he lets you see that he has forgotten all the wrong done to him Cupit amari Austin and that though the earth be his and the fulness thereof yet he is taken with nothing so much as with your love it is to gain your love that he doth all that he does and he it is that is the person in whom you are properly reconciled and with him properly the peace in Scripture is said to be made for the Son is the Peace-maker Shiloe he makes peace by the blood of his Cross and it is by his Spirit that we have access unto the Father therefore reconciliation is properly unto God the Father and herein is the soul properly made the friend of God the enmity being slain thereby 3. Justification is properly the act of God the Father putting upon a Believer the righteousness of Christs not imputing his sin for he that made Christ to be sin for us he it is also that makes us the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. ult and it is by his grace that you are justified freely who did set forth Christ to be a propitiation Rom. 3.24 25. There is a double act of God the Father in the work of Justification 1 There is an Imputation of righteousness Rom. 4.6 Blessed is the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works There is a righteousness that is wrought by Christ called the righteousness of God because the Godhead gave an efficacy and an excellency thereunto and this under the second Covenant by virtue of our union with him is counted ours as our sins were by the Father counted his and it is this counting of the Father that is truly imputation and so much the word in the Greek doth properly signifie so that though Christ had no sin yet through the Covenant between him and his Father our sin is counted his and though we have no righteousness yet by virtue of union his righteousness is counted ours Rom. 3.24 and so it being an act of grace for we are justified freely by grace so it 's true justitia nostra est indulgentia tua 2 There is Remission of sin that is Rom. 4.8 a non imputation Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes no sin c. that is though we be sinners in our selves yet the Lord doth not count us so but looks upon us as pure and unspotted in his sight it 's true that the righteousness wrought for us is the righteousness of Christ he brought in everlasting righteousness Dan. 9.24 But how shall this become ours This is by an act of God the Father imputing his righteousness unto us and that is counting his righteousness ours and he looking upon us as being one with him and though it is true that we are sinners and every sin hath a guilt naturally and necessarily going with it for there is a difference between reatus personae and reatus poenae guilt may be separated from the person but it can never be from the sin now the Lord will not impute sin in the guilt of it unto the person but though he doth sin and that doth carry a guilt with it yet it shall not be charged upon the person for ever 4. Adoption that also is properly an act of God the Father upon a Believer a man made one with Christ 1 Joh. 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed unto us that we should be called the sons of God Adoption is properly an act of God the Father graciously receiving a man into the number of his sons and giving him his Spirit the priviledges and the inheritance of a son so that though it is by Christ that we have this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1.12 that is because Christ is the Son therefore we being made one with him we also become sons of God by the Sonship of Christ only his Sonship is natural and ours by grace as our union is and by this means the Father of Christ is our Father also Joh. 20. I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and your God c. yet is it an act of God the Father that doth receive us as sons by virtue of our union with him who is the Son of the Father Now consider the benefit we have by it 1 We have the spirit of sons Rom. 8.15 before we had but the spirit of a servant a spirit of bondage 2 We receive the honour of sons Joh. 8.35 Th◠servant abides not in the house always but the son abides always so we are of the family and of the houshold of God and he is not ashamed to be called our Father 3 We have the boldness and the access of sons Eph. 3.12 We come not as servants to a master as guilty persons to a Judge but as children unto a father 4 We have the Inheritance of sons for being sons we are heirs Rom. 8.17 Coheirs with Christ and so may claim Heaven by a double right by virtue of the purchase made and the price paid for it and also because we are sons and therefore the inheritance doth belong to us for all the sons of God are heirs of God also 5. We have also acceptation with God Eph. 1.6 He has made us accepted in the beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is to embrace a man with love and special favour and acceptation which doth proceed from this love and this also in the Scripture is double 1 To their persons he had respect unto Abel and the Lord tells Cain If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted Gen. 4.4 that when they do come before God he doth respect them above all the world beside to him will I look Esay 66.2 I will cast a more favourable eye upon him than upon all the world beside whereas the person of a wicked man as well as his service is an abomination to the Lord. 2 To their services Psal 17.14 Let the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight It is that which the Lord does promise Exod. 28.38 that their Sacrifices should be accepted before the Lord what they do doth please him and he doth not reject any of their services as he doth other mens It 's said Mal. 3.3 He
Jerusalem that is above Gal. 4.26 and in allusion to it we read of a new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven Rev. 21.1 2. 2 To the Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven that is we are taken into fellowship with all the Elect of God we do make up one body with them 3 Vnto God the Judge of all we have not only communion therefore with Christ as Mediator and with the Angels and Saints but we have a further communion and that is with God himself which is a term of his Essence when it is put without a term of restriction and refers us to all the persons in the Godhead Father Son and Holy Ghost 2. Wherein doth this Communion and fellowship consist I shall describe it to you according to the fellowship that is between men from whence this Metaphor is borrowed 1. The great communion that persons have is in the love one of another that was the great thing in which David and Jonathan had communion and not so much in their persons for David lived a persecuted life 2 Sam. 1.26 but he was sure of Jonathans love Thy love to me was wonderful passing the love of women therefore is no fellowship like that that is by interchanging of love for love is the souls byas it carries it with it wheresoever it goes it is an interchanging of hearts an interchanging of love transit amans in amatum the lover passeth into the beloved Now though the Father be in Heaven yet he loves not though we be strangers from the Lord while we are in the body yet the Father himself loves you says Christ Joh. 14.21 23. I will love him and my Father shall love him and though we be upon earth yet we can walk in his love 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen you love and though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable c. and this is the communion that we have with the Angels though they are Spirits and we see them not yet we know that they bear a tender love to the Saints for they do as Nurses bear them in their arms and in this was the fellowship of the persons one to another much seen they delighted themselves in the love of each other Joh. 14. ult This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and that is the communion that the Saints have with Christ 1 Joh. 3.1 Joh. 3.16 he is my beloved Esa 5.1 I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard c. he it is whom my soul loveth my beloved is mine and I am his and this was the great thing that delighted the Lord from Eternity his delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8.30 his thoughts of love were his delight towards them and as the Lord had communion with our love in the thoughts of it so may we have communion with his love also and therefore we do read of walking in love and dwelling in love 1 Joh. 4.16 1 Joh. 4.16 that upon which the soul is constantly set it is said to dwell upon it Job 17.11 the thoughts are called the possessions of the heart that which the thoughts do dwell upon the heart is said to possess Now as the Lord is said to inhabit the praises of Israel because they praise him constantly and therefore he is said to dwell in praises so because his love doth daily refresh sinners therefore they are said to dwell in love also as a man hath communion with Satan by thoughts the goings forth of his heart are after him and his ways so a man hath communion with each person also by the goings forth of the soul to them there is therefore a communion by interchanging of love and they that so do interchange hearts 2. There is a communion in their actings one for another for there are mutual offices of love that this amor benevolentia doth bring forth and the soul is never satisfied in either of them God the Father acts in love in giving his Son and making over himself to thy soul in justifying thy person and adopting thee to be his own son and estating upon thee a Kingdom for it is the Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdom and all these acts of love the soul opens and considers them apart and says What shall I return unto the Lord for all these things and then love doth unlock the heart and it saith the love of bounty from the father calls upon me for a love of duty is any thing too much for him that hath done so much for me and then in all these he tastes the love of God Rom. 5. for it is shed abroad in his heart and the soul in the gift tastes the love of the giver and therefore the soul is willing to speak for him and act for him and live to him and dye for him What shall I return to the Lord for all his benefits And then his own poverty comes in with bitterness to him he is willing beyond his ability he would be bountiful but he hath it not and therefore he doth as it 's said of Aeschinus that when he saw other hearers of Socrates give gifts to him he saith Nihil te dignum quod dare possum invenio hoc modo pauperem me esse sentio itaq dono tibi quod unum habeo meipsum c. I have nothing worthy of thee to give but I give my self and the soul saith as Cicero to Lentulus Caeteris in officiis omnibus satisfacere possum nunquam mihiipsi c. And this also is the communion that Christ hath with the Father the Father says Sit thou at my right hand and I will give thee the heathen for an inheritance c. and I will hold thee by the hand and Christ saith I must do my Fathers business and it 's my meat and drink 3. They have a communion in visitations for we say that amongst men friendship is maintained by visits and increased thereby and so it is between God and the Saints also there is indeed a visitation in wrath as the Lord saith Jer. 5.9 Shall I not visit for these things and there is a visitation in mercy and compassion Zac. 10.3 The Lord hath visited his flock the house of Judah and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battel c. Luk. 1.68 He hath visited and redeemed his people Now God is said to visit us when he comes to manifest his love and to bestow upon us sweet and spiritual blessings Cant. 5.1 I am come into my garden c. and when the soul comes to God of purpose to enjoy communion with him for we can never come to God but we have need of him and when we are most sensible of our wants and mans interest carries him to God but surely to desire to see God for himself is an act of pure friendship to see thy power
and prove a curse and not a blessing 4. Because it is very sweet to God when we follow him through a wilderness and see nothing but an alsufficiency in him through a land not sown Jer. 2.2 then you shew your love to him and he looks upon it as the day of your espousals Hos 9.10 I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness it is a proverbial speech when you have none to look to but God Drusius when you are in a land of drought it is never so pleasing unto God as when we are brought into a wilderness and yet there to follow him and the Lord doth never speak so sweetly to us as when he doth deprive us of these outward things that our hearts may stay upon him alone and therefore Hos 2.14 he says I will allure her into the wilderness what was there in the wilderness that might allure her The wilderness has a double consideration 1 It was a place of affliction and so there was nothing to allure for no affliction for the present is joyous but grievous 2 The wilderness was a place of manifestation where God did shew himself in his Ordinances and in his mighty works and if the wilderness be so there is an alluring in it and then saith God will I speak to her heart O when God brings into the wilderness and gives discoveries of himself there are the greatest comforts and the sweetest speakings unto the souls of his Saints the Lord doth not fail them in their time of need 5. Gods great glory is to manifest his Attributes in the sufferings of his people and it is the great work that he doth in the world and the greatest comfort that the Saints have is to see the Attributes of God drawn forth and to work for them Jer. 2.31 Have I been a wilderness to Israel It 's true says the Lord I brought them into a wilderness and did allure them thither but when they were there I was not a wilderness unto them they found all in me though the earth afforded them nothing yet there was nothing wanting from Heaven it was not a wilderness when they were in the wilderness See an instance of it Jer. 29.22 there were two false Prophets that did strive to make provision for themselves and they pleased the people Jer. 2.29 and said The King of Babylon should not carry them away captive they spoke lies in the name of the Lord and we see what became of them but Jeremiah that made no provision for himself did not as Baruck seek great things for himself we see how he is provided for even in the enemies hand Jer. 39.11 12. Look well to him do him no harm but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee how good is it to look up to God for all our supplies and not to distrust his goodness and power in any danger or strait that we may be exposed to 6. As our supplies do come from God so also there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency and that is sweeter than the mercy it self the Lord loves to give unto his people every mercy that they need and as it is lined with love so it shall be faced with love that the mercy shall come in according unto the promise and he can look upon it as the birth of the promises as a pledge and a fruit of interest in the alsufficiency of God it 's a great thing and is much more than the blessing it self if it were a thousand times multiplied that all the promises lead a man to Christ the foundation of them all 2 Cor. 1.20 they do lead a man as beams to the Sun so when the mercy leads a man to his interest in the alsufficiency of God that 's more than the mercy it self when a mâ—n sees it 's given in to the bargain when he seeks first the Kingdom of Heaven all things in this world shall be added to him Psal 6.33 though they are in themselves but small yet they are magni amoris indicium there is a great deal of difference between a kiss and a reward though there may be a greater bounty in the one but there is more love in the other and so far as the people of God taste that the Lord is gracious so far they taste his love is sweeter than all unto them for if there were not love in the gift there were no relish in it we use to despise the gifts only of enemies and indeed the hearts of all the Saints do so far undervalue them as Luther that they can tell God Let thy gifts of this worlds goods only be to another but let me have a smile from thy face one kiss of thy mouth and it shall chear me more than corn or wine and oil as for all other things they are but as Luther said of the Turkish Empire mica canibus projecta a mite cast to the dogs because there was no love in it therefore a little that the righteous hath is better than the riches of many wicked as a little that the righteous doth is better than the pompous services of many wicked persons because there is love in the one and none in the other and without this all is as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal Object 2 You say that none have an interest in the alsufficiency of God but his Covenant-people But we see that the men of the world have great sufficiency Psal 73.7 they have more than heart can wish they enjoy all manner of abundance that one would think the alsufficiency of God were made over to them rather than to the Saints one would have thought it to have been the portion of Dives rather than Lazarus For the wicked fare deliciously every day c. Answ It 's true indeed that many wicked men who are strangers to God and his Covenant have great sufficiency in outward things but yet 1 though it be from the alsufficiency of God for he it is that is the Fountain of common mercies he doth cause the Sun to rise upon the unjust c. he opens his hand and fills every living thing it is he therefore that is said to fill their bellies with his hid treasure Psal 17.14 but yet it is not from their interest in his alsufficiency they have all from God but they have no interest in God it 's one thing to receive mercy from God ex largitate from an overflowing of his goodness and another thing to receive it ex proprietate from an interest in his goodness There are some benefits by Christ that wicked men have that have no interest in Christ there are many works that the Sun doth effect in the earth when it never shines and so it 's with Christ he vouchsafeth good things to many a soul in whose Horizon he doth never rise there is a great difference in the manner of conveyance 2 A sufficiency they have
Sub gratia under Grace though many times in the flesh they serve the law of sin consuetudine paenali by a penal custome yet they do strive against it and they are not wholly overcome sin doth not reign in their mortal bodies 4 In pace in peace when the conflict is perfectly ended the victory is won and sin is perfectly overcome as it is in Heaven when they shall enter into rest and peace c. Every man out of Christ is in the first or the second rank either he is without the Law as Paul was and does go on in sin without controul because without the Law sin is dead or else he is under the Law in the condemnation of it and in the rigor and coaction of it They that are in Christ here are under grace and the souls of just men made perfect that are translated into Glory they are entred into peace each walking in his uprightness while they were here below The best way to open this rigor and coaction of the Law will be to shew wherein it does consist and how a man out of Christ is under it and how in Christ he is delivered from it The Law exacts of a man perfect obedience or else there is no acceptation either of his person or his works God had no respect to Cain and to his offering Gen. 4.4 because of the failing that was in it had he done well he should have been accepted and therefore see the glorious service of Jehu to which God gave so great a testimony 2 King 10.31 that he had done what was right in Gods eyes and according to all that was in his heart and yet Jehu had a by-end which blasts all his service and turns it into murder in Gods account for Hos 1.4 he says He will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu Bona opera non renatorum mortalia So in all the services of unregenerate men their good works are mortal sins God rejects them all for the least failing and there is nothing counted a prayer or an alms or hearing or any duty and this is a rigor and a great straight that every unregenerate man is in he must pray and yet because he cannot pray without sin therefore his prayer is an abomination to the Lord and there is nothing that he can do is accepted with the Lord. Now from this rigor a man in Christ is freed there is an imperfection in the best services of the Saints which they desire God not to enter into judgment with them for and Nehemiah can pray to be pardoned and yet to be remembred and rewarded for the same actions for there is flesh and spirit in the same man Terret me vita mea c. Anselm and they act and lust one against the other in whatsoever the man does which have made some of the Saints look upon their life with horror and yet if the man be in Christ the duty is accepted and the other rejected that is out of Christ Apparet mihi aut peccatum aut sterilitas tota vita mea Phil. 4.18 2 Cor. 8.12 because their persons and services are not accepted in the beloved and if found in him the meanest service is accepted if it be but giving an alms it is an offering of a sweet smelling savour and is well-pleasing unto God a willing mind is accepted according to what a man has but a man out of Christ is under the rigor of the Law for the acceptation of his services they must be perfect or else they shall be rejected of God for their least failings 2. The Law exacts duties of every unregenerate man but it gives a man no strength to perform them for Lex respicit hominem conditum the Law regards man created as having received strength from God to perform it and requiring strength gives it not Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy might not only with all the strength thou hast but with all that I gave thee in thy creation But the Gospel does respect man fallen and therefore requires not duty by a mans own strength The Law forbids sin and lays the burden of duties upon a man but gives no strength to bear it which because a man through sin has lost therefore he sinks under it for ever So that the Law to a natural man is like the Egyptian task-masters it calls for the whole tale of bricks but yet there must no straw be given The Law gives a man no strength and yet it calls upon every unregenerate man for perfect obedience though he be dead in trespasses and sins and cannot so much as think a good thought But to a man in Christ it is far otherwise the Law calls for duty and the Gospel gives the ability to perform it for there is a promise goes with the command if the Lord command you to cleanse your selves he saith I will pour out clean water and you shall be clean from your filthiness if he requires that you should be fruitful in every good word and work he does promise that you shall grow up as willows by the water-courses and as calves of the stall c. The desart shall blossome as a rose they shall bring forth fruits in their old age they shall be fat and flourishing their beauty shall be as the olive-tree and their smell as Lebanon He says Make you a new heart c. a new heart also will I give you Again saith he Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and he promiseth I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall never depart from me He saith Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and he promises I will circumcise your hearts to love c. It is in Gospel as it is in the body there are veins and arteries the blood is conveyed in the one and the spirits in the other if there were blood without spirits there would be nothing but weakness but the Gospel takes both together the spirits with the blood so that a man in Christ is free from the rigor of the Law also in this respect that it requires duty but gives no strength to perform what it requires 3. To an unregenerate man though it command duty yet it lays it upon him as a burden which he hates it commands duty but it gives him no inward love to it or delight in it and yet he must do it though he hates it a duty without is required but a principle of love within is not ingrafted so that a wicked man doth duties as a godly man does commit sins Rom. 7 That which I hate that do I. 1 Tim. 1.9 The law is not made for a righteous man Some place the emphasis in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not laid upon him as a burden which he hates and desires to be freed from but he has a law of love within him an
because the law binds him over unto wrath and tells him that sin lies at the door 3. If we look upon the constraint the misery is as great also as not to do the thing we would so to be forced to do the thing we would not is no small misery and therefore Mal. 1.13 They say what a weariness is it which some render a weakness defatigatio and some molestia a trouble and all is because there is a force without contrary to a principle within Haman was by the command of the King forced to lead Mordecai's Horse and to proclaim before him This shall be done unto the man whom the King delights to honour how may we conceive this went against his spirit and it was as bitter to him even as death it self and the reason was because he had in him an inward principle of enmity and contrariety against Mordecai and so it is with every unregenerate man towards God and therefore though the law does force them to an outward observance yet they do hate that very outward obedience that they do perform and the law that enjoins it When the Saints of God have been commanded to do outward honour and observance to the dunghil gods of the Heathen for so they are called they have chosen death rather from an inward principle because they hated obedience to false Gods Now as a godly man would count it a misery and the greatest burden of his life to be forced to bow himself before an Idol so there is a principle of enmity in a wicked man unto the true God for they are all enemies to God and so they do hate to do observance also and any outward obedience unto the true God and as a godly man hates his sins because he is tempted to them by the law of his flesh so does a wicked man hate duties because he is led captive to them by the law of the Lord and therefore whatever they do in outward appearance they do it not before the Lord because they hate it when they do it § 2. We may hence learn the ground of all that hypocrisie and flattery that is expressed by unregenerate men towards God and Christ whom they hate with a perfect hatred it is all of it from the constraint of the law and as the coaction of the law has a further place in men so is a mans hypocrisie the deeper and becomes either gross hypocrisie or formal hypocrisie as Divines do commonly distinguish it the one is hid from others and the other from a mans self and yet all this while the man does but act a part as a Stage-player for so the name Hypocrite signifies And therefore we see unregenerate men abstain from those lusts which they dearly love and are brought to outward conformity in duties which they do truly hate and have no inward principle to perform We see the humiliation of Ahab c. and the observation and reformation of Herod the dissembled obedience and forced flattery of the wicked Jews and in the offers of other ungodly men at Religion Psal 78 34 â—5 36 and their hot beginning upon the ways of God But all this proceeds only from the Coaction of the Law and the power that it has even upon the hearts and consciences of the worst of men Hos 8.14 Hos 8.14 it is said For Israel has forgotten his maker and buildeth Temples c. A man would think that they that did build Temples had God much in their mind and did honour him highly building a Temple to his honour but yet all this was done in Hypocrisie and Will-worship They that repaired and beautified the Sepulchres of the Saints departed that were put to death surely it did argue they did highly esteem them and they did it in honour both of their persons and graces as Joseph did to the person of Christ and the Pharisees Mat. 23.29 who did build the Sepulchers of the Prophets yet Christ said it was all in hypocrisie for while they pretended to honour the Saints they did seek to destroy him that was the King of Saints Thus we see mens taking up an outward conformity unto the Law of God and some inward suitableness as being enlightned by the Holy Ghost tasting of the heavenly gifts c. which is the highest kind of hypocrisie such as is in a temporary believer who has the greatest shews of love to Christ and to duty and all this proceeds from this coactive power of the Law that God has upon the conscience of unregenerate men and this may come to a great deal of seeming delight and a man may seem to take great satisfaction in it The Lord says of Israel They delight to know my ways with their mouth they shew much love Isa 58.2 but their hearts go after their covetousness Ezek. 33.31 And many seem to have a great deal of seeming zeal for God and duty and Christ says Joh. 16.2 The time will come when they that kill you shall think they do God good service And Luther says of himself Tantus eram sanctus ut paratissimus fuerim omnes si potuissem occidere c. I was so great a Saint in mine own esteem that I was ready to slay all if I could c. And this he did not for worldly ends and for advantage sake but out of a blind zeal for Religion Therefore they that take away the restraining of the Magistrate in the things of Religion upon this ground because it will but make men Hypocrites may upon this ground take away the restraining power of the Law of God also In some respects as to prevent the outward dishonouring God before men and corrupting of others it were to be wished that all unregenerate men were come so far as to be Hypocrites and it was not wished amiss of the Father who said I could wish that all were Hypocrites It were better in respect of other men and honouring God before the world though it would be never the better in respect of a mans self for feigned love and secret flattery is in Gods account as bad as open enmity nothing so dangerous in men esteem as a false friend Judas was more hateful to Christ than all his Persecutors because he came to betray the Son of man with a kiss § 3. The next Use is of Examination Vse 4 Seeing that the Law has this power even upon unregenerate men that it can restrain from sin and constrain to duty and that godly men do duty and abstain from sin by vertue of the law written in their hearts how shall a man know that he abstains from sin and does duty by the law of his mind from an inward principle in his heart or else is only constrained from a law without and not from a law within for the Love of Christ constrains the Saints to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts Whether we forbear to sin and abstain from it and perform duty and be much
God intending to justifie the ungodly had provided for him a righteousness which is therefore called the righteousness of God and his soul was so taken with this discovery of the Love of God Rom. 1.17 and the Grace of Christ that he saith I felt my self presently new-born and seemed to my self to have entred into Paradise 3. Hence there is wrought in the soul an exclusive resolution to taâ—◠〈◊〉 other way to Life and Salvation but this alone because there is salvation in no other neither is there any other name given under Heaven and therefore he confines all his thoughts and hopes and expectation unto Christ alone and his eye is only upon him he counts all things else as dross he undervalues all duties and performances all hopes and possibilities in nature as things not worthy to be named the same day with the righteousness of Christ and therefore he is desirous to glorifie God in this way of his Son and to submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 If he had the righteousness of Angels offered to him to be his he would undervalue all for he saith as it is not proportionable to his necessity so it is infinitely short of that righteousness that was discovered unto him 2 Cor. 3.18 He doth behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and therefore he takes up such a resolution as the Lepers did by which our Divines commonly ex◠〈◊〉 If we stay here we perish if we go into the city the famine is there therefore 〈…〉 the Syrians if they save us we shall live 2 King 7.3 4 and if they kill us we â—an but 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 those servants of Benhadad which is another instance used come with ropes about their necks cannot tell whether they shall be saved or hanged but yet they will go because they had heard that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings And as the Prodigal son in the Gospel I will go to my Father for if I continue here â—ere is nothing but death to be expected So says the Soul if I continue in sin there is â—othing but Hell to be expected and if I fly to the merits of duties there is no comâ—ort and peace to be had they all say salvation is not in me therefore to him will I â—ook for with him is mercy and in him is plenteous redemption And this confineâ—ent of thoughts is not easie for in danger the heart of man is in a hurry Psal 38.10 and runs â—o and fro as a Merchant it is tossed to and fro as a Meteor and a man turns every stone and knocks at the door of every creature and is willing to seek help any way â—s we see in Temporal deliverances what a hard matter it is to be confined to God â—one the heart of man will be plodding ways for its own deliverance and cannot stand â—till to see the Salvation of God And as the heart of man seeks out many inventions â—n a way of committing sin so also in getting off the guilt and the burden of sin â—ut after once this discovery is made to the soul it shuts the eyes upon all things else â—nd now he is willing to part with all his own righteousness and duties and possibilities all his former rotten hopes and whatever before was gain to him and which he â—hought should have brought him in glory at the last and to trust perfectly in the â—race revealed in Christ Jesus whom he chuseth to rule and guide him for ever 4. There is put into the soul an instinct after union with Christ and it doth breath â—â—d gasp after him from day to day the desires of his soul and the soundings of his â—wels all of them run out this way that he might know him and be found in him â—â—ving found the pearl of great price Phil. 3. Cant. 5. he can have no peace in himself till he has bought 〈◊〉 and now his heart being thus touched with a Magnetick touch there is mirrh dropt 〈◊〉 at the hole of the door an impression is left upon his soul that it must go after him 〈◊〉 Elisha had upon him when Elijah cast his mantle upon him What have I done to thee â—ow he follows him from Ordinance to Ordinance now he crys for Wisdom now he â—igs for it now in all his duties he drives no more that low trade of satisfying a natural conscience and those poor and low aims of flesh but it is the merchandize of Wisdom trading for Christ in his Ordinances alone Prov. 3.15 now if God offer him a bribe of all the creatures and indeed with this many a false heart goes away satisfied if he may have but a quiet conscience if he may have plenty peace and ease to his flesh yet still this soul who has an instinct after Union says what is all this to me if I go Christless c. His soul makes after him as the stone to the center as that alone which is the fountain of his happiness and the end of his hopes 5. The Soul accepts of Christ upon his own terms and receives him its whole bent Joh. 1.12 and all the faculties of it open to embrace him and he saith Lift up your heads O ye gates that the King of Glory may come in Whereas before his will was desperately shut against him and Christ would have gathered him but he would not now his will is brought off and the man is made willing Rev. 22.17 For the Covenant between Christ and the Soul is a Matrimonial Covenant and Marriage lyes mainly in consent and now the Soul says He shall be my Lord and my God for ever And this consent to him is to take him with all his Offices as a King as well as a Priest and to take him with all his Graces with his Love and Meekness with his Patience Humility Self-denial for the whole train of these Graces come into the Soul with Christ as his attendants with all the relations of God and of his people the meanest Saint he will own as a brother or as a friend he will take Christ with all his inconveniencies with his Cross as well aâ— with his Crown and can truly say I am as willing if the Lord shall call to bear the one as the other as willing to die for him as live with him to suffer with him as to be glorified with him Christ though with reproach with poverty and with disgrace Christ and a prison Christ and a faggot is welcome he is willing to follow him without the gate bearing his reproach and that he might fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ And he can say when they come as good Ignatius did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now I begin to be a Disciple c. Psal 1â— 6. He gives up himself unto him and leaves himself with him The poor leaves himself with thee He gives up himself unto Christ and gives the Lord
they shall have this fruit by it which will be a great one hereafter Seeing that all men are sinners in Adam alike and sin in one man is as much improved as in another that all men are not alike sinful in this life and alike miserable in the life to come for there be degrees of wrath and that all men do not sin against the Holy Ghost and are not by Satan hurried on to the great Transgression it is no thanks to the man but merely to restraining Grace So in Mar. 10.21 the young man that came to Christ Mark 10.21 Christ is said to love him he was proud and stood upon his own righteousness and he was covetous and did part with Christ to reserve to himself an Estate and went away from him as being offended at his Doctrine and never returned again and yet it is said that Christ loved him what was there lovely in such a man Here Interpreters distinguish 1 of the act 2 of the object 1 Of the Act they say there is a double love of Christ so Cartwright Quia illi grata est humani generis conservatio ideoque politicas virtutes amare dicitur Tenues paulatim per se evanescentes imaginis suae reliquias Beza a Humane and Divine a Divine love that is to Salvation so he loves only the Saints but there was a humane love and so he loved his friends and kindred according to the flesh who yet did not believe in him And some say there is a double love of God and of Christ as God there is a peculiar and a fatherly love and this he bears only to his own people but there is also a common love whereby he loves whatever is of his own in any of the Creatures So Beza and Calvin But I should rather call them the common works of the Spirit of Christ dispensed unto unregenerate men under the Gospel 2 They distinguish of the Object he â—oved the remainder of his own Image or rather the works of his own Spirit in him though they were common that he was preserved unchangeable in tanta morum corruptela where there was such a general and universal overspreading of wickedness and this was Donum Dei gratuitum naturale illam pravitatem non quidem immutantis sed in quibus illi placet paulatim reprimentis Bernard i. e. Not mortifying but restraining sin So that all this was grounded upon the restraining Grace the Lord did vouchsafe unto him in his younger years for to be preserved is a good thing a great gift it is a great mercy not to be tainted with the common corruption and not to wallow in the common mire of the times nor to be given over thereunto 3 In reference unto godly men before and after their conversion 1 Before a mans conversion so it was with Paul Phil. 3. who was concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless and one that did not sin against his Conscience even then when he persecuted the Church Act. 23.1 because there is the greater guilt and horror upon a mans Conscience having so highly dishonoured God the greater bitterness to a man having insnared and corrupted others by his example and the greater matter of temptation Satan representing unto a man anew the sweetness that a man has tasted in former sins and his former experience of it does exceedingly strengthen the temptation and make a mans heart to hanker the more earnestly after them 2 After conversion restraining Grace is a mercy Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19.13 Also the word does signifie to restrain or keep a man back or with-hold him as with a bridle the same word is used in Gen. 20. I with-held thee from touching her And so David Set a watch before the door of my lips So that though lust will be in a mans heart and though it will sometimes arise and all the power of Grace cannot keep it under yet to have it restrained that it shall not break forth and a man not to be hurried upon sinful actions is a great mercy After conversion for the lust of Adultery to be up in David and he desired her and yet if he had been kept from the act it had been a great mercy and so in numbering the people his lust was up and to have been kept from the act would have been a great mercy as we see it in the case of Nabal his lust was up but how does David bless God that it did not break forth into acts but that the lust was restrained before-hand and so do all the Saints of God bless the Lord that sometimes by his Law and sometimes by afflictions and by the admonitions of friends or by the reproach of enemies any lust is kept within its bounds from breaking forth or that there is a restraint of it in any measure that a man doth not pour out himself upon it with greediness that a man is not wicked in the highest degree and that carnal fear doth not prevail upon him as it did upon Peter and carnal love as it did upon Sampson or Solomon and passion as it did upon Asa c. 4. By the Gospel lust is subdued and mortified and that is one great end of the Gospel That we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.13 14. And having these promises should purifie our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 And he that has this hope does purifie himself even as God is pure But the Spirit of God doth make use of the Law even to this end also and the restraints thereof There is a double way for the mortifying of sin 1 By infusing a new principle of Grace 2 By restraining the old principle of sin 1 There must be a new principle of Grace infused which will work out the contrary and hinder the actings of it the spirits lusting against the flesh We are not under the Law but under Grace therefore sin shall not have dominion over you Rom. 6.12 Not under the Law strengthning and irritating sin but under Grace subduing it the Spirit of God-working in a man a new and another nature Joh. 3.6 which is contrary unto sin and is like unto that spirit of holiness that works it That which is born of the spirit is spirit Joh. 3.6 and it cannot sin because it is born of God 2 There is a power of the same Spirit of God restraining and keeping under the lusts of men Psal 19.13 and thereby destroying them With-hold from me presumptuous sins in me they are and I find in my self a proneness to them but keep them under With-hold me from the actings of them lest they grow upon me and get the dominion over me As by the exercise of sin it does increase so by the restraining of it it does die and is brought to nothing It is as fire if it be covered and have no vent it will go out and as Trees the more
paid in no coyn but Love again 3 The love and free-grace of God can do man no good unless it doth work in you love to him again and as he loves you freely so do you love him thankfully as no benefit that comes from him is saving to you unless it proceed from love so there is no duty that comes from you is pleasing unto him unless it proceed from love and the proper fruit of this love is to work in you love to him again 4 If you despise his Love you shall surely feel his wrath and there is nothing in the world that doth inflame the wrath of God and make his fire burn so fiercely as Grace despised and Love turned into wantonness For if Love will not win you what will Vse 3 3. How should this comfort us when we do turn to God and specially how should it encourage a back-sliding sinner to return No man hath such misgiving thoughts as he hath Erubescit conscientia erubescit oratio c. Tert. Hos 14.4 but yet remember he will receive you graciously Return you back-sliding children he will heal your back-sliding and love you freely There is no sin so great that free-grace cannot pardon there is no mercy so good that free-grace cannot bestow and therefore above all things beg of the Lord that the apprehensions of this Love may be shed abroad in your hearts it is this only that can make the promise sure because it is of Grace this will assist us in all duties arm us against all temptations sustain us in all conditions answer all objections that can be made against the peace and comfort of the soul and truly when all works in a man cease and the guilt of sin doth wear out the testimony of blood and the filth of sin the testimony of water and the soul hath nothing to fly to he is then fain to cast anchor here rest upon the Grace of God in the Covenant who promises mercy freely loves for his own sake and because he will to shew the absoluteness of his will and the unchangeableness of his Counsel towards poor sinners for ever Cogitatio suffulta est as de Deiu upon the place Isa 26.3 and here the soul is staid in the greatest desertions and darkness that can be and there is a sweet peace that follows in his soul and there is nothing can stay sinking thoughts and spirits like this when apprehensions of free-grace are put under a soul to support it That there is nothing can separate from the love of God that being the first cause there can nothing arise de novo that can make it void and of no effect CHAP. II. The Covenant of Grace as made primarily with Christ the second Adam Gal. 3.16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made he saith not to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ SECT I. The Covenant made with Christ Personal in regard of his Office § 1. WE have formerly spoken of the Person that made this Covenant whose Covenant it is and who had a chief hand therein it is the Lords Covenant We do now come unto the second thing and that is the Persons that are taken into this Covenant with whom this Covenant was made The first Covenant was made with the first Adam and with all the posterity that came from him by natural generation and is therefore fitly called Foedus Naturae the Covenant of Nature The second Covenant is made with the second Adam and with all those that are in him and because it belongs not unto all therefore is stiled Foedus Gratiae the Covenant of Grace and this Scripture holds forth a threefold subordination of the persons received into this Covenant 1 Christ 2 those that are in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum in loc Rom. 2.4 3 their seed also The Apostle had proved in the former part of the Chapter that men are justified by faith only and not by the works of the Law and that the same way of Justification that there was unto Abraham God did intend to justifie all the Elect by for Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness and he was herein the common father of all that should believe For they that are of faith the same are the children of Abraham the father of the Circumcision and of the Uncircumcision also and therefore he received the sign of Circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of Faith which he had being yet uncircumcised Now Abraham being herein a common root and father unto both Jews and Gentiles there was but one way of Justification for both and that for ever And whereas it is objected that Abraham was justified by faith before the Law was given but the Law being published and that in the form of a Covenant this do and live this seems to disannul and to make void the promise and the ancient way of Justification of Abraham and to set up another Now the Apostle comes to prove the stability and unchangeableness of this Covenant from the manner and custom amongst men and their transactions one with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word in the Greek signifies both a Covenant and a Testament and therefore we render it for both one in the Text and the other in the Margent pactionem so Beza Testamentum so the Vulgar Now if a man make a bargain and confirm ingross and seal it and deliver it to the benefit of another it becomes unchangeable and irrevocable to the person that did it and he is bound to it and cannot revoke it or if a man make a Testament and then die it is amongst men counted sacred and no man can diminish or add thereunto If men whose Wills are mutable who may err and repent do by their own acts disenable themselves to revoke their Covenants much more the great God who is in his Wisdom infinite able to foresee all inconveniencies that nothing can arise de novo that he knew not of before and who is in his purposes unchangeable and cannot repent surely if he make a Covenant it is sure and stable that no after-acts of his shall make it void and of none effect but to Abraham and his seed was the Covenant thus made long before the Law was given therefore the Law given afterward cannot make it void and if the Covenant be the same then the way of Justification and Blessedness must be still the same Here are three things to be expounded 1 What is meant by the Promises 2 How Abraham is here to be considered in receiving of the Promises 3 What is meant by Christ here this one seed to whom the Promises were made 1. By Promises the whole Covenant of Grace is meant He doth call it the Covenant in the former verse and the Promise in the singular number in the verse following and the reason is because the main of the Covenant doth
of grace that all the persons have undertaken peculiar offices for the good of men and no men have benefit by them but they that are brought under this Covenant it is for their sake that the Father has given the Kingdom into the hand of his Son and what benefit other men have by it it is but as the beasts have and in some respect as the Devils have they have some less degree of torment and that 's granted them for their sakes who are heirs of promise and for their sake the spirit is the prorex and has undertaken to rule under Christ all the Offices of Christ are for their sake and for their good and all the Offices of the Spirit either inlightning convincing sanctifying or comforting they are all for their good and the common works of the Spirit that do fall upon any wicked men in the world is by the Saints Covenant or else you should have no more of them oh hear all you wicked ones than the Devils and damned in Hell have at this day Now the great plot of the Gospel in the new Covenant is not only to honour the Attributes of the nature but also to honour the Persons in the hearts of men this was the way for the Persons to undertake certain appropriated works in the dayes of the Gospel in the administration of the Covenant and all the parts thereof Now as you will have no benefit by the attributes of the divine nature but they all make against you and will at last day bring in their several charges against your souls that are out of this Covenant not only the Holiness and Justice of God but even the Mercy and Patience of God will cry against you Justice Lord for Mercies sake so you will have no benefit by the Offices of the persons but they will all of them be used against you and bring in their several charges against you Christ as a King a Prophet and a Priest will charge thee then shall the King say Go ye cursed and the Spirit of God as a Spirit that has been convincing thee and inlightning thee in thy life time shall condemn thee and Christ as a Judge will condemn thee and the Spirit of Christ as a Spirit of Bondage will in Hell perfectly torment thee for as in Heaven the Spirit shall be perfectly a Spirit of Adoption so he shall be in Hell perfectly a Spirit of Bondage for ever 3. Unless thou art in Covenant this way the Lord regards thee not nor any thing that thou dost an instance of it we have Heb. 8.9 There are Gods own people whom he took into Covenant with himself and for the outward part of the Covenant they did enter into Covenant with him but yet their hearts did not consent unto the terms of the Covenant and therefore they brake the Covenant The meaning is not that ever they were truly and indeed spiritually in Covenant for then the Covenant could never have been broken but they were only in the Covenant externally but their hearts did not come up unto the spiritual part of the Covenant and therefore the Lord saies I regard them not I took no care for them I made no account of them at all whatever became of them it was all one to me as it is with us of things that we have no regard of and for God not to regard a man or a people is the sum of all Judgement whatever did befall them the Lord pitied them not assisted them not c. But in the place whence it is taken Jer. 31.33 there is something more in it it is I Lorded it over them when I consider how the name Baal is used Hos 2.16 he did exercise his Lordly authority over them when they would not be ruled by him as a Husband he doth then lay Judgement and Chastisement upon them as a Lord he did not regard their persons whereas precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints yea he puts their Tears in his Bottle c. and he does pour out their blood as dust and their flesh as dung and he regards them not Psal 49. but man though in honour if he understands not becomes like the beasts that perish Without that Covenant he may be compared to the Beasts that perish pardon the expression but it 's suitable unto the intention of the Holy Ghost he is unto God counted no better than a Dog that dyes in a ditch And as it is for their persons so it is for their services also a man that is out of Covenant the Lord accepts nothing that he doth unto Cain and his offering he had no respect But a man in Covenant with God the words of his mouth the meditations of his heart find acceptance with God and be to him incense of a sweet savour their persons and their services their smell is as the Wine of Lebanon Hos 14. according to the promise of acceptation but all the services of men out of the Covenant are abominable to God as the Grapes of Sodom all the acts performed by them that are in Covenant are as the Grapes of Lebanon your works are very acceptable The Sun of righteousness shall rise upon you with healing in his Wings but for all others that are not in Covenant with him the Lord does not respect their offering or take it with good will at their hands but he saith Mal. 2.13 To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices Incense is an abomination unto me it is a burden even your solemn assemblies are an offence to me I will not smell in them I am weary to bear them and when you kill an Ox it is as if you killed a man Isa 66.3 and he that burns Incense as if he blessed an Idol because you have chosen your own wayes therefore the Lord abhors you 4. This is a matrimonial Covenant and it is a Covenant of friendship it is of this Covenant that the Lord saith I will betroath you to me for ever Hos 2. and it is the same Covenant which when God had entred into with Abraham he doth call him Abraham my friend Wife and Friend are two of the sweetest and highest relations if any could prevail it would be the Wife of thy Bosome or thy Friend which is as thy own soul Deut. 13.6 Now in this Covenant a man enters into both these relations with God there is the nearest union with him he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit with him there is the interest love of the persons one to another they are most precious one to another and all the world besides are but as Pebbles to Diamonds which outshine all other stones and they are still prizing the love one of another how excellent is thy loving kindness O God! it is better than life because he has set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him and love him at all times and in
obedience the condition foederis praestiti Jer. 7.12 Jer. 11.5 They must obey that God may perform Esay 54.9 10. Jer. 32.40 and how many temporal afflictions were inflicted on them And so I may say to any soul that keeps Covenant with God thy sufferings will say to thee cavendae tempestates flenda naufragia Austin de Nat. Grat. cap. 35. And thus we should take heed of keeping the Covenant or else though the Lord continue faithful in reference to the promises of eternity because Christ is the surety yet in regard of temporal promises you may go without them and many of them never be performed unto you But you will say may a man that is in the Covenant of Grace break the Covenant may the Covenant of Grace be broken as the Covenant of Works was If it may not be broken to what end do you exhort us to keep it It 's true that the Covenant of Grace cannot be broken a man that is once in Covenant is ever in Covenant and the grounds of it are these 1. The Love of God that made the Covenant is an everlasting Love and therefore the Covenant it self is every where called an everlasting Covenant and the Lord saith If you can bring another flood upon the Earth and if you can stop the Sun in his course and change the Ordinances of Heaven then the Covenant might be broken that he had made with his people Therefore Rom. 8. the Apostle saies that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord for the Lord loves us with an everlasting Love 2. It is a Covenant made with the persons of men mens persons are first taken into Covenant and there is this difference between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works in the later Covenant the works were taken into Covenant first and then the person for the works sake and so long as their works continued holy so long their persons were to be accepted and find favour and honour with the Lord Gen. 4.7 If thou doest well there is an elevation and a lifting up of the face but if thou dost evil cursed is thy person for thy works sake and there is an ira redundans in personam wrath falling on the person that doth immediately follow thereupon but now in the Covenant of Grace it is quite contrary mens persons are first taken into Covenant and accepted and then their works for their persons sake the Lord had respect unto Abel and unto his offering and therefore till the person be in Covenant the works are abominable before God Now the works of the Saints may not always be accepted of God he may be and is often displeased with the acts of his covenant-people but yet their persons alwayes find acceptance with him their persons are the same I will visit their offences with a rod and their sins with scourges but my loving kindness I will not take from their persons my Covenant I will not break Psal 89. there is an ira simplex simple anger that doth reach to the sin but not to the person he is never a child of wrath more after his person is taken into a state of adoption with the Lord. 3. Their union with Christ is that which puts them into the second Covenant Gal. 3.29 as this union gives them interest in Christs righteousness and Sonship so it doth first state them in the Covenant which is the ground of all the rest the intendment of God was that the union between Christ and them should be the means to convey all this to their souls all comes in by Union Now so long as the Union between Christ and a soul continues so long the Covenant cannot be broken but this Union is indissoluble sin cannot nay death cannot separate between God and a soul in Covenant with him and therefore as they live so they dye in the Lord and sleep in Jesus 4. The righteousness of this Covenant is an everlasting righteousness Dan. 9. The Lord hath finished transgression and made an end of sin in the great condemning power of it and brought in everlasting righteousness such as sin could never spend for he is the son of righteousness the Lord of righteousness and therefore his Covenant can never be broken seeing the righteousness of the Covenant can never be expended 5. Christ is the surety of this better Covenant and therefore though we pay not the debt that we owe he hath undertaken it and the Lord will expect all of him and thence he is said to lay help on one that is mighty Psal 89. he will take your words no more but Christ is able to pay it as he did the debt of the first Covenant so he is able to perform the duty of the second the Lord hath ingaged him in it and he expects all from him as from the surety of the Covenant which he hath undertaken 6. Lastly This Covenant can never be broken because there is an everlasting principle of Grace begun in the Soul that doth always lay hold of the Covenant and cleave to it and consent to it and work towards it for it is incorruptible and immortal seed and therefore Jer. 32.40 This is the Covenant I will make with you I will write my law in your heart c. that you shall never depart from me In a Married condition there may be many failings in a Wife or a Husband as neglect disobedience c. but the Marriage Covenant is never broken till she take another Husband and the Covenant of Grace is a Marriage Covenant Now though there be many errors and failings in a Wife yet unless thou chuse another Husband and subject thy self to another Lord the Covenant between God and thee is not broken It is a matter of wonderful consolation that the Covenant between us and the Lord is a Covenant of salt that the sins of the people of God though they be many yet they cannot break the Covenant How should the consideration of this rich Grace and Mercy make the Saints triumph over Death and Hell O death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory blessed be God we are more than Conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord. But yet you had need be exhorted not to break this Covenant 1. By reason of the falseness of our own hearts Jer. 2.24 for we are like a wild Asse in the wilderness that doth traverse her paths that no hedges or fetters can hold her in so much that the Lord speaks it with admiration How weak is thy heart Ezek. 16.30 That it 's not able to hold out against any temptation not able to bear any one affliction but immediately it 's ready to depart from God Gen. 49.4 unstable as water there is a treachery and a perfidiousness of spirit in the best of us and therefore we had need be often called upon Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall and let us take
to the Jews and their children but also to the Gentiles for that is meant by afar off Eph. 2.17 all that shall be converted and take hold of the Covenant for themselves their posterity shall be taken into their Covenant-right also and that 's the inducement and the argument used Act. 2.39 The great plague of sin lies in this that a man does not only undo himself but his posterity as it was in Adam and the great comfort in grace is that a man shall do good to his posterity as it was promised to Christ Psal 89.29 filiabitur nomen ejus his name shall be continued amongst his posterity in the Church Now for God to give a man a name in his posterity to owne them it 's a great mercy to speak of a mans house a great while for to come and it 's exceedingly heightned by this Adams sin was imputed to his posterity as well as his grace now the priviledges of the Fathers Covenant shall be entailed but the sins of the parents are personal and shall never be imputed unto the children It 's true that the sin of Adam is imputed but the sin of the immediate parents is not imputed unto the children and though God doth visit the iniquity of the parents upon the children yet it is as true that the children do not bear the iniquities of the fathers so that the fathers priviledges are the childrens but the fathers sins are his own for every man now sins as a private person for himself not as a publick person as a representative head as Adam did for himself and his posterity 3 The Lord would engage their children to himself above all the Families and Posterities of the Earth Ezech. 16. and therefore he calls them the children born unto him thou hast taken my sons and my daughters that thou hast born to me and they shall have the Priviledge that none upon Earth have that thereby they may be engaged to God and if they be wicked they may be the more left without excuse as Nazianzen says in Orat. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are persons given up and dedicated to God in their infancy and from the womb there is written upon them holiness to the Lord and if outward and temporal mercies be such great Obligations upon the Soul what are spiritual and Church-mercies and therefore the condemnation of the children of the Kingdom shall be greater than of the children of this world because their mercies and priviledges and opportunities are greater the Lord would bind them unto himself by higher cords of love than he does the rest of the world he does make the Sun to shine and the rain to fall upon other men filling their hearts with food and gladness There are temporal mercies that God dispenses to all men but they are not like unto the mercies of spiritual and Church-priviledges that 's beyond what other men injoy the Lord would bind them that are his Covenant-people unto himself by this cord beyond the rest of the world 4 To shew forth the goodness and overflowing mercy of Christ under the second Covenant unto unregenerate men who for the state of their persons are under the Covenant of Works and are enemies unto the Covenant of Grace and yet they shall injoy many priviledges and benefits thereby and this the Lord does bestow upon them either as preparatives and as means to fit them for services or as priviledges and rewards of services for all the creatures are now given into the hands of Christ and all men in the Church belong to him they all come under him either as servants or as sons they that are sons partake in the graces of the Covenant but the servants also partake in the priviledges of it for they abide in the house though not for ever and while they are in the house they have bread enough and to spare they partake of the root and fatness of the good Olive-tree they have Church-ordinances that fit them for service and they receive Church priviledges as temporal rewards of service 5 For the Elects sake there are some upon whom the grace of the Covenant is bestowed and unto whom the Priviledges of the Covenant do chiefly belong and they are the Elect of God but because they are bound up in the same bundle with the rest of mankind and men cannot distinguish for it is electing Love that puts the difference therefore as Ordinances are continued unto all for the Elects sake so Priviledges are bestowed upon all but the primary intention of them is for the Saints the Elect of God that they might partake in them for whom they were specially purchased and intended As the preaching of the Gospel was primarily intended for the Elect of God that they might partake in it and for the gathering in of Souls unto him but because the Elect of God are amongst the wicked of the world therefore if men be to dispense Ordinances they must do it in common and wait upon God in the use of them and the grace of God will fall upon the Elect unto Conversion and so it does accidentally come upon ungodly men but primarily and intentionally it is given only for the Elects sake as appears by this that when the Lord has finished and gather'd in the number of the Elect he will continue Ordinances and Church-priviledges unto unregenerate men no longer therefore as Ordinances being dispensed by men must be in common for the Elects sake so must priviledges dispensed by men be also as the World stands for the Saints and yet ungodly men enjoy much of the comforts of the world that a man would think it were all for their sakes so Church-priviledges are vouchsafed to ungodly men as a great part of the Church that a man would think all were for their sakes and yet it is with a special respect and primary intention to the Saints that both the one and the other are continued in the world wicked men shall share with the Saints in the external priviledges rather than the Saints of God be wholly deprived of them And upon these grounds I conceive it mainly is that the Covenant is entailed from father to son for the outward priviledges but not for the inward graces thereof § 9. How far Arguments drawn from Circumcision Quest 9 being an Ordinance of the Old Testament can by way of Rule determin any of the Essentials of Baptism which is an Ordinance of the New Testament that is how far this argument has force in it to say The Children of the Jews being infants came under their fathers Covenant and therefore were by Gods command initiated and sealed by Circumcision which was the Seal of the Covenant therefore under the New Testament the children of Christians while infants are taken into Covenant with their Parents and so ought to be initiated and sealed by Baptism which is the Seal of the Covenant under the new Administration as Circumcision was under the old
his promises and thereby we put his bonds in suit before the Throne of his own grace so doth Jacob Lord this is that which thou hast said Return into thy own country and I will do thee good and so doth Nehemiah Neh. 1.8 This is that thou hast promised unto thy servant Moses A soul that can bring unto God his own promise and can plead it before God has a certain argument that it shall be fulfilled It 's the great ground of the prayer of Christ and of his Angels and Saints in Heaven for the Angels do pray and so do the Saints in Heaven the souls under the Altar cry Dan. 4.16 17. Zac. 1. How long Lord Rev. 6. and they have no ground to offer a prayer to God but meerly the promise of God and therefore all their prayers are prayers of faith to this day § 3. The promises of God in Scripture are of two sorts some are absolute some conditional and the grounds of these distinctions of promises are these 1. There is a twofold love of God unto the creature 1 antecedent Love that is set upon the creature for love sake and out of his own free choice and election Rom. 9.18 he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and upon this are grounded all absolute promises 2 there is a consequent Love as the Lord delights to crown the acts of his own Love in the creature having wrought his own image he doth love it and delight in it more than in all the rest of the works of his hands and this is the ground of all conditional promises 2. Absolute Promises are not formally made unto us though they be fulfilled in us but unto Christ for no promise can belong unto him that is not an heir of promise and though a man be so in the Election of God yet he is not actually so till he be united unto Christ and therefore it is unto him that all the absolute promises do belong If we look upon man in a state of Nature so there are absolute promises of grace for a mans conversion but look upon a man in a state of Grace and so there are conditional promises that do belong unto him for his consolation and salvation 3. In absolute promises the creature is meerly passive and there is no prerequired condition in the creature for the accomplishment of it it 's perfectly an act of Gods grace to the creature to promise him to be his God to pardon his sin and take away his heart of stone there is no concurrence of the endeavour of the creature in it for all the works of God in this kâ—l are a new creation but in conditional promises there is a condition prerequired in the creature and there is an actual concurrence of the creature to their performance without which God will never perform the condition he that converts thee without thee will not save thee without thee we must be built as living stones in the Church of God 4. There is a double state of Faith a state of Recumbency or Affiance and a state of Assurance and the promises of the Gospel are suited unto both these states A man that can see no grace in his own soul he comes to the promise for grace and resolves to cast himself upon it he does â—e to Christ that he may have life and casts himself upon the promise that his sins may be pardoned and the truth is in this doth properly the application of faith in a mans first conversion lye in leaving a mans soul with the promise that he may receive grace and pardon not in believing that Christ is mine but in relying upon him and giving up my self to him There is a kind of personal Application and that is direct and there is an axiomatical Application of faith when the soul being in Christ and having received grace is able to see and to conclude its own interest Unto faith of Recumbence the absolute promises do fitly suit But there is a state of Assurance when the soul looks into his own heart and finds the image of Christ written there and sees promises made to a broken and a believing heart one poor in spirit and he finds the condition in himself and now all the conditional promises come in with comfort to him who before could taste no sweetness in them because he could not find in himself the condition 5. There are two ways of assurance answerable to the twofold witness of it there is a witness in Heaven and there is a witness also in the heart 1 There is an immediate testimony Rejoyce in this that your names are written in heaven saith our Lord again the Lord says to a man Be of good chear thy sins are forgiven thee and thou art greatly beloved Such immediate testimonies there have been given to the Saints and surely the bowels of the Lord are not straitned 1 Joh. 5.7 Thus there is a testimony of the Spirit that is distinct from the witness of water and blood the Spirit is the seal in both but in the one he is the seal of his Office and in the other the seal of his Officers a particular seal and a privy signet in the one he testifies the love of all the persons and there is testified that his own love and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart there is illuminatio quaedam è montibus aeternis an illumination from the eternal mountains as Gerson speaks 2 There is an Assurance that comes from the witness of a mans own graces the Spirit of God witnessing with our spirits Now the first assurance is in an absolute promise I am thy God thou art greatly beloved thy sins are forgiven thee and the latter kind of assurance is in a conditional promise the Lord discovering to a man the signs of grace in his own soul and the glorious works of the Spirit of Christ upon his inward man conforming him to the image of Christ 6. The great difference between the first and second Covenant lay in this the promises of the first Covenant were all of them conditional being given unto grace received and did suppose grace in the person to whom they were made but there were no absolute promises to give grace that Covenant did suppose grace but it did not give grace But under the Gospel as there are promises of reward of grace received so there are promises of giving grace where there is no grace and herein lies the great glory of the promises of the new Covenant and the grace of them it gives grace and then it crowns grace and therefore they are said to be better promises 7. Absolute promises have their degrees of accomplishment as well as conditional though a man has a right to them all at once yet the Lord doth perform them by degrees to us there is no promise that is fully and perfectly accomplished till we come to Heaven our justification is not perfect
Idols of silver and gold unto the moles and to the bats It 's not honourable for the great God to put himself upon a people to be their God against their will and therefore there goes forth an illumination upon the hearts of his people by which they chuse him for their God and they will own no other and this mutual consent between God and them doth compleat their interest and propriety in him How did Dagon become the God of the Philistins and Apis the God of the Egyptians and Chemosh the God of the Ammonites it was because they chose them unto themselves to worship them and there is no means to set up a God over a people and to intitle them to him but by their own consent and so it is with the God of Israel it is because they yield themselves to give the hand to the Lord 2 Chron. 30.8 They gave themselves first to God says the Apostle Paul and then to us by the will of God 2 Cor. 8.5 And by this means it is that he that is taken into covenant with God doth change his God and take the Lord for his God The Lord doth make over himself unto him in the Covenant to be his God and he does consent to it and says This God shall be my God for ever and ever and I will have no other God but him Vse 1 § 2. First see here the miserable condition of all those that are out of covenant with God for they that are strangers to the Covenant of Promise Eph. 2.12 they are without God in the world and that will appear 1. in this it 's the greatest sin to live without God it 's against the great Commandment of the Law and against the grand promise of the Gospel the great Commandment of the Law is Thou shalt have Jehovah for thy God and thou shalt love the Lord thy God If he that loves his wife loves himself much more he that loves his God must love himself most for he is as the School-men speak intimior intimo nostro more intimate than our most intimate part he is nearer unto a man than a man is to himself and therefore conversion being a writing the Law in the heart this being the great Commandment this is specially written there to love the Lord our God with all our heart and the truth is upon this all the other Commandments do depend on this hang all the Law and the Prophets and therefore Austin well observes Qui non diligit Deum non diligit proximum quia non diligit seipsum He that loves not God loves not his neighbour because he loves not himself A man ought to love his neighbour as himself but he that loves not himself cannot love his neighbour and he that doth not love God neither doth he nor can he love himself he hates his own soul and as this command to love God is the greatest it is the grand promise of the Gospel that the Lord will be our God Now in a mans conversion as the precepts are written in the heart as soon as he is new-born to God as the rule of his obedience 2 Cor. 3.2 3. so also are all the promises written in his heart as the ground of his faith Ye are says the Apostle the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God in the fleshly tables of your heart And therefore as it is in vain for a man to speak of obedience unto lesser precepts if the great Commandments be wanting so it 's in vain to claim an interest in inferior promises if the great promise I will be thy God thou hast no part in 2. The baseness and unworthiness of a mans spirit is seen in nothing so much as in this that a man can take any thing for a God The Lord doth justly deride his own people that they turned their glory into shame Jer. 2.11 12. they changed their glory for a thing of nought the word in the Hebrew is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To worship the true God is a mans glory and to have an interest in him he is said to be the glory of his people Israel Psal 62.7 nihilitates nothingnesses and the Heathen man could well scorn the Egyptians for that porrum caepe nesas violare frangere morsu Men commonly count it a great matter what servants they have and much more what yoke-fellow they take as the companion of their lives or what Prince they subject themselves unto but here is the baseness of the spirit of man that he cares not what God he hath but he is contented to worship the creatures which God has subjected to him as servants nay to honour the Devil as a God who is his enemy and cursed above all creatures and yet all men that have not the God of Heaven for their God they worship the God of this world the Prince of the air the Devil Therefore to be mistaken in a mans God and to joyn himself unto a strange God Hos 9.10 is the greatest reproach that can befal a man It 's said of Israel That they joyned themselves unto Baal-Peor and separated themselves unto that shame and they were abominable secundum amorem eorum according to their love that is as the Gods that they loved as God is called the fear of his people 3. It is more to lose God than to lose all blessings that come from God And therefore Hos 1.9 that 's made the top of the judgment Lo-ammi it 's more than Lo-ruhamah for to have God is more than to receive any mercy from God and therefore this is the true difference between an hypocrite and a gracious heart one is content with what comes from Gods hands the other can be satisfied with nothing but God Sicut mea tibi non placent nisi mecum sic tua non satiunt nisi tecum c. As my good works please not thee without my self so thy good things please not me without thy self Bern. Let a man tender to God thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oyl yet all this doth not please God unless we give our selves to the Lord and so it is with the Saints of God Should God bestow all the creatures upon them in Heaven and in Earth yet all this would never make them happy without God himself Now if the Lord should strip you naked of all the comforts of the creatures Luk. 16.25 as one day he will all ungodly men for it shall be said Son remember in thy life time thou hadst thy good things you should neither have bread to eat nor cloaths to warm you nor the Sun to give you life If the fig-tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vine you would think your selves miserable men to want all these Now the people of God can rejoyce in the want of these can rejoyce and triumph
the invisible God Joh. 5.22 All the glorious Attributes of God do shew forth themselves in Christ he it is that acts them all the love of God to the Saints is exercised by Christ and all the grace of God is dispensed by Christ and the wrath of God against his enemies is executed by Christ and therefore we read of the wrath of the Lamb for it 's he that shall give every one of them their portion Now if it be so that all the Attributes be in the hand of Christ to exercise and act then the Lord raigne therefore let the earth rejoyce Christ Jesus exerciseth all the Attributes of God for his people in another way than ever they could else have been acted by God immediately Now if we be in Christ and by a mystical union make up one body with him then as he doth exercise and act all the Attributes of God as the Soveraignty of God is given to him and he sits upon the Throne of God in the administration of all things so they shall be all laid out for us for the Church which is the body of Christ and the fulness of him that fills all in all 3. Though all the Attributes be made over unto us in this manner yet it 's after a certain order in the Attributes the Attribute that the soul doth first close with is the mercy and the free grace and love of God and by that a man comes to have an interest in all the rest and the Attribute that is ingaged for all is the faithfulness and truth of God 1 The attribute that the soul first closes with is his love and mercy and free grace which are the attributes that the Lord doth mainly exalt in this life and has most gloriously set forth and therefore 't is called riches of mercy and the glory of God the knowledge of the glory of God It 's this attribute in which the Lord doth mainly glory 2 Cor. 4.6 and therefore it 's called his glory and it 's said that mercy rejoyceth over judgment for in the time of this life under the offers of the Covenant of grace the attribute that God doth mainly exerercise in the Gospel is free grace that God is in Christ reconciling the world and has sent abroad the ministry of reconciliation and God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son This is the great Load-stone that doth draw in the heart unto God 1 Tim. 1.14 God who is rich in mercy out of his abundant love c. Now the soul being thus drawn in with a cord of love the Lord giving a command unto loving kindness to fetch in such a wandring soul unto himself hence the soul at first coming unto God grounded upon his mercy by closing with him in this is made partaker of all the attributes of God and has an interest in them all but so as the soul doth close with mercy first and with free grace As it is in the offices of Christ the soul doth close with them all and has an interest in them all but yet so as it doth take Christ as he is offered him by the Father and that is first as a Priest as a surety for sinners and as one set forth to be a propitiation for sin and the soul having in this manner closed with Christ as a Priest and having a title to the Priestly Office now he has taken whole Christ and submits to him as his Prophet and King also thus as the immediate object of faith that justifies is Christ dying and rising and as made sin and as made a curse for us c. and then the soul having closed with Christ it has an interest in whole Christ with all his Offices so it 's here also though all the attributes of God are gloriously displayed in the second Covenant yet the attribute that mainly the Lord delights to honour is mercy and free grace and the soul first closes with this and so comes to have a title and an interest in all that is in God in every attribute 2 As his love is the first attribute that the soul closes with and so comes to have an interest in them all so it 's his faithfulness that is ingaged for the exercise of them all and therefore all our forgiveness is put upon his faithfulness He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Isa 49.7 How do we know that the pardoning mercy of God shall be exercised towards us when we have sinned God is faithful who has promised 1 Joh. 1.2 and he hath wholly made over himself unto us in every attribute and the promise and the oath of God are both grounded in his faithfulness for the performance thereof so that the faithfulness of God doth not only assure us that all creatures shall work for us shall all work together for our good Rom. 8.29 but that all the attributes of God shall work for us in their season and in their order as it is said That the stars in their courses fought against Sisera so there is an order for the working of all the attributes and every one of them in their courses work for the Saints the faithfulness of God is ingaged for them so to do § 4. What are the ends for which God has in Covenant made over the Attributes unto his people They are many and we shall best discover them by the use that the people of God have of all the attributes in the Scripture 1. That they may be all discovered and made known unto the Saints there is in all men a blindness of heart and that specially in reference unto God from whom they are estranged through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 19. Now they having an interest in them all the Lord will proclaim his name and cause his mercy and goodness to pass before them though not in that visible manner as he did unto Moses Exod. 33.19 yet in a more spiritual way they do behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 4.6 and therefore the great aim of God in all his works is the discovery of his attributes unto the Saints and all his great works are done to that very end and therefore he gives them a Law that he may manifest his Holiness To shew his power he has made a world to manifest his love he has given Christ to declare his grace he doth pardon sin and to shew his justice and wrath he has made Hell and laid the foundations of the bottomless pit and this is the first end why God has made over his attributes unto his people it is that they may know them and therefore the great thing the Saints look at in all Gods works and his goings forth is what attributes are discovered I would see thy power and thy glory in the Sanctuary Psal 63.2 Psal 10.6 8. He saved them for his name sake that he
He that gives a Kingdom will he not give a viatick or livelihood And also of the Apostle Paul He that spared not his Son shall he not with him freely give us all things There is a higher inheritance a greater gift of God than giving Christ as our Mediator which is this in giving us himself that is the Fountain of it Now if it be a good argument that he will deny us nothing that may be for our good he that gives the greater will he deny the less He has given us his Son much more because he has given us himself will he give us all things Every wise Builder doth build answerably unto the foundation he doth not lay a foundation of Marble and set upon it a mud-wall and cover it with a roof of straw Now the Lord that has laid so glorious a foundation as this in the giving of himself surely he hath thought nothing too much or too dear for the Saints O! what heart can but admire his love The love of the giver may be seen in a very small gift and so there is unto the Saints peculiar love seen even in temporal favours Chrysanthes a small token may be magni amoris indicium an argument of great love but much more the greatness of love is seen in the greatness of the gift Now of all other this is the greatest and therefore to distrust God for mercies and blessings of an inferiour nature of meat and drink deliverance and preservation it is the most unworthy thought that can enter into the heart of a Saint for if the Lord hath like a God bestowed himself it is a principle of the basest unbelief and jealousie of spirit to doubt whether he will not bestow all things else Gen. 17.1 6. Hereby the Saints may see wherein their all-sufficiency lyes I am God all-sufficient and the all-sufficiency of God lyes in the Attributes of God which he has made over unto his people and hence it comes to pass that there is unto the Saints an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficiency as there is in God an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 4.12 All-sufficiency 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable to all things and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perfect good I know how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me Prov. 14.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It must needs be a perfect good that makes a man self-sufficient that he can want nothing else and therefore it 's said A good man shall be satisfied from himself it notes full and abundant satisfaction Esay 1.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am full of the burnt-offerings of Rams and the fat of fed beasts Now how is Self considered here not in opposition to God for so there is in a mans self no satisfaction for there is nothing but emptiness but it is self in union with God for tolle meum tolle Deum take away my and take away God and so there is satisfaction in a mans self for Deus est intimior intimo nostro he is as the utmost end and our chief good nearer to us than our self and as it were more one with us than we are with our self therefore it is in the all-sufficiency of God that the self-sufficiency of a Saint doth lye Vse 3 3. It 's a Use of Direction and that unto two sorts 1. Unto all the ungodly of the earth who are ingaged against the Saints and confederate against them that are of a contrary party the men of this world for the Lord Christ saith If you were of the world the world would love its own Here is a double direction to you 1 Let fall your desires and cease your hopes of prevailing against the Saints for all the Attributes of God are ingaged for them beat your swords into plow-shares c. It 's the misery of all ungodly men and they have so much of the Devil in them that though they be frustrated and see that they labour in vain never so long yet their hopes are born up and they think surely if that plot did not take against the children of God yet this will as men that are deluded in the Philosophers stone they try this and that experiment but that did fail by a mischance now they 'l try another and then they have great hopes but all comes to nothing for so it 's with the Devil himself and it 's his envy blinds him and it doth so besot him that though he hath conspired against God and his people so often and sees that he cannot prevail but still his own weapons are turned against himself and that which he thinks shall be for the ruine of the Church that still tends to its advancement yet he is a restless and an indefatigable Spirit he constantly walks about as a roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour Now if men would be perswaded to lay down their hopes all their endeavours would immediately cease but the delusion that Satan has upon their spirits is that he feeds them still with new plots and fresh hopes that they cannot say Esa 44.20 Is there not a lye in my right hand And if they consider duly this doctrine must needs bring down all such hopes has the Lord given unto them thinkest thou an interest in all his own Divine Excellencies to this very end that they may be food unto thy malice and that they may perish by thee what conceit can be more vain Zac. 12.1 2. It 's true they are a people that are injuriis opportuni exposed to injuries the worm Jacob that every man is ready to tread upon lyes to every ones mercy as the complaint is They eat my people as they eat bread and they are as a cup in their hand it 's as easie to destroy them as to drink but yet do not promise thy self much that way for thou wilt never prevail because all the Attributes of God are made over unto them for their succour and their portion the Lord Jehovah is a man of war though he may never appear till the day of battel Exod. 15.3 and then he will fight for them against all their enemies and shall certainly be victorious and lead captivity captive c. 2 Let this be a means to raise up your fears in the way that you go for he that lifts up his hand against these anointed ones of the Lord all the Attributes of God are ingaged for them against him It was good counsel given by Gamaliel Act. 5.39 Refrain from these men and let them alone lest you be found fighters against God and did ever any man fight against God and prosper Hast thou a counsel able to out-plot infinite Wisdom and a power that does exceed the holy arm of the great and terrible God c. There is no such way for a
about it and so desirous to give a man ground of fulness of assurance that if there had been a greater God would have sworn by it but because there was no greater he swore by himself and so it 's here in this particular also the Lord is desirous to shew his Love unto his Saints to the utmost and Love is mainly seen in the bounty of it Now if there had been a greater gift than himself he would have bestowed it but because there was no greater he gave himself and made over his own Essence to them which is not only a strong ground of assurance that you shall be happy for he is the blessed God and his blessedness lies in himself and he is his own blessedness but that he shall according to the possibility of the creature become thy happiness also and it 's a sure ground that he that gives himself will deny nothing that may conduce to bring thee unto that glorious end which is the vision of Gods own Essence in which the height of his Love and of thy happiness 〈◊〉 and therefore Psal 84.11 He will be a sun and a shield he will give grace and glory and he can withhold or hold back nothing non prohibebit c. He that has given himself and could not withhold himself and his own Essence surely there is nothing else that he can withhold from thee that lovest him Vse 5 5. Admire the happiness of the Saints blessed men that you are who have your portion in the Lord Psal 144. ult O the blessedness and the infinite happiness of that people who have as their trust so their portion in God alone O happy must that creature be that hath his happiness in an infinite Being It is the glory of the righteousness of the Saints that it is setled in another and not in themselves and therefore the Saints should glory in their portion and make their boast of God Psal 34. My soul shall make her boast of God in God we boast all the day long The word in the Original is laudabit se shall praise it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admire its own happiness and blessed condition every man answerably unto what he places his happiness in so he doth solace himself and glory in it Psal 44.8 Rich men boast themselves in the multitude of their riches and praise their condition as the only happy men in the world but this doth properly belong unto the Saints and therefore though thou art in never so mean a condition below though thy commons be short and thou art fed in the world as a Lamb in a large place yet thy happiness ends in God and that doth please thee more than all the corn and wine and oyl in this world as it did Christ Psal 16. the Lord is my portion the lot is fallen to me in a fair ground I have a goodly heritage Who is able to measure that happiness that lies in an infinite Essence and an infinite goodness I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandments are exceeding broad so say all the Saints nothing is to be compared with a God Vse 6 Lastly If this be the happiness of the Saints then look through all the means that lead unto this end and let this be the great thing in your eye for Christ and Promises and Ordinances all of them are but to this end to bring you to God therefore look through them all to a further end Christ himself is but a medium thereunto and therefore for this happiness sigh and groan and be not satisfied with any thing else no not with the graces of God and communion with Jesus Christ but consider the enjoyment of the ultimate object of faith is God and then will our happiness be compleated when we shall be ever with the Lord then and not till then CHAP. IV. In the Covenant of Grace God makes over all the Persons in the Trinity SECT I. The distinct Offices and Acts of each Person in the Trinity in this Covenant § 1. I Now come unto the third Head in this great and glorious Promise and that is When the Lord doth promise to be the God of his people he doth make over to them in Covenant all the Persons in the Divine Nature for they had all of them a hand in the making of the Covenant and therefore all the promises of the Covenant come from them all they all of them do make over themselves unto the Saints and this will appear 1 by looking upon them all as free Agents and those that are absolute Lords and have dominion over their own acts and they have all given themselves 1 God the Father has made over himself I will be unto him a Father it 's spoken of Christ and therefore he is called by the Apostle the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and by this means he is our Father my Father and your Father my God and your God say Christ Joh. 20. Esay 9.6 2 He gives the Son unto us Unto us a Son is given and therefore he is called by way of eminency the gift of God Joh. 4.10 Rom. 8. He that spared not his own Son but gave him to death for us all And yet the Son is not so given by the Father but he doth also freely give himself for he saith I and my Father are one not only one in essence but also one in will Joh. 10.30 in reference unto the great work of Redemption and therefore God doth â—o sooner make the motion to him Psal 40. it is brought in as the consultation held in Heaven before the Lord dispatched Christ into the world but Christ saith Lo I come to do thy will O God Psal 40. Joh. 10.18 I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me There is none that takes away my life but I lay it down of my self 3 And the giving of the Spirit it 's sometimes said to be the gift of the Father and therefore called the Promise of the Father which they were to wait for Acts 1.8 and sometimes the gift of the Son I will send the Comforter again Joh. 14.26 The Comforter that I will send you from the Father Joh. 15.26 and the Comforter whom the Father will send in my name Which is not to be interpreted as a promise only of the gifts and graces of the Spirit to come in but at second hand but as the giving of the Son is a giving of his person and giving us an interest therein so giving the Spirit is a giving of the person of the Spirit also and giving us a personal interest in him and as the Father and Son are one so is the Spirit also one with them and therefore has the same will with them and doth freely bestow himself upon the Saints for their portion as the Son doth to accomplish the great designs of the Gospel 2. This will
not the holy Spirit by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption do not resist the Holy Ghost do not tempt him lest he forsake you and say I will strive with you no more A man should fear the evil aspect of any word of God and the estrangement of any promise of God that he should be in such a condition that he cannot go to it with boldness and comfort and be kept off from an Ordinance of God that he cannot eat the Passover with the people of God in the season of it how much more when a man shall look up upon the Father Son and Spirit and sees any of these estranged from him for they seek the glory one of another and delight to have each other honoured in the hearts of the Saints and if thou walk unworthily towards any of them they are all of them provoked and displeased thereby § 3. Let us now take a view of the particulars how and in what respect each person doth make over himself unto the Saints in the second Covenant that we may see how they have an interest in them all 1. God the Father makes over himself in Covenant unto the Saints as he is the Father Joh. 20. therefore Christ calls him My Father and your Father my God and your God The Saints also call him our Father 2 Thess 1.1 In God our Father c. Christ is his Son by nature as he is God and as Mediator he is taken into the same Sonship by the grace of personal Vnion Luke 1.35 That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God And we are also taken into the same Sonship by the grace of Adoption by virtue of the mystical Union even as the Manhood of Christ is by the personal Union Now what is it to have an interest in him as a Father that we can call him Abba Father The sweetness of that relation is very great unto the Saints for he is the Father of mercies and he is the Father of lights 2 Cor. 1.3 Jam. 1.17 by which Majesty Holiness and Perfection is intimated for so much Light doth signifie 1 Joh. 1.5 and therefore he is said to dwell in light and Heaven to be an inheritance in light and he is the Fountain and Father of all Light whether it be lumen fidei or lumen gloriae Col. 1.12 the light of faith or the light of glory and from hence Saints looking upon God the Father making over himself unto them are greatly affected considering 1 they have the honour of such a relation and truly the highest honour of the Saints is that of Sonship as it was the highest honour of Christ in his relation that he was the Son of the Father and we count it a high honour to stand in relation unto a Prince as David said Is it a small matter to be Son-in-law to a King It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a priviledge or prerogative to be called the Sons of God Behold what manner of love the Father has shewed us Joh. 1.12 13. that we should be called the sons of God! Now we are the sons of God in this life we have this title of honour put upon us though it is true our condition doth not seem answerable unto such a relation adoptionis fructus nondum apparet c. 1 Joh. 3.2 2 We may be sure to be acquainted with his secrets and see all his actings for the Father loves the Son and shews him all that he himself does he did so to Christ and in your measure he will deal so with you also for the Son is in the bosom of the Father and therefore he knows his mind and his purpose The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him Joh. 1. â—8 i. e. the secrets of his counsel with them and the secret of his providence over them his Law is in their hearts 3 He loves you as a Father My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And we know the bowels of a father to his son by Abrahams to Ismael for his everlasting state his love did rise so high though we are begotten not of the will of man but of God And though Absolom were a disobedient son yet David doth love him so that his heart went out to him even when he rebelled against him there is an efficacy in love 4 As a Father he 'l hear your prayers Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me I know thou hearest me always whatever you ask of the Father he will give it you also that are his children It is by our sonship that we prevail with God in prayer at any time we have an Advocate in the Father The Father himself loves you saith Christ and therefore whatever you ask the Father be sure you shall speed and Christ argues the case with us Why should you doubt this If you know how to give good gifts to your children that are evil how much more shall your heavenly Father give to them that ask 5 He will as a Father give you a supply for all your wants The Father loves the Son and has committed all things into his hand all judgment is committed to the Son so he will give you as a Father the greatest gifts he gives his Son his Spirit he will give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him he will give grace and glory he doth not think Heaven too dear for them because they are sons and his own Essence he will make their portion and happiness 6 He rejoyceth in your prosperity here in your well-doing when wisdom is justified of her children he rejoyceth in their well-doing a wise son maketh a glad father he loves to see them prosper to see their graces grow and their souls thrive that they may have all good things both here and hereafter 7 He spares them in their services as a father spares his son that serves him though they be weak he doth not reject their offerings and he doth accept the will for the deed does not deal with us as an enemy that watches for our halting but as a father we do not stand without as the rest of the world do but we come into the inner Court. 8 Lastly they have an interest in him for correction Whom I love I chastise says God and in all their afflictions he doth pity them as a father Eph. 3.12 he doth correct in judgment not in fury but in measure c. it is for their profit that they may say it was good for them c. But more particularly this must be premised How and in what respect each of the Persons have made over themselves to the Saints under the second Covenant that under the first Covenant all the persons had an equal hand in the same things and there were not opera propria but what the Father is said to do that the Son and Spirit also are said to do so
in titles of honour as Pharaoh did in this I am the Son of the ancient Kings and the Jews gloried in this We have Abraham to our father The Saints have a higher glory that Jesus Christ is their Father for he has a successive generation that none can number Isa 57.8 he shall see his seed and shall prolong his days upon earth and yet to be the sons of God the Father is a far higher honour for Christ himself says My Father is greater than I it is to be understood of him as Mediator only for as he is God he is equal with the Father and thinks it no robbery so to be 2. As God is the Father of Christ so he loves Christ as his Son and therefore he doth call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 3.17 my beloved Son Mat. 3.17 and the Son of his love Col. 1.17 there is an Hebraism for most beloved as the man of sin i. e. the most sinful man the child of wrath one who is subject unto the highest displeasure of God and the son of perdition i. e. one utterly and eternally lost so the son of his love is one tenderly beloved by him the most beloved of the Father and this was the great thing that Christ gloried in even the love of his Father Joh. 5.20 The Father loveth the Son and it was this that did bear up his spirit under all his sufferings that he did abide in his Fathers love Joh. 15.10 Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world Joh. 17.24 and in this also you bear a part with Christ Joh. 14.21 He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him Joh. 17.23 Joh. 16.27 The Father himself loves you Joh. 17.23 Thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me non aequalitatem denotat sed similitudinem it denotes not equality but similitude 1 He loved him from Eternity and so he doth you 2 He loved him as a Son and so he doth you ad similitudinem filii naturalis so he doth love you as sons 3 He loves Christ to Eternity to give him the fruition of himself and so he loves you also Now as the great glory and comfort of Christ was in the love of the Father so also should this be the great glory and the comfort also of the Saints that though we may glory and rejoyce with joy unspeakable in the love of Christ that passeth knowledge yet specially in the love of the Father Christ being but a gift that flows from God the Fathers love therefore Joh. 4.10 Christ is called by way of emincency the gift of God and next to the giving of Christ the love of the Father is principally seen in this that we should be called the sons of God Behold what manner of love the Father has shewed unto us 1 Joh. 3.1 3. The Son knew the mind of the Father and is acquainted with all the Fathers counsels the glory of God the Father is made known to the Son all the excellency of his person No man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Mat. 11.27 and so for all actings of the Father The Son can do nothing of himself Joh. 5.20 but what he sees the Father do for the Father loves the Son and shews him all things that he himself doth and he will shew him greater works than these that you may marvel This is not to be understood of Christ as God but as he is Mediator and so as there was an Idea and a Platform in the mind of the Father so this is also discovered to the Son that all the great works that God doth purpose to accomplish in the world he is able to look into all the Fathers counsels that as when Solomon was to build the Temple it is said That David gave him a pattern of all according as he had received of the Spirit 1 Chron. 28.12 Solomon was to build the House but he received the Platform from his father so it is in Christ also the man whose name is the Branch he it is that must build the Temple of the Lord Zac. 6.12 but yet he must do all according unto the pattern for he is but God the Fathers servant in that which he doth and he must receive the Platform from the Father therefore it 's the Father that doth discover to the Son as a fruit of his love all his own works and he doth that which he hath seen of the Father Joh. 8.38 And the discoveries of these secrets of God unto his Son were by degrees more and more he will shew him greater works he had shewed him some great works already in healing the sick and raising of the dead but yet he lets them know that these were not summum sibi ex operibus Dei mandatis but when he did come unto glory his own discoveries should be perfected and then as he had his works more fully revealed unto him of the Father so also he should shew them forth unto the world for the Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified so it is with the Saints according unto their measure the Father loves them and therefore he shews them all that he himself doth Joh. 1.18 and as Christ is in the bosom of the Father so are they also after a sort for the bosom is the seat of secrets and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him they are Jesuron the seeing people they do hear and learn of the Father they shall be all taught of God Joh. 6.45 and as a Father he will not conceal his purposes in all his great works from his children only he doth discover them by degrees as he did unto his only Son Hos 6.3 His going forth is prepared as the morning and therefore they must follow on to know him and though now there be many veils drawn before the eyes of his people for very many of the secrets of God are yet under a veil the fulness of time for their discovery being not yet come for he revealed his word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.1 and the Lord has promised Isa 25.7 That he will destroy the face of the covering that is upon all people 1 It is a great and a thick covering it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the manner of the Hebrews when they would express a thing highly they do it by a duplication Esay 28.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though some would render the last word by the Participle a covering spread forth upon all people and the face of the covering that is as much as involucrum facierum a covering spread upon their faces Now to have a covering upon their faces it notes guilt and dishonour which God saith he 'l take away but I do not conceive that to be all that principally is intended but with Calvin and Forer rather ignorantiam
caecitatem veluti quodam velo diffusam ignorance and blindness diffused as by a certain veil there is a double veil and God will take both away a veil upon the truth and a veil upon the heart also and both shall be swallowed up that is shall be utterly removed and there shall come a time that the Sea of glass that is now mingled with fire shall be clear as crystal again and the Temple shall be opened so that a man may see into the Ark of the Testimony which formerly had a veil before it Rev. 11.19 that it could not be seen it was in the secret of the Pavilion of God but then the most secret mysteries shall be exposed unto the common view of the Saints but it shall be when the Kingdoms of the Earth shall be given to the Lord Jesus Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever 4. The Father is pleased in Christ his Son he delights in him and so he did before the world he was the delight of God the Father from all Eternity I was his delight daily Prov. 8.30 this is my beloved Son Mat. 3. ult and therefore even amongst men children are called the desire of their parents eyes and that upon which they set their mind their hearts do go out unto them Ezech. 24.25 so in your measure you that are Saints are the delight of God the Father from day to day he loves you as well with a love of complacence as with a love of benevolence and therefore he calls the name of the Church Esay 62. Hephziba my delight is in her the Lord takes pleasure in his people his delight is in them that fear him Psal 147.11 149.4 and them that hope in his mercy Therefore the carrying on of the work of Redemption to the full accomplishment of all the gracious intentions of the Father is called the pleasure of the Lord Isa 53.10 which was to prosper in the hands of Christ it being of all the works of God that in which he doth most delight as when a man sets his greatest love upon any thing or person in that he has the greatest delight to see it prosper and thrive and succeed never did an earthly father take so much delight and full satisfaction in the prosperity of a child and yet we know that a wise Son makes a glad father as the Lord does to see the souls of his people prosper and the ways of his grace to be fully magnified towards them because all the love of the creature is but a drop unto the love of the Father which is in Heaven as the Lord has more delight in Christ than he has in all the Saints so he has more delight in one Saint than he has in all the creatures besides because he bears unto them a greater love and hath from them a far greater glory There is joy in heaven says Christ over one sinner that repents and so there is amongst the Angels why because theirs is a joy in the Lord himself and it 's the happiness of the Saints that they can joy in God and we may well make God our Father our delight when he does make us his delight he that has the Son and the Saints and Angels in glory to delight in that yet he should declare that his delight should be with the sons of men here below what an amazing condescension is this of our God how does it ingage us to delight in him only 5. Jesus Christ as he was the Son had a glorious and a sweet communion with the Father so Christ saith Joh. 14.10 I am in the Father and the Father in me and he dwells in me it notes that constant communion that he as Mediator had with the Father Joh. 16.32 Ye shall leave me alone and yet I am not alone but the Father is with me and therefore upon all occasions he did retire himself unto the Father as his great support in the days of his pilgrimage Joh. 1.3 and so have the Saints also our fellowship is with the Father they have access by one Spirit unto the Father Eph. 2.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he leads us by the hand and by our sonship we have boldness with him Pater nomen pietatis potestatis est Father is a name of piety and power Tertul. Oh the infinite sweetness that is for the soul to walk before God the Father in ways of holiness that in these ways he may enjoy fellowship and communion with himself There is a great deal of sweetness in a communion of Saints our Brethren but much more in communion with Christ our Husband but most of all in communion with God our Father he is to be taken as well for a pattern of the one as of the other 6. As God is the Father of Christ so he doth hear the prayers of Christ and therefore Christ says Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I know thou hearest me always Joh. 11.41 And though his satisfaction be always referred unto his Godhead Heb. 9.41 yet his Intercession refers unto his Sonship Act. 20.28 Heb. 7. ult the word of the Oath makes the Son who is consecrated for evermore men that know how powerful the name of a father is and what bowels it moves may well assure themselves that it is much more in him who is the Father of mercies as well as our Father and therefore if we know how to give good gifts to our children and will give them suitable to their necessities surely so will he much more and such a man must acknowledge that our Father is Saints may assure themselves that they have not only an Advocate without them which is Christ with the Father and an Advocate within them unto the Father for the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used of both Joh. 16.27 but they have an Advocate in the Father also and it 's that which Christ puts them upon not only to look upon his Intercession as that which doth prevail only but to the Fathers love and the bowels that are in himself the Father himself loves you 7. As a Father he gives Christ an inheritance Thou art my Son Psal 2.7 8. I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance He has appointed him heir of all things Heb. 1.3 and all that are the sons of God are heirs Rom. 8.16 17. yea all that are sons of God are first-born Heb. 12.23 1 Cor. 3.22 and therefore they have a double portion All things are yours and Rev. 21.7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things c. And it 's such an inheritance as none else have in the creatures for it is one thing to hold it by right of a servant by providence and another by the right of a son 1 Pet. 1.5 for the son abides in the house always and 't is an inheritance in promises of grace and of glory which no other men in the world
but this and 't is as well as I could wish for my self though I have nothing of the things below 2 In the Saints and because their condition in this life is commonly set forth by the state of the people of Israel in Egypt let that be the instance to express it unto us when they were come out of Egypt they were in a barren and howling wilderness death did a thousand ways present it self to them and under as many shapes they had neither bread nor water nor provision nor protection but what they had from God immediately and yet having God in Covenant they had enough because they were interessed in the alsufficiency of God and therefore if they want bread he gives them Manna and if water he doth cause the Rock to yield it if protection if direction he is a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night in allusion to which the Prophet speaks Esa 4.4 5. Now we shall see this set forth by Moses who was an eye-witness of it and a Leader of the people through the wilderness Deut. 33.27 for their provision it 's true that he has a land of corn and wine and the Heavens drop down dew but it is from the fountain of Jacob it 's commonly expounded the posterity of Jacob and so haply it may be understood Qui à Jacobo instar fontis perennis ortum ducunt but there is yet a spiritual meaning in it and so Cocceius observes Fons Jacobi dicitur quòd est fons salutis Psal 68.27 The fountain of Jacob is the fountain of salvation So that all these mercies they had from him that was the Father and the Fountain of mercy he was the Fountain of Israel and for protection the eternal God is thy refuge in danger you need flye to no other Asylum but to him alone Esa 26.20 Come my people enter into your chambers and shut the door about you it is the Attributes of God and his alsufficiency that are the chambers into which the Saints are called to hide themselves and therefore it is to preserve them from dangers that if they fall at any time they may never fall to the ground for under them are the everlasting arms which notes two things 1 Potentiae sustentationem sustentation by his power 2 Gratiae amplexum the embracement of his grace he doth carry them in his arms and though they fall yet still his arms are under them and who is this that is in this manner all unto them it is he that is alsufficient he that is thy God in Covenant the God of Jeshuron for a habitation they and thy fathers wandred up and down having no setled dwelling place incertis sedibus but thou Lord Psal 90.1 hast been our habitation in all generations and when they wanted Ordinances in the Captivity they had neither Tabernacle nor Temple but he was a Sanctuary to them Ezech. 11.16 he did supply the want of publick Ordinances in himself and for their guidance and Deut. 32.10 12. The Lord alone led them and there was no strange God with him he did all by himself alone he led them and he fed them and there was none other joyned with him in the work he was alsufficient to them But to come to the reasons and grounds of all this Reas 1 1. The first and great ground of all this is his own love it was only his love that brought him into Covenant with them because the Lord loved thee and made thee to be his people it was looking upon them in the time of love and this love is the womb in which the Covenant and all the mercies of the Covenant were bred now the nature of love is bountiful nescit nimium it knows no excess The Father loved the Son Joh. 3.3 5. 2 Thess 2.16 and has given all things into his hand the Father hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace The great thing that God aims at in the second Covenant is his own glory manifestative glory now he cannot receive manifestative glory but according to the measure of love manifested unto the creature and his love therefore being the highest he must find out an expression that is suitable to the manifestation of such a love the gift must be such as may express the height and depth and breadth of his love and therefore it must be in giving the greatest blessing or else it could not have been an expression of the greatest love if there had been any thing greater or better to have been bestowed that is in point of consolation he would have given it Heb. 6.13 If there had been a greater he would have sworn by it so he doth in point of affection also if there had been a greater he would have given that gift but a greater than himself in his alsufficiency God had not to bestow 2. It was necessary from the insufficiency of all things else to supply our wants there is an insufficiency in all the creatures and therefore a continual restlesness in the soul while it is bottomed upon the creatures they are but broken cisterns Jer. 2.13 that can hold no water when once man departed from God and forsook him the Fountain of living water he sought a sufficiency in the creatures alone they immediately became vanity they have not a vanity in themselves but it is the sin of man that fills the creature with vanity if the Lord should give a man as he has done the Devil the dominion of the world for he is not only the Prince of the air but he is the god of this world yet all this would but leave a man in the Devils condition and his soul would never be satisfied with it there is still something wanting that all the creatures cannot supply so that the soul saith as Austin Quicquid nobis adest praeter Deum nostrum dulce non est nolumus omnia quae dedit si non dat seipsum qui dedit omnia 3. Because the Lord would have the happiness of the creatures to concenter in him alone which could never be if he were not an alsufficient God Esa 26.3 Trust in the Lord for ever 1 Pet. 1.13 trust perfectly in the grace that is revealed unto us by Jesus Christ if there were any thing wanting in him to be supplied and fetched in elsewhere the soul could never trust in him alone but he will have them have no other god therefore surely there is no need of any other he hath all good things in him the happiness of the soul lies in the rest of it Psal 116.7 and therefore when a man comes to Heaven he is said to enter into his rest Now God is the resting place of the soul return unto thy rest O my soul wherefore if there were not an alsufficiency but something wanting in God the soul must needs be restless till it know whither to go for a supply but he being
a seeking their Fathers life as Absalom did David's Vse the young man well for my sake says the father but when Hushai said We will smite the King only the saying pleas'd Absalom well And the son shall betray the father to death Sennacherib was slain by his two Sons 4 The parting with Children at death and not knowing in what condition a man shall leave them is a great part of a mans vexation In this life it 's a great part of the Curse His Sons come to honour and he knows it not they are brought low and he considers it not c. That was Luther's comfort in his Will Lord thou hast given me Wife and Children and I give them to thee again Qui pater es pupillorum judex viduarum which art the Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widows But the contrary is a very great affliction unto the hearts of Parents and a great part of a mans misery that Children must suffer for the Parents sins and God may visit the iniquity of Parents upon Children to the third and fourth Generation 2. Parents also are a Curse to their Children 1 The sins of Parents are transmitted to the Children We see Adam did bring a Curse upon himself and all his posterity and the infants of Sodom were involved in the punishment of the sins that they were not in themselves guilty of Ezech. 4.25 God reserved the punishment of the Fathers for their Children for three hundred and ninety years together Chams sins and Canaans is punisht nine hundred twenty-five years after and Gehazi his Leprosie cleaves to him and his posterity and the Jews in Crucifying Christ say his blood be upon us and our children and so wrath is come upon them to the uttermost for many Generations 1 This is a punishment upon the Parent and a testimony of great wrath that not only Judgment comes upon himself but upon his posterity 2 It 's only in Temporal things for an Eternal Curse never comes upon Children but for their own sins but for Temporal Curses they are dispens'd in a way of prerogative and the Lord will lay those Curses upon Children which the Parents did deserve and they are gone down to Hell to receive 2 Parents prove snares and plagues to their Children by betraying their liberties losing of their priviledges Rom. 3.2 Vnto them were committed the Oracles of God Now when they shall forfeit them and part with their priviledges by little and little What a curse is this The Ordinances and the Truths of the Gospel are the greatest trust committed to Parents but when they provoke the Lord to call them Loammi and to cast them off then they are forfeited As Rom. 11. the natural branches are broken off and their posterity are cast out as an abominable branch only the Lord will in time graft them in again So many a Father does lose glorious priviledges and opportunities for his Children Saul did divest himself of the Kingdom and all his posterity Now would I have established the Kingdom to thee c. 3 By an evil example 1 Pet. 1.18 corrupting them by their vain conversation received by tradition from their Fathers Jer. 44.17 We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven as we have done we and our fathers our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Judah c. 4 The Father may forsake his Son yea he may forget When my father and mother forsake me says the Psalmist the Lord takes me up And the Father may betray the Son to death as we see Saul did Jonathan if he will not comply with his lusts he shall not live he throws a Javelin at him to kill him c. SECT III. Spiritual Death § 1. WE have thus far considered the first Branch of the Covenant's Curse and that consists in Temporal death Now let us come to consider the second Branch of it which is Death Spiritual and that is All the spiritual evil that can befal the soul of man in this life whether of sin or sorrow And it 's as possible for a man to weigh the fire and to measure the wind and number the stars or count the sand upon the sea-shore as to reckon the particulars wherein this Death consists Godly men that study the evils of their own hearts all their days yet cry out The heart is deceitful above all things who can know it Jer. 17.10 The word signifies an incurable disease it s only the Lord that can cure and search it and know the malignity of it And as it is said of Vertue and the beauty of Holiness if it could be seen with bodily eyes Mirabilem excitaret amorem sui it would stir up a wonderful love of it self so could the death of the soul and the evils of it be seen it would stir up hatred and amazement above all things in the world A godly man that sees but a little of it when God opens his eyes he abhors himself and loaths his own soul Job 42.6 And Luther blessed God that he did not shew him sin all at once but by degrees it would have sunk him with the apprehension of it This will be the study of men in Hell to all eternity to rake into this filthiness of the soul and the death thereof for Hell is the grave of the soul and the rottenness of it shall be studied there for ever And this shall be the work of that never-dying worm the souls reflection upon it self and its own loathsomeness and to loath it self for ever Consider 1 the soul is the darling and therefore the beauty of a man and the worth of the man lies in the hidden man of the heart which is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3.3 and therefore the deformity of the soul is the greatest The worth of the man is from the worth of the soul Prov. 10.20 The heart of the wicked is little worth His Lands and his Honour and his Cloaths may be worth much in the esteem of the world but his soul is worth nothing Therefore the value of a man is in his spirit though there be other things that we commonly prize men by yet those that judge aright count the Saints upon this account the excellent ones Psal 16.3 and all others to be vile men how great and rich soever Dan. 4.17 Psal 15. And a man does prosper truly as his soul prospers 3 Joh. 2. and not as his body prospers or as his estate prospers Therefore a man is filthy if his soul is filthy and vile as his soul is vile and he decays as his soul does from day to day 2 The great difference between men and men lies in their spirits Caleb had another spirit Numb 14.24 Our distinctions for the present are but for a time and death will make all equal that as we were all made of one body so we shall all be dissolved into the same dust they are all but for the time
whereas men would turn away their eyes from their sins the Spirit of God does hold them upon it and set them in order before them and whereas men would have slight apprehensions of sin and wrath the Spirit of God does give a man great apprehensions and dreadful thoughts of them and as in Heaven the spirit of Adoption shall be in perfection so in Hell the spirit of bondage shall be in perfection also 4. God gives a man up unto the power of sin and the dominion of it that a man is not his own but yields up himself and his members instruments to unrighteousness Rom. 6.18 He gives over himself to obey sin and the lusts thereof man sells himself to sin sinfully and God sells him judicially c. That as a godly man is not his own so neither is a wicked man For his servant a man is to whom he obeys whether it be of sin unto death Rom. 6.16 or of obedience unto righteousness and therefore they are the servants of sin Now sin has a double power 1 of a Lord as it reigns over men which unto godly men is taken away 2 As a Huâ—band Rom. 6.14 that 's a power of love that it can command and a man has an inward affection to obey it as it is said of Ahab he did sell himself to work wickedness Rom. 7.3 and then God sells a man to wickedness and the man is become wholly the servant and the creature of such a lust Every man by nature indeed does sin freely but some men are left to a judiciary freedom in sinning that as they cannot restrain themselves so God will not restrain them from sinning but they shall pour out themselves to all iniquity with greediness Jude v. 11. they shall be as wicked as they will that so they may fill up their measure of sinning as Christ said of the Pharisees Fill up the measures of your fathers it 's spoken by way of wrath and vengeance the Lord did give them up to the power of sin to the uttermost Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still This permission is the highest and forest affliction And there the Church leaves them that are obstinately ignorant and resist instruction 1 Cor. 14.38 He that is ignorant let him be ignorant Now for a man to be thus given up by God and his Church is a most desperate condition As it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God so it 's a fearful thing to be given up to his own hearts lust To be given up to sin is a just punishment of sin for the ways of sin as well as the wages of sin is death It 's a dreadful thing for the Lord to say of a people appointed to wrath Jer. 15.2 Let them go forth such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine but it is more dreadful for God judicially to say let them go forth such as are for drunkenness unto drunkenness and such as are for uncleanness unto uncleanness as much as sin is a greater evil than affliction and as much as it is better to suffer than to sin 5. God gives a man up to the power of Satan and his own will 2 Tim. 2.26 The Devil is compared to a hunter and men are by him taken alive as we do beasts in a snare and then carried whither the hunter will though God be not the author of sin yet he is the orderer of it as well as of suffering and as he sets bounds unto Satan in our affliction as Job 1.12 All that he has is in thy hand only upon himself lay not thy hand so he does in our temptations also He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able 1 Cor. 10.13 Satan would indeed tempt you above what you are able but God will not suffer you so to be tempted It 's a fearful thing for God to give a man either in his body or estate over to the will of the Devil as we see in Job how sad was it with him in that regard but much more for God to give over a mans spirit to Satan to carry a man unto what sins he will then I am sure he will be boundless in his sinning as well as in his suffering It 's an observation of Damascene that it 's only by sin that Satan has access to the spirits of men and therefore he did tempt Adam and Christ himself by outward objects only presented to the senses which is a great argument that he could not have access to their spirits Joh. 14.30 The Prince of this world says Christ comes and has nothing in me The more Satan has in a man the more immediate access he has to him and the greater power over him therefore the less of Satan there is in a man surely the less power he has over him But besides the possession and dominion that sin has given him there is a delivering a man unto Satan a kind of spiritual excommunication by God himself as Christ by a sop gave Satan full possession of Judas Joh. 13.27 and though before the sop he had it may be some reluctancy to that damned business yet after it Satan had full power over him and he goes on with a resolution and an impudent boldness and says Whom I kiss he it is for he was delivered over to the will of Satan to carry him unto what sin he would And so we may observe of the false Prophets in Ahab's time and them also that are mentioned in 2 Thes 2.12 and such men as Tertullian observes he raises to a higher degree of wickedness the Devil vouchsafed them greater and fuller power he speaks it of Marcion Valentinus and other Hereticks Satan brings them to those sins against God that he himself cannot commit 6. All Providences and Ordinances and Operations of the Spirit become a curse to them and a snare to their souls Prosperity makes them full and deny the Lord and poverty makes them steal and take the name of God in vain Prov. 30.8 If a man be raised from a low estate as Saul and Hazael it is in wrath and if he be preserved in a common judgment it is in wrath as God raised up Pharaoh That he might shew his power on him and send all his Plagues upon his heart and if there be a Prophet sent to Jeroboam a judgment lights on him in his way back because he was disobedient to the word of the Lord 1 King 13.33 yet thereupon Jeroboam turns not from his abomination Every act of Providence is to them for evil and a snare to their souls and all the Ordinances that they do enjoy do but ripen their sins Amos 8.7 there is a fullness of curse as well as of blessing in the Gospel and it 's a favour of death as well
its order and made Man after his own Image but when Man had lost himself and blotted out that Image he brought himself under the curse now there is great wisdom in repairing for if man shall be saved then God must be satisfied now to take away sin and let the sinner live to send the sin to Hell and the sinner to Heaven to find out such a surety of infinite merit answerable unto sins demerit and to work many miracles at once by a personal union of the second person with a created nature that the Incomprehensibe should be comprehended Eternity brought within the bounds of time he that bears up all things should himself be born and the ancient of days become a child and that ever the tongue of man should say such a word as God manifested in the flesh it is such an act of wisdom as was never manifested before 2 Justice He had shewed justice in the first Covenant by threatning a curse upon the breach of it and he had executed justice upon the Angels that fell by casting them to Hell immediately without hope of mercy but when the Son shall take sin upon him but by imputation as his servant and by his own appointment now he will not spare a Son though he put up strong crys but being made sin he must be made a curse and that he that in all our afflictions is afflicted that God should delight to bruise him it is such a manifestation of justice as was never heard of under the first Covenant 3 Power In making a World he had declared power but this was but power over the Creature but now here is power over himself to answer the pleas and the just demands of his own Attributes Let the power of my Lord be great pardon them c. Numb 14.17 4 Love To give our first Parents a being and so glorious a Covenant and all the Creatures for their use to have dominion over them all was great love from God but here is a higher act of love to give sinners a Son so God loved the world that he did not spare his only begotten Son 5 Soveraignty To have authority and absolute power over the Creatures that God had manifested in the Creation c. but here is an authority over the Son of God who thought it no robbery to be equal with God Isa 42 1. yet he becomes the fathers servant and was commanded by him in all things In the second Covenant Justification is the highest act of Soveraignty to count things that are not as if they were to account Christ a sinner and make him sin and to count the sinner righteous by the righteousness of another c. And hence we may safely conclude that under the second Covenant we honour God more by a way of believing than ever we could have done under the first Covenant by a way of doing because the glory that we give him therein is a reflection of a higher manifestative glory than ever was shewed forth under the first Covenant And yet there is a principle of enmity in man against all these Divine Attributes of God which makes men desire to be under the Law § 3. There is also in man a principle of pride Man will not submit to the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 which is the highest exaltation of the Creature There is so much pride in the heart of man that it will not stoop to it looks upon it as a submission below him We read how full men are of self-justification Luk. 10.29 16.15 they have a spiders house Job 8.15 and upon that they lean made up of outward duties and common graces So they in Matthew plead at the last day Lord we have prophesied in thy name c. but whosoever builds his hopes of Heaven upon any thing in himself any thing besides Christ builds upon the sand And this they do because it is their own and the best thing they have the highest excellency in the man It is not so hard to deny a mans self in riches and honours and learning and any inward abilities that commend a man but to men no man thinks that for his learning he shall be the more accepted of God but we think righteousness commends us unto God and therefore men have a higher esteem thereof and greater hope grounded upon it than upon any excellency that is in them besides And therefore surely for a man to come to Christ and deny himself in that and give up all to him and to be willing to suffer the loss of all things that be may win Christ Phil. 3.8 To sell all to buy the pearl and to do it with joy as Nazianzen did set no higher a price upon his Athenian Learning than this That he had something of worth to part with for Christ and esteemed it nothing in comparison of Christ herein is the highest act of self-denial and that 's the reason that of all men civil men and those that have but a form of godliness are with the greatest difficulty converted and Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before them because they have something of worth to lay down which their hearts are hardly brought unto And to see how corrupt nature through the policy of the Devil holds up the pride of it in this particular that if it were possible it might make the blood of Christ of none effect and therefore they will not trust perfectly in the Grace revealed by Jesus Christ whence we see the several opinions of their own righteousness in this particular and how they have minced it but yet still so as they hold something of self and the great exception that men have to keep them off from Christ is the same that the Roman Senate had when Tyberius did propound Christ to be head of the Capitol amongst their Gods and that with an offer of his own suffrage they all were against it upon this ground because he will be God alone See it in all those Popish Tenents which as Mr. Perkins has well observed is a Religion directly founded upon corrupt nature And 1 they say that some sins are not mortal nor deserve damnation in the strictness of Divine Justice 2 That the inclination of the heart to sin and all motions to sin without consent are no sins 3 If they do sin they can of themselves satisfie God Original sin is done away in Baptism lesser sins by prayers and so many Pater-nosters Greater sins by Alms and Pilgrimages Indulgences c. 4 That men can do something to prepare themselves to conversion because they are not wholly dead but have a free-will in nature to that which is good 5 Being prepared they do merit grace at Gods hand 6 Before conversion they do that which pleases God 7 Our inherent righteousness is the matter of Justificacation c. SECT III. The APPLICATION Vse 1 § 1. BUt if all men cleave to the first Covenant and be
and that denial increaseth to an oath and that swearing multiplies to cursings and to imprecations upon himself in the highest kind as the word is in the original as if he had wished Mat. 26 74. I would I might never find mercy at the hands of God or come where God hath to do that I might be separated from God eternally and damned body and soul if that I know the man And Isa 57.17 says God For the iniquity of his covetousness I smote him and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. Theodosius was an Emperour of a very meek sweet and gracious temper yet a Temptation so far got the head of him that upon an occasion of a Tumult in Thessalonia a servant of his that he had in a special manner respect for being slain he commanded an universal Massacre throughout the City that in a very short space 3000 men were slain by his command and that by a wile being invited to behold a Play for which cause the Emperour himself was by Ambrose kept from the Sacrament It were strange to consider unto what a height even the sins of godly men from the remainders of corruption that is in them may be improved 6. For the improvement of sins in godly men Satan may and commonly does make advantage of the Law of God and the commands and restraints thereof whereby sin will take occasion See it in King Asa the Prophet did prophesie and he put him into Prison because he shewed him his sin and instead of repenting for it he increased it for he was in a rage temptation had got hand over him and by the reproof Satan did stir up his lust And even the Gospel is by Satan turned into wantonness and all the Grace of it yea and all the glorious works of Grace upon a mans heart sin will take occasion from Gods drawing nigh and wax wanton under his love there is not any part of the Law of God or the Works of God or the Providence of God that Satan will not make use of and sin take occasion by to stir up and to improve corruption in a man even those remainders of sin that are in a Saint Quest § 4. If a godly man be under the irritation of the Law as well as a wicked man where then lyes the difference that a man in Christ is said not to be under the Law in this respect The difference lyes in these three things mainly Answ 1. An unregenerate man has no other use of the Law but this all the fruit that he has by it is to improve draw out and increase his sins but a godly man being under another Covenant as he has the Law written in his heart in his regeneration so he has by the Law Grace increased in the continued work of his Sanctification Joh. 17.17 there is in respect of his regenerate part a power of Sanctification and the whole Law of God tends to that end in him and this the Law works in him per se as he is regenerate though it works the other per accidens as far as he is unregenerate Grace receives strength by the Commandment according to the law of the mind as sin does according to the law of the flesh in the one sin is restrained and subdued in the other sin may be restrained but it is increased and as a damm set upon the waters which â—â—â—es them swell the higher 2. Through sin may â—â—â—e occasion by the Law in the regenerate yet this does not constitute sin in dominion it doâ—â— never rise up so high in a regenerate man as to amount unto a compleat raign and dominion as Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you so that a man should obey it in the lusts thereof for in the highest improvement of sin by the Law in the regenerate there is another law in the mind a spirit that lusts against the flesh that a man cannot be given up unto all iniquity it does never work in him all manner of concupiscence as it does in the unregenerate so as to make a man always go on in a presumptuous way of sinning but Grace and the spirit of Grace gives a check to it because a man loves the law of God and its precepts according to his inward man 3. Lastly it does never so far prevail in the regenerate as to bring forth fruit unto death as it does in the unregenerate Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin that were by the law wrought in me to bring forth fruits unto death But as the law is made a servant unto the Gospel so both the precept and the curse of the law is made subservient and subordinate this way for as the remainders of sin in the godly are sprinkled with the blood of Christ so are all the temptations of Satan and the improvements of sin by the law which is unto all unregenerate men a part of the curse of their Covenant sanctified unto the regenerate and are a means to shew them their own vileness and to humble them deeply before the Lord as we see it in Peter and David and to make them hate sin the more and to make them the more watchful over their own hearts and lay the faster hold upon Christ and the Grace offered in the Gospel by faith and to ply the Throne of Grace by constant and daily prayers and the more to long for their adoption and redemption and so this improvement of sin by the law does tend in the end to the further subduing of sin and at last to the utter abolishing of it that so the remainders of sin being wholly done away Satan may stir up sin and sin may take occasion by the Commandment no more And so as other fruits of the curse of the law are blessed and sanctified unto them as their afflictions their temptations and death it self so shall these fruits of the curse be also sanctified unto them and tend to their sanctification and end in the perfection of their holiness at the last So that as death is swallowed up in victory in a mans resurrection so is sin also in a mans perfect sanctification unto which through the Grace of the Gospel sin it self was over-ruled to be a means for as there are two ways of a mans pollution so there are also two means of a mans sanctification there are proper and natural means as Satan and a mans own lusts c. and there are occasional means as the law of God so there are of a mans sanctification the Word and the Spirit and the Ordinances and there are occasions which in their own nature do work no such thing but Grace takes occasion from the one as corruption does from the other the temptations of Satan and the improvement of sin by the law being sprinkled by the blood of Christ shall be as effectual to a mans sanctification as the other being not sprinkled with the blood of Christ
in it from restraining Grace or renewing Grace Whether we do serve God in the newness of the spirit Rom. 7.6 or the oldness of the letter It was before conversion but a dead letter to him and did only command duty but it did no way transform the soul in the inward man but there is in a man being regenerate the newness of spirit that is a mans inward man being renewed by the Holy Ghost c. Now the rules of Trial are these 1. Let a man by the Coaction of the Law be put upon duty never so much and never so often yet it will never assist him nay the more he doth duty the less strength he shall have to do it the weakness of his nature will increase by it as the longer he does abstain from sin the more the lust will spread and the stronger it will grow the more he does pray the less love he shall have to the duty and though he may get a dexterity in the outward performance yet the less he shall be able to perform it in a saving and spiritual manner whereas renewing Grace gives a man strength a mans heart is prepared to pray and the spirit of Grace is a spirit of supplication a man has an Unction from the Holy Ghost that flows from his union with Christ and from the Holy Ghost and he has a strength in duties the more he does them the stronger he grows in all the ways of God The righteous shall grow stronger and stronger and he that has clean hands shall hold on his way Job 17.9 and shine brighter and brighter and grow stronger and stronger the more he knows the more he does follow on to know the Lord. And whereas another man has done duty many years and is grown more weary of it and more formal in it but knows no more what does belong to the spiritual performance of it now than he did when he began it and he does possibly abstain from sin but it is not from an inward principle and power of holiness but from an external motive which only keeps it under in the course of his life and therefore although by abstaining the lust may seem weakned and to decay by degrees yet really it grows and they prove more desperately wicked as appears by men that the unclean spirit is gone out of and returns with seven worse spirits and they that have made great and goodly shews of Holiness yet afterwards fall into the sin against the Holy Ghost 2. A man that does duty from the Coaction of the Law is partial in it and takes notice only of those duties to which he is constrained and where the law of God lays a strong hand upon him but as for other things he is not at all solicitous Herod will do many things but other things that either the Law does not so immediately and earnestly press upon him or his lust will not dispense with those he will leave undone But renewing Grace makes a man to have respect unto all Gods Commandments and to hate every false way it sets a man against every sin but specially against a mans own iniquity and those sins that are spiritual that are from Satan per modum imaginis as part of his image wherein they are most like the Devil 3. All that a man does from the Coaction of the Law will never last a man may abstain from sin a while but if a man have the nature of a dog he will return to his vomit and as a Sow will wallow in the mire still wash her never so clean yea he will return with the greater greediness by reason of the former abstinence and so a man may perform duty a while but as Job says Will the hypocrite pray always For he is but as a flag that cannot grow without mire and if once the fleshly respects of setting upon duty be taken away his duties will wither For either praying will make a man leave sinning or sinning will make him leave praying or if not publickly yet will at least kill all his secret duties and make those that are publick degenerate wholly into a form 4. Whatsoever a man does by Coaction of the Law a man has no sweetness in it it is with no delight and complacency for things forced are not pleasant let a man do the least service that he is forced to and it is a burden whereas let the greatest works in the world and the most toilsome be done if a man undertake them willingly he can find pleasure in them as we see men do in recreations running and wrestling c. So to a Saint the yoke of Christ is a pleasing yoke and his burden light a soul can dance under it and the thoughts of his leaving sin is very pleasant to him and when he does duty he delights in it according to his inward man and his soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness he is then in his element when he is keeping the Commandments of God Set water over the fire and make it boil never so much yet take it off and it will return quickly into its former coldness and will be the colder for its former heating and so it is here it is not agreeable to nature and therefore can never be pleasing either for an unregenerate man to perform duty or for a regenerate man to commit sin 5. Whatever a man doth by the Coaction of the Law a man hath no communion with God thereby nor is he drawn nearer unto God A gracious heart is sensible of the want of God and therefore his end in all that he does is to seek God that he may find him and because in Ordinances God will be found and has there promised a special presence therefore he seeks him there and he labours to stir up his Graces in his approach to God and God does in mercy draw near unto him because what he does is from an inward principle of godliness but a man that does duty from a natural conscience only he does not draw near to God but his spirit draws back all the while and looks upon God as an enemy and therefore he has no fellowship with the Lord. The Law indeed puts him upon duty and as a task he doth it but he has no more experience of the approaches of God in it or his love or the power of his Grace the kisses of his mouth the stayings of God with flaggons and comforting with apples c. but a soul that does duties from a principle of godliness is sensible of his spiritual absence from God in duties and of his special presence and would not lose his communion with God in duties for a world but other men are satisfied in the duties meerly and their sinning and hearing is much alike to them and if they have done the duty conscience is satisfied and they have all they desire c. Vse 4 § 4. Here we see what a happiness it is to the
there is a virtual league with death and with Hell Job 5.23 they shall be at league with Sin and Hell as a good man is in league with peace and rest A formal league with Sin and Hell they are not capable of but a virtual covenant and a league taking off acts of hostility Whatever a man is in Covenant with he fears no danger from and men walk as if Death and Hell were at an agreement with them and they fear no evil but are setled upon their lees and they make lyes their refuge and under vanity they hide themselves There is says Bernard a twofold evil Conscience a peaceable evil Conscience and a troubled evil Conscience And the first state is more dangerous when a man is like unto the dead Sea as some are like the raging Sea which latter is better than the former upon such a soul let wrath be discovered and judgement threatned it is but speaking terrour to a deaf man nay to a dead man nay let plagues be executed and not only so but let the hand of the Lord be lifted up eminently in the threatning and they will not see nay let it fall down in the judgement and they will not see Bray a fool in a mortar and his folly will not depart But he is as a man lying down in the middle of the Sea and as one sleeping on the top of a Mast he sees no danger there is nothing that he can lay to heart but he says Psal 49. I shall have peace as Deut. 29.19 While he lives he blesseth his soul Now comes the Law as a Hammer unto such a soul and that sets before a man its absolute Soveraignty over the man it is the Royal Law shews a man that God is an enemy to him and writes bitter things against him and it is this Law by which he will surely judge him at the last day Zach. 1.6 and though he may fly from it a while yet it will overtake him though the decree may bear a great while a judgement in the womb of it yet it will at last bring forth and for ought thou knowest it may be Hell before the morning there is but a thread of patience between thee and everlasting burnings That shews a man the vanity of all his former hopes and plucks off all that cobweb lawn and varnish that the Devil has cast upon his actions and state and there is a storm that overflows his hiding place the Lord lets him see in Spiritual judgements as he does in Temporal judgments when men promise themselves great things that the bed is too short the covering too narrow for him to rest upon Then offer him the pleasures of sin and he cannot taste them they are to him the greatest detestation Oh how bitter is it to remember that which was formerly sweet to commit and what a terrible companion is that sin in the guilt of it that was in the act of it most delightsome The bitterness of sin is so great that all the comforts of the creatures cannot sweeten it as Judas he cast down the thirty pieces of silver quickly he had no pleasure in his money So a soul crys out My iniquity is gone over my head and as a sore burden too heavy for me to bear § 3. 2. The Law of God condemns the sinner says the Apostle Sin revived and I died Rom. 9.7 Hos 6.5 2 Cor. 3. The ministration of death and condemnation c. There is a hewing and a slaying by the words of the Lord he doth smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he does slay the wicked Jer. 6.11 And therefore the word of the Lord is called the fury of the Lord what fury or vengeance soever is poured out upon a land or soul it is all by this word that is the instrument and these are the effects thereof The Law saith Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law and Conscience makes the assumption truly this curse is my portion The soul of man is not more prone to sin than it is to self-justification every man desiring to establish his own righteousness And the great work that we have in the Ministry is this to beat them from their own confidences men will not pass the same sentence upon themselves that the Law does If men would but look upon themselves in this glass and stand unto the sentence of this judgment they would not be so severely judged by the Lord but there are ways of self-deceiving from that abundant self-self-love and self-flattery that is in the heart of man that they desire to be deceived and there is no man in the world that can be so great a flatterer of another as every man is of himself 〈◊〉 does smooth over himself and makes all please as a flatterer doth Psal 36.2 Jer. 23.31 therefore the false â—rophets are said to smooth their tongues that there may be nothing that may distaste 〈◊〉 be unpleasant and so men will not own their own condemnation they will not â—â—e shame But when the Law comes and the Spirit of God therein gives in evidence aâ—â—inst the man brings forth the hand writing and chargeth a man with his pride and unâ—â—â—anness and hardness of heart and says this thou hast done then the soul says I have â—â—ed in betraying the innocent blood I have done exceeding foolishly Men and brethren what â—â—â—l we do to be saved Now every word of the Law comes home to him with life and with â—â—er and all the curses of the book he reads as his portion and says This is the inheriâ—â—e that Adam has left me and this have I also purchased for my self Tertull. There are a generatiâ—â— of godly men in the world that read over the Promises of the Gospel and they do claim 〈◊〉 as their portion and their inheritance for ever but they are nothing to me they are 〈◊〉 childrens bread and I am a dog a devil Truly the Devils are better creatures and were 〈◊〉 to do the Lord more service and yet they perish under the curse of the Law and they â—â—ble at the sentence of it and there is as much hope of a Devil Jam. 2.19 in the state that I am in 〈◊〉 as there is of me I know God is merciful but not beyond the rules of the Word whilst the Word speaks wrath all the men in the world cannot speak peace to me Every â—â—tion is a curse to me and there are no Providences that I can look upon in mercy my â—â—â—ngs are cursed and my ordinances are blasted they shall add to my sins and hasten my â—â—eance It 's wonderful that seeing the time of patience has its period the Lord has â—â—â—â—hed it forth to so great a length that I have had thirty or forty years cut off of eterâ—â—â— as a respite of those eternal torments These are the workings of men
wherein the Authority or Soveraignty of the Great King does appear for wherein does the authority of Princes lye but in their Laws and he is counted a rebell that does disobey them and that of the Apostle Rom. 2. Through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God and the Nomothetick power is that wherein the greatness and the height of Majesty lyes and this Law we are subjected to by bond of Creation as having received our being from the Lord and by a bond of Stipulation having given up our consent to the Law having given the hand unto the Lord c. and as being the rule by which the Lord will judge men at the last day and this kept Joseph in awe against the importunity of his Mistress How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God the Majesty and Authority of God is despised in it and the Soveraignty of the Law being exalted in his heart carried with it a kind of moral impossibility for there be natural and moral impossibilities as the Apostle in the 1 Cor. We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth And sometimes the people of God in the violence of a temptation have been forced to fly to the Commandment as in the point of self-murder one was fain to do the temptation was so impetuous that he was forced to repeat the Commandment for some hours together Thou shalt do no murder thou shalt do no murder 3. Sin is restrained from the Curse of the Law and the Judgements that it does denounce against offenders and the several examples of the executions of them says Job Chap. 31.23 Destruction from God was a terror to me and because of his highness I could not indure And 2 Cor. 5. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men And observing the several examples of Judgments and the Curse of the Covenant upon wickednesses which are wrought that others may see and fear and do no more wickedly When a man looks upon the Judgements that are abroad as the Curse of the Law executed a man should say I will not transgress It was the sin of Judah that at the Captivity of Israel she would not be warned and would not receive correction for that man that has the Law against him has God against him 4. Sin is restrained from the Harmony of the Law he that breaketh one is guilty of all c. This makes men stand in awe of the Divine Commands 5. From Gods love to the Law it being that which is so dear unto God Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not an iota of the Law which is dearer to God than Heaven and Earth The Saints are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they have a conformity unto God in all things they love what God loves and they hate what God hates Says the Psalmist I hate them that hate thee Psal 119.10.4 yea I hate them sore as if they were my enemies Through thy precepts I get understanding He says He did love the Law as his portion and inheritance as that which was sweeter to him than honey and his obedience unto which did bring him in all his comfort and therefore I have refrained my feet from every evil way this is my life and this is my wisdom in the sight of the Nations Lastly What authority and command the Law of God has in the hearts of men is that that Gods eye is much upon and with such men he is pleased and the power of Gods Grace is seen mainly in the awe of the Law upon their hearts and lives which other men despise and cast behind their back says the Lord To him will I look that trembles at my word Isa 66.2 And there is a man that fears an oath My heart stands in awe of thy Word else I had broken forth and given way to corruption but I durst not Isa 11.6 A little child shall lead him that which is most easily done and 2 Chron. 32.12 see the charge against Zedekiah for he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. If a man come to us from God and in the name of God if we despise him we despise the Lord. § 3. How is the Law from its restraint upon lust a servant and a handmaid unto the Gospel This will appear also in these Particulars 1. The great end of the Gospel is to establish the Earth and to continue the World for by sin an utter destruction should have come upon men and upon all the creatures for mans use only there is a stop put upon Justice for a time the change of the Covenant bringing in a change of the Government and the Kingdom that was before the fall administred by God immediately is now committed into the hands of the Son as he is God-man our Mediator So Psal 8. He has put all things in subjection under his feet Isa 49.8 and he has given him as a Covenant to establish the earth And it is upon this ground that those expressions are Psal 93. The Lord reigns he is clothed with Majesty the world is established that it cannot be moved And Psal 97.1 The Lord reigns let the earth rejoice All this is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ and his Government that is committed to him by the Father under the second Covenant and by vertue thereof since the fall And this the Lord doth by the restraint of the Law two ways 1 Hereby the lusts that are in a mans heart are kept under that they destroy not one another for lust is cruel see it in the second man that ever was in the world and he that first actually brought murder into the world and Nimrod a hunter of men before the Lord and as cruel to men as if they were beasts nay they are themselves Beasts and have the cruelty of Beasts and men would be as the fishes of the Sea the greater would devour the less they have no King over them and are acted by the spirit of the Devil and his name is Abaddon the destroyer his delight is wholly in destruction and if the Lord did leave men to the violence of their lusts and the impetuosity of temptation they would overflow as water over-running all banks and bounds and blood would touch blood where either as some say by blood is meant murder Hos 4.2 or all manner of horrible wickedness and so some take it so there is all manner of cruelty and all manner of unnatural wickedness even to the destroying of one another as we see it in Egypt every mans sword shall be against his brother and in the cruelty at the destruction of Jerusalem Now how comes it to pass that it is not so every where Only from the restraint of the Law laid upon the spirits of men and by this means the world is quieted as Luther in Gal. 3. hath observed Diâ—bolus regnat in toto orbe terrarum impellit homines
Because the Lord will honour his Son as the second Adam and the glory of the first Adam was a Covenant and an Image and so shall the second Adam be And he must have a seed also to whom these shall be conveyed Isa 53.8 The word signifies generation In whom he shall see his seed and prolong his days as Psal 72. and Christ is his Son in both generation and succession naturally as they bear his Image and legally as they stand under his Covenant and the Lord will honour the second Adam as he did the first in both these the Lord having made Adam the type of him that was to come 3. That hereby the Lord might honour the Creature the Covenant is the staff of beauty because it is the great beauty and glory of any people that God hath taken them into Covenant Zach. 11.10 specially if we consider the second Covenant to be Matrimonial and the Lord doth thereby betroth him unto himself in loving kindness and mercy and faithfulness as Hos 2.18 the great honour of the people of Israel Deut. 26.18 was that they were a people peculiar unto God thence he is called the God of Israel and this is the great honour of the Saints which makes them more excellent than their neighbours because they have God so nigh them to be their God in Covenant 4. That it may be the greater obligation unto men to obedience Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant with thee thou shalt therefore keep my Covenant And it is the great answer unto all Temptations I am in Covenant with the Lord as a woman that is married it is a sufficient answer unto all other suiters I am already married unto another Je◠13.11 As a girdle to the loins of a man so have I caused the whole house of Israel to cleave unto me that they might be unto me for a name and for a praise The Lord bound them to him by Covenant and it is a great aggravation of sin that the Lord loves us and we forget the Covenant of our God therefore Adultery is aggravated above all other sins Hos 3.2 A woman beloved of her husband yet an adulteress how abominable is it 5. To sweeten obedience and make it the more free and voluntary when a man takes it upon himself and gives the hand to the Lord 2 Chron. 30.7 8. which was the custom amongst men when they entred into Covenant Ezek. 17.18 and that men might see that their good always goes along with their duty and that God that did command to obey did promise to reward and therefore did it not ex indigentia sed potentia out of indigence but from power Christs goodness extends not unto God as munificentia by way of munificence Austin puts the difference between man and God in this as the Earth drinks up the water so doth the Sun-beams also one out of its own necessity but the other out of its power so God requires duty out of bounty for your good always that he may reward it Grace does not destroy but raise and rectifie self-love Christ in his obedience had a glory set before him and so had Moses a respect to the recompence of reward There is a love of reward which is lawful when it is not this that is the only thing that lancheth a man forth in a duty but only fills his sails but when it is mercenary love and has respect to nothing in the duty but the loaves this is sinful and it is this Covenant that makes the yoke of Christ easie and profitable having an eye to the exceeding great and precious promises which engages a man to have respect to all the Commandments for the Lord doth delight to allure men into ways of holiness and duty Hos 2.14 Lastly the Lord will have it so 1 That by the promises of this Covenant he may sanctifie a man change his image and make him partaker of the Divine nature and that every one of them may carry the soul continually to Christ as streams to the fountain 2 Pet. 1.4 in whom they are Yea and Amen 2 That this may be the ground of a working faith and a lively hope and a fervent prayer all which are grounded only upon the promises of this Covenant for had there not been a Covenant between God and us there had been no place for faith no ground for hope and no room for the prayer of faith which only is bottomed upon a promise 3 Whatever is done in this Covenant it is God that has the first and chief hand therein and we do not enter into Covenant with him but he enters into Covenant with us first though the Covenant be mutual yet it is called the Lords Covenant as Christ faith unto his Disciples Joh. 15.16 You have not chosen me but I have chosen you they did chuse Christ as every believing soul doth but the love first began on Christs part and so it does also in this Covenant 1 Joh. 4.10 Not that we loved him but he loved us and me love him because he loved us first so we do not begin the Covenant with God but the Lord doth begin with us and the motion came from him alone God the Father is not passive in it but active he was content that Christ should reconcile us to him As it was to David an acceptable service of Joab in reconciling his Son Absalom to him because his heart did run out to him so God the Father is active in this work he is in Christ reconciling the world and all that Christ does is by the Fathers appointment and he is his servant in it and it is the pleasure of the Lord and he doth love to have it so and had not he imployed Christ in this work there had never been a reconciliation between God and man As it is true by our Union with Christ we are joined to or as the word signifies glewed to the Lord yet the Union doth begin on Christs part first and Christ unites himself to us by the Spirit before we can by our faith be united to him so it is in the Covenant also it does begin on Gods part and as it was the Womans great dishonour to be first in the transgression so it is the Lords great glory to be first in the reconciliation And therefore when Adam after his fall stood trembling and could expect nothing but a sentence of condemnation the Lord was pleased to reveal a new Covenant to him for the Text saith he was afraid and he hid himself so unto Abraham the motion of a Covenant was from the Lord and not from Abraham There is a Grace preceding which works Grace and there is also a Grace co-operating that acts Grace but it is preventing Grace that is the first § 3. The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us which will appear if we consider the particulars of it 1. The Purpose and intention of
the Saints that in the Covenant God has undertaken both parts and therefore the Covenant doth commonly run I will be their God so shall they be my people He doth undertake for us as well as for himself he doth undertake that he will be a good husband and you shall be a good wife and in this lyes the great blessing of the second Covenant and the Grace thereof It is true that the passive part is ours and there are some acts that do belong to us properly we believe and we repent but it is he that works in us to believe and repent of his good pleasure Nos agimus sed acti nos volumus sed ipse facit ut velimus We act but as acted by him we will but he makes us to will Aust 6. We are kept in the Covenant by him alone he brings us within the bond of the Covenant and he doth also keep us there Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law in their hearts and they shall not depart from me And Hos 2.7 I will hedge up their way and will make a wall that they shall not find their paths They shall follow after their lovers but they shall not overtake them God will in mercy cross them in ways of sinning and make all ways of sin burdensome to them and all is that they may return to their former husband though they have committed adultery against him yet he saith unto them Return you back-sliding children and I will receive you you have gone a whoring from me yet return to me and I will receive you And Hos 3.3 The Lord will buy them unto him again with fifteen pieces of silver their base condition into which they were cast should be the ground of their returning unto God again their former husband it is the purchase that the Lord would give for them difficulties and disquiets and disappointments in ways of sin doth the Lord give men to keep them in his Covenant Christ tells them They should deceive if possible the very Elect Mac. 24. Rev. 13.8 they were deceived as many as were not writ in the Lambs book a special hand of God is towards them in their preservation and there is a power of God put forth for them that keeps their hearts as with a garrison he that brought them into the Covenant hath undertaken to keep them there 7. Every renewal of the Covenant is from the Lord Gen. 2.15 the Lord did make this Covenant with Abraham and fourteen years after renews it It is not Abraham that renews it with God so much as God with Abraham and so the Lord says Jer. 31.31 I will make a new Covenant it is but a renewal of the same Covenant and a further and more glorious manifestation of the mind of God therein he will shew them his Covenant Psal 25. Of this renewing the Covenant we shall speak afterward this is only to manifest that he who hath the great and the universal hand in this Covenant is the Lord we may say as the Scripture doth of Joseph whatever was done in Egypt he was the doer of it so whatever is done in this Covenant the Lord is the doer of it it is the act of God the Father SECT II. Free-Grace the Fountain of this Covenant WE come now to the fourth Head the ground and foundation of whatever the Lord hath done in this Covenant and that is Free-grace his own good will and his own unexpected love the Lord had no argument or motive out of himself and therefore he says I will give my Covenant between me and thee he hath no other aim in this whole work but the praise of the glory of his Grace Luk. 2. It is glory to God and good will to men Ephes 1.7 And thereby is God glorified under the second Covenant and this the Lord calls upon his people to observe Look to the Rock from whence you were hewed look to Abraham and to Sarah Isa 41.2 and when he was in Vr of the Caldeans and did with Terah his father worship other gods beyond the River the Lord did call him alone and bless him and alone singled out this one person and raised him up and did exalt him and set him on high and called him to his foot and led him on his way and the Lord passed on before him And so David made the Covenant to be only the fruit of free-grace 2 Sam. 7.21 What can David thy servant say more It doth exceed my apprehension or expression only thou hast done it according unto thy own heart out of thy own free love that thou mightest make thy servant to know even those great things And this will appear 1. If we consider the person that is first in this Covenant and that is the Lord who hath here expressed himself to be El-shaddai he is al-sufficient one that hath all in himself and within his own compass he is a Sun that is he shines with his own natural light and not as the Moon and Stars with a mutuatitious and a borrowed light for as he is debter to none so he stands in need of none he needs not borrow any excellency or glory from another and therefore for this God to enter into Covenant must needs be of Grace and by Grace you are saved 2. If we look upon man as fallen under another Covenant broken and perished under the curse of it and under that Covenant desiring to continue Gal. 4.21 They did desire to be under the Law Rom. 10.3 they looked upon it as a desirable condition they did seek to establish their own righteousness and were enemies to the Gospel and unto all others for the Gospel sake the way of the Gospel the heart of man is against and that now the Lord should unto such reveal this second Covenant that hate his Grace and shut their eyes and stop their ears and do their utmost to receive the grace of God in vain that though they be under another Covenant enemies unto this yet should rather chuse to be under their broken Covenant than accept of this 3. That this Covenant should be given unto some and not unto others that when the Angels that fell were under the same curse of the former Covenant with us yet that the Lord should not catch after the seed of Angels Heb. 2.16 but of Abraham and let them perish under their Covenant never give unto them an offer of another Covenant That when mankind were all of them strangers to the Covenant of Grace alike in their natural states and enemies that the Lord should be pleased to single out some to shew them his Covenant and for nothing but because he hath a favour to them Ephes 2.14 to chuse some out of a wretched family and a wicked stock and the Grace of this Covenant he will make known unto them and they shall know the power of this distinguishing love and when he shall pass by many of
the great and the wise and the noble and make choice of babes and the foolish things of this world that have nothing in them that should commend them but free-grace made the difference and it is this that raiseth them up above their brethren He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and he gives a commission to his loving kindness to take hold of such a soul and he hears a voice behind him when he is posting with his back upon God and his face towards Hell and there is a voice that he hears that other men do not therefore it is said Act. 9.22 That they saw the light but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me they were with him and yet there was a voice came to Paul a noise and a sound of it they did hear but to hear so as to have it made effectual to their souls that proceeds only from peculiar love 4. That in this Covenant 1 Our persons should be taken into the same Covenant with the Son of God is the highest advancement as the greatest and lowest abasement of Christ was Gal. 4.4 to be made under our Covenant to be made under the Law and so under the curse thereof being made sin so the highest advancement of man is to come under Christs Covenant and thereby we have an interest in his Righteousness and Sonship and by this there is the nearest relation between God and us for it is a Matrimonial Covenant the nearest and the sweetest Union and it is a Covenant of Friendship wherein there is the fullest communion beyond that of the Angels themselves for we are betrothed unto the Lord in mercies and loving kindness Hos 2.18 19. 2 In respect of our services it is by the Covenant that they have a reference unto a reward there is not the meanest services of the Saints that shall lose their reward not a cup of cold water therefore Luther says The whole world has not a reward good enough for the least service of a Saint and professes he had rather be the author of the meanest work of the Saints than of the most glorious acts of Alexander or of Caesar And this reference unto a reward riseth from this Covenant for Psal 16.3 Christ saith Our goodness extends not unto God There was in Christ a merit but it was only ex pacto Heb. 10. it is by his will they are sanctified and through his acceptation had not he made a Covenant with the Lord it had been free with God the Father to accept the righteousness of Christ or not and therefore there is the Grace of Union and of Unction and even the Merit of Christ the ground of it is free-grace by vertue of the Covenant that passed between the Father and the Son and therefore much more that our works or any thing we do should have any relation to a reward from God especially as to Eternal Life § 2. But did not Christ purchase this Covenant or else by his entreaty obtain it for Christ is the Mediator of the new Covenant and therefore it may be at his request the Lord did make this Covenant with us and not singly out of his own love to us I answer No Christ did not merit the Grace of the Covenant there is a difference to be carefully put between the Covenant it self and the benefits and fruits of the Covenant all the fruits of the Covenant are dispensed by Christ and are part of his purchase as Heaven Grace and Glory the very being of a Church God has purchased it with his own blood but as for the Covenant it self it is that in which Christ is promised and all the Merits of Christ and all our acceptation with God through him and it is part of the Covenant that God makes with us I will give you my Son and one of the grand promises thereof and when he did resolve to enter into Covenant with man then Christ becomes his servant and his chosen he being to be the second Adam and Person into whose hand all the transactions of this Covenant should be committed And to exalt this free-grace in him that is the Prince of the Covenant and that we may see all things are of God 2 Cor. 5.18 Who has reconciled us to himself in Christ and all things that do appertain to the Kingdom of Christ He that built all things is God Heb. 3.4 it is spoken in reference to his House that is his Church and not in reference to the general works of Creation so that though it is Christ that is the builder of his House and as a Lord in his own House yet in Christ it is God that is the builder of it all things are originally of him and this Grace of God in Christ as the Prince of the Covenant will appear in these Particulars 1. There is free-grace in designation for he is the Elect of God Isa 42.1 and Prov. 8.22 He is the beginning of the ways of God the first-born among many brethren one first in the womb of Gods Decree and therefore had therein the preheminence he was first elected and we in him And as our Election was an act of free-grace He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy so was Christs also an act of the same grace and therefore Heb. 1.3 He is the brightness of his glory the express image of his person As he is God so all the acts of the Father are acts of nature as his generation is from God naturally and therefore necessarily But as he is the Head of the Church and the Prince of the Covenant of Grace as God-man so he comes under the acts of the will of God and it was free with God whether he would have chosen him to this Office and put this honour upon him or no and therefore as in the one he is haeres natus a born heir so in the other he is constitutus a constituted heir So that even in Christ all is of Gods free-grace he did not honour himself he did not appoint himself but it was the Lord that did call him and design him to this service and wrote his name in the volume of his book so some expound that place Heb. 10.7 the first page of it he being the beginning of all Gods going forth towards the Creature 2. There is free-grace in the Fathers qualification and preparing and fitting of Christ for this great work it is true that Christ was God and had a power equal with his Father and therefore thought it no robbery to be so yet the Scripture doth attribute all unto the free-grace of the Father 1 It was God the Father that prepared him a body he that doth give unto every one of us a body as it pleased him he also did give the Lord Christ a body and did fashion it according to his good pleasure even a humane nature Heb. 10.5 the Holy Ghost did overshadow the Virgin that she should
given Isa 9.6 And Rom. 5. Herein was the love of Christ that when we were enemies he died for us And Joh. 17.19 For their sakes I sanctifie my self But yet it cannot be denied that the Lord did give glory unto Christ as that which he promised as a reward of his obedience only it was of Grace to appoint it and of Grace to accept it and so by consequence of Grace to reward it 7. And this will appear at the last day that all that Christ hath and doth is from free-grace because the Kingdom that he hath received he must give up then unto God the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 He did receive a Kingdom at the beginning and had a gracious manifestation of it when he did ascend up into Heaven All power is given him in Heaven and in Earth Dan. 7.14 and when the Persecuting Monarchies be taken down there shall be given him a Kingdom which shall not be destroyed but all this shall be given up to the Father at the last day Not that Christ shall cease as Mediator to be the Head of the Church and to have an influence into them in glory God doing all by a Head for I conceive that the Mystical Union is eternal as well as the Hypostatical and that a man under the Covenant of Grace shall never stand before God in his own righteousness to eternity but as he is justified by the righteousness of Christ now by a righteousness imputed so he shall ever be for as here he is accepted of God for his Masters Grace so he shall hereafter enter into his Masters joy but Christ shall give up the Church which is his Kingdom and the present manner of Government of it and shall lay it all down and make it appear before Men and Angels that whatever he hath done it has been as his Fathers servant to please him and to do his will and shall after the day of Judgement which is the last act of his Kingly Office give up his account to him which shall be giving up of the Kingdom to God that so God may be all in all that is have the glory not only of all the glory of the Saints but of all the glory of Christ also and have his Grace honoured as the fountain of all and it shall be manifested to all the world that even the merit of Christ is after a sort Gratia inviscerata Grace inviscerated the Kingdom shall so return unto God as it is now committed and appropriated unto Christ Joh. 5.22 c. The Father judgeth no man and yet Heb. 12.22 he is called God the Judge of all the Father judgeth in the Son but the Son is the person to whom the execution and dispensation of all judgement is committed now he rules his Church by the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments and the supplies of his Spirit by degrees perfecting his Image begun in his Members and by the sword of his mouth destroying his enemies and so he shall do till the Resurrection of the Dead and then after a sort this Kingdom shall cease he shall no more exercise the Office of a Mediator in compassionating defending and interceding for his Church and then this glory he shall publickly â—â—sign before Men and Angels into the hand of his Father as having done all as his servant and he himself as a part of that great Church of the first-born shall appear subject to the Father as having done all by his command and God shall be all in all and have the glory not only of the salvation of the Saints but of the exaltation of his Son also yet so as Christ shall reign for ever as God co equal with the Father and also as Mediator shall be the Head of the Church as glorified for ever Vse 1 § 3. Let us from hence learn that God is willing to be reconciled unto sinners and to exalt his Grace therein for he is first in the reconciliation the Covenant of reconciliation began in him his love had no motive or foundation but within it self he doth it freely and â—or his own sake from the beginning to the end from the foundation to the top-stone there â—s nothing that is primarily active in our Salvation but free-grace he has loved us freely â—hosen us freely freely given his Son freely accepted his obedience for us and imputed it â—o us it is his gift by grace freely given us his Spirit faith and repentance free Rom. 5.18 Phil. 1.29 Gods works are free Ephes 2.10 and Salvation free For by Grace we are saved through faith Tit. 3.5 Even when he does reward our obedience it is free Hos 10.12 We sow in righâ—eousness and reap in mercy The unbelief of a mans heart is in nothing more seen than in jeaâ—ous and suspicious thoughts of God and therein doth the enmity of a mans spirit appear when man distrusts him as an enemy now his intention is to be reconciled and he hath used the most effectual remedy sent his Son and committed unto us the Ministry of reconciliation it was a work that his heart was much in How did it please David when Joab made the motion of bringing home Absalom again because his heart went out to him So it is here could you read the heart of God you think it may be Christ is willing and that he is compassionate towards you but that the Father is hard to be reconciled and Christ hath much ado to plead with him and perswade him but I tell you God is in Christ reconciling the world Christ is a fruit of the Love of God to you Joh. 3.16 Christ doth but his Fathers will when he brings you unto God and his Father loves to have it so for the Father himself loves you be assured thy unworthiness cannot hinder him for he loves freely Cast thy soul upon this free-grace in the Son anchor thou upon this Rock and remember that all glory that is given to Christ and all acts done by him are to be to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.10 11. It is required not only of the Saints that they close with the Grace of God conveyed by the Covenant but with that Grace that made the Covenant and is the foundation of it and say Here I will rest as the Lepers if free-grace save me I shall live if it will reject me I can but die it is free which way soever he deals with me there is not free-will in me that can make me differ Vse 2 2. How should this draw in our hearts to close with this Love and inflame them after the Lord There is nothing doth inflame the soul towards God but impressions and reflections of the love of God unto us 1 The great business of this Covenant is to win your Love not only that he may be reconciled unto you but that you may be reconciled unto him again 2 Consider what a grief it is to a man to lose his Love Love will be
consideration 1 as a surety 2 as an Advocate or a common person And in these two I conceive Christ as our representative is set forth 1 as a surety that did undertake to do a thing for another and doth by his own consent bind himself thereunto and when he hath done it for the party then he is discharged of his bond and the party also for whom he was bound unto the performance And in this sence Christ was made sin for us and laid down an answerable price for us 2 as a common person as one who personates another and acts his part by the allowance and authority of Law so that what he doth is by the Law reckoned to be done by the person whom he represents and a possession taken by him stands good in Law as if it had been taken by the other And this the Lord hath made Christ unto us that according unto all sorts of Laws among men our redemption and salvation by him might be to declare his righteousness Rom. 3.25 that by all sorts of legal considerations amongst men it might hold good in a way of Justice And unto these two great ends as a double representative of all men as the second Adam Christ was elected and we in him as in a common head Now though man as a creature subjected unto the sovereignty of God comes under an act of his will yet the Lord Christ being the Son and thought it no robbery to be equal with God did not and therefore as he did not suffer without his own consent for a sacrifice it could not be unless voluntary the person having a power over himself and his own actions and therefore the Lord did not by his authority impose it upon him whether he would or no so his being chosen to it was by his consent that as he did chuse you together with the Father and had an equal hand in your election I know whom I have chosen and as you were from eternity given unto Christ by his Father in your election Rev. 13.8 thine they were and thou gavest them to me so did Christ also consent unto his own election and it was not meerly by the appointment of the Father as an act of his will and sovereignty as the election of man was but the Father did appoint him and Christ did consent unto that appointment and determination of the Father before the World began and therefore as he became a surety by his own will so he was by his own will appointed a surety and a common person for all the elect of God And herein we see the great ground of the Covenant between God and Christ before the World was God did not chuse Christ as a person that was to be chosen as he did chuse you but The word was with God God was the word John 1.2 and there were transactions and consultations between God and Christ before the world was and upon the Fathers motion and the Sons consent he was chosen unto this great service and you in him so that the Covenant between the Father and the Son doth reach as high as to be the great ground of the election of Christ unto this great service and office that he hath undertaken For God did not impose it upon him as an act of his dominion but barely by his own consent and as he did not call him unto the execution without his own consent so his own consent did concur unto his election for election is an act of the will of God and of his soveraignty and as he was the Son he could not come under an act of his will but by his own consent Vse 2 2. We may hence see how deep the plot of our Redemption and Salvation by Christ was laid it was not a thing occasionally taken up and barely to serve a turne but it was a plotted thing I confess the Scriptures do hold forth the Incarnation of Christ to be the ground of his redeeming men that were sinners He came to seek and to save that which was lost and when we were weak God commended his love to us in this that he dyed for the ungodly c. But the foundation of this was laid in a deep counsel between the Father and his Son at the Council-Table in Heaven before the World was and the Covenant of mans Redemption was made with our surety before the Covenant of your Creation was made with you And so much those two words Prov. 8.22 23. the Lord possessed me and the Lord anointed me do necessarily import and that word also Mic. 5.2 His goings forth as from the days of eternity Which as Calvin expounds it refer unto the Mediator as being head of the Church and not unto his eternal generation as is commonly expounded and this is the ground of Christs delight with the sons of men before the World was Prov. 8.31 as those whose names he had covenanted to bear and whose persons he had ingaged himself to represent before the Father And this shews how the design of God from everlasting hath been to save sinners and to glorifie himself in a way of mercy and grace through a Mediator And it is the consideration hereof that is the greatest ingagement in the World to sinners to come in and return to him because God is in Christ reconciling the world c. 2 Cor. 5.19 For he did undertake to represent your persons as your surety and representative before the world was 1 This Covenant made with Christ could not indeed actually take place as unto us till man was fallen because it was in the hand of a Mediator and required satisfaction by way of a sacrifice but yet though it be last in execution it was first in intention and the Covenant of Works made in your creation is only called the first Covenant in reference unto the relation and discovery of it unto us but it was the Covenant of Grace in Christ that was the first Covenant in it self and first past between the Father and the Son from everlasting and this shews how exceedingly the heart of God was ingaged in it before you were before you had need of a Surety for the Lord to appoint one and enter into a Covenant with him to perform this work for God to create the World first and bring men into it and for the Lord to take notice of mans necessity of a help meet for him before man did observe any such want of himself this was an argument of great love and care of God towards man but to provide not only a meet help but a meet Mediator and to take care to provide for your salvation and his own glory therein before he did proceed to your creation this shews how strangely his heart was set upon this great design of glorifying himself in the World in a way of Grace in your Salvation 2 If he had only taken up this purpose in himself it had set forth much love
and good will for his Purposes and Decrees are immutable as himself is and there can nothing arise de novo that should cause him to change his purpose but more that he proceeded herein to a treaty with his Son about it to be his Servant in this great work to bring Jacob again unto him Isa 49. and made a solemn Covenant pass between these glorious persons about it and that those thoughts should delight them before the World began and that the Lord should bespeak his Son with all the terms of dearness that can be to undertake this service Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and therefore being his Son it was only an office fit for him and as being his Son there was all fitness in him so there was all dearness to him and by this Christ did upon this motion of the Fathers undertake this service and there was a solemn Covenant passed between them Jer. 30.21 And thus the Lord did as it were bind himself and his Son unto this great work of your Salvation before the World was not only laying his love but also his faithfulness to pawn though not in a Covenant to you before you were yet in a Covenant to his Son and therefore there was a promise of eternal life given us in him before the World began 3 When he doth Covenant with Christ to be a Priest Tit. 1.2 it is a Covenant that he confirms by an Oath to shew that he doth never intend to alter and change his resolution Psal 110.4 The Lord has sworn and will not repent c. Psal 110.4 Heb. 7.21 This Priest was made by an Oath by him that said unto him Thou art my Son the Lord swore and will not repent and this was from everlasting for then it was that Christ was first appointed or set apart to become a Priest Now all this shews how much the heart of God was in it For the Word of God is as true as his Oath and as infallible and therefore if he had but said it it had been enough for there is a greater stability in his Word than there is in Heaven and Earth but yet it is observed by Divines that between the Word of God and his Oath there is this difference though the Lord speaks the word yet there may be some secret and tacite condition or some subsequent declaration of the mind of God As for Nineveh God said Within fourty days Nineveh should be destroyed yet there was an implyed condition of repentance which being performed the Judgement was not executed And so to Ely I said that thy fathers house should walk before me for ever but now I say Be it far from me and so the promise is reversed and it may be that is the meaning of the expression in Numbers You shall know my breach of Covenant But if God swears it shews the unchangeableness of his counsel an absolute act that nothing can arise de novo and nothing can be supposed that can cause God to change it he will never have a relenting thought for the pardon of sins and saving of sinners for ever and therefore he swore and made him a Priest by an Oath and this Oath some conceive to be the seal of God by which he did in a solemn manner set apart his Son for this great office and designed him to it from everlasting Joh. 6.27 John 6.27 Him hath God the father sealed So that as he has sealed up his decrees concerning you that they can never receive an alteration or change more how changeable soever you be 2 Tim. 2.19 as 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God remains sure having this seal the Lord knows who are his so he hath sealed up also his Covenant with Christ and that by an Oath Now if it were but a Kings Seal who could reverse it But this is the King of Kings 4 We see that their hearts were much in it for neither of these persons ever repented of it to this day 1 If God the Father would have repented a man would have expected that it should have been when he came to make his Son an offering for sin Oh! what relenting thoughts and rolling of bowels had Abraham when his Son must dye and he himself must have a hand therein and become the executioner So it pleased the Father to bruise him Matt. 26.29 and Matt. 26.29 there is a necessity or an impossibility spoken of and it lay wholly in the will of God for so he adds not my will but thy will be done If God could have changed his Will Christ might have lived and the Cup passed away but God had covenanted to make him a surety he had made him a Priest by an Oath and his will could not change he could not repent of it therefore this Cup he must drink Thus Isa 53.5 the same word is used and it signifies to beat a thing to pieces as in a Mortar and God was pleased with it Ephes 5.2 The offering of Christ was to God a Sacrifice of a sweet savour What made it so Only the end Finis dat mediis amabilitatem the end gives sweetness to the means Had it not been for that the Lord must needs have abhorred it 2 And Christ accepts of the Covenant and never repented he did never call back his word or change his ingagement he had the law of dying written in the middle of his bowels as it was the pleasure of the Lord so it was his with desire have I desired it and I have a baptism and I am straitned till it be fulfilled Vse 3. Thence we see the ground of the pardoning of all the sins of the ancient Saints under the first Testament Rom. 3.25 Heb. 9.15 The debt was not paid and the Sacrifice was not offered and yet their sins were pardoned and their souls saved it was by vertue of the Covenant and ingagement of Christ unto God the Father there was blood of Bulls and Goats and that could only signifie Christ but could not satisfie God but when Christ came and performed the Covenant now he satisfied for the transgressions under the first Testament and in this respect he was a Lamb slain from the beginning though offered in the latter days of the World because the Covenant immediately from the fall of man took place and God looked upon him by virtue of this Covenant as our surety and required all of him Vse 4. It is a mighty ground of Faith that all shall be performed for if these glorious persons could break Covenant with you yet they will not break one with another therefore surely 1 on Gods part all his promises unto Christ shall be made good every knee shall bow taken him all his enemies shall become his footstool all the persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down and the stone without hands shall fill the earth and the Mountain of the Lord shall be exalted upon the top of all the
Covenant there is an oath made by God the Father to Christ and there is an oath also made to us there is an oath made unto Christ and therefore he is said to be made a Priest by a Covenant oath Psal 110.4 and the oath to us Heb. 6.17 18. Who are heirs of promise that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie c. God having taken up unchangeable counsels concerning this Covenant he did therefore to shew the Immutability of his Counsel confirm it by an oath and being so engaged he cannot go back though that be true also because he is faithful and cannot deny himself Yet because his counsel was unchangeable and he did never intend to alter his Covenant for ever therefore he did swear that he might shew how much his heart was in it and that he did never intend to change it but his counsel in it was unchangeable And this Doctrine I do the rather pitch upon in opposition to the licentious tenent of the Antinomians from the former Doctrine The Covenant of grace is made with Christ and he has undertaken to perform all duties required of us and bear all the curse for us as he was our surety therefore say they all is required of Christ and nothing of us and so though we walk never so loosly and corruptly yet God will require all at his hands and while Christ doth not fail the Covenant on our part can never be broken Indeed this is a truth that God has laid help upon one that is mighty and he does expect all at Christs hand because he can never fail the Covenant cannot be broken for he is the surety thereof but yet we must remember withall that we come under the same Covenant with Christ and we in our place are bound unto the same obedience and so far as we come short we sin and may be charged with unfaithfulness before God though this shall never break the Covenant nor be imputed unto a man to his destruction because this Covenant has a surety yet as the Covenant with the first Adam bound all his posterity unto the same duty so does the Covenant made with the second Adam also only a man might have broken the first Covenant for himself though he could not break it for all mankind but under the second Covenant a man cannot break the Covenant for himself so as not to be capable of mercy upon repentance because the second Adam is the surety thereof 2. The Reasons why it was necessary that the Covenant of Grace should be made with all the faithful and not with Christ only as their head are Reason 1 1. To answer those great ends why God will deal with man in a Covenant way 1 The Lord will enter into Covenant that he may declare his glory not only in a way of goodness but in a way of faithfulness In the Creation the Lord did shew forth much power and wisdom and in the Law much holiness But there was no way to manifest his faithfulness Mic. 7.20 but by Covenant The Lord hath chosen you above all people that you might know that he is the Lord the faithful God And Rom. 15.8 9. there is the truth of God to the Jews herein manifested and the mercy of God to the Gentiles who were strangers and not before taken into Covenant so that it is hereby the Lord doth gloriously manifest an Attribute and that which shall manifest an Attribute must be no small matter and therefore when the Lord doth shew his power he doth create the Heavens and the Earth and lays the beams of his Chambers in the waters raiseth such a roof as the Heavens and lays such a foundation as the earth and settles it upon nothing if he will shew his love he will give his Son and if his grace he will pardon sin and if his holiness he will give a Law if his mercy to the vessels of mercy give them Heaven a kingdom of joy and glory and if his wrath he will make Hell So that whatever the Lord hath done in the world is for the manifestation of himself and that which shall make manifest any Attribute of God to the World must needs be some great thing It is only this entering into Covenant that hath manifested the faithfulness of God he had not been else known to be a faithful God unto the World as Exod. 3.6 says the Lord By the name Jehovah I was not known to them that is as a God fulfilling of the promises So by the name of a God faithful and true he had not been known but in reference to the Covenant and the faithfulness of God was so much the more manifested by this Had the Lord only entered into Covenant with Christ he keeping the Covenant and yielding obedience to it the faithfulness of God had not been put to that stress and trial as it hath been now that the Covenant is made with man and he unsteady therein and does transgress it and forget the Covenant of his God and yet that the Lord should towards him remember his holy Covenant still and our unfaithfulness not make the faithfulness of God of none effect and the people of God therefore notwithstanding all their unfaithfulness to cast themselves upon the Covenant of God and the promises thereof as David did 2 Sam. 23.5 and his words yet to be found as it were tryed words Psal 12.6 The words of the Lord are pure words tryed as silver seven times Psal 12.6 c. The fire that tries these words was that of affliction and when a man is brought into a streight and then casts himself upon a promise and thereby has experience of the truth and faithfulness of God therein then it is said to be tryed and all the people of God have had experience of it so often that there is no dross to be found in it no more than can be conceived to be in gold and silver purified seven times 2. The Lords intention was to honour man also and it 's one of the greatest and highest dignities that the Lord hath put upon his people Jer. 13.11 to bind them unto himself for a name and a glory and Deut. 26.18 19. the Lord did avouch them to be his people to make them high above all people and therefore the staff of beauty mentioned in Zach. 11.10 is the Covenant between God and his people I brake my staff of beauty that I might break my Covenant which I made with all the people c. and it is a Covenant of friendship a Covenant of marriage and in all this there is an honour and a kind of equality and it 's the ground of all the honour that the Lord doth put upon us for our union with Christ is grounded upon our Covenant with God Had the Lord taken Christ into Covenant with himself only he had indeed honoured his Son but not his Saints but now to make them
the greatest trials all true friends love most forsake not one another the fire burns hottest in Winter by an Antiperistasis God found Israel as Grapes in the Wilderness saw her in her blood and that was the time of love Cant. 1.13 my Love is as a bundle of Myrrh which is bitter yet he shall lye between my breasts all true love is like wild-fire the more you cast water upon it it will flame the more Cant. 8.6 Many waters cannot quench it true Lovers will bear any afflictions one for another in all their afflictions he is afflicted and when his Children are persecuted he sayes why persecutest thou me Let God saith Ambrose turn the adversaries of the Church against me and â—quench their thirst with my blood I had rather sayes Bernard men should murmur against â—me than against God The soul that loves God is willing to undergo any reproach for God and be dishonoured so God may be honoured And there is also the sweetest communion between friends opening their hearts one to another and each striving that they may exceed The Lords heart is contracted towards other men his heart is straitned he cannot discover himself to them but there is a secret of his Counsel and a secret of his providence the one is in the heart and the other upon the Tabernacle of those that are in Covenant and they pour out their whole hearts also to the Lord as Hannah did and â—ly Lord all my desires are before thee they keep nothing back and there is the fullest â—ommunication the Lord gives up all that he has unto such a soul Lev. The High-Priest was not to marry a Harlot nor a Widow and he shall inherit 〈◊〉 things I will be his God all that is in God is as truly thine for thy good as if thou hadst infinite wisdom and power and holiness in thy own hand and the soul gives up all unto God his love and his joy and fear c. for God will not marry a Harlot that hath any reserve from him but he will have all the strength of the soul the Apostle saies they gave themselves up to the Lord their bodies were the Lords Rom. 12.1 5. God and the soul know not how to live asunder tell my Beloved that I am sick of Love and as Augustin saith after the death of his friend Nebridius that he was in a streight desiring to dye because he knew not how to live by halves yet he was willing to live that his friend might not wholly dye but might yet live in part even in him And truly though relations amongst men be notions in a great measure and their affections do not answer them and fill them up yet with God they are not so but there is something still that fully answers every relation wherein he stands unto you and whereas your relations here are but for the time of this life it is but till God shall part us by death relations unto the Lord are eternal and it is entring into this Covenant that does invest thee with these relations It is also to this Covenant that all the promises are annexed they do all meet as lines in this center and therefore till a man be in Covenant he is not an heir of the Promise we that believe are Abrahams seed Gal. 4. and heirs of the promise if once by entring into Abrahams Covenant you become his seed then all the promises are yours but never till then for before all the curses of the first Covenant were thy due but not any one promise of the second Covenant belongs to thee which is the Covenant under which Abraham and David and all the Saints do stand and by which they hold their happiness at this day for it is the inheritance that is by promise now there is no way to be made blessed with faithful Abraham and to attain the sure mercies of David the blessing of the new Covenant but by this for they are all fruits of the Covenant and streams that flow from this Fountain 6. and Lastly The Covenant of Grace is the last Covenant that ever God does intend to make with mankind or tender to him 't is true he did make a former Covenant and you brake it and the Lord has made a second but he will never add a third Covenant Heb. 6.18 The Lord willing to shew the immutability of his Counsel c. God doth not change his Covenant because he has sworn the oath now binds him that he cannot change yet it was the unchangeableness of his purpose that he might manifest that to be the ground why he did it by an oath that we might be assured the mind of God will never change to eternity it is by this Covenant only that he intends to bring all his Sons to glory and he will never make another therefore as I may say of Christ This is the last way Salvation that ever God will take He that believes in him shall be saved but he that believes not in him shall be damned There is no hope of another the Lord has no more Sons in his Bosom to bestow And as these be the last Ordinances and therefore in the Lords-supper you shew forth the Lords death till he come so it 's here it 's the last Covenant that ever God will make and if you do not accept of this and like the terms of it you can never have the Lord to become your God in Covenant for ever Now it will be said What should we do and what is required on our part that we should enter into Covenant with the Lord All Covenants must be by mutual consent and out of choice and election and therefore some do derive the word in Hebrew signifying a Covenant from a verb which signifies to chuse because a Covenant must be an act of choice and therefore there must be something done on our part though God offer the Covenant we must accept it and that we may do the duty on our part it 's a work of almighty power Ezec. 20.37 and I will bring you into as the word signifies I will make you to come into the bond of the Covenant Now when the Lord in this Covenant is pleased to put forth the grace of it in the day of his power there are these three things that he does work the soul to wherein our entring into Covenant doth consist answerable to these three expressions 1 Jer. 11.2 Hearken to and hear the words of the Covenant a man doth learn and generally observe the terms of the Covenant upon what terms God offers a Covenant unto him 2 That in 2 Chron. 30.8 Give the hand to the Lord which is a token and an expression of a mans free and full consent to it when he does understand it there is a mighty power inlightning the understanding and bringing about and inclining the will to consent to it 3 Joshua 24.23 Incline your hearts unto the Lord or take
11.5 as the Lord says Obey my voice according to all that I command thee so shall you be my people and I will be your God and I will perform the oath that I swore to your Fathers and the Prophet did answer Amen O Lord c. so should our souls do take heed of the treachery that is in your spirits that you behave not your selves unfaithfully in the Covenant for though it is true that the Covenant cannot be broken by your unfaithfulness because the Lord hath laid help upon one that is mighty who is the surety of your Covenant yet remember that Covenant-breaking is a great aggravation of every sin on your parts and there is a quarrel of the Covenant that the Lord will certainly avenge and the stripes even of a God in Covenant are terrible even our God is a consuming fire Lev. 20.25 Vse 2 § 2. Having entred into Covenant with the Lord let me now exhort you to make Conscience to keep it let thy heart be faithful and stedfast in the Covenant It is that which the Lord requires of all those that do enter into Covenant with him Exod. 19.5 If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant you shall be unto me a peculiar treasure Mal. 3.17 my Jewels above all people in the world therefore being taken into Covenant he doth expect you should observe the breach of it and be careful to avoid it 1. From the nature of a Covenant and the ends thereof it is vinculum conservandae fidei the great bond and engagement that men lay upon themselves for the being faithful in the promises that they make each to other And therefore Ezech. 20.37 it is called the bond of the Covenant because by it a man is bound unto the terms thereof and therefore if men keep not their Covenants it destroys their end and makes them of none effect and it is an obligation that a man takes and lays upon himself by his own consent for every Covenant must be free and voluntary Voluntas est spontanea the will is most free And therefore it being free and voluntary afterwards for us to recede and go back is the greater abomination Ezek. 17.18 He despised the Oath by breaking the Covenant after he had given his hand and therefore they say Let us bind our selves in an everlasting Covenant Jer. 50.5 never to be forgotten And for a man to be unsteady and depart from his ingagement in which he hath freely bound himself is the greater evil but always Covenants have amongst men been counted sacred and nature has taught men to keep them inviolable if it had been but a mans Covenant Gal. 3.18 no man would disannul or add thereunto and it was looked upon as the binding that men could not go back from although it were never so much against their hearts to keep it it is sanctissimum humani pectoris bonum Seneca de benefic l. 5. to 10. and therefore perfidi lege Aegyptiorum capite plectebantur quòd duplici tenerentur scelere quòd pietatem in Deos violarent fidem inter homines tollerent Diodor. Sic. l. 1. to 6. Tholos de rep l. 8. Perfidious persons were by the law of the Egyptians beheaded because they were guilty of a double crime impiety towards God and unfaithfulness to man Now if there be so much respect unto Covenants between man and man how sacred should the Covenant be between God and man the holy Covenant 2. It is a Covenant made unto God and there is no going back for 1 God knows it if he falsifie the Covenant in the least God will find it out There is a great deal of falseness of heart within us this way Our righteousness is like unto the morning dew and as an early cloud we promise and go back from our purposes and promises and our purposes are broken off we repent and repent of our repentance we vow Prov. 20 25. and after our vows we make enquiry we come out of Sodom and yet with Lot's wife we look back we are brought out of Egypt and yet our hearts turn back into Egypt again Now our Covenant being made with God he will observe it though the treachery of our Spirits be carried never so secretly and therefore Psal 44.21 the Psalmist says God would search it out If we have forgot thy name and stretched out our hands to any strange God God will find it out for he knows the secrets of our hearts and this Covenant is a Marriage Covenant and therefore the Lord looks upon the breaches of it with a jealous eye which is exceeding quick-sighted there is no disguising of ones self from a true Lover he observes every motion and out-going of the heart and will not admit the least deviation from the royal Law of Love And our God is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity he trys the heart and the reins by him actions are weighed 2 God hath declared that he hates Covenant-breaking and unsteadiness of spirit therein and he will certainly punish it There is not only the mercy of the Covenant but there is the quarrel of the Covenant I 〈◊〉 â—eal with thee says the Lord as thou hast done Lev. 36.25 Ezech. 16.59 for thou hast despised the Oath in brâ—â—â—ng the Covenant That is he would deal with them in judgment as they had dealt with him in a way of sinning Quis miles a regibus hostibus stipendium captat nisi planè transfuga desertor Tert. de praescript c. 12. For a man that is a subject to one king to be a Pensioner to an enemy we judge it very hateful amongst men that wear the Livery and take the Wages of one Master and do the work of another A subject to Christ and a pensioner to Satan is exceeding hateful to the Lord. And therefore when the Lord would express the worse sort of sinners the Apostate Jews that did joyn with Antiochus the Vile Dan. 11.30 Jer. 34.18 he calls them those that forsake the holy Covenant God will surely avenge the breach of humane Covenants as we see in the story of Zedekiah because he falsified his oath he had sworn by God much more will he avenge the holy Covenant when that is broken by any and therefore it being a Covenant made unto God there is no dallying it is one of the great things of God and if we despise it and cast it behind our back the wrath of God will surely overtake us 3. We have the highest patterns for our imitation the glorious Angels they abide in the truth they never left their first habitation they have alwaies kept their Covenant and they stand before God to this day in the Covenant of their Creation And consider your own Prayers Tert. you do pray that the will of God may be done by you on earth as it is in Heaven do not therefore perseverante iracundia orationem perdere will you
heed lest any of us fall short of the grace of God and lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God Heb. 3.12 For there is nothing that the heart of man is more prone to than backsliding and therefore we had need be often admonished to keep firm to the Covenant under which we stand for there is not the greatest cheat in the World that is in falseness and unstedfastness like our hearts wherefore we need many bonds upon it and should have regard to the cords of love that God ties us with to himself in this Covenant 2. We had need be exhorted to it from the slothfulness and heedlesness of our spirits in whatever is good though we be bound unto it by so many bonds the Lord hath always respect unto his Covenant and we desire he should do so now we had need to have respect always to the Covenant and to be continually minded that we forget not what the Lord our God requires of us as 2 King 10.31 it was a brand upon Jehu That he took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord his God Heedlesness in a mans carriage to God is a high provocation to walk with God at an adventure without respect unto the Covenants and great ingagements in which you stand to God Lev. 26.23 Hos 7.8 this is to be towards the Lord as a Cake not turned which is baked only on one side and no more therefore we had need have the more frequent admonition to take heed lest any man fall short of the grace of God we ought to give the more diligent heed lest by any means we let slip the things that we have heard and had need to be warned to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart and to desire of the Lord that he would fix and unite our hearts to fear his name as the Psalmist doth Psal 86.11 Let these things quicken any secure Soul that goes on in any way of disobedience unto God for thou wilt pay dear at last for all thy wanderings from the paths of this Covenant and thou shalt experience it an evil and a bitter thing to draw back from God 3. That you may be quickened to seek unto the Lord for Grace to keep this Covenant and may acknowledge before the Lord that the stability and eternity of the second Covenant lies not in us nor in the observation of it for as much as in us lies we do break it continually but from the eternal love of God and the inseparable union between Christ and us and the Lord having made him the surety of the Covenant therefore it stands but were we left unto our selves we should break it every day and every sin in us would spend all the grace of the Covenant as it did in Adam but there is without us a fountain for a supply for truly the stability of the Covenant doth not proceed from our part in the Covenant as the Lord says in Ezekiel Ezek. 16.61 that the mercies he would give them should not be by their Covenant but all proceed from his and therefore Hos 10.12 it is sow in righteousness and reap in mercy and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ore Hos 10.12 in the mouth of mercy that is according to the measure of mercy The mercies and blessings of the Covenant God doth dispense not according to the proportion of our righteousness and stability of the Covenant but according to the proportion of his own grace manifested there and there is no argument that is more effectual amongst men than this As one came unto a Prince and desired him to perform a Covenant and ingagement that he had made unto them which he refusing being in his Robes the Soldier touching his Purple said Imperator hac veste indutum mentiri nefas est O Emperor it is not lawful for him who his clothed with this Robe to lye 4. We had need be continually minded of the Covenant that we may fear those sins that do come nearest a Covenant-breaking It is true there is no sin of a Godly man that can break his Covenant as I have already shewed you but yet there are some sins that come nearer to Covenant-breaking than others do and in this respect are to be looked upon as sins of a very hanious nature and of a deeper dye c. This is a rule That which doth manifest the most unsoundness of heart that doth break the Covenant for the condition of the Covenant is that a mans heart should be perfect with God Gen. 17.2 And it is one of these sorts or I may say both these sorts of sinning that do come nearest thereunto 1 when a man doth sin against light and doth it deliberately and with a high hand for Eo magis peccatum quo magis voluntarium The will is the measure of all sins The more of the Will there is in any evil the greater the sin is and therefore it is made the measure of the sin against the holy Ghost Heb. 10.26 it is sinning wilfully after a man hath received the knowledge of the truth and in this David came nearest to breaking this Covenant 1 King 15.5 He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Vriah David had many other sins lay upon him and he says his iniquities were gone over his head and as a sore burden for him to bear but the Lord said he turned not aside from the Lord in any thing but this because it was a studied plotted sin committed against knowledge and therefore with a high hand thus to sin did manifest the greatest unfaithfulness of Davids spirit towards God that he did show all the days of his life 2 When a man walks on in a sin and lies in it a long time together unrepented of and can act it again and again and it is as a thread drawn through the course of a mans life it comes nearest to an unsound heart and that denominates a man an Adulterer or an Adulteress as James 4.4 as we see in Solomon he lived a great while in these evils and though he were beloved of the Lord yet his heart was turn'd away from following the Lord and he said to his heart Go to now and I will provoke thee with wine Now his lying and living in sin it is true did not break the Covenant between God and him yet it was the most dangerous step to an unsound heart and therefore came nearest to breaking the Covenant A godly man cannot lye and live and dye in any known sin but he may live in it long and be continually insnared and turn away to folly but the more it is thus with thee the nearer thou dost come unto Covenant-breaking with the Lord. But what shall I do to keep
all my goods I will give the tenth to thee and this stone shall be Gods house and I will build here an Altar Gen. 28.22 and this vow Jacob had forgotten at his return and the Lord sent affliction upon him to mind him of his vow the ravishing of Dinah and the horrible rage committed upon the Shechemites and yet Jacob still forgot it but the Lord in mercy put him in mind of it Arise Jacob and go to Bethel and build an Altar unto the God that appeared unto thee when thou fledst from the face of thy Brother Esau Gen. 35.1 And it was usual with the people of God of old when they did pray for mercy to vow duty Psal 116.12 13. What shall I render unto the Lord I will take the cup of salvation so it was in their Feasts and sacrifices of Thanksgiving they had a cup of salvation a grace-cup and I will pay my vows unto the Lord that I spake with my mouth when I was in trouble and so Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 1 Sam. 1.11 11. If thou wilt look upon the affliction of thine Hand-maid and remember me and give me a man-child then will I give him to the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no Rasor come upon his head and she did fulfill her vow the Lord hath heard my petition I asked of him and his name was called Samuel asked of God therefore I lent him or returned him to the Lord as long as he lived 2. In respect of the relation which this Covenant doth bring upon you and in regard of the duties of this Relation Now there is a fourfold relation which is the necessary result of this Covenant Esay 9.6 Heb. 2. 1 Hereby Christ becomes your Father and therefore he is called the everlasting Father and Heb. 2. we are said to be his children and he is said to see his seed and prolong his dayes upon earth Now Christ becomes your Father as he is the second Adam and that is by Covenant as well as by an Image and therefore this Covenant binds you to honour him in this relation Mal. 1.6 If I be your Father where is my honour Where is mine Image you ought to bear upon you What impression of my likeness is there upon you What beam of glory do you carry about you in all your conversation Are you denominated by the world to have my holiness upon you to be merciful as I am merciful to be conformable to my law in all things 2 It is a matrimonial Covenant Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever and the Lord Jesus becomes your Husband and his Church is therefore called his Spouse the Lambs Wife and he requires faithfulness and fruitfulness that you should be unto him and to none other for the Lord will have no Harlot nor barren Spouse she must not lift up her Eyes upon any other in any wanton love her desire must be to him alone 3 It is a Covenant of Friendship and so by this Covenant Abraham was taken into friendship with God and is called by God himself Abraham my friend and Christ saith I have not called you servants but I have called you friends for I have shewed you all things that I have received of my Father now if thou hast a friend thou must behave thy self friendly thou must impart thy heart and thy secrets and have no reserves from thy friend thou must have the same friends and the same enemies with him else never pretend friendship if any other person come at any time in competition with thy friend thou must be his at all times In foederibus eosdem amicos inimicos habere solent foederati In Covenants the Federates have the same friends and enemies Friendship is offensive and defensive c. we have the greatest obligation to God and 't is our duty to stick close to him at all times and this friendship is in a special manner tryed in adversity When he is a bundle of myrrh he shall lye all night between my breasts Cant. 1.13 and our choice should be the reproaches of Christ and the waters that do quench other fire do by an antiperistasis become oyl to this and make it to flame the more Cant. 8.6 it is Coals of Juniper which do burn the hottest the opposition that a Saint meets with in the world doth but raise his love to Christ the higher 4 It is a Covenant in which Christ becomes our Lord and we his servants for he is the Lord that bought us and therefore it is Pauls honour to be called the servant of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 6.19 as by the Covenant that Christ made with his Father he is become the Fathers servant though he be the man Gods fellow or Deo proximus next to God Esay 42.1.6 so we also by our Covenant are become servants of Christ therefore say I must do his work only and be only at his command no man can serve two Masters much less may he serve Christ and divers Lusts and pleasures it is an abominable thing for a man to take wages of Christ and do the work of his enemy Satan for no man can serve two Masters therefore from him I am to receive directions and mine eyes are to be upon him as the Eye of a Servant is unto the hand of his Master and of a Maiden to the hand of her Mistress a mans guidance is from him and to him a man must give an account and from him receive wages and expect a probation and therefore servants nihil suum habere possunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot Saluti dominorum non debent suam anteponere says the Law servants have nothing of their own and therefore must make their Masters will theirs Herodot has a story of the servants of Xerxes qui exorta tempestate in mare desiliunt ut domini sui saluti consulant who in a tempest leaped into the Sea to save their Master c. Malo in nos murmur hominum quà m in Deum I had rather mens murmurs should be against us than against the Lord said devout Bernard It was Luthers meat and drink his constant diet to be reproached for Christ All these relations are the immediate result of the Covenant and a man should improve the Covenant to inforce upon himself the duties that this relation brings with it what should keep a woman true to her Husband but this The Covenant of God is upon me and what should keep the Nazarites from cutting their hair and drinking of wine but the vow of God upon them and they would not break it So that the Covenant should be the great ingagement unto duty 3. Your hearts should be alwaies in such a frame as to receive the mercies of the Covenant for the Lord doth betroth the soul to him in righteousness and in mercy Mercy indeed hath a double rise either it is the issue of providence or else of
And this is the Covenant that I will make with them I will be their God Jer. 31.33 and they shall be my people And what it is for to have Jehovah for your God The happiness of it you have heard that as you are wholly his so he also is become wholly yours all that is within you is for God and all that is in God is for you and for your good And he is your God as he is Christs God for there the Covenant-right doth first begin he is my father and your father my God and your God c. 2 He doth in this Covenant take you to be unto himself a peculiar people whom he hath separated unto himself above all people to be unto him for a name and for a praise throughout the earth as Exod. 19.5 You shall be unto me a peculiar treasure above all the people of the earth and he doth say they are his portion the Lords portion is his people and Israel is the lot of his inheritance though all the earth be his yet he hath set his heart upon them and they are dear and precious ones 3 By this Covenant the earth stands that all the creatures may serve the Saints those that are in Covenant with the Lord it is the curse of the first Covenant that shall set on fire the whole frame of the world at the last and great day all the creatures serve the Saints as they do serve God for Christ hath bought the services of all the creatures and he hath in his house vessels of dishonour as well as for honour and even the Devils and wicked men bow to him and they shall worship one day at the Saints feet and shall know that God loves them and God makes use of these vessels of dishonour to fan and purifie his people 2 King 21.13 I will wipe them as a man doth a dish and I will shave them with a rasor that is hired even the King of Assyria And some vessels of honour God uses for the good of his Saints and so do the Angels as well as all other creatures serve their graces or their necessities they are ministring spirits to the heirs of salvation 4 By this Covenant all their sins are pardoned and God remembers them no more the foundation of pardon is not only laid in the satisfaction of Christ the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 price that he hath laid down but also in the free grace of God in making of the Covenant and in the gracious acceptation of the payment of the surety for you see that God is in Christ reconciling the world there is Covenant grace that runs along with all the fruits of the death of Christ so that even Meritum Christi habet in se gratiam invisceratam The merit of Christ hath grace imbowelled it 5 It is a Covenant of Communion for it is conjugal and in it is the nearest Union and Communion that can be between creatures it 's a Covenant of friendship and the proper effect of friendship is fellowship 2 Cor 6.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will dwell in them and walk amongst them which is a high degree of condescension There are two ways of Gods communicating himself the one is infinite and to us inconceivable so God doth in the mystery of his eternal generation communicate himself unto his son and as the Godhead doth communicate it self unto the man Christ Jesus in a personal union so there is a communication of himself unto the Saints and the highest communication that is is in a Covenant way there is but little that God doth impart of himself unto all the creatures in comparison of what God doth unto his Saints there is more of his wisdom holiness goodness and all his attributes that is to be seen in these than in all the world besides 't is the Saints alone that can shew forth the vertues of him that hath called them 1 Pet. 2.9 6 By this Covenant he doth dispense Grace and Glory 1 For Grace To make room for that in the Soul He will take away the heart of stone and he will put his law into their hearts Jer. 31.33 And that grace shall teach them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts c. And 2 for Glory hereafter that also is dispensed by this Covenant for the inheritance is not by the Law not by the first but by the second Covenant they only that are heirs of promise are the persons that are ordained to Glory and they only are the sons of the Resurrection their services only are accepted of God and all the glory that he hath in this inferior world comes in by them and it is whatever they do even the meanest services not only their religious works but their civil and natural works which they do out of necessity of nature yet having a tincture of the blood of this Covenant upon them they are in order to an eternal reward and whereas to all other men may be said to what purpose is the multitude of your services Summo dedecore vos afficiam I accept them not Mal. 2.3 I will spread dung upon your faces that is the dung of your fasts and of your solemn services they shall make you but the more hateful and abominable and vile and become a dunghill before God that 's all the fruit you shall have of your religious duties But now men that are in Covenant they can say We will be abundant in the work of the Lord for we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. last 2 Chron. 13.5 2. Have an eye unto the stability of the Covenant it is a Covenant of Salt Sal est duraturae amicitiae symbolum Salt is a symbol of lasting friendship and signifies here that the Lord will never turn away from them to do them good Jer. 32.10 it is a Covenant that we can never break because the righteousness thereof can never be spent And the stability of the Covenant lies not only in the love and mercy of God that made it but 1 in the faithfulness of God who is ingaged and cannot go back for he is not as man that he should repent Dan. 9 4. and therefore in the Scripture he is every where stiled the faithful God that keeps Covenant and mercy for ever and the Apostle says God is not unfaithful to forget your work and labour of love God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins for God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able It is said Mic. 7. last He will perform his mercy to Abraham and his truth to Jacob and he is ingaged by a double Oath That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye we may have strong consolation 1 By an oath to Christ for he is made a Priest by an oath Psal 110 3. 2 By an oath unto us and therefore it is
thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generation for an everlasting Covenant to be a God to thee and thy Seed after thee SECT I. That Children are taken into their Parents Covenant § 1. THE subject we have in hand is the Doctrine of the Covenant of Grace the new and better Covenant and therein having shewed the Person that made the Covenant with man and spoken of the free Grace of God which was the Fountain from whence this Covenant of Grace did flow we came in the next place to consider the Persons with whom this Covenant was made and they are set down in a threefold subordination 1 First and immediately with Christ the second Adam 2 In him with all the Faithfull 3 In them with their Seed And this last is the head we are now to enter upon having laid these two grounds 1 That the Covenant that God made with Abraham is the same Covenant that all the Faithfull whether Jews or Gentiles stand under to the worlds end Rom. 4.16 therefore is Abraham called the Father of us all though of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is cognatio specialis quae coram Deo locum habet Deo nos gratos reddit Beza All Believers have a special Cognation to God by virtue of Abrahams Covenant and this is not barely by imitation of his Faith which the Apostle Paul asserts vers 12. of those that walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham but there is â— blessed resultance from this that a man is thereby translated into the Covenant of Abraâ—am and there is no distinction of persons for there is neither Jew nor Greek Gal. 3.29 neither bond â—or free neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus Ad jus adoptionis acquirendum vel minuendum nullum discrimen sancta est in Christo aequalitas quae unitas Par. Par. As to the right of Adoption there is no inequality all are in Christ equal All therefore that are Christs are Abrahams seed and heirs according to the Promise Gal. 4.28.31 we as Isaac are the children of Promise we are not the children of the bond-woman but of the free 2 Though in the manner of the Administration of this Covenant there be a great deal of difference from what it was in ancient times yet as to the substance of the Covenant the persons that are foederati in it are the same and taken in upon the same grounds and shall be so to the end of the world and therefore as the seed were taken into Covenant with their father the same way will the Lord dispense the Covenant to the end of the world that if he take the Parent into Covenant he will take the seed with him and therefore their children are called the Sons of the Covenant Act. 3.25 because it 's as a Birth-Priviledge and belongs unto them as they are taken into their Fathers Covenant And this the Lord says shall be the way in which he will dispense his Covenant for ever Act. 2.39 that no man may say this was a peculiar priviledge unto Abraham and his seed onely for Abraham is made the Father of many Nations Rom. 4.12 the Father of the Circumcision and of the Uncircumcision and the Promise is to you and your seed and unto them that are afar off as Gentiles unconverted are said to be that are yet strangers unto the Church of God Ephes 2.17 and the Priviledges thereof even to as many as in all ages the Lord shall call And these two grounds being laid this Covenant made with Abraham will give us ground to observe this point Doctrine That the Children of believing Parents in the Covenant of Grace are taken into the same Covenant with their Parents the Covenant is to them and to their seed and therefore their Posterity may well be stiled the Children or Sons of the Covenant A point it is of great concernment and therefore to be contended earnestly for 1. As that which doth exceedingly advance the Grace of God unto Parents and makes much for their Consolation that are Believers that not only the Lord doth extend mercy to them but to their seed as he did here extend it to Abrahams seed by which God exceedingly exalts his free Grace and so it 's made an argument of special Love unto Parents Deut. 4.37 Because he loved thy Parents therefore he chose their seed after them Mercy unto their Posterity is from the Love of God unto Parents Now as it is a special Grace of the second Covenant that wherever Believers come unto all people where they live they shall be a blessing Gen. 12.2 the word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esto benedictio so Montanus we render it according to the Septuagint Thou shalt be a blessing but as Aynsworth has well observed this manner of speaking in the Hebrew is very vehement and emphatical noting Gods commanding the blessing according to the Expression Psal 133.3 For there the Lord commanded the Blessing even life for evermore c. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as dew from the Lord c. They shall be as dew the cause of a Nations flourishing and to a decaying Nation they shall be the root and support the holy seed shall be the substance thereof Isa 16.13 how much more shall the Grace of the Covenant be exalted in reference to their Posterity for their consolation in that they are nearer and dearer to them than any other can be and therefore they shall be a blessing to them and this will be much heightned unto them by this that while they were under the Covenant of Works while unstranslated they did convey unto them the Curse of the first Covenant and the Lord doth threaten that he will visit the iniquity of the Parents upon the Children Now it were a great terrour to a man that while he is under the first Covenant his iniquity shall be visited upon his Children if when he is translated into the second Covenant the grace of the Covenant should no way extend unto them and â—â—range it were that all the creatures coming under the Covenant of the Saints are by tâ—â—s means preserved in their being and attain many benefits that by reason of the curse of the first Covenant they should never have attained if amongst all the rest their children should have no benefit by their fathers Covenant and they which are nearest to them should only be excluded 2. This is one of the great Arguments that the Scripture useth to draw men in to Believe because not only they shall have benefit by it but their Posterity there is a double use that I find the Apostle makes of that argument 1 To the Children as a means to bring them in repent ye therefore and be converted for you are the children of the Covenant which God made with your fathers there is mercy in
a special manner offered to you and unto you first because you are the children of the Covenant and therefore have in a special manner a right to it 2 To the Parents Act. 2.38 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins for the promise is to you and your children not only you shall have benefit by it but your children upon whom you have brought a curse and therefore were not parentes sed peremptores as Bernard speaks of all men in reference to their children in a state of nature they also shall have benefit by it and by your laying hold of the Covenant be brought in under the same Covenant with you your children that are now children of the curse they shall become children of the Covenant Now as it should be a great argument to keep men from sin that therein they wrong their Posterity it 's a Treason that taints the blood so it should be a great engagement unto all Parents to come within the Covenant that the Grace of the Covenant might also be extended in them unto all their seed 3. This is the great and only difference that God hath put in his Word between the children of Believers within the Covenant of Grace and the seed of Strangers who are strangers to the Covenant that their children belong unto the Family of God and are own'd by God as such in a visible way whereas all the rest of the Families of the world that are Unbelievers belong to the Kingdom of Satan and are to be looked upon as without Deut. 4.37 and therefore Deut. 4.37 the Lord chose their seed after them it 's not spoken of an Election to salvation but there is an Election to Priviledges as well as to Life and yet both flow from a special Love for there is but a two-fold Kingdom of God and of the World and of these there is a two-fold God there is Satan the God of this world and all they that are in this Kingdom have for their God the God of this world but there is a Kingdom of God and all that are in that Kingdom the Lord has taken to be his people and they have in a peculiar manner the Lord for their God as Israel had the Name of God call'd upon them and they only had the means of salvation for salvation is of the Jews and the Lord did take them as his peculiar Treasure and did avouch them to be his people above all people of the earth they were under more glorious Administrations under a peculiar Providence and care above all people of the earth and yet many of them nay the greatest part of them wicked and but a remnant amongst them according to the Election of grace and it were apparently to put the seed of Abrahams faith into a far worse condition in respect of their posterity than the seed of Abraham according to the flesh were when the Apostle in respect of the adoption made no difference between Jew and Greek bond and free And this also is the only ground as I may call it for though there be other arguments given yet they all have their stress from this and depend upon it for applying of Ordinances unto the children of Believers and therein to put a difference between them and the children of Heathen and this is not a ground of our making but of the Lords the Lord takes Abraham into Covenant and his seed also Gen. 17.7 and having taken them into Covenant he doth command him to apply the seal of the same Covenant unto them the command of God was the bond of applying the seal but the ground of the command lay in their interest in the Covenant being taken in together with their parents and so whereas it 's true as Tertullian saith fiunt non nascuntur Christiani men are made Rom. 1.2 3. not born Christians it is not a birth-priviledge such as comes upon them by nature for by nature one man has no more right to an Ordinance than another for there is no difference all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God but what they have not by nature Chrysostome in Rom. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they may yet receive by grace as a birth-priviledge to which by their fathers Covenant they were after a sort born as the posterity of Abraham according to the flesh were 4. It 's the only ground that I know that Believers can have of the salvation of their children if they dye in their infancy I do not now speak of Gods secret counsel for the foundation of God stands sure having this seal The Lord knows who are his and what number he has belonging unto the Election of Grace amongst them that are afar off we know not secret things belong to God but we find no promise of salvation made unto any out of the visible Church of God salvation is of the Jews and 't is Gods promise that is to be the rule of our faith and the ground of our hope and not our counsel Joh. 4. Now if the children of believing parents be not taken into Covenant with their parents they have no more a promise of salvation than the children of a Pagan For as I told you this world is divided into two Kingdoms either the Kingdom of Christ or the Kingdom of Satan Col. 1.13 He has translated us out of the power of darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son Now as long as a person is a visible Member of the Kingdom of Christ and under a promise of salvation that the Lord will be his God I have no reason or ground out of the Word to question their election or salvation but rather in the judgment of charity grounded upon the Covenant to hope and believe or be perswaded of the same till they visibly manifest the contrary though there may be some Reprobates amongst them on the contrary though we know Christ gathers his Elect out of the Kingdom of Satan and therefore many of the Elect remain yet under his power yet I have no ground to hope of any particular person that he is elected of God being still under Satans Kingdom till he give some testimony of the contrary for either all infants dying in infancy must be saved or they must all be damned or else there must be a difference by grace put between them that are saved and them that are damned for in nature there is no difference Now what difference the Lord may put in his secret counsel we know not but there is no difference put in his word but that which is grounded on the Covenant under which they stand being taken into it together with their parents What ground had a Jew if his child died to hope its salvation but that God promised to be his God and the God of his seed also and the same ground has a Christian to hope the salvation
priviledge and therefore 't is said Gen. 48. of Jacob that he blessed Joseph and wherein did the blessing consist not so much upon Josephs person as upon his posterity and that was that the name of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob should be called upon his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh this is spoken only in reference to the Covenant and the benefits thereof which was to descend upon them from their Parents and it became their right because it was their Parents priviledge and therefore though they had other personal names Ephraim and Manasseh yet this was a name given them from their federal right and is called the blessing of Joseph in his childrens covenant-blessing for it is a conveying of the benefit of the covenant from Gods abundant grace not only to himself but to his posterity and so David looks upon it and admires the mercy 2 Sam. 7.18 19. Lord who am I and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet as if this were a small thing in thy sight O Lord thou hast spoke of thy servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of men O Lord for thy Word sake and according to thy own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant to know them It is therefore to manifest the extent of the grace of the second Covenant that God takes in their seed and gracious Parents do exceedingly rejoyce therein in behalf of their Posterity and look upon it as a special priviledge and their childrens peculiar right 2. God has so ordered the eternal decree of Election that the great number of the Elect of God do proceed out of the loyns of his own people and therefore the Promises being but the indefinite expressions of his Dâ—crees they run to parents called and unto their children because the great number of them that shall be called are their children It 's true that God hath a seed of Grace that runs through the loyns of the wicked and the Lord will take Proselytes from amongst the Heathen and they shall be added to the Church but this is not the ordinary way but a more extraordinary way of salvation and very many of the children of believing parents within the covenant are wicked which we see in Cain Cham and Ishmael yet in their Posterity hath the Church of God been continued there is yet a Seth and a Sem and an Isaac in which their seed should be called and answerable to the Election of grace continued and this doth appear undeniably by this argument the visible Church of God is made up of Parents in covenant and of their seed and therefore while the Church of God was oeconomical and in families onely they were the families of those that were in covenant in which the Church was continued and after it did spread into a Nation they and their seed make up a Church unto God Now though there be many in the visible Church that are not ordained unto life for many are called but few are chosen and many shall seek to enter in at the strait gate and shall not be able c. yet the Church invisible is gathered out of the visible Church they are hid there amongst the Hypocrites and false-hearted men as wheat is hid amongst the chaffe now the Promises of God are suitable to his Decrees and the events answer unto both wherefore if the greatest part of the Elect proceed out of the loyns of a people in covenant as they do then the promises of the second covenant being but indefinite it was necessary that they should run unto them and to their seed upon whom if you look distributively there are many that shall perish yet if you look upon them collectively you can and may see the seed of the Lord is there and there are many amongst them that are ordained unto life and the persons upon whom God has set his everlasting love are amongst that number though we know not particularly who they are that 's a secret that the Lord has hid in himself 3. To shew his peculiar love to their seed Deut. 7.6 7 8. 10.15 therefore he will gather out of their seed a visible Church and if so he must make with their seed a marriage-covenant And therefore if any say Why doth not the Lord leave their children till they enter into covenant themselves and give testimony of their faith and conversion The reason is because God will make them a Church to himself and therefore will make a Church-covenant with them Now the children of believing parents are taken into a visible Church Deut. 4.37 Because the Lord loved your parents therefore he chose their seed after them There 's a two-fold election as there is a two-fold adoption an election to life and unto Church-priviledges it 's not an election to life that is there spoken of but as Zac. 2.7 the Lord shall yet chuse Jerusalem as he had rejected them and cast them off from a Church-state and called them Loammi so now he will chuse them again in reference to a Church-state And thus he is to chuse their children after them not unto life for that is grounded only upon his own love unto the persons of men but it 's spoken in reference to a Church-state which was grounded upon his love unto their parents therefore when parents were converted there was a Church in their house and the posterity and family was looked upon as a Church unto God and theirs was the Adoption the priviledges of sons externally belonged to them and God owned them for his above all other families in the whole earth now those that were taken into a Church-state unto them and their posterity there did belong a Church-covenant and that 's the meaning of Ezech. 16.8 I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine 4. This is the surest ground of a mans judgment in reference to persons whether it be a private Christian or a chosen Officer There are some persons to be admitted into the visible Church and there are some priviledges of the visible Church that are to be dispensed by judgment in the person that doth dispense or administer them for we are not sent to baptize all mankind nor to administer Sacraments and censures unto all mankind as we are sent to preach the Gospel neither are we to expect a satisfactory convincing ground that this person is inwardly and spiritually holy and savingly interessed in the covenant of grace for that we cannot infallibly judge of but though it cannot come under our judgment yet our judgment must not be blind charity we must take the rule of the word and keep close to it And what is the surest rule There are two that are known either the mans profession or else the promise of God in respect of the childs Church-state by the Fathers priviledge Now as to the first of these my judgment may be deceived and I may
administer it unto one that hath spiritually no right to it as we see in the Scripture the Apostles themselves were deceived but Gods promise in giving the children an interest in the fathers priviledge is a sure ground to go by more than any mans believing or profession in the world can be for himself and therefore a man is bound to believe that his seed is taken into covenant and that they do belong to the Election of grace and are truly justified sanctified adopted and accepted in Christ till they manifest the contrary and we have more than a negative ground for it that we know nothing to the contrary for we have a positive ground and that is the indefinite promise which we have cause to interpret in the most favourable sense and I am sure is a more certain ground for me to pass a judgment upon than any mans profession can be seeing that I know my judgment is not infallible in either but I may be deceived in reference to the person to whom it 's applied therefore consider that 1 Children while in their infancy are members of the visible Church of God 2 They have always been taken into membership in the same Church with their parents and accounted as of the same Church with them 1. Children while they are infants may be members of the visible Church of God before they come to years to be able to understand the nature of a Church or to consent unto the Duties unto which they are obliged in that relation and that will appear Luk. 18.16 Mar. 10.13 1 What children were those spoken of they were not children in meekness and harmlesness as some would have it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infants young children teneri adhuc ab uberibus pendentes pueruli Beza the same word is used of new-born babes 1 Pet. 2.2 and so much do the words also import 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he took them in his arms which notes that they were children in their infancy 2 What doth he say to these children he saith That the kingdom of heaven did belong to such what doth he mean by the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of Heaven is put for the Kingdom of Grace here in a visible Church or else for the Kingdom of Glory Mat. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and shall sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of heaven i. e. shall be added unto the Church upon Earth and shall enter into the Kingdom of glory when the children of the Kingdom of the Jews the natural branches born children by an external right shall be cast out And Mat. 16.19 I give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven it 's meant of the Kingdom of Grace here the Church and the Kingdom of Glory in Heaven for he gives him power to bind on earth and loose on earth and promises that it shall be ratified in Heaven but yet all Officers are for the visible Church and all their power is to be exercised in the visible Church and though it be for the good of the Elect the Church of the first-born the Church invisible yet that is not the proper place thereof but Officers are for the visible Church So then theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven that is not only they shall be saved and so fill up the Kingdom of glory but also they belong to the Kingdom of grace and the Subjects of this Kingdom here are members of the visible Church they are actually Subjects of this Kingdom 3 Neither doth he speak of these very individual children as a priviledge which belonged unto them alone he by his omniscience knowing them to be elected of God but he saith Of such as these are delivering it therefore as an ordinary rule of our judgment in the like case of all other children of parents in covenant unto the end of the world therefore children that are infants are members of the visible Church and therefore taken into a Church-covenant with their parents for by nature no man is a Church-member Eph. 2.12 but all strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel and men afar off for if any man were so by nature then all men by nature must be so therefore it 's a priviledge by grace that they are taken into their parents covenant and are members of the same Church with them 2. Children have been always taken into the same covenant with their parents and have been members of the same Church with them When the Lord made a covenant with Abraham he took in his family to be a Church when he took in the Jews he took in their children also to be unto him a holy and a peculiar people and when he did cast out the children of the Kingdom and did give them a bill of divorce removing the candlestick he did excommunicate and disinherit their children and when he takes the Gentiles into covenant also it is with them and with their seed in their generations and therefore the master of the family being converted salvation is come to his house and there is a Church in his house his family becomes of those of whom the visible Church is constituted for the Gentiles were grafted in as the Jews were broken off and that was in reference to a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and so were the Gentiles grafted into a Church-state for themselves and their posterity and the Lord has given us a rule for it Deut. 29.14 Deut. 29.14 15. when he enters into a Church-covenant with that people and with their little ones that they should be a people unto himself that is a Church unto God vers 15. Neither with you only do I make this covenant but also with him that is not here with us this day If you understand it of the Jews only this leaves to us these two things 1 That children are included in their fathers covenant though they be not of themselves able to restipulate 2 That it is the will of God it should not only be so at that time but in after-ages with them and their seed in their generations But if we understand by them that are not here this day all that shall be taken into the same covenant in time to come as it may be then it will leave a door open to bring in all the believing Gentiles and their seed to the end of the world Thus the Lord out of love unto the parents doth take not only them but their seed also into a visible Church that they may be a holy and a peculiar people unto himself 5. They that have a right of membership are to be admitted into the visible Church and to be looked upon as having a right Mat. 16.19 for the Lord has appointed the power of the Keys in his Church unto this end Church-power and authority is commonly expressed in Scripture by the name of Keys the sign being put for the thing signified and the ensign of authority for the
authority it self and this power is either Monarchical in Christ the Churches Head the only King and Law-giver to whom all power is given in heaven and earth Mat. 28.18 Rev. 3.7 He hath the key of the house of David or else it is Ministerial whether in the Church as some or in the Officers as others as in its proper subject I shall not now inquire whether in the Church radicaliter radically and in the Officers formaliter formally c. as some do speak but 1 the use of those Kyes is to bind and loose that is to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven either to receive men in or to cast men out for surely they that have authority to cast out have power to take in and it is an authoritative act to admit as well as to eject c. 2 It 's an act that is to be denied unto none that have right to admission if so the power of the Keys is abused for it is not used unto that end for which it was appointed by the Lord for all the Churches power is but ministerial and must be according to Christs order therefore as to cast them out that ought not to be cast out as the Pharisees did if any man confessed Christ he should be put out of the Synagogue Joh. 9.22 and Diotrephes Joh. 3.10 he cast them out of the Church and Antichrist Rev. 13.7 he cast them out no man should buy and sell that had not the mark of the beast and to keep them in that ought to be cast out as the incestuous Corinthian and Rev. 2.2 as to be able to bear them that are evil and not reject them is an abuse of Church-power so not to admit those that ought to be admitted and have a right to it is but an abuse of the same power 3 It 's a power therefore to be exercised with judgment 1 Cor. 5.12 we judge them that are within It 's true a judgment of certainty and infallibility it cannot be and therefore it 's commonly called a judgment of charity but yet that must be more than a good hope or some negative judgment that I judge so because I know nothing to the contrary there must be a good rule and something positive that must be the ground of this judgment it must be a judicious charity something there must be that may be a ground to build a judgment upon that a man may be able to say by this rule I admit this person and open Heaven to him and by this rule I do not admit of another Those that I cannot know to have a title to membership I cannot in faith by the power of the Keys admit therefore if it be done in faith it must be an act of judgment and I must have a ground to go by therein 4 In admission the Lord that has always loved variety has taken two ways some are in covenant by their own personal right and some have been taken into the Church by their parents right and as it were their birth-priviledge being born of parents in covenant as all the Church of the Jews were taken into a Church-covenant with their parents though they were not able to restipulate and therefore they are called the Children of the Kingdom those born in it others were men born out of the Church and as Proselytes were added thereunto Now the ground that a man must go by in admissions of the one and the other must be visible for they are admitted into the visible Church into the invisible Church their admission is an act of God only and by a work of faith which no men are imployed in therefore it must be something visible and so Christ says of infants Suffer them to come to me therefore it might be judged who those infants were of whom was the Kingdom of Heaven or else how should we know to whom this injunction is directed Suffer them to come to me and forbid them not Now there is a double ground of this judgment suitable to the condition there is the profession of the Adult and there is the parents covenant and Gods promise in men grown if they be admitted the ground of judgment is the mans profession Now in reference to an inward and spiritual right I may be deceived in both but I may make as true a judgment upon the one as upon the other nay I look upon the promises of God taking in the children into the parents covenant to be a far greater and surer ground of judgment in the one than any mans profession can be in the other so that the Lord will take them into covenant to shew his love to their parents and this shall be the ground of their being a visible Church of Christ and their being thus taken into covenant shall be the ground of a judgment in those that have the power of the Keys for their admission into the visible Church unto whom of right it does belong SECT II. Twelve Questions for the stating Childrens Covenant-right resolved § 1. HAving thus far carried on the Proof of the Doctrine let us now come to the Explication thereof and that shall be in answer to these Questions 1 Whether all children of confederate parents be taken into their Covenant or only some God putting a distinction between their seed as we see he did between the seed of Abraham when he said In Isaac shall thy seed be called 2 Into what of the Covenant the children of Believers are taken whether into the regenerating and converting Grace of it or only into the external parts of it the outward priviledges 3 If only into external parts what advantage that is to them and what they gain by it 4 What this federal Right or childrens Holiness is wherein it does consist 5 What it is in the parents that give this right unto the child whether grace and the power of godliness in the parents or else their profession God taking them and their seed into a visible Church 6 What Right this is whether it be only a right before men or whether it be a right before God unto the visible Priviledges of the Church 7 From what parents this right is derived whether from those that are immediate only or whether from them that are more remote and where we must stay 8 Why God will have the Covenant run by way of entail in reference to the outward priviledges of it and not for the inward seeing in the first covenant Adam was to convey the image that he had received and the children of Adam were taken into his covenant for the spiritual part the grace of the covenant as well as for the priviledges of it for the internal as well as for the external Now the grace of the covenant is not conveyed from parents to children it is no more ex traduce than the reasonable soul is Joh. 1.13 they that believe are born not of blood or of the will of the flesh nor of
other sort of people in the world for the great gifts that come from Christ as ascended are upon the visible Church of God yea the thorns and briars in the Church have the rain and influences great and many common works of the Spirit raising and elevating and improving nature the least of which works and motions is more worth than the world it is so in the things though it prove at last a curse to the man 7 They by this means come under the care of the Church and under the power of the Keys under the prayers and under the censures of the Church which do restrain them and are many times blessed to bring men in as the Apostle says We judge them that are within 1 Cor. 5.11 8 They attain many temporal blessings and are delivered from many temporal afflictions thereby Ismael had many outward blessings by Abrahams Covenant the external blessings of the Covenant are made good to them God will not destroy Jerusalem and the judgment came not upon King Hezekiah for David my servants sake and I will not rent from Rehoboam because I will not put out the light in Israel There are two arguments that I would insist on 1 A visible Membership is promised as a very special mercy 2 The contrary to be cast out of it is threatned as a great judgment 1. Gen. 9.27 A visible Membership is promised as a special mercy Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet c. Noahs family was the Church of God but he did foresee a defection or an Apostasie that should befal the posterity of Cham and Japhet and that the visible Church of God should only be continued a long time in the posterity of Shem but yet he doth foretel that though Chams posterity should be for ever cast off yet there should come a time when the posterity of Japhet tandem redirent ad unitatem Ecclesiae Pareus should at length return to the unity of the Church Now we read Gen. 10.5 that by the posterity of Japhet the Isles of the Gentiles were overspread this is therefore a Prophecy of the bringing in of the Gentiles into the number of Gods people and they shall become a visible Church unto God for coming into the Tents of Shem is being made members of the visible Church There is a double conversion of the Gentiles which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 11.12 If the fall and diminishing of the Jews be the riches of the Gentiles how much more shall their fulness be If upon their breaking off the Gentiles were gathered in and inriched with their Church priviledges how much more when they shall be called and come in in their national fulness shall the Gentiles be inriched by them Rev. 7.3 4. This is prophesied Rev. 7.3 4. Hurt not the earth c. and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of the children of Israel c. It cannot be spoken of the Church of the Jews for it is set after the seals as a Prophecy that ushers in the Trumpets and as the seals refer unto Rome Pagan so do the Trumpets unto Rome Christian Now there were four winds that were to blow upon the earth and by their blasts they would hurt the earth and the Sea for there was power given to them by God unto that end the winds do signifie motus bellicos and impetus hostiles c. warlike commotions as we read in Jer. 49.36 Vpon Elam I will bring the four winds and I will scatter them and there shall be no nation whither the out-casts of Elam shall not come Dan. 7.2 3. Dan. 7.2 3. The four winds contended upon the great sea so that hereby is meant the incursion of all the barbarous People and Nations with their power and might upon the Roman Empire but in this general invasion there are some that the Lord would specially protect upon whom these destroying winds should have no power and that is meant by sealing of them Glass Amoris singularis curae symbolum sigillum est The sealing is a symbol of singular love and care and yet when it is spoken of the Church of God of the Gentiles in the Roman Empire upon whom these storms should fall and over whom these winds should have power they are said to be of the Tribes of Israel There were sealed 144000 of all the Tribes of Israel whereas Israel was cast off and dispersed upon all the four winds long before and God had wholly cast off the care of them and reputed them as a people to himself no more why then are the Gentiles called the Tribes of Israel The reason is this Quia in Israelis vicem successerit fuitque Israel surrogatus They were surrogated Israel they are Japhet brought into the Tents of Shem that is become the Church of God and had all the Priviledges of the Church stated upon them instead of the Jews and therefore their sealing is called the sealing of the Tribes of Israel But there is yet another call of the Gentiles spoken of Rev. 7.9 Rev. 7.9 And after this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number out of all nations and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb cloathed with white robes and palms in their hands c. that is afflicto Ecclesiae statui succedit amplissimus foelicissimus ejusdem status This is to be referred unto the time of the seventh Trumpet when the Jews shall be called and new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of Heaven when the mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted on the top of the mountains and all Nations flow in unto it when the Gentile Churches shall be given unto the Church of the Jews for daughters Ezech. 16. and they exalted as the Mother-Church over all the world when the Nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory and honour to it Rev. 21.24 and I conceive it 's to be understood of taking of both Jews and Gentiles into a visible Church by a first and second conversion and it is unto both promised as a special mercy it 's made also a special mercy by the Apostle Rom. 11.17 24. Rom. 11.17 24. and that both in reference unto Jews and Gentiles 1. For the Gentiles Thou being a wild olive-branch for that must be the meaning as Beza observes art made partaker of the root and fatness of the olive-tree c. By the Olive-tree is meant the Church of Israel Jer. 11.16 the visible Church Jer. 11.16 The Lord called thy name a green olive-tree fair and of goodly fruit and the Lord did thus honour it because this is one of the most excellent of all the trees the Fig-tree the Olive and the Vine and that 1 for its greenness for it doth flourish and is always green 2 for its
nisi quod traditum yet conceiving it after my best examination to be a truth of God for I did desire to believe before I spake I could not but speak what I apprehended to be the mind of God therein I should not desire to obtrude any thing upon you without examination if it be upon tryal but hay and stubble I shall be content that it shall burn but if it be a truth of God it will abide the tryal and though such a truth as this is may receive some prejudice by the weakness of the instrument yet if it be a truth the Lord Jesus will certainly raise up such instruments as shall be able to carry it through against all opposition I come now to answer the former Objection I do acknowledge that there is no way for the Gentiles to come under Abrahams covenant but by faith they cannot claim a title from Abraham begetting that belongs to the Jews only who are therefore called by the Apostle the natural Branches Rom. 11.24 and the Gentiles are said to be ingrafted contrary unto nature and therefore the Gentiles can claim no interest in Abrahams covenant but from believing Abraham and yet I deny that the faith which shall give a man any kind of right or title must be true saving and justifying faith And to clear this I must give you a threefold distinction 1. Of Abraham as a father and it 's plain that the Scripture speaks of a threefold paternity of Abraham 1 Abraham is a natural father and so to the Jews only for they are his posterity according to the flesh the natural branches that grow out of this root and this is the paternity that the Jews did glory in We have Abraham to our father Mat. 3.9 Joh. 8.39 2 Abraham is a spiritual father unto all true Believers who walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham whether they be of the Jews or of the Gentiles and they shall be blessed with faithful Abraham Rom. 4.11 12. for which cause I suppose it is that Heaven is called Abrahams bosom Luk. 16.22 Luk. 16.22 Abraham being the father of all the Faithful they shall be received into the same happiness with himself and he will shew unto them special love and tenderness Infantes in parentum sinu gestati amorem benevolentiam intimam experiuntur and so to be gathered to the Saints our fathers is a special mercy because we shall have an experience of the highest love of the Saints even Abraham himself the father of us all will owne us for his sons and receive us into his bosom Others take it as a Metaphor from the custom of the Jews in conviviis in their feasts where they did alter in alterius sinu occumbere lye down one in the others bosom Joh. 13.23 answerable unto that Mat. 8.11 They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac Joh. 13.23 Mat. 8.11 and Jacob in the kingdom of God which doth very fitly suit unto the Parable in hand Lazarus stands at the door of the rich man and was not admitted to taste of his meat much less to sit down at his table but he shall sit down in Heaven at the supper of the Lamb with Abraham Isaac and Jacob he shall there lean upon Abrahams bosom 3 Abraham is also an Ecclesiastical or a Church-father Rom. 11.16 as it appears Rom 11.16 he is the root upon which the Churches of the Jews did grow and into which the Churches of the Gentiles are ingrafted many of the Jews were not spiritually his seed and yet they are said to be broken off not from being Abrahams natural seed that they could never be deprived of they were the posterity of Abraham according to the flesh and so they do remain even after their breaking off but they are only broken off from a Church-relation and so they are the seed of Abraham no more and the Gentiles are grafted not into Abraham as a natural father a natural root for they never can be the posterity of Abraham according to nature and many of them are not from him as a spiritual father for many of them believe not and therefore are in danger of being cut off as the Jews were broken off whence they grow upon Abraham and are ingrafted into him as an Ecclesiastical or Church-father So then the answer is there is not a sufficient enumeration of Abrahams paternities It 's confessed the Gentiles cannot become the posterity of Abraham as a natural father or as a spiritual father for so many of the Gentiles are not of the seed of Abraham as do not walk in the steps of his faith but yet Abraham is an Ecclesiastical father unto the Gentiles as well as he was to the Jews that believed not for the Gentiles are ingrafted into the same root out of which the natural branches were broken off which cannot be spoken of his faith and grace that 's never broken off therefore it is of his Ecclesiastical or Church respect it must be meant 2. In the Covenant of Abraham there are two parts the one spiritual consisting in the inward graces and priviledges the other external consisting in outward priviledges only and this doth plainly appear in Isaac who was the child of the free woman and unto whom the Covenant descended according to the spiritual graces and priviledges thereof and in Ismael who was the son of the bond-woman born after the flesh and taken into covenant only in reference to the external priviledges thereof Deut. 29.10 12 13 14. Rom. 9.4 and thus were all the Jews taken into covenant with God as it appears Ezech. 16.8 and yet with many of them God was not well pleased they never had an interest in the saving graces and the spiritual priviledges of the Covenant for Rom. 9.6 They are not all Israel that are of Israel they were all inchurch'd Israel but they were not all of elected Israel for as there is an external calling Mat. 22.14 and sanctification Mat. 22.14 Joh. 15.2 Heb. 10.29 and an external being in Christ so there is also an external being in Covenant with God or being taken into the Covenant of Abraham for Abraham is the root of the Covenant into which the Gentiles also are ingrafted Rom. 11.17 there is a fatness that is from the Olive-tree communicated to the branches even to such branches as were broken off in whose places the Gentiles were grafted in Now the saving graces of the Covenant are not communicated from any Company of men in the world no not from the invisible Church but from Christ only who is therefore said to be the Root of David Rev. 22.16 and the fountain of the Gardens Cant. 3.15 but Ordinances and outward Priviledges are properly the Churches and from the Church are communicated to others as members whether they be elect or reprobate the Gentiles therefore may have an interest in Abrahams Covenant in reference to the outward Priviledges and Ordinances thereof though
the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour Rom. 9. yet this Decree could not actually take place without sin had come between and now sin has interposed there are some that belong to the Election of Grace and they are chosen out by vocation which is nothing else but electio actuata election actuated and the eternal Decree of God doth exempt them from the common condition of the rest of the world as we see Rom. 9. there the Jews are cast off and they are all in one outward condition but the difference lies in this there is a remnant according to the Election of Grace and the Election does obtain when the rest are hardned and therefore we are said to be born of the will of God in opposition unto all things in nature whatsoever Rom. 11. Joh. 1.13 Rom. 8.29 for vocation is the first-born of Election Of his own will he begate us by the word of truth c. The generation of Christ was an act of his nature and therefore necessary but the generation of Saints is an act of the will of God and therefore free it 's wholly to the praise of the glory of his grace and this his will is manifested in this Eph. 1.11 That he did from all Eternity elect some and reject others according to the counsel of his own will Now that the Lord may make it manifest that it 's an act of free grace therefore he will sometimes reject the children of the Kingdom as the Jews are called men born in the Church Mat. 8. and unto whom the Kingdom of Christ did seem by a natural right to belong and to descend unto them and he will send forth and call men from the East and from the West to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God he will cast off the bidden guests and will send out to the high ways and hedges and compel men to come in that he may manifest that you are begotten of his own will for the praise of his grace 3 Because since the Fall the Lord has appointed another way to convey life unto his people and that is not by generation from the first Adam but by regeneration from a second Adam and therefore the Lord will surely honour his own way and he will not convey the grace of the Covenant from parents unto their posterity but from him only who is the second Adam and is therefore called the everlasting Father Esa 9.6 Esa 9.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint renders it that is as the Apostle says He hath subjected to him the world to come Heb. 2.5 so he is made the father of the world to come Heb. 2.5 and all the Saints that come thence shall acknowledge that they all hold of him as a father as it is said Psal 87.4 5. of the Ordinances of Sion Psal 87.4 5. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there and of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her that is that what Nation or Kingdom soever any of the Saints were in they may for their first birth mention Egypt and Babylon but for their second their new birth they shall know and acknowledge that it was in Sion and by the mighty work of God in the Ordinances therein so I may say of the Lord Jesus Christ that whomsoever they may call father on earth whether within or without the Kingdom yet they shall all owne the Lord Christ as their Father in reference unto their eternal states and in reference unto the world to come and therefore he is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non solùm Spiritus vivus but also vivificus not only a living Spirit but a quickning Spirit a Spirit that makes us alive also for Joh. 14.19 he says Because I live you shall live and the Apostle Paul saith The last Adam was made a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. Bernard and Rev. 22.16 he is said to be the Root of David and he is therefore said to be the Fountain of the gardens Cant. 3.15 it is from hence that all flourishes therefore grace shall not be entailed upon posterity but as the Father quickens whom he will so also the Son shall have life in him and power of quickning whom he will Upon these grounds it is that the spiritual and the saving graces of the Covenant are not conveyed from parents unto their children by a lineal descent but the Covenant in reference to grace from the parents is wholly made void and as God many times has a seed of grace running through the loyns of the wicked so he does many times cast off the children of the Saints and as he said of Ismael But my covenant will I establish with Isaac Gen. 17.21 so God saith of Believers children that he will not establish his Covenant with them as to inward grace 2. Yet the Lord will continue the Covenant from parents to children by a kind of lineal descent in reference to the external priviledges of the Covenant and they shall be conveyed from parents unto the children who shall have a Covenant-right as the parents priviledge and the grounds of it are these 1 Because the Lord will have a visible Church out of the loyns of his own people therefore when he takes in their parents into a Church-covenant he takes in also their children they are the children of the kingdom because they are the children of the Covenant that God made with their parents He doth indeed take in as Proselytes some here and some there but the visible Church is chiefly and generally made up of such confederate parents and their children and to make a visible Church there is required outward ordinances and priviledges that there may be a difference put between them and the rest of the world Exod. 19.5 that they may be unto God a holy and a peculiar people and this may be where the graces of the Covenant are not dispensed yet the priviledges of the Covenant must It 's true there are tares among the wheat in the same field and there are goats feeding amongst the sheep in the same pasture it 's not grace as you heard makes a man a visible member of the Church visible for it cannot be seen it cannot properly come under any humane judgment but it 's grace makes a man a member of the invisible Church into which Christ only admits and that which Christ only judges and not man 2 The Covenant is entailed in reference to the priviledges thereof that the Lord might magnifie and exalt his love unto parents the more and that it might be a great inducement to come into Covenant with God because the promise shall be unto you and your children even unto them that are afar off or as many as the Lord shall call not only
never dying worm gnaw upon thy conscience when it shall tell thee I had a godly parent one within the Covenant of God by whom I had a right unto all outward priviledges of membership but I have walked unworthy of them all and abused them all and therefore now some come from the East and from the West others are grafted in by their own faith that were born of wicked parents and I that was as it were a natural branch grew upon a holy stock and in Covenant am now rejected and cast out as an abominable branch 3 The people of God have exercised faith upon their parents Covenant and have been able sometimes in distress to plead that when they have had little to say for themselves Exod. 15.1 when Moses prays he says Thou art my God and my fathers God and the children of Israel though they could say little for themselves for they were a wicked and disobedient people and their righteousness as a filthy rag yet they say Remember the covenant that thou madest to Abraham and the land that thou gavest unto Abraham thy friend for ever and so David Thy servant and the son of thy hand-maid And Austin pleaded his happiness in his good mother he was the son of her tears and of her Covenant-interest and he glories that in her prayers she did bring forth unto God his own bond and did plead her Covenant in his behalf do not walk unworthy of such Ancestors and be you not degenerate plants when you grow upon such glorious roots and thereby become a shame unto your father that begat you and your mother that bare you 3. It is also an Exhortation unto the Church and the Officers thereof that they have a special care and respect unto the children of the Church they being children of such glorious and great hopes being such as are in covenant with the Lord and the children of the kingdom those that the Lord owns for his children Ephes 6.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore would have them brought up in the nurture and the fear of the Lord they should be brought up as becomes the children of God 1 They are Church-members and therefore ought to be the care of Church-Officers for the power of the Keyes being committed to them they are by them taken into the Church and if so they come under their care also 2 Out of these the Lord does ordinarily gather the number of them that shall be saved as you have heard the greatest part of the Church comes out of the loyns of his own people and therefore it is of their seed that he will have the visible Church out of which he will have the Church invisible made up 3 It 's the greatest glory of a Church to be fruitfull and to bring forth many young ones to God and the greatest misery of a Church and an argument that the Lord will depart from it lyes in this that it is barren and barren Ordinances and a barren Church is the greatest plague in the world it 's that for which the Lord does threaten to give a people unto salt Ezek. 47.12 the barren has born seven and she that has a husband is waxed feeble it 's happy with the Church when she can say My bed is green Cant. 1.16 for the Church of God has a Posterity Jerusalem has her daughters and the glory of the last Church shall be that there shall be abundance of fish as those of the great Sea exceeding many Ezek. 47.10 11. that is abundance of Souls shall be begotten to the Lord. And children should come under the special care of Church-Officers in two things 1 For matter of Instruction and that in the Ordinances that they are capable of They had two sorts of Catechumeni in the Primitive times some Adulti who were ignorant some Parvuli who were such as were born in the Church and they did undertake the Instruction of them all the Scripture hath Milk for such Babes and the neglect of this makes Ministers to build without a foundation and in a great measure lose their labour all their dayes in preaching things that they never did teach the people when they were young to understand 2 To lay up constant Prayers for those that they receive and it 's not a small mercy for a man to have a stock going in the Churches Ship and to have a daily and a continual interest in their Prayers Christ gives an example of it Math. 19.14 15. He laid his hands upon them and blessed them Non erat inane symbolum nec frustra preces Calvin surely this was not done in vain they being Members of the Church Christ shews that the duty of the Officers of the Church is in this manner to pour out the Prayers of the Church for them being such as are to grow up and to hold forth the Name of the Lord in the succeeding generations the people of God their care should extend beyond their Lives 2 Pet. 1.15 and so did Peters and so should ours for a Posterity also to the Lord in this world of ungodly men that he may still have an increase of children Vse 3 § 3. It 's for consolation unto Parents and that in two things 1. Surely that God that has out of his free grace to thee taken thy seed into Covenant also out of the overflowing of his goodness will deny thee nothing that is a blessing of the covenant if the Lord shew so much grace unto another for thy sake and he be so much beloved how much more to thee Nay it 's said of the Jews when they shall be converted though now they be strangers and enemies for the Gospels sake yet are they beloved for their fathers sake there was little loveliness in them for their own sake but yet there is love for their fathers sake and it 's this free grace that will at last bring them in that God may accomplish unto them their fathers Covenant and if the Lord will do such great things to others for their sakes and in love to them O how may they judge of his love unto themselves thereby This may be a great stay to the hearts of many sinking Christians who doubt of the Love of God toward themselves 2. When you are to dye and be solicitous for the little ones you leave behind you now remember they have a Covenant-Father with whom thou maist leave them and they shall not be found to be Orphans who have God for their father now remember he saith leave thy fatherless Children with me and so could Jacob when he came to dye The Angel that redeemed me from all evil Gen. 38.16 bless the lads and let my name be named upon them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and this was the great comfort of David when he saw that there was a decay coming upon his family the Sword should not depart from his House yet God had
heart hast thou done these great things that is of thy own free grace and unexpected Love because thou wouldst have mercy and yet it is Mercy to Abraham but it is Truth to Jacob c. Mic. 7. v. ult and therefore Austin calls the promise Chirographum Dei Gods Bond it is the bond or hand-writing that God has given the creature to assure him of Heaven so that as the Apostle calls the Law Chirographum contra nos Col. 2. a bond against us so are the promises the bond that is for us because they do speak God to be with us 4. All this is through Christ both making and performing 2 Cor. 1.20 so it is in him that the promises are Yea and Amen as all the precepts of the Law though given to us yet they are principally required of Christ as our surety and the transgressions of them are laid upon him so all the promises of the Gospel though they be made unto the Saints yet they be primarily made unto Christ as our head and representative for as we have heard he is the seed with whom the covenant is made and he is given unto us as a covenant so he is primarily the Heir of promise and as in respect of possession Esa 49.8 we enter into his inheritance called our masters joy so in respect of the promise and reversion we come under his covenant and so partake of his inheritance and have no further any promise made to us than as we are one with Christ and no promise is performed to us but by virtue of union with him and therefore it's Christus in aggregato Christ mystical that is the proper subject of all the promises and their accomplishment is to himself as the head and to the Saints as the body § 2. Why doth Gods part of the Covenant in this life mainly consist in promises It 's true that these promises shall end in performances and Heaven is the accomplishment of all the promises it is a promised as well as a purchased possession when the Saints are all gathered home all the promises shall be at an end and therefore in that respect faith shall cease for the object of it shall be taken away and therefore the acts of it must needs come to an end though it 's true that the habit of faith as well as all other graces being a part of the image of God and the new creation of Christ is of an eternal nature but yet the Lord does mainly dwell with his people in a way of promise and the covenant on his part doth run in promises 1 Cor. 2.5 7. 1. The life that the Saints live in this world must be a life of faith and not by sight there is another life though we live by faith and not by sight here that in glory is reserved for us and another manner of living and the main objects of faith are the promises Rom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4.19 21. He staggered not through unbelief He did not reason pro and con about it because faithful is he that has promised and he will also do it he is able to perform It 's true there is a faith that rests upon the whole Word of God as true and good and so the soul receives it but yet the object of faith by which the soul rests on God is mainly the promise so that as obedience is the Law written in the heart so also the object of faith is the promise written in the heart the Lord lets in the promise and the soul rests thereupon and if the Lord had not dealt so in a way of promises our life could never have been a life of faith 2. They are the great grounds of our hope and thereby the Lord will sweeten our obedience he doth not give forth a bare command as an act of Soveraignty but he adds thereunto a promise as an act of Grace Heb. 6.18 The Lord willing to shew the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that we might have strong consolation who are fled for refuge to the hope set before them which hope we have as an anchor to the soul And the Anchor is cast under water and takes hold of something that is not seen as yet for if I see it why do I yet hope for it Now though it 's true a godly man should not yield obedience meerly for reward yet a man may have respect to the recompence of reward and though it is true that this should not be the great thing that should launch them forth in duties of holiness yet this is a good wind to fill the sails the Lord letting him see that there is an inseparable communion of Gods glory and our good also duty and mercy 〈◊〉 hand in hand and that the Lord requires no duty but it is for our good always t◠he may perform unto us the promise that is annexed thereunto There is an amor merc◠〈◊〉 love of reward that is not mercenary Heb. 12.1 Christ had the joy set before him that did sweete 〈◊〉 sufferings he had a glory and a posterity promised him and Moses had respect also to the recompence of the reward Heb. 11.25 And the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look at the things that are not seen that is the scope and the main aim of the soul in all our obedience active or passive and by this the Lord doth delight to sweeten our way 3. The promises are the great means of the souls purification 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us purge our selves having these promises and perfect holiness And by these great and precious promises we are made partakers of the Divine nature The promises are the Treasury of all that grace that God doth intend to bestow upon his people and from thence do the Saints fetch it Isa 12.3 for they are the wells of salvation and it is by this that the soul is fitted for the performance there is a being made meet and 't is the promise that made them so as a mans beholding of God in himself doth transform him perfectly into the image of God Col. 1.12 2 Cor. 3.18 so beholding God in the promise does transform a man by degrees into the image of that holiness that is in the promise A man looking upon himself sees his heart as a barren wilderness as empty of grace as the first Chaos was of form and beauty Now he says what is impossible with man is possible with God and the soul sucks a promise and is thereby changed into the image thereof 4. That they may be the rule of the prayers of the Saints for his will must be the rule of our prayers as well as of all other acts of our obedience the precepts of the one and the promises of the other we must ask according to his will if we hope to speed and therefore our prayers should be nothing else but pressing God with
of his love and yet with all this he is never satisfied There is a further promise and that is an inheritance with the Saints in light and therefore he can never rest satisfied till he come there he forgets that which is behind and does reach forward to that which is before Phil. 3.12 Quest But how should we do to attain promises 1. Be sensible of your want of them we should look over all the Paradise of the promises and know that there is not a tree nor a fruit in it but it 's good for food the fruit is for meat and the leaves for medicine See how far thou dost come short look upon duty in the latitude and extent of it for obedience must be universal so you must do upon the promises that your faith may be universal also There should be always in our eyes a sight of something before unto which we should reach out our selves Phil. 3.12 God doth never accomplish promises but he doth use to make men see their need of them before-hand they say Lord increase our faith and Christ shews them the excellency of faith Luk. 17.5 and their necessity thereof that by this means raising their apprehensions of it and shewing to them their necessity of it they might be prepared to receive it as the Lord was ready to bestow it we go without many promises because we see no necessity of them and therefore our souls sit down quietly without them 2. Get a strong faith for it was by faith that they did attain the promises Heb. 11.33 and it must be such a faith as must stay the heart and fix the eye upon the promise and thereby support it under all the seeming oppositions and improbabilities or impossibilities unto an eye of reason or an arm of flesh it must cause a man to close his eyes against them all in the matter of justification there is in faith an exclusive resolution against all other ways and means of righteousness whatsoever so there is in this also against all things that from sense and reason may be offered or pretended to the soul to weaken the power of the promise of God therein Rom. 4.19 20. In Abraham there was enough that he might have taken in to have discouraged him but yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did not admit a dispute he did not take in a consultation of flesh and blood when men have so consulted flesh and blood their faith has failed them God had promised his people a deliverance but they say our bones are dry and our hope is past Ezech. 37.11.12 we have no more reason to expect the accomplishment of such a promise than that we should see dry bones revive and arise out of their graves And the people of God have had their hearts always to fail them when they have looked off from the promise as Peter when the wind arose and he begins to sink he crys out Lord save me and Martha saith By this time he stinketh and the Israelites say The sons of Anak are there c. As whensoever the people of God begin to turn away their eyes from the holy commandment then their hearts fail them in point of duty so it is when they look off from the holy promise then their heart fails them in matter of faith and they cast away their confidence for every promise carries with it an obligation laid upon the power of God to accomplish it our faith gives us a title to the promise and the promise binds the omnipotence of God for its accomplishment and therefore it 's said They stopped the mouths of lyons and quencht the violence of the fire Heb. 11.13 and raised the dead to life By acts of Gods omnipotence all this was done yet they are attributed unto their faith as the fruit of it by which the omnipotence of God is ingaged in the work Therefore it was a brave spirit in Luther fit for him that shall attain the promises that when they sought his life by all means that might be at home and abroad and at last raised a war against him that small Chaldean war yet he wrote upon the walls of his Study that speech of David I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord. Psal 118. 3. Be much in prayer for the promise is a kind of a debt and therefore it 's said when God doth perform any promise reddit debita nulli debens c. and it 's prayer that puts this bond in suit before the Throne of Grace Jer. 29.10 12. After seventy years are accomplished in Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return unto this place then shall you call upon me and pray to me and I will hear you and this was the very course that Daniel took Dan. 9.1 2. for we can expect nothing from God in mercy that we do not obtain by prayer he leads his people into their own land by supplications In the consolations that we receive from God he speaks to our hearts and in the supplications that we put up unto God we speak unto his heart and the grounds are these why God will have all promises to be nothing else but the returns of prayer 1. That hereby we may testifie that it 's the will of God that we eye in the mercy and not our own will for it's whatsoever we ask according to his will he hears us There is a natural and a carnal desire of mercies when it 's a mans own will that puts him upon it and there is a spiritual and holy desire of mercies and that is when a man has an eye unto Gods will in the promise to bestow them as well as to his own necessity that requires them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence there is a double importunity in prayer as Luk 11.8 a holy kind of impudency that they will in no wise be put off there 's a being stirred up by the apprehension of necessity Hos 7.14 and a desire of the flesh to attain the thing and so men howl for corn wine and oyl but they are but the crys of beasts and not of Saints and so men ask amiss and attain not as it is in Jam. 1.5 But there is an importunity that is grounded upon the will of God and upon the promise and the soul earnestly desires it because he sees it's agreeable unto the will of God that has promised it it 's not the love of the thing that is so much the ground of his importunity as seeing the will of God in the promise and for this cause the Lord will make the accomplishment of all promises to be the only returns of prayers 2. That hereby we may know that his mercy is free in bestowing of it and that though God has promised it in a way of mercy yet there is no way for us to attain it but in a way of duty
glorifie the three Persons in the Trinity in the hearts of Believers and this appears plainly by Eph. 1.3 7 13. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus in whom we have redemption through his blood and have attained unto an inheritance in whom after you believed you were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise So that to honour the Persons and to exalt them in the hearts of Believers is one great and main intendment of the Gospel and therefore if your faith close not with them you cross one great and main end of the Gospel of grace and that must be done not only in receiving of blessings and benefits from the Trinity in common but that a man take special notice of the distinct works of them all what is done by the Father and what is done by the Son that in that blessing the person from whence it comes may be highly exalted in the soul therefore we do read of distinct acts of faith exercised upon the Son Joh. 14.1 Joh. 5.23 and the Father You believe in God believe also in me that all men may honour the Son even as they honour the Father 3 As the order of their working doth follow the order of their subsisting as the School-men observe the works of the Father being first and then the works of the Son so it 's in the work of grace and all the benefits of it attributed to God the Father are first in order of Nature and then those that are attributed to the Son and therefore Adoption being the act of the Father is by some asserted to be first in order of all spiritual blessings that we receive by grace before Redemption which is an act of the Son and of Sanctification Forbes of Justification p. 28. which is an act of the Holy Ghost and this very consideration will give a man great light into the order of all spiritual blessings that we receive by virtue of the new Covenant for the order of the blessings are answerable to the order of the workings of those persons from whence they flow 1 Joh. 4.16 2. Believers should exercise love towards all three Persons God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwells in God and God in him There is a walking in love and a dwelling therein as a man dwells in his own house there is not only a love of the Son as says Christ Joh. 15.9 So I have loved you continue you in my love but there is a love of the Father also that the soul is to look upon as distinct Joh. 14.23 Joh. 16.27 If any man love me and keep my words my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you becaâ—â—â— you have loved me 1 It is a great comfort and honour unto the Saints that they are come unto the innumerable company of Angels and unto the Souls of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 And the promise is made good to them Zac. 3.7 They have places or galleries to walk in amongst them that stand by and that they can walk in the love of Angels and of the general Assembly of the Church of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven but much more to walk in the love of all the Persons that they are come unto Jesus they are come to the Mediator of the new Covenant to the blood of sprinkling and unto God the Judge of all and so can walk in the apprehension of the love of them all and it 's a great comfort that they can go to them all in prayer grounded upon the particular love of them all the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Spirit Rev. 1.4 5. Grace and peace be with you from him that is and was and is to come and from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne and from Jesus the faithful and true witness And the soul tastes the love of the Father in giving his Son and the love of the Son in that he loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2.20 2 That we might testifie our love to each Person distinctly and suitable unto the love with which they have loved us 1 let us fear to offend them all not only fear to offend God the Father because our God is a consuming fire and it 's a great and terrible name Ezech. 21.10 the Lord our God but also fear to offend God the Son our Saviour Take heed of him obey his voice provoke him not for my name is in him it is the rod of my son which it contemneth as every tree c. And Eph. 2.4 30. fear to grieve or quench the Spirit or resist his motions 2 Perform duties by arguments and motives drawn from the love of them all Joh. 14.23 If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will make our abode with him he that has my commandments and keeps them he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him 3 Give glory unto them all being affected with their love particularly that the soul may say Glory be unto the Father Son and Holy Ghost according to the intent of the Gospel that as we were baptized in the Name of them all so we may give glory to them all in a Gospel-sense And the truth is as this should be the great and principal object of our faith so it should be of our love also the highest love we can love God with is to love him for himself we may love God for his benefits and his blessings but yet that is not true love unless the highest love be set upon the persons Plus diligere famulum quam sponsum meretricis amor est Aust To love the servant more than the Bridegroom is adulterous love 3. As in the work of Faith the Soul is to be exercised upon all the Persons so also in the point of Assurance which is an addition unto Faith we should wait for the Witness and the sealing of them all because all of them set their seals unto the Evidences of the Saints The scope of the Epistle of John is 1 Joh. 5.7 that the Saints may know that they have Eternal Life and there are Witnesses some in Heaven and some in Earth but yet the Testimonies that these give all of them are in the heart of a Believer for so it is said He that believes hath the witness within himself the Father the Word and the Spirit Vers 10. and these three persons in Heaven give a distinct witness unto the assurance of the Saints in their own hearts there are three seals that are set unto it though it 's true that a man knowing the Love of
that he might bear the iniquity of us all c. and therefore he is set forth as a propitiation for the remission of the sins that are past through the forbearance of God Rom. Heb. 10. 3.25 and as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world Joh. 1. Therefore the Lord cannot become our God immediately Gal. 3.19 Job 9.33 no not so much as by Law but in the hand of a Mediator that is Ministerio by the intervention of a Mediator who is as it were a days-man to lay hold upon both parties Now the Lord therefore becomes Christ's God in Covenant and makes over all his Attributes unto him Joh. 20.17 and therefore saith Christ I go to my Father and your Father to my God and your God and therefore says the Apostle Eph. 1.3 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and it 's that which Christ lays hold of for himself and his people Psal 22.1 89.26 Phil. 2.7 My God my God c Now how doth the Lord becomes Christ's God as he is the second Person no that he cannot for so he thinks it no robbery to be equal with God One person cannot be said to be a God to another having all of them the name of God given to them and all of them having one and the same Essence or Divine Nature But as Christ is Mediator as he is God-man as the Word is made flesh so the Lord is become Christ's God by the Covenant that he did enter into with his Son when he did possess him in the beginning of his way Prov. 8.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 2.6 that is of all his goings forth towards the creature and therefore did anoint him and set his King upon his holy hill which is the same word as is used Psal 2.6 And by this Covenant the Lord did wonderfully manifest his love to his Son by ingaging himself that all the Attributes of the Divine Nature should work for him Joh. 3.35 Joh. 5.20 the Love of God should work for him for the Father loveth the Son and shews him all things and gives him all things into his hand and the Power of God works for him Esa 42.6 I will hold thee by the hand and I will keep thee and the Justice of God works for him that when he had paid the debt he should be released out of prison and therefore after he had lain three days in the grave to shew forth the truth of his death Esa 53.8 the Lord sent an Angel as a publick Minister of Justice for he was taken from prison and from judgment and the Faithfulness of God is also ingaged for him Thus saith the Lord Esa 49.7 to him whom man despiseth and the nation abhors to a servant of rulers Kings shall see and arise Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful and he shall chuse thee c. And we may see what it is in vers 8. In an acceptable time have I heard thee in a day of salvation have I helped thee I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant to the people to establish the earth c. So that Christ has a double inheritance 1 in God all that is in God is his and all works for him for the Lord is become his God Heb. 1.3 2 In the creatures for he is appointed heir of all things Now all the Attributes being in this manner made over unto Christ by the Father and he given as a Covenant to the Nations and as primus foederatus the first federate in the Covenant and that covenanting being not only for himself but as a second Adam for us hence it is that whatever is made over unto Christ by his Covenant is made over unto us also he being our head and so we come not only to have the same claim to the creatures that Christ had and can say all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 Joh. 17.23 but the same claim also unto God that Christ has for we can say that whatever is in God is ours because he is become our God and therefore he is said to love us as he loved Christ and a great ground of a Christians consolation comes in by it that they may know that thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me and that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them that is that this love in the apprehension and assurance of it may be shed abroad in their hearts abundantly and that under this notion that it 's the same love that God bears unto us that he did bear unto the Lord Christ as Mediator it is to be understood of an as of similitude not of equality it was such a love as made over not only all creatures unto Christ but all Attributes unto Christ and it was a love that gave Christ an union and an unction and such a love it is unto us in both but consider it is but pro modulo according unto our condition so as the Lord Christ in all things may have the preheminence 2. The Lord hath made over all his Attributes to Christ as Mediator that they shall all of them work and be employed for us according unto the necessity we are in For Christ did not only as Mediator make way for all the Attributes to work and to be put forth for us that so no Attribute might stand in the way of mercy and goodness towards us and so Christ came in as causa removens prohibens c. but all the Attributes thus made over to Christ in covenant are all of them to be acted and exercised by Christ as Mediator as the government of all the creatures is committed to him so also the discovery and the exercise of all the Attributes of God are committed to him and therefore it 's said My Angel shall go before thee Exod. 23.21 and that Angel that God sent and led his people in the Wilderness was Christ called therefore the Angel of his presence or of his face because in him the face or the glory of God is discovered Mat. 18.10 and not only because he doth behold his face for so do the other Angels it cannot be spoken of Christ as God for so he is not the Angel that is the Messenger of God sent forth from God and it 's said of this Angel that the name of God is in him Now the name of God is whatever God is made known by and therefore when the Lord doth publish his Attributes he saith he will proclaim his name Exod. 33.19 and therefore all the Attributes of God are in him and by him to be acted and exercised for the Father judgeth no man but has committed the administration of all things to the Son to this end that all men may honour the Son even as they honour the Father and therefore Col. 1.15 he is said to be the image of
connaturali in a connatural way so in the same way he glorifies him as it is in this life vision doth increase grace and answerable to the degrees of vision such are the degrees of grace so it 's perfect vision that doth perfect grace in the same way that Satan brought sin and death into the soul 1 Tim. 2.14 namely by the understanding for the woman was deceived as it is in 2 Cor. 11.3 so the same way will the Lord bring in grace and life into the soul it comes in by the understanding the eyes of our understanding being enlightned by a spirit of revelation Eph. 1.17 18. and the same way doth glory enter into the soul namely by the understanding also and therefore it must be in a way of vision 2. Divines do commonly conclude that the main and essential part of glory doth consist in contemplation This is life eternal to know thee the only true God Joh. 17.3 Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God And Heb. 12.14 For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It 's the happiness of Christ in thy presence or in thy face is fulness of joy it is in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Plural Now the manner of the Hebrews is to put the Plural Number when the excellency and transcendency of a thing is expressed as Cant. 1.3 Thy love is better than wines or else to set forth the great variety of the glorious discoveries of God which the Lord gives unto his own people in Heaven and in this is the fulness of the joy of Christ after his Resurrection from the dead and so it is with the Saints Psal 17.15 Psal 17.15 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness The Saints sleep in the grave and they do awake unto the vision of God and they shall see his face in righteousness and they shall be satisfied with his image the which in the original doth signifie full and perfect satisfaction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that there is no place to receive any more There is a great satisfaction in the discoveries of God to the soul here in this life in the joy of the Holy Ghost they do rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious but yet there is still something to be added they are not in such a condition but their faculties may be enlarged and their satisfaction increased but there is a full satisfaction hereafter unto which there can be no addition But what is meant by his image and likeness Here some do understand it of the image of God created in us which shall then be perfectly restored when they come to glory the good work that is begun in this life shall not be perfected till in the day of the Lord. Phil. 1.6 Though I do not find the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any where used in Scripture for the image of God created in man or renewed in him but two other words yet this word I find in Scripture to be put either for a corporeal or an intellectual image Exod. 20.4 Thou shalt not make a graven image or the likeness of any thing in heaven above not make unto thy self a corporeal or visible representation of an invisible God 't is said Num. 12.8 the image or the similitude of God shall he behold it 's spoken of an intellectual image and representation of God in a glorious manner unto the understanding full of glorious excellencies though under no shape and this was a priviledge that the Lord would give Moses a further discovery of himself beyond what he would do to any man upon earth And so I should take the meaning to be here it 's not the image of God in us but the discoveries and manifestations of God unto us that is unto our understanding in which our fulness of joy and satisfaction doth consist Cùm tenebrae mortalitatis transierint manè astabo contemplabor When the darknesses of mortality have passed away in the morning I shall stand and contemplate Austin In contemplatione divinorum maximè consistit beatitudo Beatitude consists in the contemplation of divine perfections Aquinas It 's true that this shall be the greatest torment in Hell the contemplation of their misery and the reflexion upon their own lost and irrecoverable condition it 's concluded that poena damni the punishment of loss is the greatest part of the torments there and that can no otherwise afflict or be a torment but by the contemplation thereof and surely in this doth the blessedness of God consist namely in beholding of his own perfections and the glorious persons delighting themselves in each other for the Lord is blessed for evermore and from everlasting when there was no creature but his blessedness lay in himself and the contemplation of himself was his blessedness and if this do make the Lord blessed surely then in the contemplation of him much more must the blessedness of the creature consist therefore happiness must consist in vision 3. Because the understanding is the leading faculty by which all good is brought into the soul it 's true that the souls in Heaven are called souls made perfect Heb. 2.3 Beatitudo cùm sit summa perfectio perficit totum Beatitude seeing it is the highest perfection perfects the whole soul in all the faculties thereof There are three things wherein the happiness of the Saints doth consist 1 A perfect Vision or perfect understanding 2 A perfect Fruition which is nobilissima operatio voluntatis the most noble operation of the will Medina 3 Perfect Joy and exultation joy unspeakable and glorious everlasting joy upon their heads Psal 16. ult in thy face is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and by this means the whole soul is made perfect but yet the leading faculty still is the understanding and for this cause seeing blessedness comes in by the understanding Psal 17. ult satisfaction also comes into the whole soul by those revelations manifestations visions and discoveries of God made unto the soul Aquinas saith of blessedness that it is in intellectu primariò in voluntate per consequens secundariò In the intellect primarily and in the will by consequent and secundarily Seeing therefore that this vision doth carry with it Fruition Delectation and whatever may make the whole soul to become perfect therefore it 's no wonder if the Lord is said to be the portion of his people by way of vision and the blessedness of the Saints be said to consist therein Quest 2 § 2. Shall the Vision of God in glory be corporeal or shall it be intellectual only discoveries of God unto bodily eyes or unto the eyes of the understanding only Answ 1. The Essence of God in glory cannot be seen with bodily eyes it cannot be a corporeal vision which is manifest 1 from Scripture 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwells in light
have fancied but it is Gods dispensing himself in wrath Heb 12. ult for our God is a consuming fire It 's disputed amongst the School-men Whether the Devils who were unto men incensores in culpa abettors in the sin shall be also tortores in poena c. tormentors in the punishment And it 's denied by some of them solidly upon these grounds 1 The Devils ministery shall last no longer than the time of the ministery of good Angels and that shall be but for the time of this life for Satan shall be the God of this world no more after this life and the good Angels shall be Principalities and Powers no more for all rule and all authority shall be put down whether good or evil and therefore what power soever Satan has over wicked men while they are here for he works effectually in them he shall have no power over them hereafter 2 The Devil himself being the greatest in sin shall be the deepest in torment for Hell is prepared chiefly for the Devil and his Angels Now who shall torment the Devils who can have power over them this must be by God immediately it must be done by his own hand Therefore man being appointed to partake with the Devil in the same torment and by the same fire look what it is that torments the Devil that also must be the torment of those that in a way of sinning have given themselves unto him 3 No creature can make a man perfectly miserable there is no creature that can deprive the soul of God and shut out all hope of mercy make it utter darkness if the soul did not apprehend it to come from Gods hand his hope in God would still be continued but as God hides his face in mercy sometimes here from his own people so he shall shew the wicked his face in wrath for ever and therefore as in Heaven he is immediately the happiness and the glory of the Saints so in Hell he is immediately the torment of the wicked and the Lord Christ as he is man shall pronounce the sentence against them but it is as God that he shall inflict the punishment As the sufferings of Christ here upon earth the greatness of them lay in this that God hid his face and it pleased the Father to bruise him so the same way will God t◠with all unregenerate men and therefore cursed art thou O man if thy portion be 〈◊〉 in the Essence of God for good and for blessedness it shall lie in the Essence of God for misery and torment for ever Vse 2 § 3. Therefore let your hearts and thoughts rise unto this height to seek God for himself and be satisfied with nothing else for all the creatures and the good things of this life are but given by the Lord to try men whether they will prove baits to them and to see whether they will rest satisfied in them without God and herein lies the power of godliness when a man is carried towards God for himself and when there is nothing that comes from God will satisfie without God for a regenerate mans happiness lies in the Essence of God and in the vision thereof and in this lies the happiness of Christ as Mediator Psal 16. that the Lord is the portion of his inheritance and of his cup. It 's true that Christ hath a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the travel of his soul and is satisfied in the Saints they are his friends and his Spouse and his brethren c. but yet the happiness of Christ as Mediator doth not consist therein but only in the enjoyment of God himself the vision of his Essence and in this is the sincerity of a mans heart made manifest when his heart is right with God and he can say Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee And truly in God a soul shall have all things he that gives himself will deny thee nothing Oh the height of the happiness of the Saints that that which is the happiness of Christ and the blessedness of God himself that shall be thy blessedness also and therefore we may cry out O the blessedness of that man whose God is Jehovah Now the ways of attaining of this blessedness are these 1 Pet. 2.21 1. By way of Vnion with Christ for God is first Christs God and then our God Christs end is to bring us unto God and it must be by entring into Covenant and there is no way of coming into Covenant but by Union be one with Christ and then God is thine in Covenant Joh. 3.3 2. By a work of Regeneration Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Grace is above nature and grace is a principle that doth qualifie a man for the enjoying of God there is no beatifical vision without a fiducial vision no seeing God without holiness no man shall see the Lord for it is by this that a man is made a meet inheritor with the Saints in light Rom. 12.1 3. There must be Self-resignation to God Give your selves unto the Lord for he that will have Christ to be his must be Christs he that will have the Lord for his portion must also himself be the Lords portion and therefore the Scripture speaks it reciprocally The Lord is the portion of his people Vse 3 3. See the riches of the Love of God under the second Covenant called the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 Indeed it was great Love that the Lord was pleased to shew to man in his Creation when he did make over all his creatures to him for his use even all the works of his hands and great was his bounty therein but all this is nothing in comparison to the second Covenant for so bountiful is his love that he gives himself that he will not only act for you but he will be yours truly wholly entirely yours so as your happiness shall consist in him and not in your self he will be your chief good and your utmost end and the bottom of free grace lies in this the ground of his giving his Son and of all the great things in the new Covenant is this they were the men of his good will that should be happy in himself and he will bestow himself upon them And that he may do so he gives them his Son to bring them to God all tends but to this end Vse 4 4. It 's the highest ground of comfort and assurance unto faith in the world if God give his Son if he give himself therefore he will give them all spiritual and temporal blessings There is unto the Saints all things in God therefore when the Lord desires to give unto his people full assurance Heb. 6.17 as if he were in dispute about it it 's said When he could swear by no greater he swore by himself as if the Lord had been solicitous
appear from the union of a Saint with all the Persons in the Trinity The Scripture speaks distinctly 1 Cor. 6.17 not only of a union with Christ but with the Spirit he that is joyned unto the Lord is one spirit i. e. not only makes up one spiritual body with him but also is one with the Spirit that dwells in him and therefore Joh. 17.21 Christs prayer is That they may be one Pater Filius sunt unum per naturam nostra unio per gratiam Athan. De 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritualis piorum in Deo unitatis in vitae hujus infirmitate pluribus disserere non possumus sed mysterium hoc reverenter adoramus unitatis hujus participes fieri optamus as we are one not only one amongst themselves but one with us also according unto that glorious and unspeakable union that is between the persons amongst themselves of which this is but a shadow and a resemblance God is said to dwell in the Saints and they are the habitation of God through the Spirit 2 Cor. 6.16 and they are said to dwell in God Joh 1.4 16. and 1 Thess 1.1 which is in God the Father c. and to work in God Joh. 3.21 And our Divines do commonly say that in glory our union with God shall be perfected and they say that the soul is capable of an union with God as it does appear in its union with the Son for the mystical union is not only unto Christ as Man but unto the Godhead as well as unto the Manhood of Christ for we are made one with whole Christ both God and Man Now by this means there being but one Essence there must follow a glorious union with all the Persons and if this be perfected as some make that to be the intent of Christs prayer Joh. 17.21 That they may be one with us as thou Father art in me if there be a perfection of their union hereafter then surely there is an union that is begun in this life with all the persons in the Godhead and so much also our particular union with them does imply for all communion is grounded in union 3. It will appear from the distinct Communion of the Saints with them all Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.3 And there is a fellowship of the Spirit also Joh. 14.21 1 Cor. 13.14 1 There are distinct manifestations Christ says I will manifest my self to him and there is a distinct Love He that loves me shall be loved of my Father I do not say that I will pray the Father for the Father himself loves you and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father also and therefore there is the love of the Son discovered and the love of the Father also Sometimes the love and good will of the one is let into the Soul and sometimes of another and the soul is drawn out and ravished sometimes with the love of the one and sometimes with the love of another and we honour them distinctly and believe in them distinctly honour the Son as they honour the Father and believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 Answerable unto the manifestations and discoveries that are made such are the apprehensions and the affections of the Saints Some are mightily at first conversion taken up with the love of the Father and they see that Christ was but his servant in that work and the fountain of free grace was in the Father and the plot to redeem was his and it was his will that Christ came to perform and therefore their hearts and faith are mainly drawn out towards God the Father Others there be that have the love of Christ set on upon their hearts who though he were God and in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he did empty himself and humbled himself unto death even the death of the Cross and he came off freely upon the motion of the Father which was so much the more because all the acts of the Father though they are acts of Love yet are acts of Majesty also and there was no dishonour or condescension in the Father but the acts of Christ were acts of ministery and of humiliation and that even unto the death of the Cross that he should be made sin and made a curse and the Love of Christ is discovered unto them as passing knowledge There are distinct manifestations of them all and therein is the ground of their communion with them all 2 There are distinct communications the Father opens his bosom and he reveals his counsels There is a book in the right hand of him that sits upon the Throne he reveals his mind unto Christ Joh. 1.18 Joh. 6.46 and by him unto his Saints and therefore he is said to come out of the bosom of the Father and therefore man is said to hear and learn of the Father and the Son communicates his righteousness his graces his victories his priviledges his inheritance and the Spirit doth convey unto the soul his right and his warmth for the Spirit is as fire his holiness and his comforts for he is the oyl of gladness his communion doth consist in giving and receiving and returning Now there is something that all the Saints do receive from each of the persons and there is a peculiar glory that they do return unto them all answerable unto the mercies that they do receive and by this means proportionable unto the mercies they receive such is the communion that the Saints have sometimes with one person and sometimes with another they know that he that has communion with the Father has communion with the Son and with the Holy Ghost because they are one but my meaning is that person which a mans heart is at the present affected with and drawn out unto in a more special manner that he has a special communion with which is something of the Love of the Father and the manifestation and communication of the Father sometimes of the Son and sometimes of the Spirit and answerable unto these our communion is said to be with each of them 4. It will appear by these distinct acts of office which they have for the good of the Saints undertaken for though opera ad extrà sunt indivisa and we cannot say that one works but the other works also and therefore we cannot call them opera propria proper works yet they are appropriata appropriated in the Scripture they are more specially attributed some unto one and some to another Eph. 1.2 3. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world and blessed us with all spiritual mercies in Christ and for Christ we have Redemption through his blood c. and as for the Spirit Eph. 1.13 14. After you believed you were sealed with the holy Spirit
c. Thou art Christ the Son of God it 's the confession of Peters faith and is also called the Foundation of the Churches faith 1 Cor. 3.11 And so there is Divine Worship given to Christ as Mediator they worship the Lamb this is by reason of union and yet it is evident Rev. 4. that the humane nature remains a creature after its union and therefore it is as he is the Son and so is coessential with the Father this is the formalis ratio the proper cause of this Divine Faith and Worship and so the Holy Ghost also he is to be believed for himself and his own testimony the Spirit is truth 1 Joh. 5.6 and the Scriptures are to be believed only for the testimony of the Spirit 2 Pet. 1.21 But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost therefore we are commanded to hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches he is called therefore the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 4. That we may honour them in our prayers distinctly for whomsoever a man is to believe in him he may pray unto Rom. 10.14 How can they call on him in whom they have not believed And therefore in our prayers we are not only to go unto God but unto each of the persons with distinct petitions suitable unto the acts that they have undertaken and the offices in which they have made over themselves unto the Saints under the new Covenant Christ he prays to the Father Holy Father righteous Father I will that those that thou hast given me be with me sanctifie them by thy truth And Stephen at his death Lord Jesus receive my spirit And the Disciples Lord increase our faith And so doth the Church Tell me where thou feedest c. The Apostle commonly speaks of them all together The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Spirit be with you And Rev. 1.5 6. Grace from him that is and was and is to come and from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne and from Jesus the faithful and true witness And as it is a mans duty to believe in the Son as well as the Father so it is to pray to the Son distinctly as also unto the Father for as our faith must distinctly take in all the objects of faith or else it is imperfect for there are two things that tend to the perfection of any grace 1 When it takes in all the objects in their extent and latitude 2 When they do put forth compleat and perfect acts upon these objects thus I say as faith must take in all its objects or else there is something wanting in it as the Apostle speaks of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wants of faith so must faith give unto each of these their due and proper glory and Christ being to be believed in he may be prayed unto nay it 's an honour that belongs unto him and therefore our faith must give it to him 5. That the soul may have a distinct fellowship and communion with them all and there is a fellowship with the Spirit 1 Joh. 1.3 we are by the Gospel brought into communion with God and it 's a distinct fellowship and communion that we are to have with all the persons our communion is as large as our relation and the soul is to look upon himself as reconciled to them all and therefore all of them are become our friends and we have a particular and distinct interest in them all Now how is a man said to have fellowship with God or to walk with God it is when the thoughts of a mans heart are taken up with God and he has an eye unto him and unto his glory from day to day As a man is said to have communion with the Devil when he walks with his temptations and the desires and thoughts of his heart do run out towards the unfruitful works of darkness a man has fellowship with the Devil in all things as it is said Prov. 6.22 The law shall talk with a man waking and keep him when he is asleep and lead him when he goes how is this is it is but in the thoughts and the meditations of a mans own heart by the suggestions and directions thereof where it doth richly dwell so it is in this also it is communion with God and Gods dwelling in the soul animus ascendit frequenter c. the soul frequently ascends there is gratiarum decursus recursus a flowing down and reflowing of graces and in this doth our communion lye Now a man having an interest in all the persons all of them having undertaken something for a mans good by way of office and a man receiving something from them all and returning praise to them all there is in the soul a distinct fellowship to be exercised with them all sometimes the thoughts of his heart being drawn out to the Father and sometimes unto the Son and sometimes unto the Spirit and observing the witnessing of them all and the sealing of them all unto the evidences of the Saints sometimes we walk with the Father and sometimes with the Son and sometimes with the Spirit and the more distinct a mans communion is the more sweet it is 6. That a man may draw arguments and motives unto duty and against sin from them all and a mans interest in them all We are said to be baptized in the name of them all Mat. 28.20 Mat. 28.20 Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Now what is it to be baptized into the name of the Father it's conceived to be taken from the manner of marriage wherein the wife doth transire in nomen in familiam c. into the name and family of the husband or of servants who had their masters name called upon them 1 Cor. 1.13 and therefore no man might be baptized in the name of a creature it is that which Paul detests that he should baptize in his own name and therefore the meaning is to be baptized in fidem in cultum into the faith and worship of God and so you are unto them all and give up your names unto them all and therefore unto each person we owe both faith and worship distinctly all manner of duty and obedience because we are distinctly baptized unto the faith of them all to believe in them and worship them and a man should draw arguments to keep him from sin from them all and his interest in them all the Father is greater than all and it is by his will we are sanctified If we call him Father who without respect of persons judgeth every man according to his works Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.15 And he says of Christ I send my Angel but take heed of him obey his voice provoke him not for my name is in him And grieve
is the visible Church and the labourers are the officers and the workmen that do labour therein and they are said to be hired 1 ratione pacti because there doth as it were a bargain and an agreement pass between God and them for answerable unto a mans end such is the implicite agreement that he makes with God and answerable unto that so God will give a man a reward if a man do it for profit he shall have it but then he is said not to serve Christ but his own belly and if he do it for praise of men Christ saith They have their reward c. 2 Ratione praemii in regard of reward because there is no man that shall labour in Christs Vineyard but he shall have his reward answerable unto the penny that he himself did agree for for no man doth labour there in vain there is a certain wages promised him c. And this belongs unto God the Father there is not a man whose gifts you injoy and whose labours you have and do prize but he is hired by the Father and he it is that gives him his hire Now we know that labourers in the vineyard have been very precious to the Saints and are the glory of the Churches a Crown of twelve Stars Rev. 12.1 they are all of them hired by him that is the Husbandman and the Lord of the Vineyard c. 4 It 's the husbandman that waters the vineyard and the vine that he himself has planted as it 's said Esay 27.3 I will water it every moment and there is a double watering sometimes he does it by the dew Hos 14.5 I will be as the dew to Israel and he shall grow as the lily c. that is in a secret silent and insensible way as the Manna fell in the dew without any observation there is a secret River that doth refresh the City of God Psal 46.5 and the Church is secretly refreshed and supported no man knows how and it 's also watered by the rain the former and the latter rain in a more glorious way Psal 68.10 the Lord comes in and doth revive the Church and all men shall see that it is his work and that it is from Heaven only and both put together as the dew and as showers upon the grass Mic. 5.6 which tarrieth not for man it waits not for the sons of men the Lord doth wait for no humane concurrence or the joyning in of any of the creatures but he doth water his own vine himself that it doth flourish and grow and these waters are all the gifts and graces of the Spirit which the Father doth send for the giving of the Spirit is called the promise of the Spirit Acts 1.4 for the succus vitalis the vital juyce of this Vine is the Spirit 5 He pruneth it as he is the Husbandman the unfruitful branches he takes away Joh. 15.2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away but yet there is the skill of the husbandman in it who will have in his Church no unfruitful branches though for a while they may continue yet he will gather out of his Kingdom whatever doth offend and whoever works iniquity and he prunes it in the fittest time in its season when it may be best for the vine It may be some do wonder that the Lord lets wicked men alone to continue in the Church so long why they are not immediately cast out truly if the Father be the Husbandman let us leave it to his pruning for it 's his work and he will do it in his time and season we must not undertake to direct him which season is best he keeps it in his own power and he doth it at the fittest time so that after this pruning the other branches may grow better and the Father hath undertaken it and though there may be some hypocrites that may a long time escape the eyes of men and the censure of the Church yet they shall not escape the Fathers eye who is the Husbandman There is a spiritual Excommunication that goes forth against them from him and he will surely cast them out as dead branches and he hath provided a fire for them and they are burnt and there is no man that burns so fiercely in Hell as such dry wood prepared for the fire for all the vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction as well as the vessels of mercy are prepared for glory 6 The fruitful branches he doth purge as the husbandman that they may bring forth more fruit and in this are the two parts of Sanctification 1 The destroying of the old man for the Lord Jesus Christ hath as well bought off in our Redemption the power of sin as the guilt of sin Tit. 2.14 he hath redeemed you from all iniquity that he may have the more communion with you Jam. 4.8 and that he may fit you the more for use 2 Tim 2.21 If a man purge himself c. and also that your services may be the more pleasing unto him Mal. 3.3 1. He doth it by Ordinances Eph. 5.2 6. He doth cleanse them by the washing of water through the word and they are clean through the word that he doth speak unto them 2. Sometimes by the inward motions of the Spirit discovering the filthiness of sin and stirring up a mans heart to hate it and himself for it that a man shall make it his business to mortifie sin and as Christ suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin so he doth arm himself with the same mind his resolution is the armor that strengthens and establishes his heart therein 3. Many times the Lord doth it by shedding abroad his love in the soul so that the sense thereof makes a man to purifie himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit as the exhortation also is 2 Cor. 7.1 Having this hope such exceeding great and precious promises let us perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 The reviving of the new man it 's the Fathers end that they may bring forth more fruit for they are ordained to bear fruit a vine is of no worth if it be not fruitful therefore Col. 2.19 they are said to increase with the increase of God 1. Some say the increase of God is a great and glorious increase as the mountains of God and the Cedars of God Col. 2.19 and the wrestling of God 2. Some say it is the increase of God quae est à Deo tanquam à primario efficiente which is from God as the prime efficient Paul may plant and Apollo water but God gives the increase therefore we should honour the Father in the work of Sanctification as well as we honour the Father in his Election 3. Some say the increase of God is ad Deum tanquam finem ultimum is to God as the last en◠And when doth a man bear more fruit 1 When he doth the duties that he did formerly neglect and
O God and thy glory for thy loving-kindness is better than life When a soul is thus taken with a sight of God that if a man had no dependence and were put into a condition as perfect as the Angels and had need of nothing yet then to come into his presence and to behold his face because we delight in him this is properly an act of friendship and of familiarity that should be between God and the Saints 4. There is an imparting of counsels between the persons Christ was given out of the bosom of the Father There is not any discovery that is made to the Saints Joh. 1.18 but it comes out of the same bosom Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I mean to do Gen. 18. surely the Lord will do nothing but he reveals his secrets to his Prophets Amos 3.7 1 Sam. 9.15 The Lord told Samuel in his ear there is a Vrim and Thumim for the Saints still and the Lord gives them a spiritual skill here to make use of it so as to know the secrets of the Almighty We took sweet counsel together c. and the Saints also do impart their counsels to God 1 Sam. 1.15 I have poured out my soul before the Lord. There are indeed a generation of men that dig deep to hide counsel from the Lord. Isa 29.15 It is true that there is no secret hid from him but it is their endeavour so to carry it as they might not only blind the eyes of man but of God also but a Saint opens his heart to him there is no secret that he is willing to hide from God but there are such sighs and groans that he doth open when he hath to do with him 5. There are mutual delights in their interest one in another and they do love to profess it The Lords portion is his people Israel is the lot of my inheritance the Lord is my portion says my soul and says God They are the first-fruits of the creatures unto me and they are those that do consecrate all the rest to me without which all the rest were profane and have a curse upon them c. O Lord thou art my Lord says the soul early will I praise thee I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid Esa 4.4 5. A man often glories in his interest here in this world but herein doth the Saint glory that he can say I am the Lords and that he can call himself by the name of Jacob and can subscribe with his hand to the Lord and a great part of the fellowship of love is in a mutual profession of their interest each in other And I will be yours for ever there is nothing in me or that I can do but is at your commandment 6. They call upon one another for further fellowship and communion There is a call of the Father 's upon vocation Joh. 6.44 which is called drawing vocatio alta secreta a secret and deep vocation Austin And there is a calling unto communion as Rev. 22.17 The Spirit saith Come and the Bride Come Now as in witnessing 1 Joh. 5.7 8. For there are three that bear record in heaven c. they do all give a testimony but it is done by the Spirit in the Name of the Father Joh. 16.13 Son and Spirit for Christ says He shall take of mine and give it unto you so he doth in calling also he doth speak sometimes in the Fathers name and sometimes in the Sons name Open unto me come away my beloved c. and the soul always saith Come and therefore draws near unto God continually and all is but to see the face of God and that he may have some fellowship with him who is the God of his life God is his centre and there is a tendency of soul to God for godliness is nothing else but tendentia animae in Deum the tendency of the soul to God there is something in the heart that doth echo unto God again when he calls a soul to communion to seek his face the soul answers Thy face Lord will I seek But it may be objected How can it be seeing God is in Heaven that we should see him and have such intimate fellowship here below 1 God hath said I will dwell with you the heart is the habitation of the great King of Heaven and Earth Joh. 14.23 he hath said he will come to you and dwell with you and sup with you 2 There is a Spirit also that will carry your souls up to him again as the Prophet Ezechiel was carried in the visions of God to Jerusalem Rev. 1.10 and John was in the Spirit on the Lords day c. though the body be upon Earth the soul may be in Heaven with the Lord and there all the Saints long to be all their delight is in the mean while in the intercourse that passes between God and their souls by sweet fellowship and communion here 3. The Arguments to stir you up thereunto are these 1 Consider this is the great end of the Covenant of Grace it is not only peace but good will it is a Covenant of Friendship and the end of friendship is fellowship and our end should not fall below Gods end 2 See the great preparation that the Lord hath made thereunto all that Christ is said in Scripture to have done is but to give us access unto God and all that he hath suffered it is all but to bring us to God 1 Pet. 2.21 And we have access by him to the throne of grace Eph. 3.12 and it is the great end of all the workings of the Spirit also to bring us to God and strengthen us with might for through him we have an access by one Spirit to the Father Prov. 5.18 3 There is a sweetness in fellowship as 't is said of the wife Let her be to thee as the young Hind and pleasant Roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love and 2 Sam. 1.26 Thou wast very pleasant to me thy love to me was wonderful c. and yet there are no men but have burdensom dispositions which they discover sometimes more than at others but who would not walk with the great God who is Love and Holiness and Wisdom in perfection whose paths are all pleasantness and whose ways are peace There are pleasures at his right hand for evermore Psal 16. 4 All mercies are obtained by it when the Lord doth meet his people he doth bless them Exod. 20.24 there is no communion with him but there is blessing from him and there is no blessing from him but by communion with him but the special blessing of all other is an Assimilation a man is made like him When he shall appear we shall be like him 2 Cor. 3.18 c. 1 Joh. 3.3 We are chosen to shew forth the praises of God 1 Pet. 2.9
alsufficient he that desires nothing but God need fear none but God nimis avarus est cui non sufficit Deus he is too avaritious to whom God is not sufficient who has a self-sufficiency in him for his own blessedness for it is ones being a perfect good that he goes not out for a supply to any other nothing can add unto God to make him blessed and surely the same will make the Saints blessed also Blessed is the people whose God is Jehovah c. 4. He will have the creature perfect with him Gen. 17.2 Walk before me and be thou perfect he will have you perfect in his obedience to serve him alone and be unto him alone he 'l have you forsake all for him and this could not be required of the creature if he were not alsufficient and a full reward sin is nothing else but the aversion of the soul à bono incommuâ—â—tabili ad communitabile bonum from the incommutable to a commutable good as the School-men say when a man doth not believe the alsufficiency of God and so would go out to the creature to fetch in some supply to make it up as it is in the Righteousness of Christ when men go to their own duties to piece it out so it is here in matters of comfort and supply and so long a man is a double-minded man but when a mans heart is fastned to the alsufficiency of God so that he saith If I have him I need no other I need no friend if he be a friend nor no honour but that which comes from God only if I lose any thing he is able to make it up he can give me much more I desire no other God even our own God shall bless us he goes not out to the creatures to fetch in supplies and it 's the want of this that makes men to hasten after another God The only proper ground of a mans perfection with God is laid up in this alsufficiency of God that a man needs not go out unto any thing else he needs do service to no other and they that do so do proclaim that they look not unto him as alsufficient but when the soul is satisfied in this that he has God and can say In that I have enough then will he be perfect with him alone so it was with Moses the Lord would send him unto Pharaoh but Moses tells him Exod. 4.11 I am a man slow of speech I am not eloquent and they that speak unto Kings must speak well if they hope to be heard must speak with silken words if the subject is unpleasing and the words also if the message be disliked and the delivery of it what hope is there then to prevail but the Lord made him this answer Who made the mouth did not I I will be with thy mouth in that thing rest upon me and for words care not I will be alsufficient unto thee as if thou wert the most eloquent Orator in the world And so it is for all things else a man that looks upon God as sufficient for any work or any comfort so as he will be with him he will rest upon him and look no further this is to be perfect with him You 'l say What is perfection with God it's nothing else but when the soul looks upon God as an alsufficient God has an eye upon him alone expecting all his happiness from him and putting all his trust and hope in him The School-men say that God is objectum beatitudinis dupliciter the object of blessedness two ways 1 quia in ipso sunt omnes perfectiones simpliciter because in him are all perfections simply and so to cleave unto God is actus charitatis principalissimus the principal act of love 2 Vt suam perfectionem per ipsum consequatur As the creature obtains his perfection by him and both these are to be conjoyned in our happiness as God has all perfections in him and so is alsufficient unto us when God takes up the whole soul and Psal 18.2 The Lord is my rock my fortress my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler the horn of my salvation and my high tower he is the fear of Isaac the hope of Israel the love of Ignatius c. when he takes up and possesses the whole soul and a man looks no further does not hasten after any other God Psal 16.4 as they all do that joyn any thing else with him this mans heart is perfect with God Hos 3.3 Thou shalt be for me says God to the soul and thou shalt not be for another Mat. 6.22 23. so will I be for thee and that 's meant by a single eye Mat. 6.22 23. it is in opposition unto a double eye that is a double intention of spirit a single eye looks but upon one object but a double eye looks upon a double object it is divided between God and the world and knows not which to chuse but he would follow them both he has an eye to God and an eye to his pleasure and his credit and his profit c. that mans heart whatever his possession be is not whole with God he is not perfect with him and the ground of all is this because there is in God an alsufficiency that the soul may rest upon him alone and have no other God The Heathen multiplied their gods because one god served for one end and was good to them in one way and another in another but if there be a God that is sufficient for all things then there needs no other and therefore the soul is confined to him alone and in this is said to be perfect with him and if men go out unto any thing else they may truly be said to transgress without a cause for there was no need of any other but all good was to be found in him 5. That by this means the Lord may make up the banks against that which is the greatest temptation that doth ordinarily befal men it 's true that there are some motions that come from Hell immediately that are purely devilish a messenger of Satan that immediately comes into the soul as Lightning as thoughts of Atheism and blasphemy c. but the ordinary temptations that prevail with men are by a bait Jam. 1.14 Satan taking the same course that his instruments and his messengers do beguiling unstable souls 2 Pet. 2.14 promising them liberty there is some bait that he useth for all sorts of sinners are not fit for that immediate touch from Satan it belongs unto them most properly that have been much exercised in all spiritual wickedness their hearts and tongues are set on fire of Hell immediately but the way by which Satan deceives men is he doth bait his hook with the creature and therein lies the temptation he did first tempt our parents with the forbidden fruit it was fair to the eye good for food and desirable to
seek a sufficiency in themselves and too much omit fastning upon the Lord Jesus who is our Saviour to the uttermost c. Now we come to shew the evil of a self-sufficiency in both these more particularly 1. In respect of gifts for a man to look upon himself and grow in love with his own shadow and to depend upon them and glory in them consider the evil of it in these particulars 1 They are another mans goods they are not thine own men are ready to think so of riches and honours that which is without a man but as for the abilities of his own mind they think those are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their proper goods if any thing be but yet as it is said of riches it 's true also of gifts and all those inward qualifications Luke 16. they are another mans and they are so in a double respect 1 Because they are given thee from another What hast thou that thou hast not received he that doth boast of 1 Cor. 4.7 or trust in any thing that he has received he doth thereby say that it is his own and that he has not received it for if thou hast received it then thy dependence is upon another and not upon thy self mendax de proprio loquitur cùm autem in bonis laudabilis vita ducitur Prosper ad Demest p. 866. Dei est quod geritur Dei est quod amatur 2 They are another mans as riches are for they are given thee mainly for the good of another grace is given a man for himself and is properly his own 1 Cor. 12.7 but gifts are given for the Church and for the edifying of others the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal and therefore thou art but as a steward of every gift and thou must dispense them and lay them out for the good of the family to give them their meat in due season and if not this will be the benefit that thou wilt have by thy gifts that thy account will be the greater and there will come a time that the same Spirit that is now thy Teacher will surely be thy Accuser Luke 16.1 for wasting thy masters goods Accepta bona dissipamus quando iis nec ad ipsius honorem nec proximi aedificationem nec ad propriam salutem utimur Stella There is a double difference between gifts and graces 1 Grace is for a maâ—â— own salvation but gifts are for the Churches edification and therefore they are but prâ— hoc statu for this state and there is an end the gifts that the Angels have are but for the edification of the Church Dan. 9.23 Rev. 19.10 1.4 He sent and signified it by the Angel unto his servant John and when the Elect of God shall be gathered and the Church of Christ perfected and the Kingdom given up to the Father then as the protection of Angels shall cease for there shall be no more use of it so these qualifications this influence of the Spirit of Christ upon the Angelical nature by way of gifts shall cease also 2 Some put this difference that the Spirit to some gives gifts as a Spirit assisting only but not dwelling there where he assists by gifts but where grace is there is a residence of the Spirit and that not only according unto the gifts and effects as in the other but according to the essence for we are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost Now to dedicate a Temple to another is to give Divine honour which is not to be done unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit for they are but creatures and therefore the Spirit doth not dwell in them barely by his gifts but according to his essence Habitat verus Spiritus in credentibus non tantùm per dona sed quoad substantiam neque sic dat dona ut ipse alibi sit sed donis adest creaturam suam conservando gubernando addendo The Spirit dwells in Believers not only by gifts but according to his essence neither doth he so give gifts as to be absent himself but he is present c. Luther 2 He doth give them unto wicked men and therefore there is no sufficiency to be placed in that in which God puts no difference Psal 68.18 Christ received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also not only those that were rebellious and are now converted but those that live still in rebellion Christ received many gifts to dispense unto these Christ is in the Scripture set forth as a Head and as a Root he gives graces as Head unto the Church which is his body Joh. 15.1 2. the fulness of him that filleth all in all but as he is a Root he spreads himself into a visible Church upon Earth so he gives much sap and greenness unto those that bear leaves only and therefore it was a good saying of Luther in one of his Epistles Potentior est veritas quà m eloquentia potior spiritus quà m ingenium major fides quà m eruditio A little grace is to be preferred before abundance of gifts and a little of the Spirit of Sanctification above the fulness of the qualifications of the Spirit for the Lord doth cause this Sun to shine upon the evil and unthankful and doth continue it unto them for a while as a Spirit of Qualification to whom nevertheless he will be for ever as a Spirit of Condemnation hereafter 3 When a man depends upon these and places his sufficiency in them he serves Satan in the highest way that can be that is with the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God Mat. 12.44 45. we read Mat. 12.44 45. there is a house swept and garnished it 's the house that Satan will chuse to himself to inhabit above all other places in the world and therefore he places a strong garrison there of seven Spirits for there is no soul whom he takes so much delight in and in which he doth love so much to dwell as he doth in such a man and therefore it was a great speech of Austin of Licentius a man of a great wit but of an unsound mind Abs te ornari diabolus quaerit Accepisti à Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum in illo Satanae propinas teipsum The Devil seeks to be adorned by thee c. It was the abuse upon the vessels of the Temple that in Beltshazers time they must be brought forth and used in the worship of their gods which was but the Devil instead of a God the gifts that a man has are the utensils of the Temple of the Holy Ghost and therefore above all others Satan loves to be served with those and if the Devil do but puff a man up with either of these Luther Potentia justitia sapientia that 's the house he delights to dwell in now for a man to serve Satan with his wealth or his honour is a
that the Saints should seek in themselves Answ 1 Remember this is not in opposition to God or apart from God but in subordination to God 2 There is a double sufficiency 1 Not receiving an addition of good so God only is sufficient 2 As containing all things necessary and so there is a sufficiency in grace for it brings all things into the soul and fills it 1. There is a great proneness in the best men unto this great evil that having received grace they place their sufficiency in it and that for matter of strength and matter of comfort 1 As to matter of strength a man that has received grace is apt to think that he being made alive from the dead is able now to perform those vital actions that flow from this life surely now I can hear I can pray and can perform the duties of godliness as becomes a living man or if by the power of sin and the strength of temptation the outward act be hindred and interrupted yet they cannot hinder the inward workings of the Spirit and as I am able to do that which is good so I shall be able to resist that which is evil so that as grace is in me a well of water springing up to everlasting life in the duties of holiness so also it will of it self work out the mud of corruption that Satan and the old man doth cast into it from day to day and we see this in Peter he had received a principle of grace and his heart was warmed with a true fire the principle of the love of Christ whom he loved so greatly that he thought it impossible that he should so far forget it as to deny him and therefore he speaks for himself after the resolution or presumption of his heart Whatsoever other men do yet though I should stand by him alone come what will come I will confess him in the face of danger I will never deny him and so many a man doth by the strength of grace received promise himself security from some sins and therefore they are secure in themselves and exceeding censorious of others It is true men will say I cannot resist rovings of heart and vain desires and sinful love and carnal fear and inordinate passions c. but for drunkenness and adultery murder persecution of the Saints or Apostasie from Religion and the Truths of God I hope I am secure from these and the man walks not in fear of them and it 's very common for young and weak Christians so to do and they are exceeding bitter and censorious against other men and they immediately question their estates whom they see do fall into these sins which they ignorantly conceive that the very being of grace secures them from And so it is in respect of duties having received grace he doth conceive that he can pray and hear and perform the duties of Gods worship in another manner than a natural man can for he has received a new principle and therefore having done a duty at one time having trusted God or shewed forth an act of love to God he thinks he can do the same at another time and by this means a man is the less solicitous for an immediate supply for the discharge of such duties as he is to perform he thinks that he has received a stock sufficient to defray the charge It is true says he if I am put upon a greater temptation or upon the performance of any higher duties then I shall see reason to go unto Christ for a supply but as for these ordinary things in both kinds the grace that I have already received is sufficient for it according unto that ordinary and natural way of concurrence of God with his own grace which doubtless he will delight in as he doth concur with the creatures in the common actions of their lives and so a mans sufficiency in point of strength is much in reference unto the strength of grace that he has received either to perform duties or to resist sin And 2 as it is for matter of strength so it is for matter of comfort also having received grace from God men turn in upon themselves and by a reflection upon their own graces they think to raise their spirits under any desertion or dejection whatsoever and therefore when they walk in the dark at any time they are immediately poring upon their own graces to see what witness their own spirits will give unto them and by the evidence of their own hearts they conceive that they can comfort themselves at any time when they are in a doubt in the matter of their estates towards God Principale speculum ad videndum Deum est animus rationalis inveniens seipsum hoc speculum verus poenitens non cessat quotidie inspicere Bernard de inter Domo The principal glass of seeing God is the rational soul which a true Penitent inspects daily Now a man looks into his own spirit and sees his own face in this glass and upon this glass he that should see God sees himself and by this means thinks to raise and quicken and comfort himself from day to day which is the true reason why most Christians spend much more time in looking upon the witness of water than upon that of blood or of the Spirit on the witnesses upon Earth much more than to the witnesses in Heaven 2. There is a great policy of Satan therein if it were in the power of the Devil man should never receive any good from God for he that envied the good estate of man at first in which he was created touched him with the same devillishness that was in himself and thereby became a murderer from the beginning for he left no good in the man In me Rom. 7. that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing and he doth as truly desire and endeavour from the same principle of envy to keep out all good as at first he did to cast it out but if the Lord will sow wheat and the envious man cannot prevent the seed-time then he will take the opportunity to sow tares also with the wheat that he shall dishonour God with the grace that he has received from him and with it sacrifice unto himself who is under Satan the great Idol and by honouring himself he doth sacrifice unto Satan all the while and so a man placing his sufficiency in grace received even grace it self if it were possible should tend unto his destruction that was a special grace and with special and eternal love was given for his salvation for Satan looks upon grace in the Saints as being the image of God and as his greatest enemy and that which he hates more than he does the souls of men or any thing in the world for his main malice is at godly men only because they bear Gods image for his hatred is directly against God it is unto us but collaterally and in the second place
beggerly rudiments and Nehushtan a little piece of brass God will abase the excellency of all creatures that we make an Idol of and the Lord will let you see that your grace cannot preserve you and therefore there are two reasons why God hath let the Saints fall and hath set before you their example 1 Ostendit infirmitatem nostram ut timeamus Luther 2 Judicium suum quòd minus nihil ferre possit quà m superbiam He shews 1 our infirmity that we may fear 2 His judgment how much he hates pride For it is for this cause that he doth give up the Saints unto such gross and dangerous falls either to prevent pride or to cure it and therefore Bernard demands Why when the people of God do pray for grace above all things God many times denies them the degree of grace that they desire Oportet ipsam gratiam temperari ne in elationis vitium incidamus pag. 521. interdum subtrahitur gratia interdum retrahitur To keep from pride c. all is grounded upon pride vel superbia quae jam est vel quae futura est c. pag. 729. either the pride that already is in the heart or that which may be 6. The supplies of grace the more immediate they are the sweeter they are for they come with a greater favour from the fountain of grace from which they flow 2 Cor. 12. My grace is sufficient for thee and a Saint hath more sweetness when grace comes in from God and Christ immediately than if it were in his own power or hand to lay it out upon himself at his own pleasure and as in respect of creatures a supply from God immediately is sweeter than all the second causes in the world as the womans meal was better than if she had it still in her own hand so much more is the supply of grace dulcius ex ipso fonte c. for hereby Christ is immediately honoured and there is a continued love testified it was the first sin and the first temptation to be simile Deo scilicet ut bonorum suorum ipse sibi sit fons ipse sibi copia to be like God the fountain of good to himself Prosper c. a godly man hates it and curseth it to Hell from whence it came as God hath laid up all grace in Christ as the Steward to dispense it so a gracious soul desires and delights it should be in Christs hand rather than in his own and he would not take it out of Christs hand or make himself the fountain of his own grace for a world for he says My life is in Christ and because he lives I shall live also Vse 3 § 3. It serves also for exhortation unto all you that have chosen the Lord for your God that you be content with him alone though you have nothing else for there is an alsufficiency in him he that was sufficient unto himself before there was any creature in Heaven and Earth his self-sufficiency shall be thy alsufficiency it is your Election that gives you an interest in God Josh 14.22 you have chosen the Lord unto your selves the Lord will not put himself upon any man but he doth inlighten their minds and sets the will at liberty to chuse him for himself for every mans portion is of his own choice he is in this sense though not in the Arminian notion propriae fortunae faber c. so Dagon became the god of the Philistins and Chemosh the god of the Amorites it was by their own election and having chosen the Lord God Jehovah to be your God O study him let your heart be rapt up in the contemplation of him there is a kind of ecstasie in love there is a rapture which is nothing else but supremus contemplationis gradus mentis excessus the supreme degree of contemplation and excess of mind and be exhorted to use all the means to know God There are three ways by which we may know God 1 Viâ negationis by way of negation denying all the imperfections that are in the creatures to be in him 2 Causalitatis in a way of causality all the good that is in the creatures comes from him as its proper cause 3 Eminentiae in a way of eminence and therefore all is in him and in him in a more glorious manner than is or can be in the creatures a man should use to set God before him in his greatness and in his glory see him as a Sea as being without banks or bottom this is life eternal to know God O it is good for a man to drown his thoughts in this Sea to cast himself into it by a holy meditation and think till his thoughts be at a loss till he can think no more As a poor troubled soul when he looks upon the wrath of God his soul is swallowed up with it and he can think himself into an endless maze till he lose himself so you should do in the alsufficiency of God they are the narrow thoughts that we have of God that are dishonourable to him and are also uncomfortable to us my thoughts are not as your thoughts he is able to do above all that we can ask or think according to thy fear such is thy wrath and when you have viewed him in this manner and found that there is a good in him beyond all things more than thy thoughts and desires can reach and what thou canst desire is not to be compared to him and yet the heart of man can frame to it self vast desires now say This God shall be my God for ever and ever and in him alone will I place my happiness and hope I will be content with him alone though I have nothing else Lam. 3.4 and let this be the full resolution and bent of thy heart so to do The Lord is my portion saith my soul It 's true that all men will acknowledge that God is the Fountain of life and the chiefest good but it is in ore tantùm only in mouth but the Church brings in her soul speaking it as verbum mentis the word of her mind it 's that which my soul doth embrace and consent unto and that will make a man to be contented with him alone Psal 37. and he will go out to no other and so it was with David Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee c. Now wherein is this contentment of soul in God to be found and manifested 1. The soul lays up all in God in him alone it hath nothing out of God as it hath nothing apart from God for a godly man enjoys all in God and God in all things so that there is nothing that is not to be found in him Thou art a shield for me my glory and the lifter up of my head the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my
he lays up that as a choice receipt all his life time and when he sees other men cast the materials of it away as a thing of no value he saith O! there is an excellency in it did men know it they would set a high price upon it I was in such an extremity and it relieved me so it is with all the Attributes of God they are exalted in the soul suitable to the use and experience that a man hath had of them as he that doth undervalue duties doth it because he hath not found the spiritual good that is in them so he that doth undervalue the Attributes of God doth it from want of experience which makes spiritual things great in our eyes and therefore Paul having an interest in the mercy of God we see how it was exalted in him 1 Tim. 1.14 the grace of God was exceeding abundant God who was rich in mercy out of his abundant love and pardoning mercy c. Mic. 7.18 Who is a God like to our God that pardons iniquity transgression and sin And the Saints that have perfection of holiness from him they give him the glory of his holiness from day to day saying Holy holy holy for the highest glory that we can give unto God here is that we honour those Attributes in our hearts which he doth honour in his dispensation towards us whether it be wisdom or holiness or faithfulness or patience c. as he doth honour the word that he doth accomplish so we are to honour the Attributes that he doth put forth Jah is the same name with Jehovah and is a name of Being denoting that God is he that hath his Being of himself and gives being unto all things else he that is the Fountain of Being whence a soul having had experience of him to be such a one lets his glory in that respect arise and be exalted in his soul if you would have any Attribute work for you then exalt that Attribute by trusting in it and when it hath wrought for you then exalt it also by glorifying of it and as you have exalted God by his name Jah so by his name Elshaddi a God alsufficient also for there is no name of God but it will be exalted in the soul suitable to the interest that we have in it and the taste that the soul hath of it For there is a double putting forth of every Attribute of God savingly upon his Elect not only a putting of it forth in his works and administrations towards them but there is also a putting of it forth by exalting it in a man and therein the main sweetness of the discovering of it doth lye He therefore that hath not had the price of this Attribute raised in his soul nor tasted the sweetness of it nor rejoyced in it nor adored and admired it and God as such a one under the apprehension of such an attribute truly that man hath no interest in it If a Saint cannot say that attribute is mine and this attribute I have an interest in yet he can admire the attribute and give God the glory of it as an excellency in himself and he doth not only praise God for his goodness towards him but as it is in himself for the glorious excellencies that are in the Divine nature as we may see it in Hannah 1 Sam. 2.1 2. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord and my horn is exalted in the Lord my mouth is enlarged over my enemies I will rejoyce in thy salvation there is none holy as the Lord c. And as it is exceeding sweet unto the people of God and a Paradise to walk from one Tree to another in the Paradise of God and to say such a truth the Lord fulfilled unto me in such a case and in such an extremity and such a promise at such a time so much more for a man to be able to look over all the attributes of God and to say such a time the Lord did glorifie such an attribute towards me and such a time such a one and to see all the attributes of God as well as all the works of God to work together for a mans good every one in their proper places as the stars in their courses fought against Sisera and the threatnings of God fight against wicked men so to have the word of God the works of God and the attributes of God work for a man is their happiness and their joy 4. He that hath an interest in the alsufficiency of God will be raised up in his soul to an holy self-sufficiency as there is no grace that is in Christ but it will have a resemblance in us so there is no attribute of God but it hath its resemblance therefore 1 Pet. 2.9 we are said to shew forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vertues of him that hath called us and in this doth properly our conformity unto God in this world lye there is something in us that doth hold a resemblance with the attributes of God that are manifested and put forth for us And in this is the greatest exercise of the attributes of God for our good when the patience of God works patience in us and we be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful and holy as he is holy when the wisdom of God works wisdom in us and there is a resemblance of the power of God in us that we are able to do all things through Christ that strengthens us when the greatness of God works in us a holy greatness of mind and when the alsufficiency of God works in us a gracious self-sufficiency for there is a self-sufficiency that is a duty as there is a self-sufficiency that is a sin 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness is great gain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 9.8 Every where and in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and it is that which the Apostle had learned Phil. 4.11 so Prov. 14.14 A good man is satisfied from himself There is self as divided from God which is a sin but self as united unto God is a great duty Self-sufficiency in opposition to the creatures is a duty for a man can be happy without them but self-sufficiency in opposition to God is a sin for if a man be one with God then a mans self-sufficiency is Gods alsufficiency for having God and that sufficiency that is in him he hath all though amongst the creatures he hath no portion no inheritance when a man hath the Moon under his feet and he can say when he sees all the world destroyed Se nihil habere bonum tantâ mole perdendum c. and can look upon the general conflagration of the world as Lot did upon Sodom in the burning without a relenting thought because his portion is not in them this man hath a self-sufficiency grounded upon his interest in the alsufficiency of God for as the Apostle saith of the Fathers Heb. 11.13 That chusing to be pilgrims they did declare
belong unto him as Mediator because as Mediator he is King as well as Priest he is indeed a Priest and a Prophet only to his people but as he is a King so he rules over his enemies even those that will not acknowledge his kingdom over them It 's true that none have an interest in any Office of Christ but he that hath an interest in them all and therefore he cannot be said to be our King so as to rule us for our spiritual and eternal good unless he be also our Prophet and our Priest and none are in this sense the Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ but they that consent to and accept of his government they that kiss the Son but yet he is a King appointed by God though he be not accepted by us and therefore he is Gods King that is he rules by Gods commission and as a servant unto his ends even then when we acknowledge him not to be our King and his government is not assented to by us he will judge them as a King though he doth not save them as a King § 3. The government of all things in his Kingdom is exercised by him in the behalf of the Saints and so they have a right to the Soveraignty of God and it is made over to them as will appear 1. In this that it was given to Christ for their sake he hath a kingdom given him not for his own sake but for our sakes Joh. 17.2 Joh. 17.2 He hath given him power over all flesh that he might give eternal life unto as many as thou hast given him imperium accepit Christus non tam sibi quà m nostrae salutis causâ Calv. so that it was with special respect unto them that he did undertake the government of the world had it not been that he had a people in the world that were given him of the Father and whose names were written in the Lambs book and whom he did intend to save he would not have undertaken the government of all things for Eph. 1.22 he is made the head over all things but it is to the Church magna consolatio est quòd tantum imperium habet is qui id exercet Ecclesiae bono c. Grot. But wherein lies the force of this reason that he must have power over all flesh that he might give eternal life unto as many as God had given him Why could not Christ have given them eternal life unless he had had power over all flesh unless the government of the world had been put into his hands I conceive the force of it to lye in this 1. Had the government still been in the hand of God as God so he must have proceeded according to the rules of the first Covenant and according to the severity of a God and therefore the Father judgeth no man Now the Father as God and the Son as God have but one judgment and they do proceed by the same rule and if the Father cannot judge them but he must destroy them then neither can the Son as God for they have one and the same will and judgment but supposing a Mediator one that will undertake to give God satisfaction for sin then the world may stand and it is fit that he should rule it that hath bought it he hath bought the persons of the Saints and the services of all the creatures for their good therefore it is by Christ that the world stands the government is put into his hand as Mediator for had not there been a Mediator the world must have perished under the weight of the first transgression but that the world might stand and men live in the world in their successive generations and so by grace attain holiness and glory for this cause there was power given him over all flesh and this is the reason given by Chemnitius why the Father judges not immediately Patris nostri sive Divinae naturae judicium cum peccatoribus agentis est juxta severitatem rigorem legis divinae c. 2. He could not give them eternal life else because he could not order all things for their spiritual good even all the motions of the creatures all the temptations of Satan all the affections of men either good or bad sometimes in ways of love and courtesie sometimes in ways of displeasure and persecution and all providential occurrences such opportunities of service and such occasions of sinning which he hath the ordering of for the good of his people All things do work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 because all of them are in the hand of a Mediator for this very end and purpose that he might order all things so as might conduct them safe to heaven how comes it to pass that all the creatures do service to the Saints and there is not one of them that can do them a disservice in reference to their spiritual estates Cyrus in ways of kindness shall be drawn out to the service of God My shepherd saith God he shall be and wicked men shall wipe them as a man doth a dish c. the fire shall not burn them the water shall not drown them no weapon formed against thee shall prosper c. All this is because that the administration of all things are put into the hand of a Mediator for their eternal good and he will order all things so as they shall conduce unto that great end for which he hath undertaken the government in the Kingdom of Providence it 's all in order to the spiritual Kingdom it was purely out of the love of the Father to the Saints that he did give the Kingdom unto Christ and it was purely out of love to the Saints that he did accept of it and thus the Lord laid help on one that 's mighty Christ the Mediator doth administer all things for their good and that both in the spiritual and in the providential kingdom In the spiritual kingdom all the Ordinances are for their good it is for the edification of the Saints and the building up of the body of Christ Eph. 4.12 all the institutions of Christ are for their good and all the motions of the Spirit in what kind soever and the desertions of the Spirit Cant. 4. ult all of them are that their spices may flow forth whether it be North wind or South wind and they have two quite different or contrary qualities and operations yea the very operations of the Spirit and the desertions of the Spirit also work for good the Lord hides his face for a little moment that he may have mercy upon them with everlasting kindness c. So it is in the providential kingdom also all is for the good of the Saints 1 Pet. 1.6 and they shall be gainers by it in the end so much affliction they have as they need and so much prosperity as will do them good for the Lord delights in the
and that will vent it self in time when the thorns shall spring up to choak the word notwithstanding all the restraints that are upon their lusts for a season 3 Thereby they do good many times and give great encouragements to the Saints by their example for their lamps do shine as lights in the world and there are many that do shew others the way in which they themselves walk not but they have their diverticula their crooked ways they go forth with the people of God Psal 125.5 and yet they do afterwards repent themselves and turn back again from the way that 's called holy 2 Pet. 2.21 Godly men do not only follow the example of the Saints that is those that are really and truly so but they have many times very great encouragement from the example and the countenance of them that are not so as we see it in the instance of Joash how he did encourage the builders of the Temple especially when they are men in authority and power they do encourage and go before the Saints of God unto the end whereof they never come and so we have much experienced in our days 2. By their gifts also no man hath his gifts for himself they are this worlds goods they are not thy own but another mans as thy riches are and they are the Churches Treasure and they will fall from a man when he dyes as Elijahs mantle for they are of no use in the world to come and therefore shall not continue 1 Cor. 13.8 9. they are 1 for the Churches collection that so they may be instrumental in gathering in others As for that dispute Whether a man that is unregenerate is made use of by God to convert others I shall not now insist on but I conceive the power of conversion being not of man but of God the Lord calling such as belong to the Election doth according to his good pleasure concur with the one as with the other the gifts of the Ministry are for the gathering of the Saints Eph. 4. many of them are unregenerate men and yet have received a gift Mat. 7.21 and can say to Christ We have prophesied in thy name yet are cast-aways themselves for Christ has received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell amongst them Psal 68.18 that is that the Lord might have a Church for a habitation amongst them Habes ingenium verè aureum saith Austin of Lycentius diabolo propinas teipsum Deus populo suo tam per pios quà m per impios magna facere donare potest Luth. Golden wits may be the Devils vassals 2 For the perfection of the Saints for during the standing of this great house the vessels shall continue and there will be a continual use of them that though they serve their lusts yet by the use of their gifts the Lords ends are accomplished Phil. 1.18 Some preach Christ out of envy but yet Christ is preached and thereby the savour of the Gospel is spread abroad and souls are converted and edified for there is many a man that builds an Ark that saves others that never saves himself that preaches to others and is himself a cast-away there were many that converted others to the Faith in the times of Popery that yet departed themselves from that Faith when suffering came And I fear it will also be said of some Ministers now amongst us that seem great Zealots for the cause and ways of God that when the hour and power of darkness that is coming once again in this Nation shall over-spread it they will draw back from the plough to which they have before so many witnesses put their hand c. the love of many shall wax cold 3. All their services also for they have gifts for service and it is for the service of the house and they are therefore called servants and truly it 's an honour to be a servant to the Saints seeing the Angels are so and there is much benefit that the Saints have by it as we see in Saul the spirit of government was upon him and that service he did in it was for the Saints and Zac. 4.12 they are said to empty the golden oyl out of themselves c. but it is all for the good of the Candlestick it is that the light thereof may be maintained 1 Sometimes they protect as Badgers skins the Ark from storms that the Church is exposed to unregenerate men may be very serviceable to the Church of God as we see in Cyrus c. 2 Sometimes they may assist them in any work that they set upon they may stand by them and strengthen their hands as we see Joash the King did about the building and repairing the House of the Lord. 3 Sometimes they may supply them there is many a man that supplies the necessities of the Saints that doth it to be seen of men and have their reward for they are labourers in the Lords Vineyard and it is for the benefit of it that they are imployed and they have their penny and they may also bear much of the burden and heat of the day as it seems they that murmured did and they do commonly set a high price upon their own services and hereby the Saints do glorifie Christ who has given such gifts to men and when he hath given such to his enemies O what are those gifts that he hath reserved for his sons They see it is the great fruit of the Ascension of Christ and as from the seven Spirits that are before the Throne and they can bless God for his goodness to the children of men and though they pity such a soul to see him destroyed by his own gifts in his abusing of them non est calamitosior homo in terris quà m doctor superbus There is not a more piteous man in the world than a proud Doctor Luth. yet they glorifie Christ therein and see this as a fruit of his government that there may be those that shall build the Tabernacle of God as it is said of Bezaleel and Aholiab that they were gifted for the work c. 4. By their sins for 1 the Lord doth let them live for the Saints sake le ts both good and bad grow together to the harvest and he will weed them out for the Saints sake also for he will gather out of his Kingdom all that offends and whoever works iniquity and he will not have the society of the Saints always polluted by the chaff of the world for they are spots in their feasts and therefore he doth take them away as unfruitful fig-trees he cuts them down and gives them to salt to a perpetual barrenness for the grace and ordinances of the Gospel will heal even the dead sea Ezech. 47.11 12. therefore he casts them out in order to their destruction 2 The Lord will not have his people always deluded the Saints many times are mistaken in their opinion
God to sin against God See thou do it not c. 5. The Angels do sweetly comfort and chear the souls of the Saints in their dejections when Daniel was troubled an Angel bids him not to fear thou art a man of desires they delight as well in your consolation as in your conversion and so they did with Christ in his agony the Angels comforted him and so to Paul Be of good chear says the Angel Acts 27. Discamus optimos constantissimos amicos nostros esse Angelos qui fide benevolentiâ omnibus amicitiae officiis visibiles amicos longè superant sicut diaboli omnes hostes visibiles The Angels are our best and most constant friends c. Luth. Lastly At death they carry the souls of the people of God into Abrahams bosom and they do rejoyce in such a conveyance that they may be imployed to bring another into society and communion with themselves in that glory which they by Christ attain unto for they delight in the filling up of the body of Christ and when a soul is converted there is much joy not only to the Angels but even to God himself how much more therefore when a soul is glorified c. as the Devil from a principle of enmity is ready as an Executioner to conduct souls to be tormented in hell to carry them from the presence of the Lord so are the blessed Angels from a principle of love as Officers for our conduct to enter into our Masters joy and sweet shall the converse of the soul and the Angels be in that pleasant passage but as terrible in the passage will the converse of the soul and the Devil be there shall be nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth c. SECT III. What Interest the Saints have in Christs Providential Kingdom as to the greatest and least things § 1. WE have spoken of the Spiritual and come now unto the Providential Kingdom which is a further manifestation and exercise of the Soveraignty of God and this also have the Saints an interest in and it is in the second Covenant made over to them for their good that it shall be wholly administred for them and this will appear in these particulars 1. There is a special Providence over them above all the rest of the Creation it is true that there is a general Providence of God that doth reach unto every thing even the meanest and the vilest creatures Mat. 10.29 a sparrow a hair He doth whatever it pleases him in heaven and earth and in the sea c. there is a Divine manuduction c. and there is a concourse God has not set up a world to act of it self but there is and must be a concurrence that is 1 with all second causes or else they cannot act this appears in the Furnace of Babylon if the Lord do but suspend his act the creatures immediately work not and therefore there is an immediate acting that is with all second causes causa prima concurrit immediatè cum omni agente creato c. But 2 in a special manner over the Saints for that 's the scope of Christs reasoning Mat. 10.29 c. Ye are of more value than many sparrows he that feeds the ravens and cloaths the lilies will he not much more you O ye of little faith and not one of them is forgotten by your heavenly Father vocula Pater tanta est in corde eloquentia quam Demosthenes Cicero non possunt exprimere c. Luther all the rest are but his servants but he will much more take care for his sons to the rest of the world he is but a Master but he is unto you a Father and his affection answers his relation c. and therefore Deut. 33.3 All thy Saints are in thy hand that is under thy power for their preservation as Joh. 10.28 29. None can pluck them out of my Fathers hand and they are also under his care for their direction Num. 4.28 Vnder the hand of Ithamar and by the hand of Moses and Aaron and of David he rules them with the skilfulness of his hand c. they are as the apple of his eye Zac. 2.8 tactum pro injuria ponit so Jerome and 't is that which is the dearest to him and therefore it 's that which he has the more tender care of Psal 83.3 they are his Jewels and his hidden ones Psal 83.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are kept as in chambers that are never exposed unto open view as it 's spoken of the chambers of the South of the stars that are under the Southern Pole which are not seen in our Horizon but are as it were locked up in their chambers and so it is with these Saints they are shut up in the secret of the Tabernacle and as it were kept in the Holy of holies where no man may come c. Now wherein doth this special Providence over the Saints consist It is 1 in ordering ruling and over-ruling all things for their good that nothing shall touch them or do them hurt for he could not preserve them if he did not rule and order all things for their good he doth so order all things that nothing shall do them hurt let there be the most cross turnings among the creatures that can be Psal 46.1 2. let the earth be moved and let the mountains shake let the Sea roar yet they will not fear how is it that they are so fearless Truly it is when they are not faithless and the ground of it is because there is a Providence that watches over them that none of these things shall do them any hurt Luke 10.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is nothing shall by any means hurt them It is true that they have enemies they have one great enemy who is called the Envious man and all the means that he can use is to turn every thing to their hurt but they shall tread down all the power of the enemy that none shall be able to hurt them as it is said of the Patriarchs He suffered no man to do them wrong but he reproved Kings for their sakes there were many that had a mind to do them wrong but he suffered them not and any that did attempt it the Lord turned it into their good and they did it not impunè it was unto their own destruction Esa 49.17 There is no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord it is that which belongs to them only and that which they have a glorious title to it is jure haereditario theirs it descends unto them by their interest in God as their Father and they that have God for their Father have the secret Providence of God as their inheritance so that there is nothing shall work against them when God is for them 2 Every thing shall work for their good and their
the Lord shall so lead thee that thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone tibi nocere non possunt sed coguntur inservire 2 Stones were for bounds and Land-marks and they shall not be removed but you shall continually enjoy the bounds of your own habitation they shall not be removed it shall be as sure as if you were in league with the Stones that they shall not depart from your bounds 3 Cocceius hath out of Vlpian a certain punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant whence they did use to heap stones upon a ground that it might never be plowed to hinder its fruitfulness Thus the sense is The Stones shall be at league with thee that none of them shall hinder the fruitfulness of thy land and make it lye barren and untilled as in judgment they might doe Now if there be a Covenant by God made with all these for his people then surely the Motions and the Actings of all these shall be for the good of his People But you will say In what particular do all these little things work for the good of the Saints It will clearly appear in these particulars 1. In the smallest things the people see God and their spirits are elevated and raised up to behold him in them for not only the Heavens declare the Glory of God Psal 19.1 but even the meanest Creatures in all their motions do it Repraesentat quaelibet herba Deum Now there is a threefold Vision of God in this World in his Works and in his Word and in his Son and it is of special use that the works of God are unto the Saints in all their being and motions that they can see something of God in them Our Communion with God depends upon our Vision of God and the more we see God in all things the more we converse with him Now there is not the least of all the Creation of God but it doth represent him to us and we look upon it as a footstep of God it is that which doth raise up our hearts unto Heaven while we are upon Earth and causeth us to look upon nothing small that hath so glorious a Creator and so wise a Disposer in minimis lauda magnum says Austin when he speaks de culice there is much of God to be seen and the heart is much to be over-aw'd not only in the lesser things of the Word but also of the Works of God 2. It is unto the people of God matter of praise even in the actings of the meanest of the creatures to see how they work unto an end that they know not but the wise disposer of them knows all their motions and directs them unto his end the out-goings of the morning and evening do praise thee that is objectivè and occasionaliter as they give unto his people matter and occasion of praise In the creation the Morning Stars did sing Job 38.7 and so they do in all the Executions of Providence also fitting them for this end and guiding them to this end c. Austin in Psal 148. blames those that dislike and find fault with the works of God In officina non audent vituperare fabrum tamen audent reprehendere in mundo Deum Perdidisti Hallelujah A man doth lose his praise and the matter and occasion of it which is unto a Saint a great loss for praise is his delight and he loves the occasion of it 3. There is great matter of Meditation even in these ordinary things such as do mightily affect the Souls of the Saints it was so to David Psal 148.7 8 9 10. Praise the Lord from the earth ye Dragons and all deeps fire and hail snow and vapours stormy wind fulfilling his Word mountains and all hills fruitful trees and all cedars Beasts and all cattel creeping things and flying fowls and how can this be Nudae creaturae Deum celebrant Moller dum ad mirandam ejus sapientiam potentiam quotidie ostendunt The dangers prevented and the good things conferred such as are secrets unto us and we know not we consider not of as Luther saith of himself in the like case Somnia nostra observat quando nescimus nos vivere c. equidem odi carnem meam quòd haec scio vera esse iis tamen non seriò afficior c. It gives the Soul high matter of Meditation puts it into the Mount with God 4. It is unto the People of God a great ground of exercising their Faith and that in two things 1 Upon the word of Promise that all these creatures are his by Covenant in all their motions and therefore he has not a common interest in them with the rest of the world but they come unto him from another hand and he receives them by another tenure Now any mercy that has the respect of the Covenant put upon it is infinitely heightned unto them the smallest mercy enjoy'd by Covenant is better than the greatest without the Covenant it is better be as low as Hell with a promise than in Paradise without it therefore it is true that other men walk upon the Stones and they hurt them not and the Beasts break not in upon them the Sun shines and the Rain falls upon them yet here is the sweetness to a Believer This I enjoy as a fruit of an everlasting Covenant as an heir of Promise and as a Pledge of an eternal Inheritance 2 It will be a ground to exercise a mans Faith for a support if the Lord cloath the grass of the field how much more will he cloath you and if he feeds the Ravens he will surely not starve his Children nay if the supply of all the Creatures will be a Provision for you you shall not want it they shall all act for you and if it were possible to put a Saint of God in this life in such a condition as he should want the supply of all the creatures at once they should surely all work for his good for the Lord provides them of purpose and for that very end that they may work for you and therefore are they continued in their being and to that end are govern'd by him 5. The Love of the People of God is drawn out by them exceedingly even by small Mercies for it is not the greatness of the Blessing but the abundance of Love discovered to the soul in it that takes a gracious heart for we love him because he loved us first And as his love is discovered such are the outgoings of our love to him again Now these small things may be magni amoris indicium an ordinary turn of the creature may testifie a great deal of love from God to the Soul as when Israel came out of Egypt Joh. 19.36 not a Dog did move his tongue Exod. 11.7 if they had the matter had not been great for in the night they use to bark but though there was a great cry amongst the Egyptians