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
of God is renewed None of us lives to himself Rom. 14.9 1 Cor. 10. ult nor dies to himself Whether we live we live to the Lord and whether we die we die to the Lord c. But nature never aims at God in any thing makes him neither the end of his being nor of his working if he labour in his Calling and get an Estate he is laying up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God and in his Religious duties if he pray he howles for Corn and Wine If he fast Have you fasted to me says the Lord and when you did eat and drink did you not eat to your selves And when they preach it 's to themselves some preach Christ out of envy and to draw disciples after them Some self-end or other is the great wheel in all they do that acts them and carries them on and if they do reform with Jehu it 's upon a politick principle and not a pious not for God but for themselves and so dum obtemperant non obsequuntur whiles they obey they obey not and in all the duties of Religion Self is at the bottom Hos 10.11 They are as a heifer that loves to tread out the corn And if like the Pharisee they fast or give almes it is to be seen of men God is not in all their thoughts nor his glory in all their aim and they are said to serve other things as Mammon and serve divers lusts and pleasures Now what is service but to do anothers work and to do it to their ends to be wholly theirs therefore Christ is said to be God the Fathers servant because he did the work that God gave him to do and he aimed at Gods ends also he did not seek his own glory but the glory of him that sent him and Grace is in this respect in a special manner call'd self-denial Mat. 16.24 Let a man deny himself and Self in ends is hardest denied of any other This is great Babel that I have built for the honour of my Majesty And thus the soul is taken off from God it has no happiness in him as the chief Good they live not to him they act not for him as their utmost end he is neither the end of their being nor of their working 2. The Soul has lost his interest in God There were glorious relations between God and man by Covenant so that as God had an interest in man so had man also an interest in God Luk. 3. ult Adam was the son of God and had that interest in God that became that relation as a child has an interest in a father and he could truly call him his God and this is the glory of the second Covenant that our interest in God is restored and increased I will be their God and they shall be my people Jer. 31.33 And he that has an interest in another may claim him according to his relation as truly as if all were in his own power as the Wife has an interest in the Husband and she may expect that love care and protection and provision that that relation does intitle her to as truly as if it were in her own power and the Husband may expect from his Wife that love service and help that the relation calls for And it 's true of all other relations whatsoever when persons have a relation and an interest one in another and though the persons be of the highest rank as between a King and a Subject a Master and a Servant a Father and a Son yet the relation gives them a mutual interest one in another and so man had in God at the first he was his God and the Saints now call him in Christ the God of my mercy and the God of my life and so man had an interest in the Wisdom of God and in the Holiness of God and the Soveraignty of God over all the Creatures so far as might be for mans good as truly as for his own glory for that 's the nature of propriety Eph. 6.10 Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might I have no power may such a soul say but I am strong in the strength of God and wise by the wisdom of God all that is in God I have a claim to I have nothing of my own but all the Creatures of God are as mine and therefore as having nothing and yet possessing all things having nothing in my self and yet possessing all things in God as Rev. 21.6 He that overcomes shall inherit all things I will be his God And therefore after all Job's great losses the Fathers bring him in looking upon them all and saying I have lost nothing So long as the soul has an interest in God he can lose nothing he can want nothing But sin has broken all relations between you and God but barely that of a Creature thou art no more a Son and therefore the Jews Joh. 8. boasting that God was their father Christ tells them that there was no such relation between God and them but they descended from another stock of their father the Devil And for servants they serve not God but themselves their own bellies and therefore all this interest must be restored unto them in Christ I ascend to my father and your father my God and your God He is no way a God to us but as he is Christ's God else we have no interest in him and if we sin we can lay no claim to his Mercy to pardon or to his Wisdom to direct us or his Power to protect us or his Bounty to provide for us nay all the Attributes of God that work for the good of his people they all work against such a soul his Holiness is a terrour for he is of purer eyes than to behold evil his Wisdom is a terrour for he knows how to reserve the wicked to the day of judgment to be punished his Omniscience is against us for he will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing He does number our steps and does watch over our sins and the mercy of God thou hast no interest in thou shalt have judgment without mercy c. a man can claim nothing that is in God to be for him And though while men are at ease and enjoy the Creatures they find no want of this yet when they come to die and to be in a streight Act. 27. as Paul was when he said the Angel of the Lord stood by me whose I am and whom I serve and at the last day to look up to God and say I am thine save me Lord it will be more than for a man to have an interest and a title to all the Kingdoms of the Earth and other men that have slighted it they shall know what it is to lose their interest in God 3. The Soul has wholly lost the Image of God in which the glory of the soul did at first lie but it
which he chose to himself out of both Creations and therefore 't is said Ephes 1.4 He has chosen us in him before the foundations of the world were laid He chose him as the head and the Elect as the body Eph. 1.9 10. He has made known unto us the good pleasure of his will according as he purposed in himself to gather together all things unto one whether things in heaven or things on earth There is a Mystery in the Gospel which is called the hidden Wisdom which God hath ordained before the world unto our glory it was free grace to mind the glory of the Elect next to the glory of his own Son 1 Cor. 2.7 and that as the Son shall glorifie him so also the glory of the Son shall come in by the glory of the Saints and the Son ingaged who was the Lord of glory to bring many sons to glory by this because therein should his own glory consist for at the day of Judgment the great glory of Christ shall be in his Saints He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and be admired in them that believe c. And if he did look upon man as fallen he need never have taken up such a purpose as this is for being enemies he had a prison that was large enough to have held them all Esay 10. ult for Tophet was prepared of old he hath made it deep and large and he needs not their service nor their friendship he could have destroyed them and as John Baptist saith Of these stones he could raise up children unto Abraham But yet it was the loving-kindness of the Father that did think thoughts of peace towards them and he had an eternal purpose of good will and as the Father will be glorified in the Son so shall the Saints also and therefore they are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father 1 Pet. 1.3 and the plot is in Scripture commonly attributed unto the Father 4 It was God the Father that made the motion unto Christ the Son who called him and appointed him unto this work Joh. 8.42 I came not of my self it was an honour that Christ did not take upon himself Heb. 5.5 But he that said Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee he doth ingage him in the work by the highest relation and the greatest obligation that can be as he was his gift so he must be obedient unto the Father in this thing Heb. 10.6 7. and therefore In the volume of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will O God and this is intended in these two expressions Prov. 8.22 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he possessed me Prov. 8.22 23. for the servant is part of his masters goods and therefore it 's said That he is his money Exod. 21.21 Now as soon as the Son became in the purpose of the Father his servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immediately he possessed him and he is called the beginning of all the ways of God towards the creature The first step of all the good will that was towards the creature and all the goings forth of God towards him was laid in the Son he is the beginning of his way and it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was set up from everlasting it 's the same word in Psal 2.6 I was anointed from everlasting it is spoken in the purpose and intention of God for the efficacy of it took not place till after the Fall neither was he actually anointed till he in the humane nature received the Spirit without measure and was anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows 5 He proposed it unto the Son by way of a Covenant for the Covenant was originally made with Christ Esay 49. Gal. 3.6 and so 2 Tim. 1.9 there is a promise of eternal life not unto us but unto him and also in Tit. 1.2 eternal life that was given us before the world began he did appoint him the office that he should undertake him has God the Father consecrated and sanctified the service that he should do Joh. 10.18 I lay down my life and this commandment I received of my Father And to shew the intention of the Fathers Spirit in it he did swear that he should be a Priest and it was the word of the Oath made him so to be For him hath God the Father sealed Heb. 7.27 Joh. 6.26 And it was by this Covenant that most properly Christ became the second Adam 1 Cor. 15.47 As the Lord made a Covenant with the first Adam for an image and an inheritance which he was to transmit unto his posterity so also he did with the second Adam only here was the difference though the first Adams consent to the Covenant was voluntary yet he being a creature and subject to a Law when the mind of God was made manifest in a Covenant and to deal with him in a Covenant-way it had been his sin to withdraw his consent But now the Son being God equal with the Father it was every way free with him to have consented unto the terms of this Covenant or not but he did it freely Lo I come to do thy will O God 6 In this Covenant he did appoint unto his Son what glory he should have and what glory and grace the Saints should have He hath given us eternal life 1 Joh. 5.11 and this life is in his Son so that all the grace that ever should be communicated to the Saints here and their glory hereafter it should be all laid up in him as in a common Treasury It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge And when the Saints enter into happiness they do but enter into their masters joy all is laid up in Christ for them And God doth appoint Christ what glory he should have for his personal glory Phil. 2.10 That he should be exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high and have a name given him above every name and that he should be glorified in the Saints and admired in them that believe Joh. 5. the Father has given him to have life in himself that he may quicken whom he will and hath given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man 7 The Father did appoint him the souls that he should save for Joh. 17.10 All thine are mine I pray not for the world but those that thou hast given me c. The Father and the Lamb have each of them a book of life and they do answer one another Rev. 13.8 for every soul that God would have saved he did give unto the Lord Christ by Covenant so that as he did measure out suffering to Christ and sins too for he had our sins unto a number laid upon him so he did souls also that he was to
in point of Justification and Condemnation but in the two former as to Irritation and Coaction it is but liberty begun because sin in us is not perfectly destroyed therefore so far as there are remainders of sin in the Saints See Pareus in Rom. 7.5 they are lyable to an Irritation and a Coaction but yet in a far different manner from that which is in unregenerate men as will be shewed afterwards § 2. The Apostle having in the former Chapter spoken how sin entered into the world and death by sin and how righteousness and life entred by the Lord Jesus Christ that as sin reigned unto death so grace should reign through righteousness unto life eternal and shewing the fruits of this righteousness killing sin in us Therefore we are dead to sin and the old man is crucified and the body of sin is destroyed that we should not henceforth serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin for sin is a Lord and so long as the servant lives he is in subjection to his master but the servant being once dead is free from his master it 's a speech taken from all civil subjection which began with sin and ends with death Now sin is compared to a Master or a Lord to which a man is bound while he lives but being dead he is freed from the power and dominion of sin Rom. 6.11 12. Rom. 6.11 12 Therefore count your selves dead unto sin and let not sin reign in your mortal bodies any more Ver. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace Not under the Law as a Covenant and so irritating sin and exasperating it but under Grace that is subduing sin and hell Some refer these words to the dominion of sin and a mans freedom from that and some to the dominion of the Law and a mans deliverance from it as a Covenant but the main current of Interpreters make the Law the husband and the strength of sin to be by the Law unto condemnation and unto irritation as the Law does occasionally inflame the heart to evil and lust is enraged thereby and they say the Law is dead unto us as a Covenant it is a bond cancelled and taken out of the way Col. 2.14 and so we are dead to the Law by the body of Christ that is Christ as our surety having paid our debt satisfied the Law and received the discharge we are dead to the Law it has no more power to charge sin upon us See Ambros to Jerom. also Estius Calvin Par. c. nor to stir up sin within us they make the Law to be the husband the Soul the wife and the children to be the fruits of Sin which through the irritating power of the Law it does bring forth in us even all manner of concupiscence But other Interpreters as Beza Gomar and some others conceive that the husband is Sin the wife is every natural man that is in the flesh and the fruits are all sinful words and actions that do proceed from sin which are fruits unto death as the other husband is Christ the wife a Believing soul and the fruits all the fruits of Righteousness and Holiness which are called fruits unto God and therefore some have put them both together and so Reinolds in one place he calls Sin the husband Psal 130. the use of the Law p. 368. and in another place the Law the husband and the difference is not much whether we understand it of sin which takes occasion by the Law or of the Law as it does inflame and irritate sin for both of them may be truly said to be dead unto the Saints and they dead unto them though it seems by the ensuing Objections most probable that the Law is the husband Now the Apostle comes to answer a double Objection which ariseth hence For if sin take occasion by the Commandment and if it have a pollutive power by the Law and as he saith Verse the fifth The motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit to death then it seems there is a double evil that flows from the Law sin and death for by the Law the motions of sin work and by the Law men bring forth fruit unto death The words are an answer unto the first objection which lyes thus That which doth increase sin and sin works by it that is in it self sinful but the Law doth increase sin and sin works by the Law c. The Apostle answers it two ways 1 By Negation it doth not follow though the Law doth increase sin and sin works by the Law c. that the Law is therefore sinful Absit God forbid it is an abominable inference for the Law is holy and just and good and a beam of that infinite Holiness that is in God and by which Gods Holiness does shine forth upon us therefore the Law is not sinful for that which only does discover sin is not sin but it is the Law only that doth discover and forbid sin therefore c. 2 By a Translation of the guilt laying the blame upon corrupt nature and the sinfulness thereof which the Law doth forbid and discover for the Law entered that sin might abound and therefore of it self gives not occasion to sin Yet sin took occasion when none was given and did draw evil from that which is good in it self and suckt poyson from that which is holy For the Law is holy as well when it does by accident enrage sin as when by it self it discovers it Doct. Every man out of Christ is under a Covenant of works and under the irritating power of the Law The Law forbidding sin and discovering sin in him has no other fruits but to enrage it and increase it as Chrysostome says the flame of lust is increased thereby for without the law sin is dead that is ratione cognitionis it lyes dead man knows it not to be sin and comparativè ratione irritationis in point of irritation But the more clearly the law is discovered the more bitterly and violently does corruption work against it Whiles the law doth not come in a clear and convincing manner sin is quiet and a man does not sin with so much rage and violence against the law as he does after the discoveries thereof Sin was dead that is it did not put forth its utmost power to draw forth all manner of effects till the law came and by this means sin is made exceeding sinful as it is rendered by Erasmus sin is not only discovered but improved and so it is made exceeding sinful So that the fruits of the law to a man under the first Covenant is this Sin takes occcasion by the Commandment it does ripen his sins and improve them and it draws forth in him all manner of uncleanness 1 Cor. 15.56 The strength of sin is the law There is a
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
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
be like him for we shall see him as he is answerable to our vision of him such will be our conformity to him Mercies unto wicked men are suitable to their services they give to God unsanctified services and God does give them unsanctified rewards and their services are seemingly services but really sins so are the mercies that God gives them seeming blessings but really curses they are indeed blessings in the thing but as they draw out their corruptions so they are curses unto the men So Iratus dat amanti quod malè amat as Austin saies God gives it in wrath as he did to them Quails c. and though they were fed to the full yet he sends â—anness into their souls he gave them their hearts desire in wrath 5 By this Covenant you do ingage your selves that whatever God bestows in mercy you will return again in duty that you may injoy nothing apart from God but as the Lord saith of his people in Covenant they are his portion so you also say of God he is your God and as all that is in him is made over unto you so you will be his people and all that is in you shall be made over unto him and should be laid out or laid down for him and you shall resign to him whatever he shall call for and this is for a man to hate Father and Mother and his own life and acknowledge as David did of thine own have we given thee God gave it unto them and they do return it willingly unto God again that which is a Samuel asked of God shall be also lent unto the Lord and the soul never desires or expects good from any mercy from which God hath no glory for a man is a servant to God and it is all the Master 's that the servant hath of gains as the Law saith Cant. 8.11 Servi sunt res Domini quicquid acquirunt acquirunt domino c. Solomon had a Vineyard and he let it out to keepers and he expected the fruits thereof even a thousand pieces of Silver and of the Husbandmen to whom the Vineyard was committed the Lord expected fruits c. a soul is never so well pleased as when it brings forth fruit for God and lays out his strength to the uttermost that he may bring in a revenue of glory to the Lord his God 6 When all the duties of the Covenant are performed by us in the fittest time and in the highest and the best manner 1 In the fittest time as the Lord takes the fittest time to show us mercy so should we also take the fittest time to perform our duty to him and it 's a great matter to know the season there is an accepted time there is a day of salvation 2 And also we must perform it in the highest manner as David said It is for the Lord and therefore the house must be magnificent this have I done out of my poverty though he offered the wealth of a kingdom And the Lord says to Israel Wouldest thou offer this to thy prince I am a great king God expects we should perform all our duties with that reverence and exactness as we do when we offer any gift or present to a Ruler over us 2. We are to improve the Covenant in reference unto God for the obtaining all the mercies of the Covenant because therein the Lord hath in faithfulness ingaged himself Debita reddit nulli debens c. God pays debts and yet is debtor to none but to his own faithfulness So do they Isa 63.18 19. The Lord was departed and had sold them into the hand of strangers and they possessed their Land they pray Return for thy servants sake the tribes of thy inheritance the people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while we are thine thou never barest rule over them and thy name was never called upon them they were never a people whom thou tookest into Covenant as thou hast done unto us And so Isa 63.9 Be not wroth very sore nor remember our iniquity for ever behold I beseech thee we are all thy people Jer. 14.8 9. O thou the hope of Israel the saviour thereof in the time of trouble why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land why shouldest thou be as a man astonished as a mighty man that cannot save if thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name Thy name is called upon us we are thy people in Covenant The Lords portion the lot of his inheritance for God is always mindful of his Covenant and in pursuance thereof he doth whatever he doth in the world if he give Christ it is with respect to the Covenant he hath raised up an horn of salvation Luk. 1.72 that is a strong and powerful Saviour for he has laid help upon one that is mighty And all is that he might perform his Covenant unto our fathers and to remember his holy Covenant Christ and all the mercies by him which are given to us are a fruit of the Covenant that was made with Christ before the world was Lev. 26.41 42. if their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they accept the punishment of their iniquity then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob and with Isaac and with Abraham and I will remember the land Now How should a man improve his Covenant in reference unto God 1. Consider rightly the latitude of Covenant mercies and the greatness of them for it is in this Covenant that all your salvation lies that your hearts may be carried out answerable to the vastness of the loving-kindness of God and that no mercy of the Covenant may be left unconsidered and untasted of but that you may have a taste that the Lord is gracious in every one of them and that a man may see that it is the weakness of his heart and the lowness of his spirit that he doth not press towards them all for the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.9 He labours whether present or absent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are ambitious c. habet sapientia sui generis superbiam and therefore a godly man is not willing to leave out any thing either of the graces or the priviledges of the Covenant for they are Covenant mercies that are the precious mercies of your lives the flower of all the mercies of a mans life it is therefore said to be a Covenant stablished upon better promises the first Covenant did promise life for ever in Heaven as it did threaten death for ever in Hell but yet there are better promises as he said Est aliud in Christo formosius salvatore There is something in Christ more beautiful than a Saviour so there is something in the Covenant that is better than Heaven 1 The Lord hath made over himself to us in this Covenant He is not ashamed to be called our God to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee
but Rev. 14.1 they have the Fathers name also written in their foreheads Rev. 14.1 It was an ordinary manner in those parts that servants should receive the name of the master for a mark of the person for whom they lived and Souldiers the name of their General or chief Commander c. and this mark was sometimes in the right hand and sometimes in the forehead so that they are professed servants not only of Christ but of God the Father also whose servant Christ is in all that he doth and therefore Rev. 11.16 17. The kingdoms of the earth are said to become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ not only Christs Kingdom but the Fathers Kingdom also though it 's true that the actual and immediate administration of it is in the hand of the Son Joh. 5.23 The Father judges no man yet in the Son the Father reigns There is a time for the regress of Christs Kingdom into the hand of the Father that he may immediately administer it again as he did from the beginning and that I conceive is meant by the subjection of the Son 1 Cor. 15.28 Then shall the Son also be subject unto him that put all things under him 1 Cor. 15.28 c. He is subject during all the time of his Kingdom for he does rule but as the Fathers servant and he says As the Father gave me commandment even so do I but there is a greater subjection that yet Christ must shew unto the Father 1 He is now the Fathers servant and yet so as he rules the world and therefore as you have heard he is called God the Fathers King but after the day of Judgment having put down all rule and all authority and power that was substituted by him he shall give up his government into the hand of the Father and he shall rule the creatures as Lord of all things as Mediator no more but having brought them under his government unto the Father he together with that great Church and general assembly of the first-born shall come under the immediate government of the Father for ever 2 He is now the Fathers servant and subject to him but it is in a secret and unobserved way the government is in his hand though the Father rules in him but then he shall lay down all at the Fathers feet before men and Angels and become subject to the glory of the Father § 3. God the Father stands unto Christ in the relation of a Friend or a Companion and so he calls him Zac. 13.7 the word there doth properly signifie two things Zac. 13.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Socium a mans companion one that he doth enjoy intimate communion and fellowship with 2 Amicum sive proximum a friend Christ is one that is near to God the Father one with whom he doth enjoy the most intimate society and so much the expression of his being in the bosom of the Father doth intimate Joh. 1.18 Joh. 1.18 for there are three things which it notes 1 arctissimam conjunctionem the nearest conjunction 2 ardentissimam dilectionem the most ardent love 3 secretissimorum communicationem Jam. 2.23 the communication of the deepest secrets it is used of wives Deut. 13.6 and of friends Luke 16.23 Now there are four great acts of friendship as the Philosopher has observed 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benevolence Arist Ethic. l. 9. c. 9. Deut. 13.6 a true well-wishing desiring his good as the good of his own soul as we read thy friend which is as thy own soul Thus as the Son seeks the glory of the Father so does the Father seek the glory of the Son as truly as his own glory so Joh. 14.13 That the Father may be glorified in the Son and therefore he saith He that honours not the Son honours not the Father Joh. 5.23 so he doth seek the salvation and good of the Saints even as his own glory for as he will be glorified in the Son so he will also be glorified in the Saints and therefore though the Lord Jesus Christ be in glory already yet he is not satisfied with his own glory but takes care that his friends may be partakers of it and therefore he will leave Heaven once more that he may come again to fetch you for his glory is not perfect without you and this he doth as he is the Fathers servant also because the glory of the Father as manifested is not perfected till all the Saints be brought home to him and are glorified with him 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concord friends have one mind idem velle idem nolle est firma amicitia to will and nill the same thing is firm friendship Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that doth chuse the same things so it is with Christ Joh. 10.30 I and my Father are one that is we have the same will and we act in the same time we carry on the same design and so it is with the Saints also and therefore he doth by an almighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Isa 56. subdue their will unto his will that they chuse the things that please him and they say always Not my will but thy will be done and therefore Salvian makes this the happiness of the Saints Lib. 1. de guber Dei p. 8. quia ex voto agunt humiles sunt hoc volunt pauperes sunt pauperie delectantur sine ambitione sunt ambitum respuunt c. because they live by prayer they are humble c. 3 In friendship there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beneficence a readiness and a willingness to do all good unto the party beloved so is God the Father a friend to Christ he gives him glory he sets him at his own right hand and gives him dominion over the works of his hands and has put all things under his feet Psal 8. And so he is a friend unto the Saints also for he has made them heirs of all things and has given them all things necessary unto life and godliness the most precious things he bestows upon them himself and his Son and his Spirit his Grace the ministry of Angels and he has subjected all the actings of his Providence unto their prayers and they all work together for their good he doth imploy them in the highest and most honourable services and he doth bestow upon them the greatest rewards 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All friendship is in communion Arist Eth. 1. so the Father is a friend to Christ Joh. 5.20 The Father loves the Son and shews him all things that he himself doth Abraham is called the friend of God and therefore there is such a fellowship that the Lord has with him that he cannot hide from Abraham the thing that he means to do and so there is a communion that he has with the Saints a constant communion they come and sup with him and
and they are cast out as a branch and wither but during the time of their continuance in this kingdom till he has cast them out for their rebellion there is a government that the Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth exercise towards them and over them for the good of his Saints And this will appear by the expressions that we meet with in Scripture 1 They are his servants Joh. 8.35 the Church is compared to a house a family as it 's called the family of God and the house of God and of this family Christ is the Master now there is a special imployment that he has for every one of his servants and they are under his special command and dominion it is true this family is made up of servants and of sons and the servants may have a greater rule in the house than the sons but yet both under the authority of the housholder only he rules over the one as a Master and over the other as a Father but both are in subjection Cant. 6.8 there are in the Church sixty Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number some are truly married unto Christ and have a true right and authority in the family by their marriage-union with the King for the woman shines by the beams of her husband but there are Concubines that came in only for lusts sake and that did bear fruit but it was never from a marriage state and there were Virgins that were companions only that were not married neither did they in a manner bear fruit but were for attendants only and the King has a special rule and dominion over all these c. 2 The Church visible is compared to a great House 2. Tim. 2.20 some expound it de mundo but contextus nos ducit ut de Ecclesia intelligamus non de extraneis disputat Apostolus sed de ipsa familia Dei Calv. there is not a vessel but it has its use though all have not the same use nor of the like honour yet all are for use and all are for the Masters use so that there is a special dominion that is exercised over them all as well the vessels of wood and stone as those that are of gold to imploy them where he will and as he will in what service he pleases for it is his will that makes their use to differ it is for the Saints sake that he makes use of them so that all Gods dispensations towards unregenerate men in the Church is for their sakes all the husbandry that is exercised about the unfruitful branches is for the sake of those that have a blessing in them for the wicked shall have no benefit by it in the great day of the Lord the greater rule the Lord has exercised towards men the greater will their abhorring be the nearer they have been to him the further off shall they be from him the higher they have been exalted to heaven the deeper shall they be cast down to hell Mat. 11.23 there is utter darkness for the children of the kingdom Mat. 8.12 And this we may reduce unto four Heads 1 their graces 2 their gifts 3 their services 4 their sins and in all these the dominion of Christ over them is for the good of the Saints 1. Their graces are ruled by Christ for the Saints there are common graces which the Lord doth give unto unregenerate men in the Church common illuminations by which they see much glory and beauty in spiritual things and yet had never their eyes anointed with eye-salve and there are many common works upon the wills of men letting in a taste of the goodness of spiritual things so that the heart is much taken with them and makes out after them and there are many tendencies to the new birth Hos 13.13 we see them set forth to us Heb. 6.3 4. which is meant of the common graces of the Spirit of Christ under the Gospel which he works upon the souls and consciences of unregenerate men which are only from the Spirit assisting and not from the Spirit informing which flow not from union but from conviction and therefore from which in time they will surely fall away there is a great beauty that the Spirit of God in such common works doth put forth upon the souls of unregenerate men though it be but as the Sun shining upon a mud-wall or as a curious robe put upon a dead carkass it cannot keep it from stinking because there is not a principle of life in it 1 Hereby the Lord restrains their spirits There is a restraint without by a power that is upon the Devil by which he is restrained from doing the mischief he would else do but there is a restraint within upon the lusts of men and that is by some special works of the Spirit of God upon them Exod. 34.24 No man shall desire thy land c. and the Spirit restraining is for the Saints sake as well as the Spirit renewing Psal 76 10. The wrath of man shall praise thee Psal 76.10 and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accinges thou shalt gird up sometimes the Lord lets mens lusts loose and sometimes he does gird them up as he doth the Sea in a girdle of sand or else the Saints of God who are always as sheep amongst wolves would surely be devoured by them for their soul is amongst lyons Now they are common works that do exceedingly restrain the sins and the rage of unregenerate men and bind up their spirits both in reference unto persecution and the wrongs done by them as also in reference to corruption and the evil example given by them also 2 Hereby the Lord doth fit them for service for even the vessels of dishonour are for service in the house also though they be but of wood and stone c. Now though gifts do immediately qualifie them yet they are common works that do make them to exercise those gifts and are unto them as oyl to the wheels in the use of them as a temporary Believer he may be an eminent Professor and the house that such a one builds is far more glorious in outward shew than that of a Saint for they are both called builders Mat. 7.7 and many men do service for God but they are cold in it because they are acted only from without Rom. 16.18 whose God is their belly Non ità glacies frigus sicut Elcius alii sed ego rem seriam agebam ut quòd diem extremum horribiliter timui c. Luth. and this will make a man seem to act from an inward principle as if he had received life from the Spirit and were made alive from the dead and thereby even ungodly men do many times give a great testimony unto the principles and the practices of the Saints that they acknowledge them and seal unto them and yet nevertheless there is in them a principle to hate them