when God leaves him under that Covenant and deals with him according to the terms of that Covenant under which he desires to be In a word if God hate their persons and impute their sins reject their services despise their image curse their blessings give them neither grace restraining nor renewing if he leave them to wrestle under temptations by their own might and to resist sin in their own strength and be defiled and as they offer to God unsanctified services so God gives them unsanctified rewards and as their services are seemingly services but really sins so Gods blessings be seeming blessings but really curses When they shall come and plead with God at the last day they shall be made speechless in this for God shall let them see that in all his dealings with them he has proceeded with them in all things according to the terms of the Covenant under which they stand Vse 2 § 2. We may by this see what a miserable state a state of sin is and wherein the great danger and misery of it lies it makes a man perfectly miserable in all things but it makes him also insensible of this misery and makes it a desirable condition unto him which he is still willing and content to be in And here observe these three things 1. See here the compleat raign and dominion of sin which it has over men who are yet in their sins in a state of sin which consists in two things 1 In power and authority to command 2 In a ready and willing subjection thereunto Rom. 6.19 when men do yield themselves servants to sin as it is in respect of acts of sin men please themselves in them and they cannot forsake them they are the joy of their lives their sweet morsels which they hide under their tongues and they keep them and will not forsake them so also in respect of a state of sin which they are in under their Covenant as the servant that would not go free Exod. 21.5 Now when it is so that men are content with the bondage of the first Covenant and the second Adam is offered to them and they will not be delivered this shews that they are perfectly under the bondage of sin that not only they are with pleasure held under the acts of sin and cast fire-brands and say am I not in sport but they are held under a state of sin also and will not accept deliverance will not go free 2. See here also the folly of sin and the sinner even the highest rank of men civil men and formal professors temporary believers that have oyl in their lamps and go forth to meet the Bridegroom and yet the Holy Ghost says they are foolish Virgins because men do not judge of the danger of their estates by reason of their Covenant but go on as the Ox to the slaughter yea they cleave unto this Covenant and see not the misery that they are in under it and though the great work of the Spirit of God is to convince a man of his estate of sin in this that he is under the first Covenant and out of Christ Joh. 16.8 yet men go on and will not see it and yet walk with a great deal of confidence in hope of an everlasting reward 3. See here how Satan blinds the eyes of them that believe not and how the Lord gives them up to blindness in judgment that live under the Gospel they have the offers of the second Covenant made known to them they are under the Law and they do hear the Law that they are by nature bond-men and can from this mother expect no inheritance but as bond-men to be cast out of the house for ever and yet they cleave unto this and the more the glory of the second Covenant is offered unto them the more violently they do oppose it because it would spoil them of their own righteousness and subject them unto the righteousness of God Thus we see it in the whole people of the Jews but eminently in the Pharisees this Covenant they had chosen unto themselves and they did desire to be under the Law and they thought themselves very much enriched with the righteousness of the Law so that Christ preaching the second Covenant unto them and the grace thereof their desire to establish their own righteousness did raise up the malice and rage of their spirits unto such a height that they broke forth into the unpardonable sin even the great transgression and there is the same devilish principle in us all if the Lord restrain us not that in opposition to the grace of the Gospel we should oppose it even to the unpardonable sin Vse 3 § 3. It is an Exhortation to several Duties but specially three 1. Labour for a work of humiliation for this sin and to be rightly convinced of it for surely the nature of man is deeply leavened with it There is a double conviction of sin 1 Rational when a mans reason is overcome by the Word that a man cannot deny nor dispute against the truth of it and yet his heart is not affected with it Joh. 16.8 2 There is a spiritual Conviction when the Lord comes in with an irresistible light and discovers the sin and causeth the heart to own it and stoop to it and be affected with it with shame and sorrow and this is that conviction of the soul that does lead unto conversion whereas the other many times doth and may lead unto condemnation And this sin will be set upon the soul with these Considerations 1 It is a sin against the Gospel and the foundation of all the grace thereof now this is an aggravation If the word spoken by Angels were stedfast c. Heb. 2.2 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation If it be so dangerous to break the first Covenant what is it to despise the grace and offers of a second 2 It doth reject the grace of God the Father who had the first hand in the second Covenant for he might have dealt with us as he dealt with the lost Angels he did not catch after them when falling Heb. 2.16 Now for the Lord to give you a second offer of grace when he let the Angels go and you to despise this grace and whereas God had multitude of thoughts concerning this Covenant and the grace thereof for you to make all these thoughts of God of none effect by desiring to establish the first and by rejecting the Grace of the second Covenant is a great transgression 3 Hereby a man is very injurious to the Lord Jesus Christ Joh. 4.10 who is the greatest gift of God and the main of the excellency of this gift lies in this that he is given as a second Adam as a Mediator of the Covenant the surety of the Covenant Heb. 7.22 Isa 42.6 Heb. 8.6 the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.6 by whose blood the Covenant is sealed and
man to seek out curious ways of sinning against it to avoid the power of the law as we see in Gaming c. sin takes occasion by the Commandment that it may sin more artificially and such men are hardly convinced 2 The Law discovers sin and men will not see it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment and vents it self by refusing knowledge And they stop their ears that they may not be charmed by the voice of the charmer Joh. 3.20 c. 3 Sin takes occasion from hence in that men hate the light of the law and they wish that there were no such law in the world He that does evil hates the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest and reproved As the law discovers that to be evil in which the soul placeth its greatest good so this discovery draws out a hatred in the soul a-against that law which does as a glass discover the spots which the sinner would have hidden 2. The law does restrain sin and puts a stop to it and shuts up the sinner as we may read Gal. 3.23 Whence sin breaks forth more violently men being prone to sin and cannot live without it for the comfort of their life comes in by it The Law may restrain and keep in lust for a while Mat. 12.43 but it breaks forth as fire when you suppress it outwardly it burns the hotter within and spreads the more by a restraint 1 It spreads the more in the man by the restraint of the Law a man that hath forborn a sin long there comes seven worse spirits at the last and makes him more the child of the Devil than he was before the former restraint that was upon him makes his inward man the more exceeding sinful As it was with Judas a Devil though a Disciple The restraint of sin by the Commandment causes it to defile his inward man the more 2 The more sin is enraged as Psal 2. They say let us break their bonds and cast their cords from us Chains put not a fierceness into a beast but yet it does outwardly draw forth that fury that was in its nature As a potion in some diseases given for the cure irritates the peccant humour and kills the man the sooner not that it puts a new sickness in but only the humours being stirred are the more enraged 3 So in this case it does not only enrage sin and so make it more fierce but it improves it by this enraging as the presence of an injury doth heighten a mans anger as we see Goliah did David s his brags drew forth David's courage and it rose to the greater height and so any difficulty would Alexander's so that it was an exploit fit for Alexander if none else would undertake it and so a damm in the water it does cause it to swell and foam the more and the coldness of the circumstant air in the winter does not put more heat into the fire and yet by an Antiperistasis it excites it so that it is felt the more And therefore men living under the clearest discoveries of the Law their sins do rise to the greatest height men by the light of nature cannot sin against the Holy Ghost the great and the unpardonable transgression but this sin is by Gospel-light and this draws forth to direct enmity a mans spirit against the light so that he sins wilfully after that he hath received the knowledge of the truth and with despight for it is this being under the irritating power of the Law that is the great occasion of the sin against the Holy Ghost 3. There is a condemning power of the Law it passes a sentence upon a man and upon his estate and let 's into his soul by the spirit of bondage fear of death and dreadful apprehensions of wrath fearful expectations of judgment and of violent fire to devour him And from this also sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrours that a man should destroy himself and become the instrument of his own mercy and be his own executioner as Judas and Achitophel and many others have done And 2 hence sin takes occasion to drive them to despair and draws it forth fastning their eyes upon the vengeance of God and never shewing them the remedy and the pardon and then with Cain men say mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven 3 Hence follows a giving up themselves unto all excess of riot there is no hope and therefore I will enjoy the good things that are present and not have a Hell here and hereafter too And therefore they refrain not from any evil way but resolve to take their fill of sin while they are here for they are sure they can be but damned as many a wicked wretch when he is condemned to die he cares not what he does then for he knows he can be but hanged Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die 4 The rage of their spirits does rise from hence even to blasphemy and revenge against God He saith O that I were above God! for I know that he will not have mercy upon me And so the Damned in Hell do blaspheme God by way of revenge because they are shut up under wrath and know that there is no mercy for them And this is the ground also of the great rage and revenge against God that is acted by the Devil ever since the fall Thus men seeing themselves condemned by the Law and being in a continual expectation of this wrath the revenge and rage of their spirits against God is by this means drawn forth and in all these respects sin does take occasion by the Commandment and becomes the more exceeding sinful SECT II. Whence it is that the Law exasperates and encreases Sin § 1. LET us now come having proved the Point to look into the grounds of it How it should come to pass that that which discovers sin and forbids it should exasperate and increase it and that that which is a means to lead the people of God into ways of holiness and to sanctifie them converting the soul making wise the simple should occasion sin and death to others We must lay this as a ground That the cause is not in the Law the Apostles care is to remove any blemish that may be cast on the Law of God as if God had given a Law to this end to add unto the sin of man whereas indeed before the Law sin was in the world and it was out of measure sinful but it did not appear so without the Law There is a twofold cause that the Apostle does here point us unto 1 There is causa per se a formal cause which does of it self and of its own nature properly produce the effect from some inward and intrinsecal power and efficiency and so the Law is not the cause of sin in a man neither is there any thing in the Law that should
The word of the Prophet is but wind and the word of the Lord is not in them it will come upon themselves so let it be done unto themselves let it be eternal judgment that is threatned and men do scoff and say 2 Pet. 3.3 Where is the promise of his coming And the heart of man does from its pride infinitely scorn all those things and goes on with the greater resolution in any evil 4 There is in every lust a principle and root of enmity against God for men naturally are haters of God and enemies to God and there is nothing but lust makes them so Rom. 1.31 Col. 1.31 Now as in every man there is all sin vertually and seminally so there is all sin in every sin and there is in every sin a principle of sin that will produce all manner of iniquity as we may see in the first transgression it was but one sin and one act of sin yet there was in it all manner of defilement that has filled the nature of man with all manner of pollution The sin of the Devils was but one and that a spiritual sin also and it has filled the Devils with all that Devilish malignity that has manifested it self in them ever since Now as there is in every sin a principle of enmity against God so radically and seminally there is in every sin the sin against the Holy Ghost even the great transgression Psal 19.13 even secret sins they do make way for this sin against the Spirit of God Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which is direct enmity against God with despight and revenge and it is opposition that above all things in the world draws it forth and the more clear a mans light is the more spiritual the opposition that is made against him is the sooner the man comes into the great transgression And these are the great grounds in lusts which take occasion from the Commandment the violence of lust the more it is opposed the more it desires and desires by resistance are kindled and increased and from the pride of the heart it raiseth opposition with the greater impatience and resolution come what will come and all this coming from a principle not only of collateral but of direct enmity against God it is with despight and revenge In these sin takes occasion by the Commandment and the opposition thereof improves it and draws it forth As it is in grace affliction improves it and opposition draws it forth temptations and desertions confirm it as there were many acts of grace in Job that had not been drawn forth but by affliction so it is with many of the Saints many men had never been so gracious but by opposition as we see it in Luther and in many of the Martyrs that their Graces rose by their opposition and persecution So many men had never been so wicked as we see it in the Pharisees had they not lived under such glorious means of Grace and so clear Convictions which set bounds to their lusts which made them break out with the greater rage for Christ says to them If I had not come and spoken to you you had had no sin but now there is no cloak for your sin for by the opposition that their lust met with it was drawn forth more impetuously § 2. There is yet a further ground of this irritating power of the Law and that is from the curse of God that is come upon all men under the fall which came not only upon man but upon all things else for mans use and so though it be the curse of the Law yet it comes even upon the Law it self so far as it concerns man as well as upon all the Creatures yea the Lord Christ himself is so far a curse unto men in their sins that as he is a sanctuary to his people so a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence a gin and a snare unto others for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel Luk. 2.34 For judgment says he Isa 8.14 Joh. 9.39 I am come into this world and yet he says in Joh. 12.47 I came not to judge and condemn the world but to save the world This indeed was his intent primarily and per se but the other falls out through the sinfulness of men occasionally and by accident and that which is good in it self does become evil unto the man and that which is a blessing in it self doth to him become a curse so it is with the Gospel and with all the ordinances thereof 't is the savour of life to some but of death unto others the same meat is wholsome nourishment unto some to others it feeds the disease in an unsound body and the same light which is pleasant unto a good and a sound eye is a pain and a trouble to a weak eye which is sore or bloodshot c. And therefore it puts no malignant nor sinful quality into the Law or Gospel or the Ordinances but only these meeting with a man of an unsound spirit do occasionally stir up these corruptions and sinful dispositions which were in the men before and thereby do increase them and by this means it becomes a curse to the man though it be a blessing to the people of God There is a double curse that is come upon all things by the fall 1 They are all of them empty and deceiving 2 They are all of them corrupting and defiling this is the curse that is come upon all the Creatures 1 They do a man no good for they are vanity though a man looks for profit by them yet they profit not Eccles 1.14 and that is one part of the curse that comes on the Law in respect of men that a man shall receive no good by it it shall be but an empty word and it does fall upon a man as rain upon the Wilderness it has laboured in vain as even Christ himself says My work is with the Lord but in vain to the people for they received no good by it but they have sown the wind it is spoken of all their religious services Hos 7.7 they were empty and unprofitable and would do them no good at the last day bring them in no more harvest than a man might expect that did sow but the wind And in Jeremy 't is said They shall not profit this people at all for there is a vanity in Ordinances as well as in Creatures and the staff of the bread of life may be taken away even then when our bread it self may continue c. 2 They are polluting for though all the Creatures can do a man no good yet they can do him much hurt and add to the defilement of his spirit and draw out his sins and ripen them and fill up his measure they can ripen the briers and thorns Heb. 6. and this was all the fruit that many of the Jews had by the Ministery of
a glass Jam. 1.24 He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty Here it is spoken of the Moral Law as Beza observes in opposition unto the bondage of the Ceremonial not that the Moral Law is a Law of liberty or can set us at liberty of it self but it is so to them that are in Christ because it is a Law written in their hearts and they are stablished by a free and a Princely spirit There is a double glass that the Scripture holds forth in which Christians should often look as this here and that in the 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 3.20 Rom. 7.7 Per legem peccati cognitio per fidem abolitio Ambros in Rom. 3. that in the one they may see themselves and in the other they may behold their Saviour even the Glory of the Lord. The Law is the one and the Gospel is the other Now the great use of this glass is that a man may see his own spots and deformities that his sin may be discovered and therefore the Text says it was added for transgressions And of this use of the Law the Scripture speaks often Rom. 30.20 By the Law is the knowledge of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound I had not known sin but by the Law And Rom. 7.13 That sin might appear sin and by the Commandment become exceeding sinful that is that he might see sin in the extent of it and its utmost vileness and filthiness and therefore he shews that there could be nothing worse than it he calls it by no worse name than its own sinful sin as to call Satan a devilish Devil is not so bad as to call him sinful Angel for sin being the worst of evils can have no worse name than it self and therefore when the Apostle says it did appear to him in the utmost sinfulness of it then he says it did appear sin Lex est Index peccati non genitrix the Law is the Index of sin â—ot the Parent As the light enters and discovers filthiness that before was there but it lay â—id in the dark And these Scriptures do direct us to sins of two sorts which are discovered â—y the Law 1 Original sin which is called the offence which was in the world beâ—ore the Law even from Adam for by one man sin entred into the world and by him it passed â—pon all mankind 2 Actual sins whether of the heart or of the life all the inordinate â—otions of the spirit tending unto evil which the Scripture calls lusts Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust 〈◊〉 be a sin unless the Law had said unto me Thou shalt not lust Here I must speak unto two â—hings 1 How does the Law discover sin 2 How by discovering sin is it a handmaid and 〈◊〉 servant to the Gospel 1. How does the Law discover Original sin and that cursed frame of nature which is in â—ery sin 1. By shewing unto a man as in a glass that primitive holiness and righteousness in which he â—s created For the Law indeed is primitive justitiae speculum the glass of primitive justice â—or that image of God in which man was created was nothing else but a perfect conformity 〈◊〉 the nature of the Law and will of God in every thing So that as Christ while he was â—pon earth in his humane nature was a perfect pattern of that obedience that the Law requiâ—ed so that all that he did was agreeable to the Law in every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.21 and he has therein left as a copy to write after so was Adams nature and so should also his life have been he should have known no sin neither should any guile have been found in his mouth he should â—ave been as it was said of one a living Scripture and a walking Bible a living Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so â—hat whatever the Law of God now requires of us that at first God created in us Now when a man compares himself with this Law and sees how unanswerable he is in every thing he does he thereby comes to see how he has utterly lost the righteousness and holiness that was in him at the first and the glory of his Creation his Mind that was in the Creation as full of light as the Sun is is now darkness it self and his Conscience is now feared his heart that was tender unto God is now hardned his Memory that was firm is now frail and leaking and his Affections that did move rationally and orderly as the Stars in their courses â—re now full of nothing else but confusion madness and disorder â—â—d his Thoughts the immediate issues and the first-born of his soul always excellent spiritual and useful but now polish vain and unprofitable flying up and down like atoms in the air to no end 2. A man looking upon this rule does not only see a privation of what formerly was his â—appiness and his glory but he sees now the quite contrary Act. 13.10 an opposition in him to the Law of God in every thing that he is an enemy unto all righteousness and full of the fruits of all unrighteousness the image of the Devil upon him so that look how the heart of the Devil works against God and duty so does his for he is as like him as a child can be like his father There is a touch that Satan has left upon a mans spirit and this is upon his whole soul 1 Joh. 5.19 also all the faculties of it are turned the wrong way all of them are taken off from God and duty and therefore a man when he is converted is said to return and when the Lord calls him he is said to hear a voice behind him but novv by sin he is turned quite avvay and there is this devillishness in him that he is the more contrary unto any duty because God commands it and is carried vvith the greater violence after any sin because God forbids it sin taking occasion by the Commandment which comes nearest unto direct â—â—â—ity that can be to do things by way of revenge which is the Devils sin 3. The Law discovers Original sin by shewing the dominion of it a man cannot resist it he cannot cast it off it has a double authority in the man the dominion of a Lord Rom. 6.14 and of a King a power of command and thence some expound sin mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 7.6 to be the husband and it is not much material which whether the Law irritating sin or sin irritated by the Law be the husband and so sin has a power of love also an interest as a husband to perswade and therefore there must be obedience men obey it in the lust thereof for he that hath authority over us to command and a power to persvvade the heart also he can procure obedience to all his commands vvhen he vvill but so has sin and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
Rom. 4. is directly opposed to the work of faith and therefore we find Abraham denied his reason and shut his eyes against it when he came to believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he did not judge of it this way and that way he did not dispute it but rested in his word alone And therefore the Apostle asks 1 Cor. 1.20 where is the wise man the scribe and the disputer of this world The more wisdom men have and the greater improvement of reason the greater disputants men are the farther off usually from faith and the greater enemies thereunto 3. All a mans own righteousness either what a man has done before his conversion as Paul or what he can do after his conversion may be so abused and relied upon as to derogate from the righteousness of God for when men are convinced of their sins and see that there is something wanting to their Salvation then they think they will do something more as the young man in the Gospel What shall I do to inherit eternal life he had a confidence in what he had done and fearing lest that might fall short there was something more that he was willing for to do When men are once convinced of their sins they cannot look upon any thing that they have done that will satisfie and their good deeds will not weigh down their bad but then they say Mic. 6.6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God will he be pleased with thousands of Rams c. As if their after-obedience should make amends for their former sins And so under Popery at this day many do fast and macerate their bodies watch and pray and chastise themselves by scourging and going Pilgrimage give away all their Goods to the poor and betake themselves unto a voluntary Poverty shut themselves up in a Monastery and Hermitage and seclude themselves from all the comforts of this life yea even Princes and Emperours lay down their Kingdoms and cast away their Crowns and betake themselves unto a private life and all upon this ground that these shall be opera satisfactoria satisfactory works Luth. in Gal. 5. and so expiatory for their former sins And hence it is that men convinced of their sins labour as for life to satisfie God and to quiet their Consciences And when men have wrought hard all their days with such expectations as these they are hardly brought off to come to Christ as stript naked of all and to acknowledge that all their righteousness is an abomination And these are the mountains that are to be cast down the high imaginations and presumptuous thoughts of themselves before they can come to Christ and the casting down of these is a preparing the way for the Lord. 4. When mens Consciences are awakened and sin revived by an almighty work of the Law and the second Covenant offered to them then they say the news is too good to be true there is no mercy for them whatever God intends to others surely he can never think thoughts of peace to them he will never take such toads and serpents as they are into his bosom to have communion with him and they say there is no hope While men are in peace and sin lies sleeping at the door so long a mans self-love and self-flattery makes it easie to presume and he says It 's a small matter to believe for God is merciful and Christ died for sinners And if there be but a few men that shall be saved yet he doubts not but he shall be one of that number But when once God discovers his sin and awakens his Conscience then the man says Though the greatest part of mankind should be saved and if there were but one man in the world that should be condemned surely he should be the man If a man had come to Judas after his Conscience was awakened on the sight of his sin before he hanged himself and told him be not discouraged though thou hast committed a great sin Christ is the Saviour of the world and it is but believing in him and this sin shall be pardoned and thy soul saved He would have answered you as Spira did when they did exhort him to believe That they were as good bid him to fulfill the whole Law and bid him lay hold upon a star in the firmament For a man to see sin to be an infinite evil and God to be a provoked God ready to take vengeance and Hell open and himself ready to drop into everlasting destruction and yet now for him to cast himself into the arms of everlasting mercy and relie for his eternal happiness on the favour of an almighty and a sin-revenging God and say If I perish I perish I will rest upon him and trust to his mercy whether he save me or damn me For a man by an exclusive act to shut out all other hopes and ways and confine his thoughts to free Grace alone and to leave himself at the mercy of God Psal 10.14 and at his foot-stool to be willing to be at his dispose it 's that which the unbelief and despair of a mans heart upon the apprehension of the guilt of sin will never be brought unto without an act of Almighty power Ephes 1.19 Therefore we read in Luk. 3.5 to make way for Christ there be vallies to be filled as well as mountains to be levelled and laid low Before men are humbled they are mountains too high to submit to this righteousness and being humbled they become vallies and are too low to rise up and to imbrace the Grace that is offered by the Prince of the second Covenant Now so far as a man does not submit to the righteousness of God so far he desires to stand under the first Covenant still § 4. In a man under the Covenant of Works there are two things 1 An answerable spirit 2 Suitable fruits And if a man desire both these then we may conclude he desires to be under this Covenant 1. They that under the Covenant of Works have an answerable spirit a spirit that does always accompany this Covenant Rom. 8.15 We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear c. Now this was the natural fruit of this Covenant Gal. 4.24 for it has only gendered to bondage since the fall unto Adam in innocency it was a Covenant not of bondage but of freedom but being broken all that come under it are children of the bond-woman and the spirit that does accompany it is a spirit of bondage For there is a twofold spirit that is answerable unto the twofold Covenant and with the change of a mans Covenant there follows a change of a mans spirit and never till then now this spirit is a spirit of fear to witness guilt a fear of Gods presence and a fear of Gods judgments Amos 1.10 Heb. 2.15 Isa 33.5 Fearfulness has surprized the hypocrite and as Cain says
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
threefold power sin has from the law 1 Of condemnation and so the law saith Luther that is weak through the flesh for justification is through the flesh powerful to condemnation The law does strengthen sin by its condemning power 2 Of Conviction for the discovery of sin is by the law and it 's through the law only that sin does trouble the Conscience and convince the sinner Paul saith I was alive without the law once i. e. in his unregenerate estate but his sins were before alive only they lay hid as colours in the dark Now when the Commandment came sin did appear to be sin it being discovered thereby so that the strength of sin as to Conviction is by the law 3 As to Irritation By the law lust is drawn forth and improved and provoked and so sin receives a power from the law also and therefore they that have the clearest discoveries of the law their sins are improved and made stronger than other mens as it appears by the people of Israel Zech. 5.6 8. there was an Ephah Zech. 5.6 8. which is the greatest dry measure amongst the Jews and it is wickedness that is in it that sets forth the fulness of their sins and we see what it was that did fill it up sin taking occasion from the Commandment Jer. 1.11 as a rod of an Almond-tree their sins did ripen in the greatest colds that which a man would have thought should have been a means to have kept sin under that was a means to improve and increase it As a basket of Summer-fruits which is sooner ripe than other fruits Jer. 24.2 Amos 8.1 they were divided into two sorts the good figs very good but the bad very bad such as could not be eaten the rain does ripen the briers and thorns as well as the corn Heb. 6.7 8. therefore the law of God does improve mens sins and ripen them and hasten judgment for them 1. In every unregenerate man there is the seed of all sin Rom. 1.26 Act. 13.10 they are filled with the fruits of all unrighteousness full of all subtlety and all mischief a fountain of sin a treasury a bundle of folly Let Satan come when he will and he will find something that is in us Though all sins break not forth actually in every man yet vertually and seminally all sins are in every man 2. Lusts are acted and drawn forth by degrees as water out of a fountain it casts not forth all at once your experience teaches that the more it is drawn the quicker the spring is no man is suddenly very bad sin ripens as a child in the womb first lust is conceived Jam. 1.14 Ezek. 7.10 Isa 59.4 and then it brings forth sin and sin finished brings forth death It first brings forth the bud and then the blossom and afterward the fruit as Serpents do first the egg and afterwards the Cocatrice c. 3. Unto men in an unregenerate state there is nothing that is not a means to draw out and improve their lusts and this is the curse upon every thing unto them and therefore Tit. 1.15 To the unclean all things are unclean Rom. 8.28 To a gracious heart all things work together for his good because they are all means to subdue his corruption and improve his graces so to another man all things improve his corruption 1 All Creatures 1 Joh. 2.16 whatsoever is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye or the pride of life There is no Creature but draws out some lust or other and therefore the lust is put for the thing it self for every Creature shall improve his corruption there is nothing that he sees with his eyes but sin takes occasion by it to make the man more exceeding sinful If he look upon the Sun in its brightness his heart is enticed c. He cannot look upon a woman but to lust after her they have eyes full of adultery 2 Pet. 2.14 2 All opportunities draw out his corruption as Gehazi said As the Lord liveth I will go after him and get something of him And the Harlot Prov. 7. The good man is gone from home c. 3 All estates do draw out his corruption if in prosperity he does wax fat and kick and as the pasture so is his filling his heart is lifted up and he forgets the Lord and if afflicted with Ahaz he sins yet more so that sin takes occasion by all the ways and dispensations of God towards the man and as sin is improved and takes all occasion by all other things so it does by the law of God also and so as a godly man grows from grace to grace from faith to faith so does a wicked man from sin to sin from one degree of wickedness to another § 3. But the main thing in opening of the point is this How sin takes occasion by the Commandment and what improvement the law that forbids sin and discovers sin can give unto it There are several acts of the law by which sin is improved Rom. 7. 1. The law as a glass doth discover sins I had not known lust but by the law says the Apostle Paul Now in this sin takes occasion by the Commandment three ways 1 It does act many sins because they are forbidden that there is nothing in the sin that should else carry the heart to it but only we affect things forbidden In sins where there is neither pleasure nor profit yet how do the hearts of men run out to them even to new oaths and new-invented blasphemies as if they were the flowers of speech for which no man can give a reason but this because it is forbidden As Hyperius gives advice unto Divines not to revive ancient Heresies in their reproofs lest thereby they do teach men those errors they went about to refute For the very hearing of a blasphemy is enough to take the heart as we see by experience daily and the very speaking of some things as sins is enough to draw out the lusts of men towards them Thus sin takes occasion by the Commandment 2 The discovery of the Law makes sin the more exceeding sinful because it is against light which shews it unto his Conscience and yet the man does it and so sin takes occasion by the Commandment to become the more out of measure sinful 1 When the Commandment forbids and discovers a thing to be evil and sin takes occasion thereby to mince it and in a politick manner to conceal it self Sin would do the thing and yet elude the force and the spirituality of the Law as the Pharisees the Law said Thou shalt not swear but they said to swear by Heaven is lawful and it is lawful to swear by the Temple but not by the Gold of the Temple The Law saith Men should nourish their Parents but they said it is Corban a gift c. And so the discovery of the Law makes a
even in all his temptations of the Saints as well as wicked men to touch them Jon. 6.7 Job 5.19 and to leave in them an impression and stamp of his own devilishness and therefore the more men sin against knowledg and with despight and disaffection unto God the more he is pleased with it for as God loves holiness in the spirituality of it and the nearer a man comes unto conformity to God the more God delights in him so Satan loves sin in the spirituality of it and the nearer a man comes in conformity unto Satan the more spiritual his wickedness grows and Satan delights to act that man of all other 2 The dearer any thing is unto God the more Satan delights to abuse it unto this end and the more God hath set up any thing against sin the more Satan does endeavour to make that a means to draw men unto sin sometimes he seeks to abuse the Creatures of God and stir up lust by them as when a man looks upon the Sun when it shines and his heart is enticed thereby sometimes he looks upon a Woman and lusts after her sometimes he looks upon the Wine when its colour looks red in the glass and thus the Creatures of God are abused by Satan to draw out the lusts of men and whatever is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the ey and the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.15 16. Sometimes he abuseth the servants of God he will enter into Peter and he shall become a tempter unto Christ that he saith Get thee behind me Satan and the woman that God gave man to be a help she shall by Satan be made a dart and sometimes the Law and the Gospel which specially God has set up as a remedy against sin shall act it and improve it and draw it forth Now God leaving a man under the power and dominion of Satan the God of this world who works effectually in the children of disobedience he is as a conquerour over them and triumphs in this that he has made use of the Law of God and the Gospel of God that is made against sin to increase and ripen it yea even the motions and common works of the Spirit of God the heart of man rising and making head against them are the great means by which Satan draws men to the great transgression even to sin against God with despight and revenge § 3. But here is a question Question Are believers who are engrafted into Christ and come under him as a father as the second Adam that is have their Covenant changed as well as their image are these wholly freed from the law in respect of the irritation of it Rom. 6.14 it is said Sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under the law but under grace Which as has been declared is not to be referred unto a mans justification as being freed from the Law for righteousness and life and from the curse of the law for death and condemnation but it is spoken of a mans Sanctification a man is not under the Law as irritating sin and increasing it but under grace not only pardoning but sanctifying and subduing it and in this respect the dominion and the ruling power of sin is taken away in the godly though the being of it remain The Apostle speakes wholly in this place in reference to a mans state of unregeneracy Vers 5 When we were in the flesh the motions of sin that were by the law c. And he speaks this in reference to his own estate before conversion I was alive without the law once and I had not known sin but by the law nor lust to be a sin and the danger of it but that the Law of God discover'd it unto me and so in my former state Sin took occasion by the Commandment and wrought in me c. The word in the Greek signifies to work a thing throughly and effectually and to work it out Phil. 2.20 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling And Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but to perform or go through with the work I find not a power to do it And so sin by the Commandment wrought in him effectually or wrought in him which we heard before all manner of Concupiscence all lust was thereby drawn out Hath the law of God no such work upon a regenerate man one that is a believer does not sin in a regenerate man take occasion by the Commandment Is a Believer as perfectly freed from the Law for irritation as he is for condemnation Answer Christ says If the Son make you free you are free indeed and the special part of our liberty with which Christ has made us free is in being freed from the Law as a Covenant Some as Paraeus and others do distinguish thus Liberty from the Law is twofold 1 Perfect in respect of justification and condemnation that their perfect obedience to the Law is no way required for the one neither shall any of the transgressions of the Law be imputed for the other 2 Inchoate which is but begun in the Saints and shall be perfected and so they are delivered from the Law only for irritation and coaction but so long as sin remains in them so long they shall never be perfectly delivered from the Law in either of these But to make this plain and bring it down in the particular branches of it unto the meanest understanding There are many things to be considered which I shall now proceed to lay down to make out this general and received Doctrine that is so commonly delivered by our Divines 1. There are remainders of corruption in the best of the Saints Grace destroys the reigning of sin but not the being of it You read how that Abraham the father of the faithful had his unbelief and Moses the meekest man in his generation had his passion and provocation and spake unadvisedly with his lips David a man after Gods own heart yet he complains of his secret sins and Paul that great Apostle had the law of his members rebelling against the law of his mind 2 Cor. 7.1 There is a filthiness of flesh and spirit that is to be purged out as there is something wanting in their Graces and therefore they have a daily growth in Sanctification so there is something remaining of their corruption which requires a daily growth in their mortification therefore they are compared to the Moon Cant. 6.10 which has some spots in it because not wholly enlightned by the Sun they do defile themselves and therefore had need daily to wash their feet Joh. 17.10 2. These remainders of sin in them as they are promoted by Satan so they give Satan an access unto their spirits and are as the seed for him to work upon they are to him a seminary and so much as Satan has in a man so much power he has over him says Christ
and that denial increaseth to an oath and that swearing multiplies to cursings and to imprecations upon himself in the highest kind as the word is in the original as if he had wished Mat. 26 74. I would I might never find mercy at the hands of God or come where God hath to do that I might be separated from God eternally and damned body and soul if that I know the man And Isa 57.17 says God For the iniquity of his covetousness I smote him and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart c. Theodosius was an Emperour of a very meek sweet and gracious temper yet a Temptation so far got the head of him that upon an occasion of a Tumult in Thessalonia a servant of his that he had in a special manner respect for being slain he commanded an universal Massacre throughout the City that in a very short space 3000 men were slain by his command and that by a wile being invited to behold a Play for which cause the Emperour himself was by Ambrose kept from the Sacrament It were strange to consider unto what a height even the sins of godly men from the remainders of corruption that is in them may be improved 6. For the improvement of sins in godly men Satan may and commonly does make advantage of the Law of God and the commands and restraints thereof whereby sin will take occasion See it in King Asa the Prophet did prophesie and he put him into Prison because he shewed him his sin and instead of repenting for it he increased it for he was in a rage temptation had got hand over him and by the reproof Satan did stir up his lust And even the Gospel is by Satan turned into wantonness and all the Grace of it yea and all the glorious works of Grace upon a mans heart sin will take occasion from Gods drawing nigh and wax wanton under his love there is not any part of the Law of God or the Works of God or the Providence of God that Satan will not make use of and sin take occasion by to stir up and to improve corruption in a man even those remainders of sin that are in a Saint Quest § 4. If a godly man be under the irritation of the Law as well as a wicked man where then lyes the difference that a man in Christ is said not to be under the Law in this respect The difference lyes in these three things mainly Answ 1. An unregenerate man has no other use of the Law but this all the fruit that he has by it is to improve draw out and increase his sins but a godly man being under another Covenant as he has the Law written in his heart in his regeneration so he has by the Law Grace increased in the continued work of his Sanctification Joh. 17.17 there is in respect of his regenerate part a power of Sanctification and the whole Law of God tends to that end in him and this the Law works in him per se as he is regenerate though it works the other per accidens as far as he is unregenerate Grace receives strength by the Commandment according to the law of the mind as sin does according to the law of the flesh in the one sin is restrained and subdued in the other sin may be restrained but it is increased and as a damm set upon the waters which â—â—â—es them swell the higher 2. Through sin may â—â—â—e occasion by the Law in the regenerate yet this does not constitute sin in dominion it doâ—â— never rise up so high in a regenerate man as to amount unto a compleat raign and dominion as Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you so that a man should obey it in the lusts thereof for in the highest improvement of sin by the Law in the regenerate there is another law in the mind a spirit that lusts against the flesh that a man cannot be given up unto all iniquity it does never work in him all manner of concupiscence as it does in the unregenerate so as to make a man always go on in a presumptuous way of sinning but Grace and the spirit of Grace gives a check to it because a man loves the law of God and its precepts according to his inward man 3. Lastly it does never so far prevail in the regenerate as to bring forth fruit unto death as it does in the unregenerate Rom. 7.5 The motions of sin that were by the law wrought in me to bring forth fruits unto death But as the law is made a servant unto the Gospel so both the precept and the curse of the law is made subservient and subordinate this way for as the remainders of sin in the godly are sprinkled with the blood of Christ so are all the temptations of Satan and the improvements of sin by the law which is unto all unregenerate men a part of the curse of their Covenant sanctified unto the regenerate and are a means to shew them their own vileness and to humble them deeply before the Lord as we see it in Peter and David and to make them hate sin the more and to make them the more watchful over their own hearts and lay the faster hold upon Christ and the Grace offered in the Gospel by faith and to ply the Throne of Grace by constant and daily prayers and the more to long for their adoption and redemption and so this improvement of sin by the law does tend in the end to the further subduing of sin and at last to the utter abolishing of it that so the remainders of sin being wholly done away Satan may stir up sin and sin may take occasion by the Commandment no more And so as other fruits of the curse of the law are blessed and sanctified unto them as their afflictions their temptations and death it self so shall these fruits of the curse be also sanctified unto them and tend to their sanctification and end in the perfection of their holiness at the last So that as death is swallowed up in victory in a mans resurrection so is sin also in a mans perfect sanctification unto which through the Grace of the Gospel sin it self was over-ruled to be a means for as there are two ways of a mans pollution so there are also two means of a mans sanctification there are proper and natural means as Satan and a mans own lusts c. and there are occasional means as the law of God so there are of a mans sanctification the Word and the Spirit and the Ordinances and there are occasions which in their own nature do work no such thing but Grace takes occasion from the one as corruption does from the other the temptations of Satan and the improvement of sin by the law being sprinkled by the blood of Christ shall be as effectual to a mans sanctification as the other being not sprinkled with the blood of Christ
shall be effectual to a mans pollution Vse 1 § 5. See here the malignity and the vile nature of sin and what a deadly disease it is when that which God did give of purpose to destroy it will increase it We say that is a very deadly disease that you can apply no physick but it does stir up the disease and it 's increased by it and all that you can take feeds the disease so here sin must needs be a deadly thing that the law should increase it which in its own nature should abate it There are two truths that should be always in a mans eye God to be the chiefest Good and Sin to be the greatest Evil. There is no one thing that does set forth the evil of sin more than this that the Commandment of God which doth forbid it curse it condemn it should improve it It 's no wonder then if mercies make men more wicked and if crosses add to mens sins for the very Law of God and his threatnings and restraints thereof will do it if any thing make sin appear to a man to be out of measure sinful and a disease incurable in it self this will 2. See hereby the vanity of that Doctrine that says Moral perswasion is sufficient unto conversion God enlightning of a mans mind and shewing him what is his duty and what is required of him and perswading of his will it is according to these able to imbrace it and so turn unto God and duty and herein is the drawing of God the Father when as we see that when God does set a mans duty before him in the Law with all the threatnings of it and all the promises of it this is so far from converting the man that it improves his sin sin and makes it the more to rage against God and become out of measure sinful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore there is an inward work of God an Almighty Power put forth in changing the heart and converting of the will Moral perswasions may make a man more wicked but they will never convert him or make him the more holy without this inward work put forth by God in changing the heart 3. See here what is the proper rise and ground of that unpardonable sin the sin against the Holy Ghost It is by a curse of the first Covenant coming upon to the word of God that it is an occasional means lust opposing it to make sin rise the higher and first it brings forth in a man sins against knowledge and afterwards sins with malice and despight If the Law had never been revealed again but man had been left as many of the Heathens are who have but that small glimmering of light which some do call the remainders of the Law within them which the Apostle speaks of Rom. 2. They shew the works of the law written in their hearts this sin had never been heard of in the world it is a sin proper unto the Church of God and cannot be committed out of the Church where men are enlightned in the truth and sin takes occasion from the Law to break forth into despight against it 4. See what a vain thing it is for a man to glory in any Church-priviledge The Jews did stand much upon it and doubtless it was a great mercy that unto them did belong the giving of the Law and the Promises and unto them were committed the Oracles of God and therefore they rested in and made their boast of the Law c. Rom. 2.18 19. And what fruit had most of them by the Law it did aggravate their sins in the guilt of them and drew forth their sins in the power of them unto the greater height and in many of them even to the sin against the Holy Ghost And so it does many men that live under the Gospel at this day they have no other fruit by their ordinances and of the word of God amongst them but to make them more exceedingly wicked 5. See what a misery it is to be in a state of unregeneracy he that is so is wicked by nature and every thing wâ—â— make him worse See also what a mercy restraining grace is to a man that is unregenerate when we read of Judas and how Christs reproof did heighten his malice and of the Pharisees how by Christs Sermon their rage was drawn forth and they gnashed their teeth upon him c. What a mercy is it should every soul say that all the Sermons that ever I have heard of Christ c. should not have wrought the same effects in me long ago Luther saith that reading that place Rom. 1.17 The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith and understanding it only de justitia activa scilicet punientè of Gods punishing justice Non amabam imo odiebam justum punientem Deum tacitaque si non blasphemia certe ingenti murmuratione c. odi istud vocabulum poenitentiae I did not love but hate the just and punishing God and by a silent great murmur if not blasphemy I did hate that word Repentance Now that it has not been so to every one of us and we sinned against the Holy Ghost and in the highest acts of direct enmity that there had been no hope of mercy seeing that we cannot say that we have done it ignorantly Oh what a mercy is restraining Grace 6. Lastly how should it engage the people of God to thankfulness that God has freed them from this great misery that now the Law should subdue their lusts and not enrage them and if it does at any time yet it 's not to bring forth fruit unto death not to have a full dominion over them how should it make them fear when they read or hear the Law lest it should add to the disease Oh! how ought people to pray and Ministers pray that they may not be a curse and that the word which they hear and preach may not ripen their sins and draw out and improve their corruptions but their graces and make them holy CHAP. IV. The Rigor and Coactive power of the Law Gal. 5.18 But if you be led by the Spirit you are not under the Law SECT I. Wherein the Coactive power of the Law consists § 1. THere is a double sense of these words given by Interpreters and both may very well be put together The Apostle having said before That in a godly man there are two contrary principles flesh and spirit and they lust and act one against another so that they cannot do the things they would but when they would do good evil is present with them he adds here a consolation to bear up their hearts in this which is the greatest conflict upon earth between flesh and spirit in the same heart and that which made them to look upon themselves as miserable men all their days Rom. 7.24 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law that is though there
inward principle that answers the law without Heb. 8.10 a law written in his heart an inward and secret Bible that he always carries with him that though he were not forced to it by a law without yet there is in his heart an inward principle a law within And therefore Chrysostome doth distinguish men into two sorts that make use of the law men that live under the law and men that live above the law that is that have not only a law without commanding but within a law restraining so that a man out of Christ is under the law as a yoke and as a burden that no man is able to bear which he hates but cannot love 4. To an unregenerate man though the law command duty yet as he cannot love it so he can take no delight in it it does indeed exact it of him but so as he groans under it and does snuff at it and says what a weariness is it and his heart loaths it and he can take no pleasure in it from day to day he looks upon it as his only misery chains and fetters of iron c. Joh. 5.3 But to a godly man the Commandments of God are not grievous it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meiosis that is they are very pleasing and delightsome they are dearer than thousands of gold and silver they are sweeter than honey and the honey-comb Mat. 11. ult My yoke is easie and my burthen is light is taken from the agility of Harts to escape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you may delight your self in it It is so far from taking away the comfort of your lives that it will exceedingly add thereto it is a regenerate mans meat and drink to do the will of his Heavenly Father and his soul is satisfied in it as with marrow and fatness he binds the law of God as frontlets upon his eyes and as a chain about his neck they are the great ornaments that he delights to wear the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace And this I conceive to be the meaning of the Apostle Rom. 7.6 To serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter the oldness of the letter is only the letter requiring duty without and the newness of the spirit is the heart delighted with duty within Spiritu novo spontaneo to serve God with a free and a Princely spirit 5. The law forbids sin but it heals it not it does revive it but it does not cast it out Rom. 7.9 When the commandment came sin revived and I died it does shew men sin and trouble their consciences for it but it is but as Ezekiels pot the scum rises and boils in again Had Paul gone no further than the Law sin might have revived by that and the man have died again but sin would never have died that he might live for though a man do abstain from it for fear and out of a slavish spirit yet he loves it still and desires it still because the law may keep a man from acting sin but it will never stir up a man to the hatred of sin and then a man is said to be under the law indeed Luther has a story of one that did use to relate of himself how it was with him before he was brought home to Christ I more than a thousand times promised to God in duties more than I could perform and so he came at last to be out of hope ever to perform them which he says was to him pia sancta desperatio an holy despair and this brought him home to Christ When a man has lookt upon the law long that saith Thou shalt not commit adultery and thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain and yet the heart of the man is carried after the sin though he may abstain from the outward act yet his spirit boiles after it he may pray against it and vow against it and yet still the grace that must subdue it must come from the Gospel But now a man in Christ he has his nature changed and so his pleasures and delights are changed and he says I am not I as Augustine said Others wonder how you can live without these things that you were so much delighted with heretofore alas the new nature wonders as much at the old A new nature brings new delights and now suave est istis suavitatibus carere it is sweet to want those sweets 6. The Law carries a man to God as a Judg. God does give the Law a Soveraignty and so doth judg all men according to this Law without respect of persons according to their works which fills a mans Conscience full of doubtful inquiries Rom. 10.5 And the righteousness of the law says who shall ascend up to heaven or fetch Christ down c. And a mans heart is full of jealousie of God and he does apprehend that he has offended God he does wish there were no God So the soul looks upon God as one that will strictly observe what has been done amiss and he stands afar off from God and cares not for coming near the Lord. But a man in Christ the Gospel carries him unto God as unto a Father My Father says Christ and your Father my God and your God Mal. 3.16 He will spare them as a father does his son that serves him He accepts of his endeavours when there is a willing mind he takes any thing well because it is from a child And there is an inward principle of affection and eternal love that carries God towards the man And so in the mans approaches to God in duties there is a great deal of sweetness and confidence when in an other mans duties there is a great deal of terrour and amazement because in the one he comes to God as a Judg through the exacting of the Law and there he is full of fear for he expects a doleful sentence and the other man comes to God as a Father and he fears not accusation nor a rejection 7. It does force a man to see sin whether he will or no and sets it yea holds it before the mans eyes when his desire is to cast it behind his back There is no unregenerate man in the world that is either willing to see his duty or his iniquity and obliquity not his duty and therefore he casts the Law of God behind his back as a thing that he is not willing to see and is most willing to put away from him Neh. 9.26 And cast the law behind their backs Psal 50.17 2 Pet. 3.5 and slew the Prophets which testified against them and therefore they are said to hide their eyes and to be willingly ignorant neither would they see and therefore they desire not to look into that glass which discovers their sins but Isa 29.21 They hate them that reprove in the gate they have many pleas to
justifie themselves in an evil way and to extenuate their sins and they do call light darkness and darkness light evil good and good evil and they love to have Prophets that should call them so also Now comes the Law as a glass and that discovers duty and makes men to see their sins and the duties that they hate and the evil of the sin which they love and delight in The Law is in Scripture resembled unto a glass and a glass it is two ways as it discovers duty and so it is of use in four things Jam. 1.24 1 As a glass it shews to a man that holiness â—â—â—â—ure and life that God did give unto him and require of him in his state of innocency which condition man has lost now and if a man look into the nature and lives of the best men he can find only some vestigia and poor beginnings of it which are not indicia veteris hominis but rudimenta novi not indices of the old man but rudiments of the new 2 Christ was our surety made under the Law and answered the precept and the curse and the Lord rather required if we may compare it that the precept should be fulfilled than the curse be born because the principal intention of the Lords giving the Law was obedience to the precept and not the suffering of the curse now all that holiness that was required of Christ and performed by him either in nature or life we may behold in the Law thus the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us there is in our justification a commutation of the person but not of the righteousness 3 The Law is unto the Saints a glass that shews them the obedience that the Lord doth require of them the Gospel indeed gives grace to obey but the Gospel requires no other obedience but that which the Law does discover as a rule a man must look into the perfect law of liberty and continue therein Psal 119.6 I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments c. 4 It is the glass of perfection in the life to come Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him There shall be a perfect conformity in nature and life in us unto the Law in all things and we shall be every one of us living Scripture and walking Bibles for the word of the Lord is written in the heart and turned into grace enduring for ever c. Here indeed we have little conformity to the Law of God but hereafter our holiness shall be perfected 2. By the Law is the knowledg of sin when the commandment came sin revived and I died As a glass set before a man discovers his spots and as the light coming into a dark place shews our filthiness that before was hid An unregenerate man would never see his sin nor search himself nor turn into his own heart and try his ways if the Law did not make these discoveries All reflex thoughts he hates and if at any time he be forced into them and hath a glimpse of himself that does affright him that he does begin to see his own ugliness and deformity and smell the savour of his own filthiness even the sepulcher that is within him he doth immediately turn from it as an unpleasing sight which he is no ways willing to behold and fix his eyes upon Jam. 1. Beholding his natural face in a glass he forgets what manner of man he was Though he may remember the notions of a Sermon that are speculative to adorn his understanding yet the discoveries of his own sin and self in a Sermon he doth quickly forget and therein the main forgetfulness of a hearer of the Law lyes Now the Law has a constraining power and sets a mans sins in order before him and makes a man see his own vileness and holds it to his eyes that he cannot look off it but he crys out Psal 50. my iniquity is always before me as it was with Judas his sin in betraying innocent blood was still so present with him that he chose strangling rather than any income of comfort from any creature he quickly returned the thirty pieces of silver again So let all unregenerate men go from one creature to another and build Cities like Cain and add to their recreation and pleasures of sin yet still the sight of sin is by the light in this glass set before them and haeret lateri lethalis arundo the mortal dart sticks in his side 8. It forces men to a self-judgment and condemnation for sin and an expectation of the judgment of God for it Every natural man is willing to acquit himself and to put off the thoughts of judgment to put far from them the evil day and to say I shall sit as a lady for ever and shall see no sorrow or cry peace peace when sudden destruction comes upon him For there doth two evils go with a way of sinning Isa 2.1 1 a hard heart 2 a spirit of deep sleep that a man is willing to sleep and not to wake to see his danger as one that lyes down in the middle of the sea Prov. 23.34 or as one that sleeps on the top of a mast but a gracious heart troubles himself for sin and lays the judgment of God to the sin and labours to bring his heart to a trembling frame under the sense of it Joh. 11. as we see in Josiah and in Christ himself and so do all the godly if any affliction befall a child of God if he be judged of God he does clear God in it Psal 51.4 Rom. 3. and willingly takes the blame upon himself that he may justifie God but the property of a 〈◊〉 regenerate man is to justifie God but the property of an unregenerate man is to justifie himself and to condemn God Job 40.8 Says the Apostle Paul is God unrighteous I speak as a man Says Job Wilt thou disanull my judgment wilt thou condemn me that thou maist be righteous It is the disposition that is in the heart of men by nature to condemn God that they may justifie themselves Now the Law of God comes in with the coaction of it and that forces this man to judg himself and to fill him with fear and expectation of wrath Rom. 3.20 That all flesh may become guilty that they may appear and acknowledge themselves guilty before God Rom. 7 Sin revived and I died that is seeing self in a state of death and this is called the spirit of fear Rom. 8.15 and a receiving of judgment Heb. 10. This we may see in the Devils they know there is a time of torment coming wrath unto which they are reserved and they believe it and tremble and that never-dying worm that shall be in Hell is nothing else but from this coaction of the Law and the spirit of God setting a mans sins in order before him whereon there follows
a principle of life within or else a principle from without either weights or springs as it is in Clocks or Watches which makes the motion so many men may move to duty and abstain from sin not from an inward principle of life in the one or the other but from a weight without 5. There is in every unregenerate man a sinful and unrenewed heart deceitful above all things Jer. 17.10 and desperately evil a heart fully set in him to do evil and because this is natural therefore his heart is fully bent to go this way so that let him be constrained to do duty yet he will hate the duty that he does and count it a weariness and look upon it as a burden Mallet non facere si posset impune and say When will the Sabbath be gone And let him be kept from sin yet he will love it still if you chain up a Beast from the prey yet his inclination will be after it and keep the stone from the Center and force it up into the air as often as you will it will still return and when it comes down to the earth and can descend no further yet it will have a tendency thereunto So Conscience thâ—â— is meerly natural counts it its misery and affliction to be kept from sin for restrain it from sin never so much it will at last break these bounds and will be carried on with the greater fury greediness and violence because of the former restraint that was put upon it and the Devil will enter with seven worse spirits the dog will return to his vomit and the latter end will be worse than the beginning it had been better that man had never known the way of righteousness for he will be more wicked than if he had never known it Thus let the man have a heart set upon lust and let the power of the Law come into his Conscience acted by the Spirit it 's no wonder if it so far over-awe the man as to restrain him from sin and constrain him to duty § 2. But is a godly man that is under the Covenant of Grace wholly freed from the Coaction of the Law Answ This distinction was laid down in the beginning that though the main part of our Christian Liberty consists in being freed from the Law yet this liberty is in this life either inchoata or perfecta in respect of justification and condemnation A godly man is perfectly freed from the Law as a Covenant but in respect of Irritation and Coaction he is freed from these effects of it only in part We have seen how far the Irritation of the Law remains even in the regenerate and it is like lime which does quench those fires sometimes kindles 〈◊〉 Sin while it does remain and is acted by Satan may take occasion by the Commandment and produce woful effects even in the Saints so for the Coaction of the Law they are not wholly freed from it so far as they are unregenerate and the law of the flesh remains in their members the Law is of use to them and a handmaid to the Gospel and they do and ought to make use of legal motives to constrain to duty and to restrain from sin and the Law is to be preached to the regenerate to this purpose Heb. 11.25 1. To constrain to duty many times The Saints are to make use of the Law and the good things thereof so did Moses he had respect to the recompence of reward and the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.9 We labour whether present or absent that we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ and knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Again Heb. 12. ult Let us have grace to serve him acceptably for our God is a consuming fire These be the helps that the Lord has given us and it were our sin not to make use of them there is no man but he finds so much deadness and backwardness in his flesh that he shall be forced to call in this help many times Mark 9.44 2. And to restrain a man from sin also Christs exhortation is Cut off your right hand and pull out your right eye for it 's better to go to heaven maimed than having two eyes to be cast into hell where the worm dies not c. And if Adam in the state of Innocency had need of the threatning of the Law to deter him from sin much more a godly man that is holy but in part Yet there is a great deal of difference 1 in a godly man this is not the only principle that acts him as it is in the unregenerate for an unregenerate man would never do duty while he lives were it not from this Coaction of the Law out of a principle of self-love and natural conscience for he does duties as a godly man commits sins and he must say that which I hate do I but in a godly man there is another principle also there is a law of his mind an inward disposition the law written in his heart a new and divine nature and his obedience to God is natural to him as it is for a tree to bring forth fruit in its kind and a fountain to cast out mud and to work out any thing that is contrary to it 2 As this is not the only so it is not the main principle that works in them but there is the Spirit of Christ that dwells in them and leads them and there is a law of love that does mainly act them in all they do 1 Joh. 5.3 they abstain from Sin as from Hell and that which they see all evil in and as that which is dishonourable to God and defiles their own beauty for Sin is the souls deformity as Grace is the ornament of the soul and he does duty from an ingenuous and free spirit And therefore Christ says Take my yoke upon you for it is easie Whence so far as a man is regenerate he is a law unto himself and he would be kept from sin and carried on to duty if neither of these were but only from a principle within 3. The more a regenerate man is acted by legal principles and the less love he has to spiritual duties the less spiritual he is and therefore his desire is always to be led by the Spirit of God and he always prays to God for his free Princely Spirit SECT III. The APPLICATION § 1. WE may hence learn what a miserable estate a man is in being under the first Covenant every thing is a burden to him because it is a constraint upon his spirit the thing he does he hates he has a contrary principle within him which he would indulge and gratifie Now there being in a man the same nature and the command of God lying upon a man this may and this does commonly put a force upon him to perform duties of the law but that
because the law binds him over unto wrath and tells him that sin lies at the door 3. If we look upon the constraint the misery is as great also as not to do the thing we would so to be forced to do the thing we would not is no small misery and therefore Mal. 1.13 They say what a weariness is it which some render a weakness defatigatio and some molestia a trouble and all is because there is a force without contrary to a principle within Haman was by the command of the King forced to lead Mordecai's Horse and to proclaim before him This shall be done unto the man whom the King delights to honour how may we conceive this went against his spirit and it was as bitter to him even as death it self and the reason was because he had in him an inward principle of enmity and contrariety against Mordecai and so it is with every unregenerate man towards God and therefore though the law does force them to an outward observance yet they do hate that very outward obedience that they do perform and the law that enjoins it When the Saints of God have been commanded to do outward honour and observance to the dunghil gods of the Heathen for so they are called they have chosen death rather from an inward principle because they hated obedience to false Gods Now as a godly man would count it a misery and the greatest burden of his life to be forced to bow himself before an Idol so there is a principle of enmity in a wicked man unto the true God for they are all enemies to God and so they do hate to do observance also and any outward obedience unto the true God and as a godly man hates his sins because he is tempted to them by the law of his flesh so does a wicked man hate duties because he is led captive to them by the law of the Lord and therefore whatever they do in outward appearance they do it not before the Lord because they hate it when they do it § 2. We may hence learn the ground of all that hypocrisie and flattery that is expressed by unregenerate men towards God and Christ whom they hate with a perfect hatred it is all of it from the constraint of the law and as the coaction of the law has a further place in men so is a mans hypocrisie the deeper and becomes either gross hypocrisie or formal hypocrisie as Divines do commonly distinguish it the one is hid from others and the other from a mans self and yet all this while the man does but act a part as a Stage-player for so the name Hypocrite signifies And therefore we see unregenerate men abstain from those lusts which they dearly love and are brought to outward conformity in duties which they do truly hate and have no inward principle to perform We see the humiliation of Ahab c. and the observation and reformation of Herod the dissembled obedience and forced flattery of the wicked Jews and in the offers of other ungodly men at Religion Psal 78 34 â—5 36 and their hot beginning upon the ways of God But all this proceeds only from the Coaction of the Law and the power that it has even upon the hearts and consciences of the worst of men Hos 8.14 Hos 8.14 it is said For Israel has forgotten his maker and buildeth Temples c. A man would think that they that did build Temples had God much in their mind and did honour him highly building a Temple to his honour but yet all this was done in Hypocrisie and Will-worship They that repaired and beautified the Sepulchres of the Saints departed that were put to death surely it did argue they did highly esteem them and they did it in honour both of their persons and graces as Joseph did to the person of Christ and the Pharisees Mat. 23.29 who did build the Sepulchers of the Prophets yet Christ said it was all in hypocrisie for while they pretended to honour the Saints they did seek to destroy him that was the King of Saints Thus we see mens taking up an outward conformity unto the Law of God and some inward suitableness as being enlightned by the Holy Ghost tasting of the heavenly gifts c. which is the highest kind of hypocrisie such as is in a temporary believer who has the greatest shews of love to Christ and to duty and all this proceeds from this coactive power of the Law that God has upon the conscience of unregenerate men and this may come to a great deal of seeming delight and a man may seem to take great satisfaction in it The Lord says of Israel They delight to know my ways with their mouth they shew much love Isa 58.2 but their hearts go after their covetousness Ezek. 33.31 And many seem to have a great deal of seeming zeal for God and duty and Christ says Joh. 16.2 The time will come when they that kill you shall think they do God good service And Luther says of himself Tantus eram sanctus ut paratissimus fuerim omnes si potuissem occidere c. I was so great a Saint in mine own esteem that I was ready to slay all if I could c. And this he did not for worldly ends and for advantage sake but out of a blind zeal for Religion Therefore they that take away the restraining of the Magistrate in the things of Religion upon this ground because it will but make men Hypocrites may upon this ground take away the restraining power of the Law of God also In some respects as to prevent the outward dishonouring God before men and corrupting of others it were to be wished that all unregenerate men were come so far as to be Hypocrites and it was not wished amiss of the Father who said I could wish that all were Hypocrites It were better in respect of other men and honouring God before the world though it would be never the better in respect of a mans self for feigned love and secret flattery is in Gods account as bad as open enmity nothing so dangerous in men esteem as a false friend Judas was more hateful to Christ than all his Persecutors because he came to betray the Son of man with a kiss § 3. The next Use is of Examination Vse 4 Seeing that the Law has this power even upon unregenerate men that it can restrain from sin and constrain to duty and that godly men do duty and abstain from sin by vertue of the law written in their hearts how shall a man know that he abstains from sin and does duty by the law of his mind from an inward principle in his heart or else is only constrained from a law without and not from a law within for the Love of Christ constrains the Saints to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts Whether we forbear to sin and abstain from it and perform duty and be much
former husband lives unto them and the hand-writing stands in force against them here is the benefit by Christ a man may be translated out of it and so there may be a change of a mans Covenant not by a change of the Covenant it self but by a change of the man and his deliverance out of it Now so long as a man continues under this Covenant 1 It promises no life but upon condition of perfect and personal obedience it calls upon thee To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy strength the strength that I gave thee at first and the man that doth them shall live by them There is commutatio personae a commutation of the person by the Covenant of Grace but this Covenant saith not that the obedience of another shall be accounted his unto justification and life and so Justification is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impossible by the righteousness of the Law for by the Law no man can be justified and in this it is weak through the flesh so that whilest a man continues untranslated he can never be justified by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ which can profit him nothing because in the sense of the Law it is not his own righteousness 2 It is a Covenant without a Mediator Christ indeed is a Mediator but it is of the new Covenant the first Covenant was faedus amicitiae a Covenant of friendship made with man in innocency where there was no disagreement and Gal. 3.20 A Mediator is not a Mediator of one c. So that so long as a man is under the first Covenant what benefits so ever there are to be had by the Mediation of Christ he must go without them either in reference to the presentation of his person or to the acceptation of his services for in the Covenant under which he stands a Mediator can have no place 3 In this Covenant there is no promise of pardon but If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted but if thou dost evil sin lyes at the door and there is a curse upon every transgression every sin thou committest every disobedience has a just recompence of reward so that as long as a man does continue under this Covenant he must bear his own sin and there is no hope of pardon for him because under this Covenant God has promised no pardon The aim of God was the glory of his Justice and therefore the Lord deals with men as in Courts of Justice if there be a Capital crime committed the Judge does not examine whether the man be penitent or no and if he do repent then there is a pardon for him but whether the offence be committed or no guilty or not guilty and so Justice does all without respect unto a mans after-repentance If thou hast sinned the first Covenant says thou art a child of death and when a man says I have sinned it is the Covenant of Grace only that says the Lord has put away thy sin but under this Covenant there is no pardon to be expected 4 This Covenant promises no Grace for it was made with man in his primitive condition when he had Grace answerable unto all the duties that the Lord required of him he had a power to perform all duties and to resist all temptations and this is supposed in every duty that is required and in every sin that is forbidden so that all the promises of Grace and strength that are in the second Covenant a man can never have benefit by for they belong not unto the Covenant under which he stands unless he be translated 5 It is a Covenant that every sin breaks and being once broken it can never be made up again So the Apostle tells us Rom. 5.16 By one offence guilt came upon all to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences to justification Adam's sin was but one offence and yet it brake his Covenant and brought guilt and death upon all his posterity and that for ever and his Covenant could bring death but never justification and life any more so that no man that has once sinned could ever live by that Covenant any more but it is not so in the Covenant of Grace because it brings in an everlasting righteousness that sin can never spend and therefore though there be many offences yet the Covenant is not broken but that justification and life may be had therein and the more sin abounds the grace of the Covenant abounds much more as sin takes occasion by the law so grace takes occasion by sin under the Gospel 6 It is a Covenant that can never quiet and settle the Conscience but let a man walk never so exactly and take never so much care to do his duty in all things and let him live the holiest life that ever any man did upon earth that was a sinner and he will be always in a doubt and full of jealousie of God whether he will accept him or no as it was with the young man in the Gospel he had lived a very exact life according to the rules of a Pharisaical righteousness for he could say All these things have I kept from my youth and yet he was not quiet Gehennam horribiliter timuit he came and kneeled down to Christ and said What must I do to inherit eternal life what lack I yet And so Luther said he did endeavour in all things to walk according to his Conscience and yet he says I feared Hell terribly c. And this is the difference that the Apostle makes Rom. 10.5 8 he prefers the righteousness of faith before that of works upon this ground because that of works is full of scruples and doubtful enquiries Who shall ascend up to Heaven Doubting is the fruit of the Covenant of works and therefore Bellarmine must come to his Tutissimum for unto men since the fall the fruits of the first Covenant are only doubting and anxiety but faith tells a man Christ has descended into the deep to make satisfaction there and he is ascended up on high into Heaven there to prepare a place and there is nothing wanting for a mans salvation that Christ has not done which frees a mans Conscience from those inward perplexities which the Covenant of works leaves a man intangled in This is the first ground of the necessity of being translated out of this Covenant for so long as a man is under it this is his misery if he look for life it must be by his own righteousness as without a Mediator and if he sin there is no pardon for him and if he be to do duty there is no grace if the Covenant be once broken it is broken for ever never made up again for the least offence and a mans Conscience can never be satisfied and quieted till he does anchor upon Christ Jesus who is the rock of ages § 2. If God will deal with man in a Covenant-way he must be
he is thy Lord and worship thou him And of Christ as man Ephes 5.30 For we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones And 1 Cor. 6.15 Know you not that your bodies are members of Christ There is also a voluntary Union between Christ and the Soul and so Cyprian does express it Nec miscet personas nec unit substantias sed affectus consociat confaederat voluntates and that is Ephes 3.17 That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith 2 Cor. 3.18 Christ then having thus propounded himself unto a man in the Gospel and a man beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord seeing the excellency of his Person and the all-sufficiency of his Goodness with a secret hint that all this may become ours if we accept it the spirit being in the heart of a man as the spirit of Faith does by an Almighty power overcome the Soul to consent and accept of Christ according to the terms and offers of the Gospel so that Christ dwells in a man by his spirit and this spirit being a spirit of faith does work a free consent that Christ should be to him as his Head and Husband for ever and this consent of the Soul unto Christ does compleat this Union So that if the Question be Is a man in Christ before he does believe The answer is His Union with Christ is before he doth believe and the Soul is as meerly passive in union as in conversion Christ must unite himself unto us before we can unite our selves unto him but the consummation of this Union is when we consent unto Christ to take him for our own as the Wife does her Husband in marriage c. This receiving Act we have set forth John 1.12 and Isa 1.19 2 Cor. 11.2 1. It is the Person of Christ that is the primary object of Faith and not his Benefits The first promise to our first Parents was of his Person Gen. 3.15 and not of his Benefits Gal. 3.16 To Abraham and his seed were the promises made c. All the Gifts of Christ are given as a dowry to the Soul that is married to Christ 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son hath not life 2. There can be no Grace that can be the bond of Union with Christ but Faith God offers his Son and that Grace that accepts of the offer that makes the Union is Faith And no grace doth accept of the offer but that which caries with it the consent of the whole Soul ex nolentibus volentes facit it makes men that are unwilling willing If a Woman love a Man never so dearly Rev. 22. yet if she care not to make him her Husband they become not one flesh Love is indeed affectus unionis an affection of union and there is a moral union or a union of friendship but a mystical union there is not yea cannot be by Love 3. All other graces are acted by Faith they are the handmaids thereof Faith works by love Gal. 6.5 2 Cor. 3.18 and therefore this is the grace that has to do with Christ immediately Faith is the eyes of the Soul that looks upon Christ in his Glory and 't is the mouth of the Soul that feeds upon Christ there the nourishment is prepared for the body and there is a distributive Power in Faith that gives every grace its portion For this grace of Faith is the steward of the new man and according to a mans faith so it is with every grace and herein lyes the excellency of Faith above all graces Gal. 2.20 Joh. 6.7 not as it is a quality but as an instrument as appointed by Christ to be that grace of Union between Christ and us And hence it is that being the instrument of Union it is that by which the grace of the Covenant is conveighed to us as the action or motion of the mouth in speaking and eating is not one better than another of it self but as the one is the means of conveying nourishment unto the whole body so the motion of the hand in working is as excellent as that of receiving but it is not so in respect of the instrumental nature of it but only as it receives what is for the good and support of the man So here other graces in themselves are as excellent as Faith but as God hath honoured Faith to have the immediate intercourse with Christ so as it is an instrument it is more excellent than all other graces as that which goes immediately to Christ draws virtue from him and supplies all other graces in the new man SECT II. Why God hath appointed Vnion to be the way of our Translation Q. 2. WHY hath God appointed our Translation or change of Covenant to be in a way of Vnion The grounds are these Reas 1 § 1. Because God will have Christ to be the second Adam a publick person as the first Adam was for God intending that the generations of men should exist successively and yet proceed all from one root and not be created all at once as the Angels were he made a Covenant with this first man that was to be the common root out of which all the rest should grow for all his posterity that were to proceed from him 1 How else could the corruption and depravation of the nature that he should convey to them become their sin It 's true the Socinians and some of the Arminians deny the first sins being by Adam upon all his posterity naturally and unavoidably propagated saying that it is not to be esteemed their sin at all but only to Adam a punishment of sin and unto them the condition of their present nature and so they say peccatum Adami sine reatu in prolem transiit propter conditionem naturae ejusdem quam ex Adamo peccatores trahunt that the sin of Adam doth without any guilt pass unto his posterity by reason of the condition of the same nature which sinners derive from Adam But that it is the condition of nature the punishment of sin and also a sin in it self all our Divines do affirm and approve For 1 where there is a Transgression of the Law there is sin but even in the corruption of nature there is an opposition to God and his Law in all things therefore there is sin for the Law requires a holy nature as well as a holy Life that we should Love the Lord our God with all our heart not only with all the strength we have but with all the strength that God did give man in his creation 2 That which conforms a man to the Devil in contrariety to God Joh. 3.8 that is sin he that committeth sin is of the Devil Now this can become our sin no otherwise than as Adam was a publick person and stood by a Covenant for himself and his posterity and was by that Covenant
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an encompassing sin vvhich he cannot cast off Heb. 12.1 vvhich he has no povver to resist it so besets him in every faculty that he cannot take it avvay 4. The Lavv discovers the filthiness of Original sin that it is mire it is vomit 2 Cor. 7.1 Jam. 1.21 it is filthiness it self nay that it is the excrement of naughtiness it has defiled the soul it defiles all creatures that are for a mans use Hag. 2.11 as the Leper whatever he touched is unclean To the soul of man the Sun in his glory was not to be compared if a man had been cast into Hell as a Diamond into the dirt it could never have defiled him his Holiness like a Diamond would have shined bright notwithstanding but since the soul is defiled with sin the defilement is so deep that nothing can wash it out it is a stain that will remain to eternity upon all that are not washed in the blood of Christ as spots in scarlet and crimson much soap will not serve turn to take them out the fire of Hell will not purge sin and therefore when men have been there millions of years they are as black and filthy and as unpurged as at the first entrance into that place of darkness and horrour c. 5. The Law discovers that Original sin is the seed of all sin and it contains virtually all sin in it Jer. 6. Jam. 1.14 it is sin in the fountain an evil man out of the treasure of his evil heart casts out evil things murder and adultery A man is tempted by his own lust it is his father and it is his mother lust conceives and brings forth sin all actual sins are much more in the heart there is a beam in the eye and a dimness in the heart and I conceive by all occasions also sin is drawn out and he can look upon no creature but he conceives sin from it 1 Joh. 2.15 whatever is in the world is the fuel of lust there is nothing but is the object and draws out some lust in the heart 6. The Law discovers the deceitfulness of Original sin that all the lusts of a mans heart are deceitful lusts Ephes 4.24 Jer. 17.9 Jam. 3.15 Heb. 3.13 and the heart is deceitful above all things who can know it that a man can never fathom the bottom of it for there is a devillishness in it that whatever policy there is in Hell all this is in sin the wisdom of the flesh will take all opportunities to sin and make provision for the flesh and by often sinning mens hearts are hardned and they use much policy also in drawing others to sin and to keep them off from that which is good to set them upon things that are unlawful or else to pervert and poyson them in those things which are lawful to make an improvement of every occasion and to grow upon the sudden beyond what a man could have imagined as we see it in Peter from lying he proceeded even to cursing and damning himself Hab. 2. Deut. 25. Ephes 4.19 Jud. 11. Isa 56. 7. The Law discovers the unsatiableness and unweariedness that is in Original sin and the infiniteness that is in it it is compared to drunkenness the more men drink the more they desire and it is like Hell that is never satisfied the pleasures of sin enlarge the soul but never fill it there is a greediness in sin men pour out themselves they are greedy dogs that can never have enough there is such a dog-like appetite after sin they do evil with both hands earnestly always modo modo non haberet modum and therefore eternity of punishment is reserved for it God dealing with the creature not according to his actions but intentions the sinner would have it infinite extensively and intensively and therefore peccat in aeterno suo c. he sins in his eternity and God punisheth in his eternity 8. It discovers the demerit and effects of Original sin that it brings a man under the curse which is all evil and the wrath of God in Hell all the curses in Gods book and all the plagues of Gods Justice all the torments of Hell which either infinite wisdom can find out or infinite power inflict and that to eternity and that not only upon himself but upon all the creatures for his use Cursed is the ground for thy sake and cursed shalt thou be in thy house Rom. 8.20 and the curse enters into the timber and there is a vanity of corruption brought upon them all it turns a land into barrenness makes the Stars fight against them and the Clouds to drop vengeance and there is the desert of sin written in the drops of rain it hinders the influences of Heaven binds up the influences of the Pleiades which no man can do c. 2. The Law sets before a man and discovers his actual sins and that in many particulars It shews a maâ—â— what dishonour every sin does unto Gods glory a man gives not glory to the God of Heaven but debases him as much as in him lies by casting dishonour upon him saying The way of the Lord is not equal Is God unrighteous I speak as a man says Paul he despises his Justice turns his Grace into wantonness and gives the glory of God to any thing else for in every actual sin a man sets up a new God and serves the Devil in it who is the God of this World The Idols of mens hearts as well as of their hands strike at the very Being of God and also at the excellency of Gods rule the Law being the Septer by which the Lord rules and that by which his Soveraignty is seen in the world Rom. 7.12 it is the glorious royal Law the perfect Law it is holy just and good infinitely surpassing all the Laws of men I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad And not only the holiness of the Law but the harmony of it is opposed he that breaks one is guilty of all he that neglects any one command willingly is undoubtedly an hypocrite and he disobeys all for sincerity is accompanied with universality Then the Law opened in its spirituality shews a man the intention of his heart much more than it does in his actions and the intent of the sin goes beyond that of the sinner it shews also the infection of it upon others for evil words corrupt good manners it is as rottenness a plague a gangrene there is an infection in them all This one act of sin would defile the whole man as we see it has done in Adam and the Angels that fell the act defiles the nature and the nature defiles the man the least vain thought deserves death and the least idle word qualifies a man for Hell and therefore there is more evil in the least act of sin than there is good in all the
creatures because they cannot all expiate it Chrysost and make satisfaction for it These things the power of nature can never discover no though a man hath the letter of the Law but the Spirit of God makes use of these ends that the â—race of the Gospel may be the more glorious and the blood of Christ the more precious â—hich can purge such hellish stains as these and take away that evil that else were impossible 〈◊〉 be done away § 2. The Law is a Judge it has an accusing power as it is a witness against a man Joh. 5.45 Ezek. 22.2 and as a Judiciary power Wilt thou judge them son of man wilt thou judge them So that Miâ—â—sters pronouncing the sentence of the Lord in the Law are said to pass a sentence upâ—â— the actions and states of men he is convinced of all and he is judged of all 1 Cor. 14.24 And therefore â—â—e Apostle argues from the word and the judgment thereof unto God whose word it is and â—â—o shall be our Judge at the last day The Word is a curious discerner Heb. 4.12 As a man that is skillâ— in any Languâ—â—â— and able exactly to judge of the idiome and properties thereof and can â—â—â—cern any absurdity impropriety and incongruity in speech we say he is a Critick and â—â—t which one man may think an elegancy he thinks to be an impropriety so it is with the â—ord of God and the reason is because all things are naked unto that God that Judge with â—â—m in this Law we have to do and therefore when this Word is brought home to the â—â—nscience in a convincing way that the soul cannot deny it it is said to be a receiving of â—â—gement in a mans own heart before that great and dreadful day come Heb. 10.27 Now 〈◊〉 judgment of the Law is seen in these three Particulars 1 It revives sin 2 It conâ—â—â—ns the sinner 3 It does make a man stoop to and own this condemnation and lye â—â—n under it as his portion from which no man no power on earth can acquit 〈◊〉 1. The Law has this use as a Judge to revive sin Rom. 7.9 Rom. 7.9 Here is a double state that â—â—e Apostle mentions that he was in 1 He was alive I could do any duty and I thought â—tept the Law perfectly and also in presumption I thought my self in a good estate Phil. 3.7 and all â—â—y duties I counted gain such as should bring me in gain such as should bring me in great 〈◊〉 comes of glory at the last day and all this while sin was dead it was to me in respect of â—y present sense and sting as a dead thing and I was no more troubled at it nor affected â—â—th it than if there were no such thing sin was in its proper place and therefore seemed â—â—t heavy as Philosophers say That Elements are not heavy in their proper place though in â—â—â—mselves they are so So also whilst the strong man armed keeps the house all that he â—â—ssesses is in peace 2 But here is another state of Paul that is sin revived in the guilt and 〈◊〉 condemning power thereof the Law shewed him that there was a sting yet in it that â—â—â—ld be his ruin if it were not taken out of the way and that though the door was shut yâ—â— sin lay at the door of his Conscience Conscience is a door that will open Gen. 4.7 and being once opened either by the Ministry of the Word or by death and the presence of the Lord sin which now seems to be dead will in the guilt of it break in again What a miserable thing 〈◊〉 it to have such a door-keeper And then I died that is I saw my self to be a dead man Luther and 〈◊〉 a state of death wrath and condemnation and that death was my portion and Hell my â—roper place How was this change wrought that sin was thus revived that was dead when 〈◊〉 â—aul was without the Law and yet was alive when the Commandment came Paul was â—â—rn a Pharisee and therefore never without the Law in the literal sense of it he had the â—â—ter of the Law and he was according to that in the righteousness of the Law blameless â—â—â—t the Commandment came in the life and power in the spiritual sense and in the efficacy thereof set on by the Spirit of Christ making it a servant to the Gospel by this it was that sin was revived For without the Law sin is dead Rom. 5.13 Rom. 5.13 Before the Law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no Law The meaning is not that men were not esteemed sinners and punished as sinners or that all men were righteous before the Law was â—iven upon Mount Sinai for death as well as sin raigned from Adam till Moses but it must be either understood comparatively in respect of God that is God did not impute it so much or as so great a sin because they sinned against a dimmer light and a darker discovery of the will and mind of God or else which I rather conceive not imputed by their own Consciences they did not lay it unto their own charge as so great and so hainous because the abominable nature thereof was not so clearly discovered and therefore the Law entred that the offence might abound as the light discovers spirits as Index peccati non genitrix the Index of sin not the parent So that though men be sinners Ambros and very great and hainous sinners yet they do not charge themselves with it nor impute it unto themselves neither are they affected with it but walk cheerfully under the burden of it as if it were nothing Satan has by nature in every man a Kingdom and he does there most of all desire a peaceable and a quiet government and therefore he sets up that lust as Prorex and the Vice-roy in the man that is most affected in the soul in which the man takes most satisfaction and contentment that thereby he may keep the whole man in peace and therefore Mat. 12.45 though he go out of the man and be not cast out and does it for a further end going out in some bodily lust yet he walks in some dry places seeking rest and finding none he loves not to be disquieted in his government though he does many times make an improvement of it to bring into the man seven worse spirits And it is strange for a man to consider what a power the Devil has over men in this particular to keep all quiet There is a deceitfulness and a bewitching nature in every sin that a man is hardened by it there be strong holds Heb. 3.13 Isa 28.15 2 Cor. 10.5 strong reasonings for it and there are thick bossed bucklers for resistance Job 15.26 that men may not feel it there is a hardness of heart a feared Conscience there is a custom in sinning and
wherein the Authority or Soveraignty of the Great King does appear for wherein does the authority of Princes lye but in their Laws and he is counted a rebell that does disobey them and that of the Apostle Rom. 2. Through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God and the Nomothetick power is that wherein the greatness and the height of Majesty lyes and this Law we are subjected to by bond of Creation as having received our being from the Lord and by a bond of Stipulation having given up our consent to the Law having given the hand unto the Lord c. and as being the rule by which the Lord will judge men at the last day and this kept Joseph in awe against the importunity of his Mistress How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God the Majesty and Authority of God is despised in it and the Soveraignty of the Law being exalted in his heart carried with it a kind of moral impossibility for there be natural and moral impossibilities as the Apostle in the 1 Cor. We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth And sometimes the people of God in the violence of a temptation have been forced to fly to the Commandment as in the point of self-murder one was fain to do the temptation was so impetuous that he was forced to repeat the Commandment for some hours together Thou shalt do no murder thou shalt do no murder 3. Sin is restrained from the Curse of the Law and the Judgements that it does denounce against offenders and the several examples of the executions of them says Job Chap. 31.23 Destruction from God was a terror to me and because of his highness I could not indure And 2 Cor. 5. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men And observing the several examples of Judgments and the Curse of the Covenant upon wickednesses which are wrought that others may see and fear and do no more wickedly When a man looks upon the Judgements that are abroad as the Curse of the Law executed a man should say I will not transgress It was the sin of Judah that at the Captivity of Israel she would not be warned and would not receive correction for that man that has the Law against him has God against him 4. Sin is restrained from the Harmony of the Law he that breaketh one is guilty of all c. This makes men stand in awe of the Divine Commands 5. From Gods love to the Law it being that which is so dear unto God Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not an iota of the Law which is dearer to God than Heaven and Earth The Saints are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they have a conformity unto God in all things they love what God loves and they hate what God hates Says the Psalmist I hate them that hate thee Psal 119.10.4 yea I hate them sore as if they were my enemies Through thy precepts I get understanding He says He did love the Law as his portion and inheritance as that which was sweeter to him than honey and his obedience unto which did bring him in all his comfort and therefore I have refrained my feet from every evil way this is my life and this is my wisdom in the sight of the Nations Lastly What authority and command the Law of God has in the hearts of men is that that Gods eye is much upon and with such men he is pleased and the power of Gods Grace is seen mainly in the awe of the Law upon their hearts and lives which other men despise and cast behind their back says the Lord To him will I look that trembles at my word Isa 66.2 And there is a man that fears an oath My heart stands in awe of thy Word else I had broken forth and given way to corruption but I durst not Isa 11.6 A little child shall lead him that which is most easily done and 2 Chron. 32.12 see the charge against Zedekiah for he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. If a man come to us from God and in the name of God if we despise him we despise the Lord. § 3. How is the Law from its restraint upon lust a servant and a handmaid unto the Gospel This will appear also in these Particulars 1. The great end of the Gospel is to establish the Earth and to continue the World for by sin an utter destruction should have come upon men and upon all the creatures for mans use only there is a stop put upon Justice for a time the change of the Covenant bringing in a change of the Government and the Kingdom that was before the fall administred by God immediately is now committed into the hands of the Son as he is God-man our Mediator So Psal 8. He has put all things in subjection under his feet Isa 49.8 and he has given him as a Covenant to establish the earth And it is upon this ground that those expressions are Psal 93. The Lord reigns he is clothed with Majesty the world is established that it cannot be moved And Psal 97.1 The Lord reigns let the earth rejoice All this is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ and his Government that is committed to him by the Father under the second Covenant and by vertue thereof since the fall And this the Lord doth by the restraint of the Law two ways 1 Hereby the lusts that are in a mans heart are kept under that they destroy not one another for lust is cruel see it in the second man that ever was in the world and he that first actually brought murder into the world and Nimrod a hunter of men before the Lord and as cruel to men as if they were beasts nay they are themselves Beasts and have the cruelty of Beasts and men would be as the fishes of the Sea the greater would devour the less they have no King over them and are acted by the spirit of the Devil and his name is Abaddon the destroyer his delight is wholly in destruction and if the Lord did leave men to the violence of their lusts and the impetuosity of temptation they would overflow as water over-running all banks and bounds and blood would touch blood where either as some say by blood is meant murder Hos 4.2 or all manner of horrible wickedness and so some take it so there is all manner of cruelty and all manner of unnatural wickedness even to the destroying of one another as we see it in Egypt every mans sword shall be against his brother and in the cruelty at the destruction of Jerusalem Now how comes it to pass that it is not so every where Only from the restraint of the Law laid upon the spirits of men and by this means the world is quieted as Luther in Gal. 3. hath observed Diâ—bolus regnat in toto orbe terrarum impellit homines
ad omnis generis flagitia sicut ergo hominibus obsessis vincula catenae injiciuntur ne quem laedant sic toti mundo qui est obsessus a diabolo adest Deus legibus cohibens manus pedes ne praeceps ruat in omnis generis flagitia 2 The Lord has set bounds unto the sins of the World as well as unto the sins of particular persons and Nations which when they have by degrees filled up judgment shall come upon them to their destruction As there was a fulness of sin when the Flood came upon the world and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth so there is a fulness of sin when the World shall be burnt and when all the wicked have filled up their measure then shall the fire of Gods wrath be kindled upon the World unto which it is reserved Only then when the World was drowned because there was a holy seed remaining upon the earth the Lord did spare the earth for Noahs sake because there was a blessing but when all the Elect of God shall be translated from this earth to Glory then there shall be an utter destruction and the earth shall be burnt up at least refined by fire Now if there should not be a restraint laid upon the lusts of men every one that is now a Serpent would become a Dragon and they that now sin as men would act like Devils and the measure of mens lusts would be quickly fulfilled and the end of the World would be suddenly hastned Now because God has appointed a time that the World shall stand for Gospel ends and to shew forth the Grace of the Gospel that mercy may rejoice and triumph over judgment therefore he does restrain the lusts of men that the fulness of the sin of the World may be filled up by degrees 2. It does exceedingly exalt the Gospel and the Grace thereof that it does make such a use of the Law as is unto man fallen above the nature of the Law and contrary to the use that sin does make of the Law 1 It is above the power of the Law unto man a sinner for the Law is become weak through the flesh Rom. 8.4 as we see they that know the Law yet pour out themselves to all excess of riot and give themselves over unto all manner of abominations He that says thou shalt not commit adultery doth himself commit adultery c. All this shews that the Law of it self is weak it can forbid sin indeed but it cannot restrain it as it can require duty but it cannot enable a man thereunto but as Bernard has observed It commands without grace and it punishes without mercy Restraining Grace in respect of sin and assisting Grace in respect of duty comes not from the Law but from the Spirit that is given in the Gospel working with it 2 It is contrary to the use that sin makes of the Law for sin takes occasion by the Commandment and the Law is so far from being a means of restraining lust that by the Commandment corruptions are improved and increased Rom. 7.8 11. the flood rises the higher by the damm that is made against it and there is this devillishness in sin that it does take occasion by the Commandment to deceive a man that is it does work in a man a greater apprehension of the sweetness of it and a greater desire to it and longing after it because it is in the Commandment forbidden and from the very prohibition does arise the strength of the temptation a man should never have had his heart so much carried out after it if the Lord had not forbidden it and then a man says Stollen waters are sweet and the bread of deceit is pleasant Now when Satan and sin shall take occasion by the Commandment to improve corruption and to draw it forth that the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel should make a quite contrary use of it to restrain it and bind it up it does much exalt the power of the Gospel and the spirit of the Gospel which works with this Law 3. Restraining Grace which the Spirit of God does work in a man by the Law is of great use and does mightily exalt the Grace of the Gospel in preserving from open violences and immoralities 1 In reference unto the Saints that they are not destroyed for they are sheep in the midst of wolves their souls are amongst lions and therefore it is a wonder that they are not destroyed it is God that lays a restraint upon their enemies lust sometimes and they desire it not and sometimes upon their acts and they cannot effect it Abimelechs lust was restrained in reference to Abraham I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her And as to Laban God laid a charge upon his spirit and so it was with Herod in reference unto John the Baptist and it is by this restraint laid upon the hearts of wicked men that the lives and liberties of the people of God are preserved and this is every day as great a miracle in some respect as to set bounds to the Sea that it do not overflow and as to stop the Lions mouths or to hinder and restrain actum secundum the second act of the Fire in the Babylonish Furnace that it did not burn so much as the garments of the three Children and that your peace and prosperity and that the progress of the Gospel is not interrupted that the Devil does not cast some of you into prison and seek your blood as in time past it is not that he is not as truly the Destroyer still as in times past but the Lord restrains the lusts of men that he cannot act them and draw them forth as he has done formerly 2 In reference unto wicked and ungodly men that live in their sins and perish in them Though it is true while the corrupt will prevails and a mans enmity to God remains so long is a man a sinner before God in every thing because he is in his habitual frame of heart an enemy unto all righteousness Austins Epist 144. But it is a great common mercy that wicked men have by the Gospel that their lusts are not let out to the uttermost and the greatest judgment that men can be given over to is to be given up to their own hearts lusts delivered over unto the power of sin and to be acted by Satan to the highest and the utmost as Judas the Devil entred into him it was but a higher degree of acting of him in a way of wickedness The restraint that is acted upon them lessens the guilt and does not spread so much in the defilement the act of sin does intend the habit Nor is it so dangerous and infectious unto others for sinners in their actions are corrupters and by their example taint many with evil ways and words the more their restraints are the less will their judgement and condemnation be and
they 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
liberty and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word and therefore Jam. 2.8 we are exhorted to fulfill the royal Law and to keep the precepts of the Law and to walk in them The whole Law as to its second Table is fulfilled in this one word Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and for this cause Christ in his first Sermon frees it from its corrupt glosses and interpretation of the Pharisees and restores it unto its spiritual sense because it was to be of a perpetual use in the Church of God and it is so perfect a rule that Christ added no new precept to it but only interpreted and expounded the Law and restored it unto its primitive and original glory 3. Christ has left us an example and he is unto us not only the principle of holiness from whence it is derived Mat. 11.29 Phil. 2.5 but also the pattern to which it is conformed Joh. 13.15 Now the acts of Christ were of two sorts 1 Acts of Office as he was a Mediator by which he merited of God the Father pardon and acceptation for us and so we cannot imitate him but there are 2 acts of Moral obedience which he did as our Mediator and as our Pattern and in these we are to follow Christ unto this day for his whole life was nothing else but a spiritual Commentary upon the Law of God and herein we must be followers of all men as they follow Christ because there is a defect in all mens conformity to the Law but so there was not in Christ Joh. 4.3 4. So far as we come short of it even the best of the Saints we sin for what is sin but a transgression of the Law therefore to the Saints the Law is a rule of obedience or else they should never transgress it and if a man would try and examine his ways he must bring it to the rule for it is a rule for examination Adam was bound to the Law and therefore his least transgression was a sin and we are bound as strictly as Adam was and so far as a justified person comes short of universal obedience unto the whole Law he sins as well as Adam in the state of innocency only in the Gospel by the Mediation of Christ the sin is pardoned Therefore under the Gospel there is no other rule of obedience but the Law of God and every sin is a transgression thereof Christ came into the world to be made a curse for sin but not a cloak for it the Saints are bound to the Law under the danger of committing sin though not under the danger of incurring death and therefore sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression and Christ when he would shew a sin has recourse to the Law and also in all his temptations and so Act. 23.5 some expound that of Paul I wist not brethren that he was the high Priest because it is written Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy people c. 5. The Law hath all the properties of a rule 1 It is recta right the Law of the Lord is holy and perfect Psal 19. 2 Nota known it is promulgated and made known in the authority of God himself I have written to them the great things of my Law and they have counted it a strange thing 3 Adaequata answerable unto the thing to be measured by it and so is this Law spiritual Rom. 7. and gives laws to the spirits of men and to their words and their actions there is no case can fall out that there is not a rule to be found for it in the word Psal 119.96 were our eyes opened to behold the wonders that are there I have seen an end of all perfections but thy law is exceeding broad In all the laws of men we can look beyond them but there is a latitude here Psal 119. that we cannot reach it was to David his counseller and it is such a counseller that you cannot put that case to it that it cannot resolve and fully clear if thou give ear unto it when thou walkest by the way it shall lead thee and when thou risest up it shall walk with thee as a friend and counseller 6. That is the rule of obedience to a man in this life by which God will judge him in the life to come and according to which he will reward him Rom. 2. They that have sinned under the law shall be judged by the Law as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse Joh. 12. There is one that judges you even Moses in whom you trust And Paul says The Lord will judge men according to my Gospel And the greater Grace there is rejected the greater shall their judgement be but the curse that is executed upon wicked men in Hell is the curse of the Law which the Lord Christ did undergo for those that are his and the reward both here and hereafter is very great in keeping of them there is great reward in this life the fruit is unto holiness and in the end everlasting life And though the Law be to all unregenerate men a Covenant of Works and a curse of the same Covenant made with Adam yet this is made a handmaid unto the Gospel and is the only rule of all Gospel or new obedience the strength to perform it is from the Gospel but the duties to be performed are from the Law the ability to walk is from the Gospel but the way in which we must walk is the way of the Lords precepts Objections answered § 3. There are some Objections against this that are necessary to be cleared not that I desire to enter upon a Controversie or a Polemical discourse but because it will help us to understand many Scriptures and so happily free us from many snares in which men are sometimes taken Object 1 Mat. 11.13 Luk. 16.16 It is said That the Law and the Prophets were till John since the Kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it therefore the Law was to last no longer and is not therefore as you say to be preached as a servant unto the Gospel because its service and its prophecie is ended for in John Baptists time it did expire it lasted so long and no longer Answ 1. It cannot be the meaning that the Law and the Prophets were to cease Luc. 16.17 and to be wholly abolished for Christ immediately confirms them and says Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than a tittle of the Law shall pass which words are added as Interpreters generally observe to prevent that objection against or misinterpretation of this Doctrine of Christ the Law and the Prophets were till John but yet mistake me not as if I would be understood acsi post haec lex in ecclesia exauctoratae esset as if henceforward the Law should be abrogated Cartwr for Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass than
of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 2 The Author of this Covenant Jehovah the Lord God alsufficient and therefore he doth not here call it Abrahams Covenant but it is my Covenant 3 The fountain from which in God this Covenant does flow And I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly This Covenant is a free gift and an act meerly of free grace and so much doth Abraham acknowledge immediately for he falls upon his face to shew that he could never be thankful enough The property of a thankful soul is this the more mercy it receives from God and the more boldness it may have with God and with the greater confidence he may come to him with the greater reverence he does walk towards the Lord for there is nothing that a gracious heart fears more than goodness and he is lowest in himself when the Lord exalts him highest by his Grace And this doth the Lord repeat three times I will make a Covenant with thee and my Covenant shall be with thee and vers 7. I will establish my Covenant with thee I will cause my Covenant to arise that is I will raise up such a relation between me and thee I will take thee into Covenant with my self and I will enter into Covenant with thee and this he doth repeat so often as Mercer does observe partly to confirm the Faith of Abraham in the promised mercy partly to set forth the greatness of the mercy which no words were sufficient to express also the repetition does stir up and awaken Abraham yet further to consider of the greatness of the mercy of God to him in it and the greatness also of his engagement to God thereby And from hence the first observation that I shall give you is from looking upon Abrahams Covenant as being the same with that God made with all the faithful Gal. 3. ult Doct. After man was fallen and had broken the first Covenant the Lord out of his free Grace hath made with his people a second Covenant and a better Covenant In the handling hereof are four things to be cleared 1 The Person that makes the Covenant who it is Jehovah El-shaddai 2 That God will after the fall as well as before deal with his Elect in a Covenant-way 3 The Lord hath the first and the chief hand in it I will do it I even I and therefore he doth every where call it my Covenant 4 That the fountain of this Covenant is from Gods free Grace 1. The Person that makes it the Author of this Covenant and here there are two things 1 That all the persons in the Trinity do enter into Covenant and thereby bind themselves to make themselves over unto the Elect and that will appear to you by these Considerations 1 They have all of them the same nature and essence the same will and have all a hand in the same acts as Creation is the act of them all so they do all concur in making of the Covenant Father Son and Holy Ghost 2 This is a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and the Son and the Spirit are as truly offended with the sin of man and had a hand in the first Covenant and their authority was as truly despised in the first transgression as the authority of the Father and a dishonour was put upon them also and therefore there was as much need that they should be reconciled and enter into a Covenant with man for his Salvation Bern. Ser. 1. de adventu Domini as God the Father Yea some Divines conceive that the first transgression of Angels and men was chiefly against the Son and some of our own Divines as Reinolds in Psal 110. pag. 421. say That the first sin of man was principally committed against the Son it being an affectation of that which did properly belong to him to be like unto God in Wisdom and also in this was sown the seed of the unpardonable sin which was to be the fatal sin under the second Covenant and therefore as the mercy was the more glorious that they would undertake Offices in this Covenant for reconciliation so there was the greater necessity that they should also join and be taken into the Covenant 3 If we consider the person that does transact this business and strike up this Covenant with Abraham who though he did it as the Word of God in the name of all the persons yet it was the Son who did immediately speak in it as Glassius expounds Job 33.3 the word is there The breath of the Almighty and Psal 91.1 where the same word is used it is the shadow of the Almighty c. 4 If we consider that the Son speaks of himself in Covenant as well as his Father for it is by this Covenant that the Lord is the God of Abraham because therein he did promise so to be now Exod. 3.2 6. the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses and saith I am the God of thy fathers the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac c. Act. 7.30 and the Angel of the Lord is by Scripture plainly proved to be God the Son and it 's generally or for the most part consented unto by all Divines ancient and modern Mal. 3.1 and it may be that having the great hand in striking up the Covenant he is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant 2. Though all the persons enter into Covenant with the Saints yet the person that the Scripture says we do chiefly enter into Covenant with and that hath the main and first hand therein is God the Father 1. Because it is said in Scripture to be a Covenant of peace and reconciliation and therefore it doth suppose an enmity and a war Now though sin was committed against all the Persons yet the suite against sinners in Scripture does chiefly run in God the Father's name as in all Societies there is usually one in whose name all their suites are commenced therefore 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself he speaks 〈◊〉 of God the Father who does reconcile us unto himself by Jesus Christ and therefore we are said to be reconciled to God and the work of the reconciliation of a sinner Christ calls his Fathers business and he is said to be an Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2.1 Sin is an offence to all the Persons they having all a hand in mans Creation and all of them joining in giving man a Law and entring into Covenant with him in his Creation but in Scripture the suite against sin is said to run every where in the Fathers name and our reconciliation is unto him and therefore it is the Father that has the great hand in the Covenant as the person reconciled 2. Because in the Scripture the other Persons have their peculiar Offices which they have voluntarily undertaken in this Covenant to reconcile men unto God and therefore both are said to be
in any meer creature whatsoever for the more of God is in any creature the more God can delight in it and the less of God the less delight Now it is only in Christ that the fulness of the Godhead doth bodily dwell and he is his Image therefore there can be a full delight in none but in him he charges his Angels with folly not with actual but possible folly but yet the humane nature of Christ is impeccable by reason of its union for actiones sunt suppositi and therefore in him he takes full delight Isa 42.1 2 God did intend to glorifie his Son by making him the fountain of all that goodness and glory that ever he did intend to bestow upon the creatures that he should be a fountain of all good unto the creature upon whom he set his love sutable unto their condition and necessity 1 If the elect Angels retain their integrity and keep their first habitation abide in the truth Christ should be to them medium confirmationis 2 If man be fallen he shall become unto him medium reconciliationis And this I conceive to be the Order of the Election of God he doth chuse Christ as the person to whom he will in the fullest manner communicate himself and in whom he will glorifie himself in the highest way and as that person that shall be the fountain of all good to the creature sutably unto their necessity and condition whatever they be if they stand to confirm them if they fall to repair them And so he was first chosen and elected and they in him as in their head and so the Lamb hath a Book of life Rev. 13.8 as well as the Father and he saith all these are mine and mine are thine there is not a soul in Gods Book that is not in Christs Book they were chosen in him and given unto him in their Election Now the Covenant of Grace is but a Copy or counter-pain of this electing love of God it must therefore proceed in the same way that election doth election is first of Christ as the head and of us in him 2. The new Covenant was given in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 therefore after the falâ— there could be no Covenant made with man immediately but with a second or a middle person a days man that might lay hold upon both This is evident 1. from the necessity of a satisfaction Job 9. some have very curiously disputed Vtrum Deus per potentiam absolutam potest peccata remittere sine satisfactione Whether God could pardon sin without satisfaction Matt. 36.39 meerly out of sovereignty and prerogative But Christ saith If it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt And it seems to me to silence all such disputes when I consider that every creature is subject to the will of the Creator by the Law of his creation for there are many acts of sovereignty that belong to the Creator 1 To appoint the creature an end and to give it a Law which may bring it unto this end 2 That this Law every creature is bound to obey and yield obedience to from his own election and choice For it must be reasonable service Rom. 12.1 and a man must chuse the way of truth 3 That every aberration or deviation from this will of the Creator hath an evil and an iniquity in it being an undue act that doth intrinsically carry with it great obligation to punishment 4 That the same Law-giver that hath power to give the Law hath also power to threaten and inflict a Curse and punishment for the transgression of that Law 5 Mans sin being wilfull a chosen transgression the punishment whereof he was before instructed in he doth most justly bring himself under that Curse and punishment that God had threatned upon such a transgression For God was his judge having given him a Law as before he was his Creator in giving him a being he was subject to his will as his Creator and was subject to his sentence as his Judge 6 This sin God could not suffer to go unpunished 1 In testimony of his holiness that he might shew that he was of purer eyes than to suffer it Hab. 1.13 and that no evil could dwell with him Psal 5.6 being that which he hates and therefore can be contented with nothing but its destruction 2 Because of the Covenant wherein the truth and faithfulness of God was ingaged The day thou eatest thou shalt dye He had established a Law against sin Matt. 5.18 which he could in no wise abolish for Heaven and Earth shall pass away rather than one tittle of it It was strange if that which did provoke the justice of God unto the execution of the Law should procure the abrogation of the Law therefore here is only place for a punishment to be inflicted but none for a Covenant to be established without a Mediator For the old Covenant is broken and till there be a way found to satisfie the Curse of the first Covenant there can be no place for a second Now this satisfaction must be in our selves or in some other that shall undertake it by the appointment and acceptation of God in our behalf In our selves it is impossible the redemption of a Soul is so great for whatever man can do for time to come is but a debt and to pay a debt or service that we owe at present will not satisfie for a debt that we contracted before and the demerit of sin is infinite being against an infinite God infinite glory is debased and infinite justice despised and man is but finite in his being and his services are all but finite and between finite and infinite there can be no proportion therefore there can be no satisfaction for satisfaction is that which is equivalent c. Wherefore if the Lord will be satisfied it cannot be in a mans self therefore it must be in a Mediator 1 Tim. 2.6 And whereas there is a double need of a Mediator one of Intercession and the other of satisfaction there is such a one required and so was Christ Thus the second Covenant is a Covenant of friendship Hos 2 19. Rev. 19. Abraham my friend and it is a Marriage Covenant the bride the Lambs wife and God could not take a creature into his bosom immediately unless his Justice were satisfied for by the rules of his government he must destroy them he could not covenant with them or propound any terms of reconciliation to them the Curse of the first Covenant must be born and thereby abolished Thus God could not enter into Covenant with man immediately but it must be by a Mediator that should bear the Curse and satisfie the Covenant 2. This Curse being born and satisfaction being made God could not enter into Covenant with man immediately in the second Covenant for he did intend it should be an everlasting
quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.5 they are made alive unto God 3 There is a death in sorrow and under misery as the Jews were in their Captivity they were dry bones dead and their restoring of peace and comfort was a resurrection from the dead Ezech. 37.12 and so Heman is free amongst the dead as they that are wounded and lye in the grave c. and in opposition thereunto there is a life of consolation 1 Thess 3.8 1 Thess 3.8 Now we live if you stand fast in the Lord that is this will be one of the greatest comforts of our lives our happiness our glory and crown of rejoycing c. Rom. 7.9 Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the law once alive in performances and alive in presumption alive in comforts alive in confidences and that is the meaning of Hab. 2.4 The just shall live by his faith Hab. 2.4 and in the same sense it is used Heb. 10.38 He that shall come will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.38 now the just shall live by his faith There is a double sense of these words 1 In matter of Justification Gal. 3.11 No man is justified by the law it is evident for the just shall live by faith 2 In matter of consolation in any affliction and so faith doth not only make a man live keep body and soul together but it makes a man live a comfortable and a chearful life also non est vivere sed valere vita c. 4 There is a death eternal which is an everlasting separation from the vision and fruition of God who is the fountain of life and so we read of the second death and so there is a life of glory Joh 3.36 He that believes not in the Son of God shall not see life but the wrath of God abides upon him and Heaven is commonly in the Scripture called everlasting life c. Now in all these respects the Son lives by the living Father and they that are one with him do live by him 1. Christ as Mediator receives from the living Father a life of justification he was made under the Law and under the curse 2 Cor. 5.21 it pleased the Father to make all our sins meet upon him he did bear the sins of many he did appear the first time of his coming into the world loaden with transgression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he shall appear the second time without sin Heb. 9.28 and this was by the Fathers imputation Hostilem incursum designat c. and his voluntary susception but when he arose from the dead he is acquitted by God the Father and therefore is said to be justified in the Spirit i. e. by his own Godhead and 1 Pet. 3.18 he is said to be quickned by the Spirit that is he raised up himself by the power of his own Godhead so being raised he is justified that is he is acquitted from the guilt of all the sins that he did before lye under and so he is taken from prison he did not break prison but he was released and had a fair discharge and the judgment that was past upon him he was absolved from Isa 53.8 Now as the sentence of his condemnation came forth from the Father so must also his justification and as he says Joh. 16.10 Ye see me no more to note that his death should fully satisfie and his sacrifice be perfectly offered as for other Priests they came often to present their Sacrifices which were imperfect and the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin off the sinner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. He received from the living Father a life of holiness and sanctification Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell What fulness is here meant Plenitudo gratiae habitualis an habitual fulness of grace Joh. 1.16 Of his fulness we have all received grace for grace as he was anointed by the Father he received not the Spirit by measure Joh. 3.34 for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him It 's true that grace in the humane nature of Christ which is the subject of habitual grace is not infinite for that only belongs to the Holiness of God but yet there is all fulness in it because it 's laid up in him that he might dispence it and there is a sufficiency and there are supplies of the Spirit for all the Saints and therefore he is called Dan. 9.24 The most holy Dan. 9.24 or holiness of holinesses the humane nature is capable of more grace and therefore of greater glory by reason of its personal union than all the creatures in Heaven and Earth either men or Angels for he is the Son of Righteousness 3. He received from the living Father a life of consolation It 's true if we look to his condition amongst the creatures so he was a man of sorrows but if we respect his communion with the Father and the fulness of the consolation of the Spirit for where the Spirit is truly a Spirit of Sanctification there also he is in perfection a Spirit of Consolation so he is said Psal 45.7 To be anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows his blessed Soul had experience as of greater and higher priviledges so of far greater comforts than of the creature men or Angels and though it 's true that when he bore the sins of men and the wrath of God there was substractio visionis and therefore he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as extra confortium vivere Mar. 14.33 to live without society he was to be sequestred as in a wilderness and set apart unto grief and to nothing else yet it was but for a short time for as the Sun did recover its light again so did his Spirit also and his Soul was filled with unspeakable joys as he before under-went unutterable sorrows therefore he says Joh. 15.10 I kept my Fathers commandment and abide in his love my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth c. Psal 16.11 4. He received from the living Father a life of glory Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore and therefore Rev. 3.21 Rev. 3.21 He that overcomes I will grant to sit with me upon my Throne even as I overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne c. Jesus Christ has a Throne on which he now sits ruling the Nations having received a Kingdom from the Ancient of days and he has a Throne in the Church a Throne is set in Heaven Rev. 4.2 and there is a more glorious Throne to be erected at the last and great day when he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory c. but all this while Heaven is the Fathers Throne and when the works of God are
to a more particular acquaintance with sin and self therefore the Lord doth let such lusts rise up in a mans heart A man that haply never thought that he could be tempted to be an Atheist and deny that there was a God the Lord will let forth such sinful risings and motions in his heart that he shall be ready to call all into question and see that it is possible for the corruption of his nature to make him like that fool that saith in his heart there is no God and a man that never questioned whether the Scripture was the Word of God or no for it is the faith that he hath been brought up in which he received from his parents yet the Lord will let that lust rise in thee which may bring thee to question the authority of the Scriptures whether they be of God or no. There is in a man a principle that tends to a denial of the doctrine of godliness and this principle lies deep and works mightily in our lives and therefore that they may see that this root of bitterness is in them the Lord will suffer them to rise up unto actual thoughts and then the man will say I thought I should never have doubted whether there was a God or no or a Heaven or Hell or a Scripture but now I see to what my natural corruption is ready to lead me and by this means his soul is not only humbled for those bosom-principles of Atheism but these bosom-principles of Religion are laid anew and more firmly in the soul which else would not have born the stress of a work of grace upon them 4 That a man may be drawn out to hate sin the more therefore the Lord doth let it rise in a man and infest him As a mans darling lust that has risen in him most and most troubled him that sin when he is converted he hates above all other Hos 14.8 and so Rom. 7. there is not only the being of sin but the rising of it Rebelling against the law of the mind and leading me captive to the law of sin and death when I would do good evil is present with me that the soul may see its misery the more and so hate its adversary the more for to love God and hate sin is our great work and the more the goodness of â—od is discovered unto us the more we should love him and the further the evil of sin is discovered unto us the more our hearts should be ingaged to hate this also It is true a man should hate sin in the root hate it at all times but specially when it rises within us and presents it self to us with the greatest enticement as Christ hated Satan always but then specially when he assaulted him with a temptation to worship him so should we deal with sin as Junius faith of himself he being a modest man a wanton woman came to kiss him and he gave her a box on the face he hated impudence at all times but specially when it was offered him and so it is in this particular also when lust doth rise in the soul presenting it self to be chosen he hates it then most as wicked men hate godliness always but specially when it comes nearest unto them and they are pressed to it then their hearts rise against it 5 The Lord doth in his Soveraignty permit that lusts should arise in his people but it is to awaken them and the Lord makes this an excellent remedy against a secure condition for if his people will sleep God has three ordinary ways to awaken them 1 By letting out corruption 2 By affliction 3 By desertion it is the first of them is the worst because there is not a greater evil than sin and there is not any thing that doth use to affect the hearts of godly men and awaken them more than to find former lusts revivâ— in their hearts which they thought had been dead long ago A man has formerly set himself to mortifie such a lust and prayed against it and used all means and now he hath through mercy in a good measure attained it but the man grows proud and secure and carnally confident then the Lord lets his lust revive again and the man shall see that his enemy is not dead but that the said root of bitterness still remains only the Lord by his Soveraignty permitted it to spring forth for such an end 6 It is that which is matter of repentance to the people of God continually they are not humbled barely for the sins of their lives that break forth in their conversation in the world but also those sins that do arise in their hearts and they do apply the Righteousness of Christ for the one as well as the other and they are more humbled for lust rising in their heart if they could be separated than for lust breaking forth in the act because this defiles the inward man the soul and so it 's said of Hezekiah That he humbled himself for the pride of his heart so confidence in creatures is what we ought to be humbled for and weep in secret for our pride and repent of all the inward risings of sin in our heart though not any discovery of it be made in our lives and conversation § 4. 3. The Soveraignty of God is seen in the actings of sin also and therein it doth order all for the good of his people sin shall not be always kept within bounds as fire in the bosom but it shall appear in the life many times and the members shall become weapons of unrighteousness lust conceived shall bring forth sin as there are many thousand lusts stirring in the heart that do never come into act they are conceived but do never bring forth there is much plotting in the world against godliness but they do bring forth the wind Esau says I will slay my brother Jacob but he never did it and Gâ—hazi had in his heart a hankering after Vineyards and Olive-yards c. and so they in Neh. 4.11 We will come upon them and destroy them and they shall neither see nor know c. But the act doth not succeed accordingly there are many devices in the hearts of the crafty when their hands cannot perform their enterprise Job 5.12 and so the Lord doth with sin in the souls of his people but yet sometimes it shall break forth into act it was as new wine in the soul and the act shall give it vent it was secret but the Lord by an act will permit it to be visible and legible when it was in the soul it is but thirst in the desire but it is drunkenness in the act when it is come to the full and all this doth the Lord permit by a supreme providence for the good of his people 1 That they may see the power of sin and the tendency thereof it is such a filthiness as would overspread the whole man it is a leprosie in the
the first Covenant Doth this Covenant afford the least reward to any services that have the least imperfection adherent to them And can sinners offer to God any such perfect services Will it not thence hence necessarily follow that such as stand under this first Covenant have all their services rejected all their sins imputed to them their persons hated their blessings cursed and all the curses of the Law bound fast on their consciences by the sentence of the righteous God What are all their seeming services but real sins and what are all Gods rewards to them but real curses albeit seeming blessings What can they expect for such unsanctified services but unsanctified rewards which are indeed real curses But to treat somewhat more distinctly of the misery which attends such as are under the first Covenant we may consider it under these two Heads that both the Law and Gospel The Law to such as are under the first Covenant the means of death which are means of Life and Salvation to such as are under the first Covenant prove as to them means of Death and Condemnation First as to the Law it proves the means of death and condemnation to such as are under the first Covenant two ways 1 In regard of its coactive Rigor 2 As it irritates Sin 1. The Law doth by its coactive Rigor work death and condemnation in such as are under the first Covenant Doth not the Law exact of such perfect obedience 1. By its compulsion but gives them no strength to perform it It 's true the Law requires obedience of those who are under the second Covenant also but the promise gives what the Law requires But of such as are under the first Covenant perfect obedience is required but no intern principle is engraffed duty is required but no love or delight therein conferred Yea do not such perform duty as godly men commit sin May they not say of sin as Paul doth of duty Rom. 7.15 What I would that I do not And what Paul saith of Sin may not such say the same of Duty What I hate that do I The Law discovers sin to those that are under the first Covenant but did it ever cast out any one sin discovered by it Sin is sometimes wounded by it but did it ever kill any one sin Are not the hearts of such like Ezechiels pot in which the scum did arise but then boyled in again The Law drags such to the Tribunal of God as a righteous Judge but can they ever come to God as a Father Is not this the priviledge of such only as are under the second Covenant Lastly the Law drives such as are under the first Covenant unto self-condemnation but can any thing but the Gospel work Justification and Peace of Conscience So deadly and mortiferous is the Law to such as are under its violent compulsion and coaction as it is a Covenant And whence is it that the Law hath such a compulsive power over such as are under it as a Covenant 1 Is it not from those Principles of self-love and legal fear implanted in the heart of man whereby he is constrained to duty and restrained from sin by the threats and terrors of the Law which move Conscience as extern weights move artificial Automata or machines O! what a great power has Conscience over such when acted and enflamed by the terrors of the Law Doth not Paul Rom. 7.1 assure us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Law doth Lord it over a man so long as he continues under it as a Covenant And how doth the Law as a Covenant Lord it over the man but by ruling in the Authority and Sovereign Dominion of God in and by which it will at last judge the man And oh with what rigor and compulsion doth it rule over his Conscience and thereby restrain him from sin and constrain him to duty Again 2 Doth not the Law receive much Authority and force from the Spirit of God setting it home on Conscience and thereby terrifying and wounding the sinner 3 Is there not also in all men under the first Covenant a sinful Weight or Bent of Lust which makes the yoke of divine Precepts extreme irksome and burdensome to them And doth not this adde much to the rigour and severity of the Law Doth not the Law of God lay the same rigorous restraint on the lusts of those who are under it as a Covenant which the Providence of God lays on the lusts of Diabolick spirits And oh what a miserable case are such in who lye under this tyrannick compulsion of the Law as a Covenant If their lusts rage within but dare not vent themselves because the Law holds a rod over Conscience how do they burn like fire in an Oven and now and then flame forth in rebellious thoughts against God and his Law wishing there were no Law Or else if lusts break forth into Act how soon doth the Law bind over Conscience unto wrath and condemnation and oh what stings and torments follow hereon And is it not also a miserable case for the sinner to be compelled and forced by the Law to do those good offices which he really hates Would it not be a great torment to a Saint to be constrained to bow down and worship the Devil and is it not as great misery to a person under the first Covenant to be compelled by the Law to worship God whom he hates as much as an holy man hates the Devil And is not this the genuine cause of all that hypocrisie which is lodged and deeply radicated in those under the first Covenant that all their omissions of sin and performances of Duties proceed meerly from the violent tyrannick compulsion of the Law as a Covenant And as the Law doth by its rigorous exaction more or less prevail on Conscience so their hypocrisie is more or less radicated and refined Oh! how partial and inconstant are such in their abstaining from sin and performing Duties How disagreeable are those good works they do to their Natures and Principles and thence how little pleasure and delight do they find in the doing of them Yea the rigour and tyranny of the Law over such most eminently appears in this that in constraining and forcing men to duties it is so far from giving strength that the more they perform duties the less strength they have to perform them the more they hear meditate or pray the less strength they have to perform those duties as they ought So also for the Laws restraining such from sin the more they are restrained the stronger their lusts grow and break forth with greater violence in the issue Whereas one under the second Covenant the more the Law restrains his lusts the weaker they grow and the more it constrains them to duty the stronger they grow in the performance of them because together with the restraints and constraints of the Law there is conveyed a force and strength by the
Promise to abstain from the sin forbidden and to perform the duty required So much for the compulsion of the Law 2. The Law works death by irritating sin 2. To such as are under the first Covenant the Law works Death and Condemnation by its Irritation of sin The Law was in its first Institution and still is to those that are under the second Covenant a sanctified Instrument for the restraining and keeping under of sin but to those that are under the first Covenant it proves accidentally by reason of the violence of Lust and Gods Curse an occasion of irritating and enraging sin It 's true the Law as a Crystal glass discovers the soveraign holy pleasure of God forbidding sin but doth not the lustful bent of mens hearts affect sin even because forbidden And the Law discovering unto such the pravity and vitiosity of sin how do their hearts boil up with hatred against the Law because it strikes at sin wherein they place their chiefest good Again when the Law comes to put a bridle and curb on their Lusts are they not hereby like an untamed Colt the more enraged and furious And is not this the genuine reason why such as live under the clearest and brightest promulgations of the Law oft have their lusts boiled up to the highest pitch Yea is it not hence that the unpardonable sin takes its first rise namely from the lusts of such who living under bright notices and discoveries of both Law and Gospel and receiving some tastes of good things to come at last continuing still under the first Covenant have their lusts more irritated by the Law Moreover the Law condemning such as are under the first Covenant for sin and thereby injecting sparks of Hell-fire into their Consciences the fire-brands of dreadful terrors and despair how are their lusts enflamed hereby what revenge against God what excess of riot are they hurried into hereby Doth not also the righteous God by an invisible secret Curse suffer such as desire to be under the Law as a Covenant to have their lusts irritated and exasperated thereby Lastly doth not the wise and holy God permit Satan so far to abuse the Law as thereby to draw men into sin And oh what a pleasure is it to Satan to make use of that which is most deâ—â—â—â—o God thereby to draw men into sin And doth not this discover to us the miserable 〈◊〉 of such as are under the first Covenant that the Law of God which is so excellent in its own nature and of such excellent use unto the Saints should be so much abused for the irritation of Lust It 's true the Law may sometimes irritate sin even in such as are under the New Covenant yet it is not from any dominion it has over such neither doth this irritation so far prevail as to bring forth fruit unto death as it doth in those under the first Covenant who are under the complete dominion of the Law unto whom it hath no other use but to exasperate and improve their lusts And as the Law so also the Gospel and all the means of Grace To such as are under the first Covenant the Gospel and all other Blessings prove Curses yea all the Providences of God and comforts of this life prove snares and curses to such as are under the first Covenant 1 What greater Jewel is there to be found or desired among the Sons of men than the Gospel of Grace Is not the heart and bosom of God hereby laid open unto sinners O! what sweet attractives and cords of love are there in the Gospel to draw the soul out of its miserable and sinful state unto eternal Beatitude And yet lo how is this rich odor of life turned into a pestiferous odor of death to such as are under the first Covenant Is not that which is in it self the greatest blessing made by such the greatest curse The same food that nourisheth Believers unto eternal life of what use is it to those under the first Covenant but to nourish their incurable disease of self-sufficience Are not these mens lusts offended at the spirituality and simplicity of the Gospel What false Glosses and Comments do they put thereon How is the Grace of the Gospel by such turned into wantonness what controversies to their lusts make about it 2 So also for all Means of Grace Providences and temporal blessings which draw the hearts of Believers nearer to God are not the hearts of those under the first Covenant driven from God thereby Do not all their Duties though never so Evangelic center in Self Is not this the great Idol unto which their hearts are chained do not all the lines of their Devotion and Religion terminate in this center Oh! what an ample field of Contemplation is this to expatiate in were not our Meditations confined to the limits of a Summary The Second Part of the following Discourse regards The Covenant of Grace The Covenant of Grace explicated in in the Explication whereof our Author is more copious distinct and potent even to Admiration The Heads discoursed of by him and the method he makes use of in discoursing of them may with facility be apprehended by the Table of Contents that which I design in this Summary is some short Reflexions on such Heads as are not directly or professedly discussed by our Author And 1. 1. Its differences from the first Covenant We shall begin with the Differences between the first and second Covenant 1 In the first Covenant God dealt with man in a way of soveraign Empire and Dominion mixed with infinite Wisdom Justice Benignity and somewhat of Grace though without the least dram of Mercy there was indeed something of Grace in appointing the Reward but nothing of Grace in the infallible conduct thereto But now in the second Covenant the principal motive and Fountain that gave origine thereto was free Grace and Bowels of warm tender Mercies what was the foundation of this Covenant but the absolute and soveraignly gracious pleasure of God Were there any Objective Ideas of good any reasons grounds or motives foreseen by God which moved him to give grace to Jacob rather than to Esau Did not Esau and Jacob stand on equal ground as to Divine Election Was not Esau Jacobs brother saith the Lord Yet I loved Jacob and hated Esau Mal. 1.2 3. It 's true the free Grace of God hath deep Reasons in it self but yet no reasons or motives without it self to move or rule it in its egresses towards the creature Yea doth not the Grace of God find as much and as good reasons in Esau as in Jacob in Cain and Judas as in Peter and Paul in the worst as in the best of Men by Nature Yea what more agreeable to the Methods and Designs of Grace than this to shew mercy to the vilest of sinners How oft doth the free grace of God take hold of such as are most graceless and whence
have made which are not many regard principally the Explication of some few Texts and Interpretation of Latin Sentences for the use of vulgar Capacities As for Diminutions I have religiously avoided more than seemed necessary to make the sence and Contexture clear And whereas I gave the Subscribers a promise to review the Copy and take care that it be well done what endeavours I have exerted yea how many hours I have borrowed from my natural Refreshments to make good this my word is not meet for me to mention only the Reader may judge somewhat hereof if he consider how many Imperfections must unavoidably attend such Posthumous Transcripts and that out of Manuscripts written in Characters and I am apt to perswade my self the Subscribers when they have considered the whole will not think themselves deceived in this particular specially if they compare this with other pieces of our Author formerly published out of his own Notes And I have herein endeavoured to fulfill that great Effate of our Lord To do as I would be done unto in the like case I judge some guilty of much unkindness to their deceased Friends as well as injustice to the World in thrusting forth Posthumous Works without due emendation and correction Whatever service has been performed herein is no more than what is required by and due to the Lord of the Harvest from an unprofitable Servant Theophilus Gale TABLE of CONTENTS A Discourse of the two Covenants BOOK I. Of the Covenant of Works CHAP. I. The Curse of the first Covenant Gen. 2.17 THE Covenant of friendship made with Adam Pag. 1 Why God adds the threatning to Adam with the use of threats and promises Pag. 3 The temporal curse that follows Adams fall Pag. 4 1. All the creatures cursed thereby Pag. 5 2. The curses upon mans body Pag. 6 3. The curse upon mans name Pag. 7 4. The curse on relations 1 On Magistrates Pag. 8 On the people towards Magistrates Pag. 9 2 On Ministers and people Pag. 10 3 On husband and wife Pag. 11 4 On parents and children Pag. 12 The spiritual curse as privative of God Pag. 13 1. Mans forsaking his chief good Pag. 14 2. His loss of an interest in God Pag. 15 3. His loss of Gods image Pag. 16 4. His loss of communion with God ibid. 5. His hatred of God Pag. 17 The spiritual curse as to the soul it self ibid. 1. The souls desertion ibid. 2. The guilt of the soul Pag. 18 3. The dominion of sin Pag. 19 4. The power of Satan Pag. 20 5. The curse on ordinances ibid. 6. Spiritual judgments ibid. Eternal death Pag. 21 CHAP. II. Gal. 4.21 Mens desire to be under the Law To be under the Law most desirable to corrupt nature Pag. 22 1. All men desire to establish their own righteousness Pag. 25 2. All men would be doing something for heaven ib. So far as any man submits not to the righteousness of the second covenant so far he manifests his desire to be still under the first covenant Pag. 26 1. Mens sins will not submit ibid. 2. Their gifts and abilities will not submit ibid. 3. Their own righteousness before or after conversion will not submit Pag. 27 4. Awakened consciences think the second covenant too good news to be true ibid. Two things in a man under the covenant of works 1. An answerable spirit ibid. 2. Suitable fruits 1 Placing Religion in outward performances Pag. 28 2 Doing all their services without a Mediator ib. 3 Doing all with a legal spirit ibid. The causes why men desire to be under the Law ibid. 1. A principle of ignorance ibid. 1 Of the Law Pag. 28 29 30 2 Of the Righteousness of Christ Pag. 30 31 2. A principle of enmity against God 1 His wisdom 2 his justice 3 his power 4 his love 5 his soveraignty Pag. 31 32 3. A principle of pride exemplified in seven particulars Pag. 32 The Application 1. God wrongs not the unregenerate in leaving them under the first covenant Pag. 33 34 2. A state of sin is miserable Pag. 34 3. An exhortation to three duties 1. Humiliation for this sin Pag. 35 2. Watchfulness over the heart ibid. 3. No satisfaction without the contrary grace Pag. 36 CHAP. III. Rom. 7.8 How sin takes occasion and is irritated by the Law Pag. 37 Doct. Every man out of Christ is under a Covenant of Works and under the irritating power of the Law Pag. 39 Sin hath a threefold power from the Law ibid. 1. Of condemnation ibid. 2. Of conviction ibid. 3. Of irritation ibid. 1. In the unregenerate there is the seed of all sin ib. 2. Lusts are acted and drawn forth by degrees ib. 3. There is nothing to the unregenerate that is not a means to draw out and improve their lusts 1 All creatures 2 All opportunities 3 All estates Pag. 40 How sin takes occasion by the commandment ibid. 1. The Law as a glass discovers sins ibid. 1 It acts many sins because they are forbidden ib. 2 It is against light ibid. 3 In that man hates the light ibid. 2. The Law restrains sin whence it breaks out more violently ibid. 1 It spreads the more ibid. 2 It is the more enraged Pag. 41 3 It improves it thereby ibid. 3. There is a condemning power of the Law And from this sin takes occasion 1 By reason of terrors 2 By driving to despair 3 Whence follows a giving up to excess of riot 4 And it rises to blasphemy and rage against God ibid. Whence it is that the law exasperates and increases sin ibid. The law is not the formal cause ibid. But the accidental cause Pag. 42 The proper causes of it are 1. Lust 1 which is carried towards its object with earnestness violence and vehemency 2 which is proud and swells the heart 3 which is resolute 4 a principle and root of enmity against God Pag. 42 43 2. The curse of God that is come upon all under the Fall which is twofold 1 emptiness and deceiving 2 Corrupting and defiling Pag. 43 44 45 Quest Whether are true Believers wholly freed from the law in respect of its irritation Pag. 45 46 47 48 Quest If Believers be under this irritation where lies the difference between them and wicked men Pag. 48 The Doctrine improved Pag. 48 49 CHAP. IV. Gal. 5.18 Wherein the coactive power of the Law consists Pag. 90 Doct. Every man out of Christ is under the coaction and rigor of the Law which 1. Requires perfect obedience Pag. 51 2. Gives no strength to perform it Pag. 52 3. Lays it upon him as a burden which he loves not ib. 4. Nor takes delight in ibid. 5. Which forbids sin but heals it not Pag. 53 6. Carries a man to God as a Judge ibid. 7. Forces a man to see sin whether he will or no. Pag. 53 54 8. It forces to a self-judgment and condemnation for sin Pag. 54 Whence the Law hath this coactive power Pag. 55 1.
From the Soveraignty of God in the Law ibid. 2. From natural conscience ibid. 3. From the Spirit of God in conscience ibid. 4. From a principle of self-love in men desiring good and fearing evil ibid. 5. From the unrenewedness of the heart which is fully set to do evil Pag. 56 Quest Is a godly man wholly freed from this coaction Pag. 56 57 The Doctrine applied Pag. 57 58 59 60 61 CHAP. V. Col. 1.13 A scriptural account of this translation Pag. 61 Doct. All in Christ are translated out of their former Covenant Pag. 62 1. Such a translation proved from Scripture Pag. 62 63 2. The necessity of such a translation 1. From the nature of the Covenant as it is broken 1 It promiseth no life but upon perfect obedience 2 It is without a Mediator 3 There is in it no promise of pardon 4 No promise of any grace 5 Every sin breaks it 6 It cannot quiet the conscience Pag. 63 64 2. Without this translation no man can receive benefit by the second Covenant Pag. 64 3. God still deals with man in a way of covenant and stipulation 1 Because the first Covenant stands in force upon all out of Christ unto eternity 2 Because all under this covenant must perish 3 All mercies and deliverances that God hath given his people have been by covenant ever since the fall Pag. 65 66 4. No man for the state of his person can stand under both Covenants because one makes void the other 1 The righteousness of the first is in our selves but that of the second in another 2 In the first works are first accepted and then the person in the second the person first and works for the persons sake 3 The first is without a Priest but the second hath one 4 In the first there is matter of glorying in a mans self but in the second all is of grace Pag. 66 Quest May not a man so far as he is flesh be under the covenant of works and so far as regenerate under the covenant of grace Pag. 67 Answ 1 A double image may stand together but two covenants necessarily destroy each other ibid. 2 The change of a mans covenant is a legal act and so is perfect and may be at once but the change of a mans image is perfected by degrees Pag. 68 The Doctrine applied Pag. 68 69 70 71 72 How a man may know whether his covenant be changed Pag. 68 The sinfulness of an unregenerate state Pag. 68 69 The misery of not being translated into the second covenant Pag. 69 70 71 The happiness of those in Christ Pag. 71 72 CHAP. VI. A Mans Translation out of the first Covenant is by Union Gal. 3.29 How our translation is by union with the nature of this union Pag. 73 1. God deals with all men in a way of stipulation ibid. 2. The two Covenants were neither of them made with all men immediately but with a representative head ib. 3. A mans union with either of these heads brings him under either covenant Pag. 74 Doct. A mans Translation out of the first Covenant consists in his Union with the second Adam ibid. The nature of this union explained 1 It is a natural union Henc◠2 Real not meerly voluntary but an union with his person Pag. 75 Quest Whether a man be in Christ before he believe Pag. 76 The reasons why God hath appointed our translation to be in a way of union 1 Because God will have Christ to be the second Adam 2 Because our happiness lies in it 3 Because God cannot enter into covenant immediately with sinners without forfeiting the truth of his threatning Pag. 76 77 78 A mans condition is much changed by this translation 1 God looks upon him no more as the son of Adam 2 He is no more under the rigor of the Law 3 Nor under the curse of the Law 4 He is become heir of the promise 5 God is reconciled 6 His sufferings and services are accepted 7 All things work together for good 8 Sin hath no condemning power 9 He hath communion with God 10 And is of the same body with the Saints Pag. 78 79 The way of obtaining this union is 1 By a work of conviction 2 Of humiliation 3 By a glorious work of revelation Pag. 79 80 Hence the soul resolves to take 〈◊〉 other way of salvation Pag. 81. There is an instinct put into the soul after union with Christ ibid. The soul accepts Christ upon his own terms ibid. CHAP. VII How the Law as a Covenant comes to be abolished Gal. 2.14 Blotting out the Hand-writing c. The words explained Pag. 83 The manner how the Law as a covenant comes to be abolished 1 Christ himself was made under the Law as a covenant of works 2 He hath fully satisfied all this covenant required of us 3 He hath brought in a covenant of grace and reconciliation Pag. 84 85 Hereby the infinite goodness and wisdom of God is discovered Pag. 85 86 CHAP. VIII Gal. 3.17 To all in Christ the first covenant made subservient to the second Pag. 86 The Law taken in Scripture two ways 1 Largely for all the doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai with the promises and precepts thereof And so it is a covenant of grace 2 Strictly as setting down an exact rule of righteousness and promising life upon perfect obedience And so it is a covenant of works Pag. 88 Mount Sinai's covenant the same for substance with that made with Adam but in many circumstances different Pag. 88 89 A threefold use of the Law as subservient to the Gospel 1 It is a glass to discover sin original actual Pag. 90 91 92. 2 It 's a Judge to condemn it and therein it advances the ends of the Gospel Pag. 93 94 95 96 3 As a bridle to restrain sin Pag. 96 97 98 How the Spirit makes use of the Law for the restraining of sin Pag. 98 99 How herein it is an hand-maid to the Gospel Pag. 99 100 101 102 How the Law is subservient to the Gospel as it is a Rule 1 Within as an Instrument of Conversion in the hand of the Spirit 102 103 104 105. 2 Without to guide and direct men in their way of duty Pag. 105 106 Objections against this Answered Pag. 106 107 108 The great End of God in publishing the Law was for the Saints and their good only Pag. 108 109 Those that cry down the preaching of the Law guilty of folly Pag. 109 Ministers must preach the Law as revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator ib. That God hath made the Law a servant to the Gospel is the greatest ground of Comfort and the greatest gift of God next unto Christ and the second Covenant Pag. 110 111. BOOK II. Of the Covenant of Grace CHAP. I. The Author and Fountain of this Covenant Gen. 17.2 THis Covenant was made with four eminent publick persons in Scripture 1 Adam darkly 2 Noah 3 Abraham 4
of this life the Princes robes and the beggars rags lie down together but the difference in their spirits is eternal and therefore the blessing or the curse upon the soul is much more than that on the body or the estate many of these being but for the time of this life 3 Sin is chiefly an act of the soul The sin of the soul membra sunt arma the members are but weapons it 's the soul that 's the hand and the chief cause of enmity lies therein and therefore the chief vengeance lights upon that God will punish sin not only here but eternally Therefore as the greatest blessing is upon the soul so the greatest curse also And as the School-men say of Glory so we may say of Wrath it is Radicaliter in corde redundanter in corpore radically in the heart but redundantly in the body the main object of wrath and curse is the soul 2 Pet. Mat. 16. 4 The great evil that sin does a man it fights against his soul and the great loss that it occasions is the loss of the soul men do often complain of losses but they may be all made up in this life as Job's were or if not yet the afflictions of this present life are not worthy of the glory that shall be reveal'd they work for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory and Quaedam amittere ut majora lucreris non amissio est sed mercatura to lose some things that thou maist gain better is not loss but a thriving trade But the loss of the soul is the great loss that can never be made up and therefore the curse of the soul is the great curse 5 The curse of the soul being taken off all other curses are taken off also as the curse remaining on the soul all blessings are turn'd into curses they may be blessings in the thing but they are curses to the man So on the other side all cursings are turn'd into blessings they may be curses in the thing but they shall prove blessings to the man To the unclean all things are unclean for their minds and consciences are defiled Tit. 1. When once Grace comes into the soul malediction goes out all things shall work for your good and the curse is taken off from all the Creatures for your use Life is yours and death is yours so that as the precept of the Law is made a servant to the promise of the Gospel for it was added by way of subordination and subserviency thereunto so the curse of the Law is made a servant to the Grace of the Gospel also and a Saint has a sanctified use of that as a blessing which is in it self a curse 6 The chief satisfaction that was given for sin has reference to the soul In the sacrifice there was offred the life and the blood but it was the blood that made an atonement for the soul and without shedding of blood there is no remission And when Christ came to stand in our stead as a surety the main of the sufferings he endured were in his soul Isa 53.10 God made his soul an offering for sin Christ did as our surety and therefore he put his name to our bond and was made under the Law Now being our surety he was to pay our debt and that was mainly in the soul The Sacrifice that was to be accepted of God was to be a whole burnt-offering now if Christ had but suffered in his body it had been but a half burnt-offering He offered himself Heb. 9.10 therefore it must be his whole manhood and before his bodily suffering came while he was in the Garden he says My soul is heavy unto death Mar. 14.33 amazed or astonished the word is rendred a failing of spirit his spirit died even within him his thoughts were wholly abstracted from all things else and the wrath of God that lay upon him did wholly fill up his soul c. Now in all these respects the curse upon the soul which is spiritual death is the greatest part of the Curse far greater than that upon the body upon Creatures or Relations § 2. And now let us come to consider wherein this Curse upon the Soul lies 1. It lies in this That a man has forsaken God as his chief Good and as his utmost End Man in his Creation was carried towards God as that chiefest Good wherein his happiness consisisted and acted towards God as him to whom all his actions were refer'd and wherein his blessedness lay and therefore Augustin speaking from a spirit renew'd and having the same principle begun in him says Omnis copia quae non est Deus inanis egestas est All plenty that is not God is poverty And Bernard says Animam Dei capacem quicquid est Deo minus non implebit nothing less than God will fill the soul capable of God Man having all in God must needs do all for him and refer all to him for he that is the chief Good must needs be also the utmost End Now the death of the soul lies mainly in this first it 's taken off from God as the chief Good for that 's the first thing sin does Jam. 1.14 it draws a man away from God who was the Center where the soul rested Psal 116.7 Return to thy rest O my soul They have forsaken their resting place they have wandred upon every mountain And therefore Jude v. 18. all the lustings and inclinations of the soul they are call'd ungodly lusts because they have nothing else in them that being the main bent in them all to take off the soul from God and carry it away from him Jer. 2.13 It 's forsaking the fountain of living water And Heb. 3.12 It 's departing from the living God And hence it is that repenting is call'd returning because we have departed from him and conversion is nothing else but returning to God as a mans chief Good And man being thus departed from him God is not in all their thoughts for they look for no good from him their good lies not in him and therefore they live without God in the world they know him not they love him not they expect nothing from him it 's to them as if there were no God to judge nor reward and hence it is that men can live without the favour of God all their life-long and never be troubled because they have not made it their happiness But take a man that has set up this as his happiness a frown is to him as the messenger of death and not to see the Kings face puts him into the shadow of death for he can breath in no other air as Absalom said He could not live unless he saw the Kings face And so David God had hid his face which made him like to them that go down into the pit Man in his Creation as he was wholly of God so he was wholly for him and so it is when the Image
extinguish that spark that the grace of God has kindled in his soul but that an Almighty power upholds it so that men could be content to live in this world and never know God Job 21.15 § 3. The curses upon the Soul in reference to God we have seen now there are others in reference unto the soul it self and some of these we shall also name As first God doth forsake the soul for the Creature departing from God he does also depart from it There are three words used to this purpose one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 23.33 I will even forsake you it signifies to cast off the care of them c. And another word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is properly to forsake or depart from a person or withdraw his presence 2 Chron. 15.2 If you forsake him he will also forsake you but the word in 2 Chron. 28.29 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to cast a man off and to forsake him as an abomination Now of the Desertions of God there are several kinds answerable to the several blessings wherein a man is deserted 1 There is a desertion in the matter of actions and then a man can do nothing for even a godly man is not sufficient of himself to think a good thought God works the will and the deed of his good pleasure 2 There is a desertion in matter of Grace and then all corruptions prevail and overflow 3 There is a desertion in direction and then a mans vvay is hid and he cannot tell which way to take but he gropes for the way as a blind-man 4 There is desertion in matter of strength and then a man can bear no affliction nor resist any temptation but his heart is weak as water 5 There 's a desertion in part of joy and comfort and then his heart is full of heaviness he walkes in darkness and has no light when God does but hide his face his soul is troubled even to death 6 There is a desertion in respect of any outward calamity When God leaves a man in the hand of an enemy as he did Job in the hand of Satan and withdrew himself took away the hedge that was about him and when a man is left in the hands of wicked men whose tender mercies are cruelty Job says Chap. 29.4 The secret of God was upon my tabernacle there is a secret of counsel Psal 25.14 and so some expound it here for direction God making known his Counsels to him but there is also a secret of Providence Gods presence being with him as if he were peculiarly the God of his family and had a special eye to the preservation of his Tabernacles beyond all others As amongst the Heathens they had their Houshold-Gods so did the Lord seem to be unto Job and the secret of his Providence was there as the Lord has still a secret of his peculiar Providence over his own which is call'd the secret of the Lord. Now if the Lord desert a man even his own people any of these ways in what a miserable condition do they by and by apprehend themselves to be There is a presence of God required to the subsistance and being of the Creature and therefore one has well compar'd it to a glass without a foot c. There is a Divine hand that holds it and if the Lord do hold it it will abide safe but if God withdraw his hand it falls he need not taâ—e it and dash it against the wall it will break of it self so if God do but withdraw his hand the Creature does perish if he do but forsake it in its natural being it comes to nothing so also if the Lord forsakes the soul in its spiritual being all misery must needs break in upon it When the Lord says I will be with thee I will never leave thee nor forsake thee O! how comfortable is it to hear such a promise let a man but sit down and imagine with himself what good he can desire and as it is all in God eminently so is the supply of it to a soul eminently in the presence of God all happiness is comprehended in this I will be with thee so do but imagin to the utmost whatever evil you can fear and it 's all comprehended in this one word I 'le forsake you and then all misery must needs follow it Deut. 31.17 God says I will forsake thee and hide my face from thee and they shall be devoured and many evils and troubles shall befall them and they shall say these evils are come upon us because God is not amongst us If the Lord forsake his beloved Son the Lord Christ in point of his presence and joy he looks upon it as the greatest of his sufferings My God my God why hast thou forsaken me though it was but substractio visionis non unionis a substraction of vision not of union And this is the dreadful sentence at the last day past in the most terrible words Depart from me ye cursed and therefore cursed because you must depart and 2 Thes 1.9 Punished with eternal destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power And if a soul be left by God O! whither will it go and though men be not now sensible of it because they enjoy the Creatures yet when all the Creatures and the comfort of them shall have an end and God shall be all in all and this God hath forsaken thee and thou hast no interest in him then thou wilt know what it is for God to leave the soul 2. There is guilt upon the Soul that follows as a part of the Curse and is a necessary consequent and concomitant of every sin Rom. 3.19 All the world is become guilty before God and Jam. 2.20 He that breaks one Commandment is guilty of all This guilt in its nature is the obligation of the Soul to bear the whole Curse and all the punishment that is legally due thereunto There are indeed two things in guilt 1 There is ordination unto wrath and that is ex parte Dei on Gods part which the School-men call reatus personae the guilt of the person the actual binding over of such a man to punishment because of sin and this is from God for the Law is good and may be separated from sin as in all the regenerate that are justified by the righteousness of Christ it is 2 There is a demerit in sin which is the desert of punishment and wrath and this is called reatus peccati the guilt of sin and this is inseparable from sin wheresoever it is even in Gods people there is a meriting of wrath in their sins as well as others But unto all men that are under the first Covenant both these by vertue of the curse of it do concur there is a demerit in the sin and there is an actual obligation to punishment upon the person There are two things in sin there
is the act and the guilt the act with the pleasure of it is fading the pleasures of sin that are but for a season but there is an abiding guilt upon the spirit that is after a sort infinite being an offence against an infinite God a violation of an infinite Holiness and a contempt of infinite Majesty and Authority and it is also eternal and will remain upon the Creature for ever and nothing in the world but the Blood of Christ can take it away from the soul Gen. 4.7 being sprinkled upon the Conscience and this is the meaning of that Proverbial speech Gen. 4.7 Sin lies at the door it 's a speech taken from a dog or a fierce beast that lies at the door to watch and it teaches us three things 1 That though the act be past yet the guilt remains binding over the soul to punishment the sin lies there 2 That there is a time when sin in the guilt and punishment of it may lie still and be quiet and a man may ruffle it in the house within and never be troubled at that which lies at the door 3 Sin lying at the door will surely be awakened and it will be easily awakened Luther in loc ad fores somno minime aptus est locus ibi quiescit peccatum ubi diu quiescere non potest c. Sin lies asleep there where it can lie long asleep the door will surely open and the sin that seems sleepy now will awake and therefore it is a fearful thing talem habere janitorem to have such a porter Jer. 2.22 Though thou wash thy self with niter and fullers soap yet thy iniquity is markt before me it 's spoken of all the false glosses and pretences that men have to excuse themselves and to extenuate their sins There is a guilt upon the man before God Jer. 17.1 The iniquity of Judah is writ with a pen of iron c. It is to be referred both ad reatum culpam and it notes the indelible characters of it upon the soul that as the people of God have the Law of God writ upon their hearts so have ungodly men the guilt of sin and the law of sin their sin will find them out There are two things that men are terrified with Numb 32.23 and they look upon as enemies the word of God and the guilt of their own sins and therefore men do endeavour to fly from the one and to hide themselves from the other now the word follows them and will surely overtake them at last Zach. 1.6 and the guilt of sin that seeks the man and albeit he has many a hiding place yet sin both in the guilt and in the punishment of it also will at last find him out 3 Hence follows an evil Conscience Heb. 10.22 There are two things that make the Conscience evil it 's pollution by reason of the filth of sin and its accusation and condemnation by reason of the guilt of sin and though this indeed be mainly reserved to the last day Rom. 2.15 16. when the book of Conscience shall be opened and that faculty enlarged because then it is to give up its Viatory office and an account of the whole man that God has betrusted it with yet it doth in many men begin here according as the Lord is pleased to act it and doth bring into the soul an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.27 a receiving of judgment before-hand binding a man over unto wrath that the Creature is continually in expectation of it Heb. 2.15 Mat. 8. â—9 Art thou come to torment us before the time therefore an evil Conscience they have that tells them that there is a torment in a greater measure provided for them and that there is a time appointed when the extremity of this torment shall begin though as yet they knew the time was not come Hence comes that fear which does torment the soul 1 Joh. 4.18 that wrath will seize upon a man wheresoever he is as it was with Cain Gen. 4.14 Every one that meets me will slay me he lookt upon himself as Luther saith Tanquam excommunicatus spiritualiter corporaliter regnum amiserat ecclesiam as one who was excommunicated both spiritually and corporally c. And therefore he that was put out of the protection of God could look for no safety amongst the Creatures hence a man walks in the horrour of the shadow of death Felix trembles and Herod fear'd it was John Baptist that he had slain that was risen again There is fear on every side if he walks by the way he looks vengeance should come upon him and he shall never again visit his habitation and if he abide in his house there is a curse entered into the stones and the timber of it when he lies down at night he says it may be this night God will take away my soul and he is scared with dreams and terrified with visions that he is not able to stand under the imaginations and thoughts of his own heart if he attend upon the Word there is a savour of death unto death he sees the grave open and this is to him a testimony of a further death 2 Cor. 2.16 And hence is that shame and confusion of face that is in men looking upon themselves they abhor their own image and are not able to endure their own stink seeing how their souls do breed worms as Herod's body did they see that they are the loathsomest Creatures alive and hence there is a loathing of themselves and it comes at last to a revenge as we see in Judas And the reflections and reproaches of a mans own spirit he cannot bear and he has these dreadful desperate thoughts I shall never find mercy my glass is run my hope is past surely there is no mercy for me if there were as many windows in Heaven as there be Stars as many doors as there be souls yet there would be no entrance for me And the soul sinks down under his own burden for ever and says My iniquity is heavier than I can bear And this is properly the death of the soul it is eternal desperation it 's hell it self I had time and means and offers and intreaties and works and motions of the Spirit of God but the Lord has now forsaken me and the night is come upon me there is as much hope of the Devils as of me And this is much strengthned by the threatning and the Curse of the Law giving a man his portion Hos 6.5 and so Ministers are said to judge men Ezech. 20. â— and to torment them Rev. 11.10 and to kill them which is all barely by the words suggesting to an evil Conscience and the Conscience assisting thereunto and there is answerable to the Curse of the first Covenant a work of the Spirit of God upon a mans soul which is called a spirit of bondage and a spirit of fear Rom. 8.15 2 Tim. 1.7
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies 1 ye that covet earnestly or vehemently desire so the word is used Mat. 12.38 16.24 Mar. 10.35 12.38 2 Ye that demand or make it your petition so Mat. 15.28 20.21 3 Ye that study contrive labour with all your might so Mat. 16 25. Mar. 8.10 43 44. Luk. 23.20 4 Ye that consent to this as best determine as Mat. 13.28 Joh. 9.54 Mat. 17.4 5 Ye that delight or take pleasure Mat. 9.13 12.7 Heb. 10.5 8. It follows to be under the Law The Apostle Paul speaks of being under the Law in divers senses 1 There is a being under the Law for justification and life Gal. 4.4 5. that is under the Law as a Covenant Christ was made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law 2 There is a being under the Law for condemnation Gal. 3.10 Rom. 6.14 As many as are under the works of the Law are under the curse 3 There is a being under the Law for irritation that is stirring up a mans corruption Sin taking occasion by the Commandment became exceeding sinful Gal. 5.8 4 There is a being under the Law by compulsion If you are led by the spirit you are not under the Law that is the Law as only inforcing and compelling as an unregenerate man is as a slave and having the spirit of a servant not of a son who does all he does from an inward principle and disposition suitable to the Law in whatever it does command But it will appear that being under the Law in all these senses are grounded on being under it as a Covenant as we shall see hereafter and that he that is freed from it as a Covenant is not under the Law in any of these respects but by vertue of the second Covenant is delivered from it Only here I think Pareus and others say that to be under the law and desire so to be is the same with Gal. 3.10 They that are of the works of the Law that is that seek righteousness and life by the works of the Law and this is properly to be under the Law as a Covenant of Works which was the natural sin of the Jews and with which error and heresie they endeavoured to overspread all the Gentile Churches going about to establish their own righteousness and therefore typified by Hagar which the Apostle makes Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children but Jerusalem above the Christian Church is Sarah that did receive the Doctrine of the Gospel without any mixture of their own righteousness but did trust perfectly in the Grace that was revealed to them by Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 10.3 So here to be under the Law is to seek to be justified by the works of the Moral or Ceremonial Law as being works of righteousness that we have done For though the whole Ceremonial Law were Gospel under a veil yet they not being able to look to the end of it as the Apostle says they did perform it as works of righteousness 2 Cor. 3. in which they did expect justification and life for their obedience to them and performance of them without looking into the things shadowed in those types Now the Apostle says not only that men were thus under the Law but so they did desire to be Therefore looking upon these as being a patern of all mankind and in whom the dispositions of all men may be read I do hence observe Doct. That to be under the Law as a Covenant of works is unto every natural man a very desirable condition He is not only born under the first Covenant but under that Covenant he does desire to continue In the handling of it I shall first prove it and give the grounds of it and answer some Objections that may arise in the hearts of men against it and then make the application of it There is in the fall of man a double misery come upon him 1 His being under Adams Covenant 2 His bearing Adams image And in this state all men by nature desire to live and die And that men do still desire to bear the image of the Earthly Adam is plain because they resist the image of God in Christ that blessed image that by the holy Spirit is offered to them in the Gospel And we find how much they do hug the image of old Adam in themselves Now though their desire to be under his Covenant be the foundation of all their misery yet men apprehend it not so much The offer of the second Covenant they hate and reject the Covenant of Christ as much as they despise his Image yet they perceive it not Therefore to prove it we must take the most convincing course we can First this was the evil that God saw Adam's nature to be prone to and therefore he not only cast him out of Paradise as a just reward of his apostacy but also in a particular manner forbad him the use of the tree of life Gen. 3.22 Gen. 3.22 God having made for our first Parents coats of skins now he saith Behold the man is become like one of us it is an Ironical exclamation wherein God derides the falshood of Satan and the folly of man This is the Godship that Satan promis'd en Divinitatem promissam Behold the promised Divinity And the knowledge of good and evil was nothing but a miserable and shameful nakedness which before man knew not And now here follows exilii decretum ratio decreti the decree is Gods will to cast man out of Paradice and the ground of it is lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of Life But why must not man after the fall taste of the tree of Life seeing before the fall it was not forbidden It is answered Non in esse sed in intentione futurum erat peccatum not in the action but in the intention it was to be reputed sin And Interpreters give this as a reason that thereby God might take away occasion of sinning from him and God doth not only aim at keeping us from sin by his Word but by his Rod also And they observe that there was by the fall a double corrupt disposition in Adam's heart which the eating of this tree would have drawn forth 1 Looking upon it as a Creature which he might conceive to have a vertue in it to preserve life he might put forth his hand which notes a voluntary act and so he might conceive though God hath threatned death yet here is a tree that can preserve life and of this I will eat and live And so he might have sin'd wilfully and out of contempt of the threatning of God by deifying a Creature and setting it in his place and giving it Gods power and so the life that was denied him by God he might think to make up in the Creature as men commonly do 2 Looking upon it Sacramentally as it was a Creature and
righteousness and life 2 Men are naturally ignorant of the spiritual meaning of the Law Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the law once Here the Apostle speaks of a double state in which he was 1 In times past in the state of unregeneracy without the Law not in the letter for he was bred up at the feet of Gamaliel and one that knew the Scripture from a child but without the Law in the spiritual sence of it in its glory power latitude spirituality and holiness which are the wonders of the Law that men by nature have not eyes to see which David prays for Psal 119.18 and which unto men by nature are accounted strange things 2 But there is another state and that is when the Lord was merciful to Paul in his Conversion The commandment came i. e. in a lively vigorous and spiritual manner having a spirit of life accompanying it whereas before it was but a dead letter and it brought in such a light as did discover the secret thoughts and intents of his heart and laid the whole inward man open even the inward parts of the soul And whereas before he was alive in performances able as he conceived to perform all the righteousness of the Law without blemish and therefore full of self-justification and conceits of his own righteousness and high expectations of Salvation Now sin revived that is in the guilt of it in his Conscience and he begins to see his own misery and sinfulness and lost condition which before he thought was very good Now he saw all his own righteousness which before he so highly esteemed and so much set by to be nothing but dross and dung And natural Conscience looks upon obedience to the Law as consisting only in the outward act and if that be performed Conscience is satisfied if men pray and hear they are not solicitous for the acceptance of their persons before their services can be accepted nor for the light manner of performance and the curing of their inward man towards God therein which doth plainly shew that though they understand the Law in the letter and stick to it therein yet they are not acquainted with the spirituality of the Law 3. Men are ignorant of their miserable condition under the Law Gal. 3.10 as many as are under the Law are under the curse Gal. 4.21 You that desire to be under the law do you not hear the law that is hear it you do but you understand it not Si Deo obtulisset putamen nucis in fide opus bonum etiamsi adeó parvum adeò vile ut culmum tollere si verò desit fiducia opus bonum non est etiamsi omnes mortuos suscitet homo sese comburendum permittat Luth. neither consider that being sons of the bond-woman you are bond-men for your Covenant being broken genders unto bondage and there is a spirit of bondage that will follow upon this state of bondage and as bond-men you shall not abide in the house for you have no part or share in the inheritance because the inheritance is not by the law but of promise Men under this Covenant stand before God in their own names they bear their own sins and must be justified by their own righteousness for this Covenant admits no Mediator there is none to represent their persons or bear their sins or pay their debt or endure their curse but all must needs be done in their own persons if they do any duty they expect it should be accepted of God for the goodness of it and it is rejected of God for the failings of it because whatever is born of the flesh is flesh and in their Covenant God requires perfect obedience and will accept none other and yet there is not the meanest service of the Saints under the second Covenant performed in faith but it is accepted if they offer but a cup of cold water Now men perform duties because they are commanded and they think that they have done good service and look that they shall be accepted and rewarded but never consider that if their persons be not accepted their services cannot be but that their best services are sins in Gods account and rejected and that all the promises of pardon and grace repentance and acceptance upon repentance all these belong not unto them for their Covenant admits no such thing Some may see the defilement of their nature and their misery because of the image which they bear but very few are apprehensive of their misery by reason of the Covenant of bondage under which they stand 4 Men know not how to distinguish between the doing of duties and the right manner and method of doing them for all men are ready to look upon them as duties required by God and if so he will accept them because he has required them And therefore when Luther did bid men not only take heed of their sins but of their duties for these might destroy them as well as the other and called them base and beggarly elements and dung and dross presently they said he spoke against good works Now here men distinguish not of the doing and of the method in doing for the duties of the Law must be performed by the graces of the Gospel and in the way of the Gospel and therefore we say that believing must go before any other of the great works of God e're a soul can be accepted Luther de bonis operibus primi precepti and therefore Luther gives this rule Whatsoever a mans conscience and faith toward God is such are his works which flow from the same principle but where there is nothing of faith the edge is wanting to good works and the whole life erroneous and all goodness as nothing I say that good works are accepted if faith which gives a man an interest in Christ and a change of a mans Covenant goes before We should bring naked Christ and a naked soul stript of all things else together we would have you take Christ for your husband and duties for the servants of Christ While faith is to deal with Christ in the business of Justification and acceptative works should be shut out and there sponsus cum sponsa faith and Christ alone but if faith walk abroad in the world works must stand at the door and follow as the handmaid and the necessary consequents of faith Now men hearing that duties are commanded by God they are apt to conceive that they must be done and being done shall be accepted though it be not according to the method of the Gospel and that when we speak against resting in them as duties of the first Covenant we speak against good works whereas we would have them performed but by a man whose person is accepted his Covenant changed and that by the principles of the Gospel the faith of Christ in his heart and also unto the ends of the Gospel 2. They are ignorant of the righteousness of Christ as
content to be under it and seek righteousness and life thereby if they do follow the Law for righteousness and submit not to the righteousness of God and this be interpretatively and in Gods account a desire to continue under the first Covenant still though it be not formally and directly so then this clears the justice of God in two things by way of Vse and Application 1. That the Lord doth unregenerate men no wrong if he leave them still under the first Covenant for he does but give them the desire of their own hearts All the Heathens therefore that sit still in darkness and in the shadow of death that never heard of another righteousness in which they might appear before God but their own to whom the righteousness of God under the Gospel even the righteousness of the new Covenant the righteousness of God by faith was never made known The giving of the knowledge of this righteousness and this new Covenant unto some and hiding it from others was grounded on no precedent differences and dispositions in the man either to whom it was revealed or to whom it was denied it was only the Mystery hid in God in his own Will and in his own Counsel And the same good-will that was the cause of the revealing it to the one was the cause also of the hiding it from the other Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 3.9 Mat. 11.25 and revealed them unto babes For the Lord leaves them under that Covenant under which they did desire to be and under that righteousness by which they did desire to establish themselves and to be justified and did not reveal unto them the second Covenant which they had an inward disposition to despise and the righteousness thereof unto which by nature they could not submit Therefore it is riches of compassion that he has revealed it unto any but it is exceeding just that he has hid it from any And for those that live under the Gospel and have the tenure of the second Covenant made known to them and the glory of the righteousness thereof discovered and yet accept it not submit not thereunto it will be enough to clear the justice of God at the last day that they are left under the first Covenant under which they did desire to be and therefore as it is justice with God to leave a man under Adam's image and under the power and dominion of their own lusts to give them unto the power of their own hearts lusts and suffer them to walk in their own counsels and to say Ephraim is joined to Idols let him alone and he that is filthy let him be filthy still so it is just with God also to leave men under Adam's Covenant and to seek righteousness and life thereby and so not attaining to the law of righteousness they perish under the curse thereof for ever 2. He shall do no man wrong if in the general Judgment he do proceed against men according to the rules of the Covenant of Works for he will surely deal with men according to the tenure of the Covenant under which they stand and every man is under that Covenant which he desires to be 1 If they have all their sins laid upon their own score and give account for every vain thought in the heart and every vain word in the mouth every sinful purpose of the heart for he will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing and not a drop of the blood of Christ shall go to wash away the least of their sins and transgressions therein they must bear their own sins and their own shame and it is just with God for their Covenant admits of no Mediator 2 When God shall reject thy best services for the failings that are in them and look upon thy righteousness as a filthy rag abhor thy prayers for the noisome savours that be in them and they be turned into sin because thy person is not accepted thy Covenant is not changed the Lord will tell thee thy Covenant requires perfect obedience and if thou dost well thou shalt be accepted if thou dost evil sin lies at thy door and all thy services are but as if a man did bless an Idol and offer swines flesh and as if a man did cut off a dogs neck for thou art not in a state of acceptation thou art not found in his beloved Son in whom alone he is well pleased 3 When thou shalt have none to intercede for thee Joh. 17.9 and to plead thy cause before the Lord he prays for no such I pray not for the world as soon as thou shalt peep out of the Earth in the day of the Resurrection and lift up thy trayterous head out of the grave thy Conscience shall condemn thee thy heart shall fail thee and he also that is greater than thy Conscience Then shall the King say I was hungry and you gave me no meat c. and then thou shalt look for Christ to plead thy cause but thy Covenant admits no Advocate thou must plead for thy self which because a man cannot do having nothing to say he shall be speechless for ever 4 Then thou wilt repent and say I have perverted righteousness and it has not profited me for there shall be sorrow enough perfect sorrow in Hell even weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth but God can accept no repentance thy Covenant as it gives no repentance Revel 2.21 so it promises no repentance no acceptance and the time of repentance is past there is but a time of it 5 Thou wilt expect Christ as a skreen to stand between thee and the fathers wrath Gal. 3.13 for under the second Covenant he was made a curse for us but thy Covenant admits no surety the soul that sins shall die there is no ransome paid for thee for being under this Covenant either the Law must be obeyed but that it is not for thou art a sinner or else it must be abrogated but that it is not for not an Iota of the Law shall pass or it must be mitigated but that it is not for it is inflexible the Law is holy and just and good and remains the same that is was to Adam in the state of Innocency the curse must be executed the penalty inflicted even indignation and wrath upon every soul that does evil c. 6 When you shall look to have your services rewarded as mens Religious duties are the great actions of their lives and therefore men have the greatest hopes grounded upon them Phil. 3.7 it was in Paul's account gain to him and he did expect a reward answerable now when the Lord shall reject them and say that the inheritance is not by the Law since the Law became weak through the flesh but the inheritance is by promise and all comes by the second Covenant this can be no wrong to any unregenerate man
then from the condemnation of the Law and the sentence of it there is no appeal or redemption CHAP. III. How and whence it is that sin is irritated by the Law Rom. 7.8 But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence SECT I. How sin takes occasion and is irritated by the Law § 1. WE have seen that to be under the first Covenant though broken is unto every man in a state of nature a desirable thing though formally indeed men desire it not for they will all disclaim it but interpretatively and by consequence they do desire it as Prov. 8. ult it was finis operis though not operantis it was the end of the work Ezek. 8.3 though not of the worker and so men going about to establish their own righteousness and not submitting unto the righteousness of God and being contented to be acted by a spirit of bondage which is the spirit of the first Covenant which doth produce in them fruits answerable to the Covenant under which they stand this is in Gods account and in the censure of the Scripture an argument of an inward desire and contentment to be under this Covenant still Now because men do look upon it as a desirable condition let us examine what this condition is of a man fallen to be under the first Covenant as broken Divines do commonly say that a man that is in Christ is freed from the Law he being dead to the Law and the Law being dead unto him in some respects as was mentioned at first 1 For Irritation the Law hath not this power in men to irritate and exasperate and enrage their lusts by the restraint and the prohibitions of them and so they apply that place Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law That is saith Beza He exhorts them to Sanctification Let not sin raign in your mortal bodies and he does promise them sin shall not raign under the Law only forbidding sinning and thereby provoking and increasing lust but you are under Grace strengthning against sin and healing it and hence it is concluded from several other Scriptures that a man in Christ and under Grace is freed from the Law and irritation of it 2 For Co-action to keep them from sin by force for fear simply of the curse of the Law and to compell them to duty as a task-master against their wills when the Law they hate and the duty that is required of them that they hate and wish there were no Law and look upon it as a yoak and a burden insupportable for as a godly man says of sin so a wicked man says of duty that which I hate that do I. And it requires of him perfect obedience as a task-master he must work brick but gives no straw requires the full tale of duty but gives no strength nor assistance The Apostle says Gal. 5.8 if you be led by the spirit you are not under the Law the spirit that is in you is the spirit of the second Covenant a spirit of Adoption a spirit of liberty a free and a Princely spirit which enables you to perform duties out of an inward principle of love to them and delight in them unto them the yoak is easie and the burden is light for it 's their happiness and honour and meat and drink to do the will of their Heavenly father And so that place I conceive is to be understood 1 Tim. 1.9 The Law was not made for a righteous man that is neither in the restraining act of it or keeping from sin only for fear of the curse because he has an inward principle that lusts against it and as a fountain casts out the mud an inward antipathy a spirit lusting and rising against it that though there were no curse yet he would hate it and endeavour to avoid it nor in the constraining power of it to force to duty only as that which his soul hates and he comes hardly off too in any measure to do that which is required but he has a spirit within the Law written in his heart an inward principle suitable to what the Law requires of him as it is said of Christ in respect of that great Commandment was laid on him Joh. 10.18 This Commandment have I received of my father for of that I think he speaks lo I come to do thy will thy law is in the middle of my bowels I have power to lay it down and to take it up again He had an inward principle that made him ready and willing and chearful in it and in this respect the Law was never made for them as the only principle upon which they should act 3 For condemnation so as to be able to lay upon a man the guilt of his own sin and condemn him for it for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law there is a destroying power in sin and this it has from the condemning power of the Law do but take away the condemning power of the Law and the sting of death that is that power that it has to destroy the soul is gone because the guilt is taken off the sinner Now Gal. 3.13 He has delivered us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us And so Gal. 5.23 Against such there is no Law It is not spoken against such works but against such persons there is no Law partly because the Law is against none but those that transgress it and partly because those being the fruits of the spirit do argue and clear to a man that his Covenant is changed because he is acted by the spirit of the second Covenant and therefore he may thereby receive an evidence to himself that the condemning power of the Law is not against him any more Rom. 4.6 4 For Justification For blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works That no man is justified by the Law is evident Gal. 2. ult If righteousness be by the law then Christ is dead in vain And from hence I argue that if they that are in Christ and under the second Covenant are freed from the Law in all these respects then all those that are out of Christ are under the Law still in all those respects and therefore every unregenerate man is under the Law as a Covenant of works and under this Covenant he desires to be now the Covenant being broken he is under it for Justification Irritation Coaction and Condemnation Daven de luâ—ut actuali p. 397. which when we have lookt over it will appear that this is no such happy condition that a man should desire it In being freed thus from the Law the main part of a Christians liberty consists yet there is this difference the two last refer unto a person and state and in those his liberty is perfect and he is wholly freed from the Law
produce any such effect but rather the contrary for it doth forbid sin upon the highest penalties it has upon it an impress of the Holiness of God and is contrary to sin in all things being holy and just and good and in its proper causality does work holiness in the hearts of men and a conformity unto the will of God as the rule of Goodness as it appears in the Saints all the grace that they have is nothing else but the Law written in their hearts which is the grand promise of the new Covenant 2 There is causa per accidens an accidental cause when the effect flows not from the nature of the cause but from something else that does by accident cleave to it so the Apostle says knowledge puffs up all true knowledge is humbling and there is nothing that a man can know either of God or himself but it does afford him great ground of abasement and self-denial but yet through the lusts of men sin takes occasion by the knowledge that should humble him to lift him up so fountains are hottest in the Winter and the fire by reason of the cold of the circumstant air not that the Winter does add heat to either by its own nature but by accident and occasionally inclose the one and draw forth the other so the Gospel meeting with the lusts of men who either reject the Gospel or else do turn the grace of God into wantonness thence it becomes the savour of death unto death not of it self nor in its own nature for it is the word of life and salvation so does the Law draw forth sin not of its own nature for it forbids it and curseth it but yet sin takes occasion by the Law and through many things that do adhere and cleave to the man by the Law it does become the more exceeding sinful Let us therefore come unto the proper causes how it comes to pass that sin by the Law which is good should take such an occasion of evil The causes are many 1. One cause of it is lust There are in lust many things from whence it flows but especially these 1 Lust is carried towards its object with earnestness violence and vehemency there is a lifting up of the soul to vanity and the hearts going after covetousness and therefore some render that of Laban when Jacob departed and he saw that the hope of his gain was gone Gen. 31.20 Deut. 29.19 Amos 2.7 Eph. 4.19 Jude 11. that he stole away the heart of Laban And as a godly mans desires are for God and Grace so a wicked mans desires are after sin and he thirsts and pants after it and it is therefore exprest by greediness as we may see it in Shechem Amnon and Ahab after Naboth's Vineyard All these set forth the violence of lust how fully the soul of man is carried after sinful objects and the ground is because sin looks upon sinful objects as the husband of the soul as the chief good and therefore is carried after them modo infinito in an infinite manner as a God therefore they are said to serve mammon and their God is their belly and they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God Rom. 7. and therefore desire them infinitely the sinner is never satisfied but like the barren womb crys give give his desire is as Hell and the Grave it never has enough Now whatever comes in the way as a bar unto that which his soul does so infinitely desire it is no wonder if his heart rise against it with an answerable violence If Naboth come in the way of Ahab's Covetousness his life is little enough to make satisfaction and if any man stand in the way of Haman's honour his life and the life of a whole Nation is but a fit sacrifice to expiate so great an offence Now the Law of God putting a stop upon such vast desires therefore the hearts of men do rise up against the Law in opposition answerable to the desire that sin hath unto the object from which it is stopt by the prohibition of the Law 2 Lusts are proud and do swell the heart and cause it to be lifted up Psal 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance doth not seek after God Obed. 3 The pride of thy heart has deceived thee And this fills the heart with a great deal of obstinacy and stoutness of spirit against God and contempt and scorn of whatever comes in his way to resist it as we see in Pharaoh even against the Lord himself Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice And answerable unto a mans pride and exaltation of spirit such is the rising of his heart against any thing that makes against him and the more full of lust any man is the more the pride of his heart is drawn forth for he is thereby made the more conformable to the Devil who saith I am a God and so do all mens lusts say and therefore the heart is lifted up as a God answerable to the pride of a man such is his impatience 3 Lust is resolute this proceeds from the two former it will go on whatever come of it Ephes 2.3 Hos 9. in despight of all opposition There are wills of the flesh as great resolutions as if there were many wills in one as a wild ass alone by it self i. e. that has neither rider to command it nor bridle to restrain it will venture any-where Jer. 8.7 They go on in their own ways as the horse rushes into the battel Christ warns Judas The son of man goeth indeed as it is written but wo to him by whom the son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man that he had never been born And yet Judas went forth and from that time he sought an opportunity to betray him If the Lord make hedges about a soul yet he will labour to tread down all with the greatest resolution and with the highest contempt as we may see it in Pharaoh after all his plagues yet his heart was hardened that is his will remained obstinate and he resolved not to yield unto God come what will come yea though death to himself and destruction upon his Kingdom did ensue And therefore they say What thou speakest to us in the name of the Lord we will not do Jer. 44.16 but we will do whatever proceeds out of our own mouths And if any thing come in the way to cross them in this resolution men resolve to oppose it see it in Saul 1 Sam. 22.17 Go and kill the Priests of Jehovah which some have made to be the sin against the Holy Ghost and Job 15.26 They do prepare themselves thick-bossed bucklers they resolve to make resistance they harden their hearts and stiffen their necks though the law of God set the sin and the evil before them yet men despise it and fear not the danger let it be of temporal judgment they say
Christ If he had not spoken to them they had had no sin but now they had no cloak for their sin To the unclean all things are unclean Tit. 1.15 And all those things that are means of cleansing to the Saints they are unto unregenerate men means of polluting Mercies Afflictions Ordinances that which is the refiners fire and the Lords furnace to the one it proves not so to the other but the bellows are burnt and the wicked are not taken away yet the people are not purged c. and so by their means of cleansing they become so much the more exceedingly unclean and above all things in the world herein does the curse lye that it defiles the soul and prepares it for eternal wrath The word that goes out of my mouth shall not return unto me void or in vain Though it may and commonly doth return in vain in respect of any profit unto them that hear it but it shall not return in vain in respect of the corruptions and pollutions it leaves upon the soul it may not profit them but it shall pollute them There are in the Law of God several Properties and sin takes occasion from them all 1. There is a spiritual depth in it that reason and all the natural abilities of a man cannot understand as we see 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man perceiveth not the things of God The word in the Greek signifies a man with all the abilities and possibilities of nature however raised and improved yet there is something in the Law of God that it cannot attain unto there is a literal rational part of the Law that men may know but there is a spiritual part of it that they cannot know and therefore Mat. 13.13 Seeing they see not there is something in the Law that they do see and something that they do not see they cannot see that that is above the search and the discovery of reason at the highest and best and therefore the wisest men in the world have been blind therein so that we may say where is the wise man the scribe and the disputer of this world 1 Cor. 1. Here is only place for Faith the Law cannot be known but by a spirit of revelation as David prays Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonders out of thy Law Now from hence sin takes occasion by the Commandment and it will not believe what it cannot comprehend The Athenian Philosophers laught at the Resurrection and the Corinthian Doctors counted the preaching of the Cross foolishness that ever any man should believe Salvation by a Crucified Saviour and the Jews derided it in Christ that he should be the Saviour of others who could not save himself c. And truly this has been the great reason of all the Heresies that have been in the world because there is a wisdom of the flesh Rom. 8. that is not subject unto the law of God neither can it be that will undertake to try the deep mysteries of the Word and to weigh them by her ballance and so because it cannot understand them it rejects them This was the ground of all Heresie from the beginning and Luther says Superbia mater omnium haereticorum pride is the mother of all heresies and so Augustin Page 20. and Polycarp in his Epistle ad Philip. when he would describe the Hereticks of those first times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to methodise the Oracles of God according to mens pleasure is the first-born of Satan And this has been the occasion taken by men to deny the Trinity of Persons and the Personal Union of Christ the Godhead of the Holy Ghost and of all the errors of the Socinians and the Arminians And this has made Popery and all those things take so with men because they are both agreeable to reason and to lust and Popery being a Doctrine so exactly fitted to corrupt reason it did so easily overspread the whole face of the world but sin takes occasion from a profoundness and depth of things revealed in the Law to deny them and deride them as foolishness 2. They are not only above reason and so rejected because they are above it but there is a plainness and simplicity in the Gospel and a great deal of seeming meanness and folly and there is much in reason to be said against it and here men are offended and they stumble at it For a man to forsake Father and Mother and to hate them yea and his own life also to lay down all when the Lord shall call for it rather than to offend him or dishonour him in the least for a man to go sell all that he has that he may have treasure in Heaven there is much that reason has to say against this a man looks at it as folly and such Doctrines he is offended at And this is the true reason of all the human ornaments and blandishments that men desire in the dispensation of the Word that there may be something to take the fancy while the Conscience does evade the blow 3. The Law is hard to be understood and therefore men put variety of interpretations upon it and are said to wrest the word they put false glosses upon it 2 Pet. 3.16 and in this the corruptions of men are drawn forth and take occasion to stand for them being put to it as the Pharisees were who did unlord the Law and take away the ruling power of it by putting a sence upon it that the Spirit of God never intended and so by subtil distinctions and evasions take away the spiritual part of the Law 4. The Law hath a difficulty and impossibility unto man faln and at this men are offended and say who can be saved and they reject it as impossible for the law is weak through the flesh 1 Cor. 10.25 Rom. 8.3 and by the works of it can no man be justified in the sight of God Men object God does require that of the Creature which it cannot perform and how can this stand with the justice of God The Law was not originally impossible for man had an ability perfectly to obey it but it is now become accidentally impossible it is through the flesh weak and so Legally impossible but Evangelically possible 5. From Satans working with the Law and God giving a man over unto his power and the efficacy of his deceit to a blind mind and a hard heart and a desperate resolution in a way of sinning There is a double design that the Devil has upon man 1 He would conform him to himself and stamp upon him his own image and therefore in all bodily lusts and acts of collateral enmity his aim is to draw men unto direct enmity thence he can be content to go out of men in many outward and gross lusts that he may draw them into spiritual wickedness the more and the more any man comes unto that the more perfectly he is a Devil Satans aim is
Joh. 14.30 The Prince of this world comes and has nothing in me Joh. 14.30 He came in his instrument Judas and the Pharisees and the high Priest and the Soldiers Satan stirred them up And he has nothing in me that is as some render it nothing of his own when he speaks a lye he speaks of his own Let your conversation be yea and nay for what is more is of the evil one And he hath nothing that is no power and authority over me by reason of sin all mankind is subject unto death and therefore are under the power of him that has the power of death that is the Devil Heb. 2.15 But where there is no sin Satan has no power and therefore they are called the rulers of the darkness of this world Ephes 6.12 He is a Prince of darkness and his power lyes in darkness indeed Interpreters by darkness do understand ungodly and unregenerate men who are called sometimes darkness it self in the abstract Ephes 5.8 You were sometimes darkness but now you are light in the Lord and so Satan is a ruler over the wicked of the world i. e. the darkness of the world but it is sin that is this darkness and gives them this denomination and therefore so much sin as there is in any man so much power the Devil has over him because so much a party of his own he has within him 3. This corruption is in the will of a regenerate man as well as in any other part so that even in the very remainders of sin in the Saints there is an inclination to sin wilfully against knowledgâ— even a tendency to the great transgression the sin against the Holy Ghost and therefore David prays against presumptuous sins in reference unto the great transgression So shall I be innocent Psal 19.13 There was looking on his own corruption a tendency to presumptuous sins and these in their own nature make way for the unpardonable sin I confess a godly man cannot sin unto death 1 Joh. 5.18 Whosoever is born of God keeps himself that the evil one does not touch him He can never touch him with this sin because he is born of God and the seed of God remains in him But though a regenerate man cannot commit this sin against the Holy Ghost nor the seeds and remainders of lust within him be ever so fat improved and blown up by Satan yet there is a tendency in them thereunto as Divines say in the matter of conversion God works the will that is ex nolentibus volentes facit of unwilling makes men willing Tollit Deus resistentiam vincentem Doth God at the same time take away all the unwillingness in a man is not there then a principle that gain says and denies they say there is and something that does resist yet so as it shall never overcome but the Spirit of God and the Almighty Power of God in conversion gets the victory and as it is in perseverance a regenerate man cannot fall away Grace is an immortal seed though not in its own nature so properly for it is a Creature and therefore subject to change and the grace that was in Adam and the Angels though perfect was subject to change much more imperfect grace cannot preserve it self and therefore they say Auferi actum deficiendi sed potentia ad actum non aufertur God takes away the act of failing albeit the power to the act is not taken away There is in the nature of Grace a possibility of decay that shall never be reduced into act but shall be preserved by the power of God and the Spirit of Christ and the unchangeableness of the Covenant of Grace so though a godly man by grace shall be preserved from the sin against the Holy Ghost that he shall never actually fall into it yet the remainders of corruption that are within him have a tendency thereunto and in themselves considered there is a possibility even for a godly man to sin the sin unto death if they were left unto the violence of their lusts and not supported by a supply of the Spirit of Christ 4. Regenerate men may be given up unto spiritual judgments They are left very far unto and under the power of Satan the Saints may be hardned from Gods fear Isa 63.17 Satan may harden them by temptation and God may give them up in judgment thereunto 1 Cor. 5.5 Deliver such a man unto Satan a godly man may be rightly excommunicated and if so that which is bound on earth God will bind in Heaven his sins may be bound upon his Conscience as unpardoned till he does repent and he be as it were under a sequestration for a time of all the benefits comforts and emoluments of the state of Grace and being without left under the power of Satan who would carry him to sin whereby God would afterward awaken his Conscience c. for there are two ways that Satan does ordinarily work upon godly men when they are given over unto him and left in a measure by God in his power either wasting a mans Conscience and bringing a man unto such a hardness of heart and a spirit of slumber that a man lives in a wretched security and neglect of his duty towards God or peace with God and gives himself over to the pleasures of sin and the comforts of the Creatures with a kind of greediness and that for many days and years together as we see it in Solomon who under a spiritual judgment did not with hold his heart from any Creature-comforts or delight whatsoever or else Satan works upon the weakness of a mans spirit and his apprehensions of wrath God writing bitter things against a man and Satan drawing conclusions out of them to draw the man to despair of mercy and to seek his own destruction and so a man may go despairing and disconsolate all his days so that God may give him up to spiritual judgments 5. There being this principle within him and thus left in judgment unto the power of Satan he does strangely raise and improve and draw out this corruption and blow these sparks into a flame As Job 3.1 Then Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth Before under all his afflictions his mouth was full of blessing The Lord gave and the Lord takes blessed be the name of the Lord and shall we receive good things at the hand of God and not evil There is a seed of corruption in those that are most holy which if Satan improve he will draw forth in them very foul acts of enmity to God and contrariety unto themselves as we see in Peter at first his mouth was full of nothing but promises and engagements of adhering to Christ and though all men forsake thee yet will not I but being left into the winnowings of Satan at Satans desire he is first possessed with fear and that grows to a denial of Christ
be a principle of flesh in you and this principle is sinful contrary to the Law and condemned by the Law yet it shall never prevail to condemn you though it will many times to defile you for you are not under the Law for condemnation they may be and will be matter of your trouble and affliction here but never the matter of your condemnation hereafter And so the meaning is that the godly that have received the spirit of Grace and submit themselves willingly to be acted and guided thereby though they have the remainders of sin in them that deserve death yet they shall never infer death because they are not for the condition of their persons under the Laws condemning power Rom. 8.1 Though there be in the Saints matter of condemnation yet there is in them no actual condemnation There is a second interpretation given of it and that is That though there be remainders of sin contrary lustings within you so that you cannot do the things you would do but all your performances 〈◊〉 blemished and defiled as a Collier and Fuller dwelling in the same house what the one whites the other pollutes Yet this shall not make your services hateful before God shall not hinder their acceptation for you are not under the rigor and conviction of the Law requiring perfect obedience or else it cannot be accepted as it is with all unregenerate men but you are not so under the Law neither shall this contrary principle be wholly able to hinder you in duties for you are not under the Law constraining you and forcibly compelling unto duty without giving you strength to perform it but you have a spirit within you as well as a rule without you the one directing and the other assisting and inabling Both these will make one compleat sense and are for consolation to the condition of those that are in Christ that though corruptions may remain in them yet they shall never prevail against them to their condemnation neither shall they hinder their acceptation with the Lord in the midst of all their failings We must consider that the dispensations of God to every man are according to the Covenant under which he stands and the administrations of both Covenants are ever since the fall in the hand of Christ as Mediator he dispenseth the Curse of the first Covenant as well as the Grace of the second and at the day of Judgment it is the Man Christ Jesus that shall say to the wicked Go you cursed as well as to the Saints Come you blessed c. Now for the administration of all things according to this great trust Jesus Christ as Mediator has received the spirit as a spirit of union and a spirit of unction and this spirit is the viceroy or prorex that works all the works and all the administrations of Christ in this great Kingdom only he dispenses this spirit to some as a Lord and to others as a head unto some only as a spirit of qualification for service unto others as a spirit of sanctification for their Salvation So that all that Christ does he does by the spirit and answerable unto the condition of the person so is the spirit that works in him all is wrought suitably unto the Covenant under which he stands if the man be under the first Covenant he is a bondman for his Covenant genders unto bondage and all the works of the spirit of God in that man are only the works of bondage and this spirit is a spirit of fear There is a double spirit by which wicked men are acted there is a spirit of the world that works effectually in the children of disobedience the strong man armed keeps the house and they are taken by him as beasts taken alive and led captive at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 and this spirit does act them wholly in most of the acts of their lives but God has reserved unto himself a Judicature in the man and that is Conscience but this commonly works not there is a fearedness a spirit of slumber and senslesness a being past feeling that sin has brought upon it but sometimes the spirit of God comes into the Court of Conscience and awakens it and then it speaks in Gods name unto the man and therefore it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience and it is always a co-witness Rom. 9.1 A renewed Conscience can never work of it self nor witness of it self neither does a natural Conscience but as it is acted by the spirit of God Now if the man be in the condition of a servant the spirit does witness unto him and speaks in his Conscience nothing but fear and bondage and therefore it is called answerable to the condition of the man a spirit of bondage But if the man be under the second Covenant and in the condition of a son then the spirit does speak peace favour and acceptance unto him and liberty and is a spirit of Sonship Not that in a godly man there is never any thing else spoken but from Rom. 8.15 where the Apostle says You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father I conclude The Spirit of God never speaks bondage to a godly man that he is in a state of bondage and death and binding a man over to wrath again though sometimes God leaving a man unto the spirit of Satan he may speak so in his heart and tell him he is unregenerate and then the darkness of a mans own spirit may be apt to gather such conclusions but the Spirit of God does never speak any thing unto a Saint concerning his eternal state but liberty after his translation out of the first Covenant Every regenerate man having received the Spirit of Christ and his Covenant being changed this spirit has undertaken to be dux viae his guide Joh. 16. to lead him on in his way till he comes to glory Now a man that is in Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ and is led by that Spirit Rom. 8.14 that man is not under the Law neither for condemnation nor for coaction therefore every man that is out of Christ and not led by this Spirit but has received a spirit of bondage he is under the Law both these ways § 2. Hence we observe Doct. Tom. 4. p. 87. That every man that is out of Christ is under the coaction and rigor of the Law Austin upon this place in the Galatians makes a fourfold state of man 1 Ante legem before the Law when a man did sin without the knowledg of sin and committed it without restraint or controul and so it is with many men that lay the reins upon their lusts necks 2 Sub lege under the law c. when a man does strive against sin his Conscience being convinced that it is sin but yet he is over-come though he does strive 3
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
is never pleasant but always burdensome and the man desires to be set at liberty for he can never look upon the law as the perfect law of liberty until his nature answers the law and it is written in his heart 1. If we look upon the restraint that the law does lay upon a man that is unregenerate his condition is most miserable because 1 he does abstain from sin but it is forced and therefore burdensome because still his lust is active and carries the man after it with inward burning and the man is tormented the more it is adding drunkenness to thirst Deut. 29.19 The satisfaction of lust is compared unto drunkenness and the lust is compared unto thirst and as the drunkenness does increase the thirst and the more a man drinks the more thirsty he shall be and therefore none calls for drink more than those that have had too much already so it is here the more a man does to satisfie his lust the more he does increase it We know what a painful thing thirst is unless it be satisfied He that believes shall never thirst but shall have a well of water springing up in him Joh. 7.38 39. There is a double restraint 1 upon mens acts Abimelech's lust was stirred up but the Lord with-held the act Gen. 20 and so it was with the Pharisees they had often as bloody desires long before and sought to take Christ and put him to death but they could not there was a restraint put in for want of opportunity or fear of the people c. 2 There is a restraint upon mens lusts for though the heart of man be full of lust yet there is a Providence of God in permitting them to come forth some at one time and some at another so that the seeds of those sins that were in men before do now shew forth themselves as we see in Judas and Herod and Gehazi and in many men who carry it fair a while till there be an opportunity to draw them forth they have Neronis quinquennium for five years Nero carried it fair and yet afterwards he proved desperately wicked Now this restraint upon mens acts though unto the Elect of God it is a mercy and any thing that may hinder them in a way of sinning Hos 2.6 7 I will hedge their way with thorns and I will make a wall against them God can keep men from sin whether they will or no and if lesser afflictions will not do it God will raise greater But yet for all this the lusts of natural men will go after their former lovers though they cannot overtake them And this is a great misery unto such men first look upon the Saints also and they have desires after good but they find opposition so that they cannot do the thing that they would but there is still a law in their members rebelling against the law of their mind and this makes them to look upon themselves as miserable men because they have desires unsatisfied and they do still groan after a satisfaction and this makes them weary of their lives and they are willing to die that they may enjoy their desire to the uttermost and yet even in a regenerate man these desires are but of half the man and therefore in an unregenerate man when he is carried to sin with his whole man such a ones desires are more vehement Hos 7.4 Their hearts are hot as an oven they go out after it with greediness and they look upon it as the greatest misery to be restrained from it and their hearts rise against any opposition so much the more as you know Amnon and Ahab they were sick because they were restrained from that which they would have The soul of a wicked man is like a wild Bull in a net furiously bent upon sin they will perish rather than be hindred in a way of sinning This the Devil looks on as his great misery that though God lay not restraint upon his lust yet he restrains his acts so that he cannot hurt mankind as he would do though he smite Job with sores and imbitter his life to him yet he shall not be able to take away his life and the lusts of the Devil are as violent and as impetuous as ever he desires to winnow Peter and there is bounds set him that he cannot do what he would and his great torment is his restraint and the chains of darkness with which he is held and he could not enter into Judas that was his own till by the Sop the Lord gave him leave and he could not enter into the herd of Swine without license this is looked upon as a great misery by that violent and proud spirit Look what restraint either the power of God or the providence of God lays upon the lusts of the Devil the same does the Law of God lay upon the lusts of unregenerate men and this they look upon as their misery that they cannot enjoy their full desires there is an inward boiling of spirit and their hearts are hot as an oven they desire but they cannot attain and so their desire is their torment and they can have no rest 2. Even in those pleasures of sin that a man does enjoy this restraint of the law will imbitter them to a man exceedingly that a man does not enjoy them with that sweetness and delight that otherwise he should do because the sentence of the law and the judgments of God follow him with threats so that still they do add water to his wine and mix it with greater discontent than he should otherwise have for a man comes to it with a guilty galled and self-condemning conscience and so he can take no pleasure or but half the pleasure that else he should take and therefore the endeavour of the man is to put out the eye of Conscience and to make it grow sensless and to cast off this yoke and restraint of the law daily more and more and the more a man casts it off the more pleasure he does take in sinning As a godly man that has tasted of the sweetness of Communion with God he cannot take that pleasure in sin that other men do because still at the remembrance of his former communion the sweetness of it does arise in his heart and therefore he says it was better with me than it is now so also an unregenerate man that has tasted the bitterness of sin in the Law and the terrours thereof and has had the restraint of it laid upon his Conscience he cannot taste the like pleasure that other men do in sinning only the one is from a principle of conviction only and the other of conversion This is the misery of an unregenerate man under the restraints of the Law of God either his lusts do rage within and he cannot act them and therefore he wishes that there were no law or else if he do commit them it is but with half the man
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
Saints that they are freed from the Coaction of the Law that they are not so under it as unregenerate men are For 1 they do no good by constraint The regenerate man is always ready to obey the will of God he is a man that acts from an inward principle and therein lives above the Law he that is born of God never sins but always obeys God 1 John every thing that the Law commands is pleasant to him and the Commandments of God are not grievous Cant. 3.10 as Christs Chariot in which he comes to us is paved with Love so is our way to Christ paved with Love and hence a man is never weary but the longer a man continues in the ways of God the more he is satisfied with them because where is a suitableness there is no weariness the Sun is not weary with shining nor the fire weary with burning nor are the Angels in Heaven ever weary of beholding God for ever because their happiness is perfected by it nor are the Saints in earth weary of doing the will of their Heavenly Father neither doing-work nor suffering-work to bear Christs Cross is not grievous to them to be reproached for his name's sake is counted all joy they despise the pleasures of sin for a season living in the sure hope of their enjoying rivers of pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore CHAP. V. All those that are in Christ are translated from under the first Covenant Col. 1.13 Who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son or the Son of his Love SECT I. A Scriptural account of this Translation § 1. NOW we come to speak of the last Branch considerable in this Covenant and that is a mans translation out of it Wherein there are four things to be considered 1 That all that are in Christ are translated out of the first Covenant and under it no more 2 The nature and manner of this Translation 3 The abolishing of the first Covenant by a mans translation out of it and the introduction of a second by which the former is made old 4 The subserviency and subordination of this first Covenant in many respects unto the Covenant of Grace as Hagar even then when under the notion of a Covenant it is abolished to Believers The first of these we shall deduce out of these words when we have opened them unto you In the latter part of this Chapter there are mainly two things we are to consider 1 The honour of our Redeemer 2 The manner of our Redemption The honour of our Redeemer is set forth from vers 15 and the manner of our Redemption vers 13 14 and that in many particulars Here we may observe 1 The condition wherein the people of God are before their Conversion 1 They are under the power of darkness 2 They are out of the Kingdom of Gods dear Son 2 Their condition after Conversion They are freed there is deliverence c. and there is translation unto the Kingdom of his Son 1. By nature every man is under the power of darkness even the Elect of God as well as others The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does properly signifie right and authority over any thing Man did by the first temptation sell himself to the Devil and as it were made a vertual covenant and compact with Satan and as it 's said of Ahab Quod venditur transit in potestatem emptoris He sold himself to work iniquity so it is with all by nature And therefore God in judgment gave man over unto the power of Sin and therein to the dominion of Satan and then Satans godship came in and he became the god of this World and the Prince of the power of the air By darkness is meant in Scripture ignorance sin and misery and of all this darkness Satan is the Prince and has the power he is the ruler of the darkness of this world Ephes 6.12 Condemnandi dominandi This power of darkness is double there is a condemning power and there is a ruling power that makes a man do the works of the Devil and that brings forth fruit unto death Now how comes Satan to have a condemning power the power of death it is by sin and how came sin to have a condemning power it is by the Law 1 Cor. 15.56 that is Heb. 12.14 the Law as a Covenant So that all the power Satan has it is by sin and the power that sin has it is from the Law as a Covenant being broken So that every Elect child of God is by nature under the Law as a Covenant for condemnation and irritation and by this means is under the power of sin and under the dominion of Satan Now a mans deliverance from this is by conquest and by power for it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deliver a man by force and set him free Rom. 7.24 When man had no strength to deliver himself but must have lain and perished under this power for ever yea had not so much as an ability of will to desire deliverance and when all the powers of darkness were put forth to keep a man under and Sin and the Law and Satan did their utmost the strong man armed kept the house then Christ a stronger than he breaks in destroys sin and death and him that had the power of death that is the Devil and by this means the Law has no power Sin has no strength Death has no sting and Satan has no dominion But man being under the power of darkness he is out of the Kingdom of Christ which is a Kingdom of Righteousness and free Justification Rom. 14.17 He is free from this for he is under the power of darkness or condemnation because under the power of the Law and under the dominion of him that has the power of death that is the Devil and Christs Kingdom is a Kingdom of light and holiness but they are under the power of darkness sin having by their Covenant dominion over them and they being by Satan led captive at his will and being acted by the spirit of the power of the air c. But all that are converted are under the Kingdom of Christ as it is a Kingdom of Righteousness for matter of Justification and as it is a Kingdom of Grace for the matter of Sanctification and Life and whoever comes under this Kingdom it is by Translation and they are thereby delivered from the power and the authority of the one as they are translated into the other and the word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does signifie to put a man out of one condition into another and to change a man from his former state in which he was as Luk. 16.4 My master puts me out of the stewardship c. And the Septuagint do use it commonly for transplanting a man out
of his native soil as they do that plant Colonies from one Country to another and such a Translation is here meant that whereas before a man was under the Kingdom of Satan and the condemnation and dominion of death now his state is changed that is by the change of his Covenant and he is translated or transported into the Kingdom of Righteousness and Holiness This is the Translation that is here meant a change of a mans state through the change of his Covenant upon which follows the change of his image and the change of his nature also A man is translated into it 1 As a Kingdom of Righteousness by the change of his Covenant 2 As a Kingdom of Holiness by the change of his Image Doct. All those that are in Christ have a change of their state they are translated out of their former Covenant Here are two things to be spoken to 1 That the Scripture does speak of such a Translation or change of Covenant 2 The necessity of such a change and the reasons and grounds thereof Rom. 11.24 § 2. First the Scripture does speak of such a Translation or change of Covenant Says the Apostle Rom. 11.24 For if thou wert cut out of the Olive-tree which is wild by nature and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good Olive-tree how much more shall these which be the natural branches c. Abraham is called the root because after a sort the Covenant began in him and therefore he is said to be the father of the faithful and all that grew by nature upon this root they were the children of God and the natural branches unto whom the sap and sweetness and fatness of the true Church all the Promises and Priviledges of the Covenant of Grace did belong and those that were truly under this Covenant they were not broken off but some of them that were under it by profession only they were for their sins in judgment broken off and the Gentiles that were wild Olives strangers to Abraham's Faith and Covenant they were grafted in that is taken into the Covenant of Abraham which is the root upon which they were ingrafted and are made partakers of all the Promises and the Priviledges of the Covenant of Abraham as if they were the natural branches Therefore here are men that are wild Olives that are ingrafted here are branches broken off that are ingrafted in again So that in Conversion there is an Ingrafting a Translation of a man from one stock to another from one root unto another and that is by changing of a mans Covenant for it is by his Covenant only that Abraham is his root c. Some indeed are ingrafted only by an outward profession some by inward implantation into the inward and spiritual part some into the outward priviledges of the Covenant only but some partake of the sweetness and fatness of the true Olive-tree Joh. 5.24 c. Christ says He that believes in him that sent me shall never come into judgment but is parted from death to life The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a passage from one place to another And Joh. 3.14 He is passed from death to life There is a twofold state of death and life and there is answerable a double passage a relative mutation as to a mans Covenant and a physical mutation as to his Image Rom. 7.1 2 3 The law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth the woman is bound to her husband as long as he liveth but if her husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband c. It is a dying or a being divorced from the former husband that gives her liberty All the Ancients do generally make the Law the husband from which a man being dead unto the Law is divorced and some Modern Divines as Beza and others make sin the husband as being irritated by the law but the thing is much the same and a man being ingrafted into Christ is freed from the law of the husband It is also a being redeemed and the main of our redemption lyes in it Gal. 4.5 as Christ was made under the law so we were under it now he was under it as a Covenant to fulfill the precept and to satisfie the curse and he did this that he might redeem us that were under the law in both these respects so that looking upon the law as a Covenant Christ is said to redeem us from being under it changing a mans father and his mother Mich. 7.20 Luc. 1. Gal. 4. and growing on another root and belonging to another stock as it is said Rom. 4.15 Abraham the father of us all that were before strangers unto Abraham therefore it is said to be his mercy unto Abraham and his oath unto our forefathers and Sarah the mother whereas before we were the children of Hagar All men by nature are under the law children of the bond-woman for the two Mothers are the two Covenants and so long as a man remains under the first Covenant he is the son of the bond-woman but we that believe are as Isaac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 children of the free-woman being discharged of the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us and contrary to us which Christ took out of the way nailing it to his Cross c. This â—lotting out of Ordinances Chrysostome and Oecumenius understand not only of the Ceremonial Law given by Moses but also of the Moral Law and the Law of the forbidden fruit given to Adam c. and so Zanchy and others c. Though some other late Divines will understand it of the Ceremonial Law only which I conceive it cannot be because it is spoken for the consolation of the Gentiles that they were delivered from this hand-writing of Ordinances under which they never were So that this change of Covenant is in Scripture set forth by being cut off from the former root and ingrafted into another a change or passage from a mans former state a being dead to a former husband a redemption from a former bondage an alliance to another father and having a bond cancelled that was against a man by its exacting and condemning power SECT II. The necessity of a Translation from the first Covenant 1. THE necessity of this Translation is manifested several ways 1. From the nature of the Covenant as it is broken and mans misery under it for the Covenant in self is unchangeable and eternal as well as the Covenant of Grace and it says for ever This do and thou shalt live it still says Gal. 4.4 5. Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do them the soul that sins shall die And to establish it Christ was made under the Law that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us and what the Law saith it saith unto them that are under the Law still So that while men continue under it their
to convey the same nature and having transgressed his will being wicked it is a guilty cursed and forsaken nature that is conveyed unto all mankind from him they all sinning in him else corruption of nature might be their punishment but their sin it could never be 2. All Adams posterity comes under the Curse even they that never sinned themselves â—ctually and knowingly as Adam did after the similitude of Adams transgression even Children of a span-long Now the Curse is a Curse of the Covenant Death is a part of Juâ—tice and that must suppose sin upon the person upon whom it is inflicted and no man can â—ome under the curse of the Covenant who is not himself under the Covenant Now â—ad Adam stood Life should have been conveyed unto them and holiness but he falling â—in and death takes hold of them and the Scripture doth speak not only of death entring â—pon all but sin upon all and guilt Rom. 5.12 17 By one man sin entred into the world â—nd death by sin poena mediante reatu Thus if God will deal with a man in a Covenant-way it was necessary if they grow out â—f one common root that a Covenant be made with the first man for all his posterity and 〈◊〉 by Union they become guilty of this sin and come under the curse of the Covenant Now the Lord will have the grace and righteousness of the second Covenant conveyed the â—ame way by a second Adam a publick person Isa 9.6 that should stand in the stead of all his poâ—terity and become an everlasting Father and he will have Adam in all this to become â—he type of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 That as by one man sin entered into the world â—nd death by sin so by one man righteousness and life might enter by one Christ Jesus Reas 2 § 2. Herein our happiness lyes under the second Covenant that it is not made with us imâ—ediately but made with him who is the common head the second Adam and with us in â—â—e second place as we are one with him and no otherwise 1 Herein consists the chief â—â—nour and glory of this Covenant beyond the first because it is made with a more gloriâ—â— head and therefore though the first Covenant had much glory in it yet the second â—â—h far exceed in glory for the first man was but of the earth earthly and the second 〈◊〉 was the Lord from Heaven heavenly 2. And hence it is that the Covenant is sure and everlasting and an unchangeable Covenant because made with an unchangeable head and grounded upon an everlasting righteousness and therefore Rom. 4 it is of Faith that it might be sure 2 Sam. 23. because that makes us one with him with whom the Covenant is established and in whom all the promiâ—es of it are yea and Amen So that it being made with him and he being the surety of it â—nd we one with him it can never fail 3. Hence it is also an Ordered Covenant Heb. 9.12 Lu. 9.24 and therein David takes a great deal of comâ—ort that the mercies of it were the sure mercies of David How Because his Covenant was ordered in all things and sure That as the first Adam in the Covenant of works entred â—nto a Covenant in an order not only for himself but for all his posterity also but so as he himself was primus faederatus and all mankind in him So is Jesus Christ also and the Covenant made first with him and then with all his posterity in him so that it is in the mercies of the Covenant as it is said of the resurrection of the dead all shall rise but every man in his own order first Christ then they that are Christs at his coming c. So it is here all the people of God are in Covenant with him and they are all his Covenant people for all that are in Christ are Abrahams seed but yet every man in his own order first Christ and then they that are in Christ by reason of their Union and no small part of our happiness and comfort comes in this way from the order of the Covenant as will appear afterward if ever we come to handle this property of the Covenant of Grace Reas 3 § 3. Supposing man to be a sinner God cannot enter into Covenant with him immediately any more unless we do suppose that the Lord should forfeit the truth of his threatning and so deny himself for he said Gen. 2.17 The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye Now while this stands in force against a man God cannot deal with him in any way but to destroy him therefore if he will bring in a second Covenant that must be a Covenant of mercy and reconciliation and in that there must be satisfaction to God as well as sanctification of man the sin must be sent to Hell as well as the sinner to Heaven Now this satisfaction man of himself can never give it cost more to redeem his Soul than if he had offered thousands of Rams and ten thousands of Rivers of Oyl or his first-born for his transgression and the fruit of his Body for the sin of his Soul as Mich. 6.6 7. But we cannot be redeemed by corruptible things and therefore if God will have satisfaction answerable unto the wrong the creature has done him it cannot be had from any creature wherefore he finds out one that is able to bear it one that is mighty the man of his right-hand that he should be made sin and become a curse And how doth the satisfaction that Christ gives to the Lord become ours It can be no other way but by Union and this union must be 1 Natural he must take upon him our nature for our debt was a debt of body and soul to be offered as a sacrifice unto the wrath of God And therefore it is said Heb. 2.1 He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are both of one He must take our nature and in that nature suffer as being one with us for without shedding of blood there is no remission 2 Voluntary and by consent he becoming our surety and so under our Covenant putting his name into our bond Gal. 4.4 and voluntary on our part accepting of him as our surety and consenting to his Covenant and the terms of the agreement and the consent of the Judge to whom the debt was due and against whom the offence was committed Sin must be condemned by the ordination of the Judge and the Surety must accept and submit to what was required of him in order to a satisfaction and the consent and approbation of the delinquent also and by this is the Union made up and all that Christ hath done becomes ours And thus as man is a sinner God cannot enter into Covenant with him immediately but it must be a Covenant in the hand of a Mediator which can be no otherwise but as we are one with him and consent
people prepared for the Lord. This Union is wrought by the Spirit of the â—ord Jesus by cutting off the soul from his old root for there is at least in order of nature a cutting off before a grafting in Rom. 11.24 1 Pet. 2.5 We as living stones are built upon him a spiritual house a holy temple Therefore Isa 28.16 Thus saith the Lord God Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone a tried stone c. A foundation that is a sure â—nd a firm foundation for the repetition does signifie excellency and certainty Isa 26.3 He shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee Matt. 7.24 Now there are but two foundations the Rock and the Sand a man must be removed and taken off the one before he can be built upon the other Rom. 13.14 Union with Christ is compared to putting him on as a garment a man must put off his old garment before he can put on the new and the wedding-garment which every man by nature is without It is a Matrimonial Vnion and a man must be dead to his former husband that he may be married to another says the Apostle I through the law am dead to the law Rom. 7.4 Gal. 2.19 Rom. 7.9 that I may be married to another Again I through the law am dead to the law that I may live unto God Paul in his state of unregeneracy was alive to the Law that is in the performance of it he thought he could keep the whole Law and expected by it that righteousness that should save him but now the Commandment came in a lively and effectual manner by the mighty working of the Spirit upon his soul convincing him of his guilt and his inability that for the curse of the Law he lay under it and the condemning power thereof by reason of his guilt and that he was able to perform no duty that the Law required through the inability that was in him and so he became dead unto it that is he expected life thereby no more and trusted upon his own strength no more for he knew he was able to do nothing and he that knows he is able to perform no duty of the Law and can expect no reward of the Law he is dead unto it Joh. 16.8 And this is done 1 by a work of Conviction convincing the world of sin that is that a man is in a state of sin under the guilt and power of it under the guilt of it that he is in his own person lyable to the wrath of God for it and that all the curses of the Law are his portion and that by nature Hell is his proper place and he is so under the power of it that he can perform no duty nor resist any temptation cannot subject himself unto the Righteousness of God nor to the Law of God he is in a state of impotency and of enmity and if the Lord do offer him Grace and come to convert him he cannot but resist and there is some special and darling lust in the cords of which he is held that will prove his destruction 2 And by a work of Humiliation the pleasure of all a mans former sins are dampt and taken away and the man is dead to them all and he cannot taste them as in times past and making a man to look upon himself as a miserable and undone man to loath himself to lye under the fear and expectation of wrath that the Law has threatned Acts 2.37 Rom. 7.9 and his guilty condition has deserved which is the proper work of the spirit of bondage to be pricked in his heart for a man to die to look upon himself as a dead man and to be dead in his own apprehension full of confession of his own sin and condemnation of himself as the Prodigal son Father I am unworthy to be called thy Son 3. There is a mighty and a glorious work of revelation discovering to a soul the good will of God the Father and of Christ which is called the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him Ephes 1.18 revealing his son in a man Gal. 1. And convincing a man of righteousness in Christ Joh. 6. for the salvation of sinners that there is a holiness in the Person of Christ and a sufficiency in his Righteousness for the salvation of sinners This is called seeing the Son Joh. 6.40 which is not barely a notional knowledge which a man had before of Christ but a knowledge and apprehension of Christ and his Glory let into the soul such a knowledge as a man never had before seeing Christ to be a proportionable good to the Saints one that is able to save to the uttermost and one that he may have an interest in and he may become his for ever Joh. 12.44 Which when the Prophet saw he wondered all men did not believe in him his Glory did so ravish him and if a man that slighted Christ before once discern this presently he has an high esteem of this excellent person To them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 And they look upon him with another eye than ever they did in time past and this was the plot that God the Father delighted in before the World was and that Christ was but the Father's servant in all this that he did and that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that God was not averse to the work as an angry Judge but that Christ would bring souls to God and the Father did love to have it so and that all was the fruit of his own everlasting love to sinners before the world was 1 Joh. 3.16 That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son And then all the offers of Christ the calls and the invitations of God and his compassionate intreaties that are in his Word all these begin to take place upon the soul Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters come and buy whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely That the price is already paid and that the blood of Christ was shed to cleanse sinners the Angels need it not the Devils can have no benefit by it it was given only for poor lapsed man and therefore it is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is the drawing and the teaching of the Father Joh. 6.44 not but that it is done by the Spirit also but it is said to be the work of the Father because the offer of Christ being Gods gift is presented unto the soul in the Fathers name with a command from him to accept of him and to believe in him For this is his Commandment that we believe in him whom he hath sent because him has God the Father sealed And this took Luther so much when he understood the righteousness of God that
of it 1 Some understand â—t of the Moral Law and the Law given to Adam in Paradise In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die 2 By the hand-writing some of them say is meant the Ceremonial Law and the whole Paedagogy of Moses consisting in Rites and Ordinances by which men did acknowledg themselves guilty of the breach of the Moral Law for they were all of them open and publick confessions of sin and thus much doth Calvin and Beza only understand by the hand-writing 3 There is another Interpretation that I have met withal in Glassius quoted also and hinted by Erasmus Chirographum est conscientia arguens condemnans the hand-writing is the Conscience accusing and condemning according to that Scripture The iniquity of Jacob is written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond noting that knowledg of sin in a mans Conscience and a mans obligation unto wrath thereby And all these I conceive to be meant by the hand-writing in this place 1 It must be understood of the Moâ—al Law because it is a consolation given to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews but they were never bound unto the Ceremonial Law 2 It is to be understood of the Ceremonial â—aw as an appendix to the Moral Law and both these had a power upon the Conscience to condemn a man and lay him as guilty before God therefore with Aretius I should understand Quicquid nos apud Deum potuit reos peragere quicquid nos damnat quicquid Satan contra nos citare potest hoc totum Chirographum esse hoc est testimonium peccati So that the Moral Law of God enjoining us obedience and the Ceremonial Law convincing us of sin and the conscience of both these are all meant by the hand-writing against us 2 The manner of the abolition and that in several gradations There are three ways of cancelling Bonds and making them void 1 Dispunctione by Dispunction or Cancellation 2 Laceratione by Laceration 3 Litura by the sponge blotting out c. Now if the seal be taken off and the Bond rent it is cancelled but yet so that the characters of the writing remain but now in blotting it out which is here meant it does not only cancel the Bond but it does it so that nothing can be read against a man for time to come and therefore it is as if it had never been but the Bond remains though the hand-writing be bloted out Therefore it is further added he has taken it away as well as blotted it out But though it be taken away it may be reserved against a man to the day of judgment no it was rent in pieces and nailed to the Cross of Christ with the same nails that Christ himself was so that the obligatory power of the Law and the damnatory power of it is utterly abolished by the death of Christ Vniversaliter sufficienter universally and sufficiently upon the Cross Particulariter efficaciter particularly and efficaciously when it is by the Spirit applied unto the Conscience of a man and speaks pardon to him being justified by faith so that he hath peace with God c. Thence to blot out the hand-writing is to take away the sentence of condemnation Wherefore the observation from hence is this Doctrin The first Covenant is perfectly and utterly abolished by Christ to all that are in him § 2. That the Law is taken away as a Covenant has been shewed at large in respect of the main 〈◊〉 of it namely 1 That it remains not for Justification For no man is justified by the law in the sight of God Gal. 3.11 Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 2 Neither does the Law remain for condemnation for he has redeemed us from the curse of the law and there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Nor 3 for Irritation You are not under the law says the Apostle therefore sin shall not have dominion over you Not under the Law forbidding sin barely and so provoking it but under Grace healing a mans nature and strengthning him against sin 4 Nor for Coaction If you are led by the spirit you are not under the Law that is not under the Law as a slave under a Tyrant forcibly compelling but you have a spirit of Sonship which freely leads a man in all his ways and carries him on with a free and a willing spirit Thus the Law is abolished as a Covenant with respect to all ends for which it can serve whether principal or accidental These Particulars having been already largely opened that which I would now chiefly speak to in the opening of this Doctrine is the manner how the Law as a Covenant comes to be abolished and this is by these steps 1. Christ himself is made under the Law as a Covenant of Works the Law that is here meant is not only the Ceremonial Law which he did freely subject himself to being a Jew but also and chiefly the Moral Law to which he did subject himself as a man for it 's said He was made under the Law to redeem us that were under it therefore it must be understood of that Law under which we were and from which Christs purpose was to redeem us and that wherein our redemption does mainly lie Now so all men are in particular the Galatians who were not under the Ceremonial Law therefore it must be meant of the Moral Law that he is said Gal. 3.13 to be made under the curse of the Moral Law now who-ever comes under the curse must also so far come under the Covenant therefore Christ being made under the Moral Law as it is a Covenant came under the curse of it 2. Christ was made under the Law two ways as he was man 1 In respect of the debt to be paid 2 In reference to the bond to be cancelled for if man could have paid the debt of the Law of obedience and undergone the curse yet he could never have taken off the bond of the Law it would have lain upon him for ever he would have been for ever under the Law Now Christ must do both 1 As our surety he paid the debt the principal of which was obedience so that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us to Justification and by the Gospel the Law is not made void but established and also the forfeiture taken off he being made sin was also made a curse for us 2 That the Law might not stand in force against us for the time to come as a Covenant therefore he has also cancelled the bond being made under the Law as a Covenant of Works he has taken away the Law as a Covenant unto all the Saints He delivered us from sin being made sin for us and from the curse being made a curse for us and from the Law as a Covenant by being made under the same Covenant And so he did not only pay the debt
which we did owe to the Law as a rule of righteousness but also as it was a Covenant of Life 3. Christ was not under the Law naturally and necessarily as other men are neither do I conceive that it is safe to say that Christ as a man was subject to the Law for himself and that he did owe obedience unto the Law for though it be true that Christ as man was a creature and indeed every creature is subject unto the Law yet looking upon Christ as God-man and all the acts of Christ as actiones suppositi actions of the Divine person so they were above what the Law required which is the ground of all his merit above the satisfaction of the Law for the Law required perfect obedience of a man but the Law did not require that it must be the obedience of him that was God and man and therefore Luther has well observed that he is the Lord of the Law whence there is no Law against him wherefore as he did freely and voluntarily take our nature so he having taken it did freely put his name into our bond come under our Covenant that he might in every thing become a surety for us having a right to redeem us being God our brother and being bound to redeem us as our surety and being engaged with us in the same Covenant and for us and therefore as he is said to be made flesh and to be made sin because it was by his own voluntary submission so he is said to be made under the Law also and by his coming under the Law he has both paid our debt and cancelled our bond and so the Law remains unto the Saints as a Covenant no more and has no more dominion over a man as a Covenant 2. He has fulfilled and satisfied for ever all that this Covenant required of us he did it in our stead and there is that full satisfaction given in him that the Law can never ask more of us for ever for this cause we must as it is a Covenant be freed from it and this is the reason given in the Text He has taken it out of the way and nailed it to his Cross that is with the same nails that he was nailed with the bond that bound us that is the Law as a Covenant was nailed also Rom. 7.4 and this is to be dead to the Law by the body of Christ or in the body of Christ that is we died in him and he bore our sins in his body on the Tree and whatever Christ did to the satisfaction of the Law in his humane nature as our nature was assumed by him it was for us his righteousness being imputed to us c. Christ has indeed fully satisfied the Law but yet if the Law should require perfect obedience of us also then it must remain unto us as a Covenant of Works still but as Christ hath done it so he hath done it for us and it is done once for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for active obedience though the Law require duty of us Heb. 10.10 yet it is not unto Justification and all our own obedience is in this to be lookt upon as a filthy rag and though we do here undergo many sufferings yet it is not for satisfaction for he hath by one offering of himself for ever perfected them that he sanctified he is said to remain a Priest Heb. 10.14 Heb. 3.7 Dan. 9. and so doth his sacrifice and oblation remain in the vertue and efficacy of it for ever and therefore he is said to bring in everlasting righteousness So that if the Law look for satisfaction to the precept it is perfected in him and if it look for satisfaction to the curse it is perfected in him it can remain as a Covenant to us no more because it can as a Covenant exact nothing of us more and therefore to all that are in Christ and stand under the Covenant of Grace the Law requires their duties of him and their sufferings of him so that the Law as a Covenant has nothing to do with them but with Christ who is still under the same Covenant remaining their Surety and Priest for ever and therefore in this victory of Christ over the Law as a Covenant Luther makes the main glory of our deliverance to lye and this was indeed the great end of Christs coming into the world As for the other ends Legem docere miracula facere Duplici jure Christus legem vicit prostravit trucidávit primo ut Dei filius legis Dominus secundo ut sponsor noster in nostra persona Quod tantundem est acsi nos ipsi vicissemus quod à victoria Christi nostra est Gal. 3.16 Tit. 1.22 Tim. 1.9 to teach the Law and do Miracles these were but beneficia particularia particular benefits for his Disciples did teach the same truths and many things more than Christ did in his own person and wrought as great Miracles as he but his great end was Legem vincere abolere to overcome the Law and as a Covenant to cancel it because he has fully satisfied it once for all and therefore by way of satisfaction either in obedience or curse it can never require any thing of us to eterâ—ity 3. By introducing of a second Covenant and translating men there into a Covenant of Grace and mercy and reconciliation and this Covenant Christ hath brought in for it was a Covenant made with him before the world began for there was light promised us and Grace given us before the world began in these eternal Transactions between God and Christ â—nd the Lord hath said That this shall be an Everlasting Covenant and all men that ever are â—aved shall be saved by this Covenant Justified freely by his Grace by Grace you are saved c. Now as the Apostle speaks of the revealing of the Gospel Heb. 8. ult In that he saith new Covenant he hath made the former old and that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away 〈◊〉 the Lord Christ intending to bring in a second Covenant and that upon different terms â—d conditions he hath made the former old and ready to vanish away Vse 1 § 3. See here the infinite Goodness and Wisdom of God as in Christ there are many â—rious Unions in that one so there are also many very curious distinctions as in the one tâ—â—ng that a man would never have thought could have been united so in the other thing that a man would have thought could never have been divided As for the Unions that a child and a son should be given and God and man should become one Person and such a word as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God-man in the world and Immanuel God with us that he that bears up all things shoud be born he that made all things should himself be made flesh made of a woman that the beauty of Holiness should be made sin and he
King should at first make a Proclamation unto Rebels that they should live if they would accept of pardon and then afterward should publish a new one that they that would live should keep the Law either a man would conclude that the King had called in his former Proclamation and made it null or else would have them both stand together and so it is here God did at first promise righteousness and life to be had by believing and afterwards he did publish a Law requiring duty Surely either the Lord did repent of the former and so that Covenant is become of no effect or else it seems he would have both joined together and man should be justified and saved partly by doing and partly by believing Now to this objection the Apostle answers Answ 1 Gods intention in giving the Law was not thereby to make the promise â—oid and of none effect for God did purpose to justifie the Heathen by faith and the inâ—eritance is still by promise the Covenant made with Abraham was a Covenant established by an Oath that nothing should arise de novo to make an alteration in it 2 Gods intention was not to join the Law and the Promise together in the matter of Justification and life because they be quite cross and contrary one to another therefore by the righteousness of the Law no man can be justified in the sight of God they do directly deâ—â—oy each other if the inheritance be by the Law it is no more of promise and therefore 〈◊〉 man can be justified by both 3 Yet God having revealed the Law after the Promise and seeing he will have them â—oth to be perpetual and lasting they must stand together and a way must be found out â—ow they may and not cross one another nor destroy or disanul each other for the Law 〈◊〉 not against the promise of God God forbid we should think so then if they cannot and together in a way of ingrediency they may very well in a way of subserviency if not 〈◊〉 co-ordination they may in subordination both tending to honour the Mercy and Grace of â—od in his Son the one primarily and the other secondarily as an appendix or an additiâ— thereunto And so much the Text does clearly manifest 1 In that it 's said the Law was added was an appurtenance to something else and was not set up as that way alone by which men â—â—e to attain righteousness and life now added by way of conjunction it cannot be they câ—â—not mix together and be concauses of the same thing and in the same kind therefore it must be by way of subordination the one as the principal the other as the accessary or additional 2 It is said that the Law was given in the hand of a Mediator that is by the ministry of a Mediator 1 Moses was the Typical or the Notional Mediator for he stood between God and the people in receiving of the Law Deut. 5.5 and Christ was the real and universal Mediator And hence it will appear that it was not set up alone as a Covenant of Works as 〈◊〉 was at first for that was faedus amicitiae a Covenant of friendship when God and man â—ere not at variance when man stood before God in his own righteousness and there was 〈◊〉 difference nor variance between God and him for a Mediator is not a Mediator of one tâ—erefore God giving it in the hand of a Mediator doth clearly manifest that he did not set it up as a Covenant alone 2 The real Mediator was Christ though Moses Typical and Christ did not by his Ministry bring in this Covenant of the Law to make void the Covenant of Grace which was the better Covenant of which he was appointed Mediator the Covenant that was made with him as the seed and with all the Saints in him Ver. 16. Seeing therefore these two must stand together and the former cannot be disanulled by the latâ—er hence then it must needs be inferred that Gods intention was in publishing the Law to â—o it in subordination unto the Gospel and the second Covenant and that so it is to stand â—nd to be made use of by the Saints Hence the Doctrine that lies before us is this 〈◊〉 Doct. That for all those that are in Christ God has made the first Covenant subordiâ—ate unto the second The whole use of the Law unto the Saints and of all the parts of it is â—hat it may be a servant to the Gospel and as to be freed from the Law standing alone as a Covenant is the greatest part of a mans Christian liberty so to have the Law of God pressed â—pon the new Covenant and standing in subordination to the Gospel as a servant is a great â—art of a Christians dignity and a right understanding and apprehension of both these opens 〈◊〉 very great door unto all Gospel-mysteries § 2. Now that I may be understood we are to consider that the Law is taken in Scripture two ways as it was given by God upon Mount Sinai for a double end 1 It is taken largely Jer. 31.33 2 Cor. 3.3 for the whole Doctrine delivered by God upon Mount Sinai with the Precepts and the Promises thereof and so Grace is the Law written in the heart it is the Epistle of Christ ministred by us 2 It is taken strictly setting down an exact rule of righteousness and promising life upon condition of personal and perfect obedience And so the Apostle says Rom. 10.5 6. That the law is not of faith the righteousness of the law speaketh in this manner he that doth them shall live in them Now if we take the Moral Law as given upon Mount Sinai in the first sense so it is a Covenant of Grace but if we take it in the latter sense so it is a Covenant of Works for the Lords intention in giving the Law was double unto the carnal Jews to set forth to them the old Covenant which they had broken and yet unto the believing Jews it did darkly shadow and set forth unto them the Covenant of Grace made with Christ and therefore it was not only delivered as a rule of righteousness but in the form and terms of a Covenant this do and thou shalt live 1 In the first sense the Law given upon Mount Sinai was a Covenant of Grace for this Law does teach them 1 That the Lord was their God now since man sinned God is the God of none but in Christ 2 This Law did set forth God to them as shewing mercy pardoning iniquity not visiting iniquity a God forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and there is no pardon but under a second Covenant 3 All the Sacrifices they were Types of Christ and they were commanded in the second Commandment and they did all belong unto the Covenant of Grace and did shew that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and God did ratifie this Covenant by blood which he
sprinkled upon the Book and upon all the people and all things under the Law were cleansed and sanctified by blood Exod. 24.23 therefore the Law in the administration of it unto them was never intended by God to set forth a Covenant of Works but it was a Covenant of Grace and is usually called a Covenant Deut. 29.10 11. They stood to enter into Covenant with God that he might establish them to be a people to himself and that he might be unto them a God Deut. 26.17 18 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and he hath avouched thee to be his people So that the Law was given by Moses in Gods intention plainly as a Covenant of Grace unto all those that were able to look upon the intent of God therein 2 But yet the Lords intention was also that it should be a copy of the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam before his fall which was never wholly blotted out of the mind of man because God would not have that wholly to perish and be forgotten and therefore it was delivered after a sort in the form of the Covenant of Works and in this respect the Lord has made it a handmaid to the Gospel not that the Lord did intend it for a Covenant of Works as if men should attain righteousness and life thereby but as faedus subserviens a subservient Covenant as that which in this manner God would make use of to advance the ends of the Gospel and the new Covenant By all this you see that the Covenant of which Circumcision was a sign and a seal was not the Covenant of Works but was the same that was made with Abraham because the Covenant was the same Circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of Faith and continued amongst the Jews in this Covenant and that Covenant that binds to the observation of the Ceremonial as well as the Moral Law is not a Covenant of Works but the Covenant made upon Mount Sinai did bind to the Ceremonial Law also nor was the Covenant that God made with Moses a Covenant of Works for Moses was Heb. 11.23 a Believer but Exod. 34.27 it is called the Covenant which I made with thee and with all Israel when I stood before the Lord forty days and he wrote the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments But more particularly the Lord did intend to make the Law given upon Mount Sinai a copy of the Covenant of Works and to be materially and for substance the same that he did make with Adam and with all mankind in him in the state of his integrity 1. Death reigned from Adam till Moses Rom. 5. Gen. 4. ult and therefore sin came in and we see that murder was a sin in Cain and publick worship was a duty Men did begin to call upon the name of the Lord so that the Law was in the World before Moses and it was not only written in the hearts of men 2 Pet. 2.5 So Beza Gen. 6.5 but it was taught in the publick Ministery before Moses for Noah was the Preacher of Righteousness and in the Ministry of the Word we know that the Spirit of God did strive with men Gen. 6.3 The word in the Hebrew is to strive in judgment and by way of argument for conviction so that the Law was given to Adam and Noah and Abraham as well as unto Moses and was for substance the same 2. It is given in the form of a Covenant of Works with a this do and thou shalt live and so it was afterwards by Christ and by the Prophets also preached it was to the carnal Jews plainly a Covenant of Works not in Gods intention but by their own corruption they going about to establish their own righteousness Rom. 10.3 and not subjecting themselves to the righteousness of God it is set forth to them as a Covenant of Works Now if the Lord will not give it as a Covenant why does he not propound it as a rule and lay down the precepts without any such terms of a Covenant as if men should attain life by it when he did never intend to deliver it as a Covenant in which men should attain life by doing but by believing Thus the Lord did that the terms of the first Covenant might be promulgated to the World and that they that did still desire to be under the Law might not plead ignorance of the terms that God required in the Law if they did expect life and happiness thereby 3. Though I say it be for substance and materially the same yet in many circumstances it differs from Adams Covenant for this was a Covenant of such promises and sanctions annexed to it as were not in the Covenant made with Adam and a Covenant confirmed by blood and thereby sanctified which Adams Covenant never had and therefore though it did for substance agree yet in many things there was a difference This Covenant given unto Adam in a state of Innocency and for substance renewed upon Mount Sinai when it was by sin wholly obliterated and blotted out God has made a handmaid or foedus subserviens a Covenant subservient to the Gospel it is Hagar Gal. 4.23 but the Covenant of Grace is Sarah and it is given in the hand of a Mediator not only by Moses but by Christ also for Christ delivered the Law to them Act. 7.38 Moses was in the Wilderness with the Angel who spake to him in Mount Sinai and with our fathers and what Angel was it but Christ he that saith I am the God of Abraham and he that was also tempted in the Wilderness and the Apostle says We are come to Jesus whose voice then shook the earth in the giving of the Law 1 Cor. 10.4 Heb. 12.25 26. it was his voice and then by an enumeration of particulars how the Lord has made every part of the Law as it is materially the first Covenant a servant to the Gospel for the discovery of sin the Law entred that the offence might abound and the Apostle says Rom. 5.20 I had not known sin but by the Law and also for the conviction of Conscience and the imputation of sin Rom. 5.13 sin is not imputed where there is no Law and for the condemnation of sin that it may be a Schoolmaster to bring the sinner unto Christ the avenger of blood Gal. 3.10 a killing letter and the ministration of death to kill them and hew them and it restrains sin and puts a bridle upon a man and is a means of conversion the curse of the Law is sanctified and the threatnings sweet when the curse is taken out death has no sting the grave has no victory and it is to all under the second Covenant a rule a companion and a counsellor The Law is to be considered as I told you two ways 1 Largely as containing all the Doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai and all things that may
be reduced thereunto even the whole Doctrine of Moses so it is distinguished from the Prophets the Law came by Moses 2 Strictly for the precepts of the Moral Law Mat. 11.13 Joh. 1.17 as holding forth a perfect rule of righteousness and as promising life upon the terms of perfect and personal obedience thereunto and so the Apostle takes it in Rom. 10.5 The righteousness which is of the Law is thus described The man that doth these things shall live in them If we take the Law in the first sense it was a Covenant of Grace darkly revealed for therein God did enter into Covenant with that Church and State and unto all the Saints that were in Christ it was a Covenant of Grace 1. That the Law was given upon Mount Sinai as a Covenant cannot be denied for the Scripture does plainly call it so Deut. 4.12 13. The Lord spake unto you says Moses out of the middle of the fire and he declared unto you the Covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten Commandments and he writ them upon two tables of stone And Deut. 5.2 3. The Lord our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb he made not this Covenant with our fathers but with us even with us who are here alive this day the Lord talked with you face to face in the Mount out of the middle of the fire It was the same Covenant that God before made with Abraham for the substance of it but when it is said not to be made with their fathers it is to be understood only of the form and manner of the promulgation in that clear and glorious manner and taking a Nation into Covenant with himself in a publick eminent and solemn manner And it had all the parts of a Covenant there are two things make up a Covenant 1 Direction of something to be done by both parties something that they are bound unto and so the Law is the rule of the Covenant 2 There is a Sanction which is the consent and agreement of both parties binding themselves each to other and therein properly does the formality of a Covenant lye Now they were both in this here was a rule and therefore they are said to transgress the Covenant that is the precept or rule of the Covenant as Deut. 17.2 and here was a sanction or a promise you shall be my people and all good things were promised them And when the Lord does fulfill his promise he is said then to establish his Covenant Deut. 8.18 and to remember his Covenant So that the Law was given upon Mount Sinai not barely as a Law but it was given also in a Covenant-way 2. This Covenant was a Covenant of Grace 1 That Covenant wherein God promises to be our God since the fall is a Covenant of Grace but so he doth in this I am the Lord thy God 2 That Covenant which does hold forth pardon of sin is a Covenant of Grace but so does this set forth God as shewing mercy to thousands pardoning mercy for it stands in opposition unto visiting of iniquity 3 Circumcision was a seal of the Covenant of Grace Rom. 4.11 this was a seal of the Covenant upon Mount Sinai He that is circumcised is a debter to the whole Law Gal. 5.3 c. 4 That Covenant that was confirmed and ratified by blood was a Covenant of Grace but so was this Covenant that God made with Israel upon Mount Sinai Exod. 24.3 See Buckley of the Covenant He took the book of the Covenant and read it in the audience of the people and they said all What the Lord has said will we do And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people and said Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord made with you 5 That Covenant that binds to the observation of the Ceremonial Law that is a Covenant of Grace for the Ceremonies were all Types of Christ and shadows of good things to come and the body is Christ The first Covenant had Ordinances of Divine service Heb. 9.1 and a worldly Sanctuary it is spoken of the Covenant made upon Mount Sinai and they were all of them enjoined in the second Commandment 6 The Covenant made in the hand of a Mediator was not a Covenant of Works for that was foedus amicitiae a Covenant of friendship that was made between God and man he being perfect and needing no Mediator Gal. 3.19 but this was given in the hand of a Mediator and therefore it was of Grace But if we consider the Law strictly so it contains the sum of the Covenant of Works which God did therefore reveal because it was even wholly obliterated and blotted out of the mind of man and therefore it was speculum primitivae hominis justitiae c. a glass of the primitive righteousness of man And unto all men out of Christ in an unregenerate state it remains as a Covenant of Works binding them to personal and perfect obedience if they hope to attain life 1 The Moral Law is the same to the sinner out of Christ that it was unto Christ the Surety for what it was to the Surety that it was to the sinner for he did put his name into our bond only in us it was necessary in him voluntary But Gal. 4.4 the Law was unto Christ a Covenant of Works therefore to every sinner out of Christ it remains so 2 That which teaches us Justification and life by doing that is a Covenant of Works but so does the Law strictly taken and it is therefore opposed unto the Gospel there is the righteousness of the Law and the righteousness of the Gospel 3 The Curse under which all unregenerate men are Rom. 3.20 Gal. 3.1 2. is the curse of the Moral Law but that is the curse of the Covenant of Works therefore the Moral Law is a Covenant of Works Gal. 3.13 Gal. 4.5 Gal. 4.23 24. 4 Therefore the Apostle makes it a distinct Covenant from the Covenant of Grace The Law thus taken strictly as a copy of the Covenant that God made with Adam and containing the sum of the Covenant of Works and being delivered in the form of this Covenant this Covenant has the Lord made subservient and subordinate unto the Covenant of Grace as Hagar to Sarah SECT II. The Subservience of the Law as it discovers Sin § 1. THE first part of the Subserviency of the Law is in point of Sin and so it has a threefold use or end There is a threefold use of the Law subservient to the Gospel Joh. 12. subordinate to the Gospel and the Grace thereof 1 As it is a looking-glass to reveal sin 2 As it is a bridle to restrain sin and in both these it is a servant to the Gospel 3 As a Judge to condemn it and the man for it There is one that judges you even Moses c. 1. The Law is a glass to discover sin it is called
there is a virtual league with death and with Hell Job 5.23 they shall be at league with Sin and Hell as a good man is in league with peace and rest A formal league with Sin and Hell they are not capable of but a virtual covenant and a league taking off acts of hostility Whatever a man is in Covenant with he fears no danger from and men walk as if Death and Hell were at an agreement with them and they fear no evil but are setled upon their lees and they make lyes their refuge and under vanity they hide themselves There is says Bernard a twofold evil Conscience a peaceable evil Conscience and a troubled evil Conscience And the first state is more dangerous when a man is like unto the dead Sea as some are like the raging Sea which latter is better than the former upon such a soul let wrath be discovered and judgement threatned it is but speaking terrour to a deaf man nay to a dead man nay let plagues be executed and not only so but let the hand of the Lord be lifted up eminently in the threatning and they will not see nay let it fall down in the judgement and they will not see Bray a fool in a mortar and his folly will not depart But he is as a man lying down in the middle of the Sea and as one sleeping on the top of a Mast he sees no danger there is nothing that he can lay to heart but he says Psal 49. I shall have peace as Deut. 29.19 While he lives he blesseth his soul Now comes the Law as a Hammer unto such a soul and that sets before a man its absolute Soveraignty over the man it is the Royal Law shews a man that God is an enemy to him and writes bitter things against him and it is this Law by which he will surely judge him at the last day Zach. 1.6 and though he may fly from it a while yet it will overtake him though the decree may bear a great while a judgement in the womb of it yet it will at last bring forth and for ought thou knowest it may be Hell before the morning there is but a thread of patience between thee and everlasting burnings That shews a man the vanity of all his former hopes and plucks off all that cobweb lawn and varnish that the Devil has cast upon his actions and state and there is a storm that overflows his hiding place the Lord lets him see in Spiritual judgements as he does in Temporal judgments when men promise themselves great things that the bed is too short the covering too narrow for him to rest upon Then offer him the pleasures of sin and he cannot taste them they are to him the greatest detestation Oh how bitter is it to remember that which was formerly sweet to commit and what a terrible companion is that sin in the guilt of it that was in the act of it most delightsome The bitterness of sin is so great that all the comforts of the creatures cannot sweeten it as Judas he cast down the thirty pieces of silver quickly he had no pleasure in his money So a soul crys out My iniquity is gone over my head and as a sore burden too heavy for me to bear § 3. 2. The Law of God condemns the sinner says the Apostle Sin revived and I died Rom. 9.7 Hos 6.5 2 Cor. 3. The ministration of death and condemnation c. There is a hewing and a slaying by the words of the Lord he doth smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he does slay the wicked Jer. 6.11 And therefore the word of the Lord is called the fury of the Lord what fury or vengeance soever is poured out upon a land or soul it is all by this word that is the instrument and these are the effects thereof The Law saith Cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law and Conscience makes the assumption truly this curse is my portion The soul of man is not more prone to sin than it is to self-justification every man desiring to establish his own righteousness And the great work that we have in the Ministry is this to beat them from their own confidences men will not pass the same sentence upon themselves that the Law does If men would but look upon themselves in this glass and stand unto the sentence of this judgment they would not be so severely judged by the Lord but there are ways of self-deceiving from that abundant self-love and self-flattery that is in the heart of man that they desire to be deceived and there is no man in the world that can be so great a flatterer of another as every man is of himself 〈◊〉 does smooth over himself and makes all please as a flatterer doth Psal 36.2 Jer. 23.31 therefore the false â—rophets are said to smooth their tongues that there may be nothing that may distaste 〈◊〉 be unpleasant and so men will not own their own condemnation they will not â—â—e shame But when the Law comes and the Spirit of God therein gives in evidence aâ—â—inst the man brings forth the hand writing and chargeth a man with his pride and unâ—â—â—anness and hardness of heart and says this thou hast done then the soul says I have â—â—ed in betraying the innocent blood I have done exceeding foolishly Men and brethren what â—â—â—l we do to be saved Now every word of the Law comes home to him with life and with â—â—er and all the curses of the book he reads as his portion and says This is the inheriâ—â—e that Adam has left me and this have I also purchased for my self Tertull. There are a generatiâ—â— of godly men in the world that read over the Promises of the Gospel and they do claim 〈◊〉 as their portion and their inheritance for ever but they are nothing to me they are 〈◊〉 childrens bread and I am a dog a devil Truly the Devils are better creatures and were 〈◊〉 to do the Lord more service and yet they perish under the curse of the Law and they â—â—ble at the sentence of it and there is as much hope of a Devil Jam. 2.19 in the state that I am in 〈◊〉 as there is of me I know God is merciful but not beyond the rules of the Word whilst the Word speaks wrath all the men in the world cannot speak peace to me Every â—â—tion is a curse to me and there are no Providences that I can look upon in mercy my â—â—â—ngs are cursed and my ordinances are blasted they shall add to my sins and hasten my â—â—eance It 's wonderful that seeing the time of patience has its period the Lord has â—â—â—â—hed it forth to so great a length that I have had thirty or forty years cut off of eterâ—â—â— as a respite of those eternal torments These are the workings of men
under the sense â—reaking the Law The Law holds a man under this conviction and self condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a man cannot 〈◊〉 off from it that a man shall say with David Psal 51. My sin is ever before me And 〈◊〉 3.2 3. here we are all compared unto prisoners I am shut up under the Law it is my 〈◊〉 and if that be not enough to manifest that our bondage under it is sure and there 〈◊〉 way to escape he says we have a garrison to attend us as the word signifies 1 Pet. 1.5 the same â—â—d is used of Gods keeping of us to salvation So that the soul is kept under by it and alâ—â—â—s poring upon its misery and cannot look off it it is shut up under it and this is meant â—he spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word in the Greek is used partly for the Holy Ghost self and partly for the inward dispositions that it works in the hearts of men as a spirit â—â—ve and fear and joy that is such a temper and frame of soul wrought by the Holy â—â—â—ft and foâ—t is the Spirit of God by the Law working upon a man such a frame of heart â—â—â—r of sorrow or fear Hos 4.12 A spirit of whoredom is in the middle of them c. â—â—s they were bent to backsliding So when a man cannot cast off his fears and the bondage 〈◊〉 own heart then a man is said to be under a spirit of bondage and a spirit of fear and â—â—â—e sinners are all their life long by fits Heb. 2.15 The soul of man desires nothing 〈◊〉 than the pleasure of sin and peace in it and therefore it does as a Deer when it is wâ—â—â—ded it runs and leaps and does all that possibly it can but haeret lateri lethalis aerundo â—â—â—â—â—rtal arrow sticks in the side A man runs to the pleasures of sin to his old companions as â—â—re to King Jareb for help and if that will not do then he runs to Duties and the man â—â—ys and crys and all will not heal the man and he cannot cast the sight of his sin behind back and it is as gastly and as unwelcome even as Hell it self A man is under Conviction 〈◊〉 a wild Bull in a Net full of the fury of the Lord and he beats every way but the â—â—e he strives the more he is ensnared till at last his soul lyes down under the apprehensiâ—â— of it and does possess the sins of his youth Joh 13.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the thoughts of a mans heart called the possessions of his heart for all that a man does possess is by thoughts and that 〈◊〉 which a mans thoughts dwell most that a man is said to possess most Job 17.11 Now the man crys 〈◊〉 What fruit have I now in those things whereof I am ashamed Oh wretched man that I 〈◊〉 who shall deliver me from the body of this death And his soul lyes down in his shame and â—â—ths and abhors himself continually is afraid at the shaking of a leaf expects daily when â—â—e instrument and messenger of vengeance shall come for him and Job 31. His life draws â—â—er to the destroyers and he doth seem to smell the savour of death and of unquenchable fire Lex est carcer spiritualls verè infernus Luth. â—â—d his soul is continually filled with horrour and amazement the terrors of the Almighty set him round about he is so fast in prison that he cannot get forth he is under the wrath 〈◊〉 God as Christ is said to be in prison and David so speaks of himself also § 4. Now how doth the Law in all this advance the ends of the Gospel how is it as â—agar added because of transgression 1. It prepares the soul and the Spirit thereby works those qualifications required to be 〈◊〉 the soul that comes to Christ for Christ will not come into an unprepared soul his subâ—â—cts are a people prepared for the Lord. He sent John Baptist before to prepare his way for there are valleys to be filled Mat. 11. and there are mountains to be laid low Come all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you take my yoke having had experience of the iron yoke of sin 2. The Law prepares the soul by making the opinion of a mans own righteousness die and letting him see a perishing need of Christ Phil. 3. that what was before gain he may now count loss therefore there is hereby wrought in the soul a longing for Christ and an instinct of Union with him the Law is as the avenger of blood unless it did pursue many men would never regard to fly to the city of refuge 3. It will make the Grace of God the more glorious and the blood of Christ the more orient and Salvation the more acceptable when in such a time of extremity the Lord brought light out of darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 and then a man says I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And therefore there be several dispensations of God some have less of those breakings by the hammer of the Law than others have for the Lord is a free agent but there are no men in the world that prize Christ and exalt his righteousness and relie more upon his Grace 1 Tim. 1.13 14. than they do that have lain under most of these breakings and have been longest in this wilderness 4. It makes a man fear sin ever after that which he hath had so great a smart for when he was under the hammer of the Law Psal 85.8 he will speak peace to his people and to his Saints but let them not turn again to folly Hos 3. ult When a man shall remember the bitterness of his spirit in times past and call to mind the gall and the wormwood then sin is loathed by him David commits Adultery no more Paul Persecutes no more Peter denies Christ no more c. 5. It makes a man pliable to do whatever God would have him Lord what wilt thou have me to do A little child shall lead them Isa 11.6 Disobedience is grounded in pride My soul shall weep in secret for your pride Jer. 13.17 And there is nothing breaks a mans pride and make a man walk more humbly with God than this does Mic. 6.8 6. This makes a man to set a high price upon the spirit of Adoption that enables him to cry Abba father after he has had experience of a spirit of bondage The bread in his fathers house had never been so pleasant to the Prodigal had he not been in want and tasted husks Heaven is never so sweet as it will be after the trials of this life when men have comâ— out of great tribulation and made their garments white in the blood of the Lamb then to be gathered into Abrahams bosom it is much the sweeter to rest from
their labours and their works to follow them when a man has been under a hard master to be set at liberty is thâ— sweeter when a man out of a Prison comes to a Throne this I say makes him honouâ— that Spirit and keep close to him and cherish the motions of it ever after and be carefuâ— not to be led into the same darkness again The Spirit of Christ is a delicate Spirit and wheâ— it is grieved it withdraws from a soul and suspends the comfort and quicknings that it used to enjoy therefore the soul sets a high price upon the spirit of Adoption SECT III. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it restrains Sin § 1. HAving spoken of the Law in the first sense I now come to consider it in the second In the one it discovers judges and condemns sin and in the other 〈◊〉 checks and restrains sin Here are three things to be considered and cleared 1 That 〈◊〉 Law is as a bridle to check sin and to restrain it 2 In what respects it is said so to 〈◊〉 3 How in this also the Law is in the hand of a Mediator used as a servant or handmaid â— the Gospel 1. That the Law is as a bridle to check sin I desire you to observe three things 1. That sin hath in it a fierceness and unruliness and therefore men in it are compared unto the most raging and unruly creatures in the world Isa 57.20 It is compared to the Sea which is the most unruly and tumultuous and unquiet creature if there were never any wind without yet it is always unquiet from an inward principle in it self which you may explain by Jude v. 13. Jude v. 13. Jer. 2.23 Savage creatures and raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame And they are compared unto the wildest and most unruly of all the Creatures a Dromâ—dary Jer. 2.23 which some say is a She-camel others say it is Cameleo pardalis a creaturâ— of a mixed Generation and they are resembled unto this creature for its swiftness it is onâ— of the swiftest of all Creatures and the Female more swift than the Male as Franzius 〈◊〉 his Historia sacra animalium has well observed And a Horse is an unruly creature his mouth must be holden with bit and bridle a Horse prepared for the battel and being chafed to it of which the Lord says Job 29.19 That he hath cloathed his neck with thunder he mocks at fear and does not turn back from the sword he swallows the ground with fierceness c. And such is the fierceness of a sinner in his way Hos 8.9 Hos 8.9 A wild ass alone by himself in Scripture sinners are compared to the Ass for a double property 1 for his fierceness 2 for his folly as Job 11.12 Vain man would be wise though born like a wild Asses colt and for his fierceness a wild Ass in the wilderness Jer. 2.28 In a wilderness an Ass is alone by her self under no government no restraint no rider to rule or bridle her It 's better to meet a Bear robbed of her whelps than a fool in his folly as 2 Sam. 17.8 2 Sam. 17.8 The fierceness of this Creature is noted to be the greatest in Scripture Hos 13.8 I will meet them 〈◊〉 a bear bereaved of her whelps c. And by which the fierceness of Gods Judgements is â—et out I will meet them as a bear rob'd of her whelps c. and will rend the caul of his heart â—ow the same rage will a sinner be in when he is met and stopped in an evil way in any way â—f sin whatsoever There is an unruliness in sin beyond all this that neither the Bear nor â—y other fierce Creature can vent All the creatures have been tamed but man his tongue â—an no man tame Jam. 3. Now you may say why who sets bounds unto this Sea and who â—hall command and rule this swift Dromedary this chafed Horse this wild Ass and this beâ—aved Bear c. surely no natural power Thence 2. The Spirit of God doth aim in his dealings with man to keep under and restrain their â—sts Here you are to distinguish between what he doth per se and in his own proper nature â—d that which he doth per accidens and occasionally The aim of the Spirit of God in all his â—orks is properly and in its own nature to keep down the lusts of men but yet occasionâ—â—ly his dealing with man doth draw them forth the more as by sending an affliction the â—ord doth it to take away his sin but yet it does raise up his sin and so does the Law sin taking occasion by the Commandment and so the Ordinances of the Gospel also And this will appear Hos 2.6 I will hedge up their way with thorns and I will make a wall that she shall 〈◊〉 find her pasture He compares them to wild beasts that will not be kept within â—unds therefore the Lord made up a hedge of thorns against them that is a hedge of afâ—â—iction and if one affliction will not do it if they still break through the hedge he will â—ollow them with a wall and all this is to the end that she may not find her path that she may not go on and prosper in a way of sinning she shall meet with difficulties in sinful ways â—nd they shall also want success and labour in vain in them for though they do follow â—fter them they shall not overtake them disappointment in the way of sinning is the Lords â—im in all afflictions Job 33.16 17. it is To keep man from his purpose and to hide pride â—â—om his heart And Paul had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him that he might not be â—â—ted up through the abundance of revelation The aim of the Spirit of God is to restrain â—e lusts of men and this very restraining Grace is a great mercy There is a twofold reâ—â—raining Grace 1 Upon the actions of men Pharaoh he had a desire to the sin his lust â—s stirred up but says God Gen. 20. I with held thee 2 Upon the lusts of men says God Exod. 34.24 There shall no man desire thy land To have a mans lust restrained is a great mercy and it is only during the time of this life for afterwards God will let out mens lusts to the uttermost as he does the Devils and their sin shall have rationem poenae Oh unhappy men when God leaves them to themselves and resists not their fury wo be to them whose sin God connives at Luth. the nature of punishment as Aquinas observes after this life the demerit of sin ceaseth Quia pertinet ad damnationis poenam because it belongs to the punishment of damnation as obedience in Heaven belongs to the reward of blessedness Thus all restraining Grace shall cease as all natural affection shall and the Spirit of God shall only work wrath as a spirit of bondage in
the hearts of wicked men for ever 3. The Spirit of God does make use of the Law as a glorious instrument in this work for he works in restraints partly by the Law of God within and partly by the works of God and afflictions without but all his aim is that men may not find their hope Rom. 1.16 The Gospel is the power of God to salvation that is the great and glorious instrument of the power of God so is the Law also an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the Spirit of God does work by the Word and answerably to the Word and not above it or without it It is so called by the Lord Jam. 3.2 If any man offend not in word Jam. 1.26 Jam. 3.2 he is able to bridle the whole body to put a bridle to any thing in Scripture does signifie to moderate that thing and restrain all the rage and exorbitances of it Isa 37.29 I will put a book in his nostrils and a bridle in his lips Now what is the bridle that does restrain the enormities of the tongue see vers 15. It is the perfect law of liberty and this also is the bridle for the whole man Psal 149.8 9. Psal 149.8 9. To bind their Kings in chains and their Nobles in fetters of Iron and this honour have all his Saints To be bound in chains signifies two things Subjection and Restraint now how do the Saints of God do it the fire goes out of their mouths Rev. 11. that is Rev. 11. it is partly by their prayers and partly by their words setting the the Law of God before them and by this means they bind them for they bind up their lusts they restrain their sins and they bind over their Consciences unto wrath and all the Judgements denounced in the Word of God they do as it were execute them by their bringing them upon them as Zach. 1.6 Hos 6.5 Glass Rhet. Sacr. Ezek. 20.37 Psal 2.3 So that they do by the Law of God lay chains upon their Consciences and they execute judgements upon their souls and for that cause it is conceived that the Law is called the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 because 1 as a bond it doth bind to obedience and all disobedience it does restrain 2 The Law is counted a bond by men Psal 2.3 Let us break their bonds and thick weighty cords it is meant the Law of the Lord which brought them into subjection and they count it cords and bonds which are a token of three things 1 Of bondage 2 Of burden 3 Of baseness and that also may be the meaning of that expression Gal. 3.22 For the Scripture has concluded all under sin c. And thereupon Luther says Lex carcer est c. the law is a prison for it does restrain mens lusts they cannot walk at large as they desire to do in ways of evil and he says It is with unregenerate men under the restraints of the law as it is with wicked men in prison he that is shut up does not hate his sin but hates the prison and the thief is grieved at heart that he is not free nor at liberty to steal § 2. How does the Spirit of God make use of the Law for the restraining of sin The Lord has a working upon the hearts of both regenerate and unregenerate men and he has mighty acts of restraint upon them both and they are the wonderful workings of God in the world a man that shall consider the rage and malice of wicked men may wonder that the earth is not more filled with violence there being so many Nimrods mighty hunters of men in the earth that men are not made as the fishes of the Sea the greater to devour the less without controul breaking forth into all excess of riot and blood touching blood Yea he that shall consider the rage and madness that is in the hearts of the Saints themselves as we see it in Asa he put the Prophet in prison when in a rage and David caused them to pass under axes and sawes and harrows and that of Peter who did curse and damn himself and that of Theodosius by whose command seven thousand men were slain in the City of Thessalonica he would soon conclude truly the very mercy and grace of God in restraint is great And he that shall see the horrible abominations that men break forth into from day to day and the strange Apostasies that are come into the world he must conclude even restraining Grace is a great mercy and that this is a glorious and an excellent use of the Law 1 Tim. 1.9 wherein it is wonderfully serviceable to the Gospel Indeed the Apostle says 1 Tim. 1.9 that a man uses the Law lawfully when he knows and considers that the Law was not given for a righteous man There is a double interpretation of it that is most common 1 The Law is not given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not laid upon a godly man as a burthen for he has not only a Rule without but he has also Grace within that dictates to him a living Law within himself So that a godly man lives above the Law for he has a Law within as well as a Law without to restrain him from sin he has an inward principle that makes him hate every false way and what should an obedient and well managed Horse need a bridle for 2 The condemning power of the Law is not for the righteous man against such there is no Law the Magistrate should be nothing else but Gods Vicegerent and he is not a terror to good works but to evil but yet while the Saints of God do live here and are sanctified but in part they need the Law to restrain their lusts and corruptions afterwards when their Graces shall be perfected they shall need to call in no external help of a Law either to restrain from sin or keep them in duty or to quicken them to it but now corruption gets the head many times of the Law within that a man is induced to call in the force of the Law without also and the best of the Saints make use of many legal considerations and motives to constrain and restrain them in this world 1. The Law does restrain sin when the Lord sets before a man the perfection of it It is therefore called a perfect law of liberty this was the perfection in which man was created this was the perfection of the human nature of Christ a perfect conformity unto this Law in nature and life for he was a living Law And this is the perfection in Glory when the Saints shall have a conformity unto this Law and from hence the soul stands in awe of it the Lord shewing a mans abasement and imperfection so far as he comes short of the Law 2. The Law restrains sin so far as the Lord demonstrates its Authority Jam. 2.8 The Royal or Princely Law
they grow above ground the more they spread under ground lop them continually that they grow not above and they will by degrees wither and die Grace doth grow by the actings of it and so does sin and if a man should have Grace in his heart and yet never bring forth fruit though it could not wholly die because it it an immortal seed upheld by the Spirit of Grace yet it would never thrive There is a double way that the Devil takes to increase sin in a wicked man 1 He doth infuse all the devillishness into them that he can the Devil entred into Judas and put it into his heart to betray Christ the wicked one toucheth them 2 All that wickedness that is in them he does act and draw forth to the utmost And there is a double way of the decay of Grace 1 By stirring up and strengthning the contrary principle of sin 2 By hindering Grace from acting in all things and so though it be immortal seed yet in the degrees of it it will decay So it is here the Spirit of God infusing a new principle and restraining and hindering the actings of the old by this means sin dies by degrees and the heart is weaned and taken off from it and this is done by the Law SECT IV. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it is a Rule § 1. WE have thus far considered the Law as it is in its subservience to the Gospel as a glass discovering sin and as a bridle restraining it now we come to the third Consideration as it is a Rule to guide and direct a man in all the ways of obedience and it is a Rule within and a Rule without 1. It is a Rule within that is the Spirit of God given by the Gospel or the second Covenant doth make use of the Law of God as an Instrument of Conversion and so plants in a man a rule of holiness and obedience in his own heart a principle of conformity unto the will of God in all things The Law indeed cannot do this of it self looked upon as a Covenant alone for so it is a dead letter but as it is in the hand of the Spirit Rom. 7.9 The saving knowledge of the Law is brought in by a secret and yet sacred blast of the Spirit of God breaking in and blowing when he listeth Now that the Law is an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the conversion of souls is plain 1 Every part of the Word of God has a converting power if the Spirit of God be pleased to concur with it for every part of the Word of God is seed to beget as well as milk and strong meat to nourish if any part of the Word of God be ingrafted in the heart it will change the stock of what nature soever 2 It is that which is attributed to the Law Psal 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Indeed there is some difference about the word converting some say it is reviving or returning the soul when going down to the pit thou sayest Return again but it is returning from sin as well as sorrow and therefore Act. 7.38 called verba viva vivificantia living and life-giving oracles which give life here and bring to life hereafter 3 That is the promise of the new Covenant I will put my Law into their hearts and write it in their inward parts for no man has by nature the Law of God in his heart for the image of sin and the law of sin is upon the heart of man by nature Gen. 6.5 Rom. 12.2 1 The Law of the Lord is by sin blotted out of the hearts of men that image of God and conformity unto his will is taken away which they had at first and they have a new law the law of sin there 2 It is the Law put into the heart by the Spirit of God that is the rule of all a mans inward obedience and conformity unto God Adam had the Law written in his heart not only a Law without but inward dispositions conformable to it within and when man had blotted it out God wrote it in tables of stone but now he will put it into the hearts of men so that they shall have an inward principle answerable to the Law-rule without and whatever he does require in the Law something within shall answer to it but this Law is put in by the hand of God 3 In Conversion God does put in the whole Law into the heart of man what Law is it but the Moral Law that which is a Rule of a mans way without is the Rule of a mans heart within and God will put it so therein that it shall never be blotted out again by sin for he will write it there that it may remain Litera scripta manet c. but more particularly observe 1. That no man hath in him the Law of God by nature but all are enemies unto the Law in their minds they are not subject unto it neither can be and therefore the Apostle says Rom. 8.7 When the Commandment came c. it was a coming Commandment not of his own fetching it is therefore said to be a voice crying behind us This is the way walk in it for every man by nature hath another law the law of sin the law of his members which stands in opposition to the law of his mind the image he has upon him is the image of the Devil and he has contrary dispositions in his inward man unto God and to the will of God in all things not formed by the word Rom. 12.2 2. That which is written there is the Moral Law There are two great principal parts of a mans holiness Faith and Obedience and because the ground of Obedience is Faith therefore it is commonly called in Scripture the Obedience of Faith and answerable unto these are the two great principal parts of the Word there are the precepts of the Law and the promises of the Gospel and both these the Lord makes an ingrafted word the foundation of a mans faith is the Promise and thereby a man is made partaker of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and the foundation of a mans obedience is the Precept for in the regeneration we are renewed after the image of him that created it therefore writing the Law in the heart is a renewing of the image of God which in Adam we had lost and that was a knowledge of the whole will of God in whatever concerned Gods glory and his own duty and he had an inward ability and disposition of soul in all things to submit himself thereunto with cheerfulness So that in the fall the Law of God that was written in our hearts that was stamped upon us and concreated with us was utterly blotted out and now the renewing of this Law in our inward man is our regeneration a putting the same dispositions within us that were
at first created with us 3. The finger that writes it is the Spirit or the writer is Christ and the ink is the Spirit and the table is the heart in which the Spirit works the habits of all Grace De spiritu litera Cap. 3. Austin has decided it against the Pelagians that there must not only be freedom of will in men and a teaching and a moral perswasion from God which they hold and the Papists and Arminians since but there must be an almighty work of the Spirit of God upon a man creating in him a new nature and putting into a man inward dispositions answerable unto what the Law of God doth require and that by a hand without and so writing does signifie something wrote in a man from without and that I conceive to be the meaning of Rom. 2.15 Rom. 2.15 The work of the Law written in their hearts all the outward acts of obedience that they do and their Consciences accusing or excusing them all those are but the fruits of the work the efficacy of the Law that is written in their hearts We do not read that the Law is said to be written in Adams heart only God created man righteous but writing notes rather an act from an extrinsecal hand And therefore I should rather conceive those practic notions Rom. 2.15 to be written in man by the common work of the Spirit of Christ than to be left in him after the fall not the dross of the old Adam but the foundation of the new c. so that the Spirit of God has his works wrought in both only in the one by a common hand in the other by a saving work 4. The thing that the Spirit of God doth write there is the whole Law he doth write the Gospel and all the Promises thereof he doth take of Christ and shew it unto you Joh. 16. he reveals his glory to you and the preciousness of Gospel-promises and priviledges and a man does believe them and is transformed into them He does also shew a man the Law of God and a man is transformed into the likeness thereof even the whole Law so that a man has respect unto all the Commandments there is an universal change for there is not any part of the Law but it is written within him Civil men may have something of the Law put into their hearts as the Heathen had and they may shew forth something of the work of the efficacy of this Law in their hearts and in their lives also but they have but half the copy but where the Spirit of God does write the Law savingly he writes the whole Law 5. The Law is written in the heart as it is written in a Proposition that which is written in the greatest Letters in the Law hath the greatest Characters in a mans soul and that which is most often repeated in the Law that is most often repeated in the heart and therefore Rom. 6.17 Rom. 6.17 There is a form of doctrine into which you were delivered as into a mould Now in a thing cast into a mould as there is not the least scratch in the mould but it will appear in the thing moulded thereby so answerable unto the impression in the mould will the impression be in the thing and if it be deeper in the one it will be deeper in the other now to know God and to fear him to cleave unto the Lord Christ and honour him and obey him these are the great things of the Law of God wherefore for men to neglect these and have their hearts much taken up though about truths yet things of less consequence and lay out the whole intention of their spirits in these to tythe mint and cummin and to be all in meat and drink and neglect true godliness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in which the Kingdom of God consists mainly this is an evil sign and an argument there is not the right moulding of the Law in the heart 6. Lastly It notes an abiding and continuing of the Law there as things written are for continuance and for after times So Jer. 17.1 The iniquity of Judah is written with the pen of iron that is they are so set upon sin and so hardened in it that there is little or no hope of their repentance their sin is written in the stains and the guilt of it upon their souls So Prov. 3.3 we are exhorted To write the Law upon the tables of our hearts that is by constant observation and meditation to fix them and to imprint them So that the Law is said to be written in our hearts for continuance the Law that was concreated with us in Adam Satan has blotted out but when the Spirit of God does write it there again by the finger of God surely it is that it may be never more obliterated or blotted out Mat. 11.30 Christ saith Mat. 11.30 Take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easie so that Christ suffers not his people to go without a yoke he is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawless as to his actions he is not a son of Belial which Glassius saith signifies a man without a yoke and this yoke is the obedience which in the Gospel the Lord requires and that is nothing else but the obedience of the Law for though Christ hath fulfilled it yet it lies upon us still as a duty though not by way of satisfaction to be performed and this yoke is mainly upon the souls and the spirits of men Now writing the Law in the heart is a perfect conformity of a mans inward man unto the Law of God and all duties that the Lord requires and this is it that makes the yoke easie because it is become another nature an inward principle and what a man does so work from is not burdensome there is a potentia visiva a visive power in the eye therefore it is not weary of seeing and there is a principle a law of motion in the nature of the Sun and therefore it is not weary of motion because it works from an inward principle Men do evil with both hands earnestly and are never weary the reason is because they work from an inward principle And in this conformity unto the will of God which is taking up the yoke 1 There is obedientia voti the obedience of desire when a man desires to obey God in all things and has a careful respect unto all the Commandments and desires to make his heart perfect with the Law of God 2 Obedientia conformitatis obedience of conformity when a man does in some measure answer the Law of God in his actions and in the workings of his inward man 3 Obedientia resignationis obedience of resignation when a man can wholly give up himself to it as to the perfect Law with joy and delight love the law and finds sweetness in it and sees a goodness in whatever it requires and
gives up himself unto it as the perfect law of liberty that wherein his happiness lyes this is that which makes the yoke easie and the Commandment not grievous and the ground of it is because the Law is written in his heart and this is to serve Christ in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter not barely to have a duty in the letter injoined which is that which only prevails with other men to perform duty whilst all that is in their heart is against it they do it and yet hate the duty when done and the Law that injoins it but here is the Spirit of God renewing and working in a man such dispositions of heart which answer the duties of the Law in all things so that a man loves the duties and the Law that commands them as setting him about a service that he is pleased with so that it is the Law that is the yoke of Christ and it is writing it in his heart that makes it an easie yoke In putting the Law as a rule into a mans heart the Spirit of God doth let a man see 1 The Holiness of the nature of God Ephes 4.24 for man was in this created after God neither did the Creature behold the Holiness of God any other way than in the Law which doth forbid the least blemish and defilement all filthiness of flesh and spirit 2 Herein a man sees the glory that was stampt upon him in his creation for his heart was nothing else but a perfect copy of this Law created in it and in this conformity in his inward man to the Law of God did this image principally if not wholly consist 3 This is a perfect resemblance of the Holiness that was in the humane nature of Christ in whom the Law was fulfilled for there was no sin in him He knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth he was a lamb without spot or blemish he was a living Law 4 This is a perfect copy of that conformity unto God that is in the Saints and souls of just men made perfect When he shall appear we shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 The law of his mind shall be perfected and the law of the members wholly destroyed Now we are conformable to the will of God but in some degrees for that perfectio graduum perfection of degrees is to come but the Spirit of God will go over our hearts and write more and more of this Law in us till we be made in all things answerable thereunto And in our conformity to the Law glory being nothing else but Grace perfected shall our conformity unto God in Heaven be where we shall not be like God in part as here we are but shall be wholly conformable to him which is the perfection which we strive for and aspire unto and therefore the Scripture calls this our perfection Paul saith 2 Cor. 13.9 I long for your perfection that is a perfect writing of the Law in the heart and this fits a man for Gospel-Ordinances and the perfection hereof is the reward of the Gospel for the Law written in the heart is the foundation of all obedience unto the Law and the perfect writing the Law in the heart is the highest reward of all the Promises and all the obedience of the Gospel § 2. As the Law is a rule within being planted there by the Spirit given in the second Covenant which does change a mans nature and doth give a man inward dispositions suitable thereunto a law of the mind so is the law a rule to guide and direct a man in his way unto which all the Saints are to give heed from which they are to learn their duties and by which they are to judge of all the ways of God and the ways of the world the Law is added unto the Gospel Fides efficit quod lex imperat as the rule to the hand of the workman the rule is able to do nothing of it self it is a dead thing it is the hand only that does the work and if the hand can do nothing aright without the rule the Law can work nothing being dead without the Grace of the Gospel that only inabling a man to perform all acts of obedience and yet the Grace of the Gospel does inable a man to no other obedience but that of which the Law is the rule Christ himself tells us that his intention in coming was not to destroy the Law of God or put an end to it or make it void Mat. 5.17 Think not that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets and interpreters of the Law Now there are in the Law but three things to be considered either it is for Justification for Condemnation or for Direction Now for Justification unto all that are in Christ it is by Christ abolished no man is justified by the works of the Law but by the Grace of Jesus Christ and for condemnation also for he hath delivered us from the curse of the Law and was made a curse for us There remains now no other proper use of the Law but for Direction as it is a rule and therefore either Christ has destroyed it wholly or else he will have it remain in this last sense and so the next vers 18. tells us Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away and the whole frame of this world fall to pieces before the Law shall pass away therefore it doth remain for Direction unto the Saints unto the end of the world So Rom. 3.31 the Gospel does not destroy but establish the Law the word in the Greek doth signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to strengthen and make a thing firm that was falling before so by the sin of man the Law became weak through the flesh neither to be fulfill'd in the precept of it or the curse but men must be for ever satisfying it now the Gospel comes and it makes the Law firm 1 In our Surety for in him is the precept fulfilled and the curse born he did fulfill all righteousness 2 In us because by the Grace of the Gospel we do attain strength in some measure to obey the Law which is encreased more and more till in our nature and actions we shall be made perfectly conformable unto the Law in Heaven and so the righteousness of the Law perfectly fulfilled in us the Lord perfecting his good work that he has begun in the day of the Lord so that the Law remains as a rule to Believers being not abolished but established by the Gospel 2. The Gospel sends us unto the Law as a rule of duty Luk. 16.30 31. They have Moses and the Prophets the Law and the Expositions of the Law and the Lord requires Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul as well under the Gospel as under the Law And Jam. 1.25 He that looks into the perfect Law of
the Law which is a glass to discover sin and a rule to guide in duty to the end of the world and there will be use of this rule without as long as Heaven and Earth shall last and this frame of Heaven and Earth shall continue till the image of God be perfectly renewed in all the Saints and the law written perfectly in their hearts and they are a law fully unto themselves and so can live above the law and can live upon the law till then you will need the law without and so long this law shall continue and be of use in the Church of God 2. The meaning therefore is that the state of the Old Testament which is here called the Law and the Prophets that is that manner of discovering of the mind of God unto his people which was in the Law and the Prophets that was unto John that is by speaking of Christ to come and promising a higher and a greater light and a greater measure of the spirit in after times but yet it was not accomplished but in 1 Pet. 1.12 To them it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things that are now reported to us to whom the Gospel is preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things the Angels desire to look into So that the state of the Church of God under the Old Testament and the manner of revelation of the mind of God and that measure of dispensation of the Spirit of God and not the Typical part only as some would have it is here meant So that the Ceremonial Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come and did vanish in John's time the Substance being come the Shadows must fly away but also all that manner of dispensation being more obscure and less spiritual and less powerful all that did end because the Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come but John of Christ already come Behold the lamb of God c. so much that word in the Original signifies 3. At the coming of Christ the Law and the Prophets were as it were taken away not by abrogation but by way of excellency as when the Sun rises the Stars disappear and are darkned and all mens eyes gaze on the Sun This is a new and a higher and more glorious way of discovery 2 Cor. 3.10 That which was glorious had no glory in respect of the glory that excelled because now Christ was manifested to be more fully that which he was stiled to be before Dan. 8.13 the word Palmoni signifies the wonderful numberer of secrets or as Junius and Glass what has innumerable secrets And there are divers such names given unto Christ in the Scripture his name shall be called Wonderful Counseller to set forth his nature and his actions Prov. 30.1 Ithiel and Vcal c. The Angel Dan. 9. prays unto Christ to discover unto him how long the Vision concerning the daily Sacrifice and the desolation of the Sanctuary shall be for as Christ is the head of the Angels so he is the teacher of the Angels also and the secrets of the Counsels of God he knows and he reveals them unto the Angels in answer to their prayers Rev. 5. Now there being a fuller and a more glorious way of revelation and a fuller dispensation of Grace the state of the Old Testament under the Law and the Prophets is to be done away not by way of Abrogation but by way of Excellency and so these Scriptures also I conceive are to be understood They shall say no more The Lord lives that brought up his people out of the land of Egypt Jer. 2.3 c. Not that this mercy should be wholly forgotten but as it were darkned and obscured by a greater mercy and a more glorious deliverance and that place also They shall no more teach one another saying Know the Lord for they shall be all taught of God from the greatest unto the least that is there shall be a more full and glorious way of discovery that in comparison of that abundance of light when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the fulness of Grace vvhen the vveak shall be as David there shall be no need of those former vvays of instructions but they shall have their teaching more immediately from the Lord and so that place There shall be no more need of the light of the Sun and of the Moon there shall be a fuller and more glorious light there shall novv seem to be no need of these former vvays of instruction by them and also that place they shall see his face Rev. 22.4 not that men shall have the Beatifical vision here but that there shall be a fuller manifestation of God insomuch that in comparison of what it was before it shall be even as seeing his face in glory as there shall be no more death no more sorrow no more crying not that absolutely there shall be no more for while there shall be sin there will be cause of sorrow and there shall be death till the Resurrection when the change of them that are found alive at the Lords coming shall be to them instead of death death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed immediately before the giving up of the Kingdom of Christ unto the Father but the peace and prosperity of the Church shall be such all the former persecuting Monarchies being destroyed that there shall be in comparison of what there was in former times no more death nor sorrow nor crying under persecutions and groaning and mourning under the cruelties of men no more And thus you see for all this the Law and the Prophets continue till Heaven and Earth be no more Object 2 But it is said in this Text Gal. 3.19 that this subserviency of the Law was but to last till the seed should come unto whom the promise was made and afterwards be given in the hand of a Mediator Vers 16. But till then and that seed is said to be Christ and therefore now Christ being come who is that seed this subserviency of the Law is ended for till then it was to last and no longer Answ 1. Some would seem to understand this only of the Ceremonial Law which they say is afterwards said to be a School-master to bring men unto Christ and so Beza seems to carry it namely that the School-master is only the Ceremonial Law which I conceive our former whole discourse of the use of the Moral Law in this great work of bringing a soul to Christ by discovering of sin and restraining sin and shewing a man the way of Gospel-obedience hath fully rectified but if we consider what is said vers 12 13. this will be clearly manifested for he speaks of that Law that saith He that doth them shall live in them and of that Law that saith Cursed is every one that continues not
in all things written in the book of the Law to do them which cannot be meant of the Ceremonial Law but of the Moral Law and therefore if this Interpretation could stand the answer were easie that the subserviency of the Ceremonial Law was to end when the seed came and yet the Moral the copy of the first Covenant was still to remain and might be a servant to the Gospel and Gospel-ends but it must be understood of the Moral and that was the Law that was added till the seed came 2. Some by the Law understand the whole Pedagogy of Moses in the Ceremonial Judicial and Moral Law and so Beza and Pareus that way of discovering of the mind of God under the time of the Law which was to last only till the coming of Christ the promised seed and all these were added because of transgression that the Jews might thereby be stirred up to long for Christ to come and to pray and wait for the consolation of Israel being shut up under the Law and this darker and obscurer and less spiritual administration till Faith should come that is the dispensation of the Gospel which was afterward to be revealed as it is ver 23. for though the Saints were heirs of the Promises yet they were during that administration as it were under the morning twi-light the Sun not being yet risen as Beza has it and so by the Law he understands the same that before we understood in the continuance of the Law and the Prophets untill John and makes the sense of the words to be the same 3. Some do conceive the seed to be meant primarily indeed of Christ personal but yet in the second place of Christ Mystical Christ with the whole body of Christ and the Church the promise being made unto Christ primarily being primus foederatus the second Adam and the Head and Prince of the Covenant yet so that as the first Covenant was not made with the first Adam in his person only but together with him with all his posterity in him so the Covenant is first made with Christ the second Adam but yet not with him apart from his body but with them in him and so they understand the seed to be not only Christ in himself though he be primarily meant but also Christ in his body all the faithful and then the meaning seems to be this that so long as there are any of this seed to come or to be brought into the body of Christ and to be continued and kept there so long there will be this use of the Law Reinolds the use of the Law as given for the Seed discovering sin restraining it and condemning it that they may with the greater earnestness fly to the city of refuge And as for those places Rom. 6.14 and Rom. 7. it is spoken of Adam as under the Law as a Covenant and as a Husband irritating strengthning and stirring up sin in us sin taking occasion by the Commandment for so he saith Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the Law as a husband stirring up sin in you and thereby bringing forth fruit unto death but under grace as pardoning and so healing corruption and subduing sin and breaking the power thereof and so you are not under the Law provoking sin and strengthning it but under Grace healing sanctifying and subduing it Gal. 5.18 As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the law irritating sin and forcibly compelling unto duty Thus a man may be freed from the Law in these evil effects of it which are but fruits of the Curse even upon the Law of God it self accidentally as it meets with a corrupt nature and yet the Law remain unto those good ends for which it was given in the hand of a Mediator for our Salvation and to advance the Grace of the Gospel Vse 1 § 4. First then it is for Instruction in several particulars 1. It shews us the great end of God in publishing the Law it was for the Saints and for their good only The Law was published by Christ he was the Law-giver of him Moses received lively Oracles Act. 7. and Heb. 12. the end and giving of the Law was in reference unto the seed to whom the promise was made As there is a double end of the Gospel so there is of the Law 1 That which was intended principally and by it self and that only was Salvation both in the Law and in the Gospel to advance the ends of the Gospel 2 There is an accidental end Intentio principalis per se that which follows not from the nature of the thing but from the evil disposition of the subject and so unto all unregenerate men the Law doth discover their sins and make them out of measure sinful doth irritate and stir up their corruptions and so doth heighten and increase them and their condemnation for them as the Gospel doth but yet we may say of the Law as Christ does of himself That he came not into the world to condemn the world but that the world by him might be saved yet by accident he did condemn the world being despised and set for the falling as well as the rising of many in Israel but the proper and principal intent of his coming was salvation and not damnation so here I may say of the Law as it 's said of Christ had there not been some souls that Christ did intend to life he had never come into the world so had there not been a seed unto whom the Law vvas to be a servant the Lord had never given the Lavv never renevved it for there vvas condemnation enough in the vvorld before and death enough before and the vvrath of God did abound upon men the Gospel brings it not upon them but leaves them under it neither vvas it Gods intention in the Lavv to bring them under further condemnation though it does through their corruption prove so but had it not been for the seed the Lavv had never been added as a handmaid to the Gospel so that all the use of the Lavv and the discoveries of it to unregenerate men they do ovve to the Saints for it vvas for their sakes only that Christ did reveal it again to the vvorld 2. See the folly of those that cry dovvn the preaching of the Lavv it vvas published by Christ the foundation of the Gospel and the only Gospel Preacher the great Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gloss and Jerome do expound the vvord Isa 41.27 and yet the Lavv is dispensed unto the seed by and in the hand of this Mediator he that loved this seed so that he laid dovvn his life for it abased his glory and veiled his Godhead yet he did as a fruit of his love unto this seed deliver the Lavv unto them and in the days of his flesh interpreted it and vvill you slight his Love vvill you say it is
unnecessary He that appointed the city of refuge did as necessarily appoint an avenger of blood to pursue or else men vvould not have fled unto that city Will you say this is preaching damnation and driving men to despair vvas it not preached by Christ whose heart was so full of love and thoughts of Grace and who wept over Jerusalem he preached the Law and published it for his seeds sake Truly when we preach the Law we preach Salvation and not damnation intentionally the Lord did deliâ—er the Law for Salvation to serve the ends of the Gospel and so we do preach it and â—et if it proves not so it is by accident by reason of the corruption of the heart of man â—he damnation that it meets withal is thence Therefore see your folly and be ashamed of your ignorance It is a high act of Grace and one of the greatest priviledges that Believers have by Christ that the Law is a servant to the Gospel and yet that Mercy you despise and that Grace you do not love you are to be ashamed of your folly and unthankfulness herein 3. It should teach Ministers that the Law must be preached to the same intent that it was revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator and to the ends of the Gospel and that not only the curses and threatnings of the Law but the precepts and duties of the Law also In the curses and threatnings of the Law our Divines have usually sent men to Christ to bear those but duties have been pressed though not without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian Orat. 17. but that a sufficiency is to be had in him and acceptance from him yet not laying Christ as the foundation of duties as he should have been in time past but men have been prest to duty without a through discovery of a mans Union with Christ as the ground of his assistance and acceptance as there should have been and so men have been put upon duties in a Moral or Legal way as if they had wrought them by their own strength and had a power in themselves though without Christ by reason of their imperfection they could not be accepted and so the way of the Gospel hath not been so clearly discovered and the subserviency of the Law unto the Gospel-grace as it should When the Law is so preached that men are stirred up to seek for Grace in another and to obey him and when the Grace of the Gospel is thus offered as that it inables a man to walk in the way of the precepts of the Law this is indeed to preach the Gospel when a man does so publish the Grace thereof that he does also publish the Law as a servant thereunto 4. See how the heart of God is much in the Salvation of Sinners and to exalt the Grace of the Gospel and honour and magnifie Mercy Isa 53.10 it is now that he would force men to accept of it If men were left unto themselves Christ should never be accepted but die in vain and not a man ever be saved though there were a city of refuge unless there were also an avenger of blood it is not enough for to offer mercy a moral perswasion will not do it but there is without a Law compelling breaking and within there is a spirit drawing and the drawing of the Father Joh. 6.44 lyes in a great measure in this work of the Law the Lord bringing the soul so low that the Blood of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel is precious and a man will accept him upon his own terms and say This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners Thus is the Son a servant unto the Father Isa 42.1 and the Law also a servant to the Son and put into his hand and this shews how much the heart of the Lord is on this work and next to the subjecting of his Son is the subserviency of the Law thereunto Vse 2 It should stir us up to make use of the Law in subserviency to the Gospel for so long as we are in this life the ends of the Gospel are not accomplished there is still sin to be discovered and restrained and condemned there are inward principles the Law in the heart to be perfected and there are duties in which men are to be directed in their whole course and so long as the ends of the Gospel are not attained so long the Law is still to be used and this is that mentioned 1 Tim. 1.8 1 Tim. 1.8 The Law is good if a man use it lawfully that is when it is used by us as it was delivered and published by Christ not for Justification so as to exact righteousness and acceptation from it not to set it up against Christ and the Grace of the Gospel to make the way of the Gospel void as the Jews did Rom. 10.3 but in the hand of a Mediator and for the ends of it and they are the great things of the Law it is the Royal Law and therefore it is a dangerous thing to abase it and therein to take the name of God in vain And as to neglect the Salvation of the Gospel so to despise the convictions or instructions of the Law When the Law is used to discover sin and to keep a man always low and humble in the sense of his own vileness it makes him set a high price upon Christ and the Mercy and Grace of God in him and makes him to keep close to him to keep in the city of refuge because the avenger of blood is without the gate to expect him and that which did at first bring a man in will keep him in for Christ is made a curse for us There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 And when a man comes once to delight in the Law of God it is sweeter to him than honey and dearer to him than thousands of Gold and Silver upon this ground because it furthers the Salvation of the Gospel as Paul says I delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man so far as a man hath an inward principle of conformity to the Law and is regenerate so far the Law is his delight the more a man is sanctified Mat. 11. ult the more precious and sweet it is to him the Commandments of Christ are not grievous but he doth willingly take up the yoke of Christ because it is sweet and light and profitable There is a sweetness in obedience as vvell as an ease and there is a profit also for there is a fruit unto holiness here as vvell as the end everlasting life and vvhen the Lavv does bring a man dovvn to follow the Lamb whither soever he goes and to vvalk humbly vvith his God and say Lord what wilt thou have me to do this is properly for a man to use the Law lawfully for the Law
is added to the Gospel as the Rule is to the work-mans hand and the yoke of Gospel-obedience is nothing else but the duties that the Law requires as being the servant unto the Gospel the way of the Gospel is still the way of thy Precepts O God Vse 3 It is also for Consolation it is the greatest ground of comfort and the greatest gift of God even next unto Christ and the second Covenant that he hath made the Law a servant thereunto It 's much that the Lord has given us all the Creatures and they are all our servants Angels and Principalities and Powers all things are yours whether Paul or Apollo and the curse of the Law also persecutions afflictions death are all sanctified but above all that he has made the Law a servant to the Gospel For the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law all is from the Law and all our fear is from the Law and to have the Law of God to charge sin upon a man is the great ground of a mans terror because it comes to the Conscience with the Authority and Majesty of the great King the highest Judge and Law-giver now to have this Law made a servant and in subordination unto all a mans spiritual and eternal welfare it is a very high ground of a mans consolation and so a man under the second Covenant loseth only that which is evil in the first Covenant but all the good of the first Covenant he attains under the second whatever good the first Covenant can do him he hath that also purchased by Christ for him through the overplus of the Grace the superabundant Grace of the second Covenant that we may say Grace abounded much more thus Out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness and that which was the ground of the greatest terror in the world a man can now claim as his portion talk with as his counseller and feed upon as the sweetest of all his delights that his soul is even ravished with it Thus the Lord has subjected the Law to the Gospel and do you rejoice in its Ministration Thus have we brought this large Tract to an end which is the Key of all the whole Treasury of God wherein you have heard 1 That God in the Creation did deal with man in a Covenant-way 2 The foederati the Covenanters were Adam and his Posterity 3 The terms of this Covenant were perfect personal and perpetual Obedience 4 The Condition on Gods part was Life Spiritual Temporal and Eternal 5 This Covenant Adam brake not only for himself but for all his posterity 6 That the Curse of the Covenant broken is death spiritual temporal and eternal 7 That the Covenant of Works is not abolished by the fall but all unregenerate men stand under it still 8 That this is to every unregenerate man a desirable Condition 9 That under this Covenant all unregenerate men are for Irritation Coaction and Condemnation 10 There is a Translation out of this Covenant and an abolishment of it to all that are regenerate 11 The Subordination of it to the Gospel The END of the First Book BOOK II. THE Covenant of Grace Its AUTHOR FOUNTAIN and the Persons with whom it is made CHAP. I. The Author and Fountain of this Covenant Gen. 17.2 And I will make my Covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly SECT I. The Person who makes this Covenant Jehovah and why he will deal with all in a Covenant way THE Covenant of Works as made with man in his Creation as violated by the Fall and as cancelled in his Regeneration and as subordinate and made subservient to the Covenant of Grace we have seen in the former Discourse and we now come to consider the nature of the second and better Covenant which all the Saints in Heaven are saved by which man can never break and the righteousness whereof sin can never spend There are in Scripture four eminent publick persons with whom this Covenant was made which are set down in two instances in the Scripture 1 With Adam where it is very darkly represented 2 With Noah Gen. 3.15 Gen. 9.9 and with his Sons which is a branch of the Covenant of Grace and is so brought in Isa 54.9 This is the waters of Noah to me 3 With Abraham and to him was the clearest manifestation of it who it may be was therefore called as a special term of honour the Friend of God because the Lord imparted secrets to him in a more evident familiar manner than he had done with the Saints of old as a man does with his friend Luk. 1.73 it is his Oath that he sware to Abraham to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made Gal. 3.16 and if you be Christs you are Abrahams seed and Gal. 4.22 23 24. Abrahams Family is made a type and a shadow of the two Covenants and the durable generation of men under them Abraham had two Sons which things are an Allegory they are the two Covenants c. and therefore Mic. 7. ult it is mercy unto Abraham and truth unto Jacob because in Abraham after a sort the Promise and the Covenant did begin and therefore it is mercy in making it but it is truth in keeping of it 4 With David Psal 89.3 I have made a Covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant And Isa 55.3 I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David and Act. 13.34 you will find it again repeated and therefore is Christ called the Son of David and also David that shall be King over them Ezek. 37.24 Hos 3. ult Act. 15.16 The Tabernacle of David is said to be raised up in the Primitive times but there is a time coming that God will raise up the throne of David also when that promise shall be fulfilled I shall give him the Throne of his father David of his Kingdom there shall be no end and when that Dan. 7.14 shall be accomplished He shall be brought unto the Antient of days and shall receive a Kingdom after the four persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down which we see not accomplished when that Scripture Rev. 11.17 shall be fulfilled That the Kingdoms of the Earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord. His they are now as he is the King of Nations but they shall be so also as he is the King of Saints and they shall subscribe unto the Lord and his name shall be called upon them c. I have made choice of this Scripture as setting forth the Covenant made with Abraham or rather renewed which God had made fourteen years before Gen. 15.18 but herein gave a more full expression of his entring into Covenant with him Wherein you may observe three things 1 That there is a Covenant the Lord will deal with Abraham in a Covenant way the Lord will bring him into the bond
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
conceive it was a body that was given him by the Father 2 There was Union from the Father and therefore there is a grace of Union as to us in Mystical Union it is the Father made up the match between us and Christ and we are united unto him for ever so in the Personal and Hypostatical Union it is the Father that made up the match and made the two Natures to become one Person and therefore it is said Luk. 1.35 That holy thing that is born shall be called the Son of God for it was in obedience to the Father that he did come to take this body into Union it is true he did take the seed of Abraham but it was by the Fathers command Heb. 2.16 Heb. 10.7 and in obedience to him and therefore he says A body hast thou prepared me and therefore he did take it upon himself as he did his sufferings The cup that his Father gave him he did drink and so in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily 3. There is also the grace of Unction God gave not the Spirit by measure unto him Joh. 3.34 Jesus of Nazareth whom God has anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power As it pleased the Father in him should all fulness dwell as the Sun of Righteousness and as the fountain of life and this is not in him only as God but as Mediator but all this is still as it pleased the Father acts of his free-grace 4. Assistance in this great work it is true that Christ was God and able to raise himself 1 Joh. 5.11 and did quicken himself and did overcome death and spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed over them openly but yet he doth ascribe all this to the gracious assistance of God the Father it is the Lord that made him a promise that he should go through with his work and Christ doth strengthen himself by exercising faith upon the Promises of God the Father who promised Isa 42.4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement in the earth I the Lord have called thee in righteousness I will hold thee by the hand that is by a mighty assistance and support and I will keep thee c. and with these Christ helps himself by exercising faith upon them I will trust in thee he is near that justifies me Isa 50.8 Who will contend with me the Lord is at my right hand I shall not be moved Psal 16.8 9 10. therefore my heart is glad and my flesh shall rest in hope for thou will not leave my soul in Hell i. e. in the grave under the power and condemnation of that sin and wrath that now is upon me nor suffer my body to see corruption but thou wilt shew me the path of life c. And Psal 22. he strengthens his faith by experience of his forefathers Our Fathers trusted in thee and thou deliveredst them So that Christs assistance in all his managing of the work of the Covenant is wholly from the free-grace of God the Father and therefore in all the business of it Christ had recourse unto his Father by prayer continually 5. Acceptance It is true that Christ as his Person was in worth and value answerable unto all the Elect of God and beyond them so there was a worth and price in all that he did in his suffering answerable unto whatever the Law and Justice of God did require God did abate him nothing he payed the uttermost farthing else there could not have been satisfaction Isa 63.6 for it must be redditio aequivalentis pro aequivalenti it was a full satisfaction God did abate him nothing in this but God made our sins to meet upon him he did not abate him one sin and being made sin he did not abate him any part of the curse And what mercies soever the Lord doth bestow upon us Christ hath paid a valuable price for them because his obedience did deserve and did truly merit at the hand of God whatever the Lord shall bestow upon us to eternity either in Grace here or Glory hereafter it is indeed free unto us and a gift but yet it is unto Christ a purchase and therefore here indeed there is nothing of grace as it were but all is of debt that is Christ did lay down something answerable unto whatever God did either give or forgive But yet here is Grace in the Lords acceptance of all that Christ hath done and suffered for us and the imputation thereof unto us and that the Lord should account this by a Soveraign imputation to be as done in our stead and for us for the Law did say the soul that sins shall die it is Grace only that brings in the commutation of the Person though there be no commutation of the righteousness that was required of us Heb. 10.10 it is meerly of Grace that the Lord has accepted of Christ for us all the benefits of the Death of Christ as Pardon of Sin Reconciliation with God Justification and Adoption they do all depend upon this will of the Father for had he not appointed this work and thereby declared his acceptation had not he accepted it who was the Judge we could never have had any benefit by it and therefore it is by his will alone that all this is made over unto us there was free-grace abundantly in his acceptation By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Isa 53.11 Joh. 6.38 by the knowledge of him and faith in him for of such a knowledge it is meant I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me the meaning is not as if Christ came unwillingly but that his Fathers will was first in this work and so much in it that the thing that Christ did principally aim at was to please his Father and to do his will therein Now because Christs great aim was to do his Fathers will and to please his Father doing all by appointment from him he knew he hath acceptance with him for though Christ had paid the price it was free with God to accept it or no. 6. There is a reward that is given unto Christ for all the services that he does perform He hath a name above every name Phil. 2.9 10. and a seed Isa 53. and a glory He being set on the right hand of the Majesty on high 1 Pet. 1. ult Angels and Principalities and Powers being made subject unto him and this the Lord hath given him as a reward of his service I will not now speak unto that Question put by some Divines Whether Christ did merit for himself which our Divines do deny in this sense as being the great end why he did come into the world to merit for his Elect-ones because the Scripture saith God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son Joh. 3.16 And to us a Child is born to us a son is
his righteousness Now in a way of justice there are but two ways to make a man guilty of sin and obnoxious to punishment either from sin inherent or imputed and this of imputation is either from a natural Union as it is in us and therefore we are guilty of Adam's sin or by voluntary Union and by way of suretiship when one person free in himself doth willingly take upon him the guilt of another mans offence and subject himself unto the punishment for it And either of these may be a ground of proceeding against such a person in justice Now Christ hath in him no sin by nature either inherent or imputed he knew no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth though he were a Son of Adam yet being begotten by the Holy Ghost and not coming into the World and descending from Adam in a natural way and being God and man in one person he could not naturally and necessarily come under Adam's Covenant but was in this respect separate from sinners but by way of Covenant and voluntary undertaking so he was made sin for us and so he was made a Curse and so he doth confess our sins as his own and so bears them it being the guilt that he had taken upon him and thereupon God dealt with him as an enemy and laid upon him all the wrath that was due to Sin Now the ground of all this dealing of God was only the Covenant 4. It is the Apostles reason Rom. 4. for the justifying of a sinner by Faith that the promise may be sure to all the Seed because it puts the whole power and the righteousness by which we are justified out of our selves in another so it is here the Lord will have the Covenant made with Christ and ingage him therein that the promise may be sure to all the Seed the Lord knew that we would fail him and there was nothing to be expected from us Psal 89.19 and therefore says I have laid help upon one that is mighty and one that is every way able to satisfie and I have put it upon him and from him I will expect it he hath undertaken it and therefore God doth take all our sins from us and put them upon him as it is said God was in Christ reconciling the world 2 Cor. 5.19 putting their trespasses upon him but not upon them and it is observable though we come into the same Covenant with Christ in point of obedience yet in point of satisfaction he takes only Christs single Bond and he will never ask any thing of us till Christ fail him 3 dly When did the Lord make this Covenant with Christ and when was it to take place 1. This Covenant passed between God and Christ the Father and the Son before the World began How many are thy thoughts to usward Dan. 8.13 It is Christ that knew the thoughts of God whose name is Palmoni qui secreta numerata habet peccata who hath all our secret sins numbered And what be those thoughts It is sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldest not c. thoughts of satisfaction to the justice of God and the redemption of the elect by a sacrifice and they are no new thoughts but such as God took up from eternity and such transactions as past between God and Christ before his coming into the World And then said I Lo I come to do thy will O God In the beginning of his way I was set up as a King and Priest and Prophet from eternity and this not only in decree and appointment but also by covenant and compact and by mutual agreement between them For all that vast eternity that they spent by themselves was spent wholly in matter of delight and that was double 1 The Father and the Son delighted one in another I was his delight daily 2 The Son delighted in the salvation of man and the same word is used in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it is spoken of man fallen for it is in the habitable parts of the earth that is of all mankind scattered throughout the whole face of the earth wheresoever men dwell And there was neither Angels nor any part of the works of God mentioned but this only and this delight was while it was only in the expectation of it in beholding the purpose of God and those vast thoughts of Glory that the Lord had laid up there Titus 1.2 there is a promise of eternal life which could not be but unto our representative one that did enter into Covenant And 't is said 2 Tim. 1.9 There is grace given us in Christ before the world began 2. But yet this Covenant was not actually to take place till man was fallen 1 It is a Covenant of reconciliation and it doth suppose God and man at variance and it was because the Children were partakers of flesh and blood therefore he himself took part of the same He was made under the Law to redeem us that were under the Law Our deliverance must be by Redemption and the Covenant of Reconciliation 2. It must be by a Priest one to offer a sacrifice and it must be after man had lost all other sacrifices that he must come The blood of Bulls could not take away sin Heb. 10. and yet it did take place immediately after the fall Christ was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world not only as to the decree but as to the efficacy and it is by vertue of that agreement between God and Christ that the Lord under the Old Testament pardoned all the Saints barely upon the word of Christ before he had paid any part of the debt and therefore Rom. 3.25 Christ did not only dye with reference unto the sins of the World that were to come but those that were past and the men were in possession of all because the justice of God was satisfied though only in the covenant and promise between them God looking upon Christ to come and they exercising their faith upon Christ that was to come And now satisfaction is given Christ relies upon the Covenant between him and his Father for the application as the Father took Christs word for satisfaction and oblation before his coming It is one of the greatest grounds of faith that is in the Word of God that Christ is ingaged by Covenant as well as unto us and therefore he being the Son will be faithful to his Father And also that God is ingaged unto Christ as well as unto us and therefore will be faithful to him also and will not break with the Son therefore surely his enemies shall be destroyed that rise up against the Kingdom of Christ for he is ingaged to make his foes his footstool There are three things that are crying amongst men 1 The cry of Blood 2 The wages of a Hireling 3 The will of the dead unperformed Now here is all the Blood of Christ shed and he as a Servant
did all by Covenant and Christ dying did give Legacies that by the means of death they that are called may receive the promise of eternal Life it is a Testament confirmed by the death of the Testator Surely it shall be performed for it is a Covenant made unto Christ and if you did love him your hearts would rejoyce more in the performance of it as to Christ than unto your selves § 3. I come now unto the fourth particular in the opening of the point That is the Terms of the Covenant as they did pass between the Father and the Son and are set forth in the Scripture A Covenant is an agreement upon certain Conditions unto which two persons or parties by mutual consent do freely bind themselves So that in a Covenant properly and so in this there are four things 1 The parties that make the Covenant must be free 2 The Articles or Terms must be propounded 3 There must be a mutual free and full consent 4 By this consent they are bound each to other 1. In a Covenant the parties must be free and in their own power and therefore in Vows to God or Covenants with men if one under the power of another do Vow or Covenant it is in his power under whom he is to disannul and make it void Numb 30. 4.8 And therefore Divines do here commonly observe two things 1 The difference between a Law and a Covenant a Law being the act of a Superior that hath power over another doth bind whether the party bound thereby doth consent or no for it is an act of the Will of a superior upon one that is subject to his will but it is not so in a Covenant it doth require consent in both parties 2 They distinguish between the Covenant that passed between the first Adam and that which God made with the second Adam The Covenant made with the first Adam was such that though his consent was necessary to make it a Covenant else it had been only a command yet unto this Covenant by the right of creation he was bound to consent and consenting it was but his duty and there was a duty which lay upon him antecedente◠to consent unto that Covenant and the terms that God should propound But it was not so in the Covenant that God made with the second Adam he was free to accept of the terms of the Covenant or no when God had propounded them so that there was no duty that lay upon him anteceeding his consent So that the Covenant between God and man is not properly such a Covenant as is between God and Christ and between man and man in which each party is free and not bound to any thing but by his own consent Now 1 consider God is free and a debtor unto none God the Father who hath the first and the great hand in the Covenant and in propounding the terms thereof is debtor to none For he that is the first cause and the last end of whom all things are and to whom they are he can be debtor unto none but so God the Father is of whom are all things And that is Aquinas's rule * Deus non est debitor quia ad alia non ordinatur sed omnia adseipsum Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 Rom. 11.36 2 Christ is free and in his own power 1 If we consider him as the Son the second person with whom properly the Covenant was made for God did agree with the Son that he should take the nature of man upon him and in that nature suffer and satisfie and his very taking of mans nature was an act of obedience and duty that was due from the Son by Covenant and he did it in reference to the will and command of the Father as he did all other things either doing or suffering in that nature John 1.2 The word is God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.7 and therefore is free even as God himself and is not bound unto any duty but by his own consent 2. If we consider Christ as man in that he was not free for he was bound unto the Law and to all the duties of it as he was a creature It 's true he having taken the nature of man was by his Covenant bound to offer that nature as a sacrifice for Gods satisfaction and for mans sanctification in that nature he was to be made sin and to bear our Curse If we do consider Christ as meer man then he was bound indeed unto the Law by right of creation as well as we but if we consider him as God and Man so we cannot say that he is bound for actiones sunt suppositorum And our Divines generally say that there is a communication of properties between the two natures so that he does offer himself by the eternal Spirit Heb. 4.14 All his actions and passions in our nature are not only humane but Divine being from him who was both God and Man and that he was no otherways bound to obey God in that nature than he was to assume the nature no Law did require that his obedience should be the obedience of God and that God should be satisfied by the blood of God and that he should suffer that did never sin this was from the Covenant of God the Father and the superabundan◠grace of God the Son And therefore when Christ saith that he received a commandment to obey it refers only to his obligation by covenant and not by any antecedent duty that he did owe his Father 2. The terms of the Covenant or Articles of agreement that did pass between the Father and the Son are contained in two things 1 Something that the Father did require of the Son 2 Something that the Father did promise the Son 1. There is a service that the Father doth propound unto the Son and that is double 1 That he should take upon him the form of a Servant The children being partakers of flesh and blood that he should take part of the same Heb. 2.14 Bernard Rom 3.26 He took not only the form of a Servant that he might be subject but also of an evil Servant that he might be beaten he was willing to take the body that the Father had prepared for him that he might be bruised by him 2 That in that nature he should perform whatever was necessary for the satisfaction of God or the sanctification of man and in all things he must be Gods servant do his will and serve his ends deny himself humble and abase himself that his Father may be exalted Isa 42.1 1. He did whatever is required unto the perfect satisfaction of God The Justice of God is twofold 1 Remunerative justice in reference unto the precept of the Law as man was a creature 2 Vindicative justice in reference to the curse of the Law as man was a sinner and he that shall give a perfect satisfaction to Justice must perform
both these 1 In reference to the precept of the Law and the Remunerative justice of God so God did require of his Son that he should perfectly obey that Law that man had broken and this obedience of Christ consists 1 In this That it must proceed from a nature perfectly answering the Law Heb. 7.26 he was holy and harmless c. 2 Holy actions Matt. 7.3 Joh. 8.29 Rom. 8.2 5 19 he did fulfill all righteousness and it is becoming him so to do He knew no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth 3 Herein he did continue and persevere unto the end He doth always the things that do please him and these go unto Gods satisfaction and to our justification as by Adams actual disobedience many are made sinners so by Christs active obedience many are made righteous Rom. 3. last Dan. 9.23 Rom. 8.3 And he saith he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it And the way of the Gospel doth not make void the Law but establish it and there are two parts that Christ must act to finish transgression and make an end of sin and to bring in an everlasting righteousness and therefore the righteousness of the Law is said to be fulfilled in us and it is the righteousness of the Law and that which doth exactly answer the Law in all things Ambros It is fulfilled in us while it is imputed to us 2 In reference to the curse of the Law and the vindicative justice of God and herein are four things 1 He must represent our persons and therefore he is called a surety that must stand instead of the debtor as the sacrifice did dye instead of the man And he is said to bear our names in his heart as the High Priest did upon his breast-plate as one that represented all these before God and therefore he is said to be made sin for us and a curse for us and to suffer the just for the unjust for us that is in our stead Therefore we need not say how can one person make satisfaction for so many thousands Truly there is a worth and an excellency in the person of Christ equivalent to the persons of all the elect and he did as their surety represent them all before the Lord. 2 He must bear their sins and all the guilt of them 't is all charged upon him 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made sin for us that knew no sin The greatest sinner says Luther Christ was because he bore the sins of all the elect of God God did make to meet on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 Psal 40.12 Gal. 3.13 He did confess our sins as his own Mine iniquities have taken hold of me God did impute sin to him 3 He must suffer our Curse He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us the chastisement of our peace was upon him when God made his Soul an offering for sin 4 He must pay the utmost farthing and that he did John 16.10 of righteousness Because I go to my father and you see me no more It was an argument that the debt was paid for the High Priest entred into the most holy place once a year but I go to the Father where I should never have come if I had not discharged the debt and I have done it once for all and therefore you see me no more He is gone into Heaven he was taken from Prison he was put into the Grave as a Prison and as a Malefactor but to shew that our debt was satisfied the Lord sent an Angel as a publick Minister of Justice Psal 110. last and did open the Grave and gave him a release he did lift up his head having drunk of the brook in the way And all this Christ did perform not of his own will meerly and of his own accord but he did it in obedience to a command John 10.18 I lay down my life and take it again for this commandment I received of my father Thy law is in the midst of my bowels Psal 40.7 8. it is the law of dying to be made a sacrifice And he saith Psal 40.7 8. In the volume of the book it is written of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some do understand it of the Book of Gods Decrees and so this of Christ was first the Lord priviledging him to be the Churches head in the first page of this Book it was written of him that he should do his will others understand it of the Book of the Scriptures the Prophecies and Predictions of Christ in them and the Lord in them did foretell what past between the Father and the Son at the Council Table of Heaven before ever Christ came into the World the Lord Christ said Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldest not it would not satisfie him but thou hast told the World of me that it was thy will that I should do it and I am ready to obey Gal. 4.4 c. Thus was Christ made under the Law as our surety and laid down an answerable price unto whatever the Law and Justice of God could expect of us 2. Christ did whatever is required unto mans sanctification 1 He gathers them Other sheep I have that are not of this fold them I must bring in Joh. 10.16 Joh. 8.39 it is spoken as a duty that lay upon him which God required of him I must do it it is the will of him that sent me that of those that thou hast given I should lose none but raise them up again 2 He must govern them and erect a throne of grace in their hearts and rule in them Isa 40.10 11. His arm shall rule for him and he shall feed his flock as a shepherd gathers the lambs with his arm 3 He sanctifies them receives the spirit for them and dispenseth it unto them Isa 42.1 2. He is my servant I put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles And therefore he went to Heaven as a publick person as the second Adam and having himself received the Holy Ghost he doth send forth the gifts and graces of it more abundantly for Christ is in Heaven by vertue of Office and it was necessary in that respect that he should depart from us because by Covenant he was to perform some acts of office in Glory he was to go before and prepare a place for you 4 To be their Advocate and plead their cause and the word as Cameron observes is in opposition unto an accuser 1 Joh. 2.1 Rev. 12.10 Satan is the great Accuser of the brethren he doth accuse the brethren before God day and night And we see Zac. 3.1 2. Satan stands at his right hand as the manner of accusing was in antient times as we see in Jobs instance but Christ makes answer for them there is a difference between Christ as a surety and as a publick person who
Application of the point 1. The arguments and demonstrations for the proof of it are many 1 Cor. 15.47 Rom. 5.14 1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the second Adam Adam is said to be the type of him that was to come Now wherein did this type lye The first Adam was a publick person a representative head and there were two things that made him so 1 He received a Covenant for his posterity the Covenant was made with them but with them in him therefore in him all sinned 2 There was an Image laid up in him not only for himself but for all his posterity and they did all bear the Image of the earthy so is Christ the second Adam being a publick and common person in both respects as he had a Covenant made with him and therefore as we are said to bear the Image of the heavenly Isa 49.8 1 Cor. 15.49 so he is said also to be given as a Covenant to the people Isa 42.6 Therefore as the first Covenant was made primarily and immediately with the first Adam so was the second Covenant made primarily and immediately with the second Adam also 2. How do all the Saints come into the second Covenant How does a man become a Covenanter here How does a man become a Covenanter in the first Covenant It is by Union with the first Adam we must be one with him before we can sin in him and therefore Angels are not guilty of Adams sin nor men of the Angels sin because they were not one with them they came not under their Covenant So all men do come under the Covenant of Grace as they are one with Christ the head of the Covenant Gal. 3.29 If you be Christs you are Abrahams seed and heirs also of the promise so that as there is not a new Covenant made with every man that is born into the world but the old Covenant made with Adam in his Creation stands still in force only as soon as a man is born and becomes a man he is one with the first Adam and is so reckoned and counted by God as under this representative head so there is not a new Covenant made with every believer for they all come under Abrahams Covenant and Davids Covenant even the same Covenant that was made with Christ only they become one with him as members of his body and so they are represented and counted by God as under this head and so under this Covenant therefore in Conversion there is a double change 1 Moralis moral which is a change of a mans Covenant because there is a change of a mans head and then 2 Realis real or a change of a mans Image because there is a change of a mans spirit and a man receives another spirit different from the spirit of this world but then there is this difference Our Union with the first Adam is natural and necessary we being originally contained and seminally represented in him but the other is voluntary and by consent as between a man and his surety who are one in conspectu fori in legal account by the mutual consent of both parties Christ out of his free love consenting to represent us and we by an Almighty Power the Spirit of God giving an effectual power to the will consent unto Christ to be one with him and to be represented unto God by him so then as Christ has the preheminence in all other things as he is first elected and we in him so he is primus foederatus the first federate and we in him and no otherwise in the Covenant but as we are one with him for if there be a Covenant made between two and yet afterwards another by consent of parties be taken into the same Covenant it must be granted that he was not first in the Covenant but came in by consent and at second hand 3. In whom the righteousness of the Covenant is with him primarily the Covenant was made but the righteousness of the Covenant is to be found in Christ alone he is made unto us of God Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 Heb. 7.22 Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and therefore he is the surety of the Covenant he is one that did strike hands with the Lord and did ingage himself for our debt Now in a suretiship there are two things 1 The principal one that is chiefly bound to pay the debt and of whom in a legal way the creditor will expect it 2. In case of failure of the party the surety is engaged for it as truly as if it were his own now in the first respect Christ is not so properly a surety for God did never make a Covenant with Christ with any intention to exact or expect any thing of us Psal 89.9 but I have laid help upon one that is mighty which is a word often used of Christ he is called the mighty God Isa 9.6 and Psal 45.3 Gird thy sword O most mighty as if the Lord had said I know that these will fail me and are every way unable to pay therefore I will lay it upon a substantial person one that has ability to give me satisfaction and of him will I expect the debt But in the second respect it is that Christ is said to be the surety as one that has undertaken to pay in our stead what we were never able neither could it be expected from us Christ became a surety of the second Covenant and every part thereof he did not only undertake to satisfie God in his Law and Justice both in reference to the Precept and the Curse that all lay upon him as his debt he being made sin for us and a curse for us and we by the imputation of it as being in him are excepted from it for in his justification we were justified also for he died as the surety of the Covenant and so he rose and therefore is said 1 Tim. 3.16 to be justified in the spirit as he is said to be quickened in the spirit 1 Pet. Heb. 9.14 to offer himself by the eternal spirit of the godhead and being raised thereby he is said in his resurrection to be justified because that did declare that the debt was paid and therefore God sent an Angel as a publick Officer and Minister of justice to roll away the Stone and to let him out of Prison and therefore 1 Cor. 15. the Apostle doth reason from the resurrection of Christ that if he be not risen we are yet in our sins but Christ being risen and thereby justified we also are justified and accepted because that did declare that the debt was paid by our surety and he receiving a discharge in him we are discharged also Moreover as the surety of the Covenant he hath not only undertaken to pay our debt but also to work in us whatever God requires of us should be done by us in the Covenant of Grace so Pareus says he was a surety spondens Deo
Covenant that by which all the elect should be saved 2 Sam. 23.5 This is all my hope and all my salvation says David c. Now there is no creature that is intrinsically unchangeable either in his being or working the best of the creatures the Angels are subject to change he is said to charge them with folly not with actual but with possible folly all of them for they be of themselves and in their own nature subject to change and so was man before his fall Therefore much more must he be so afterwards If the Lord should have received a satisfaction for his sin in Christ and afterwards left him in the hand of his own Counsels man would have immediately brought himself into the same condition and would have had great need of a new satisfaction and so Christ might have suffered often and have become as the beasts were a daily sacrifice therefore Christ is called the surety of the better Covenant Heb. 7.22 not only a surety of the old Covenant in paying our debt but of the better Covenant in undertaking our duty that by the one he may deliver us from sin and by the other he may confer upon us immortality and life And thus God could not looking upon man as fallen enter into a Covenant of Grace and reconciliation with him immediately without a surety for satisfaction to pay the debt he owed and therefore it must a Covenant in the hand of a Mediator and so the Lord enters into Covenant with Christ the surety and takes his word for both which we were never able to perform and so he doth sweeten the heart of man to draw near to God and in him we have access with boldness but not in our selves immediately Jer. 31.20 Ephes 3.12 3dly In him alone is the righteousness and the holiness of this Covenant laid up and therefore with him only must this Covenant be made and could be with none other 1 As to the righteousness of the Covenant we see with whomsoever the Lord made a Covenant the righteousness of the Covenant was laid up in him that he had an original power from God to perform the duties of that Covenant as God made a Covenant with the Angels and therefore their fall was a voluntary defection from the Law of their Covenant They abode not in the truth but left their first habitation But we find that all the Angels fell â—ot but only those that had a hand in and did consent to the transgression and from â—ence we do rightly conclude that the Covenant was made with every particular Angel for â—imself and not with any common head but that every one stood by his own righteousâ—ess but men being to come into the World successively in their several generations and 〈◊〉 have their being from another and not all at once therefore the Lord doth make a Coveâ—ant with them by a common head a publick person for them and in him the righteousâ—ess and grace of the Covenant must be deposited Rom. 41 11. and therefore God condemns man by impuâ—ation of anothers sin and he justifies man by imputation of anothers righteousness and therefore though the woman were first in the transgression yet mankind is not said to sin in her â—ut in Adam who was the common head Now unto man fallen there could not be a righteousness laid up in any other for 1 the righteousness of the second Covenant must be a perfect righteousness such as may make satisfaction not only for the sins of a few but of all the elect of God not only under the New-Testament but under the Old not only those that had been committed before but such as have been since those that are past and those also to come and this he could never do Rom. 3.25 Heb. 9. unless there were a dignity and worth in his person answerable to and beyond all the persons whom he did represent Therefore there must be a worth in Christs person above all the Saints and infinitely beyond theirs and if he stands in our stead he must make God amends and that is only as being God and Man by the hypostatical Union for the person being God-man he is most worthy Now all his sufferings and obedience became the sufferings and obedience of him that was God-man and thus he became a Son of righteousness Mal. 4.2 2 Cor. 5. last the righteousness of his humane nature being the righteousness of God not the essential righteousness of the Divine nature which is infinite and cannot be imputed to a creature but the righteousness wrought in his humane nature unto which the Godhead gave an efficacy and excellency and so he is a full and perfect fountain of righteousness as the Sun is a fountain of light to the World so is his righteousness to all the elect of God 2 The righteousness of the Covenant must be an everlasting righteousness or else the Covenant could never be an everlasting Covenant Dan. 9.24 for if the righteousness of the Covenant be broken the Covenant it self is made void as we see in the Covenant made with Adam and the Angels but such a righteousness could not be laid up in any meer creature which is in its nature subject to change therefore it 's said in Job God put no trust in the Angels even the Angels that fell not Job the election of God kept them from falling and they are now confirmed by Christ by whom as ministring Spirits they are imployed in the second Covenant and kept that they fall not he being the head of all principalities and powers 3 The righteousness of this Covenant must have a merit with it or else it will never answer Gods end nor our necessity for if Christ had paid the old debt and we had been restored into the primitive state this had not answered the riches of Gods Grace in the new Covenant nor mans necessity there is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a redemption price to be paid but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 1.14 a purchase to be made of an inheritance the adoption of Sons to be attained and a Glory to be bestowed Now this could not be in any of the creatures for they were all bound unto the Law and when they had done all that was commanded they were unprofitable servants it was no more than was due and for themselves only they had no righteousness to spare to another and if they had it would not answer this legal debt there is nothing of a sinner can give a legal merit this only can be from him the excellency of whose person doth exempt him from the Law unless by voluntary submission he be made under the Law and by his subjection is the Law glorified more than all the transgressions of the creature could abase it 2 The grace of the Covenant could be laid up in no other and God will not deal with man being a sinner immediately in any thing the
us also that we are to admire honour and exalt the Lord Jesus given as a Covenant to the Nations 1st That he would consent thereunto for whatever Christ is made for us and whatsoever he is given to us is by his own consent and there is a concurrence of his will with God the Father 's therein for as he is the Son he is God equal with the Father and thought it no robbery so to be Phil. 2.7 8. and therefore he cannot come under an act of Gods will but by his own consent whence in the very election of Christ there is a concurrence of the will of Christ unto it Christs generation is an act of nature but his election is an act of will and as Christ is God he cannot come under an act of Gods will without his own consent He is said to be foreknown 1 Pet. 1.20 Heb. 1.2 and foreordained before the world began and to be appointed heir of all things God having an absolute dominion over us we being in his hand as clay in the hand of a Potter our election is meerly an act of his sovereignty God having absolute power to appoint us to what end he will as well as to give us what being he will but it is not so in the election of Christ nor in any of the consequents of his election he coming not under an act of Gods will but by his own consent Hence that Christ should come under this Covenant and be made a Covenant unto us doth exceedingly exalt the Lord Jesus We look upon it as a great condescension in God the Father that when he had made his creature he would be bound to him and not only be his God by creation but also by stipulation he pays debts that owes none he forgives debts as not valuing them But the condescension of Christ is exceeding great to enter into Covenant by way of obedience and subjection and this honours God more than the obedience of all the creatures in Heaven and Earth that his Son should be in subjection to him and this honours the Law more than any thing else that he that is the Lord of the Law should be made under the Law and that he that was equal with God in nature should come under the counsel of his will it is much more than for all the creatures to obey him that did owe all that they were by the right of their creation for all the Stars to vail their faces before the Son it 's nothing but for one Sun to be willing to be Eclipsed that the other may shine for all the Subjects in Kingdom to serve a Prince is nothing but for a Prince equal with himself in state and honour to come and be a Servant and wait upon him on his knees and be at his command honours him more 2dly That hereby you should have the benefit of this eternal transaction between the Father and the Son before the World began and of that mutual agreement that was between them for the whole Covenant was in reference unto you Christ came into the World under an ingagement and therefore he saith Lo I come to do thy will and the Lord calls him his Servant I will bring forth my righteous servant the branch and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many and it was a service undertaken and consented unto and that which he was appointed before the world began 1 Pet. 1.20 Titus 1.2 2 Tim. 1.9 And of this I conceive these places of Scripture are to be understood John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me And Rev. 3.8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not writen in the lambs book c. It cannot be spoken of election for though election being an act ad extra is common unto all the persons and therefore the Son and Spirit had a hand in the choice as well as the Father I know whom I have chosen yet that is an act of Christ as God but this is spoken of him as he is the Mediator as he is the Lamb so he hath a Book of life which can be understood no otherwise but in reference unto the Covenant that the Lord did work with him as Mediator and in reference to the Souls that the Lord did then indent with him for to save all those that he had chosen unto life that were in the Covenant between Christ and him and he did give unto Christ by Covenant and Christ did therein transcribe their names out of the Lords Book of election into the Lambs Book which is a meer transcript of the Father's Book of life And thus you have the benefit of this great transaction between the Father and the Son by vertue of this Covenant and thereby you become part of Christs care and have your names written in his heart from all eternity and thereby have as it were a being in Christ before you had a being in your selves he bore you in his bosom had your names in his Book before the World was 3dly That to introduce this Covenant of Grace Mercy and Reconciliation for it was not to take place till after the fall he should put himself under another Covenant and that upon the worst terms a Covenant broken and so he must not only come under the duty but also under the curse of it be made under the law Gal. 4.4 to redeem us that were under the law To undertake the duty had been much to fulfill all righteousness but to bear the curse to be made a curse for us was more But above all to lye under the guilt as an offender that was the greatest abasement to be reputed a sinner by men and to have sin imputed to him by God to be made sin and to confess your sins as his own Psal 40.2 2 Cor. 5.21 to be circumcised and stand in the Temple for purification as if he were born in sin and for the iniquity of us all to meet upon him is a greater condescension Isa 33.6 Had Christ undertaken to have been when that Covenant was broken but a Mediator by way of intercession and intreaty being beloved of God and powerful with him as the Woman of Tekoah was with David for Absolom and the Saints are so Ministers one for another pray one for another that you may be healed yea and the Angels also for they are Interceders with the Lord in the behalf of his people Dan. 4.17 had the Lord Christ but improved his power and interest with God that when we had broken the first Covenant he would have tried us with a second to see if we would be more â—aithful unto God in that than we had been in the first it had been a great mercy and a wonderful act of love so far to have appeared for us but for the Lord Christ to become a surety that is a Mediator of satisfaction to pay our debt and not to do
Covenant only upon his account thou art by sin cut off from God the fountain of all blessings and thou must receive nothing from him immediately but in the hand of a Mediator It is as a King gives some great thing to a stranger at the request of a Favorite the man can only look upon himself as one that hath received his favour â—ut it is not for his own sake but for anothers my person is not accepted as in my self but in him nor my duties but as in him if God speak to us it is by him and if we speak to God it is by him so that we have nothing to do with God immediately nor receive any thing from him immediately but it is through the Angels hand the Angel of his presence and it belongs to us only by Union the debt iâ— paid in him and our duty performed in him Here is nothing but matter of self-denial and abasement for us and we have a continual need for there is a proneness in all men being brought unto God to be too forward to câ—me unto him in their own names and not to exercise thoughts of Faith upon their Priest by whom they have access to God as they should do and there is no way to keep the Soul humble more than this * Tota vita nostra tentatio est ab insidiante superbiâ nec ipsa tuta est victoria Ambros Ephes 7.3 12. 3 It is of great use for a man to know his place and station for his consolation 1 In this that it being the Covenant made with Christ a man comes under Christs Covenant which is a better Covenant than that which Adam had given him or of the Angels themselves he now stands under the same Covenant that Christ himself is under as Mediator 2 It is of great consolation in this that whatever is required in the Covenant he is the surety so that the Lord hath laid help upon one that is mighty and it is primarily required of him and of us in him as he hath undertaken for us therefore though we want ability yet there is strength in him and he is ingaged to dispense it there is no worthiness in us but there is enough in him and he is ingaged by Covenant to present it to his Father for all the duties of the Covenant are required first of him and all the promises of the Covenant are dispensed first unto him Vse 2 § 2. The second Use is of Exhortation If the Covenant of Grace be made with Christ then if you would have an interest in Christs Covenant you must become one with him Thou art bound unto God by a double bond of creation and stipulation and that Covenant under which thou art by nature makes thee one with the first Adam and that bond of the Covenant hath held the Devil in chains of darkness which none can loose but he that loosed the pains of death he can loose the chains of darkness the curse and bond of the Covenant and that is by a translation into a better Covenant which is only by Union And to allure you and speak to your hearts consider the glories of that Covenant that was made with Christ into which I desire you to be translated 1 In this Covenant the Lord shall be thy God as he is Christs God and thy Father as he is Christs Father 2 Thou shalt be freed from the dominion of the Law The law has dominion over a man whilst he lives but saith Paul I through the law am dead to the law all that is good in the Law thou shalt have but all that is evil and hurtful thou shalt be freed from 3 From the guilt and dominion of sin from the guilt of sin for here is a righteousness without works in this Covenant God justifies the ungodly and from the dominion of sin Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over thee 4 By this Covenant the Spirit is given in all the gifts and graces of it 2 Cor. 3.6 5 By this Covenant the Angels are your servants and all the creatures are yours 6 By this Covenant the World stands and the government of the World is changed Isa 49.8 He has committed all government to the son John 5.22 a Kingdom he hath received from his Father and there is yet a further addition to his dominion that he is to receive when all the persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down Dan. 7.14 and when the residue of the Gentiles shall come in Isa 66.19 Pul Lud and they that have not heard of his name shall come unto him for the coming in of the Jews shall be a new resurrection even life from the dead If this be so that the Covenant of Grace is made with Christ as the second Adam then there are not two Covenants one made with Christ and another with the Saints but as they make up one body with him so it is one and the same Covenant under which they both stand only in this Covenant Christ hath the preeminence he being the head and we the members and therefore it is made with him primarily and with us as in him so that without an interest in him we have no title to it 1. Consider that Christ is not alone in this Covenant it was not a Covenant made with him for himself but as a common person a representative head a second Adam that thereby he might become an everlasting Father to all the elect of God but the Covenant was made with him for your sake and that you might come under it as you were under the Covenant of the first Adam And therefore the Lord is said to give him as a Covenant to the Nations Isa 42.6 and chap. 49.8 The Covenant was not therefore made with him for himself Isa 42.6 and 49.8 but for our sake It 's questioned amongst Interpreters Why Christ is called the Covenant it self and not the person with whom it is made I find in Scripture that when the Lord would express any thing eminently he doth it in abstracto in the abstract Psal 12.2 that being put for the concrete with a commutation also of the subject the faithful fail it is fidelitates from the sons of men So Psal 68.19 He shall lead captivity captive that is a multitude captives And Ezek. 44.6 Thou shalt say unto the rebellion that is Jer. 50.31 to the rebellious house c. Pride is put for the person that was eminently proud So when the Lord would express the eminent and great hand that Christ hath in the Covenant of Grace he doth say he is the Covenant it self as he is said to be our righteousness our sanctification our reconciliation and our peace because these are gloriously wrought by him and he hath the chief and only hand in them and so he is here said to be the Covenant and that in two respects 1 Because the Covenant is made with him in himself and for his own sake
your right Hand and pluck out your right Eye deny your selves that nothing shall be exalted in the heart but Christ and nothing must be dear to a man in comparison of Christ he must sell all to buy the Pearl Matt. 13.45 and part with it with joy not only part with a mans sins but his righteousness and priviledges and take them up by a new title as Paul he suffered the loss of all things Phil. 3.8 9. but found them all in Christ and attained them by a far better and more glorious title A man must do it as you do in Copy-holds a man must bring in his old Copy into the Court and there must be a surrender made and then you shall take it up again and have a new and a better state in it c. A man must part with sin as a snare and with self as a sacrifice and lay them all down at Christs feet he must be his utmost end that gives order and measure to all the means tending thereunto c. 3. The will of man is desperately shut against Christ and against this way of closing with him partly from a mans ungodliness because it is the highest way in which God will be honoured and partly because a man hates the terms and conditions that Christ must be received upon a man cannot give up all unto Christ sin is sweet and self is dear and the great God of the world the Idol that a man has worshipped all his life time now for a man to come and change his God it is that which the will of man is hardly brought unto and therefore Christ puts it upon the will John 5.40 You will not come to me who ever will let him come and take of the water of life freely Rev. 22. I would have gathered you but you would not The Lord does knock at this everlasting door and men bar the door against him and harden their hearts and will rather cleave to the Law and seek to patch up a broken Covenant and will venture their eternal estates upon it nay if they be convinced that there is no life to be had elsewhere they will venture to sit down in a state and way of death rather than they will come unto Christ that they may have life 4. When the Lord brings a man into the bond of Christs Covenant and he becomes an heir of Promise there is an almighty power put forth upon the will to perswade it and to open the heart to accept of Christ and to be subject unto him upon his own terms Gen. 9.27 The Lord shall perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Sem which all the rhetorick of the Angels in Heaven and Ministers the Angels upon Earth could never do none but the Spirit of Christ can open the heart it is alone in his power that has the Keys of Hell and Death Ut velimu sine nobis operatur cùm volumus nobiscum cooperatur August de Grat Lib. arb Chap. 17. Phil. 3.8 praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati giving power to the will to choose Christ and so determining a mans will upon this glorious object that a man seeing Christ to be the chiefest of ten thousands he also desires him and so by preventing grace he does work the will and by assisting grace he works the deed that a man chooses the Lord for his portion and as that which above all things he desires to injoy and place his happiness in and unto him he cleaves with full purpose of heart for ever Act. 11. 23. And thus a man looking upon Christ as the person in whom there is a Covenant and an Image laid up and seeing the glory of that Covenant and the beauty of holiness that is in that Image of both he desires to be made partaker but there is the greater excellency because the person goes with them there is an excellency in the dowry but there is more in the person the soul thus accepting of Christ and catching at the terms of the Covenant as a dying man does at any thing looks upon it as a golden Septer held forth to him by the law condemned and as the brazen Serpent exalted upon the Pole to a sin-stung soul and the heart does greedily and with all its might take hold of it as a man would do a Cord let down as the only means to pluck him out of a dungeon or to save him from drowning and perishing Now to give you some arguments to inforce this that men should take hold of Christs Covenant 1. He is given by God the Father as a Covenant to the Nations Isa 49.8 And it will prove a high act of unthankfulness not to accept of him as a gift from God their sin was much aggravated John 1.11 John 1.11 He came to his own and his own received him not a man does not receive Christ that does not take him in this manner as offered by God the Father as a Covenant our ends in taking of Christ should answer Gods ends in giving of him now God did give him as a Covenant and an Image and we should receive him for both those ends and the Lord has used all means to inforce you to it that you may lay hold of this Covenant he did so with Adam at first Adam still thought that his former Covenant continued and would have given life and therefore he still had a mind to the Tree of Life but God to let him see there was no hope by that Covenant sent an Angel there with a flaming Sword and all that man might come to Christ â—ev 2.7 who is the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of God and came in the place of the old Tree of Life and he hath taught men that by the works of the Law no flesh can be justified and that that way to Heaven is stopped and that door barr'd for ever God sets the guilt of sin and terrors of the law upon any man that would be justified by his works 2. It is Christs Covenant and therefore lay hold of it for Christ is the standard of all excellency and the more any thing relates to him or holds forth of him the more glorious it is The second Temple was more glorious than the first because of Christs presence in it and John Baptists Ministry the greatest of all that were born of women and yet the least in the Kingdom of God was greater than he and therefore to you that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 and when he shall raign over Israel and they be converted to him he shall be the glory of his people Israel How should we therefore lay hold of him and take him as worthy of all acceptation 3. Consider the glory of this Covenant 1. In it thou hast an interest in God in all the persons in Trinity for I will be thy God is the grand promise thereof Now to have the Lord for a
promise higher things the Lord to be your God and Christ to be your head your Husband his Spirit to be the guide of your way and also the earnest of your inheritance a higher Righteousness a higher Sonship a nearer Union a fuller Communion as the Spouse of Christ and as his Members and a more exceeding eternal weight of glory being rewarded not according unto the Covenant of man but according to the Covenant of Christ 3 Better promises because of their assurance and stability the promises of the first Covenant might come to an end and be swallowed up in the Curse as they were but the promises of the second are the sure mercies of David for the righteousness of it is an everlasting righteousness and therefore the promises are eternal promises 4 But there is one thing as great as any of these and that is they are all of them the promises made unto Christ and by vertue of the Covenant belong unto him 2 Cor. 1.20 In him are all the promises yea and Amen That is they are made unto him and they belong unto us and unto us are fulfilled only by vertue of our Union with him as we live in him and dye in him so we receive promises in him and this is the sweetness of all Gospel promises they do every one of them carry a man to the fountain of his interest and that brings into the Soul infinitely the more sweetness As if a Wife take a favour from her Husband and look no further there is not so much in it but yet in every favour she is carried back unto the Marriage Covenant which assures her not only of this but also of all others whatever is his she has a right to because of the Covenant past between them this is sweet to her And so here it brings into the Soul the sweetness of all the promises together with the present mercy As to a wicked man in Hell that hath the terrors of God upon him every evil doth carry him unto the fountain of it and that is to the anger and hatred of God and the curse of the Covenant that he hath broken and this imbitters his misery a Thousand times more for now the Soul saith this is but a pledge of infinitely more wrath So it is here every promise carries him to the fountain and that assuring him not only of this supply but whatever else he can stand in need of for in a mans interest in Christ is infinite more sweetness than in any blessing or benefit we receive by him Now when a man shall look upon this promise not only as sweet but as his inheritance as he is a Son of Abraham and an Heir of Promise it brings with it infinitely more sweetness than the promises of mercy it self abstractly and in it self injoyed 5. For all the duties and obedience to the Covenant And this is commonly the great affliction of the people of God the Gospel requires obedience as well as the Law and there is a Law of Christ to be kept and there is a yoak of Christ to be born and Christ that hath abolished the Law as a Covenant and a Curse has established the Law as a rule of Gospel obedience and hath therein made it a hand-maid to the Gospel and therefore the Law upon Mount Sinai was given in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3.19 And how shall we be able to perform this duty by the power of inherent grace It is impossible 1 from the remainders of sin Rom. 7. There is a law in the members rebelling against the law of the mind and the fulfilling of the Law requires a holy nature as well as a holy life 2 From the imperfections of Grace Says the Apostle Paul Not that I have already attained not that I am already perfect c. And how then shall a man appear before God Now comes in the Covenant of Christ and of this Covenant he is a surety Heb. 7.22 not only to pay the debt that we did owe under the old Covenant but also to perform the duty that is required of me under the new and therefore the Lord did lay help on one that is mighty we should have failed Psal 89. for we could neither pay the debt of the one nor do the duty of the other therefore the Lord hath laid all upon Christ and will expect all of him and he must present us unto his Father as a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle and what imperfection soever there be in our duties he must offer them pure before God with his odours and all this is from the Covenant made with him In him is our fruit found Rev. 8.3 6. The stability of the Covenant can never fail it is an everlasting Covenant and sure mercy 1 Upon the faithfulness of God it 's confirmed with an Oath 2 From the obedience of Christ who hath performed all that is required in this Covenant 3 From the promise made unto him for the Oath is made first to Christ Heb. 7. Psal 110. and if the Lord could fail with you he could not fail with him There are Three things that amongst men are in a special manner noted as the acts of the highest injustice and wickedness 1 To keep back the hirelings wages 2 Not to fulfill the will of the dead 3 The cry of innocent blood going unrevenged and all these the Lord abhors in men and they shall not be found in him Now Christ is Gods hired servant and his reward is Heb. 9.15 16. to see the travail of his soul it is his last Will and Testament when he died that by means of his death they that are called might receive the promise and it 's a blood that speaks better things than the blood of Abel Adams Covenant did change because it was established with a mutable head And hence as the Lord doth make suppositions Isa 54.10 The Mountains may depart and the Hills remove if you can change the Covenant of the day and of the night then may the Covenant of my peace be broken And in assurance thereof the Saints do make supplications The Lord is our God we will not fear though the earth be removed and the mountains cast into the sea Psal 46.1 2. And the root of all the stability of the Covenant lyes in Christ the foundation of the Covenant 7. The acceptation that you find with God is grounded hereupon 2 Cor 5.9 We labour whether present or absent to be accepted of him and there is a double acceptation one of persons and the other of services 1 Of persons as we find Gen. 4.4 If thou dost well thou shalt be accepted says God offer it to thy Prince will he accept thy person 2 Of services Mal. 1. Heb. 12.28 They are acceptable services As God delights in the plagues of wicked men Psal 120. Coals of Juniper which burn sweetly and fiercely so in the services of the
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
57.17 18. of a man in a wicked way and the Lord corrects him but he goes on freely in the way of his heart now what should the Lord do Felix cui Deus dignatur irasci c. Happy man with whom the Lord is angry but if this avail not casts he him off as he did the Devils and the Angels that sinned nay the Attributes are now ingaged and though the man be unfaithful to God yet the Lord has engaged himself to be his God and therefore he says I have seen his ways and I will heal him I am his God and he is mine for all this c. 2. Under the Second Covenant there is a fuller and a more glorious discovery of all the Attributes than there was under the First Covenant As the Saints have a greater interest in the Attributes of God than the Angels have so they are more fully revealed unto the Saints than they were to the Angels and therefore they are said to go to School to the Church to learn Ephes 3.10 for by the Church they are taught the manifold wisdom of God The Lord Christ as Mediator is a Glorious Stage upon which all the Attributes do strangely act their parts Exod. 23. and therefore the Lord saith of Christ My Name is in him and he is therefore called Colos 1.15 the Image of the invisible God because all the Glory of God doth shine forth in him 1. Here are some Attributes that could never have been discovered under the first Covenant and those are 1 the mercy of God as it respects misery for had the first Covenant continued there had been no misery and therefore no place for mercy 2 the love of God to mankind when he did catch at man fallen and did let the Angels go as it is Heb. 2.6 3 the patience and the long-suffering of God for there had been no place for these if the Lord had not been provoked by sin against the sinner for it is it that hardens them in their impenitency and magnifies this patience of God that he can bear so long with such sinners 2 All the Attributes under the second Covenant are discovered in a far higher way than they could have been under the first Covenant 1 There was higher wisdom discovered than in the Creation indeed there was great wisdom in making a World and in giving a Law but there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manifold wisdom in this Eph. 3.10 that the Angels that had studied the wisdom of God in the first Edition ever since their Creation now do desire to look into this Mystery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or they stooped and with great diligence and observation looked into it but now there is such a discovery of wisdome as was never known to the world before which is a second Edition and has put the Angels to School again and therefore Aquinas says There is a threefold knowledge of the Angels 1. matutina morning that which they had of God in their Creation 2. respectiva respective that which they did attain further of God rebus ipsis from their own experience and observation 3. the knowledge that they have of God in Christ and that he calls meridiana meridian knowledge 2 There is a greater power under the second Covenant than was under the first Covenant for that was but to command a creature to stand up out of nothing and it was done by a word but now for the Godhead to joyn it self into a personal union with the creature is much more the power of God over a creature is not so much as the power of God over himself for to forgive sin is an act of power Num. 14.17 to support a creature against himself and his own revenging hand under the guilt of sin shews the depth of wisdom and grace 3 There is greater Justice under the second Covenant for the first Covenant being broken Gods rejection of Adam was but rejecting of a creature and the Angels they were but Gods Servants and he might punish them for their sin but herein is higher Justice when God will not spare his Son and his strong crys and tears moved him not nay and God himself was to be his Executioner and yet his Justice is pleased with it It pleased the Father to bruise him Esa 53. conterere it signifies to grinde one to powder for that is to make one contrite c. he hath put him to grief and he was wounded for our transgressions and was bruised for our sins 4 There was a greater discovery of Gods truth under the second Covenant Under the first Covenant the Lord had spoken the word the day thou eatest thou shalt dye and the Lord was as good as his word and had cast off man and Angels by it but they were as clay in his hand he had no need of them but now if his Son will undertake it surely one would think God would either abrogate his Law or mitigate it but the Lord will do neither his truth shall stand rather than Heaven or Earth and therefore if the Son of God be made sin he shall be made a curse also 3. Under the second Covenant we have a firmer hold upon all the Attributes than we could ever have had under the first Covenant the Lord was the God of Adam and also of the Angels but yet so as he might by their Covenant become their enemy if they were not confirmed by his grace in the new Covenant therefore the Angels are beholding to Christ for their confirmation as well as men are for their reconciliation but the Lord becomes the God of his people so under the second Covenant that he is their God for ever and ever this God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 The wisdom of God is eternally thine and shall never be turned against thee as the manner of enemies is they turn your own ammunition against you many times His mercy is everlasting mercy and his power is everlasting power and his loving-kindness is everlasting § 3. What is the manner how the Lord makes over all his Attributes unto his people This Question is of moment that so we may know the tenure by which we hold so glorious an inheritance Now the manner of it is this 1. Man by the Fall having departed from God and thereby lost and forfeited his interest in him and become to him wholly a stranger and an enemy Col. 1.21 there was no way to restore a man to a title in God again unless sin which was the cause of enmity were taken away as that which did take God off from man as if ever a mans inheritance in the creatures were restored that must be taken away which did deprive man of them therefore the great business that God had to do and which was the great thing in his eye by Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.5 to take away sin to prepare him a body
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 is not the God of thy mercy and his patience and long-suffering thou hast no claim to but all these Attributes shall joyn also with Justice in their pleas against thee what is there that can stand in the way to hinder the fulness of wrath from falling on such a soul 4. The perfection of this misery thou wilt never know till thou comest unto Hell as the fulness of this promise can never be known by the Saints till they come to Heaven here you may enjoy your inheritance in creatures and promises but thou that art a Saint shalt enter one day upon the inheritance of Attributes more fully than can be enjoyed here there where they all shall be set forth gloriously for thee in their full lustre to make thee happy in the Lord so also it shall be a mans utmost misery when he comes to Hell that all the Attributes of God shall be in his utmost extremity turned against him for ever and thou shalt know God to be perfectly an enemy unto thee and all that is in God as he is the God of his people all that is in him is for them so all that is in him is against thee And then every Attribute shall act to the full for ever Here in this life Justice doth not act its utmost and God does not stir up all his wrath there is by the Kingdom of Christ not only a benefit comes upon all the creatures for they all stand and continue in their being by it but there is a suspension upon the workings of all the Attributes of God towards wicked men that though they have an evil eye at them from day to day as 't is said God is angry with the wicked every day yet he does not immediately break forth against them but when the Kingdom shall be given up unto God the Father and God shall be all in all this restraint upon the Attributes in the actings of them shall cease and every Attribute shall have its perfect work against thee for ever and then he will shew his power upon the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Vse 2 2. Take comfort in the Attributes of God look upon these as the main of thy inheritance and shelter and shrowd thy self under them from day to day for this is your strong hold you are prisoners of hope and this is the desire of the Saints As Bernard de Amore Dei cap. 1. speaks in reference unto Christ he would not only touch him with Thomas and put his finger into his side c. sed totus intrem usque ad ipsum cor Jesu c. in sanctum sanctorum I would enter wholly even into the very heart of Jesus c. into the holy of holies So should the soul wholly hide it self in these Chambers this secret of his Pavilion 1. In the middle of all creature-comforts and inward consolations of thy Spirit let thy heart rise from them and say Surely this is not my portion there is indeed a great deal of sweetness in this but yet there is much more in that which is my portion a gracious heart should rise in this manner and please it self with thinking if there be sweetness on Earth much more in Heaven Si adeò splendeat terrestris Roma saith Fulgent So we should rise from our priviledges and comforts below and our inheritance in them to that in God and so as Christ comforts himself in this Psal 16.5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance 2. If at any time God takes away the creatures from thee retire unto him and say Lord my portion was not in them I can stand upon the ruines of the world and can say I have lost nothing for the time will come when God will put an end unto all creature-comforts and he will supply all immediately in himself and therefore so he give thee more of himself it 's no matter what thou dost lose of all things else Christ says Mat. 21.22 that man hath a treasure Now where there is so there are some Exchequer-days when the Treasure comes in a worldly man that has his treasure and portion in this life when God takes away the creatures his soul dyes within him that 's the best day to him that brings in most of that treasure but he that has his portion in the Lord can rejoyce in his income that way even when he is deprived of the creatures and it 's a disparagement unto God not to rejoyce in him alone as if there were not enough in him as Elkanah told his wife Am not I better to thee than ten sons Cannot all my comforts be supplied in thee 3. Do not unworthily fear the fear of man it is true that they do speak high and they will threaten much and the people of God are apt sinfully to fear because of the fury of the oppressor as if he were ready to destroy and so by and by are apt to say a confederacy with the wicked O! should you fear who have infinite wisdom and infinite power of your own either to disappoint or to resist it doth plainly argue that you are not acquainted with and do not make use of your interest in the Attributes of God in Covenant Should such a man as I fear and should my heart quail and fear in the evil times Let us never profane the name of the Lord our God in this manner Mark 8.17 18. says Christ Why reason you because you have no bread perceive you not have you your hearts yet hardned when I brake the five loaves c It 's the most unworthy thought that could lodge in you after so much experience of my power and provision for you to think you should want consider you have had so much experience of my power and infinite wisdom that has wrought for you when your own reason was at a non plus and infinite power when your hands did hang down and your knees feeble consider the setting forth of every Attribute of God and delight your souls in it Hos 13.3 He will scatter them as smoak out of a chimney A man should look upon them and laugh them to scorn from a high assurance Luther that vincet mea audacia in Christo this raiseth in the soul only true courage and a holy greatness of mind 4. Look upon the Attributes as having an interest in them and as in a strait you eye a promise and expect its accomplishment do the same with attributes also and thereby honour them by taking hold of them if thou sin eye mercy the Lord merciful and gracious pardoning iniquity transgression and sin if thou want wisdom look on him as the Father of lights and if power be strong in the Lord and the power of his might c. And sometimes thou mayst have no creatures no hills to look to then look towards God when thou knowest not what to do it may be there are no promises that thy soul can
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
c. which is to dispute and gather conclusions from false and corrupt premises because they were hearers of the word though they were not doers yet from this false principle they did reason and argue all their life time that their state was good and so did the foolish builders Mat. 7.22 Lord we have prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils we have eat and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets therefore there is no doubt but we shall attain an entrance at his coming and so the soul is under a fallacy all his days and this is the great deceit of the old Serpent to deceive a man in reference to his eternal state for as Satan by his instruments doth endeavour to beguile you in the matters of truth Col. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he deceives a man by false reasonings so also he endeavours to deceive a man in matter of his state that he might deceive himself by false reasonings also and upon this ground it mainly is that there is that extraordinary aversness in the hearts of men unto the duty of self-examination and a far greater aversness to the examination of a mans state than of his actions for there are many men that will make conscience to review their actions and consider their ways and yet these very men are willing to go upon a supposition in the matter of their spiritual states and to be content to take that for granted though it be the ground of all And here we are to consider also that many that are true Believers may not know that there is a distinct interest in the persons to be had they in general do believe in God and close with Christ who is offered them in the promise but as for such a distinct title unto all the persons it is a thing that they are not acquainted with it seems it was this that Christ reproved in his Disciples Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me their faith in the acting of it was not so distinct and particular as it ought to have been As it is in witnessing there is many a man that never knew that there was a distinct witness of all the persons in the hearts of the Saints and therefore they did never look out for any such thing so it is in the point of faith also but now this is a truth discovered to you and the Lord will expect the fruit of Gospel-discoveries he will come and demand fruit of his Vineyard and he doth expect it he it is with whom Heb. 4.13 in the word read or preached that you have to do he looks what power it hath upon your hearts after it is dispensed 1 We are to consider that the way by which we can come to have an interest in all the persons is by closing with the Son for it is our union with the Son that as it gives us a title unto all good things so it gives us in the first place an union with all the persons and it intitles us unto them all it is he that hath the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 2.23 and he that hath not the Son hath not the Father for it is only the blessing of the second Covenant and it comes upon none but those that are in Covenant as the promises come upon none but those that are heirs of promise therefore we should first inquire whether we be one with the Son or no. Now there is no union with him but by believing in him for it is the eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood that gives us life by him Joh. 6.54 Now though believing be an act of the whole soul for the subject of faith is the whole soul with the heart man believes yet it is specially seated in the will as unbelief also is specially seated there There is a double infidelity 1 Purae negationis of pure negation which some have said is no sin but yet if there is a command to believe then bare not-believing is a sin because it is the transgression of the Law 2 Pravae dispositionis of depraved disposition and that lyes mainly in the will Now when the will opens aright it is unto two things 1 It does consent to receive and accept of Christ upon his own terms not only Christ with his righteousness but Christ with his graces not only Christ with his priviledges but Christ with his inconveniencies Christ to all the ends for which the Father hath ordained him he would have him glorified in them all in his heart 2 With the same hand of faith that he doth receive whole Christ he doth give up whole self unto Christ again so that he is his own no more but put out of his own power for ever and he rejoyceth in this that I am my beloveds as well as my beloved is mine he would have his happiness in him and he would enjoy nothing apart from him for ever he would live in him and bear fruit in him and work for him and be into him and that to eternity for he saith to him as Ruth to her mother-in-law Where thou goest I will go where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people thy God my God and where thou dyest I will dye c. Where there hath been such an acceptation and such a resignation there the work of faith is wrought with power and he that is thus one with the Son is thereby madelone with the Father also for our union is by him as our access and communion also is all by him with the Father 2 If a man be intitled unto the persons there will be drawings out of his heart towards each person for there is an impression of the love of them all left upon the soul We love him because he loved us first and this love will warm our hearts with love again there will be the workings of it in the soul though there be not the witnessing 1 Joh. 4.19 for Phil. 1.6 there is a good work begun and it 's begun by all the persons and it is to glorifie the persons mainly in the hearts of Believers and therefore such workings the Lord will draw forth in them O that ever God the Father should give his Son to me Joh. 3. God so loved the world and that I should be called the Son of God that the Son should lay down his life for me should bear my sins and my sorrows that his Spirit should abide in me inlightning mine eyes renewing me in the spirit of my mind there will be such a spiritual warmth wrought in the soul towards all these persons because there is a principle of the love of them all kindled in the soul But yet 3 There will never be the fulness of assurance till the persons that have given you an interest in themselves do also themselves witness their interest 1 Joh. 5.7 and they will surely do
as the Saints love God and they love grace for Gods sake so the Devil directly hates God and he hates grace as being that by which God is most honoured therefore his greatest designs are to pervert grace in the Saints he will keep men as long as he can to stand out against grace and resist it as long as he can that the strong man armed may keep the house but if he cannot keep grace out of the heart then his next design is to advance grace above a creature and set it in the place of God and Christ and make grace it self to be an Idol and the man to place his sufficiency in it and his dependence upon it and he knows that God is engaged against the habits of grace in the man though they be the works of his own Spirit the Apostle saith that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an occasion that sin will take from the Law of God written in the book Rom. 7. and so it will from the Law of God written in the heart also and therein the devillishness and the wisdom of the flesh in a great measure lies that as the wise God doth make advantage by sin and temper the greatest poyson into the most wholesom Cordial as we see in Viper-wine if it be not well mixt it presently kills so the richest Cordial even the grace of God Satan tempers with his ingredients into the strongest poyson that it may be occultum profundum malum quòd homo non malus bonis operibus sese vestiat alat sed ipsius fidei titulo sese palpet venditet c. Serpentis antiqui caput hoc est Luther Luther Tom. 2. Thus as the Lord works by contraries bringing light out of darkness and the greatest good sometimes out of the greatest evil so doth Satan also work by contraries and delights to do it to bring darkness out of light and to bring the greatest evil out of that which is the greatest good even grace it self for quò quis sanctior eò pejor the better the worse if he place his sufficience and dependence upon the grace he has received for that is Idolum speciosissimum the most specious evil Now that I may take the Saints off from a dependence upon their own graces and that their sufficiency may be placed in God alone consider these particulars 1. Though grace be the best of all the creatures and the image of God and a new Creation wrought by the Spirit of Christ which the Lord takes more delight in than he doth in all the creatures and without which he can take no pleasure in any of them yet grace is but a creature and therefore the common nature of a creature doth belong to it and that is to be defectible and subject in its own nature to decay It 's true Eph. 4.24 Col. 3.10 that it is the same image that is renewed in us which we lost in Adam Now as the image in Adam was subject to decay so in its own nature this is also As it is with the Angels though they be confirmed in grace and can never fall away so it is with the souls of just men made perfect yet being creatures there is a defectibility in them a possible folly though not actual Job 4.18 he charges his Angels with folly c. and so there is in grace it self it 's true grace cannot decay but it is not properly from any thing that is in it self but from a double ground 1 Ex foedere gratiae from the Covenant of Grace in which the Lord has promised that he will keep them it 's an everlasting Covenant to put his fear in their hearts Jer. 32.40 that they shall never depart from him For we are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. and so we cannot fall away not ex interna renatorum constitutione not from the intern constitution of the renewed but because the faithfulness and thereby the power of God is engaged for their preservation 2 Ex fonte gratiae from the Fountain of Grace for the fountain of it is not in a mans self it is of his fulness that we receive grace for grace 1 Joh. 5 1◠it is the image of the Son and so it is not from God immediately but as being laid up in him So there is a great deal of difference between the image of God in Adam and in the Saints Gen. 11. as Austin has well observed De Corruptione Gratia there is non solùm posse quod volumus sed velle quod possumus if the fountain of it were in our selves it might decay but it being laid up in Christ and he being by virtue of the personal Union impeccable so long as grace in Christ doth not decay it cannot decay in the Saints for he has said Because I live Luther you shall live also Joh. 14.19 Quà m hominibus impossibile est mixtum fermentum à pasta separare tam impossibile est diabolo Christum ab Ecclesia separare Luth. therefore place not your sufficiency in a creature for grace received is no more 2. It is contrary to the very nature of grace to be made the ground of a mans dependence for grace in its own nature is properly to be dependent upon another and the fountain of its sufficiency is in another therefore God is called the God of all grace and the Sprit is the Spirit of grace the Spirit of faith and love and joy for all graces are fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. Joh. 3. and a man is said to be born of the Spirit upon this ground Christ is the root and we are the branches he is the head and we are the members and therefore the fountain of the life of grace is in him and not in us the fountain of our life is Christ and we live by union with him a life of holiness as well as a life of righteousness all is by union with him And therefore some very learned men have maintained That there are no habits of grace in us at all but that we live by an immediate influence from the Spirit of Christ which dwelling in us doth act our spirits sometimes in a way of faith sometimes in a way of love sometimes in a way of godly sorrow c. which I cannot consent to as being an extreme on the other hand we are said to be new creatures and created in Christ and we are said to have faith and hope as fruits of the Spirit dwelling in us and therefore we are exhorted to stir them up and to act them and to grow in them and they are said to decay in us and to increase in us which cannot be in respect of acts meerly by the Spirit of God working upon us but we have truly a life within us that is an inward principle that puts forth vital actions Gal. 2.20 but yet it is
without a yoke and consider that they have no Law but the wills of the flesh and of the mind the Law of sin and death we shall all say O blessed is the man whom the Lord rules and reigns over the Lord rules and reigns let the Saints rejoyce c. 7 In his government they do behold him in his glory for he that doth rule in them doth also dwell in them as in a Temple and he walks amongst them continually Esa 33.17 Thine eyes shall see the King in his glory Now there are many men that are ruled by Kings that never see them but this is a Court where they may see their King and it is the Palace of the great King where he is always to be seen by his Subjects the meanest as well as the greatest non factio sed curia dicenda est Cyprian It 's not a government at a distance in remote parts but so as he takes up his dwelling place there and they are joyful in their King let the children of Zion be joyful in their King always but never so much as when they see him in glory 8 They have a communion with his person all the while there are many that have a benefit by his government that have no fellowship with his person but the Queen the Bride the Lambs wife she has the fruit of his government and communion with his person and delights in his love and in his glory also and the King sits at his round table and we eat with him we sup with him and our souls rejoyce in his salvation his left hand is under our head and his right hand embraceth us he brings us into his banquetting-house and the banner of love is over us as a Bridegroom over his Bride while he rules us as a King he doth delight in us and we have communion with him as a husband continually § 2. There is an external part of the Covenant and so there is of the Kingdom which is the rule and the government that Christ hath over the spirits of those that are under the spiritual kingdom by profession only unregenerate men that joyn to the Church and are with them under the dew and influence of the Ordinances and of the common works of the Spirit of God in them for Rev. 4.5 Rev. 4.5 There are burning before the throne seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God the Throne is an expression of Majesty and government for unto the King belongs the Throne the Scepter and the Crown they are properly insignia regia c. and by the seven Spirits is meant the Holy Ghost that 's clear from Chap. 1.4 where he wisheth grace and peace from the seven Spirits of God by which surely is meant the Holy Ghost for we are to make our prayers unto God only but yet it is seven Spirits because of the variety of graces and gifts which he doth pour out upon the Church of Christ in his administration and government and here we may observe two things 1 That the spiritual kingdom of God doth not only extend to his rule over the Saints which are his subjects by election and regeneration but also that there is a great deal of dominion which he has even over them that are the subjects of this kingdom only by profession 2 That the rule and dominion that Christ doth exercise over these is for the sake and for the good of the Saints and that they themselves have no benefit by it in the end but all doth turn unto the advantage and the spiritual improvement of them that are heirs of salvation so that the administration unto unregerate men as members of the Church visible is for the good of those that are members of the Church invisible 1. The spiritual kingdom of Christ doth extend even unto unregenerate men who are the subjects of it by profession only where we are to take notice That there are many give their names unto Christ who never give their hearts who have the name of Christ written in their foreheads which have not his image instamped upon their souls 2 Cor. 9.13 there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a profession which is not always accompanied with a real and spiritual subjection unto the Gospel 2. These are all the while subjects to another kingdom for till vocatio alta secreta there be a deep and secret vocation a man is never translated Col. 1.13 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is è natali solo c. a man is actually under the kingdom of Satan still for while a man is of the world though he be in the Church he is of the worlds kingdom for they are not all of us that are amongst us not all Israel that are of Israel there are some do say that they are Jews and are not but do lye but are of the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2.9 for the world lies in wickedness in aliquo positum esse est in ejus esse potestate as Cameron hath observed there are many enemies that live in a kingdom against which they conspire and endeavour to destroy it Jesus Christ after this life shall rule over his enemies but in this life he rules in the middle of them Psal 110.2 3. Yet while they do live and in outward shew continue the subjects of this kingdom so long they are to be looked upon in outward shew as subjects and the priviledges of subjects belong unto them they are servants Joh. 8.35 But the servant abides not in the house always there will come a time when the Lord will say Cast out the bond-woman and her son Gal. 4. but yet while they are in the house they do enjoy many priviledges and benefits by being in the family they partake of the sap and the fatness of the good olive Rom. 11.17 and yet be afterwards broken off 4. But they shall not continue subjects of this kingdom always though for a season the tares and the wheat the sheep and the goats may stand together till the day of separation good and bad be in the net together till the one be gathered into the vessel and the bad be cast away for though the spiritual kingdom in respect of Christ shall have no end but Christ shall be so a King in glory that he shall never cease to be a head of eminence or of influence or of guidance for the mystical Union shall never be broken no more than the hypostatical yet his kingdom in respect of those that profess it is but for the time of this life natural worship shall be in glory and they are only Saints that worship Christ therewith but there is instituted worship that is only for the time of this life and it is in this that they worship him and become subjects to him Mat. 8.12 but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out at the last Joh. 15.2 there are branches that bear no fruit in this Vine
and that is semen ejus quaerens panem non derelictum not forsaken though begging of their bread the Jews in this misery that they are yet grow rich where-ever they come the temporal promise is fulfilled to them 4 The term righteous may be restrained to such as are eminently righteous as to works of mercy So it follows vers 26. He is ever merciful c. So among the Hebrews mercy towards the poor is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness § 2. There is also a Providence circa mala about evils for his Kingdom rules over all and this malum evil is either culpae of sin or poenae of punishment concerning both which the Soveraignty of God doth gloriously work though it be in a far different way First the Soveraignty of God in his providential Kingdom is conversant about the evils of sin they do all come under the government of God and that it is so will appear from Gen. 45.5 6 7. Gen. 45.5 6 7. it was the observation that Joseph had about that unnatural act of his brethren he looked upon a double hand in it one was theirs which he from a principle of meekness and forgiveness was ready to pass by and over-look and another was a special hand of providence in this sin of theirs and that he speaks of three times as being much affected with the Soveraignty of God ordering of that sin of theirs both in respect of him and themselves Ye sold me but God sent me in that sin of theirs there was an over-ruling hand of Soveraignty and that he tells them three times together That it was God sent him and that it was not they that sent him Ye sent me out of malice and God sent me out of mercy you to destroy me God to preserve both you and me you sent me that I should be a slave to man God that I might be a father to Pharaoh and a Ruler of all the land of Egypt We see what a glory here is over this sinful action in respect of Joseph Pharaoh Egypt and the whole family of Jacob and this was not a casual thing something that came to pass by accident or by chance but it was by counsel a Soveraignty that did with wisdom lay this as a design and plot before-hand Gen. 50.20 so Gen. 50.20 You thought evil but God meant it unto good the word in both places is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth signifie a plotted thought done by counsel Psal 10.2 Let them be taken in their devices that they have imagined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spoken there of plotted designed evil and so it was here the good was done by counsel and it was a thing that comes not to pass without foresight but God meant and plotted it for good and therefore we read Exod. 28.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opus ingeniosè inventum a work that is artificially done upon which many thoughts went before it was brought unto a ripeness and perfection and such was this work here also they plotted upon evil and the Lord plotted and designed this their evil unto good Esa 10.6 7. so Esa 10.6 7. the King of Babylon comes against Jerusalem and the Lord sends him not by any command for the work was displeasing unto him as done by them and for which he will visit them vers 12. but arcano imperio by a secret act of the Soveraignty of God so ordering things in providence that this should come to pass and therefore Ezech. 9.1 they are called the visiters of the city men appointed by the dominion of God unto that office but yet the man had a thought of nothing less than to do Gods work in it or to submit unto his dominion or execute his counsel which unto them was secret he meaneth not so he thinks not so there are two words used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tacite secum cogitare he hath not such a thought that did ever enter into his heart he never had so much as the least secret imagination of any such thing and the other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth signifie a devised designed and plotted thing it was a thing that he never consulted never designed in all that he doth to execute my displeasure against an hypocritical Nation but yet he shall do my work while he doth wholly intend his own and design that only and yet the work that shall be done upon Sion is the Lords work vers 12. and by these two Scriptures it will clearly appear that the Soveraignty of God is conversant about the sins of men things in themselves evil and forbidden of God and yet his Soveraignty reacheth unto them And this I shall branch into two heads 1 The Soveraignty of God over a mans own sins for the good of his people 2 Over other mens sins he doth so imploy his Soveraignty about the sins of men that they shall be ordered for the good of the Saints 1. The Soveraignty and Supremacy of God in reference unto the sins of his own people the Lord doth so rule and order all things thereby that their own sins shall in some kind work for their good that which in its own nature is only evil can by an almighty over-ruling hand turn into good which no man in the world is able to do they may make good use of things in themselves good but they are never able to bring good out of that which is per se malum of it self sinfull as sin is and this I shall demonstrate to you in four things 1 In respect of the being of sin 2 In respect of the rising of sin 3 In respect of the actings of sin 4 In respect of the raging of sin in an open violent scandalous way 1. It will appear in reference unto the being of sin in the Saints The Lord who has forbid all sin even in the Principles and being of it and has sent his Son to take away sin yet he has in his Soveraignty so ordered the condition of the Saints here that sin shall have a being in them and they shall never be perfectly freed from it so that it will be true of the best while they are here he that saith he has no sin deceiveth himself there will be reliquiae vetustatis as Austin calls it a Law in the members a body of death To be without sin here is given to us as praeceptum a precept in this life or else Original sin were no sin and the being of sin were against no Law of God the Law requires a holy Nature as well as holy Actions but in the life to come it shall be given to us as praemium a reward here as a Law and hereafter as a Reward And why has the Sovereignty of God so ordered it that those that shall be freed from sin perfectly in the Life to come and whom Christ shall present without spot or wrinkle or any such thing why will he suffer
not how comes it to pass that it doth not excutere It is not so much from a Principle of Grace within for that is in its own nature defective but by vertue of the Covenant and the Prayer of Christ without and it is this Prayer that doth uphold all the Grace that is in us or else it would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deficere c. This Intercession doth not only present their Duties but it preserves their Graces also the one would be rejected and the other extinguished were it not for this The Saints have a double Advocate as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Spirit of Prayer as an Advocate within us which as a witness doth many times fail us and we by our own sins lose the benefit and the comfort of it but then we are to have recourse unto the Advocate without us as the Soul is sometimes to make use of the witness of Blood when he cannot see the witness of Water 3 It brings a man unto the great duty of Confession to become publick examples of Repentance which hath been a great honour unto the Saints who have risen out of their falls and we cannot say that the records of their falls have been so dishonourable unto them as their publick Repentance and abasement before God has been honourable with this the Lord honour'd David and his Repentance stands upon Record Psal 51. and with this also he honour'd Solomon which is Recorded in the Book of Ecclesiastes which is therefore entituled Coheleth which Cocceius observes to note receptionem suam ad ecclesiam per poenitentiam his reception into the Church by Repentance and is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man gathered unto the Congregation of the Lord and so did Paul Act. 22.4 I persecuted this way and I was mad against them and so doth Luther he left it upon record tantus eram sanctus ut paratissimus fueram unumquemque occidere c. and this Tertull. de poeniten chap. 9. observes to be in use in his time .......... Presbyteris advolvi charis Dei adgeniculari as the example of Eccetalicus c. Thus as they were eminent examples in sinning so they were desirous to be of Repentance 4 Hereby they are no more confident of their own strength and so exalt not themselves above their Brethren so Christ ask'd Peter Now lovest thou me more than these Joh. 21.15 he was before for making comparisons with all other men though all men should forsake thee yet not I but now here is no Comparison and if there be any strength in that Christ ask'd by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a less degree of Love it was good advice to him But he said well Hîc quaerendae non sunt subtilitates the words are commonly in the Gospel promiscuously used and it is a signal instance of Gods power to bring good out of evil when a man by reflecting upon some great sin that he hath committed can say that his carnal confidence in himself and his own strength is healed thereby 5 This makes a Saint to walk in fear ever after and blessed is the man that fears always a fearless spirit doth bring sin 1 A godly man fears sin as the only Evil fears an Oath and he doth say with Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this only is matter of fear but specially when he has had experience of the breaking forth of it eminently a man fears a disease that he hath felt and so David will not trust his tongue without a bridle and his Eyes without a Prayer turn away my Eyes from beholding vanity and thereby the bank is made up against that sin all their dayes and it may be a sin that a man feared least shall get the greatest hand upon him if temptation get the wind and the hill of him 2 He fears lest the Lord may therefore leave a note of dishonour upon him Revel 7.6 7. when the Tribes were sealed Dan was left out Rev. 7.6 7. and so is Ephraim tanquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antesignani Mic. 1.13 this Tribe was the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Sion they of Dan did it for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee it was a scandalous sin the Lord may leave a note of sin upon a man and his posterity afterwards for it and he may not be honoured as the rest of his Brethren but may have a brand stick upon him for committing folly in Israel c. 6 That a man may be fitted for service by it Luk. 22.32 Christ says when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren a mans own comfort doth fit a man to comfort others 2 Pet. 2.2 and so do a mans own falls also 2 Cor. 1.4 who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble 1 By the Experience of the power of sin he may be the better able to admonish others 2 Pet. 2.2 they denyed the Lord that bought them and he can best speak of the danger of such a way himself that hath found it and had experience of it in himself Austin having been himself a Manichee when he disputed with Felix the great Manichee he could shew him the vanity of it by experience and so frustrata vanitate errore illius sectae ad nostram fidem conversus est c. Possidon in vita August 2 He will be able to comfort others against the guilt of that sin having himself sound favour he can shew others the way unto it and so could Peter having found mercy himself and David for this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee and so Luther did publish unto all the way of Mercy that God had vouchsafed him that all men might see that mercy is to be had for them Peter velocissimè veniam consecutus c. Bern. 7 That it may be unto a man matter of Humiliation all his days sins before Conversion be grievous as they were to Paul I was a Persecutor and a Blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 and such were some of you but now you are washed A man should not so look upon what he is but he should also look back what he was Behold thou art made whole remember that thou wast a sick man and the keeping it in view will be usefull unto a man all his dayes to make him exalt mercy and to cause him to abhor himself So Austin after he had made his Confession he saith Spes mihi valida est in illo qui sedet ad dextram tuam interpellat pro nobis alioquin desperarem magni enim multi sunt languores animae meae magni multi sed major est medicina tua amplior And so a man doth exalt Grace and by this means abase himself all his days Oh I was a Blasphemer I was an Adulterer a Persecutor and yet I have obtained