of what already they have receaved from him at his command He is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world Both these divine oracles and manifestations of Gods will law and Gospel were made knowne to Adam in Paradise the one typed out in the tree of the knowledg of good and evil fitly resembling the first created liberty and fredom of will man was left to the exercise of under the law the other by the tree of life placed in the midst of the Paradise of God lively figuring out the better fredom and lasting holines which the Son himself makes us partakers of in the Gospel as he is the end of the law to al that beleeve and can be perswaded to trust him as the Gospel requires In both these respects it is that John sayes I write no new Commandement to you but an old commandement which was from the beginning As it first came forth in law and Gospel before the fal it was the law written in Adams heart and the Gospel set before the eyes of his mind by the ministry of angels in lively types and figures This we are to understand by the law of nature by which all natural men shal be judged who never have atteined or lived under the hearing of the written law or word of God given afterwards in the holy Scriptures 2dly The self-same old commandement of God that is both law and Gospel came forth since the fall by divine inspiration in the bookes of the old and new Testament The law was under this dispensation engraven on tables of stone conteining the ten commandements The Gospel was represented in the ceremonial law of Moses ministry under the old Testament Then againe the law is written in the fleshly tables of Christs heart as he was born of a woman and made under the law and the Gospel was represented in the two Sacraments of baptism and the Lords supper instituted during the dayes of Christs flesh the witnesse whereof is left us upon record in the New Testament as that manifestation of Gods wil which the Son himself in and by his first appearance hath brought to light This we are to understand by the law of the Scriptures which are not of private interpretation nor a prophesy that is come to us by the will of man but that which holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost for a sure ground of truth to be relied upon 3dly and lastly the same commandement or word of God which hath bin from the beginning is to come forth once more in and by the son's second and personal appearance in Spirit a fiery and living law call'd in Scripture the law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus which by faith is espied and seen as the Land of promise into which all true beleevers must enter and where they must inherit the immutability and eternal life promised a life from the dead which those that possesse whether in the glory of the first or second Resurrection though as yet but in the seed shal never die more The second death shal not have power over them but all tears shal be wiped away from their eyes and all cause of sorrow or fear This is the Son's Kingdom in Spirit which he receaves and enters upon by the appointement of the father He is pleased to begin it in weaknes and subject it a while to great sufferings but will shortly enter upon and continue the exercise of it in power during the space of a thousand years wherein he is to judg the world in righteousnes effectually causing his wil to be done on earth as it is in heaven The law under this dispensation is found as the tables of the Testimony laid up in the heavenly tabernacle of Christ the Son of Man a fiery law of indignation and vengeance in severity without mercy upon all wilful disobedient sinners The Gospel under this dispensation is as the throne or heaven itself together with the earth that is made Gods footstool or the natural man subjected and brought through faith to Gods foot in a way exclusive to al boasting This is the new heavens and new earth of which the new Jerusalem consists that comes downe from God written in and upon the heart of Christs manhood glorified and made immutably holy shining forth as the living Image of God in a twofold forme to wit in the form of a servant not only made a Son which is the first but exalted to a name above every name and anointed with the oyle of gladnes above his fellows that 's the second Thus Christ is the WORD as is above sayd that is commanded to a thousand generations He that was he that is and he that is to come the Almighty He was both law and Gospel in the day or under the dispensation of the law of nature is the same in the day and under the dispensation of the law of the Scriptures and is to come and wil shew himself to be the same also in the day and under the proper and immediate dispensation of the law of the Spirit of life that is in him This is the spiritual day of the Lord the thousand years Jubilee and Sabbath This third dispensation hastens apace draw's very neer and the faithfull and upright in heart beleeve expect and wait for the comming of the Lord therein both as an Eliah in and by his messengers and Servants elect angels and beleeving men that shal restore all things root up every thing that offends by a swift execution of vengeance on evil doers in the morning of this day and after that in his owne person wherein the man Christ by whom God hath ordeined to judg the world in righteousnes wil shew himself as the great King and bridegroom that hath the bride whose mariage he wil gloriously solemnize on earth in order to cary her up with him into heaven upon the expiration of his thousand years reigne and the Resigning up of his Kingdom into the hands of this father that God may be all in all That the matter of Gods command and mans duty is the same as wel under the law as under the Gospel and in them both under all the three dispensations before mentioned is sufficiently cleered and demonstrated nor is the difference lesse perspicuous wherein each of them vary one from another 1. The law of nature writes the matter of the law and duty commanded upon the nature and in the very heart of man teaching and instructing him also in the nature of the Gospel the new nature by the ministry of angels in most apt significant types and figures suited to his natural understanding 2dly The law of the Scripture first writes the law in tables of stone and teaches the Gospel by the types conteined in the ceremonial law or a sort of ordinances that are worldly rudiments being but the shadow of the good things to come whereof the body is Christ Afterwards therefore Christ coming
masters God and Mammon We cannot take that delight and pleasure in any creature or seeming present good whatsoever which is due from us to God in Christ only but it breaks off our spirits from the God of life To delight in and prefer the way of worshipping God and working righteousnes in the mutable fading humane creaturely principles of our first creation when restored before the performing all in the unchangable divine and never fading principles of the new creation where God comes to work all our works in us and for us this is a very high provocation of God the highest and most deeply delusive and unperceaved idolatry in preferring the creature before the creatour who is God blessed for ever Mans disobedience and failing then with God as to the performance of the condition of the first Covenant renewed and brought into force againe by the blood of the redeemer is that which since the fall does cause a new breach between God and man when it is willfull working that wrath which the Sacrifice of Christ cannot appease And man is not free nor safe from the danger of such wilfull unexpiable sinning and so of that judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries whilst he is under the dominion and jurisdiction of the law And under it he is so long as he is alive to God but upon the condition required in the first Covenant which makes him a debtour to the whole law qualifying him with that naturall ability and exercise of free-will unto which when he trusts as he is too apt to do takes up his rest and engages in the single strength thereof to performe what the law requires then he falls and provokes God to wrath This will he never be able finally to prevent or avoid whilst he cleaves to and takes up his rest in the life and activity of his owne free-will for the enabling him to keep Covenant with God how rich in stock soever he may at present seem to be therein His only way therefore is to passe or rather suffer himself to be translated out of these his mutable principles into that love and stedfastnes of heart in Covenant with God which is the end of the commandement and proceeds from a pure heart good conscience and faith unfeigned Now of those that are alive unto God in the awaken'd principles and renewed life of the first Covenant by repentance from dead works and faith in God the Redeemer and saviour of all men and this by the voice of Christ through the hearing of the outward and written word there are severall sorts the cheif of which only we shall mention 1. Those who are diligent hearers willing and zealous obeyers of what they learn receave and drink in from the holy Scriptures which they are convinced is the mind and will of God written for their direction and instruction in righteousnes either by their owne private reading or by the outward ministry thereof Upon this they make their boast of God and of the chang wrought in their hearts through repentance and faith of their walking with God in the purity of his worship and towards their neighbour righteously according to the commandment delivered unto them Hereby they do indeed come to be quickly and deservedly distinguished from the prophane world having the forme of knowledg and of the truth in the law and written word into the mould whereof the whole man is by them endeavour'd to be cast But all this is but of little availe to them that stay here and rest in the letter of the Scriptures which are not he but testify of him that is come himself in his owne personal appearance God manifested in flesh And he afterwards died and rose againe according to the Scriptures and revealed himself in spirit the better comforter and anointing which teaches all things All this the voice of the Scriptures points at and sends those unto that desire to be made partakers of the life that is eternall But those that hear or obey not this voice do provoke So that though a promise be left unto them of entring into the true rest they fall short of it through unbeleif and pleasing themselvs with a false rest and satisfactiō in this first degree of restoration-work and lively change which is and may be wrought by the ministry of the outward word to the bringing of men into a mutable state of righteousnes which they are upon all occasions in danger of losing and falling from how sure soever they esteem themselvs to be 2. A second sort of hearers there are obeyers of the holy commandment delivered unto them not only by the testimony and preaching of the written word but by the knowledg of the Son himself Christ in spirit which is a degree farther then the first goe who manifests himself to them in a likenes and glory that is bread and sutable food to give life to the world or to man in his first nature Such practicall knowledge and sight of Christ is able to heal and restore man from the leprosy of sin causing him to escape the pollutions of the world and to be washed from his old sins Concerning such is it said that it is impossible for them having bin thus enlightn'd having tasted the heavenly gift bin made partakers of the holy Ghost or Christ in spirit and tasted the good word of God and Powers of the world to come so far as the natural man can be heightned and rais'd to the capacity of on this side true Regeneration if or when they fall away to renew them againe unto repentance The reason is because they do eminently crucify the Son of God afresh in themselvs and put him to open shame yea they trample him under foot accounting the blood of the Covenant whereby they were sanctified an unholy thing and doe despite to the Spirit of grace These before their personal fall or apostasy are not properly under the spirit of bondage as meer servants but are rather children of that kingdom out of which they may be cast who strivingly may seek to enter in at the streight gate after an undue manner and so shall not be able to enter When once the master of the house is risen up and hath shut to the door and they standing without knock at the door desiring admission and alledging for themselvs that they have eaten and drunk in Christs presence and that he hath taught in their streets his answer to them wil be I know you not whence you are depart from me all ye workers of iniquity to the place where shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth You shall se Abraham Isaac Jacob and all my true prophets in the kingdom of God and yourselvs that have in one sence bin the children of the kingdom thrust out Luk. 13 24 28. Mat. 7 21 23. and Math. 8 12. These are branches in Christ the true vine and good olive tree partaking of his sap and fatnes for a season But
contrary without being bound up to any necessary dependance upon or holding conformity and agrement in its actions either with the right dictates of the intellectual part or with the righteous rule of Gods law This once obtein'd Satan had his end For he well knew that this being granted all the rest of the evil he desired to bring into man and by him into the world would easily and quickly follow And this was so pleasing and gratifying a baite to the flesh the assuming a power to direct its owne steps take its owne course and way that it was quickly swallowed downe by man without any due deliberation or pause upon the matter suspecting no hurt as yet till the lust that thus was conceaved came to be finished and to take along with it the spirit of the mind corrupting and seducing that also from the simplicity that is in Christ and thereby turning the soule from the truth of God declared in his law to the lie and deceit of Satan conceaved in his crafty suggestion Thus by degrees was man brought to worship and serve the creature that is the devil more then the creator under whose law he was first made and who is the only true God blessed for ever Unto this the Scripture witnesseth Rom. 1 22 23. Professing themselvs to bewise they became fools and changed the glory WORD or Image of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and unto birds four-footed beasts and creeping things This man came to by preferring the counsell of a fallen angel that was gratifying and desireable food in the eye of flesh before the holy law and commandement of the living and eternal God which by the eye of his spirit or superiour part of his mind he saw and knew himself obliged to the observation of For this cause God gives men up to the course and full sway of their owne wills and vile affections leaving them as bondslaves to sin and Sathan children of wrath and disobedience in whom the Prince of the aire seats himself as in his throne carrying them captive to his will Mans continuance in honour and in Gods image wherein he was created was but a very little while He quickly found out and followed many inventions contrary to Gods expresse command written in his mind as also signified by the sundry peeces of the creation and sounded out by an audible voice to him from God himself Sin being after this manner the voluntary and free act of our first parents not only conceaved but finished in the disobedience by them wrought and persected the wages of it which is death they immediatly receaved For being presently alienated from the life of God or the righteousnes performable by them in that image of God wherein they were created they became dead in trespasses and sins The image of God in man was defaced changed into an image in some sort of the devil All pronesse and inclination of the will to good was forthwith worn off and lost upon the fall and not only so but contrary qualities thereunto possessed the mind Thus mans primitive freedom and alacrity to righteousnes was turn'd into vile subjection and service to the devil and to all manner of uncleane affections and unrighteous actions Neverthelesse this sudden and unexpected chang in man brought about by the subtilty and influencing power of the Serpent by reason of the weaknes of the flesh that discovers itself in mans mutable state is not such but that this deadly wound is capable of healing and man capable of being thereby restored yea to be made not only as good but better then he was at first through the vertue and efficacious power of Christs sacrifice and death which was not only a generall propitiation and atonement of sins past but also for the sanctifying and purifying mans nature for time to come after a more excellent manner through regeneration then it was by creation Unto this regenerate state our first parents were called by the voice and doctrine of the Gospel speaking to them in and on the seaventh day as the only way and means to have prevented the fall and kept out sins entrance upon the nature of man For when God committed to the keeping of Adam his owne soule in the good estate wherein he had set it by making man in his image and after his owne likenes it was not without a most speciall charg to keep this choise jewel safe and vncorrupted at the peril of his very life till chang'd into a better state This God required him to do in the use of the best wayes and means that should be afforded him even by taking fast hold of instruction not letting her goe but keeping her as his life yea keeping his heart above all keepings as that from whence are the issues of life To this end was the tree of life placed in the midst of paradise open to his sight that he might have the view of it And by what was figured and signified to him in this tree was it declared how the keeping of his soule might be by another even by the Son of God or by the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth dwelling in the heart by faith which the worldly or fleshly mind does not cannot receave but by such an act of absolute resignation of itself in obedience to the wil of the Son of God as is more hatefull to it then the worst of evils Yet is there no other way possible for man to keep his soule safe for any long continuance and in the houre of trial when assaulted by the power of darknesse The counsel and instruction given by the word of the Gospel in the tree of life was that if man found upon full debate and consideration within himself that he was not like to continue long safe in his owne hands neither could with certainty keep himself pure and incorrupt as the law required that then he would be content to accept for his guardian and keeper the Son of God himself in whose person the judgmēt and will of man is fixed so as to be the corner stone to al the rest of the heavenly and spirituall building even the effectual means to fix and make immutable in righteousnes both men and angels that wil be prevailed with to let him take the charge of ruling and keeping their hearts in such manner as pleases him This is the only way for man to become free indeed with a better freedom then that of nature abovemention'd even with the freedom wherewith Christ himself is first made free as he is the son of man in heaven who came downe from heaven before he ascended up againe thither John 3.13 This good will and gracious offer of the Son of God figured out in the tree of life our first parents either neglected and slighted or the way of his keeping them did not please them but the suggestions of Satan were rather hearkned unto that they might safely leane to their
for man by the ability and strength of nature given him before the fall to have stood and continued longer in his duty then he did For before any danger appeared of his discontinuance herein or that any temptation thereunto discovered it self a way was set open to him in the tree of life wherein he was taught how he ought to resigne up himself to the teaching and will of another whereby such a change might have bin brought upon him through a new creation and the comming of the son of God to dwell in his heart by faith even that faith which workes by a love stronger then death as would have rendred him unmoveable in his duty and love to God It must needs then be acknowledged to be mans owne fault through unbeleife to resist and harden himself against that working of the holy Ghost which brings upon us the pangs of the new birth as a needfull preparation thereunto This was the folly of Ephraim that unwise son who stayed long in the place of the breaking forth of children Hosea 13.13 as having no mind to endure the pangs required to the birth of the immortall seed This was great folly in our first parents but it is far greater and more dangerous in any restored but to some graduall exercise of the like ability since the fall when proof hath bin made by man at his best estate in his primitive purity what this first ability and sufficiency of nature does amount unto as to the keeping out of sin For what can the man in this case doe that comes after the king If the armour with which our first parents were armed against the great Goliah did upon experience faile them surely though it be prepared to be put on againe by their posterity and attempted anew never so often it is and wil be found alwayes best for us with David to forbeare making use of it with any confidence in such selfsufficiency and to resort to the more sure and effectuall weapons mention'd 2 Cor 10 4 and Eph. 6 11 17. and to put on the whole armour of God to arme ourselvs with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus that may make us inclinable and ready so to suffer in the flesh as to cease from sin or so to crucify the flesh by the powerfull operation of this heavenly mind in and upon us as thereby to put an end to all the motions of sin in our fleshly and sensuall part which is the door by which at first sin entred This brings us to the second particular enquiry in order to the clearing up the third generall Querie in this discourse concerning the losse and deprivall which happened unto man through his sin and disobedience of that naturall ability and aptnes of mind which he had in his primitive purity to love and serve God according to his duty And how far is man by the vertue of Christs blood duly applied to him capable of restitution into the exercise thereof so as to be once more put upon the proof and triall whether in the day of temptation he will hearken to the voice of the gospel by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost which purifies the heart from all filthines of flesh and spirit not only from the blood or naturall pollution from which before it was not cleansed but also from all those things whereby man could not be cleansed and freed by the law of Moses by the best naturall ability and strength receaved by him in his first creation or renewed and revived in him since In answer to this we shall as little as may be repeat what hath bin mention'd before but rather refer to it Only here is the proper place to reassume the pursuit of what was but lightly touch'd before concerning the conditionall Covenant made by God with Cain after the fall which is necessarily implied Gen. 4.7 and may safely be concluded on 1. Because Cain owned himself a visible worshipper of God and brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 2. Because God in effect ownes as much himself when he speakes to this purpose if thou doe well I wil be as good as my agreement with thee thou shalt be rewarded But if thou doe ill know that the Covenant I have made with thee is but conditionall and workes wrath upon thy disobedience whereby the punishment of thy sin will hasten apace upon thee and be neer thee even at the door And that thou mayst certainly know thou wilt be without all excuse for thy disobedience if thou persist in it doe not thinke to lay the fault any where but in the free motion of thine owne will which thou art restored to the exercise of For although through the fall thy lusting proud flesh and sensuall part of thy mind hath gotten the Dominion and usurped authority over thy intellectuall and most purely rationall part it shall be subject to thee againe as it ought by the law and order of nature For thou shalt be more and more renewed into a strength and ability to rule over and keep it to its duty if the fault be not in thy self This conditionall Covenant with the benefits of it thus renewed between God and Cain is that which is renewed by the same blood of the Mediatour between Christ and all the posterity of Adam vertually and radically This is that which Christ hath obteined at the fathers hands to be anew entered into with man for his farther proof and triall Unto this ministry Christ is enabled and qualified either by himself or by his messengers and servants to bring back againe the whole world unto God according to that invitation of his Isai 55.1.2 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no mony come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without mony and without price Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soule delight itself in fatnes All this yet lies short of the saving grace and sure mercies of the new and everlasting Covenant which is propounded by itself afterwards v. 3. So then thus far the Gospell is and may be receaved by Cain and those of whom God swears in his wrath that they shall never enter into his Rest Unto these the promise is made conditionally of entering into Rest and they fall short of it through hardnes of heart and unbeleife The WORD preached unto them does not profit them as to eternall salvation because they are not united to it by faith or have not the inseperable union contracted between the Son of God and them in the Covenant ordered in all things and sure which true saving faith workes The word therefore and command of God consisting in a conditionall and in an absolute Covenant from the beginning are the same two Testimonies of the
might bring us thus to live in and with him The life that we thus live is through his enlivening and inspiring motiō who for this very ēd gives himselfe to us in such an intimate and unchāgable uniō as makes him our very life or the activity and strength through which we act and live Christs thus being given to us and receaved by us amounts unto true regeneratiō and our being made willing to give up ourselvs thus unto him is the presenting our bodies or lusting fleshly mind a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God This is to make our living soule an offering or reasonable service to God even the freewill offering of those reasonable first created powers of discerning and desiring which however refined do remaine yet corruptible till the transforming work of true regeneration hath passed upon them and this with Abel's is reputed by God and therefore certainly in itself is a much more excellent sacrifice then that which Cain offered or indeed can be offered by any that retaine the life of their owne will as the principle of all their motion and activity in Gods service be it otherwise never so conform to the letter of the commandement They that are under this second work and chang have the Son of God in them so as to be himself the keeper of their soules by oath never to part with or give up his interest in and Rule over them unto any but the father After this manner to receave have and possesse the Son is to beleeve and have life eternall by the new and everlasting Covenant And not thus to receave the son is the unbeleif which when once it takes root springs up with that bitternes and enmity against the principle operation and Testimony of saving faith in true beleevers and so against Christ himself who rules in their hearts by faith as amounts in conclusion to the very second death For it carries them on in to that irrecoverable impenitency and hardnes of heart for which God swears they shall never enter into his Rest To be quickned and risen with Christ in this second work and chang wrought in the soule by him is that resurrection into life which never is to se corruption or change more And he that is thus borne of God doth not commit sin that is the sin of unbeleif above mention'd because his seed remaineth in him which keepeth him from so sinning and the evil one toucheth him not This heavenly immortall seed and birth of the life that is incorruptible keeps the beleever in all trialls and temptations fixed like a rock and as mount Sion that cannot be moved from holding fast the confidence of a lively hope to the end Yet where this resurrection and immortall life is in the seed it does not suddenly appear or shew itself in its owne likenes according to the mightines of the power that works in us But however it is the power of faith through which we are kept unto salvation It is that which after we have passed over the day of temptation the suffering season will be sure to come forth in its powerfull operation and make us perfect stablish strengthen and settle us Hence is it that Christ sayes if we have faith that is of the right kind but as a grain of mustard seed we shall find it to be of such a growing encreasing nature that though it be not presently discerned yet by it shall we be at last enabled to remove mountains and nothing shal be impossible unto it This is Christs meaning also when he sayes that he will raise up such beleevers at the last day that is in the day appointed for the manifestation of these Sons of God in which they shall appear as indeed they are to every eye And the eye that sees them shall acknowledg them the eare that heares them shall bear witnes unto them that they are the seed that God hath blessed not only by strengthning them with might in the inner man and rooting them in love but visibly raising them up in his power to the rendring of them mighty in word and deed With this kind of resurrection that shal be visible in the eyes of enemies and all beholders it is that Christ will raise up the sons of God before described and cause them to live in his sight in this third day at the breaking forth of the brightnes of his second personall appearance as the Kingdom of his power with which as with the latter rain he will visit and refresh the habitable part of his earth and at same time burne like an oven in flames of fire to the consuming and destroying of all his adversaries The way that God will take to make his sons manifest in this day is by a powerfull work of redemption that shal be wrought and passe upon the outward as wel as inward man of the heart upon the speaking acting powers as well as upon the understanding and intuitive faculties of the mind to the freeing of them both from the bondage of corruption and stating the whole person of the beleever in the glorious freedom of righteousnes and true holines 7. This shal be effected first by the ministry of the holy Angels as the Elias that is to come who like the foure winds of heaven shall breath with their influencing gales of prophesy upon the spirits of all men but especially upon beleevers to the gathering them up into a life of spirit and causing them to be as it were absent from the body in order to be present with the Lord whilst yet in the body 2. Secondly This work shal be carried on by the revelation of the son himself from heaven for the changing of our vile bodies into the likenes of his most glorious body We find Mark 1.1 c. that John Baptists ministry though but the messenger sent before Christs face to prepare his way in preaching the baptisme of repentance for the remission of sins is called the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the son of God And the Evangelist luke chap. 1.15 describing that which qualified John for his ministry tells us in the words which the angel spake to his father Zachary that he was filled with the holy Ghost from the womb for the rendring him a fit messenger to usher in the comming of Christ in the flesh by going before him in the spirit and power of Eliah whose work is to restore all things making them right and streight but he is to leave the work of regeneration and ministry of the new creature being and life to the son himself The subject which both these ministries cheifly respected in the day of the dispēsation of Christs first appearance was the inward man of the heart for the rooting and grounding it in love and strengthning it under the many and various trialls of the crosse and temptations that were to be undergone For beleevers are to beare about in their bodyes the markes of
for some as it is written I wil give ye the sure mercies of David absolute irrevocable gifts Those that after this manner find favour in his eyes have the remission of their sins confirmed with an oath that their iniquities shal never be remembred any more and that his mercy towards them shal never faile he will not leave nor forsake them My mercy wil I keep for him for ever more my Covenant shal stand fast with him His seed also wil I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of heaven Their transgressions shal not hinder the good I have purposed to them For notwithstanding their unworthines for which I will chastize them with the rod and with stripes yet my loving kindnes wil I not utterly take from them nor suffer my faithfulnes to faile My Covenant wil I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my holines that I wil not lie unto David the man that is after my owne heart nor to his seed after him that walk in the steps of his Spirit and faith Psalm 89. I will build him a house and establish it for ever by an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure In this most gracious promise David acknowledges al his salvation to be and all his desire 2 Sam 23.5 Mercies of both these kinds are with God who is rich and plentiful in goodnes having none like him He is a God that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the trangressions of the remnant of his heritage He reteineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn againe he wil have compassion upon the remnant of his heritage subdue their iniquities and cast al their sins into the midst of the sea But as to the rest of mankind that prove disobedient or have receaved the grace of God the former sort of mercies in vaine that word shal be made good upon them which the Lord spake concerning the Sons of Eli 1 Sam. 2. 30 I sayd indeed thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever but now be it far from me for them that honour me I wil honour and they that despise me shal be lightly esteemed This shews what condition was implied upon which God made that promise Since then by man came death by man also is come life and resurrection from the dead And this is revealed to fallen man in the good tydings of the promised seed who as hath bin sayd declares himself the saviour of al men but especially of those that beleeve He hath a common stock and Treasury of goods and spiritual gifts wherewith the whole world more or lesse is watered fed and enriched by him For he causes his rain to descend and sun to shine on the unjust as wel as on the just But over and besides all these whether natural or spiritual gifts he hath an inheritance incorruptible and undesiled that fadeth not away the heavenly and true Treasure which he gives and commits to those who are by him found or rather made faithful in the little that at first is trusted to their use and management Luk 16. And he causes them to possesse it in an hereditary right as coheirs with the only begotten Son children of the promised Spirit either in the single or double portion thereof This is he that is appointed by the father to turn men back againe to God out of their fallen sinful state by a repentance not to be repented of By his name and faith in his name whoever calls upon him shal be saved from his sins and be ledd on in the way to life eternal He was made a sacrifice or sin-offring for us that we might become the righteousnes of God in him Thus God found it consistent with his justice as wel as his goodnes to grant remission of sins to al that should seek unto him for it by the mediation of his Son who is the righteousnes of God that without the law is manifested being witnessed unto by the law and the Prophets to and upon all that beleeve without respect of persons Him hath God set forth and made manifest to be a propitiation through faith in his blood declaring his righteousnes to be that which procures remission of sins and Gods passing over al that is past in the way of his forbearance and reprieve til farther trial and proof had of the whole world as wel as to be absolutly and immutably the justifier of al that beleeve in Jesus with the faith that abides trial and by which the world is overcome The difficulty which yet remains is that which the Apostle Paul was sensible of Rom. 10. where he affirm's that whosoever beleevs in Jesus shal not be ashamed and that there is no difference between the jew and the Greek because the same Lord over al is rich unto all that cal upon him Whosoever therefore being sensible of his lack of wisdom shal cal upon his name he shal not be upbraided nor sent away empty but have the means revealed to him whereby to make him wise unto salvation But how shal they cal on him saith the Apostle in whom they have not beleeved and how shal they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and how shal they hear without a preacher and how shal they preach except they be sent and who are they that God sends with these his glad tydings the very feet of whom ought to be beautiful in our eyes and the report they make and witnesse they beare most acceptable to us The answer there to these and the like questions is very short So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God not by that word whose sound goes forth into al the earth and into the ends of the world When the Lord gives forth this general word or command he hath a great army of preachers ready to be sent on his message Great is the company of those who are ready willing and have an aptitude in them to publish it This David wel knew when be gave a description of three sorts of preachers within his observation The first sort he mentions Psal 19. The heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work even in the mediatour as in them he made a tabernacle for the sun which as a bridegroom comming out of his chamber shines more and more unto a perfect day His going forth is from one part of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it so that there is nothing hid from the heat and light thereof Thus also God brought forth Abraham shewed him the stars of heaven and sayd so shal thy seed be preaching Christ to him in and by the sight of those heavenly bodies And Abraham beleeved and it was accounted to him for righteousnes In like manner were the wise men of the east brought to the knowledg of Christ in his kingly
were liable to be broken off again and those also that are after the spirit true heirs according to the promise who are in like manner under this dispensation and teaching til the seed himself come and take them from this Schoolmaster in order to bring them under the most lively effectual teaching and instruction of his owne mouth and by his owne personal appearance in spirit to them either as the day-star arising in their hearts and giving forth the glory of his first appearance in his owne face as he is the Son of man in the form of a servant and fashion of the first Adam made immutable or 2dly as the sun in its strength breaking forth in their soules that are gathered to him appointed and qualified to be with him in the Kingdom of his father and admitted to the peculiar priviledge of beholding his glory in the face of his most exalted and heavenly manhood as he is the only begotten lying in the fathers bosome he that is above all What he hath seen and heard in the beholding of the fathers shape and very similitude that he testifieth but no man receaveth this his testimony that is but a meer man and no more For it is not it cannot be conveyed or communicated unto any but with unspeakable words which it is not possible for man in the single capacity of his first nature and make though become immutable to receave or utter so much doe they surpasse all the knowledg as wel as expression of meer man Under the voice of this threefold ministry God the mediatour who is the possessour of heaven and earth the maker of them and all therein hath made of one blood al nations of men for to dwel on the face of the earth hath distributed to al of them and determined the bounds of their habitations as also the different and proper means to bring them back to himself by repentance from dead works and faith towards the living God He hath awakened that light in every one that comes into the world that shal move and cal upon them at some time or other upon occasion of sundry concurring providences to seek the Lord if haply they may feel after him and find him who is not far from every one of us It ought not then to be a thing incredible with us but that by these means provision is made by God in Christ and care taken not only for the restoring of man againe unto that righteousnes and purity of nature which he lost and to the exercise of that kind of freewil which he enjoyed at creation but yet farther to regenerate and beget him into a more excellent fashion of being and heavenly frame of Spirit in and by which the end of his first creation is fully answered and the law of it accomplished Of this we shal now in the third place proceed to treat by way of answer to 3. The third generall Query which is this In what sence is it possible for man in his mutable state considered either before or after his fall according to the degree of restoring healing grace which he does or may arrive unto to hear and obey the things of Gods law without turning from it finally and in so doing to grow up out of his mutable into his immutable state and be made heir and possessour of life eternal To understand this the more plainly and distinctly and to prevent prejudices and mistakes we shal discusse this subject under these 4 particular enquiries following as branches of this 3d maine point and general query 1. Whether was man at first created in a capacity of being and aptitude of mind possible to obey and fulfill the law of nature so to as answer the end of his creation til brought under a second work of Gods hand call'd the new creation and thereby cast into a new mould and frame of being Secondly whether man by sin be so unmade againe and corrupted so disorder'd and disabled that by the blessing and vertue of Christs blood and the proper and fit means that by the father are put into the hands of the Mediatour he is not in a capacity and possibility notwithstanding his losse by the fall to be restored and made able againe to obey Gods law with the same kind of ability God gave him at first And upon such restoration is he not obliged to set about it at least to shew his good will and syncere inclination of mind there unto according to the measure of the ability he receaves 3. How was man to employ and make use of his naturall ability and strength given for the performance of Gods law and according to what rule might or ought he to have walked with God either before or after the fall which would infallibly guide and unmoveably keepe him in the way to eternall life a way which is called the way of holines such as the uncleane passe not over and the wayfaring men though fooles cannot or shall not erre therein and at the end whereof is immortality and eternall blessednes 4. How comes man in a judiciall manner to be hardned by God and made a vessell of wrath fitted and appointed to everlasting destruction And when is it that he shal be denied any farther benefit by the Sacrifice or Christs death and no more permitted to change his mind and turne from his evill wayes though he should seek it with teares but be in a certaine expectation of the unquenchable flames of Gods wrath ordeined for the punishing and devouring of all fixed and impenitent sinners To the first of these enquiries The creatour did at the beginning put a created ability and principle of motiō into the creature But the strength and power of this first impression is not sufficient for the continued motion of every respective creature in its kind but a perpetuall concourse and cooperation of the creatour is needfull thereunto Then doubtlesse man who was made in Gods image a rationall and free agent the masterpiece of the visible creation ought not to thinke himself exempt from such a dependance nor to covet or desire to be made perpetuall upō such tearms as would in effect dethrone his creatour and make more Gods then one The end for which man was at all created was to be perpetually moving in love and service to his creatour as a vessel prepared with meetnes for the use of his Lord in whatever he should be commāded by him for the advancement of his prayse and glory Now as loue is the end and perfection of the commādemēt so is it the first and cheife principle out of which all true obedience to the commād must proceed and a duration and perpetuity in this loue and duty is absolutely necessary to mans hapines and continuance in Gods favour and good liking For untill a man keep Gods commandements out of this principle and be sure of its unchangeablenes he neither can be sayd to walke in that Covenāt or agreement with God
second of them it seemes very evident that the day of Abrahams naturall seed continuing a nation and visible church owned by God as a peculiar people above all others is certainly intended Yea in some respect we may carry up this day of Abrahams naturall seed as high as shem the blessed Son of Noah in whose loyns and under whose blessing Abrahams seed are comprehended Gen. 9 26.27 Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. and Canaan shal be his servant The true and right iew is here distinguished from all the wicked hardned world 2dly T is said God shall en large or perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem or in the same spirit of faith and thereby become a fellow citizen with the Saints and of the houshold of God But if this be not admitted the date of the beginning of this day cannot be denied according to Stevens computation Act. 7.8 to have bin at least when God gave to Abraham the Covenant of circumcision And so Abraham begate Isaac and circumcis'd him the eight day And Isaac begate Jacob and Jacob begate the twelve Patriarchs that were the originall heads of the twelve tribes the Israelits to whom perteined the adoption the glory the Covenants the service of God and the promises whose are the fathers even from the beginning of the new world after the flood and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen By his comming he gave a revivall to Gods work in the midst of its dayes Hab. 3. or in the end of the second day and by his death ended also that whole dispensation of the circumcision relating to the naturall seed of Abraham and the Mosaicall ministry The second day being thus found in its beginning as well as ending it will not at all be difficult from the beginning of that especially if considered as from the time of Noahs bestowing the blessing upon Sem to fill up the space of time of which the first day consists And therein shall we find the continuance of another line wherein God declared himself for the propagating and carrying on of the holy seed of the church For after the death of Abel that was murdered by his brother Cain Adam knew his wife againe and she bare a son and called his name Seth for God appointed him as another seed in stead of Abel whom Cain slew Gen. 4 25. This holy seed from Seth downwards in way of distinction from the rest of the world passed under the name of the Sons of God calling themselvs by the name of the Lord and continuing so to do as we find Gen. 6. till the flood came and drowned the old corrupted apostate world This reduced the holy seed to a new root and spring in the person of Noah an heir of the righteousnes which is by faith Hereof he gave the proof in preparing an ark at Gods command to the saving of his house thereby condemning the world that slighted and rejected that way of being saved These are the two dayes in the end of the second whereof we have bin revived by the comming of Christ in the flesh dying for our sins and rising againe according to the Scriptures It remains now therefore to search out if we can what is the tract of time meant by the third day which is the day of the continuation of Abrahams seed as they are Christs And he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one He that begets and they that are begottē are the one seed that are the Sons of Gods absolute and unchangable choice and love They are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man no not of the Son of man himself as standing in his owne will or exercising his owne humane freedom single but of God or of the Son of man as he and the father are one having as it were but one will betweene them Of this holy and good will they are begotten being taken out of their owne wills and made to stand and live in the will of the Son of God as his resigned humane will lives intirely in the will of his father So come they to be one with him as he is one with the father This seed are those that are of Abrahams faith being of the same spirit and walking in the steps of that typicall father and of Christ himself their father in spirit and Truth These are the true heirs according to the promise and are called to inherit the blessing of Abraham in the actuall receiving of the promise of the spirit through faith the adoption of Sons which makes them like David a people after Christs owne heart For the forming and bringing of them to this God sends forth the spirit of his Son or his Son in spirit into their hearts by which thy cry Abba father Thus Christ comes to dwell in them and with them purifying them in spirit as he is pure to a like-mindednes in all things with himself This spirituall seed who are Christs as the children of his Kingdom the day whereof in spirit begins with his ascension are said Col. 3. to be risen with Christ in the affection and desire of their minds which is set upon things above This renders them dead to things below the seen things which are temporary and perishing causing them by the eye of faith to espy out for themselvs a life and to find an ability to worke the righteousnes that is immutable However hidden weak and low this life and ability may be in the motion and activity thereof for a season 't is that that will never faile as to the effecting in them a conformity to Christs death and arming them to suffer in the flesh and to continue with Christ the season appointed for his temptations and sufferings in the whole body of his true members and followers as well as in himself It prepares them to be his true witnesses in a sackcloth testimony a state of patience and persecution from the world as wel as afterwards to be the witnesses of his power and great glory when he shall come to be glorified in his Saincts and admired in all those that do beleeve During the suffering season they are patiently to undergoe all approving themselvs first to be faithfull witnesses under this baptisme of the crosse as they desire to be found afterwards in the number of the two sorts of his obedient children that are to reigne with him first such as are chosen out of the world into the common rank of sons secondly such as are chosen out of that choice to be freinds and speciall favourites They are both of them appointed and prepared by the father to sit on thrones with Christ the one at his right hand and the other at his left when he shall come forth in his power and great glory as may seem in some sort to have bin perceaved by the mother of Zebedees children in