TCOVENANT OF GRACE (COTTON) 2/2

CHAP. VIII. How doth God the Father give himself?

There remaineth another thing to be resolved, and cleared from the Doctrine: For if God in the Covenant of his Grace, do give himself to be a God to Abraham, and his seed, It is then to be inquired, 1. How God the Father giveth himself. 2. How God the Son giveth himself. 3. How God the Holy Ghost giveth himself: For these are the Fundamentals of the Covenant of Grace, and necessary to be opened for clearing the Doctrine of it. 1. How God the Father doth give himself, to be a God in Covenant to Abraham, and to his seed; that is, to the faithful seed of Abraham? By a threefold work doth God the Father give himself, in the Covenant of his Grace, to be a God unto Abraham, and to his elect seed. 1. The first Act of God, is by Giving his own Son out of his bosom, for the redemption of Abraham, and his seed. That is the first and Fundamental of all the rest, that God doth put forth, or any other person in Trinity, for the applying of the Covenant unto the hearts of his people. And God in giving his Son doth give himself, Joh. 9:14, and 10:30. He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father; and, I and my Father are one: if God giveth us his Son, he giveth us himself also: so saith the Apostle John, 1 Joh. 2:23. He that hath the Son hath the Father, and he that hath not the Son hath not the Father. Herein hath God commended his love towards us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us; Rom. 5:8, this is the love of God to send us his Son, that whosoever believeth in him, might not perish but have everlasting life. Joh. 3:16. As God giveth us his Son, so he giveth us all things else in his Son, Rom. 8:32, for, he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So then this is the first and the great work of God, that he hath given his Son out of his own bosom, to take our nature upon him, to lead a miserable life, and to die a cursed death; and in him hath given all his attributes, his mercy, and power unto the sons of men; an undoubted sign that God intendeth to give himself in the Covenant of Grace unto his people, when he giveth Jesus Christ himself in that Covenant, as he doth say expressly, Isa. 42:6. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and will give thee for a Covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. Wherein we may see, that God giveth another, even that God the Father giveth God the Son; thus it is a gift of the Covenant that the Lord giveth Christ to be the foundation of the Covenant, and the chief blessing of it; in chap. 49:8. He speaketh to the same purpose, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and will preserve thee, and give thee for a Covenant of the people, &c. No man hath seen God at any time, Joh. 1:18, nor can see him, nor will God the Father have immediate fellowship with any creature, but the only begotten Son of the Father, the Lord hath given him that he might reveal him. Thus we may perceive that the Lord is gracious, and marvelous gracious, in that he giveth us his dear Son, the second person in Trinity; and thus he saith to his elect, I will be a God unto thee, and give thee my Son, that shall redeem thee out of all distress, and danger: This doth the Lord for his people, and it is a clear evidence of his grace, and showeth that his love unto his people is beyond all banks, and bottoms, for the Lord to give us his Son, and this Son so soon as he was promised; not the Lord only, but his people saw him afar off, Job. 8:5,6. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad. For when the Lord Jesus Christ was promised unto him, Gen. 17:16,17, and the Lord had said unto him, I will bless Sarah, and give thee a son of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of many nations, kings of people shall be of her; then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed; he did rejoice that the Lord would give him a Savior out of his loins: how it could be brought to pass, it may be he knew not; but by a Spirit of Prophecy did he discern it much, no doubt. This is the first work of God in giving himself by Covenant; and this was done long ago, before we were born: he gave him in his eternal Counsel, when he did elect us in him; he gave him when he sent him into the world: but this is more, when he giveth us unto his Christ, by Covenant, and draweth us unto him, and giveth Christ unto us also: and this grace of God cometh nearer unto us; the other did leave us like Lambs in a large pasture: but now as he giveth us unto Christ, so he giveth him to us, and both in present possession; and this the Father doth, Joh. 6:44, for no man, saith Christ, can come unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him: and everyone that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Now this hearing, and learning of the Father, is a strange kind of learning, which the Lord teacheth the soul by, when he draweth him unto Christ; an effectual Teaching, and powerful, 1 Cor. 1:9. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. This is our effectual calling, and this is the Lord’s giving us unto his Son, Joh. 6:37. All that the Father giveth me, shall come unto me: all this is properly the work of the Father. Men are said to be well given, when they give themselves to their Books, to their Works, and business: but this we may well say, that we are indeed well given, when the Lord giveth us unto his Son; for otherwise we are but in an ill state, which way soever we are given. Quest. If you shall ask how the Father giveth us, and calleth us, and draweth us to fellowship with his Son? (for they are Scripture-phrases, and all of them of like value in Scripture-sense.) Ans. In a word; The Lord draweth us unto his Son by his Spirit, and calleth us as by his Word, so by his Spirit also, and giveth us by his Word and Spirit unto Jesus Christ. In this thing I shall speak no more unto you, then what you have often heard, and I suppose long ago received, as, that the Lord calleth his people out of their sins, by the light of the Law, and by the spirit of bondage he setteth home the Law effectually unto the soul, and thereby draweth us from sin, and from the world in some measure, that we have now no might to those things, which before we were full of delight in: whether they be sins against the Law, or sins against the Gospel; it is the Lord’s usual dealing by his Spirit, to set home sins against both; Insomuch that thereby we come to be afflicted with some kind of trembling, and fear, and torment about our spiritual estate: and thus it was with Saul, (who afterwards was Paul) Act. 9:3,4,5,6, when Jesus Christ called unto him out of heaven, he all trembling, and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? So it was with the Jailor, Act. 16:29, after the Lord had shaken his heart with an earthquake, (which is a sanction of the Law, and a ratification of it) as all God’s Judgments are) he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling to Paul and Silas. Thus the Lord draweth men out of themselves, and their sinful ways, by a spirit of bondage, whereby they are greatly and deeply afflicted with fear; concerning which, the Apostle Paul saith, 2 Tim. 1:7. God hath not given us the spirit of fear, or bondage; but of power, of love, and of a sound mind, &c. such fear also the Apostle John speaketh of, 1 Joh. 4:18, when he saith, Perfect love casteth out fear, for fear hath torment; which cometh from the sense of a man’s state, whereby he is many times forced to cry out, and to say, Woe worth my soul, that ever I was born; for the Lord causeth me to possess all my sins, and presseth me down to the nethermost hell: this is one work of the spirit of bondage, by which the Lord draweth the soul out of itself, and its sins, though of itself the spirit of fear goeth no further than to shake a man’s carnal confidence: but there is a further act of the spirit of bondage, according to that power which was given to the faithful witnesses, Rev. 11. Besides this spirit of bondage, the Lord hath another work, which is called a spirit of burning, Mal. 4:1. The day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts; and it shall leave them neither root nor branch. This is a spirit of burning; let us speak unto it a little. The Prophet saith, It shall leave them neither root nor branch. There are two things in the root. 1. First is the root of Abraham’s Covenant, which this people much trusted upon; and that is it of which John the Baptist speaketh, Now the ax is laid to the root of the tree, &c. and this he spake (Matth. 3:9.) after he had said, Think not to say with yourselves, We have Abraham to our father, ver. 8. So that all the confidence that they had in Abraham’s Covenant, and Temple, and Tabernacle, and such things, is burnt up; and so they have no root left them to stand upon. And this is one thing intended by the root. But, 2. There is something more in it: for with this spirit of burning, the Lord by the power of his Spirit doth cut us off, from any power of our own natural gifts, or parts, and spiritual gifts also, whereby we thought to lay hold on Jesus Christ; and we are cut off hereby from all that confidence that we have in our own sufficiency, when once the Lord intendeth to bring a soul unto himself; for there is an usual prefidence that we have of our own state: though the Lord have cut us off from hope in the righteousness of our parents, and from boasting of his Ordinances, yet we think there is some power still left us, and therefore we hope, and will seek, that the Lord may reveal himself to us in mercy and peace; but when the Lord cometh nearer unto us, he will show us how unable we are to take up the least good resolution; we shall be like bruised reeds, and not find ourselves able to hold up our heads; for Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. So that Christ will not seek us until we be lost; and therefore he saith, Matth. 16:24. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and follow me; and according hereunto it is, that those converts, Act. 2:37, do cry out, when they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, Men, and brethren, what shall we do? Hence it is also, that the poor souls that came unto Christ, Matth. 12:20, were like bruised reeds that could not hold up their heads; for the Lord in this case bruiseth them, and layeth them low, that they see no more hope of mercy, no likelihood that God should show them any hope. Thus doth the Lord burn up the root of Abraham’s Covenant wherein men trust, and the root of all our self-sufficiency; that now we find ourselves dried up, and our strength consumed; that now we are not able to think, as of ourselves, a good thought. And again, The Lord by this spirit of burning, doth burn up all our branches also, how fair and green soever they have been; all our fasting’s, and humiliations, and alms-deeds, and prayers; such things as the Pharisees much boasted in, Matth. 6:1,2,3. &c. but these things are all burnt up. This is a spirit of bondage, partly as it worketh a trembling and fear, and partly as it worketh to the burning up of all the hope that we have in ourselves. There is a spirit of bondage, I confess, that only worketh unto fear; and now all the hope is, that a man setteth upon reformation: but if the Lord love a man’s soul, he will not let him stay there; but goeth further with him, and showeth him that his prayers and fasting’s are all empty, and fall short of the life and power of Jesus Christ. I, but yet, the soul is not quite out of hope, though the Law cannot save me; if it cannot, I must get me to Jesus Christ then, and lay hold upon him for salvation: as if all were to be had by faith in Jesus Christ, if once he can lay hold upon him, and nothing else were required but faith in Jesus Christ, and my laying hold upon him. I see plainly (saith a man in this case) that there is no hope in me, as hath been rightly observed; and therefore he trusteth upon Jesus Christ, and giveth himself to Jesus Christ: but now if the Lord love thy soul, he will not suffer thee there to rest, the spirit of burning will not leave thee so. How comest thou by faith in Jesus Christ? Why? Thou tookest it up of thy own accord; thou thoughtest, all thy gifts and duties were in vain, and therefore now thou wilt believe in Jesus Christ; Is it so easy a matter? Can any man come unto Christ, except the Father draw him? And is thy faith anymore then a resolution of thine own, when thou wast convinced of the emptiness of thine own gifts and abilities? When this spirit of burning hath blasted this thy faith also, and that by the clear evidence of the Gospel put upon it; now, saith the soul, I see that I am not in Christ: though I said, I would trust in Christ; yet I see it is not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: now I see it is not my faith that will reach Jesus Christ, it is not a faith of my own undertaking that will serve the turn; I see now Christ alone must work this great work in me, and Christ in the way of his own Ordinances; therefore I must look for it in his word, and in the fellowship of the Sacraments; therefore I will look up unto the Lord in all these, and wait for him, and seek him therein. And so the poor soul maketh account, that in time he shall find Jesus Christ in the Ordinances, and so hammereth out a faith from thence, and therein blesseth himself. Now (mind you) the Spirit of God (when the Lord God the Father will draw home the soul thoroughly to Jesus Christ) will burn up all thy confidence: for if thy soul be not utterly lost; so long as it hath any root, or power in itself: though I cannot work, I will believe; and if I cannot believe, I will wait that I may believe; and so here is still the old root of Adam left alive in us, whereby men seek to establish their own righteousness, whereof the Apostle Paul often maketh mention: This old root putteth forth itself, and will not suffer the soul to be wholly for Christ, and for Christ alone; and all because there is a spring of Adam still in the soul: whence it is that the soul is marvelous apt to have hope and confidence more or less from some virtue or power in himself; therefore it is no small matter to be cut off from Adam, that’s contrary to nature (Rom. 11:24.) as saith the Apostle: For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; this is marvelous strong work, when the Spirit of God cometh to act contrary things to nature: for nature is fully possessed, that what God commandeth, I am able to do it: nature will not be persuaded to the contrary: If I hear God command anything, I will do it, (saith a carnal heart) and if I cannot do it, I will believe; and if I cannot believe, I will wait that I may believe: this is still but nature. Now when the Lord cometh indeed to engraft us into Jesus Christ, this is quite contrary to nature. Why wherein is it so contrary to nature? I answer: whereas nature is active for itself, now it cometh to pass, that whereas a soul hath been stirring and busy in his own strength, at length the Spirit of God by the mighty power of his Grace, being shed abroad into the soul, doth burn up root and branch, not only the root of Abraham’s Covenant, but all the fatness of the root of the wild Olive, by which we are fat, and lively to spiritual work, in our apprehensions; so that we work in our own strength, until the Lord come, and cut us quite down, and make us to see, that there is not in us the least good thought, as of ourselves; and therefore unless the Lord be wonderfully gracious to us, we cannot be saved: till it come unto this, the soul is not fit for Jesus Christ. Thus the Spirit of God may work powerfully in the hearts men, and burn up their root and branch: and this a spirit of burning may do, and yet leave the soul in a damnable condition, for ought I know; and such as many a soul may be in, and yet never come to enjoy saving fellowship with Jesus Christ. Therefore as this is one arm of God stretched forth for the salvation of his people, when he draweth them home to Jesus Christ: so, 2. Secondly, there is a further work of God, when he giveth the spirit of adoption, which reacheth beyond all the former work: he hath cut us off from ourselves, and now we stand in a state quite contrary to nature; and if any saving-work be wrought in us, it is quite contrary to nature; if anything fall upon the heart and soul of a man, to bring his will to this pass, to lie down at God’s feet, that he knoweth not what to do; and yet whatsoever the Lord calleth him unto, he is willing if it were possible to be done; he would run through fire and water to do it: but he findeth himself unable to do anything; and now he will tell you, that to believe is as impossible for him, as to build a world. Why then bid him wait: wait? Saith he; I but I cannot wait; and if I seek the Lord, I cannot find him: and I see others of the servants of God wrought upon graciously; but dead hearted I, nothing will work upon me. Now in such a case as this, the Spirit of adoption cometh into the heart of a Christian, and taketh possession of the soul for Jesus Christ, and so draweth the soul unto Jesus Christ, and maketh it there to stay, and there to lie down, and to be willing to be drawn yet nearer and nearer to Jesus Christ, and to be carried an end by him, to take all from him, and to give all the glory to him. This spirit of Adoption doth give a man a son-like frame, to lie prostrate at his Fathers will: like unto the Prodigal son, Luk. 15:17,18,19, who when he came unto himself, and saw how unable he was to provide for himself, and how unworthy he was that his father should do anything for him; he came and lay down as it were at the feet of his father; for he is unable, and unworthy of any mercy: now this stooping of the heart unto God, and yielding unto him to do with us as seemeth good in his own eyes, is such a prostration of the heart wherein the Lord hath taken possession of the soul, that now a man is led unto fellowship with Jesus Christ, that there is none in heaven but him, none in the earth in comparison of him, that the soul desireth after: and now a man waiteth upon Christ, to see what he will do for him; and though he cannot tell you that he waiteth, yet he doth wait that he may be helped of God to depend upon him: thus he receiveth all from Christ, and giveth all unto Christ. This is the Fathers drawing of the soul, which is expounded to be the hearing and learning of the Father of which John speaketh, chap. 6:45. He that hath heard and learned of the Father, cometh unto me; which is, when the Lord hath drawn the soul out of his natural corruptions, legal reformations, pretenses of faith, and waiting upon Christ in his own strength for faith if it be wanting: then when the soul doth lie at his feet to disposed of according to the will of God, and is in some measure subject unto the Lord, though not so much as he could be desirous he were; and therefore now the soul doth not content and bless himself in his faith, not any other gifts or works of his own; but yieldeth himself humbly unto the Lord, to work in him both will and deed, of his own good pleasure, and to teach him how to seek, and wait, and believe, and long after Jesus Christ; these things he waiteth for: otherwise, until he be thus taught of God, the soul will always think that he can do something, and is not able to come out of himself, to an utter denial of himself: but if any man will come unto Christ, he must deny himself, even all his own gifts, and parts, and good works whatsoever: for a man is never utterly denied, until there be nothing left of which a man can say, This I am able to do, or this is an excellent thing in me; and when it cometh unto this pass, then will the soul lie down at the will of God, and acknowledge that if the Lord would never show him mercy, just and righteous are his judgments. Now when the soul and will of a Christian are convinced of these things, as well as his judgment, that now he waiteth upon Christ, as well that he may be able to wait, and seek the Lord, as he doth for any other good thing from the Lord; he waiteth now upon the Lord for a poor spirit, and cannot perk up himself, as a bruised reed cannot do. Thus when it cometh unto saving-work, the will and soul of a man is so cast down, that a man cannot tell what to make of himself; but there he lieth, to see what the Lord will do with him, whether he will reach forth the hand of salvation unto him. In this case the soul is left utterly void, and hath in himself neither root nor branch; but seeth how unable he is to believe, or wait: nor can he tell whether Jesus Christ be his portion; and now doth the Lord take possession, and fill the empty soul. If you shall ask me how this spirit cometh into the soul, to make it thus to stoop unto Jesus Christ? You shall find that the Lord useth to convey himself unto the soul in some word of promise of the Gospel, that showeth unto the soul the riches of the grace of God in Jesus Christ: something or other is declared of Jesus Christ: This word being taught in the public Ministry of the Word, or brought to remembrance in some spiritual duty, as prayer, or conference, or the like (for I will not limit the holy One of Israel, yet) usually it is done in the Ministry of the Gospel; and though the Lord doth not limit himself, yet he doth limit us to attend upon the means, which he usually worketh by: but whatsoever the way be, this is the manner of God’s working, he doth universally come into the soul, in some word or other of his grace: as for instance, that in 2 Cor. 5:19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; or that in 1 Tim. 1:15. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of which I am chief. In some such word of God’s grace, he cometh and putteth life into the soul, and maketh it somewhat quiet, and causeth it to see that there is hope in Israel; and the Lord is able to save me, and there is riches enough in Jesus Christ to save me. By such kind of work it is, that the Lord bringeth the souls of his servants effectually to Jesus Christ. And now hath God the Father given us unto Jesus Christ; and until now, thou never camest home savingly. This is the second act whereby God the Father giveth himself unto the soul. 3. The third Act or work of God the Father which followeth both these: So soon as ever the Lord hath given this self-denying spirit unto the soul, and hath made it like unto a bruised reed, or like a Traveler that is out of his way, and willing to take any man by the hand that will lead him into his way again; when the soul is in such a frame, now God the Father cometh by a third work of actual reconcilement: The first work, was of conviction: The second, was a work of subjection: And the third, of reconciliation. This is the third work of the Father: though there is in all these works a concurrence of the whole Trinity, yet some are more proper unto each person, as our Catechisms teach us, and we are not wont to scruple such expressions in them. God the Father created us; and we cannot expound it, but as God the Father created us at the first, so he doth again create you, or else if we acknowledge it in the one, and not in the other, we do God the Father wrong. Well, he is then reconciled unto us, having given us the Spirit of his Son, and now he doth pronounce us reconciled unto him: this is the work which is spoken of, Rom. 5:10. When we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God, by the death of his Son. And this is the work of God the Father, according to that which is before alleged, 2 Cor. 5:19. God was in Christ reconciling the world, &c. now there are two acts of God, as fruits that follow hereupon, and both of them done at once upon the soul. 1. Act of God is Adoption, whereby he maketh us his Children; as Gal. 4:4,5,6. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law; that we might receive the adoption of sons: and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, Joh. 1:12. So that now we are the brethren of Christ, and the sons of the eternal God. Adoption is properly the work of the Father: but Jesus Christ being the natural Son of God, we must be knit unto him, before we can be accounted sons. 2. Act of God is Justification, It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? Rom. 8:33,34. This is the Fathers work, and it is principally attributed unto him to forgive our iniquities, and to reconcile us in Jesus Christ. And look as it is in our natural being; so soon as ever we have received natural life from Adam, we become the sons of Adam, and his sin is imputed unto us: so it is in the new birth; so soon as ever the life of Christ is shed abroad into our hearts, so soon are we heirs with Christ, and the righteousness of the second Adam is imputed unto us now to our justification, as was the sin of Adam before to our condemnation. The Doctrine itself is but a Use. But I desire that we may all of us apply it unto ourselves. It will be helpful unto us for our instruction; to teach us how we came to saving fellowship with God in Jesus Christ, and wherein lieth our spiritual union with Jesus Christ, and how it is wrought and obtained: and this is necessary; for as it hath been observed by others, so we may now gather it from what we have heard, that there be four sorts of men, that fall short of this union with Jesus Christ. 1. You have some that bless themselves in their natural state; it may be they are rich, and honorable among men: well, they bless themselves in that state, and will never go any further. 2. There is another sort, that are convinced of the danger of their natural estate, they dare not rest there, and hereupon they fall to reformations, and so to duties of humiliation, and the like; wherein they find such a blessed change, and so much comfort, as doth satisfy them: and indeed the Lord doth comfort men in their reformations; for God will have no man lose by him, Matth. 6:2,5. Hypocrites have their reward for their alms, and for their prayers. Herod when he heard John, reformed many things, and heard him gladly. Mar. 6:20, here was a great change, and doubtless much comfort: yet these men never had the work of God the Father, to burn up all that they have received by any strength of their own. 3. A third sort go a step beyond these: They have been convinced, that they went forth to reformation in their own strength: they plainly see it, and discern it; and therefore they know that it is impossible to be saved by the righteousness of the Law, and that it is not of works neither, of one kind, nor of another: They are convinced, that faith only must do the deed, and upon this ground they will take up faith to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation; and that faith which formerly they have pitched upon their good duties, they will now pitch it upon Jesus Christ: but still it is the same faith, for the root is not yet burnt up, their old corruption still remaineth in them: and so here is your old faith translated from one object to another; it was fastened before upon duties and reformations, and now upon Jesus Christ: And now a man is ready to plead, and say, If God had not loved me, he would never have set me upon such reformations, nor have enlarged me with such comforts as he hath done, if he had not been well pleased with me in Jesus Christ: but though he may be sometimes burnt up touching his hope in reformation, yet he will translate his faith to Jesus Christ: but how came you to do that, brother? Why, I saw my hopes in my own reformation would not serve my turn, and therefore I believed in Jesus Christ; and now shall nothing draw me from Jesus Christ, nor pull me from my confidence: for I have built upon some word of God, and some promise of his unto such reformation as I have set upon; and is not this true faith in Jesus Christ? This is far from true faith, it is no other but a strong fallacy whereby the Devil doth cheat men; and in truth, this faith is but a faith of a man’s own making, that I may so speak; it is no more but a spirit of burning at the best, that hath burnt up his confidence in his own works, and taught him to resolve to believe on Jesus Christ. 4. There are a fourth sort, that fall far short of Jesus Christ also, and yet go beyond all these: they go beyond works, and beyond this faith also which we have spoken of, which was not a lively faith in Jesus Christ, whereby we are justified; but men justify themselves by it, God doth not justify them: now this fourth sort come plainly to see that their faith is shaken, and they dare not look God in the face, to justify the truth of their faith before him: It is true, many an heavenly spirited man cannot tell what will become of him, nor can he tell whether his faith be sound: but many an hypocrite also is so far convinced, that he cannot tell what will become of him, nor can he say that his faith is right, nor that he is able to believe: what faith the soul now in such a case as this? He will say, I see it is not my reformation, nor my faith, that will serve the turn: what is it then? I see that now I must wait upon Christ that I may believe, and unto him must I seek for help. Is not this soul in a state of everlasting fellowship with Jesus Christ? Truly this is that which the Lord many times bringeth the souls of his servants unto; but he leaveth them not here, if he mean to do them good. For I would examine again, how camest thou to wait upon Jesus Christ? Thou hast been driven out of conceit of thy former faith, and so hast been forced, and hast seen a necessity to wait upon Jesus Christ for faith, or else thou canst not believe: force of argument hath constrained thee thus far. If thou hast taken up a course of waiting only upon this ground, here is a spark of old Adam still kept alive in thee: thou art able to seek, and wait upon Jesus Christ, and yet I cannot promise thee that thou hast any part or portion in him. But a soul will say, Hath not the Lord made gracious promises to all those that seek for him? Hath he not said, that all they are blessed that wait for him? Isa. 30:18, and am not I wrapped up hereby in a bundle of grace and peace? Mind you; there is no promise of life made to such as wait and seek in their own strength, who being driven unto it, have taken it up by their own resolutions; though I grant it is true, that everyone that waiteth for, and seeketh the Lord aright, is driven unto it by the Lord: but if ever the Lord mean to save you, he will rend as it were the caul from the heart, I mean, he will pluck away all the confidence that you have built upon, as a man would rend the entrails of a beast from him: so the Lord will bring you to a flat denial of yourselves, and that you have neither good will nor deed as of yourselves; and you know not what God will do with you; but this you know, that whatsoever he doth, he is most righteous. When the Spirit of God cometh as a Comforter, he will in this manner convince the soul of a man, that he hath heretofore hung upon his reformations for hope and comfort; but now he is brought plainly to see, and flatly to deny, that he had not so much as one drop of the fatness of the true Olive in him, when he most trusted unto his own excellencies. Now a man being thus far brought on, doth not only deny himself in his Judgment, but in his will, and is ready to say, as David sometimes did; If the Lord say, he hath no pleasure in me, here I am, let him do unto me as seemeth him good; the Lord is righteous in all that cometh upon me: this only the soul hath for his support in such a case, the Lord is able to do all for me that I stand in need of: If he show me no mercy, he is just; if he be gracious, I shall live to praise him. Now when a man’s will is thus subdued, that he hath no will of his own to be guided by, but the will of God, this is true brokenness of heart, when not only the judgment, but the heart and will is broken. The soul being thus convinced that neither his working, nor believing, nor waiting, nor seeking as of himself will do him any good, there is no mercy that he can challenge for any goodness sake of his own; then cometh the Holy Ghost in some declaration of God’s free Love, and taketh possession of the heart, and then the soul beginneth to pant after Jesus Christ, and nothing in heaven but him, nor in the earth besides him: The soul being thus wrought upon, beginneth to put forth itself towards the Lord Jesus; but the Holy Ghost had taken possession before, and so helpeth our infirmities, Rom. 8:26,27, he alone must help us, and no other: observe it I pray you, for it is most necessary to know it to be impossible, that a conditional promise should save the soul. A man is convinced that there is no condition will quiet his spirit until the grace of God in Christ be manifested to him. This is the first Use. The second Use may give light touching a controversy, if it be stirring in the Country, I know not whether it be, I fear it is, and yet hope that if matters were rightly understood, there would be no material difference: for if the Question be not about grace, but about the discerning of grace, you will find that differences which tend unto the discerning of grace, will be of much less dangerous consequence then the other; for thereupon lieth the very foundation of a Christian man’s safe estate. How far there is difference in the Country, I cannot give an account; but I desire that you may all understand what I say. If you demand, upon what grounds cometh the soul to close with Christ aright; whether upon a conditional, or upon an absolute promise? And are they not both free? I answer, It is true, they are both free; but when God is said to do anything to a work, as to apply a promise to a work, it is not so properly said to be a promise of grace: but I will not enter into Dispute: This you will find to be true; that take a soul that is in union with Christ, and apply all the Promises to him, he will make you this answer, before the Spirit of Grace cometh into him, he is clear in this, that there are none of all the Promises of God belonging unto him, till the Lord who hath broken him do bind him up again; for his heart will tell you that his duties and reformations have been such, as have kept him from Christ. You will say, I hope you trust upon Christ: I, will he say, with that faith by which I trusted upon works before. If you tell him of promises made to faith, he will say, But not to mine, that hath only sprung from my own reformations. Consider, all you that search the word of God this day, when the soul cometh, to deny that it hath true faith, what promise can it apply unto that which it denieth itself to have? A soul will be ready to refuse promises, even when the Spirit of God hath taken possession; but then it is his sin: yet all the time before, there is no reason but that the soul should refuse to apply Promises; when there was nothing but a power of the spirit of Reformation, and till we be cut off from the old Adam, we shall be ready to quarrel and snarl that the Lord should deal thus with us; and why did he suffer Adam to fall? And put upon us such a Law to obey, and then condemn us for that which we were never able to perform? Truly there is nothing to help in this case: but the Lord will take away thy crabbed spirit, he will make thee to lie flat at his feet, and to say, If he will kill me, here I am; and if he will save thee, he will make thee content to receive all from Christ; and to be willing that he should do with thee, that which is good in his own eyes. And what can help a soul now, but only an absolute promise? Whereby the soul is raised to look to the Name of that Christ, whom he hath all this while blasphemed and persecuted. Thus we see upon what terms and grounds any one is jealous of building his comfort upon conditional promises, and why we are so loath to say, that sanctification is an evidence of a man’s justification; it is because men may produce sanctification, and promises unto it, when it is but legal righteousness. Yet some men will say, I have been driven out of my own legal righteousness, and now I rest upon Jesus Christ, and may I not take comfort in such faith, and sanctification flowing therefrom? I confess faith in Christ, and sanctification flowing from it, are precious treasures; but how camest thou by them? If thou knowest not how, I cannot but think that thou stolest them, and camest not by them in the right way: you will say, Well, though I have no righteousness, nor faith of my own, yet I can wait upon Christ: How camest thou by power to wait upon Christ? Here is a branch of the old Adam still springing forth afresh; thou art confident in thine own strength, and worth; and if God deal otherwise with thee then thou expectest, thou wilt be apt to wrangle with the Lord, so far wilt thou be from stooping to his will. Search the Scriptures, and see if it be not the truth of God. See whether it be thy qualifications taken up upon unjust grounds, that will save thy soul; thou hast not been drawn far enough all this while: if thou sayest thou hast been drawn to reformation, and faith, and waiting; If thou hast been indeed drawn, it is a comfortable sign; but truly the Promises do not belong unto thee, until thou art brought unto a flat denial of thyself; and thy will be made to lie prostrate before the will of God, and is unable to satisfy itself in anything besides Jesus Christ; the want of either of which, will leave a man still a member of old Adam; that either he will cavil with God, or else will go away, and be jolly, and frolic, and free of spirit, though he knoweth not what the Lord will do for him: which is a plain sign that the Spirit of God is not there, and then there is no condition of which it can be said, This is the spot of God’s children, This is the seal of the servants of the Living God. If then the Spirit of God come upon the wings of a promise, it is an absolute promise; and then you must not wonder, if we be thus afraid that men should build their faith upon conditional promises: if men build their consolation upon conditions of obedience, hypocrites have gone beyond it: if you have trusted in your own faith, hypocrites will plead that they have gone beyond that also; for they have waited upon God that they might believe. And therefore see the reason why we do so much mistrust the building of our faith upon promises made unto conditions in us. And I have given you the grounds from the word of God: for I should be a Traitor to the Lord Jesus, if I should speak from any other grounds. And though it be true (which I have formerly said) that the fruits of the Spirit of grace in the heart of a Christian, as Faith, and Patience, and Love, cannot be denied to be evidences of a good estate; yet let it first appear from whence they come: first draw near unto God in Jesus Christ, and when any are brought on to Christ by self-denial, such men’s faith and love are indeed evident tokens of salvation and communion with Christ; but until men be thus brought on, they can have no Evidence from such graces. Therefore you see why we are so fearful to build our faith upon qualifications; for any self- denying soul will tell you, that no promise will serve his turn to build his faith upon, but some such as speaks of God’s wonderful and free grace: if there be any promise made unto faith, he will find himself very unable to apply it, until the Lord by some word of his free grace hath wrought faith in him. You may see here the unsafeness of any such building; as when we are convinced of our sins, then we seek for some qualification in ourselves, and think that the Holy Ghost applieth some promise made to such a qualification; and so we lay hold upon Jesus Christ: a most unsafe building, in my understanding; for we cannot reach any gracious qualification, until we have first received Christ in the Promise; and then we must look up unto him to bring us unto the promises, and to apply them to us. It is not possible that a corrupt tree should bring forth good fruit: but first make the tree good; and good trees we cannot be, till we be engrafted into Christ: which is indeed the ground of my great fear, and solicitude, and the reason why I dare not be so unfaithful, as to set men in a way of faith, or any other qualifications, thereby to conclude their safe estate, before they have received Christ in a promise. Indeed, when a man’s soul is wounded, and convinced of some heinous sins, the Promises of God in such a case may support his soul; but do not lead a man in such a case to see his faith, or any other qualification, therein to satisfy himself: but if I would help and comfort such a soul, I would declare to him what the Lord hath done for us in Christ; I would show him all the treasures of the rich grace of Christ; I would set in order before him, how he loveth freely without any deserts in us; I would tell him how freely the Lord Jesus Christ doth invite men to come to him, that have neither money, nor money’s worth: and if the Lord take delight to do him good, and to do him good by my mouth; he will convey his Spirit of grace in some such word as I have spoken unto him; but if the Lord do not breath by his Spirit in my words, then I would advise him to go and talk with some other Christians, I would not limit him to any one brother; but let others also tell him, what Christ hath done for their souls; it may be the Lord may thereby convey himself: and I have sometimes known this in experience, that when some have spoken scornfully of the free grace of God, yet when the same hath been held forth, their spirits have been subdued to stoop unto it; so great is the power of the word of God’s free grace, set home by the Spirit of God; and the meditation thereof doth serve greatly to the firm rooting of the peace of God’s people. The fourth Use, is to such a soul who is brought home to fellowship with Jesus Christ, and actually justified; being first adopted, he is reconciled to God, and is become the son of the most High, and hath all his sins pardoned, both past, present and to come. It is a ground of much Consolation to such a soul who hath the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, he cannot rest till he find the free grace of Jesus Christ revealed to him by his holy Spirit, in some promise thereof; for Christ himself hath said, That the Spirit of truth will take of mine, and show it unto you, Joh. 16:14. There is strong consolation laid up for all those that cannot rest without the manifestation of the free grace of God unto their souls: other things will not satisfy them; the Lord doubtless will withhold no good thing from such.

CHAP. IX. How doth God the Son give himself to Abraham and his seed?

We now proceed unto the ninth Question, which is, How doth God the Son give himself unto Abraham, and to his seed, in an everlasting Covenant and union that shall never be dissolved? In three acts or works about Abraham and his seed. 1. First, in giving Christ, God doth give himself; and therefore here is the Son’s work, to come, and take our nature upon him: For the Father gave him for that end, and the Son came to fulfil the will of the Father; and that is the Son’s work, even the true distinct work of Christ. It properly belongeth unto the Son, to be our actual Redeemer from all sin and misery. 2. As the Father draws us to the Son, and reveals the Son unto the soul; so doth the Son reveal the Father also: Joh. 1:18. Matth. 11:27. 3. As the Father doth accept us in his Son, as justified by his righteousness, so the Son doth preserve us in this estate, even to his heavenly Kingdom. These therefore are the three works of the Son in the Covenant of Grace. He takes our nature upon him for our redemption. He reveals the Father to us. He preserveth us in the Father and in himself. Let us speak something to each of these in particular. 1. For the first of these, That he took our nature upon him; the Apostle saith, Heb. 2:14,15. &c. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their life time subject to bondage, &c. Therefore it was truly said, Isa. 9:6. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, &c. He took our nature upon him, lived a miserable life, died a cursed death; this is the proper character, and work of the Son; and thus he is made an horn of salvation to us, Luk. 1:69, and all this floweth from the everlasting Covenant, as also Zachariah Prophesied, Luk. 1:72,73. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham: By him we have redemption through his blood, Eph. 1:7. Col. 1:14. He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Tit. 2:14. This then is the first work of the Son, to Redeem us: And the very phrase of Redemption doth imply a double state of those that are redeemed, without which it cannot be understood, to wit, The state whence and whereunto they are redeemed, Even from a state of bondage, unto Christian liberty; this is found in all redemption properly so called: It findeth us in bondage, and setteth us in a state of liberty, Heb. 2:14,15. He took our nature upon him, that he might deliver them, who through fear of death were all their life time made subject to bondage. And this third thing also is implied (in the word Redemption) with both the former, namely, a certain price by which we are redeemed from bondage unto liberty. In a state of Bondage we were under the Law and curse of God, but Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law: Gal. 3:13, and now sin shall no more have dominion over us, for we are not under the law, Rom. 6:14, that is, not under the Covenant of the Law, though we lie under the Commandment of it in Christ: we were sometime under the bondage of sin, under the guilt and strength of sin; but by Christ we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sin: and as the Law was the strength of sin; so sin was the strength and sting of death, 1 Cor. 15:6, but now, O death where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory! The Lord hath delivered us from him that hath the power of death, Col. 2:15. Heb. 2:14, and from this evil world: Gal. 1:4, and from the wrath come, 1 Thes. 1:10, so then this was bondage we sometimes lay under, when the Law of God pressed heavily upon us the conscience of sin even unto death; both first, and second death; and both Law, and sin, and death delivered us unto the power of Satan, and held us under the wrath of God; the world turned to be our enemy in all the blessings and crosses of it: from all these bondages Christ hath redeemed us; and it is a marvelous work in the eyes of all that enjoy the ben fit of it. If you shall ask, what Ransom the Lord did pay, that we might be redeemed? The answer is given, in 1 Tim. 2:5,6. There is one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, &c. so that he himself is the Ransom. I will not stand disputing whether he gave his active, or passive obedience, or both; The Text is large, He gave himself, from the height of glory to become a mortal man, not sinful, but by imputation; so that from first to last he gave himself. Consider him therefore from his first taking our nature upon him, and all is but one ransom; for his very active obedience was passive, and his passive obedience was active; if he had not been active in his sufferings, his sufferings had not been satisfactory, therefore he willingly laid down his life; No man taketh it from him, but he layeth it down of himself, Joh. 10:17,18, else had not his death been of any sweet-smelling savor to the Lord: forced death is no acceptable sacrifice. Again, on the other side; his active obedience was passive; he suffered himself to be closed in his Mother’s womb, and when he was born he suffered himself to be laid in a manger: and although being God over all, blessed forever, he was subject to no Law, yet now he suffered himself to be obedient unto his Father: now for great Princes to live in other Dominions, to observe their Rules, and be guided by their Laws, it is a suffering. This did the Lord Jesus; for he had a special commandment to observe both Law, and Gospel; and in this the Divine Nature doth suffer as much, as for the Creator to become a creature, and to take upon him the terms of hardship which become a creature: It is no debasement unto Angels, nor unto Saints, to be obedient; but for the Creator to be obedient unto the Law of God given unto the creature, in this he greatly humbleth himself; when he saith, Thus it behooveth us to fulfil all righteousness, Matth. 3:15. And this is such kind of passion as hath all things tending to satisfaction in it. And by all this you may see, that from the first to the last the Lord Jesus is a Ransom; take him in his Cradle, and he is a Ransom; take him throughout all the course of his life, and he is passive, and in all his sufferings he is active: He went up and down doing good, and suffering evil all his life long; and thus he is a Ransom: but above all, when as he came to wrestle with the wrath of his Father, he did therein exceed all the rest of his sufferings: It was much indeed for the Son of God to make himself a servant; but when he that is the Son of the eternal God, and in regard of his God-head equal with the Father, shall now stand to wrestle with the unsupportable wrath of God, and to cry out, My soul is in an agony unto the very death, and through anguish thereof to sweat drops of blood; and though his heart as it were seems to recoil, so that if it were possible he desires the cup might pass from him, yet he is carried before Pontius Pilate, and is there condemned, and afterward suffereth the death of the Cross: this was the chiefest part of the ransom, which the Lord did intend to pay to the justice of his Father; wherein he did also undergo the very pangs of Hell for our sins, and so gave himself a Ransom for us. And had not all this been, we should never have been redeemed from the terrors of the Law. Thus therefore did the Lord give himself, in taking our nature upon him, and giving himself unto a state of bondage, from a state of liberty, to redeem us unto liberty from a state of bondage under the curse of the Law of God, even unto liberty from sin, and death, and Satan, and this World, and from the indignation of the most High: A wonderful deliverance! But as it is in all other liberties; so this Christian Liberty doth stand in two things: First, As in removing some bondage, and burdens: Secondly, So it carrieth with it some such privilege and enfranchisement as whereby me claim some liberties which others cannot reach unto; and those the Lord Jesus hath dearly paid for, by suffering his Fathers wrath, which did so drink up his Spirits, that I believe he died not by the pains of his body, for he died before his time; but the wrath of God did swallow him up principally, though his bodily pains did help it forward. Now by this means we have access unto the Lord, and into this grace wherein we stand, Rom. 5:2, and that with boldness, and confidence, Eph. 2:12, even to enter with boldness into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb. 10:19. Hereby we have liberty to call God Father, and to come unto him as to a Father, and to expect all blessings from him for this life, and for a better, both wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption from all miseries and dangers, even from death to life, even life eternal; besides all blessings of the Kingdom of grace here below: All Church-privileges, and Commonwealth- privileges, hath the Lord purchased for us by his blood: great and large are the liberties which the Lord hath purchased for us, that are recorded everywhere in Scripture. So that if the Son shall make you free, then are you free indeed. 2. Now for the second work of the Son in this everlasting Covenant. Presupposing the Lord God the Father to have drawn the soul unto the Son from all confidence in the world, and in his own righteousness, and in his own returning’s unto God by believing through his own power, from confidence in his own resolutions, and his own waiting upon Christ; and from all confidence in privileges, and power of nature, and grace received; now it may be all this while the poor soul knoweth not who it is, that hath wrought all this work in him, and for him; and it may be he is so far to seek in this, as that he knows not whether it be the Lord God the Father, or the work of some enemy to deceive him: though he all this while seeth his need of Christ, and hath none in heaven but him, none in earth in comparison of him, of the want of whom he is sensible; yet the soul knows not whether all this humiliation, which is wrought in him, come from the wrath or mercy of God, and whether God hath not in all this, given him only a taste of the very torments of Hell, and the pledge of them, to his everlasting perdition. Thus may the poor soul be afraid notwithstanding all this gracious work wrought in him, above all the power of the creature: though the Lord hath not said much of it unto him, yet he hath done it; and happy we that ever the Lord hath owned us so far. Now here is the special work of the Son, he doth bring us back again to the Father, and reveals what the Father hath done unto us, even his rich grace that hath taken all this pains with us; for as no man knows the Son, but the Father: so neither doth any man know the Father, but the Son, and be to whom the Son will reveal him, Matth. 11:27. So that the Lord Jesus doth enlighten the soul, by the anointing of his blessed Spirit, to see what it is that the Lord hath done for him in mercy; which heretofore he thought was done in wrath: whence the soul begins to see the Fathers love, even the goodness of a God in what hath passed upon him, far beyond what he could have asked, or thought for; And therefore now begins with some more hope, and liberty to call God Father: for from this work of the Son, there doth arise the two characters of a Son in the soul, both which are comprised in this one, that is liberty: and there is a double liberty wherein a son doth stand: 1. First, He hath ease from all his doubtful fears, or at least from a great part of the burden of them; some refocilations, some kind of quietness falleth upon the heart of a wearied sinner, whence the heart is eased beyond his thoughts; although as yet his comfort stands rather in expectation, then in actual fruition; as our Savior saith, Come unto me all you that are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Matth. 11:28,29. He doth not promise sudden rest: He will give you present ease; but learn of me, for I am meek and lowly, and you shall find rest unto your souls. The Lord will give rest unto the souls of his people; at the present he gives them ease, and an expectation of much more plentiful fruition of rest and peace, which they have begun to taste of. And how doth the Lord ease the soul in such a case, so as that they feel the burden a great deal lighter? How doth the Son quiet, and still, and refresh the soul? Is it by the sight of his own hungering and thirsting after righteousness? What saith the Lord in such a case? Or how doth he satisfy the soul? He telleth us plainly where our satisfaction is, Joh. 7:37,38,39. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink: So that if a man thirst, how shall he satisfy himself in his thirsting? This is the main question in many a soul; May I not draw consolation out of this, that I do thirst after the Lord Jesus? You shall find, that the Lord doth not bid me go satisfy myself by seeing my thirst: If a man shall say, I am exceeding thirsty, and I shall tell him that he is a man of a healthful constitution, because a man in a Frenzy is thirsty, and knows it not; this will not satisfy his thirst. How therefore comes the soul to be freed of his burdens? He thirsteth after Christ, and none of all the creatures can quench his thirst; therefore our Savior proclaims this in the last and great day of the Feast, when most of the Jews were present (for this Feast lasted eight days) If any man be now athirst, and not satisfied with all the Ordinances they had now enjoyed: he doth not send them back again, nor doth he bid them satisfy themselves with their own thirsting’s; neither doth he tell them, that their blessedness lieth in that they do thirst (though there be a blessedness in it) but how then shall they be satisfied? Let him come to me, and drink. So that this is the Christian Liberty, which the Lord brings us unto, when he works in us unquenchable desires after Christ: if you would comfort a soul, and tell him you do thirst after Christ; and that you could not have done if Christ had not wrought it in your soul; you say true, and there may be more in such a soul then he is aware of; yet Christ is not wont to leave the soul to quench his thirst with his thirst: but you will say, Is not hungering and thirsting a sign of health? For a surfeited body doth not hunger: true: yet the Lord doth not direct the soul to content himself with his own act; but, Come unto me. But will the Lord Jesus give him drink? He promiseth that he will; Let him come to me, and drink: And he saith moreover, He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of water of life: this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified: so as that which now the Son doth, is not the proper characteristical work of the Spirit; but Jesus Christ doth come unto the soul, and comforts it in some measure; and, which is a second degree of liberty, giveth some liberty of hope, that the Lord will at the length be pleased to fill him with his blessed Spirit, which the Lord did more abundantly pour out upon the Disciples after his Resurrection: And there is yet a more abundant fulfilling of all, when he doth come unto the proper work of the Spirit; and therefore he distinguisheth his own work, from the work of the Spirit, Joh. 14:16,17,18, and 16:7,13, he saith of himself, that He will not leave them comfortless; but he putteth this difference between his own work, and the work of the Spirit, Joh. 16:25. Hitherto I have spoken unto you in parables; but the time comes, when I shall show you plainly of the Father; yet he had spoken much unto them, and told them that he loved them, and that the Father loved them; but all is but a kind of parable in comparison of what the Lord will further reveal, when he doth more fully send forth his Spirit into their hearts. In the mean while himself setteth on some word or other of his grace, whereby he gives the soul such a taste of himself (more than reprobates can have) as makes him thirst after more and more of Christ, until he be satisfied with the riches of the grace of God. 3. Thirdly, When the Son hath thus brought us unto the Father, and showed us his fatherly love toward us, as he saith, Joh. 16:26,27. I say not, that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you. Then doth he keep us in this estate: And (which is a farther work of the Son) for this purpose, he will send us his holy Spirit, as He told his Disciples, Joh. 16:7. It is expedient for you, that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you Thus as the Father sent the Son: so will the Son send the Spirit; and in the mean while he doth preserve us until the Spirit come; and then he preserveth us by his Spirit. Now sometimes he makes his people tarry longer, before he send the Spirit in this kind of dispensation (but we leave the times and seasons thereof, unto the free purpose of the grace of God) but I say, meanwhile the Son preserveth us, Joh. 6:39. This is the Fathers will, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing. So Joh. 17:12. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost. He keeps us in a waiting frame of spirit, so that we cannot but thirst after him, and long for him, and mourn for the want of him; and then a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory, Matth. 12:20. Thus hath the Lord Jesus promised to keep us, and this he doth perform, 1. Partly, by praying for us, Luk. 22:31,32. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy saith fail not: so Joh. 17:11,20,21,22,23, &c. Holy Father, keep through thy own Name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are, &c. and this is the eternal efficacy of the Son, whereby every believing soul is kept until he do find fullness of accomplishment of his spiritual desires: and though we may be many ways wanting in prayer for ourselves, yet he will give us his Spirit to pray within us with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed. 2. And as he will keep us by his prayer: so secondly, by his ruling Providence; for all power is given unto him, both in heaven, and in earth, Matth. 28:18, and this power he doth employ to preserve his servants from all the delusions of the sons of men. The Prophet Ezekiel complains of some, that thrust away, and shoulder out the people of God, Ezek. 34:21,22, &c. but, saith the Lord, I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: ver. 23, and 25. They shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. None of all the delusions of Antichrist, none of all the power of Tyrants, not all the flattering world, nor all the persecuting world shall be able to shoulder off the Saints of God from him, 2 Tim. 1:12. I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day: and the Lord Jesus engageth both his own power, and his Fathers power for this end, Joh. 10:28,29. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall they pluck them out of my hand: my Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand. Thus have you seen how Jesus Christ gives himself unto Abraham, and to his seed, to become one with us, to lead a miserable life, and die an accursed death, thereby to redeem us from all our enemies unto a state of liberty, by an invaluable price, even by himself. And having thus had the Father drawing us unto Christ, (though the Father said little unto the soul who had been about him all this while, and so leaves the soul in no small distress) as the Fathers work is Power, so the Sons work is Liberty; and he revealeth to us our redemption; and reveals it so, that the soul is set in an earnest longing after Christ, (in whom there is a way to the Father) and a great mourning after him, hungering for him; so that nothing in heaven nor earth can satisfy him: in which case, the Lord doth give such strength and constancy unto the soul, in looking towards Christ, as encourageth him to expect refreshing in the end; though at present he looks at all that he hath attained as a parable in comparison of what he would further enjoy in communion with Jesus Christ: but it often befalls the servants of God, as it did the Disciples of Christ; they were put unto new demurs, and doubting’s: We thought (say they) it had been he that should have restored the kingdom to Israel, Luk. 24:21. (these were Simon, and Cleophas) if it had not been He, where was the comfort and blessed hope of rest, which they looked for in Jesus Christ? We thought it had been he; a sign it was a demur, and dispute in them, whether it was God’s grace in them, or Christ that had been with them, yea, or no: whilst they are at this debate in themselves, Jesus himself comes unto them, and reproves them for their unbelief, and chargeth them to tarry at Jerusalem, and there to wait for the promise of the Father. And thus doth the Lord Jesus teach us to know the Father, and reveals him to us by strengthening us unto all such holy duties as he calleth us unto: and though we be many times afraid to pray, to hear, to come to Christian conference; yet the Lord will not suffer us to refrain, but we must pray, and confer, and hear; and when we have used all, he teacheth us to know, that it is not in all these, as of themselves, to work anything in us; nor doth he suffer us to content ourselves in anything wrought in us, but causeth us to thirst after more of himself in every Ordinance, until the Spirit comes in a plentiful measure, according to all the latitude of our desires after Christ Jesus. Now for the Use of this; in the first place, If so be the work of the Son be such a work of redemption, then certainly our state is a state of bondage, before we be thus redeemed; yea, it is such a state of bondage, as wherein we lie bound under God’s Law, and under sin, under God’s wrath and curse; under the Devil and death, and under the power of this world; and all these enemies have power over us, to carry us captive unto sin and misery: so that great is the misery we lie under, if we knew our misery; few know it, but are ready to say, with those Joh. 8:33. We were never in bondage to any: oh poor hearts! Then were you never redeemed to this very day: if thou never yet knewest thy bondage, thou never yet knewest thy Redeemer; the Lord will never so dishonor his own work, as to pay so great a price to work so great redemption, for those that never knew what it meant: nay, first he will teach them their bondage, ver. 34. He that committeth sin is the servant of sin; therefore if the Son make us free, we shall be free indeed; but otherwise we cannot be free. Secondly, It may teach all those that are under bondage, where your liberty and hope, and spiritual redemption lies: Isa. 45:22. Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: look unto him. Object. But may I not look at such good desires, and hungering’s and thirsting’s, and mourning’s after Christ, as are in me, to satisfy myself with them? Answer. Alas, you may look long, and it may be much ado to kindle a spark of comfort; it may be you may get out a spark, but then it is but a sparkling light, neither will the Lord suffer his servants to fasten the satisfaction of their souls there: shall a man that is hungry look to his hungering and thirsting? Will that satisfy him? It is indeed a sign of health, but it will not satisfy him: so neither will spiritual hungering and thirsting: therefore he saith, Come unto me, if you mean to find rest: it is not a man’s weariness that doth set his bones at rest; but, Come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, Matth. 11:28, there hath he laid up our peace; in coming to him we shall find ease, even a certain secret refocilation at least, that will strengthen us to bear temptation; so as that you may see the Fathers love, and you may also see your own hungering’s and thirsting’s; for unto such the Lord calleth us, and that puts a great deal of difference between a great deal of common work, and such as is wrought by God’s efficacious drawing of us home to Jesus Christ. Take you a hypocrite, and if he begin to mourn for Christ, and the like, he satisfieth himself in these things; but is this the way of the working of God’s almighty power, to bring men unto something that is in themselves? Is it not his effectual calling of us unto Christ? Doth not Christ say, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink? Otherwise all is but unprofitable work, until you come unto Christ; so far as Christ is there, so far there is life; if we be drawn unto him, that as he beginneth the work, so he is the end of it in us; and the soul cannot rest but in cleaving unto him, then is there something more than flesh and blood hath revealed. So that this is the way that God calleth his servants to walk in, namely, to look unto Christ, to turn unto this strong hold, Zach. 9:12. By his blood he hath delivered his prisoners out of the pit, wherein there it no water: our strength lieth not in our own hungering and thirsting, and poverty, though there be truth in these; and everlasting truth, by reason of the Spirit that wrought them, and the blood that bought them; yet your strong hold is not in them, but in the rock of Israel; he is the horn of salvation to his people: so that I would advise every poor soul, in whom is wrought any mourning after Christ, through sense of your need of him, make the Lord Jesus your strong hold. And this is the true work, and way of the Son of God to bring you to the Father; and the more you find the Lord Jesus, the more you shall discern the gifts that are given unto you, and the comfort and power of them: not that I deny that Jesus Christ doth open unto the soul, what he hath done for him, Joh. 6:69. We believe and are sure that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God; so Joh. 16:30, but he doth not show them for this end, that you should satisfy yourselves in them, but still come unto him: what though you have many gracious promises that promise many future consolations? It is, that you should seek unto the Lord, in whom they are laid up; and unto the Father of Jesus Christ, that promised them, in whose hand it is to make them all good unto us: thus in all this doth the Lord train up his servants unto an heavenly and Christian frame; and if the soul should rest in any work he doth, or gift he hath received; it is a strong jealousy the work is not sound: for if it be of the grace of God, and in truth, it will still lead the soul to look up unto Christ; and the soul cannot quench his thirst in it, but comes to the Father, and earnestly beggeth, that out of his Fatherly love he would give him Jesus Christ: this is the spirit and way of a true-hearted Christian. Thirdly, This may teach Christians, that are in such a way as this, to hold on in that way; for truly it is a way of comfort through the grace of God, Isai 43:1. Fear not, O Israel, for I have redeemed thee; none of the redeemed of God need to fear, Luk. 1:74. We are delivered, that we might serve him without fear: It is in the Lord Jesus that the Apostle doth so triumph, Rom. 8:31. &c. Who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, &c. and hereupon he triumpheth, saying, Who shall separate us from the love of God? &c. and though we may say, That he was grown to a greater measure of strength then we now speak of; yet this is the work of all the Israel of God, to hope in the Lord, in whom is plenteous redemption, Psal. 130:7. Fourthly, This may serve to teach us to wait upon the Lord, for this his plenteous redemption; and to bless his name for it when we find it: Psal. 103:4. Bless the Lord O my soul, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, &c. Let us learn to serve him with thankfulness, and to grow up therein; for this is the great redemption, wherewith the Lord hath redeemed us to himself: he that hath thus redeemed us, will still redeem and deliver us, 2 Cor. 1:10, he that hath done this, will not leave us, until he hath finished all his thoughts of peace towards us. In the Fifth and last place, let it exhort us to stand fast in all our Christian liberties: they cost dear; and we are redeemed from the Covenant and curse of the Law of God (from the Laws of men much more, that are not according to God) be not therefore servants to lusts and passions, to the world and to the Devil: let us tread the world underfoot; seeing God hath redeemed us, let us walk as his redeemed ones, redeemed from all errors of mind and judgment; standing fast in all that liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, Gal. 5:1, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage: it was a bondage that we were in before, and a bondage greater than either we or our fathers were able to bear; let us therefore stand fast in our liberty. We now come to the tenth Question, How God the Holy Ghost gives himself to Abraham, and his elect seed, in the Covenant of Grace? For if God give himself, he doth not only give his nature, but his persons: God the Father gives himself, and God the Son gives himself, and God the Holy Ghost gives himself unto the people of God: Joh. 14:16,17. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you: if then the Holy Ghost be given, as well as the Father, and the Son, How is he given? Or how doth he give himself unto the Church, and unto all the Israel of God?

CHAP. X. How God the Holy Ghost doth give himself to Abraham and his seed?

There be four several Acts or works whereby the Holy Ghost is given to the Church, and to his people: for though the Lord Jesus pray the Father for him, and the Father sendeth him, and the Son also sendeth him, Joh. 15:26, yet the Holy Ghost himself doth comes upon his people, Act. 2:2. &c. and He comes by a fourfold act: 1. First, by indwelling or inhabitation in the Church. 2. Secondly, by an act of Sanctification. 3. Thirdly, by an act of Revelation; and therefore he is called a Spirit of Revelation, and that is proper to the Holy Ghost. 4. Fourthly, by an act of Consolation; and therefore he is called the Comforter. 1. First, for Inhabitation, so saith the Apostle, Eph. 2:22. You are built together in Christ, for a habitation of God through the Spirit: in this respect also it is, the Apostle demandeth of the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 3:16. Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? So in the place fore-alleged, Joh. 14:16,17, and when he saith, dwell in you, it noteth the constancy of his being in them; he will abide in his dwelling place: so 1 Joh. 2:27, the anointing there promised, is the Spirit; and great is the necessity of his in-dwelling in us, for two principal reasons. The first is taken from the necessity of our union into one mystical spiritual body with the Lord Jesus; which by this means is firmly and inviolably wrought, 1 Cor. 6:17. He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit; in as much as that one Spirit who dwelleth in Christ without measure, dwelleth in us according to our measure; and so we are all one mystical body: and I cannot tell how better to compare it, then to a musical Instrument, wherein though there be many pipes, yet one blast of the bellows puts breath into them all; so that all of them at once break forth into a kind of melody, and give a pleasant sound to the ears of those that stand by; all of them do make but one Instrument, and one sound, and yet variety of music. So is this very case: look at all the living members of Christ, they are all compacted together, and set into one stock, and root; by which means it comes to pass, that though they be many thousands, yet they all make a melodious harmony in the ears of the Lord of Hosts: therefore for the combining of us into the unity of one Spirit, necessary it is, that the same Spirit that breathes in the human nature of Christ, should breath in us all: and though the divine Nature of Christ be God, the human Nature is finite, and yet hath the Spirit above the capacity of the creature; and this same Spirit doth act, and guide, and move all our affairs in him; and (which is wonderful) it comes to pass, that the same Spirit breathing in Christ and in us, we have not only a measure of the Spirit to do one duty, but he doth concur with us in all spiritual duties which we undertake according to him; for without him we can do nothing, Joh. 15:5. This is the first reason of the inhabitation of the Spirit, to keep alive spiritual union between Christ and us; therefore is there one Spirit in us all. Secondly, another end of this inhabitation of the Spirit, is to keep possession for the Lord in our hearts against all adversary power; for if the Lord should leave his gifts only to keep possession there, the devil would make very hard work with the best gifts that we have received: he blasted all the precious gifts that Adam had received, which were more perfect in degrees than any we receive; and yet when all the powers of darkness and gates of hell are banded together against Jesus Christ and his servants, there is not the least of the servants of God that falleth away finally: and the Apostle John gives the reason of it, 1 Joh. 4:4. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you, then he that is in the world. Neither are we preserved by faith only, but by the mighty power of God, 1 Pet. 1:5. The Spirit it is that setteth Faith awork, and Christ it is that setteth the Spirit awork, to keep us unto his heavenly kingdom. And from this possession of the Spirit, there comes a garrison, as it were, to be kept in our hearts, whereby our souls are kept alive; so that the Spirit doth not only shed abroad his gifts into our hearts, but he keeps our hearts in a sweet frame of sanctification, 2 Tim. 1:14. That good thing which was committed to thee, keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us; that goodly depositum, his Evangelistical Gift that did accompany his own salvation, and the salvation of the Church, he must keep it by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us; otherwise our gifts would soon vapor out into smoke and ashes, whether it be faith, hope, zeal, patience, courage, or whatsoever else is requisite for the salvation of God’s people: the Spirit by his power dwelling in us, acteth, and preserveth them: the sons of God are led by the Spirit, Rom. 8:14, nor is this a confining of the Spirit of God unto poor houses of clay: Solomon’s Temple could not contain him; no, not the heaven of heavens; he dwelleth above all heavens immeasurably, yet he dwelleth also with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit, Isa. 57:15, though it were a poor kitchen-boy that hath such a spirit, he dwelleth there, to revive the spirit of the humble. As those that dwell in earthly houses, there they take up their rest, and lay up their treasure; and there they delight to converse: even thus doth the Spirit of God; and it is a wonderful Indulgence of the most High, that dwells in temples made without hands, so to be pleased to dwell in the sons and daughters of men, to make good his own eternal counsel for their salvation. There is I confess also some kind of presence of the Spirit of God even in hypocrites, that are only fitted to some work of God, and therefore only attain to some work of common Grace, but not such as doth accompany salvation: you will find this difference between them, and God’s own children; the Spirit of God indeed comes upon them, as he did upon Saul, 1 Sam. 10:10, so that he prophesied; and more then so, he doth sometimes continue with them for a season, and sojourneth a while in them, according as sometimes it is said, Jer. 14:8, he is like a stranger, or a wayfaring man, that tarrieth for a night; thus we read, 1 Sam. 16:14, The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him; a sign the Spirit of God had been with him before. So Zedekiah, when he smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of God from me, to speak unto thee? 1 King. 22:24, a sign it may be that he had sometimes found the Spirit of God, but now he was departed: however it be, the Spirit of God is in them but for a season, until he be grieved by them, and then he doth depart; and indeed did never bestow any regenerating grace upon them, but only fitted them for some kind of service for his Church, or the Common-wealth. So likewise Jehu, and Judas, and Demas, did much for a season, by the Spirit of God; he did enlighten their minds, and open their mouths, and gave free passage to their administrations; and you may sometimes wonder how men have been assisted in the pulpit both in prayer and preaching, that have been notorious in wickedness: thus it pleaseth God to come, and sojourn in them, and work great works by them, such as may be of great use among his people, and may leave themselves without excuse: but you see where the difference lieth, even as it lay between the anointing of Saul, and Jehu; David, and Solomon; the anointing of Saul, was with a Vial of Oil, and of Jehu with a Box of Oil, 1 Sam. 10:1. 2 King. 9:1, the word in the Original is the same in both places, and it was not an empty Ceremony; God’s Ceremonies are accompanied with gifts suitable unto them: his Spirit came upon them both, and they did mighty service in their times; but when David was to be anointed, God commanded Samuel to fill his horn with oil, in 1 Sam. 16:1, and in like manner did Zadok unto Solomon, 1 King. 1:39. Now a horn is not of a brittle Metal, but a glass is soon broken; the horn is the beauty and power of the Beast: so that when the Spirit is conveyed in the horn and power of Jesus, Christ, it now giveth beauty and strength unto the soul, and is not dried up, nor broken in pieces, but abideth in the Saints unto the heavenly Kingdom. This is the first work of the Spirit of God; he doth give himself unto his people in a way of Inhabitation: he dwelleth in them, and unites them to Christ, and keeps them from being drawn away from God, by men or Angels, (I mean evil Angels) and preserves alive all their gifts and graces; and acts and quickens them, so as may be for the edification of those that are with them in Church and Commonwealth. 2. Secondly, as the Spirit of God gives himself in a work of Inhabitation: so doth he give himself in a work of sanctification: and that is a work usual in all our Catechisms, [the Holy Ghost doth sanctify and preserve us.] Let us look into some places of Scripture for the proof of it, 2 Thes. 2:13. God hath from the beginning chosen you, through sanctification of the Spirit, &c. he chose us to be saved through a course of sanctification: it is not the cause of election, but the way of salvation, in which the Spirit leadeth us: so 1 Pet. 1:2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience. So that it is the Spirit that sanctifieth us to be obedient: and a notable place to this purpose have we in the delivery of the Covenant of Grace, Jer. 31:33. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their heart; he means, the law of holiness and righteousness; and he will so write it in the hearts of his people, that it shall be carried an end with power in them: accordingly doth the Apostle testify concerning the Corinthians, 2 Cor. 3:3. Ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart: it is the Spirit of God therefore that writeth these laws in our hearts, and leaveth an impression of some measure of power to be guided by them; He worketh in us both to will, and to do, of his own good pleasure; he stampeth upon the soul such gifts of his grace, as make us serviceable in our course to his heavenly Kingdom: and hence it is, that we read, Ezek. 36:27. I will put my Spirit with in you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, &c. this is a spirit of sanctification. To make it somewhat more plain; The Spirit of God is said to be our sanctifier, partly as he doth work the work of the two other persons, and partly as he worketh his own work; though in all these works they all concur, yet they have their several characters, wherein they more peculiarly shine forth: whatever work any of the persons do, they do it by the Spirit; and yet he doth a peculiar work, wherein though they concur, yet he is eminent in it. It is the proper work of the Father to draw us unto Christ: Joh. 6:44, and 1 Pet. 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope; that is the proper work of a Father, to beget; he sheddeth abroad the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, Tit. 3:6, thus doth the Holy Ghost sanctify us, as the Father doth regenerate us, and frame us to be new creatures; though it be the Father’s work in us, yet he worketh it by the Holy Spirit. And for the work of the Son, the proper character of a son is liberty, a servant is in bondage; a child in the way of childlike liberty may expect much from his Father: this the Lord Jesus properly giveth, Matth. 11:28. Come unto me, and I will give you rest; freedom, and ease of Conscience he gives his servants: and how doth he work this ease and liberty, but by his Spirit? The same Spirit that is in him, dwelleth in us, and breaths a kind of liberty in us, which it hath from Jesus Christ: For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, 2 Cor. 3:17, and where he is, you may see the soul hath liberty from the anguish of Temptations: so that, is there any ease? Any liberty? It is from Jesus Christ the Son of liberty, who hath spoken some peace unto the soul. Thus the Father doth reveal the Son in us; and in point of sanctification the Father doth regenerate us, but it is by a spirit of regeneration; the Son redeemeth us into liberty by a spirit of liberty; he comes in the Fathers name, and in the Sons name, to carry on that work, which they have in hand in the Saints, Joh. 14:26, and chap. 15:26, the Father will send him, and I will send him; and the Holy Ghost doth kindly work all, to make us regenerate sons unto the Lord: these things he doth in their name; he doth some things also in his own name, though from their power also: now though both these are sanctifying works, there is a third work of sanctification which is proper to the Spirit; this was foretold by Christ, Act. 1:8. You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: they were the sons of God before, and free sons before, set at liberty by the Spirit of the Son; but there is yet more to come; You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: so this is the proper sanctifying work of the Spirit, to give a further power in sanctification; he doth imprint a character of power upon our sanctification, that we have not only power to be called the sons of God, nor to be free sons of God, but powerful also, 2 Tim. 1:7, the Lord hath given us the Spirit of power: when the Spirit worketh this, he worketh his own proper work. And as there is such a kind of threefold degree in a spirit of sanctification: so there is a kind of semblable work, that is found in hypocrites in some measure; for as you read of the Holy Ghost his coming upon them, so shall you find mention made of their sanctification, Heb. 10:29, they are said to tread underfoot the blood of the Covenant, wherewith they were sanctified: so Matth. 20:16. Many are called, but few are chosen: doth he mean, by the outward call of the word? Truly you shall find, that the context will carry you much farther then so; for consider upon what occasion our Savior speaketh it: there was a certain rich man, that would have forsaken all, and followed Christ, but he found it too costly; but Peter said, We have forsaken all, and followed thee, what shall we have therefore? Verily, saith Christ, Ye that have followed me in the regeneration, (meaning, in the regeneration of the world) shall sit upon twelve thrones, &c. but many of those that do forsake much, shall be last; and the last shall be first: for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain householder, that hired men into his vineyard; and some he hired early in the morning, some at the third hour, some at the sixth, some at the ninth, some at the eleventh; and when he comes to reckon, he payeth every man a penny: they that bore the heat of the day, expected to have received more; whereupon the Lord Jesus gives this as one answer, Many are called, but few are chosen: they may be called to forsake brethren, and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and that out of conscience unto Christ; and much they have done for Christ; they have labored for Christ, and born the burden and heat of the day; they had a calling to come into the vineyard, and there they have wrought; and yet of these; few are chosen: so that it was not a mere verbal calling, no, here is a kind of strong spiritual calling; which did prevail to withdraw them, from all the comforts of this life, so far it was effectual; and yet these were not chosen: so that there is a sanctification, that doth not flow from God’s eternal election; and therefore it is not to be despised, that the Apostle doth add, Rom. 8:28. To them that are called according to his purpose; otherwise there is a calling, that comes from God’s purpose of free grace; and then it carrieth them along no farther, then to do some outward service for God; they may do much harvest-work, and yet not be called according to purpose: so then we see there is a calling and sanctification, that reacheth unto them that are but common hypocrites; whence it comes to pass, they will work much according to it, for sanctification is that which worketh from God, the things of God, and for the glory of God; this is sanctification in the proper meaning of it; and this you shall find in hypocrites: For they will work from God, Matth. 7:22. Have not we prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils? They knew their own name would not reach it, therefore they will make God their efficient cause: and it is a great word, which the Lord spake unto Jehu, 2 King. 10:30. Because thou hast done well in executing that which was right in my eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart; thus he wrought the things of God, and pretended the glory of God, ver. 16, and which is more wonderful, that they should for the sake of Jesus Christ do many things, Matth. 19:29, and these not chosen, and such as shall be last in the recompense; and what is yet wanting in these men’s sanctification? Is the change of their heart wanting? Truly, not altogether; for the Lord gave Saul another heart, 2 Sam. 10:9. But mind it, though it was somewhat altered in quality, yet not in substance; it was not a new heart, not a heart of flesh, for that is peculiar to the Covenant of Grace; they want that self-denying faith that is found in all new-hearted Christians, whereby they deny even themselves, Luk. 9:23, for a man to be all from Christ, and all in Christ, and all for Christ; this is wanting to these moral sanctifications that are found in men. But wherein then is the defect of their sanctification discovered? In this: Take you a man sanctified, as Saul, Jehu, Judas, Demas, these were men of good account; Samuel had a good esteem of Saul; and Jonadab bears Jehu record, that his heart was upright with him; the Disciples mistrust themselves rather than Judas; and Paul ranketh Demas, with Marcus and Aristarchus his fellow-laborers; yet in all these here was no self-denying faith: for he that comes to Christ, and closeth with Christ, must deny himself; so then in this these men do show themselves different from the chosen of God, they come not to Christ with a self- denying heart; they seem to work all in the name of Christ, yet they still work in their own power and strength, or at least they work for themselves. You read of some, that took delight in the Lord, Isa. 58:2,3, and yet if God do not hear their prayers, they are offended; a sign they wrought in the sense of the worth of their own works: so also those in Matth. 7:22. Have not we prophesied in thy name? They do expostulate with God, why he should cast off them; they expected a bountiful reward for the works they had done: they wrought from themselves, and for themselves: and so those many that were called, Matth. 20, they had denied father, and mother, and wife, and children; and therefore they looked for great reward, having borne the burden and heat of the day: and this is the proper character of an hypocrite, he doth challenge his reward out of the worth of his work; whereas the chosen ones of God are taught to say, When we have done all that is commanded us, we are unprofitable servants, Luk. 17:10, this is one difference in the rise of the work. Again, there is a difference in the work itself: God’s chosen ones work the will of Christ, and not their own, though their will also goeth along with it: others work the will of Christ, as far as it will stand with their own: Jebu ‘s zeal did root out Baal, and the house of Ahab freely; he drove on furiously, for it was an act of his own ambitious heart, to settle his own Kingdom: this he aimed at, no further would he go; from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he departed not. And Lastly, Hypocrites will out-shoot Christ in his own bow; they will aim at their own ends in Christ’s works: Jehu will root out Ahab, and Baal, but it is to establish his own Kingdom; to walk in all the Lord’s Commandments he did not regard: while God’s will accomplisheth his will, he goeth along with it, but no farther. Thus we see there is a work of sanctification under a Covenant of works, such as whereby men have another heart, and many gifts of courage, and wisdom, and zeal, and power come upon them for the service of the Church; and yet you will find that they will work from themselves, and for themselves; and for God they will not work beyond their own ends: and though they seem to walk with him for a while, yet you shall soon see the Lord will take one course, and they will take another. 3. We now come unto a third work of the Holy Ghost, in which he doth give himself as God unto his people; for in all these works he doth work as God, and so expresseth himself: this work is Divine revelation; he doth reveal himself like a God in the soul, that so you may acknowledge his presence, power and truth: a very clear place we have for it, Eph. 1:17,18. &c. I cease not to make mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, &c. mark how the Apostle doth consider God in regard of his most eminent glory, and power; as he is the God of Jesus Christ, and the Father of glory, That he might give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; that is, of the Father, Son and Spirit: That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, &c. mind what Divine revelation here is, see how gloriously God is set forth that giveth it, and also the gift that is given: and these things the Apostle prayeth not only for glorious and transcendent Christians, men of renown; but for all the Ephesians, for all ordinary Christians among them; he would have none of them destitute of a Spirit of wisdom and revelation: and what should this Spirit do? It should enlighten the organ, even the eyes of their understanding, otherwise it is beyond the power of created gifts, to reach the clear discerning of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, as they are dispensed in the Gospel of Christ: and as in all sight there is the Organ, and the Medium, and the Object; the eye is the organ, the air is the medium, the thing seen is the object: so doth the Apostle here pray, that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, far above the capacity of Reason, yea, above the capacity of the spiritual gifts, which they had received; for he desires that a spirit of wisdom and revelation might be given them: though the Lord had blessed them with all spiritual blessings already; they had believed, and had been sealed; yet here is something more to be attained, they want a further enlightening by the clearing of the word of God, which is the medium, by which we discern all things therein: and for the Object, he doth express what it is; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints: and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward which believe, &c. these things the Apostle prayeth that the Spirit would reveal, even the hope that God hath laid up for his Saints: glorious things are spoken of the church of God; great and glorious hopes are prepared for them, and they are begotten unto them, even to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled; that by virtue of our calling we might have fellowship with God the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1 Joh. 1:2,3, some degree of fellowship we have already; but the hope of that which is to come, is beyond all our comprehension, and beyond what any created understanding can search into the depth of: and yet we may see much in the hope of preservation, and quickening to that which is good: in the hope of God’s turning all things to the best for us; we may see much of the rich and plenteous redemption which God hath wrought for us, and what goodness of God is reserved to every poor servant of his, and what is the riches of his glorious inheritance in his Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, even that mighty power, which he did put forth to bring us to believe, that ever he should bring such hearts as ours were, to be enlightened, to see the blessings of his heavenly calling, to be called unto fellowship with the Father, and with the Son, and with the Spirit, and with the Church of God in all the promises of God, and gifts of grace, and duties of sanctification: our calling is to be exercised in them all, until at length all their enemies be subdued, and death at length swallowed up in victory: This the Apostle prayeth for, that their eyes might be opened to behold all these mysteries. And thus doth the Holy Ghost clear up our understandings, and the Scriptures, whereby we understand, and the objects which are to be understood by us, even the riches of grace here bestowed upon us, and laid up in heaven for us. But how doth the Holy Ghost work these things? Indeed they are inconceivable mysteries, better felt then told. The Spirit doth reveal himself partly in witnessing unto our spiritual estate, and partly by revealing all other counsels of his truth needful for us to know in this our age and time wherein any Christian man liveth. Touching our estate, He is called a witness, 1 Joh. 5:6. It is the Spirit that beareth witness; because the Spirit is truth: there are six witnesses mentioned in that text: three in heaven, the Father, the word, and the Holy Ghost: three in earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; but it is the Spirit that beareth witness in all these. But doth not the water and the blood bear witness? Truly they do, but it is in the hands of the Spirit; and that is plain by the 9th ver. wherein the Apostle giveth us to understand, that if anything be confirmed by any of those witnesses, it is the witness of God, because indeed the Spirit witnesseth in them all. You will say, Doth not a Divine work yield a Divine Testimony? And are not the water of sanctification, and the blood of justification Divine works? And will they not reach a Divine Testimony? It is not a Divine Testimony, unless the Spirit of God bear witness in and by it: for are not the heavens and the earth Divine works, which the power of the creature cannot reach unto? All are Divine works, even to the least hairs of our head; for we cannot make one of them, white or black: and yet an argument from the creature is no Divine Testimony, unless the Spirit of God set it home: if it be from the least work, when the Spirit of God beareth witness in it, there is a powerful Testimony: the Magicians of Egypt do profess, when Moses brought the Plague of Lice, that it was the finger of God; when as in greater works they did not acknowledge it, but thought they could do the like: and what was the reason that they were confounded in the Lice? Truly, because the Spirit of God would on purpose breath in that work to confound them in so mean a creature: all which showeth us thus much, that it is not in the power of Divine works, though they be never so immediate, that are able to work Divine faith in us, unless the Holy Ghost breathe in them; and then, though it were but some creeping work, or word, it would breathe a strong testimony to some former work of God: so that it is the Spirit of God, that doth make Divine Testimony both in heaven, and in earth; otherwise howsoever the judgment may be by some means convinced, yet a lively faith will not be wrought. To speak something unto particulars: the Father beareth witness, and the Son beareth witness of himself, and many great works which He wrought bear witness of him all his life long. Take you now the Father’s work, which is to draw the soul unto Christ, through a spirit of bondage to make us sensible of our need of him; for every man that hath heard and learned of the Father comes unto Christ, Joh. 6:44, and no man can come unto Christ, except the Father draw him: so Matth. 16:17. Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven: so Gal. 1:15,16. When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me; now though these be the work and witness of the Father, yet doth he not work them immediately, but by his Spirit, as he saith expressly, 1 Cor. 2:9,10. Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him: but God hath revealed them unto us by the Spirit, &c. In like manner, when the Father doth discover Christ unto us, and draw us unto Christ, it is by the Spirit that he doth these things. When the Son bringeth on the soul unto Christian liberty (for liberty is the property of the Son) and reveals the Father’s love unto the soul, Joh. 16:27, a son-like spirit doth this; it is the Spirit of his Son that maketh us cry, Abba, Father. Gal. 4:9,7. Also the Spirit beareth witness, by a testimony from itself, which it doth set on more clearly, then either of the former testimonies; according to Joh. 16:25. The time comes, when I shall speak no more to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father: He comes with power, and speaketh peace more plentifully unto the soul. Act. 1:8, Psal. 85:8, Isa. 57:19. All which showeth us, that the Spirit setteth on his testimony with more clearness, power, and certainty unto the soul; therefore he is called the unction by which the Saints know all things, 1 Joh. 2:20, by his testimony we have more full assurance of all things concerning our spiritual estate. It is he also that doth bear witness in the water, and in the blood; for otherwise though the Spirit be never so much broken in the sense of sin, as David’s was, and he saw it, Psal. 51:17, it was the Spirit that gave him to see it, and yet he still begs the upholding of the free spirit, ver. 12, for without him, neither the water of sanctification, nor the blood of justification will clearly establish the heart in the peace of God: Faith itself is not able to beget more assurance of faith; nay, it is not all the word of God, that is able to put life into faith, though the whole word of God beareth witness unto faith: wherefore is the word excluded from the number of the witnesses? All is certainly carried home unto the soul by the word; whether the Father reveal the Son, or the Son reveal the Father, all is by the word: likewise also whatsoever the Spirit doth reveal, it is by the word, Joh. 14:26. He shall bring all things unto your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you; he makes the word take deep impression upon the soul; but the word of God of itself, doth not testify, though it be the counsel of God: for the Lord would not have his people to scramble out a testimony from the word, nor from his works; for they will not afford it, unless the Spirit be in them: but when the Spirit doth accompany them, then will the soul find matter to build upon; otherwise though sanctification may convince a gainsayer, yet Divine faith is only wrought by the Spirit breathing in the word of life. Thus have we seen that it is the Spirit that beareth witness (in all the six Witnesses) unto the state of a Christian. It is the Spirit also that beareth witness unto all things else that are needful for us to know in our times, 1 Joh. 2:20. Joh. 14:26. The anointing teacheth you all things: the Comforter shall teach you all things. Great is the power of the Spirit to beget and increase faith, by the word of God, and by the works of his providence, he causeth the soul to trust in God, and to say, He that hath delivered me out of six troubles, will not he deliver me out of the seventh? Otherwise if the Spirit do not set in, though judgment be convinced, yet the heart is not enlarged to believe: David could not gainsay Nathan, when he told him from the Lord, that God had put away his sin, he should not die; yet still he prayed for mercy, Psal. 51:1, and for establishment with God’s free Spirit, ver. 12, and, Make me to hear the voice of joy and gladness, ver. 8, why? Had he not heard it already? It was a most gracious word that Nathan spake; true, but he is not yet clear in it; it is that Holy Ghost, that must make him to hear the voice of joy and gladness: otherwise, though a man hath much experience of God’s goodness to him, and sits and talks of the wonderful things that God hath done for him, to the warming of the hearts of all that hear him; yet the soul cannot reach that abundant satisfaction, which he doth desire, till at length the Lord comes in some Ordinance of his, and beareth witness freely of love bestowed upon us; and such a testimony will marvelously settle and establish any soul in the world: so that it is the Spirit that beareth witness unto faith, and nothing can do it but the Spirit only; and yet if the Spirit should breath out of the word, it were but a delusion, Isa. 8:20. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to that, it is because they have no light in them: And therefore the Lord couples his word, and his Spirit together, Isa. 57:19. I create the fruit of the lips, peace, peace: though it be creating work, yet it is by the fruit of the lips: so likewise Isa. 59:21. My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed, from henceforth and forever. Thus the Spirit of God in the word is mighty to begin, and mighty to carry an end spiritual work in the soul. Now the ordinary manner of the revelation of the Spirit is, if he reveal God’s free justification of us, it is by revealing his free grace in a promise not made to works, no not to faith itself, but rather as a thing to be created by the word of a free promise: unto sanctification indeed he doth bear witness in any promise; as, if the question be about Abraham’s sanctification, how did the Lord reveal it? We may see, Gen. 22:12. By this I know that thou fearest me, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me: but for his justification, the Lord had revealed that in another promise, Gen. 15:5,6, wherein God brought him forth, and bids him, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be; and among them he shows him that seed, that shall be a blessing unto all nations: this is a thing beyond his capacity, but this he believed, and it was counted unto him for righteousness: now in this the Lord reveals nothing but his free grace, without any respect unto any goodness in Abraham: faith was in him before, and had put forth itself; by faith when he was called, he went out, not knowing whither he went, Heb. 11:8, but a man is justified not by the habit of faith only, but by every act of faith; and as often as this is revealed, so often is the grace of God revealed unto the soul: for it is nothing that God seeth in Abraham, for which he doth reveal his justification to him; but this he doth freely of his grace; and so Abraham receives it, Rom. 4:4,5,6. &c. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness; which shows us, that Abraham looks at himself as an ungodly man, when he considereth his justification: not but that Abraham was now godly in Scripture account before, but he looketh at him that justifieth the ungodly: as David describeth the blessedness of the man, to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works: for thus the Lord setteth it home unto the heart without works, saying, Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; so it is free blessedness that the Lord reveals unto the soul: and lest you should think, that these things were peculiar to Abraham and David, &c. he tells us, ver. 23,24, that it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, &c. As it was with the Father of the faithful, so it is also with all believers, which are his children: that as he considered not his own body that was dead, nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb: so neither should we consider this or that in our bodies, or souls; for if we were thus and thus fitted for justification, then the reward would be of works, and so a debt unto us: now though works be there, when justification is again and again revealed, yet it comes not into sight, for a double reason; First, Because when the Lord appears as justifying the soul, he sits upon a throne of justice, and a throne of grace together, not accepting any righteousness but that which is complete, and adequate, Rom. 3:26. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him, that believeth in Jesus: it is not justice for God to pronounce a man just upon any other righteousness, besides the righteousness of his Son; for if God should mark what we have done, no flesh living should be justified in his sight: Psal. 143:2, but through the righteousness of Christ, which is perfect, the Lord justifies everyone that believeth in him; and that act of faith whereby a man taketh hold on Christ, and receiveth Christ, that is it which quieteth the soul: for it is not meet that the Lord should justify any simple work of mine; for if the Lord should justify me so, mine own clothes would defile me: and if I should come before him with any work, which he hath wrought in me, to be accepted for it, this would be preposterous, and out of place: for he will have a full righteousness to accept me, before he will pronounce me righteous: and therefore I am first called to his Son; for as there is no more required to make me a sinful man, but that I be found in Adam: so there is no more required to my justification, but that I should have union with the second Adam. Secondly, As the Lord doth sit upon a Throne of justice, when he justifies a soul, so he doth also upon a Throne of grace, Rom. 3:24. We are justified freely by his grace; therefore he will not justify any man upon works, lest they should boast before him; and therefore you shall find it to be true, that if the Lord be to declare his acceptance of the sanctification of his people, he will not do it in respect of the worth of their works, but according to the grace of his promise. But is not my sanctification a work of free grace? And doth one grace hinder another? Such is Bellarmine’s reason against justification by grace: what? (saith he) doth grace fight against grace? If we say, We be justified by our works, it is grace that gives us those works, and a will unto them; thus doth he confess. Our Divines answer is, That if our justification be of grace, it is not of works; and if it be of works, it is not of grace: so in like manner, if the Lord do show himself in a matter of grace, let all our works be silent; for if Abraham hath whereof to glory, it is not before God: so then, if grace appear, it is not in our works: and therefore if God do speak any comfort unto sanctification, he will put his servants quite off from the conceit of their own holiness. Thus we find it, 2 Sam. 7:18. Lord (saith David) what am I, or what is my father’s house? &c. though at that time the Lord took notice of his sanctification; and so indeed it is usual with the faithful, when the Lord pronounceth any mercy to them, they see no reason in themselves why the Lord should vouchsafe it: as you see when the light of the Sun shineth upon a candle, it damps the light thereof; so it is in this case, when the riches of God’s mercy shineth upon the soul, he is not so taken up in the consideration of his own works and holiness, because his heart is lifted up higher in the consideration of the grace of God: and yet let me say thus much; There is a kind of revelation that is under the Law, Ezek. 18:5,6. If a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, &c. he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God. Thus a man is pronounced just upon his righteousness, that is to say, so far just as the Law declares him just: if either he keep the Commandment, or if he break the Commandment, and come and bring his Sacrifice, then his sin shall be forgiven him, Lev. 5:10,13,16, somewhat suitable unto what we read, Matth. 18:23,24,25. &c. when the servant was required to make payment to his Lord, and had nothing to pay; he falleth down and worshippeth his Lord, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all; so out of compassion he forgave him the debt: just as when the Lord taketh hold of a man by sickness, and is ready to expose him to death; then he crieth, Lord be merciful to me, and I will become a new man, and all the world shall know it, and all my friends shall see it: then the Lord out of compassion delivereth him from his sickness, according to Psal. 78,34,35. &c. when God slew them, then they sought him, and returned, and required early after God; and though they did but flatter him with their lips; yet he being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: Thus the Lord may let men see, that he doth forgive them; and no small comfort sometime doth arise, and all this from some works that they have done: but when the Lord revealeth himself graciously by his Spirit in our justification, he doth banish the sight of our works, so that the soul doth look at himself as the chiefest of all sinners, as not having so much as the crawling, or creeping of any work of sanctification: Yea, when the Lord revealeth to his people their sanctification; the manifestation of his love unto their souls, upon that point, doth take them off from the sight of their own works; and move them to wonder that ever the Lord should manifest himself graciously, to such as they are. Now for the Use of this; Let me apply it to teach Christians not to be afraid of the word Revelation: you have heard of many that have attended to Revelations, that have been deceived: it is true; for the Devil himself, will transform himself into an Angel of light: he will be foisting in delusions, yea, many times when the soul waiteth for the revelation of God’s mercy, the Devil will be apt to foist in such revelations, from whence many delusions may grow: but yet on the other side, let not men be afraid, and say, That we have no revelation but the word: for I do believe, and dare confidently affirm, that if there were no revelation but the word, there would be no spiritual grace revealed to the soul; for it is more than the Letter of the Word that is required to it: not that I look for any other matter besides the word. But there is need of greater light, then the word of itself is able to give; for it is not all the promises in Scripture, that have at any time wrought any gracious change in any soul, or are able to beget the faith of God’s Elect: true it is indeed, whether the Father, Son, or Spirit reveal anything, it is in and according to the word; but without the work of the Spirit, there is no faith begotten by any promise: the word of God, and all his works, may beget you some knowledge, if you be not mistaken in them: but to beget the faith of God’s elect, that may be able to stand against all the powers of darkness, and to crush all the temptations of that wicked one; it is not all the works of God, nor all the word of God, of itself, that is able to beget such faith; if there be any, it is but an historical faith, a dead faith that is not able to bring the soul nearer to God. I beseech you therefore consider of it, as a mystery of God indeed, yet marvelous plain in Scripture, as I conceive: That neither the word of grace, nor all the works of grace, are able to clear up the grace of God unto the soul; it is the Spirit of God that must do it; he must reveal the grace of God, if ever we see it, otherwise it is not possible that we should believe: for though we should attain unto πληροφορια συέσεως, fullness of knowledge, we shall not attain unto πληροφορια πίστις, fullness of faith. As for our works in justification, the Lord will dash them to pieces, and cast them out of his sight: and though faith comes by hearing, yet it is the Spirit in the word, that maketh the New Testament a lively Letter; otherwise, as not the flesh of Christ, so nor the word of Christ profiteth anything, it is the Spirit that quickeneth; therefore look for this revelation of the Spirit to show you the need of Christ, and the Lord’s offering and presenting Christ unto you, and his drawing your hearts to believe upon him; otherwise you neither can have any faith, nor can you discern any gift of God bestowed upon you. In the second place; Let this teach and exhort us not to look for any revelation out of the Word; for the Spirit comes in the mouth of the Word, and the Word in the mouth of the Spirit: take heed therefore of all Revelations in which the Word of God is silent; for the Spirit of God will speak Scripture to you: when he comes, he will not bring a new Gospel, and new Revelations; but he always speaks in the Word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is given unto us: therefore if any Spirit shall speak, and not according to the Word, it is but a delusion: rest not therefore in any assurance, nor revelation, unless thou hast a word for it. In the third, and last place; This may teach, and exhort us, in Justification, to look for no word, but such as holdeth forth some absolute Promise of Free-grace; for the Lord looketh for no work in our Justification, but the Works of the Son; it is the work of his free grace to justify the ungodly: therefore if any man, having been in desperate anguish of soul, have built his faith upon some Promise made unto some such work as he findeth in himself; this is no other but a legal righteousness: for when the Lord doth pronounce Grace in a way of Justice, he will pronounce it unto that soul, that he is most ungodly, and that he himself doth justify him freely: for example, take that promise which we read, Acts 10:43,44. To him give all the Prophets witness, that through his Name, whosoever believeth on him, shall receive remission of sins: there is a promise of remission of sins unto them which believe. But was this faith in them before? Nay; but while he spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell upon all them which heard the word: and this Holy Ghost it was that did beget that Faith by this Promise, whereby they did receive the Promise. So in like manner, if the Lord do promise, that he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin, shall find mercy, as Prov. 28:13, if he doth manifest his free grace in such a promise to any soul, that soul will look at his old confessions, as marvelous poor works, and will not challenge this mercy promised, by virtue of them: for when the Holy Ghost doth apply a conditional promise to the soul, he doth work the condition by the promise in the soul: therefore when the Lord comes to testify his acceptance of our persons, it is freely of his Grace; and thou canst not build anything thereof upon any of thy works: and if he do acknowledge our sanctification, in any word of his grace; he will let us see, that every such gift or work of grace is freely given unto us; so as that we shall be ready after all this, to say with David, Who are we, or what are our fathers houses, that the Lord should ever accept such as we are, and such poor sacrifices as we offer unto him? Thus having spoken of three distinct Works, wherein the Holy Ghost doth give himself unto the soul, to wit, 1. In a work of Inhabitation, 2. In a work of Sanctification, 3. In a work of Revelation; It now remaineth, that we speak unto the fourth work, wherein the Holy Ghost gives himself unto the soul, and that is a work of Consolation. This is one of the great Characters of the Holy Ghost; and this the Lord Jesus doth in special ascribe unto the Spirit: Joh. 14:16. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter: so ver. 26, and this is no other, but the Spirit of Truth, Joh. 15:26, thus doth he style the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Why? Had the disciples no comfort before, think you? Was there no comfort in the Fathers drawing them to Christ, and revealing Christ in them? Matth. 16:17. Was there no comfort in Christ his revealing the Father to them? Doubtless there is comfort in all these works: the work of the Father mentioned in Joh. 6:44, is the same with what we read, Isa. 54:13. All thy children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy Children: though it be but peace for the future, yet light is sown for the righteous herein, and gladness for the upright in heart, Psal. 97:11, there is some ground-work of light and comfort in the Fathers work, and some sparkles of it do appear; for the Father reveals the Son; and the Son is no sooner seen, but hope is seen, for Jesus Christ is our hope, 1 Tim. 1:1, and hope itself (I mean the grace of hope ) is a comfortable blessing: so that the soul hath supportance in the very work of our being drawn to Jesus Christ: and moreover, the Father addeth further comfort in his Justifying grace; for by it we have peace with God, Rom. 5:1, and chap. 8:34, it is God that justifies, who shall condemn? Such gracious supports, and more then transient tastings of his mercy; not such as hypocrites may have, but such as do more or less stay with the Saints, and people of God: so that at the least, there doth ever remain a seed of consolation in the hearts of all those, whom God hath by his Spirit drawn home unto his Son. And when the Son receives the soul, he doth amplify this comfort; he reveals the Fathers work unto the soul, Matth. 16:16,17. Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven: and Luk. 10:20. Rejoice in this, because your names are written in heaven. So that there is consolation also in the work of the Son: but you shall find it true, that it is by the Holy Ghost that both of them work, and that either of them comfort the soul, with those beginnings of consolation that afterwards break forth into more abundant riches of increase. But what doth the Holy Ghost do more? 1. For Answer; He doth bear witness with a more abundant measure of consolation, Rom. 14:17. The kingdom of God is not meat, and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; He doth so clearly reveal our acceptance through the righteousness of Christ, that from thence springeth peace unto the soul, which groweth up until it passeth understanding, and bringeth us unto joy unspeakable, and full of glory, 1 Pet. 1:8, therefore he is called by way of eminency, The Comforter; because when he comes, he doth so clearly ratify unto you your righteousness to be in Jesus Christ. 2. Secondly, The comfort of the Holy Ghost, is more constant and abiding; as Christ (speaking of the Comforter) promiseth unto his Apostles, Joh. 16:22. I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you: not but that God may sometimes eclipse it, for the trial of his servants; yet ordinarily it is more constant, and leaveth faith even then more constant and firm, Neh. 8:10. The joy of the Lord is your strength: when the Holy Ghost taketh in hand to comfort his people, he doth abundantly strengthen them with his consolations. 3. Thirdly, As the comfort of the Holy Ghost is more abundant, and constant, so it is more powerful; Luk. 24:49. Behold, I send unto you the promise of the Father: tarry ye at Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high: so Act. 1:8. You shall receive power from on high, after that the holy Ghost is come upon you; not by the gift of him, nor by his inhabitation, nor by sanctification, nor by revelation only; but in the power of all these, that in the midst of strong opposition’s, you might have strong consolation: therefore this is the ground of the Apostle Paul’s thanksgiving, 2 Cor. 1:5, and chap. 2:14. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also our consolation aboundeth by Christ; and thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Thus you see the truth of the Point, that the work of consolation doth in special manner belong unto the Holy Ghost: yet for the further clearing of it, there is a Question or two to be answered: There is mention made, Eph. 1:13,14, of the seal of the Spirit, and of the earnest of the Spirit: Therefore it may be demanded, 1. What is the seal of the Spirit. 2. What is the earnest of the Spirit. What is the seal of the Spirit? For so he is called, Eph. 4:30. Grieve not the holy Spirit, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption: so likewise there is mention made both of the seal, and earnest of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 1:21,22. For answer hereunto, to speak properly what I conceive the Scripture to hold forth: I take the seal of the Spirit to be nothing else but the Spirit itself; as the name of Christ is often put for Christ himself: for you shall not read in Scripture, that it is called the seal of the Spirit, but they were sealed by the Spirit; He hath sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2 Cor. 1:22. So that as the Spirit is the anointment, and the earnest: so he is also the seal: when the Angel mentioned Rev. 7:2, is said to have the seal of the living God; it is meant of the Spirit. But, how is the Holy Ghost said to be a seal? And in respect of what workings of his is he so called? I Answer, There is a threefold respect in which he is called, The seal; and he doth express the nature of a seal in them all. 1. First, He doth confirm and ratify all the gracious promises of God unto the soul, bearing witness in truth and power of them unto the soul, and thereby begetting and confirming faith in the soul: for the use of the seal is to confirm; and this is the principal work of the Holy Ghost, to confirm all the promises of God as an authentic seal. There is a place of Scripture, which being a little miss-translated, leadeth (I cannot say into a little) but into a great inconveniency, Eph. 1:13. In whom after that ye believed, ye were sealed: Calvin is much troubled about it, and so is Piscator: the truth is, it implieth thus much, that in believing they were sealed; this is the true English of those Greek words: so that it is the Holy Ghost, that comes in every promise of grace wherein Jesus Christ is conveyed unto the soul, and he setteth it home, and confirmeth it to the soul, by begetting faith in that grace, and so setteth to his seal that it is true to thee: and hence it is, that the faith which is wrought by the Holy Ghost, is said to be a seal, Joh. 3:33. He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true: so then, the Holy Ghost setteth his seal to it, when he gives us faith; and thus he is the seal, as he doth confirm all the word of God’s grace unto us: and hence it is that faith is called the spirit of faith, 2 Cor. 4:13. Calvin disputes this point at large, when he speaketh touching the authority of the word of God; which though it be none of the most learned, nor elegant of his works; yet I think there be so many plain arguments, that they may convince the most arrogant Atheist: yet to make him believe it you cannot, except the Holy Ghost set in to convince a gain-sayer; for it is the Spirit that gives the seal and confirmation of every word of the Gospel. And to speak a little more plainly in this point: although the Apostle John (1 Epistle, chap. 5, ver. 7,8.) speaketh of six witnesses, that bear witness unto Jesus Christ; yet you shall find this to be true, that there are none of all that do set it home unto the soul, but the Holy Ghost only: when the Father beareth witness, he doth it by the Spirit: 1 Cor. 2:9,10. &c. God revealeth the hidden things of his love unto us by his Spirit, &c. when the Son doth show us the Father, and so setteth the soul at liberty, and easeth our consciences thereby, The Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty: 2 Cor. 3:17. And it is the Spirit that setteth on his own work much more plentifully by the powerful efficacy of himself upon the soul, Act. 1:8, and for the water, and the blood, who applieth them? As for the water of sanctification, it is but a creature, and it is not in the power of any creature to beget faith: for the word of God itself cannot beget faith: can any work of God do it? No, no, it is neither the blood of justification, nor the water of sanctification that can beget faith, but the Spirit only: otherwise you will ever and anon suspect your faith, and your sanctification; and every Christian knows what I say, That if a man have nothing but his works of sanctification to trust unto, they will fail him, unless the Spirit of God do breathe in them, and testify the Lord’s acceptance of you: All the works of creation though they may convince my judgment that there is a God, yet they cannot beget lively faith in me, unless the Holy Ghost set in with them; for the word of God cannot do it, no nor the Sacraments, though they be seals: but when are they seals? Only then when the Holy Ghost is conveyed in them; and therefore we see why the Holy Ghost is called a seal, because he doth confirm our faith in the works, and word of God. You will say, But may not a soul comfort himself, in the former experiences of God’s mercy? True, but the Holy Ghost must then breathe in them; and his work it is also to bring them to remembrance, Joh. 14:26, if he will reveal his loving kindness in these footsteps of his grace, then they do come in to confirm your faith, otherwise both word and works are dead, unless the Spirit of God breathe in them: he it is that revealeth free grace, justifying the ungodly, and afterward will let you know the works of your sanctification: he teacheth, and none like him: 1 Joh. 2:20,27. You have an unction from the holy One, and ye know all things, &c. and in this respect every Christian is a sealed one of God, more or less: when as the Angel was sent to set the seal of God upon his servants, Rev. 7:2,3, he did not leave out weak Christians doubtless, but did seal all the servants of God. Christ is careful to keep his weak servants from inundations of evil, as well as others: so in Ezek. 9:4. The mark of God is set upon all, that mourn for the sins of the times: therefore in some work of this seal, the Holy Ghost is not wanting to seal all believers; otherwise thou couldest not believe, that the Father hath drawn thee to Christ, unless the Lord had revealed it; nor couldest thou believe, that the Father is thy Father, unless the Holy Ghost hath sealed thee; thou canst not know that thy faith is accepted of God, that thy sanctification is in truth, unless the Spirit of God do clear up these things unto thy soul: though thou hadst many promises before thee, yet unless the Lord by his Spirit apply them, thou canst not see thy right in them. But is not that my sin? It is your sin; but it is such a sin, as the power of the creature cannot help you out of: for unless the Lord be pleased to discover Jesus Christ unto you, and your faith in him, and your deriving of your works from him; you will neither know your justification, nor your sanctification to be true: therefore there is ever a sealing work of God’s Spirit upon the souls of his Saints, though this may be done before the Holy Ghost come to seal you in his own proper work; for you have many gracious workings of God about you, before he come to seal his own work in your soul. 2. The second work of the Spirit, in respect whereof he is called a seal, is his engraving the likeness of Jesus Christ upon the soul; for the Lord hath predestinated us to be conformed unto the image of his Son, Rom. 8:29, and how come we to be so conformed? Even by the Spirit of God, who writeth (as it were) Jesus Christ in our hearts, as with the finger of the living God; and hence Christ is formed in us, Gal. 4:19, and this image of Christ the Holy Ghost writeth in us, by making us conformable unto the death, and resurrection of Christ; and unto that end, he doth breathe in both the Sacraments, Rom. 6:4,5,6, for he is both a Spirit of mortification, and vivification, so as that through him we do not only find sin mortified, but do live by the faith of the Son of God; and the Spirit it is that doth preserve these gifts, and acteth, and stirreth up our faith to look unto Christ: this is another use of the seal, not only to confirm, but to conform; so that of his fullness we all receive grace for grace, Joh. 1:16, and we live, yet not we, but Christ liveth in us; and this seal the Holy Ghost doth set on more or less in every Christian, but in his own proper work he doth it with more power. 3. The third work, whereby the Holy Ghost doth express the nature of a seal, is in distinguishing the Saints from other men, Rev. 7:2,3, the servants of God were sealed, and in sealing them he doth conceal them, as a seal doth, so that the world knows them not, Joh. 14:17, and 1 Joh. 3:1, we are called the sons of God, therefore the world knows us not, &c. and the more the Spirit doth distinguish a man from the wicked of the world, the less they do discern him to be a gracious man; the more lively grace is, the more it is hidden from the world: as men grow more in godliness, so they grow more and more to be suspected by the world this is sealing work, to distinguish, and yet to conceal: these things doth the Spirit of God, as a seal upon the hearts and consciences of his people; he begetteth and confirmeth all their faith, more or less; he doth conform them to the image of Christ more or less; he doth also conceal, and distinguish them from the world. The second Question needful for the clearing of this point, is, How is the Holy Ghost an earnest? For Answer, He is called an earnest in two respects. 1. First, As he bindeth the bargain between God and the soul; he doth confirm all the promises of God to us, and fasteneth them upon our hearts, and settleth our hearts with an unmovable faith: God having given us his Spirit, doth give us all in him, for he bindeth our union with Christ, and our relation to the Father; the Covenant of God’s grace unto us, and us unto it; the Gospel to us, and us unto the Gospel. 2. Secondly, He is an earnest, as he is the first fruits of the payment: if a man give a pledge, he meaneth to take his pledge again: but if he gives money in earnest, he meaneth not to take that again, for it is part of the payment, and the whole is but a greater payment of the same kind: so in like manner, what is all our inheritance? Surely a fullness of the fruition of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, and of the blessed Spirit of God; this is all our inheritance that we look for in another world: Eph. 1:14. He is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory: here we have but a little portion of the Spirit, a little earnest-penny; but this little portion is an assurance unto us, that he will make it up, until we be able to receive no more. Now for Application of this Point; let it first teach us, how to speak of the seal of the Spirit, all those that desire to speak the language of Canaan: no man hath part in Christ, but he hath the seal of the Spirit also; for if the Holy Ghost had not given thee Christ in this or that promise, thou couldest never have believed it. True it is indeed, there are many Christians, yea, and sealed Christians, which are not sealed with the proper work of the Spirit, I mean with that full consolation, and universal conformity to God’s image; every Christian hath not received that measure of power; but every Christian waiteth for it, and is sealed by the blessed Spirit, having set home some word of God’s grace, wherein Jesus Christ is brought unto the soul. In the second place, let it teach us thus much; that it will come short of bringing us unto Christ, if we lay claim to a promise of God by any work of grace, such as we can have before we have the seal of the Spirit; I mean such a work of the Spirit, as wherein he doth come in with power upon the soul, above the power of the word and works of God; for they are both creatures: and unless the Lord come in with his immediate power, above the power of any Ordinance, all that you have received amounteth not to the faith of God’s elect; and unless it be the Spirit of God that enlighteneth, we have received no saving light; and when he doth come to seal up Jesus Christ unto our souls, he ever speaketh in some promise of the free grace of God; for the Lord justifieth no man upon an imperfect righteousness, but in that work doth ever declare himself to be just, and a justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus; Rom. 3:26, therefore seeing in this work, he sitteth upon a throne to declare his own righteousness, there is no place now for our righteousness to appear; hence it is, that if he justify, it is freely by his grace, Rom. 3:23, thus God dealt with Abraham, when he showed him the innumerable stars of heaven, and told him, So shall thy seed be; He believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, Gen. 15:5, it was the free grace of God, which he mentioneth unto him. But suppose the Lord should reveal a work unto you (as a work there is in every soul that is justified ) if you should see any work in your soul, yet unless the Spirit of God should above the power of the work breathe in it, it is not possible that it should beget a Divine Faith; it is only the work of the Spirit of God: it is he also that shows you your acceptance with God, and that manifesteth your sanctification, and makes it a sign unto you of your justification; otherwise neither word, nor work can set on a promise; with power upon the soul, until the Holy Ghost confirm it; it is his immediate work. What then? Doth the Spirit do this immediately without the word? No: if he speak peace unto the soul, he ever doth it in some word of promise; and if he testify our acceptance, it is in some word; and in that respect, it is mediate: but he doth set on a power above the word, and in that respect I call it immediate: and therefore if a man shall seek to hammer out anything by his own knowledge, though he may add to his knowledge, yet he can do nothing to the begetting of faith, unless the Lord come in by a power above the word: and when he doth speak in any word of his grace, he doth not in the first place speak to you of your own righteousness; but first convinceth you, that you are a chief sinner: as when he said to Saul, Why persecutest thou me? When he sends his Spirit, it is first to convince the world of sin, (Joh. 16:8,9, &c.) and what? Of your sanctification, next? No, of your justification next; he will convince the world of righteousness; that is, of his righteousness; and afterward of judgment: and that is sometimes put for sanctification, Matth. 12:20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment into victory. But it is the Spirit that doth all this, and therefore let not men deceive themselves in any conclusions that they can make; for their enlightened conscience is but a creature; and unless the Lord come in with a greater light, then your conscience will afford you, all will be but lost work unto your souls; you will build but castles in the air, which in time of temptation will vanish away. In the third place, this may teach all the servants of God, that have received in any measure the first fruits of the Spirit, to know, that they have received an earnest of an everlasting possession; that Spirit will never leave you till you become a full vessel, and running over: if he have given you one promise, he will give you more; and if he have given you Christ, he will with him give you all things else. In the fourth and last place; it may teach us, That if we have received Christ, and our hope be in him, never to rest until we do more fully and clearly see that the Lord is our God; until the Holy Ghost do fill your hearts with more power, and stamp more of the image of Christ in you: grow more and more sensible how dead and insufficient you are unto anything that is good: be meek, and lowly in heart; think meanly of yourselves: you cannot pray, you cannot preach, you cannot of yourselves perform any Christian duty; it is Christ that must work all our works for us: know therefore, that if you be lively and active, it is because your life is hid with Christ in God; he it is that stirreth up your faith to look up unto Christ, to expect all help from his hand. Sometimes you must look to be severed from the world; and the more clear the truths of God are unto you, the more they are hidden from the world; for if a man cannot look upon a candle, how shall he look upon a torch? And much less upon the shining Sun. Therefore it behooveth all the servants of God, to grow up in the power of God, and the strength of his might; not holding forth insolency of Spirit, nor uncharitable censoriousness; such things are far off from expressing the Spirit of Christ; but it is the part of the servants of Christ, to be faithful, meek, lowly, humble, and courageous in the ways of the Lord; and when you have done all, be contented to be counted the offscouring of the world; as 1 Cor. 4:9, for it must be the part of all that fear God, to take heed that you give none occasion to any to speak evil of us: for if we do consider the great hope of our calling, how should it cast holy shame upon our faces, that we walk so unworthy of our calling! For if there be any work of God upon our hearts, it is no transient work: if God begin, He will perfect until the day of Christ: the work of grace is an uncessant work; but as in the first creation, the Spirit of God hatched upon the face of the waters, till the work of Creation was perfected: so doth the Lord by his Spirit in his Saints; he doth not leave hatching in their hearts till he hath separated light from darkness, and made everything fruitful in the soul. We must not rest therefore in former weak beginnings; but if we be born of God, and under a Covenant of grace, we must look to grow up in all well pleasing unto God, that we may not be strangers to any of all the heavenly works of the grace of God, but that we may grow up to abound in fruitfulness in them all.

CHAP. XI. That God received Abraham and his seed to be a peculiar people unto himself.

Thus having explained, hoTw the Lord gives himself in a Covenant of grace unto Abraham, and to his seed; we now come unto the second part of the Doctrine; which is, that he received Abraham and his seed to be a peculiar people unto himself; which although we have spoken somewhat unto in the opening of the point, let us further premise these three things, before we come to the Use of it. 1. First, That the Lord did take Abraham, and his seed to be a peculiar people unto himself. 2. Secondly, How did he so take them to be his people? 3. Thirdly, Who are meant by those, whom he did so take, to make them a peculiar people unto himself? 1. For the first of these, That he did so take Abraham and his seed, &c. we find it plain in Deut. 7:6,7,8. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be a special people unto himself, &c. and ver. 8. Because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath, which he had sworn unto your fathers. The like we read in 2 Sam. 7:23,24. Thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee forever; and thou Lord, art become their God: and this mercy doth he magnify toward them, when they had no thoughts of him; but as he sometimes called his Apostles, when they were mending their nets: so he called his people Israel, when they were making bricks in Egypt, then he said to Pharaoh, Let my people go; and again, If thou slay my son, my first born, I will stay thy son, thy first born; and as he sometime took Abraham himself out of Chaldea: so he took his seed out of Egypt, that they might serve him in the Wilderness. Now secondly, If you shall ask, how the Lord called them? I answer, chiefly two ways. 1. First, By solemn outward Covenant; and that partly in the loins of Abraham; and partly in mount Sinai; and yet more solemnly in the plains of Moab, Deut. 29, for that was a Covenant of Grace wherein the Lord promised to circumcise their heart, and the heart of their seed. Deut. 30:6. 2. And secondly, In one word, by this Covenant he doth draw them into union with himself, and with his Son: from whence it comes to pass, that we have communion with him, both relative, in adoption, and justification; and positive, in sanctification, and in fullness of time, perfect glorification. In the third place, What is meant by Abraham, and his seed? Doth God call all the seed of Abraham into a Covenant of grace with himself? The answer is shortly this, Abraham doth here principally stand as the father of the faithful, and so received Circumcision as the Father of the faithful, not only of such as were Circumcised, but also of such as were uncircumcised The Covenant he received when he was uncircumcised; and the seal when he was circumcised, that he might be the father of the faithful among Jews and Gentiles: and all the Jews are not the seed of Abraham, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed; for they are the seed unto whom the promises are made; and he saith it not, Unto thy seeds, as of many: but, To thy seed, as of one, even Christ, Gal. 3:16, so that unto Christ, and unto all those that have the seed of Christ in them, is this Covenant made. You will say unto me, But is it made unto the carnal seed also? Have they no portion in the Covenant of grace; was not Ishmael circumcised as well as Isaac? And is it not said, Unto them were committed the covenants of God? Rom. 9:4, so that both the Covenants were committed to them that fell away from God: and hath not God said to those that were circumcised, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people? And the Lord rejecteth them, Jer. 15:1, and 6, ult. and 7:29, and yet, these (whom God rejecteth) were made partakers of the seal of the Covenant: would God call them to the seal, and not to the Covenant? Would he call them to profane the Covenant? The point is weighty: shortly and plainly to speak something to it. 1. First, they had their part in the Covenant of Grace: this they had, that they were all called to the solemn receiving of the covenant, Deut. 29:10, to 15. Ye all stand this day before the Lord your God, &c. that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, &c. this was the Covenant of grace: now thus far are all the carnal seed of Christian Parents, called into the outward fellowship of the Covenant. But why would God call them to the outward fellowship of the covenant, and seal of it, and mean while not give them the blessing, and kernel of the Covenant? This is weighty, and considerable; how it standeth with the faithfulness of God. For answer, The Blessings of the Covenant are not far from them: for there are two sorts of blessings. Some do consist in the outward letter of the Ordinances; the Gospel of grace, the Sacraments, and seals of it; and sundry common gifts of the Spirit that are plentifully dispensed in the fellowship of the Church; besides a liberal and bountiful use of the creatures; for they are all serviceable to the People of God: and all these things do flow from the Covenant of grace, which God hath made with their Fathers. When as Abraham had understood that God would establish the Covenant with Isaac, and thereupon made a sad prayer unto God, that Ishmael might live in his sight, Gen. 18:18,20, the Lord answereth him; As for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, &c. and (which is wonderful) he had the liberty of all the Ordinances until he cut himself off from them. Unto this Covenant belong those gifts, which the Lord bestows on men from the blood of Christ, Heb. 10:29, so that it is not a mere blank, for by it here are sundry spiritual, and outward blessings; the patience and bounty of God is abundantly poured out upon the carnal seed of Christian Parents, as in the wilderness, when the displeasure of God was ready to kindle against that carnal generation, and he was ready to cut them off; he remembered the covenant of his mercy to Abraham, and oft times spared them: so that if you see much patience extended to the children of Christian Parents, and many gifts bestowed upon them, whereby they become very serviceable sometimes in the Commonwealth, sometimes in the Church; know, that all these things spring from the Covenant of God with their Fathers. I, but if the very life and kernel of the blessing be wanting; if Ishmael do not live in Jesus Christ, what will all these blessings do him good? Will they not aggravate his damnation? For answer, mind you this, that the Lord may be justified; he doth not only call them to Church liberty, and fellowship; nor only bestow upon them sundry gifts of grace, and great bounties, and manifold preservation from evil: but likewise he doth offer them the sure mercies of David: for so God doth distinguish the sure mercies of the Covenant, Isa. 55:3. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hearken, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David: wherein you see the Lord putteth it upon such terms, that if the soul come not by it, it is because he would not: not that any can come when they will, as by the power of their own will; but this the Lord will leave upon the children of Christian Parents, that they shall not say, that God forsook them, until they have forsaken him; and that, when there lay no necessity upon them, but voluntarily they did despise the grace of the Covenant: for do but observe the causes wherefore the Lord hath discovenanted the children of gracious Parents. 1. The first that ever fell off from the Covenant of grace made with Abraham, it was Ishmael: and what was the ground of it? He mocked Isaac, Gen. 21:9,10, what mocking was it? In regard of human frailty? No, no; it was a plain persecution, and that implies such a persecution as was cast upon him in respect of the Covenant of grace made with him; as if he should say, Here is the child of promise! Or the like, insomuch that Sarah could not endure he should tarry any longer in the house; for this was not human frailty, but human insolency against the Covenant; whereas happy he, if he might have fallen under the wing of it. 2. The second that you read of, who fell from the Covenant, fell not upon those terms; but the love of worldly sensual blessings did choke the affections of Esau toward the Covenant of grace, which was the chief blessing of the first born in the days of Abraham and Isaac; but he coming in hungry, selleth his birthright for a mess of red pottage, Gen. 25:31. &c. Thus Esau despised his birthright: so this sort of children despise the grace of God, not out of a malicious frame of spirit, but they are choked with the cares of this world; and the best seed that was sown in them, becomes unfruitful: and this is the case of all the good husbands of the world that despise the Covenant of grace; for when once a man is taken up with the profits and pleasures of this life, he then cares not a rush for the Covenant of grace: mount Zion is not now commodious for him, so profanely do they undervalue the Covenant of grace in comparison of sensual lusts: and do men thus fall from the Covenant of grace, because it is a duty above the power of nature? No, no, the very common gifts they had, might have restrained the one of these from mocking, and the other from selling his birthright for a mess of pottage: it is evident that the children of Christian Parents, when as they come to fall off from God, they do not fall upon such things as they are not able to prevent: but either they scorn and persecute the things of God, or else they prefer sensual lusts before them. 3. A third way, whereby the children of Christian Parents fall from the Covenant of grace, is a self-confident cleaving unto those gifts of grace, which by the Covenant they have received: besides these causes of their falling from the Covenant of grace, I have observed no more in Scripture, nor have I found anymore in mine own experience. When men are invested with many spiritual blessings; sweetly endowed with many sprinklings of the blood of the Covenant, whereby they come to be great in knowledge, and sometime excel in a spirit of prayer, and some are good at one thing, and some at another; and being full of such gifts, it may easily come to pass that they may grow so confident of these, that they will not subject themselves unto the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And this was the rejection of the whole house of Israel, Rom. 10:3. They being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God: and hence the Covenant of grace is unto them turned into a Covenant of works; they are now become the children of the bondwoman, and not the children of the free-woman: for they that have their faith in themselves, and not in Christ, they fall under a Covenant of works. So that (mind you) the Lord is just and righteous in all these his dispensations. I said before, God did receive Abraham and his seed into this Covenant: I mean the faithful seed; and they are received into the second sort of blessings of the Covenant, which are truly saving: for the Lord receives them into inward fellowship with his Son, so as that they shall be justified, sanctified, and glorified. But are the carnal seed then rejected? No, but they partake in many bounties of God, and grow up and live in his sight; what? In the enjoyment of outward blessings only? No, of spiritual blessings also: I, but the Lord gives them not the spiritual blessing of saving grace by the Covenant: doth he not? And why is it? Not because he doth not offer it to them: but because they fall off from it upon such terms, wherein there lay no necessity upon them, that they should so fall off: Ishmael needed not have mocked Isaac; Esau needed not have sold his birthright for a mess of pottage: never let them pretend the necessity of corrupt nature; corrupt nature putteth no such necessity upon us, to sell away such blessings upon such terms. And for others that trusted in their own righteousness, had not the Lord convinced them, that it was not their own righteousness that could save them? Did not David say, If thou Lord mark iniquity, Lord who shall stand? Psal. 130:3, and in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified, Psal. 143:2, so that, it is not the blindness of man’s nature that excuseth, but this flows from a malignant, and affected self-confidence; therefore now they are justly disinherited: for the Jews were not rejected until it was made plain to them, that their righteousness would not stand before the Lord; therefore saith the Apostle, Act. 13:46. It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you; but seeing you put it from you, &c. and he had said before, They contradicted and blasphemed; and why was it necessary that the word should be spoken unto them? Truly, that God might be faithful in his Covenant; for if all the children of Christian Parents, may not have liberty in the means of grace, then the Lord should be wanting to his Covenant: so that if they be Jews by nature, the Lord is bound by Covenant, that they shall not for want of means perish; nor upon such grounds as are far above the nature of creatures to reach unto: for though it be above the power of the creature to repent and believe, yet it is not above the power of nature to abstain from profaneness and malignity, and such strong confidence in their legal righteousness; therefore doth he call them to Church-privileges, and common gifts and graces, things that are above the power of nature to reach unto: and he doth also preserve them from many evils, and tenders unto them the sure mercies of the Covenant: but if they will malign it, and cast it behind their backs, and choose other things before it; such degenerate children of godly Parents, their blood shall be upon their own heads. The Use hereof in the first place, may serve to justify the righteousness of God, in the confusion of the children of Christian Parents: if thou seest any child of the godly perish, write upon him, He is either a persecutor, or a worldling, or a presumptuous hypocrite; otherwise he had been an heir of grace: The spirit of God dealeth fairly, and sweetly, and comfortably with them: whence it is that they are ofttimes sweetly trimmed up with many good gifts and parts, that you would wonder to see how forward and dexterous they are in their places; and how comes this? Is it not from the faithfulness of God’s Covenant, that we might see and say, That on God’s part there was no want unto his salvation, but it was his own ungracious gracelessness, that cast off grace in the means of it? Let Ishmael perish, and Esau perish, and all civil justiciaries perish; and their blood will be upon their own heads, the Lord and his Throne is guiltless; it’s not for want of grace offered unto them: for though he had not purposed to save them merely of grace; yet he meant to let them see, that he did not only deal justly with them, but also graciously in some kind. What a warning should this be to the children of godly Parents! Take heed what you do; Ishmael had a godly Father, and Esau both godly Father and Mother; therefore bless not yourselves in that. Take heed also that you rush not upon another rock: for you will be ready to say, Notwithstanding the fair Covenant, which I am under, I cannot have grace unless God work it in me: stand not with God upon those terms; for either God will bring you home unto himself, or else you shall fall upon such terms, as that God will take you by the throat one day, and make it appear that you did forsake the Covenant of grace, upon such grounds, as many a Reprobate in Hell would never have parted with it upon the like: either you do malign the grace of God, or are profane, or else you stand upon your own righteousness, and stablish that; and then your heart begins to rise against your Parents: and you think yourself wiser than seven men that can render a reason; or if you break not out upon these terms, then you will begin to see that God hath enlightened your mind, and to seize upon your heart; and then you see that you can do something, you can pray, and you can hear with profit, and the like: and hereupon you come to build an undoubted hope of salvation; you believe upon this, that your soul is wrapped up in a bundle of life and peace: and if any man come to shake your foundation, you are like a stone-wall that beateth back all: therefore if thus you fall off, the Lord and his throne is guiltless, and you are justly miserable: it is the blood of the Covenant that did sanctify you; but it will not save you, because you did not look to be justified by it: so that as you have despised the Covenant of God, you are now cut off from the saving fellowship of it, which else the Lord had called you to enjoy. It was not the Jews crucifying the Lord of life and glory in their ignorance, that cut them off from God; for notwithstanding that, Christ prayed for them, Luk. 23:34. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do: but when they grow malignant, and despise, and contradict, and blaspheme, Act. 13:40,45,46, and put off from them the word of life, now they are cast off. Therefore let all the children of Christian Parents understand it, and the danger of it; do not think that you shall be saved, because you are the children of Christian Parents, but take heed of scorning of Religion, and of high-prizing the world: and if you be forward in spiritual gifts, take heed of blessing yourselves in them: for if you have anything of your own to build upon, you will in time tread underfoot the blood of the Son of God, wherewith you were sanctified, if you be not justified by it: work out therefore your salvation with fear and trembling; otherwise by one means or other you will fall off from God, upon such base and unworthy terms, whereby it will appear that the Lord is just in rejecting you, and you justly left in a state of perdition. You will say, But what shall we think of Infants? Peter Martyr saith, If they die when they are Infants, they are certainly saved. I cannot say it so fully, nor have I anything against it: this I can say, That they are holy, for so saith the Scripture, and therefore they are in the Covenant generally: sometimes Parents may cut off the free passage of their Covenant from their seed: though God give them one child and another, they are not greatly sensible what need the poor Infant standeth in of a Covenant of grace; they do not believe for their children, nor humble themselves in respect of them; and then no wonder if the child miscarry through the unbelief of his Parents. Otherwise I do not know whether ever God reject any upon other grounds, then what we have already laid down. In the second place, for Use, It teacheth all the servants of God, that are under the Covenant, to be careful to bring up their children under the wing of the Covenant: it may be some of you have sold away great estates from them; these were but the appurtenances of the birth-right: but if you have parted with great inheritances for the liberty of the Ordinances, you do your children no wrong: for as ever you desire that they may have a share in the Covenant, bring them under the Ordinances of the Covenant, for faith comes by hearing, Rom. 10:17. Received you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Gal. 3:2, and this is the door of the Covenant, Jesus Christ believed on, Joh. 10:7,9. Act. 14:27, therefore whatsoever inheritances you sell, if it were the inheritance of a Kingdom, bring them to the Ordinances of God, if they cannot be brought to them: and so you have done your part; and then if your children’s blood be upon their own heads, through their own forsaking of the Covenant, the Lord is guiltless, and his Covenant guiltless; they have forfeited their birth-right, which is not to be bought again for many worlds. In the third place, seeing that, as the Lord receives the faithful seed of Abraham into the Covenant of his grace, and in like manner taketh not only you, but all of yours by virtue of the Covenant: and seeing that the Lord doth in giving himself, give us all his Persons, Attributes, Ordinances, Providences; for he is the Lord of hosts, and therefore all that is God’s is ours also: It will follow semblably, that we must be as God is, and our children as his children; and our servants as his servants; and our wits, and parts, and authority, and power, and times, must all be for God, and not for ourselves: moreover, all that is in our Churches is for God, Cant. 7, ult. At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits both new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. Now from hence two things follow, 1. First, Here is a ground for family-duties; for if all that I have must be the Lord’s (for he takes me as he gives himself) then it is for us to give up all our relations unto him, as much as lies in us: we can do nothing but set them before the Lord; but it will be requisite that we should constrain them to duty, pray with our children and servants, teach them the will of God; restrain them from wickedness: I know Abraham, saith the Lord, That he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, &c. Gen. 18:18, and the Lord commandeth Parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Eph. 6:4, we must therefore teach them to know the God of their Fathers, as David, 1 Chron. 28:9. And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind, &c. and so old Lois and Eunice were careful to train up Timothy in the knowledge of the Scriptures from a child: this the Lord requireth of us; as ever we look to have right in his Son, he will have right in our sons: if we have right in his Spirit, he hath right in our spirit; if you have any right in his servants, he hath right in your servants: and therefore use the means to draw them home to him, and leave the blessing unto the Lord: but if Parents be watchless in conveying the blessing to their children, and children careless in receiving it; God is faithful, and his Covenant faithful, though they fall short of it. 2. Secondly, This also follows, that as God betrusteth us with any gifts, or parts, or talents; with honor, wealth, health, strength, beauty, liberty, or what else soever: if the Lord have given us any blessing, it is wholly his, for we must be unto God, as we would have him be unto us; and therefore the Lord took it unkindly from his people, Hos. 2:8. That the corn, and wine, and oil, and silver, and gold, which he had given them, they prepared for Baal. Israel is an empty vine, when he bringeth forth fruit unto himself, Hos. 10:1, so likewise he taketh it ill, Ezek. 16:20,21, that they took his sons, and his daughters, and sacrificed them unto Moloch: so sometimes men count it a gentile thing to train up their children to idleness, and other vanities; whereas in truth it is as if they trained them up to Moloch: and this the Lord doth abhor, and will sadly require it in his own time. If therefore we must give up ourselves and ours unto God; then here is a foundation for family- duties, and also to improve ourselves, and all that we have, wholly to advance the glory of the grace of God in Jesus Christ: else we pluck asunder the Covenant of grace. In the fourth place, If the Lord in this Covenant receive us to be a peculiar people unto himself, something we are to learn in the manner of the performance of all holy duties; for as we are still to be doing in the use of means to help our knowledge, and faith; so in all let us still be expecting from the Lord to lay hold upon us and ours, and to receive us: for our hope standeth more in God’s receiving us, then in our giving ourselves unto him; rest not therefore in all the good means that you use, for that will not hold unless the Lord be pleased to receive us, and ours. Joh. 6:37. All that the Father gives me, shall come unto me: so that unless the Lord give our children to his Son, though we devote them to him, it is a question whether he will take them or no: look we up therefore unto the Lord, that he may take them graciously unto himself: the Prophet exhorteth Israel to return unto the Lord, Hos. 14:1,2. But how shall they return? Not unless the Lord take away their iniquity, and receive them graciously; and thus the Prophet teacheth them to pray: so that they do not stand upon their own reformations, nor look to this and that which they can do; no, no, take with you words, and say, Take thou away our iniquity; otherwise we shall never get it out: he also must receive us graciously, and so shall we render unto him ourselves, and all that we can do. This is the way of the Covenant of grace; whatsoever duties the Lord requireth to be done on our parts, let us look unto him in all to receive us and ours, otherwise we and ours shall soon turn our backs upon God, and upon his Covenant which he hath so graciously invited us unto in Jesus Christ. 

CHAP. XII. The Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant between God and Abraham.

We now come to the third and last Branch of the Doctrine; which is, That the Lord took the chief of Abraham’s seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the mediator and surety of the Covenant between God and Abraham: this is expressed, Gal. 3:16. To Abraham and his seed were the promises made: he saith not, And to his seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ: so that he is the chiefest of the seed with whom the Covenant is established, as also the Prophet Isaiah testifieth, chap. 42:6, and 49:8. I will give thee for a covenant of the people, and a light of the Gentiles, &c. and the Apostle speaketh fully, when he saith, Heb. 8:6, that he is the mediator of a better covenant: and a surety of the Covenant. Heb. 7:22. Christ is therefore the chiefest of the seed, and the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant. Now a Mediator he is between both parties; partly in respect of his person, and partly in respect of his Office. 1. In respect of his person, as he is God and man, he is a fit person to be the ground of our union with God, and to maintain our communion with him: for what is a Mediator? But a middle person to bring two persons, that are at difference into one? Now Christ as he is God-man, is most fit for this work. 1. First, To be the ground of our Union: for being God-man, he hath united both the differing natures into one; so he is a middle person, and fit to be the foundation of our union, and therefore he is called Immanuel, Isa. 7:14. That is, God with us. 2. Secondly, By his person he is fit to maintain our communion; and there are two things requisite unto that: 1. First, The removal of all offenses; and Christ is most fit for that: for as he is the Son of man, he is most fit to suffer all punishment due unto sin; and therefore as man he became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5, ult. And as he is God, so he is fit to overcome sin, and to prevail against the wrath of God. 2. Secondly, He is fit to communicate all the good things of God unto us: as God, he is fit to bestow upon us all spiritual comforts, and heavenly gifts and blessings: as man, he knows what is most fit for the spirit of man, and so he is fit to communicate unto us all the good things of God: he hath suffered himself, and hath been tempted, and so he is fit to succor such as are tempted, Heb. 2:17,18, thus he is a fit Mediator in regard of his Person. 2. Secondly, He is fit to be a Mediator in respect of his Offices; he is a Priest, a Prophet, and a King; and in all these Offices he doth properly, and lively exercise the Office of a Mediator. 1. First, As a Priest, He doth offer Sacrifice for us, Heb. 9:12, even himself, Heb. 10:10. He gives his life a ransom for many, Matth. 20:28, and he doth not only thus give all this, but apply it also unto us, as it belongs unto a Mediator for to do. And as a Priest, he doth sit at God’s right hand, and makes intercession for us, Rom. 8:34, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, which is Christ the righteous; by him God reconcileth the world unto himself, 2 Cor. 5:19, thus he taketh away the sins of the world, Joh. 1:29, and becomes a propitiation for us, Rom. 3:24,25, these things he doth, as he is a Priest. 2. Secondly, As he is a Prophet, he teacheth us all things, Acts 3:22, whatsoever things he hath done and suffered for us, those things as a Prophet he teacheth us. 3. Thirdly, As a King, he doth apply all this grace unto us, subduing us by his Spirit unto himself, and all the creatures unto us. God by him as a Mediator, doth bring us on effectually unto himself, by the mighty power of his Word and Spirit, and keepeth us with himself in spotless communion unto his heavenly kingdom These Offices give him power and authority to do it, as also faithfulness, and mercy, according unto his tender compassion on our necessities. Thus we see how the Lord Jesus is a Mediator. In particular, he is a Mediator of the Covenant between God and us, and that in a threefold respect. 1. First, Because he is the Messenger of the Covenant: thus he is called, Mal. 3:1, he did first publish it unto our first Parents, Gen. 3:15, and unto Abraham, and by all the holy Prophets, and in the days of his flesh, and by the Apostles, and their successors, unto the end of the world. 2. Secondly, He is called the Mediator of the Covenant, as he doth ratify and confirm the Covenant by a threefold seal. 1. First, By his blood: for a Testament is confirmed by the death of him that made it, Heb. 9:15,16,17, he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, &c. that they which are called, might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. He made it sure on God’s part, and on our parts he doth seal it up with his blood, that it might be confirmed unto all Generations: and as no man altereth a Testament after a Testators death, so this is unalterable. 2. Secondly, As he hath confirmed it by his blood, so also by his Spirit, Eph. 1:13,14. &c. 4:30. Grieve not the holy Spirit, whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption: Christ is the Angel that ascended out of the East, having the seal of the living God, Rev. 7:2,3. And look as it was the manner of the Priest of old, to sprinkle the blood of the Covenant upon the book of the law, and upon the people: so doth the Lord Jesus besprinkle us, and that which is taught us, with his blood and Spirit, and thereby begetteth the experience of the savor of God in our hearts, and sealeth it up unto us. 3. Thirdly, He doth seal it by the seals of the Covenant, which are Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper: so it is here said, He gave him the covenant of circumcision, which was a seal of the righteousness of faith; instead whereof he hath given us Baptism. And by the Lord’s Supper he sealeth it; for that is the blood of the New Testament, Matth. 26:28, by all these means he doth confirm the Covenant, Dan. 7:27. 3. Thirdly, He is not only the Publisher, and confirmer, but also the Prince, and Head of it; for you shall see that in all Covenants there are some that are Princes of the Covenant, as we read, Dan. 11:22, where speaking of the league between Egypt and Assyria, he makes mention of the Princes of the Covenant. So in this respect the Lord Jesus is called the Covenant itself: Isa. 42:6, 49:8, as being the Head and Prince of it; and that implieth two or three things: 1. First, If he be the Prince of the Covenant, then all the Covenant is first made with him, Gal 3:16. To Abraham, and to his seed, even unto Christ: and to the Church his mystical body in him, and under him; and therefore all the promises are in him yea, and in him amen: 2 Cor. 1:20, that is to say, all the Promises, and all their conditions are fulfilled in him; as he saith, It behooveth us to fulfil all righteousness. Matth. 3:15. 2. Secondly, He doth inherit the blessings of the Covenant, so far as his blessed nature is capable of them; he hath received the crown of inheritance of all the blessings both of this life and of another, Matth. 28:18, he sitteth at God’s right hand; having led captivity captive, he treadeth down Satan under his feet; therefore, 1. First, He hath fulfilled all the conditions of the Covenant; as this is one part of the Covenant, The redeemer shall come out of Zion, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; as the Apostle, Rom. 11:26, expoundeth the words of the Prophet, Isa. 59:20, for he fulfilleth in us all the conditions of the Covenant: he it is that turneth us to the Lord, and undertaketh to do all things in us and for us. 2. Secondly, He doth communicate the blessings of the Covenant to us, having himself exactly fulfilled all the Conditions of them. 3. He doth apply the comfort of the Promises unto us; and having done all these things, he leadeth us still to wait upon him for further and further blessings in his Ordinances: Thus we have seen in particulars how the Lord Jesus is the Mediator of the Covenant. He is the Publisher of it, the confirmer of it, by his blood, by his Spirit, by the seals of the Covenant: he is the Prince of it, and hath received all the promises from God; they are accomplished in him, he hath fulfilled all the conditions, and received all the blessings, and applied them unto us, and wrought all things in us, and for us, and still leadeth us on unto further and further fellowship with himself. For the Use of this Point; in the first place, it is of refutation unto the Popish Doctrine, that hath devised other Mediators besides Jesus Christ: they come unto God in the mediation of Saints and Angels, and pray to them, to pray for them in Heaven; and look that by the virtue of their prayers they shall be saved: and whereas the Scripture is plain, 1 Tim. 2:5, there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus: yea, (say they) one Mediator of Redemption, but many of Intercession: whereas (mind you) it is the work of a Mediator, not only to do that which may prevail for the obtaining of peace; but he must apply it also, or else he hath not brought us unto union and communion with the Father. And when they make intercession unto Angels for the virtue and merit of their prayers, it doth evacuate the mediation of Jesus Christ: for bring in other Mediators, and you weaken him in his Office. A sign they trust not in him, and therefore are accursed when they put confidence in other things, Jer. 17:5. But you will say, Do we not pray the Saints on earth to pray for us? It is true we do so: and Christ hath bidden us, and given us patterns to pray one for another: but if we in this Country should pray to a friend in England to pray for us, it were not Idolatry: Paul indeed doth write unto the Churches to pray for him, but not unto the Saints or Angels in heaven. 2. We do not depend upon their prayers, that by the merit of them they should prevail: but we look at it only as a way, wherein the Lord calleth us to wait upon him: so as that when we have done desiring, we look for all blessing from Jesus Christ, even then when we beg the prayers of our friends. When as God was angry with the friends of Job, because they falsely accused Job, chap. 42:7,8, he bids them take a sacrifice, and go to Job, and he shall pray for you; for him will I accept: but must they now trust upon Job? Or upon his acquaintance with God? No verily, but upon the Lord Jesus, who was held forth by the Sacrifice. So that though we crave the help of our brethren’s prayers, yet the Lord doth not allow us, to make our friends Mediators between Christ and us; we look not for anything from them, but from the Lord Jesus Christ alone in that way. Now they look at Mary as able to command the Lord Jesus, (Jube Mater Filium, command thy Son,) and when they pray to this Saint and that Saint, they look that the right and merit, and efficacy of their prayers shall carry all an end: whereas they need a Mediator themselves; and therefore they cannot by their own right be Mediators unto us. But that we might the better understand the mystery of iniquity: do not they make the Saints and Angels the Mediators of their Redemption also? What is the ground of the Popish indulgences? Have not they a treasure of Church-merit which they boast of? And therefore have they power, as they say, to grant pardons, and to apply the merits of the Saints unto this and that soul: now (mind you) he which is a Mediator of the pardon of my sins, is a Mediator of redemption, and justification; and this is the dangerous gulf into which the Popish Religion sinketh many millions of souls. The second Use, Is of Instruction how to make an holy use of all the gifts of God’s grace, and duties of God’s worship; this Doctrine will properly hold it forth: for here is as dangerous a rock for our souls to be split upon, as is among them: for we also may be subject to the like danger, in making our own righteousness our mediators, as they be in making their prayers, and merits of their Saints their Mediators: if we shall make any graces in our hearts the ground of our union with God, we have forgotten that Jesus Christ became God and man, and that he only is a fit person to remove all offense, and to communicate all good things from God unto us: if we shall say within ourselves, Were I but thus and thus humbled, the Lord would accept me, and all the blessed promises would be mine: if I could but pray as such a Christian can, then I know the Lord would accept me. This may be a piece of refined Popery, but it is Popery at the very bottom: if we look unto our graces, or duties, to bring us unto union with Christ; or if we think that by the right of them, communion shall be maintained, we have forgotten our Mediator Jesus Christ, God and man; for if he be our Mediator, he doth work both these for us: these things cannot bring us unto Christ, for they all flow from him; if therefore we have no other union with Christ, then that which flows from them; we are not united unto this very day. But you will say, Cannot our gifts, and works maintain this union when it is true? If they can uphold it, they are in part Mediators: that they do uphold it by merit, no Protestant will say: neither is there any right, or power in them to do this; and therefore to trust in them, is to put confidence in the arm of flesh: and though it be not so gross as Popery, yet it tends unto the like dishonor of Jesus Christ. It was a faithful saying of the Apostle Peter, and worthy of all acceptation, when they saw the people ready to attribute much unto their holiness, Acts 3:12. &c. Ye men of Israel, (saith Peter) why look ye so earnestly on us, as if we by our power, or holiness, had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, &c. so it is not in the power of the best spiritual gifts or works, to make a cripple go: much less is it in their power to make a feeble soul stand upright; but the God of our fathers glorifieth his Son Jesus, in doing all this work for us; for he is our only mediator of reconciliation, redemption, and intercession; and if we look for any such virtue, power, or right in any other means under heaven, we deprive Christ of the Office of a Mediator. There is an Opinion, as I hear, stirring in our native Country, that though none of our works give us merit, right, or power to reach the blessing, yet they give us fitness. Now truly this is but an English word; in Latin we call it congruity: and this the Papists come unto, that when they be driven hard unto it, they will acknowledge that we have no merit of condignity, but only merit of congruity: therefore in truth it is plain Popery in English: it is true indeed, there is a fitness, but it lies not in doing; it is such a fitness, as whereby the soul judgeth itself unworthy of any grace: and now the creature being emptied of itself, is fit to receive mercy from God; it is now fit to receive all from Christ. Consider therefore, I beseech you, what kind of Use God calleth us to make of all gifts, and works of grace; do not think we cry down sanctification, because we do not put it into Christ’s Mediatorship, because we do not shut Christ out of heaven, and out of his Office by it; for we give it his honor: if we give it this honor of mediation, we cannot come to God, but we must be united: you will say, We cannot be united, till by faith we have uniting. Is faith then a Mediator between Christ and us? Can there be no union with Christ, unless we bring faith, and repentance with us? Truly then we must have Mediators to bring us unto Christ: but doth not the Gospel require faith and repentance in all that be in Christ? True: but how comes a man by the faith and repentance of the Gospel? Zach. 12:10. I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a Spirit of grace, and supplication; and they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him, &c. This looking is faith, and this mourning is repentance; thus Christ seeth us before we see him, and because we are sons, God hath shed abroad the spirit of sons into our hearts: Gal. 4:6,7, and hereby we come to see him, and more and more of him; and this, is the way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: First, We have him, and him drawing us, and fitting us by his Spirit, whereby we come to see him; and then we mourn over him for all the wrong we have done him; this is that faith and repentance that flows from Christ, and then brings us unto him: if it flow not from him, but first brings us unto him, it is not the faith and repentance of God’s elect, nor that which the Gospel holds forth: First take Christ, and then you have all things in him. Again, As nothing can first bring us unto Christ: so neither will it be able to maintain our communion with him: for as he is the door; so he is the Surety of the Covenant, he is the Publisher, and Confirmer, and Prince of the Covenant; and he receives and keeps all the blessings of the Covenant for us. You will say, What then would you have us to neglect repentance, and faith? No, no, brethren; but exercise yourselves in all godliness, 1 Tim. 4:7, but let it be godliness then; let it not be righteousness only, but godliness; even such as springeth from fellowship with God in Jesus Christ: but when you have done all you can, do not think that this will give you rest: be not deceived; you will not find that your souls are anything nearer to God, when you have prayed constantly morning and evening: indeed if the Lord strengthen your faith, and give you comfort, this is effectual; but it is because you did not rest in the Letter of the duty, but you did exercise yourself unto godliness in a way of faith, and by faith the walls of Jericho fall down, and the walls of Jerusalem are built up: and so make account that your godliness must be exercised to fetch all from Christ, otherwise that which you have will not uphold you; when you have done all you can, wait upon him to speak a word of comfort to you in his own way, for his own names sake: and so shall you indeed exercise the gifts of God as not abusing them, and so exercise godliness, as not to talk of it, but to practice it; and so use it as it ought to be used, as fit to be an handmaid, but not fit to be an husband: fit to be serviceable unto Christ, but not fit to justle him out of his Kingdom. In the third place, this is a ground of much strength unto faith, and encouragement unto all the duties, and fruits of faith; that the Lord hath made such a Covenant as this is; an everlasting covenant, stablished upon better grounds, in the hands of a better mediator; that is, so fit to bring us unto God, and to maintain union and communion between God and us; to remove all offenses, and quicken our spirits towards God: it is our strength to rest upon this rock of Israel; this is indeed eternal life, Joh. 17:3, when we can say to Saints, and Angels, We know you not, and to our own righteousness, and all the duties of it, We know you not, in point of mediation: but Jesus we know, and his righteousness and mediation we know: as for other things, bring them in their places; but if you bring them in point of mediation, they will keep us from closing with Christ. Therefore such as desire to maintain and to see maintained firm and full communion with Jesus Christ; let the Lord Jesus only be their Advocate, and Righteousness, for it is he that worketh all our works for us, and in special this main work of making and maintaining peace for us: if then we rest not on what we are or do, but look unto Christ for our acceptance, and know that we are unprofitable without him; then do we not abuse our gifts, and duties, but use them as fruits of Christ’s mediation: if we look at them as causes of our mediation, we do utterly evacuate the mediation of Jesus Christ; neither can we continue in that state, without the same hand of grace: for even the Angels in heaven (as is generally received) stand confirmed in Jesus Christ: if therefore they could not stand firm were it not for Jesus Christ, much less shall the sinful sons of men come unto union, or stand firm in communion with God by their best graces; but when you have done all, your union will be broken, if the Lord doth not both begin, and perfect it to immortality. Yea, even then when you are full of all the power of the most High, and of all heavenly consolation, it is Jesus Christ, that maintaineth your union with himself: therefore let creatures know that they are creatures, and let them look at the gifts bestowed upon them, and works done by them, as the way, which the Lord hath given them to walk in. Say not, We have all we look for, nor think we ourselves fit to be accepted of God: it is a Popish delusion; it is not all our endeavors or duties, that will maintain us in communion with God one hour to an end. Thus you see that all these things are as they are, you have done but your duty in them all, and but a piece of that neither, and you have neither power, nor right, nor fitness in yourselves to stand in God’s sight. In the meanwhile, this is a point of much consolation, that the Lord hath laid up the promises in a safer hand then our own, so as that now there is no fear of breaking between God, and Abraham, and his faithful seed, for the Lord hath promised to take us to be his people, and given Christ to be the Mediator of the Covenant; then he will see this Covenant maintained, and perfected, and all the blessings, promises, and treasures of it accomplished to us from day today: do but know him, and be acquainted with him, and it will be of effectual power to root out all the diffidence that is in us; look upon Jesus Christ, and wait on him; and yet neither can we bring our waiting unto him, but it is our part to be convinced of our own poverty, and insufficiency; and then all our power, and help, and hope, is in maintaining our fellowship with Jesus Christ: wait upon him, that he may carry an end the whole work of a Mediator for you, and that he may never leave you, till you be settled in heaven, nor then neither: for even the Angels in heaven would not be steadfast, but that the Lord hath laid a sure foundation in a middle person, that he might unite God and the creatures together. There is comfort in knowing this, though we have but little experience of it, because there is comfort laid up in it: therefore that we might not ravel out our time in vain, know we, that there is an Aliquid ultra, something further to be sought after, besides what we have found in ourselves: we sometimes hear of conditional promises, but as the Lord Jesus is the first and last in other things, so in the Covenant, he is the first and last condition: he doth first bring us unto God, and so to the right of the Covenant; and when we are in Christ, we cannot be active of ourselves, nor keep our peace with God but through him: if you stay in anything that you can do, you have forgotten that Christ is the last condition; you have no right unto the Covenant before you have him; you have no condition of the new Covenant, unless you have him. But when I have Christ, have I not now the condition in myself? Which the promise requireth? Truly you have not, for Jesus Christ is the last condition, as well as the first; and if your right unto the promise be not maintained by him, you forfeit the promise, as soon as you lay hold of it: you must therefore look back again unto Christ, not only to give you the right unto the promise, but the accomplishment of it; otherwise you may stay many a seven years, if you look for it in your own works: though thou hadst right in Christ, and fellowship with Christ, and shalt look for comfort from thine own duties, thou mayst look till thine eyes fail, and not find it. Christ is the first, and the last in the Promises he gave you; the Yea, and he must be the Amen: therefore know, that in all the duties you perform, you must, as it were, be dressing a meal for Jesus Christ, Luk. 17:7,8,9,10, and he content to feed after him, and upon him, who is the beginner and maintainer of the Covenant for us; and will perfect all the powerful blessings of it, in us and for us, in his own time.

FINIS.