A Discourse of the Two Covenants

SECT. I. The subservience of the first Covenant to the second in general.

§. 1. HAving largely opened to you the Doctrine of the first Covenant, we are come at last to conclude it in these three heads.

(1) A man's Translation out of this Covenant, with the nature and necessity thereof.

(2) The abolition of this Covenant unto all that are in Christ, that it is a writing cancelled.

(3) The subordination thereof unto the Gospel and Covenant of Grace.

Of the two first we have formerly treated, and come now to speak of the last, and so to conclude the Doctrine of the first Covenant.

There are in this Chapter two principal parts: (1) Here is a Doctrine confirmed. (2) Here are some Objections against it answered and cleared.

1. Here is a Doctrine confirmed, in which Satan had bewitched the Galatians, and they had fallen off from it, and that is Justification by the righteousness of Christ alone, without the works of the Law: and this the Apostle proves by several arguments: (1) That which conveys the gifts and graces of the Spirit, by that a man is justified in the sight of God: but that is not by the works of the Law, but by the Doctrine of the Gospel, v. 2. (2) All men that are Abraham's seed must be justified the same way that Abraham was; but Abraham was justified by faith; for he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, Rom. 4.21, 22. Therefore they that are justified by faith only are the children of Abraham. (3) Justification and blessedness are upon the same persons, and that either to them that are of faith, or of the works of the Law; but it is not by the works of the Law, but by faith that they are blessed with faithful Abraham. (4) They that are under the curse cannot receive Justification and Life from the Law; but they that are under the Law are under the curse. (5) God has said that the just shall live by faith; but the Law is not of faith, that is, it does not require faith, and propound that way of salvation and life, but it requires obedience; for it saith, He that does them shall live in them. (6) If a man do make a Covenant he does disinable himself by his subsequent acts to break it, for by his own act he is bound: how much more then is the wise God engaged to keep his Covenant, who is not as man that he should repent; therefore his acts are firm, and unchangeable like himself. So that the Covenant with Abraham being made 430 years before, an after-act in giving the Law cannot make it void.

2. Now the Objections follow: It will be said that the way of Justification and Salvation by the Law, and by the promise, are directly contrary, or contradictory one to the other, the Law is not of saith; if the inheritance be by the Law, it is no more of promise; so that Justification and Salvation cannot be by them both, they cannot stand together, and therefore it should seem that God did repent of his promise to Abraham, and disanulled it, or else why would he for four hundred and thirty years after reveal the Law as a quite contrary way to Heaven, one by doing, and the other by believing? It should seem therefore that the Law doth make the promise of God of none effect, or at least, that God would have both stand together. For if a King should at first make a Proclamation unto Rebels, that they should live if they would accept of pardon, and then afterward should publish a new one, that they that would live should keep the Law; either a man would conclude, that the King had called in his former Proclamation, and made it null, or else would have them both stand together: and so it is here, God did at first promise righteousness and life, to be had by believing, and afterwards he did publish a Law, requiring duty. Surely either the Lord did repent of the former, and so that Covenant is become of no effect, or else it seems he would have both joined together; and man should be justified and saved, partly by doing, and partly by believing. Now to this objection the Apostle answers:

Answ. (1) God's intention in giving the Law, was not thereby to make the promise • oid, and of none effect; for God did purpose to justify the Heathen by faith, and the in • eritance is still by promise, the Covenant made with Abraham was a Covenant established by an Oath, that nothing should arise de novo to make an alteration in it.

(2) God's intention was not to join the Law and the Promise together in the matter of Justification and life; because they be quite cross and contrary one to another; therefore by the righteousness of the Law no man can be justified in the sight of God: they do directly de •• oy each other; if the inheritance be by the Law, it is no more of promise; and therefore 〈◊〉 man can be justified by both.

(3) Yet God having revealed the Law after the Promise, and seeing he will have them • oth to be perpetual and lasting, they must stand together, and a way must be found out • ow they may, and not cross one another, nor destroy or disannul each other; for the Law 〈◊〉 not against the promise of God, God forbid we should think so; then if they cannot and together in a way of ingrediency, they may very well in a way of subserviency, if not 〈◊〉 co-ordination, they may in subordination, both tending to honor the Mercy and Grace of • od in his Son; the one primarily, and the other secondarily, as an appendix or an additi • thereunto.

And so much the Text does clearly manifest; (1) In that it's said, the Law was added, was an appurtenance to something else, and was not set up as that way alone by which men •• e to attain righteousness and life; now added by way of conjunction, it cannot be, they c •• not mix together and be concauses of the same thing, and in the same kind; therefore it must be by way of subordination, the one as the principal, the other as the accessory or additional. (2) It is said, that the Law was given in the hand of a Mediator, that is by the ministry of a Mediator. [1] Moses was the Typical or the Notional Mediator; for he stood between God and the people in receiving of the Law, and Christ was the real and universal Mediator. And hence it will appear that it was not set up alone as a Covenant of Works, as 〈◊〉 was at first; for that was faedus amicitiae, a Covenant of friendship, when God and man • ere not at variance, when man stood before God in his own righteousness, and there was 〈◊〉 difference nor variance between God and him; for a Mediator is not a Mediator of one, t • erefore God giving it in the hand of a Mediator, doth clearly manifest, that he did not set it up as a Covenant alone. [2] The real Mediator was Christ, though Moses Typical; and Christ did not by his Ministry bring in this Covenant of the Law, to make void the Covenant of Grace, which was the better Covenant, of which he was appointed Mediator, the Covenant that was made with him as the seed, and with all the Saints in him. Seeing therefore these two must stand together, and the former cannot be disanulled by the lat • er; hence then it must needs be inferred, that God's intention was in publishing the Law, to • o it in subordination unto the Gospel, and the second Covenant, and that so it is to stand • nd to be made use of by the Saints. Hence the Doctrine that lies before us is this, 〈◊〉 Doct. That for all those that are in Christ, God has made the first Covenant subordi • ate unto the second. The whole use of the Law unto the Saints, and of all the parts of it is, • hat it may be a servant to the Gospel; and as to be freed from the Law standing alone as a Covenant is the greatest part of a man's Christian liberty, so to have the Law of God pressed • pon the new Covenant, and standing in subordination to the Gospel as a servant, is a great • art of a Christians dignity; and a right understanding and apprehension of both these opens 〈◊〉 very great door unto all Gospel-mysteries.

§. 2. Now that I may be understood, we are to consider that the Law is taken in Scripture two ways, as it was given by God upon Mount Sinai for a double end: (1) It is taken largely, for the whole Doctrine delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, with the Precepts and the Promises thereof; and so Grace is the Law written in the heart, it is the Epistle of Christ ministered by us. (2) It is taken strictly, setting down an exact rule of righteousness, and promising life upon condition of personal and perfect obedience. And so the Apostle says, That the law is not of faith, the righteousness of the law speaketh in this manner, he that doth them shall live in them. Now if we take the Moral Law as given upon Mount Sinai, in the first sense, so it is a Covenant of Grace; but if we take it in the latter sense, so it is a Covenant of Works; for the Lord's intention in giving the Law was double, unto the carnal Jews to set forth to them the old Covenant which they had broken; and yet unto the believing Jews it did darkly shadow and set forth unto them the Covenant of Grace made with Christ, and therefore it was not only delivered as a rule of righteousness, but in the form and terms of a Covenant, this do and thou shalt live.

(1) In the first sense, the Law given upon Mount Sinai was a Covenant of Grace; for this Law does teach them, [1] That the Lord was their God, now since man sinned God is the God of none but in Christ▪ [2] This Law did set forth God to them as showing mercy, pardoning iniquity, not visiting iniquity, a God forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; and there is no pardon but under a second Covenant. [3] All the Sacrifices they were Types of Christ, and they were commanded in the second Commandment, and they did all belong unto the Covenant of Grace, and did show that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, and God did ratify this Covenant by blood which he sprinkled upon the Book, and upon all the people; and all things under the Law were cleansed and sanctified by blood, Exod. 24.23. therefore the Law in the administration of it unto them, was never intended by God to set forth a Covenant of Works, but it was a Covenant of Grace, and is usually called a Covenant, Deut. 29.10, 11. They stood to enter into Covenant with God, that he might establish them to be a people to himself, and that he might be unto them a God, Deut. 26.17, 18, Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and he hath avouched thee to be his people. So that the Law was given by Moses in God's intention, plainly as a Covenant of Grace unto all those that were able to look upon the intent of God therein. (2) But yet the Lord's intention was also that it should be a copy of the Covenant of Works, that God made with Adam before his fall, which was never wholly blotted out of the mind of man; because God would not have that wholly to perish, and be forgotten; and therefore it was delivered after a sort in the form of the Covenant of Works; and in this respect the Lord has made it a handmaid to the Gospel, not that the Lord did intend it for a Covenant of Works, as if men should attain righteousness and life thereby, but as faedus subserviens, a subservient Covenant, as that which in this manner God would make use of, to advance the ends of the Gospel, and the new Covenant. By all this you see that the Covenant, of which Circumcision was a sign and a seal, was not the Covenant of Works, but was the same that was made with Abraham, because the Covenant was the same; Circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of Faith, and continued amongst the Jews in this Covenant; and that Covenant that binds to the observation of the Ceremonial, as well as the Moral Law, is not a Covenant of Works; but the Covenant made upon Mount Sinai did bind to the Ceremonial Law also: nor was the Covenant that God made with Moses a Covenant of Works, for Moses was ( Heb. 11.23.) a Believer, but Exod. 34.27. it is called the Covenant which I made with thee, and with all Israel when I stood before the Lord forty days; and he wrote the words of the Covenant, the ten Commandments.

But more particularly, the Lord did intend to make the Law given upon Mount Sinai a copy of the Covenant of Works, and to be materially and for substance the same that he did make with Adam, and with all mankind in him, in the state of his integrity. 1. Death reigned from Adam till Moses, and therefore sin came in, and we see that murder was a sin in Cain, and public worship was a duty. Men did begin to call upon the name of the Lord; so that the Law was in the World before Moses; and it was not only written in the hearts of men, but it was taught in the public Ministry before Moses; for Noah was the Preacher of Righteousness, and in the Ministry of the Word, we know that the Spirit of God did strive with men, Gen. 6.3. The word in the Hebrew is to strive in judgment, and by way of argument for conviction, so that the Law was given to Adam and Noah, and Abraham, as well as unto Moses, and was for substance the same.

2. It is given in the form of a Covenant of Works, with a this do, and thou shalt live; and so it was afterwards by Christ, and by the Prophets also preached: it was to the carnal Jews plainly a Covenant of Works, not in God's intention, but by their own corruption, they going about to establish their own righteousness, and not subjecting themselves to the righteousness of God, it is set forth to them as a Covenant of Works. Now if the Lord will not give it as a Covenant, why does he not propound it as a rule, and lay down the precepts without any such terms of a Covenant, as if men should attain life by it, when he did never intend to deliver it as a Covenant, in which men should attain life by doing, but by believing? Thus the Lord did, that the terms of the first Covenant might be promulgated to the World, and that they that did still desire to be under the Law, might not plead ignorance of the terms that God required in the Law, if they did expect life and happiness thereby.

3. Though I say it be for substance, and materially the same, yet in many circumstances it differs from Adams Covenant; for this was a Covenant of such promises and sanctions annexed to it, as were not in the Covenant made with Adam, and a Covenant confirmed by blood, and thereby sanctified, which Adams Covenant never had; and therefore though it did for substance agree, yet in many things there was a difference. This Covenant given unto Adam in a state of Innocency, and for substance renewed upon Mount Sinai, when it was by sin wholly obliterated and blotted out, God has made a handmaid, or foedus subserviens, a Covenant subservient to the Gospel; it is Hagar, but the Covenant of Grace is Sarah; and it is given in the hand of a Mediator, not only by Moses but by Christ also; for Christ delivered the Law to them; Moses was in the Wilderness with the Angel who spake to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and what Angel was it but Christ? he that saith, I am the God of Abraham, and he that was also tempted in the Wilderness; and the Apostle says, We are come to Jesus, whose voice then shook the earth, in the giving of the Law, it was his voice: and then by an enumeration of particulars, how the Lord has made every part of the Law as it is materially the first Covenant, a servant to the Gospel, for the discovery of sin, the Law entered that the offense might abound; and the Apostle says, I had not known sin but by the Law: and also for the conviction of Conscience, and the imputation of sin, Rom. 5.13. sin is not imputed where there is no Law; and for the condemnation of sin, that it may be a Schoolmaster to bring the sinner unto Christ, the avenger of blood, a killing letter, and the ministration of death, to kill them and hew them; and it restrains sin, and puts a bridle upon a man, and is a means of conversion; the curse of the Law is sanctified, and the threatenings sweet, when the curse is taken out, death has no sting, the grave has no victory, and it is to all under the second Covenant a rule, a companion and a counselor.

The Law is to be considered, as I told you, two ways: (1) Largely, as containing all the Doctrine delivered upon Mount Sinai, and all things that may be reduced thereunto, even the whole Doctrine of Moses; so it is distinguished from the Prophets, the Law came by Moses. (2) Strictly, for the precepts of the Moral Law, as holding forth a perfect rule of righteousness, and as promising life upon the terms of perfect and personal obedience thereunto; and so the Apostle takes it in Rom. 10.5. The righteousness which is of the Law is thus described, The man that doth these things shall live in them. If we take the Law in the first sense, it was a Covenant of Grace darkly revealed; for therein God did enter into Covenant with that Church and State, and unto all the Saints that were in Christ it was a Covenant of Grace.

1. That the Law was given upon Mount Sinai as a Covenant, cannot be denied; for the Scripture does plainly call it so, Deut. 4.12, 13. The Lord spake unto you, says Moses, out of the middle of the fire, and he declared unto you the Covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten Commandments, and he writ them upon two tables of stone. And Deut. 5.2, 3. The Lord our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb; he made not this Covenant with our fathers, but with us, even with us, who are here alive this day; the Lord talked with you face to face in the Mount, out of the middle of the fire. It was the same Covenant that God before made with Abraham, for the substance of it; but when it is said, not to be made with their fathers, it is to be understood only of the form and manner of the promulgation in that clear and glorious manner, and taking a Nation into Covenant with himself in a public, eminent and solemn manner. And it had all the parts of a Covenant: there are two things make up a Covenant, (1) Direction of something to be done by both parties, something that they are bound unto; and so the Law is the rule of the Covenant. (2) There is a Sanction, which is the consent and agreement of both parties, binding themselves each to other; and therein properly does the formality of a Covenant lie. Now they were both in this, here was a rule, and therefore they are said to transgress the Covenant, that is the precept, or rule of the Covenant, as Deut. 17.2. and here was a sanction, or a promise, you shall be my people: and all good things were promised them. And when the Lord does fulfill his promise, he is said then to establish his Covenant, and to remember his Covenant. So that the Law was given upon Mount Sinai, not barely as a Law, but it was given also in a Covenant-way.

2. This Covenant was a Covenant of Grace. (1) That Covenant wherein God promises to be our God since the fall, is a Covenant of Grace; but so he doth in this, I am the Lord thy God. (2) That Covenant which does hold forth pardon of sin, is a Covenant of Grace; but so does this set forth God as showing mercy to thousands, pardoning mercy; for it stands in opposition unto visiting of iniquity. (3) Circumcision was a seal of the Covenant of Grace, Rom. 4.11. this was a seal of the Covenant upon Mount Sinai, He that is circumcised is a debtor to the whole Law, Gal. 5.3, &c. (4) That Covenant that was confirmed and ratified by blood, was a Covenant of Grace; but so was this Covenant that God made with Israel upon Mount Sinai, He took the book of the Covenant and read it in the audience of the people, and they said all, What the Lord has said will we do. And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord made with you. (5) That Covenant that binds to the observation of the Ceremonial Law, that is a Covenant of Grace; for the Ceremonies were all Types of Christ, and shadows of good things to come, and the body is Christ. The first Covenant had Ordinances of Divine service, and a worldly Sanctuary, (it is spoken of the Covenant made upon Mount Sinai ) and they were all of them enjoined in the second Commandment. (6) The Covenant made in the hand of a Mediator was not a Covenant of Works; for that was foedus amicitiae, a Covenant of friendship, that was made between God and man, he being perfect and needing no Mediator, but this was given in the hand of a Mediator, and therefore it was of Grace.

But if we consider the Law strictly, so it contains the sum of the Covenant of Works, which God did therefore reveal, because it was even wholly obliterated, and blotted out of the mind of man; and therefore it was speculum primitivae hominis justitiae, &c. a glass of the primitive righteousness of man. And unto all men out of Christ in an unregenerate state, it remains as a Covenant of Works, binding them to personal and perfect obedience; if they hope to attain life. (1) The Moral Law is the same to the sinner out of Christ that it was unto Christ the Surety; for what it was to the Surety, that it was to the sinner; for he did put his name into our bond; only in us it was necessary, in him voluntary. But Gal. 4.4. the Law was unto Christ a Covenant of Works; therefore to every sinner out of Christ it remains so. (2) That which teaches us Justification and life by doing, that is a Covenant of Works; but so does the Law strictly taken; and it is therefore opposed unto the Gospel; there is the righteousness of the Law, and the righteousness of the Gospel. (3) The Curse under which all unregenerate men are, is the curse of the Moral Law, but that is the curse of the Covenant of Works; therefore the Moral Law is a Covenant of Works. (4) Therefore the Apostle makes it a distinct Covenant, from the Covenant of Grace. The Law thus taken strictly as a copy of the Covenant that God made with Adam, and containing the sum of the Covenant of Works, and being delivered in the form of this Covenant, this Covenant has the Lord made subservient and subordinate unto the Covenant of Grace, as Hagar to Sarah.

SECT. II. The Subservience of the Law as it discovers Sin.

§. 1. THE first part of the Subserviency of the Law is in point of Sin, and so it has a threefold use or end, subordinate to the Gospel, and the Grace thereof. (1) As it is a looking-glass to reveal sin. (2) As it is a bridle to restrain sin, and in both these it is a servant to the Gospel. (3) As a Judge to condemn it, and the man for it: There is one that judges you, even Moses, &c.

1. The Law is a glass to discover sin: it is called a glass, Jam. 1.24. He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty. Here it is spoken of the Moral Law, as Beza observes, in opposition unto the bondage of the Ceremonial: not that the Moral Law is a Law of liberty, or can set us at liberty of itself, but it is so to them that are in Christ; because it is a Law written in their hearts, and they are stablished by a free and a Princely spirit. There is a double glass that the Scripture holds forth, in which Christians should often look, as this here, and that in the 2 Cor. 3.18. that in the one they may see themselves, and in the other they may behold their Savior, even the Glory of the Lord. The Law is the one, and the Gospel is the other. Now the great use of this glass is, that a man may see his own spots and deformities, that his sin may be discovered; and therefore the Text says, it was added for transgressions. And of this use of the Law the Scripture speaks often, Rom. 30.20. By the Law is the knowledge of sin; the Law entered that the offense might abound: I had not known sin but by the Law. And Rom. 7.13. That sin might appear sin, and by the Commandment become exceeding sinful; that is, that he might see sin in the extent of it, and its utmost vileness and filthiness; and therefore he shows, that there could be nothing worse than it: he calls it by no worse name than its own, sinful sin; as to call Satan, a devilish Devil, is not so bad as to call him sinful Angel; for sin being the worst of evils, can have no worse name than itself; and therefore when the Apostle says it did appear to him in the utmost sinfulness of it, then he says it did appear sin. Lex est Index peccati non genitrix, the Law is the Index of sin, • ot the Parent. As the light enters, and discovers filthiness that before was there, but it lay • id in the dark. And these Scriptures do direct us to sins of two sorts, which are discovered • y the Law: (1) Original sin, which is called the offense, which was in the world be • ore the Law, even from Adam; for by one man sin entered into the world, and by him it passed • pon all mankind. (2) Actual sins, whether of the heart or of the life, all the inordinate • otions of the spirit tending unto evil, which the Scripture calls lusts; I had not known lust 〈◊〉 be a sin, unless the Law had said unto me, Thou shalt not lust. Here I must speak unto two • hings, (1) How does the Law discover sin? (2) How by discovering sin is it a handmaid and 〈◊〉 servant to the Gospel?

1. How does the Law discover Original sin, and that cursed frame of nature which is in • ery sin?

1. By showing unto a man as in a glass that primitive holiness and righteousness in which he • s created. For the Law indeed is primitive justitiae speculum, the glass of primitive justice; • or that image of God in which man was created, was nothing else but a perfect conformity 〈◊〉 the nature of the Law, and will of God in everything: So that as Christ while he was • pon earth in his human nature was a perfect pattern of that obedience, that the Law requi • ed; so that all that he did was agreeable to the Law in everything, and he has therein left as a copy to write after: so was Adams nature, and so should also his life have been; he should have known no sin, neither should any guile have been found in his mouth; he should • ave been, as it was said of one, a living Scripture, and a walking Bible, a living Law; so • hat whatever the Law of God now requires of us, that at first God created in us. Now when a man compares himself with this Law, and sees how unanswerable he is in everything he does, he thereby comes to see how he has utterly lost the righteousness and holiness that was in him at the first, and the glory of his Creation; his Mind that was in the Creation as full of light as the Sun is, is now darkness itself; and his Conscience is now feared; his heart that was tender unto God, is now hardened; his Memory that was firm, is now frail and leaking; and his Affections that did move rationally and orderly, as the Stars in their courses, • re now full of nothing else but confusion, madness, and disorder; •• d his Thoughts the immediate issues and the first-born of his soul always excellent, spiritual, and useful, but now polish, vain and unprofitable, flying up and down like atoms in the air to no end.

2. A man looking upon this rule does not only see a privation of what formerly was his • appiness and his glory, but he sees now the quite contrary, an opposition in him to the Law of God in everything: that he is an enemy unto all righteousness, and full of the fruits of all unrighteousness, the image of the Devil upon him; so that look how the heart of the Devil works against God and duty, so does his; for he is as like him as a child can be like his father. There is a touch that Satan has left upon a man's spirit, and this is upon his whole soul, also all the faculties of it are turned the wrong way, all of them are taken off from God and duty; and therefore a man when he is converted, is said to return; and when the Lord calls him, he is said to hear a voice behind him: but now by sin he is turned quite away, and there is this devillishness in him, that he is the more contrary unto any duty, because God commands it; and is carried with the greater violence after any sin, because God forbids it, sin taking occasion by the Commandment; which comes nearest unto direct ••• ity that can be, to do things by way of revenge, which is the Devils sin.

3. The Law discovers Original sin by showing the dominion of it; a man cannot resist it, he cannot cast it off; it has a double authority in the man, the dominion of a Lord, and of a King, a power of command: and thence some expound sin mentioned by the Apostle, Rom. 7.6. to be the husband; and it is not much material which, whether the Law irritating sin, or sin irritated by the Law be the husband: and so sin has a power of love also, an interest as a husband to persuade, and therefore there must be obedience, men obey it in the lust thereof; for he that hath authority over us to command, and a power to persuade the heart also, he can procure obedience to all his commands when he will; but so has sin, and therefore it is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an encompassing sin, which he cannot cast off, which he has no power to resist, it so besets him in every faculty that he cannot take it away.

4. The Law discovers the filthiness of Original sin, that it is mire, it is vomit, it is filthiness itself, nay that it is the excrement of naughtiness, it has defiled the soul, it defiles all creatures that are for a man's use, as the Leper, whatever he touched is unclean. To the soul of man the Sun in his glory was not to be compared; if a man had been cast into Hell as a Diamond into the dirt, it could never have defiled him, his Holiness like a Diamond would have shined bright notwithstanding: but since the soul is defiled with sin, the defilement is so deep, that nothing can wash it out; it is a stain that will remain to eternity upon all that are not washed in the blood of Christ, as spots in scarlet and crimson much soap will not serve turn to take them out; the fire of Hell will not purge sin, and therefore when men have been there millions of years, they are as black and filthy and as unpurged as at the first entrance into that place of darkness and horror, &c.

5. The Law discovers that Original sin is the seed of all sin, and it contains virtually all sin in it, it is sin in the fountain; an evil man out of the treasure of his evil heart casts out evil things, murder and adultery. A man is tempted by his own lust, it is his father, and it is his mother; lust conceives and brings forth sin: all actual sins are much more in the heart; there is a beam in the eye, and a dimness in the heart; and I conceive by all occasions also sin is drawn out, and he can look upon no creature but he conceives sin from it, whatever is in the world is the fuel of lust; there is nothing but is the object and draws out some lust in the heart.

6. The Law discovers the deceitfulness of Original sin, that all the lusts of a man's heart are deceitful lusts, and the heart is deceitful above all things, who can know it? that a man can never fathom the bottom of it, for there is a devillishness in it; that whatever policy there is in Hell, all this is in sin; the wisdom of the flesh will take all opportunities to sin, and make provision for the flesh, and by often sinning men's hearts are hardened, and they use much policy also in drawing others to sin, and to keep them off from that which is good, to set them upon things that are unlawful, or else to pervert and poison them in those things which are lawful, to make an improvement of every occasion, and to grow upon the sudden beyond what a man could have imagined, as we see it in Peter, from lying he proceeded even to cursing and damning himself.

7. The Law discovers the unsatiableness and unweariedness that is in Original sin, and the infiniteness that is in it; it is compared to drunkenness, the more men drink the more they desire, and it is like Hell that is never satisfied; the pleasures of sin enlarge the soul, but never fill it, there is a greediness in sin, men pour out themselves, they are greedy dogs that can never have enough, there is such a dog-like appetite after sin, they do evil with both hands earnestly, always, modo & modo non haberet modum; and therefore eternity of punishment is reserved for it, God dealing with the creature not according to his actions, but intentions; the sinner would have it infinite, extensively and intensively, and therefore peccat in aeterno suo, &c. he sins in his eternity, and God punisheth in his eternity.

8. It discovers the demerit and effects of Original sin, that it brings a man under the curse, which is all evil, and the wrath of God in Hell, all the curses in God's book, and all the plagues of God's Justice, all the torments of Hell, which either infinite wisdom can find out, or infinite power inflict, and that to eternity; and that not only upon himself, but upon all the creatures for his use; Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and cursed shalt thou be in thy house, and the curse enters into the timber, and there is a vanity of corruption brought upon them all, it turns a land into barrenness, makes the Stars fight against them, and the Clouds to drop vengeance: and there is the desert of sin written in the drops of rain, it hinders the influences of Heaven, binds up the influences of the Pleiades, which no man can do, &c.

2. The Law sets before a man and discovers his actual sins, and that in many particulars: It shows a ma •• what dishonor every sin does unto God's glory; a man gives not glory to the God of Heaven, but debases him as much as in him lies, by casting dishonor upon him, saying The way of the Lord is not equal; he despises his Justice, turns his Grace into wantonness, and gives the glory of God to anything else; for in every actual sin a man sets up a new God, and serves the Devil in it, who is the God of this World. The Idols of men's hearts (as well as of their hands) strike at the very Being of God, and also at the excellency of God's rule, the Law being the Septer by which the Lord rules, and that by which his Sovereignty is seen in the world; it is the glorious royal Law, the perfect Law, it is holy, just and good, infinitely surpassing all the Laws of men. I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy Commandment is exceeding broad. And not only the holiness of the Law, but the harmony of it is opposed, he that breaks one is guilty of all; he that neglects any one command willingly, is undoubtedly an hypocrite, and he disobeys all; for sincerity is accompanied with universality. Then the Law opened in its spirituality shows a man the intention of his heart, much more than it does in his actions; and the intent of the sin goes beyond that of the sinner: it shows also the infection of it upon others, for evil words corrupt good manners, it is as rottenness, a plague, a gangrene, there is an infection in them all. This one act of sin would defile the whole man; as we see it has done in Adam, and the Angels that fell; the act defiles the nature, and the nature defiles the man; the least vain thought deserves death, and the least idle word qualifies a man for Hell; and therefore there is more evil in the least act of sin, than there is good in all the creatures, because they cannot all expiate it, and make satisfaction for it. These things the power of nature can never discover, no though a man hath the letter of the Law; but the Spirit of God makes use of these ends, that the • race of the Gospel may be the more glorious, and the blood of Christ the more precious, • hich can purge such hellish stains as these, and take away that evil that else were impossible 〈◊〉 be done away.

§. 2. The Law is a Judge, it has an accusing power, as it is a witness against a man, and as a Judiciary power, Wilt thou judge them son of man, wilt thou judge them? So that Mi •• sters pronouncing the sentence of the Lord in the Law, are said to pass a sentence up •• the actions and states of men; he is convinced of all, and he is judged of all. And therefore •• e Apostle argues from the word and the judgment thereof unto God, whose word it is, and •• o shall be our Judge at the last day. The Word is a curious discerner; As a man that is skill • in any Langu ••• and able exactly to judge of the idiom and properties thereof, and can ••• cern any absurdity, impropriety, and incongruity in speech, we say he is a Critick; and •• t which one man may think an elegancy, he thinks to be an impropriety: so it is with the • ord of God; and the reason is, because all things are naked unto that God, that Judge with •• m [in this Law] we have to do; and therefore when this Word is brought home to the •• nscience in a convincing way, that the soul cannot deny it, it is said to be a receiving of •• gement in a man's own heart, before that great and dreadful day come, Heb. 10.27. Now 〈◊〉 judgment of the Law is seen in these three Particulars: (1) It revives sin. (2) It con ••• ns the sinner. (3) It does make a man stoop to and own this condemnation, and lie •• n under it, as his portion, from which no man, no power on earth can acquit 〈◊〉 .

1. The Law has this use as a Judge, to revive sin, Rom. 7.9. Here is a double state that •• e Apostle mentions, that he was in, (1) He was alive. I could do any duty, and I thought • tept the Law perfectly, and also in presumption I thought myself in a good estate, and all •• y duties I counted gain, such as should bring me in gain, such as should bring me in great 〈◊〉 comes of glory at the last day; and all this while sin was dead, it was to me in respect of • y present sense and sting, as a dead thing, and I was no more troubled at it, nor affected •• th it, than if there were no such thing; sin was in its proper place, and therefore seemed •• t heavy, as Philosophers say, That Elements are not heavy in their proper place, though in ••• mselves they are so. So also whilst the strong man armed keeps the house, all that he •• ssesses is in peace. (2) But here is another state of Paul, that is, sin revived in the guilt, and 〈◊〉 condemning power thereof; the Law shown him, that there was a sting yet in it that ••• ld be his ruin, if it were not taken out of the way, and that though the door was shut, y •• sin lay at the door of his Conscience. Conscience is a door that will open, and being once opened, either by the Ministry of the Word, or by death, and the presence of the Lord, sin which now seems to be dead, will in the guilt of it break in again. What a miserable thing 〈◊〉 it to have such a door-keeper! And then I died; that is, I saw myself to be a dead man, and 〈◊〉 a state of death, wrath and condemnation, and that death was my portion, and Hell my • roper place. How was this change wrought, that sin was thus revived that was dead when 〈◊〉 • aul was without the Law, and yet was alive when the Commandment came? Paul was •• rn a Pharisee, and therefore never without the Law in the literal sense of it; he had the •• ter of the Law, and he was according to that in the righteousness of the Law, blameless; ••• t the Commandment came in the life and power, in the spiritual sense, and in the efficacy thereof, set on by the Spirit of Christ, making it a servant to the Gospel, by this it was that sin was revived: For without the Law sin is dead, Rom. 5.13. Before the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no Law. The meaning is not, that men were not esteemed sinners, and punished as sinners, or that all men were righteous before the Law was • iven upon Mount Sinai; for death as well as sin reigned from Adam till Moses: but it must be either understood comparatively in respect of God; that is, God did not impute it so much, or as so great a sin, because they sinned against a dimmer light, and a darker discovery of the will and mind of God; or else, which I rather conceive, not imputed by their own Consciences, they did not lay it unto their own charge as so great and so heinous, because the abominable nature thereof was not so clearly discovered; and therefore the Law entered that the offense might abound, as the light discovers spirits, as Index peccati non genitrix, the Index of sin, not the parent. So that though men be sinners, and very great and heinous sinners, yet they do not charge themselves with it, nor impute it unto themselves, neither are they affected with it, but walk cheerfully under the burden of it, as if it were nothing. Satan has by nature in every man a Kingdom, and he does there most of all desire a peaceable and a quiet government, and therefore he sets up that lust as Prorex, and the Vice-roy in the man that is most affected in the soul, in which the man takes most satisfaction and contentment, that thereby he may keep the whole man in peace; and therefore Mat. 12.45. though he go out of the man and be not cast out, and does it for a further end, going out in some bodily lust, yet he walks in some dry places seeking rest and finding none: he loves not to be disquieted in his government, though he does many times make an improvement of it to bring into the man seven worse spirits. And it is strange for a man to consider, what a power the Devil has over men in this particular to keep all quiet! There is a deceitfulness and a bewitching nature in every sin, that a man is hardened by it, there be strong holds, 2 Cor. 10.5. strong reasonings for it, and there are thick bossed bucklers for resistance, Job 15.26. that men may not feel it; there is a hardness of heart, a feared Conscience, there is a custom in sinning, and there is a virtual league with death, and with Hell, Job 5.23. they shall be at league with Sin and Hell, as a good man is in league with peace and rest: A formal league with Sin and Hell they are not capable of, but a virtual covenant and a league, taking off acts of hostility. Whatever a man is in Covenant with, he fears no danger from, and men walk as if Death and Hell were at an agreement with them, and they fear no evil, but are settled upon their lees; and they make lies their refuge, and under vanity they hide themselves. There is, says Bernard, a twofold evil Conscience, a peaceable evil Conscience, and a troubled evil Conscience. And the first state is more dangerous, when a man is like unto the dead Sea (as some are like the raging Sea, which latter is better than the former) upon such a soul let wrath be discovered, and judgment threatened, it is but speaking terror to a deaf man, nay to a dead man; nay let plagues be executed, and not only so, but let the hand of the Lord be lifted up eminently in the threatening, and they will not see; nay let it fall down in the judgment, and they will not see: Bray a fool in a mortar, and his folly will not depart. But he is as a man lying down in the middle of the Sea, and as one sleeping on the top of a Mast; he sees no danger, there is nothing that he can lay to heart; but he says, I shall have peace; as Deut. 29.19. While he lives he blesseth his soul. Now comes the Law as a Hammer unto such a soul, and that sets before a man its absolute Sovereignty over the man; it is the Royal Law, shows a man that God is an enemy to him, and writes bitter things against him; and it is this Law by which he will surely judge him at the last day; and though he may fly from it a while, yet it will overtake him; though the decree may bear a great while a judgment in the womb of it, yet it will at last bring forth, and for ought thou knowest it may be Hell before the morning; there is but a thread of patience between thee and everlasting burnings. That shows a man the vanity of all his former hopes, and plucks off all that cobweb lawn and varnish that the Devil has cast upon his actions and state; and there is a storm that overflows his hiding place; the Lord lets him see in Spiritual judgments (as he does in Temporal judgments when men promise themselves great things) that the bed is too short, the covering too narrow for him to rest upon. Then offer him the pleasures of sin, and he cannot taste them, they are to him the greatest detestation: Oh how bitter is it to remember that which was formerly sweet to commit? and what a terrible companion is that sin in the guilt of it, that was in the act of it most delightsome? The bitterness of sin is so great, that all the comforts of the creatures cannot sweeten it; as Judas he cast down the thirty pieces of silver quickly, he had no pleasure in his money. So a soul cries out, My iniquity is gone over my head, and as a sore burden too heavy for me to bear.

§. 3. 2. The Law of God condemns the sinner; says the Apostle, Sin revived and I died. 2 Cor. 3. The ministration of death and condemnation, &c. There is a hewing and a slaying by the words of the Lord, he doth smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he does slay the wicked. And therefore the word of the Lord is called, the fury of the Lord; what fury or vengeance soever is poured out upon a land or soul, it is all by this word, that is the instrument, and these are the effects thereof. The Law saith, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the Law: and Conscience makes the assumption, truly this curse is my portion. The soul of man is not more prone to sin than it is to self-justification; every man desiring to establish his own righteousness. And the great work that we have in the Ministry is this, to beat them from their own confidences, men will not pass the same sentence upon themselves that the Law does. If men would but look upon themselves in this glass, and stand unto the sentence of this judgment, they would not be so severely judged by the Lord; but there are ways of self-deceiving from that abundant self-love, and self-flattery that is in the heart of man, that they desire to be deceived; and there is no man in the world that can be so great a flatterer of another, as every man is of himself, 〈◊〉 does smooth over himself and makes all please, as a flatterer doth: therefore the false • rophets are said, to smooth their tongues that there may be nothing that may distaste, 〈◊〉 be unpleasant; and so men will not own their own condemnation, they will not •• e shame. But when the Law comes, and the Spirit of God therein gives in evidence a •• inst the man, brings forth the hand writing, and chargeth a man with his pride and un ••• anness, and hardness of heart, and says, this thou hast done; then the soul says, I have •• ed in betraying the innocent blood, I have done exceeding foolishly: Men and brethren what ••• l we do to be saved? Now every word of the Law comes home to him with life and with •• er, and all the curses of the book he reads as his portion, and says, This is the inheri •• e that Adam has left me, and this have I also purchased for myself. There are a generati •• of godly men in the world, that read over the Promises of the Gospel, and they do claim 〈◊〉 as their portion, and their inheritance forever, but they are nothing to me, they are 〈◊〉 children's bread, and I am a dog, a devil. Truly the Devils are better creatures and were 〈◊〉 to do the Lord more service, and yet they perish under the curse of the Law, and they •• ble at the sentence of it, and there is as much hope of a Devil, in the state that I am in 〈◊〉 as there is of me. I know God is merciful, but not beyond the rules of the Word, whilst the Word speaks wrath, all the men in the world cannot speak peace to me. Every •• tion is a curse to me, and there are no Providences that I can look upon in mercy; my ••• ngs are cursed, and my ordinances are blasted; they shall add to my sins and hasten my •• eance. It's wonderful that seeing the time of patience has its period, the Lord has •••• hed it forth to so great a length, that I have had thirty or forty years cut off of eter ••• as a respite of those eternal torments. These are the workings of men under the sense • reeking the Law.

The Law holds a man under this conviction, and self condemnation, that a man cannot 〈◊〉 off from it; that a man shall say with David, Psal. 51. My sin is ever before me. And 〈◊〉 3.2, 3. here we are all compared unto prisoners, I am shut up under the Law, it is my 〈◊〉 , (and if that be not enough to manifest that our bondage under it is sure, and there 〈◊〉 way to escape) he says, we have a garrison to attend us, as the word signifies; the same •• d is used of God's keeping of us to salvation. So that the soul is kept under by it, and all ••• s poring upon its misery, and cannot look off it, it is shut up under it: and this is meant • he spirit of bondage, Rom. 8.15. the word in the Greek is used partly for the Holy Ghost self, and partly for the inward dispositions that it works in the hearts of men, as a spirit •• ve, and fear, and joy; that is, such a temper and frame of soul wrought by the Holy ••• ft: and fo • t is the Spirit of God by the Law working upon a man such a frame of heart, ••• r of sorrow or fear, Hos. 4.12. A spirit of whoredom is in the middle of them, &c. •• s, they were bent to backsliding. So when a man cannot cast off his fears, and the bondage 〈◊〉 own heart, then a man is said to be under a spirit of bondage and a spirit of fear, and ••• e sinners are all their life long by fits, Heb. 2.15. The soul of man desires nothing 〈◊〉 than the pleasure of sin and peace in it; and therefore it does as a Deer when it is w ••• ded, it runs and leaps, and does all that possibly it can; but haeret lateri lethalis aerundo, ••••• rtal arrow sticks in the side. A man runs to the pleasures of sin, to his old companions, as •• re to King Jareb for help; and if that will not do, then he runs to Duties, and the man •• ys and cries, and all will not heal the man, and he cannot cast the sight of his sin behind back, and it is as gastly and as unwelcome even as Hell itself. A man is under Conviction 〈◊〉 a wild Bull in a Net, full of the fury of the Lord, and he beats every way; but the •• e he strives, the more he is ensnared, till at last his soul lies down under the apprehensi •• of it, and does possess the sins of his youth, Joh 13.26. As the thoughts of a man's heart called the possessions of his heart; for all that a man does possess is by thoughts, and that 〈◊〉 which a man's thoughts dwell most, that a man is said to possess most. Now the man cries 〈◊〉 What fruit have I now in those things whereof I am ashamed? Oh wretched man that I 〈◊〉 who shall deliver me from the body of this death! And his soul lies down in his shame, and •• ths and abhors himself continually, is afraid at the shaking of a leaf, expects daily when •• e instrument and messenger of vengeance shall come for him; and Job 31. His life draws •• er to the destroyers, and he doth seem to smell the savor of death, and of unquenchable fire, •• d his soul is continually filled with horror and amazement, the terrors of the Almighty set him round about, he is so fast in prison that he cannot get forth, he is under the wrath 〈◊〉 God, as Christ is said to be in prison, and David so speaks of himself also.

§. 4. Now how doth the Law in all this advance the ends of the Gospel? how is it, as • agar, added because of transgression?

1. It prepares the soul, and the Spirit thereby works those qualifications required to be 〈◊〉 the soul that comes to Christ; for Christ will not come into an unprepared soul; his sub •• cts are a people prepared for the Lord. He sent John the Baptist before to prepare his way, for there are valleys to be filled; and there are mountains to be laid low: Come all ye that are weary, and heavy laden, and I will ease you; take my yoke, having had experience of the iron yoke of sin.

2. The Law prepares the soul by making the opinion of a man's own righteousness die, and letting him see a perishing need of Christ, that what was before gain, he may now count loss; therefore there is hereby wrought in the soul, a longing for Christ, and an instinct of Union with him; the Law is as the avenger of blood, unless it did pursue, many men would never regard to fly to the city of refuge.

3. It will make the Grace of God the more glorious, and the blood of Christ the more orient, and Salvation the more acceptable, when in such a time of extremity the Lord brought light out of darkness; and then a man says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And therefore there be several dispensations of God, some have less of those breakings by the hammer of the Law than others have, for the Lord is a free agent; but there are no men in the world that prize Christ and exalt his righteousness, and rely more upon his Grace, than they do that have lain under most of these breakings, and have been longest in this wilderness.

4. It makes a man fear sin ever after, that which he hath had so great a smart for, when he was under the hammer of the Law; he will speak peace to his people and to his Saints, but let them not turn again to folly. When a man shall remember the bitterness of his spirit in times past, and call to mind the gall and the wormwood, then sin is loathed by him; David commits Adultery no more, Paul Persecutes no more, Peter denies Christ no more, &c.

5. It makes a man pliable to do whatever God would have him: Lord what wilt thou have me to do? A little child shall lead them, Isa. 11.6. Disobedience is grounded in pride; My soul shall weep in secret for your pride. And there is nothing breaks a man's pride, and make a man walk more humbly with God than this does, Mic. 6.8.

6. This makes a man to set a high price upon the spirit of Adoption, that enables him to cry Abba father, after he has had experience of a spirit of bondage. The bread in his fathers house had never been so pleasant to the Prodigal, had he not been in want, and tasted husks. Heaven is never so sweet as it will be after the trials of this life; when men have come • out of great tribulation, and made their garments white in the blood of the Lamb, then to be gathered into Abraham's bosom it is much the sweeter; to rest from their labors and their works to follow them; when a man has been under a hard master, to be set at liberty is th • sweeter; when a man out of a Prison comes to a Throne: this, I say, makes him honou • that Spirit, and keep close to him, and cherish the motions of it ever after, and be carefu • not to be led into the same darkness again. The Spirit of Christ is a delicate Spirit, and whe • it is grieved, it withdraws from a soul, and suspends the comfort and quickenings that it used to enjoy, therefore the soul sets a high price upon the spirit of Adoption.

SECT. III. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it restrains Sin.

§. 1. HAving spoken of the Law in the first sense, I now come to consider it in the second. In the one it discovers, judges and condemns sin; and in the other 〈◊〉 checks and restrains sin. Here are three things to be considered and cleared: (1) That 〈◊〉 Law is as a bridle to check sin, and to restrain it. (2) In what respects it is said so to 〈◊〉 (3) How in this also the Law is in the hand of a Mediator, used as a servant or handmaid • the Gospel.

1. That the Law is as a bridle to check sin. I desire you to observe three things: 1. That sin hath in it a fierceness and unruliness, and therefore men in it are compared unto the most raging and unruly creatures in the world, Isa. 57.20. It is compared to the Sea, which is the most unruly and tumultuous, and unquiet creature; if there were never any wind; without, yet it is always unquiet from an inward principle in itself, which you may explain by Jude v. 13. Savage creatures and raging waves of the Sea, foaming out their own shame And they are compared unto the wildest and most unruly of all the Creatures, a Drom • dary, Jer. 2.23. which some say is a She-camel, others say it is Cameleo pardalis, a creature • of a mixed Generation; and they are resembled unto this creature for its swiftness, it is on • of the swiftest of all Creatures, and the Female more swift than the Male, as Franzius 〈◊〉 his Historia sacra animalium, has well observed. And a Horse is an unruly creature, his mouth must be holden with bit and bridle; a Horse prepared for the battle, and being chafed to it, of which the Lord says, Job 29.19. That he hath clothed his neck with thunder, he mocks at fear, and does not turn back from the sword, he swallows the ground with fierceness, &c. And such is the fierceness of a sinner in his way, Hos. 8.9. A wild ass alone by himself; in Scripture sinners are compared to the Ass for a double property; (1) for his fierceness; (2) for his folly, as Job 11.12. Vain man would be wise though born like a wild Asses colt: and for his fierceness a wild Ass in the wilderness, Jer. 2.28. In a wilderness an Ass is alone by herself, under no government, no restraint, no rider to rule or bridle her. It's better to meet a Bear robbed of her whelps than a fool in his folly, as 2 Sam. 17.8. The fierceness of this Creature is noted to be the greatest in Scripture, Hos. 13.8. I will meet them 〈◊〉 a bear bereaved of her whelps, &c. And by which the fierceness of God's Judgments is • et out, I will meet them as a bear robbed of her whelps, &c. and will rend the caul of his heart: • ow the same rage will a sinner be in, when he is met and stopped in an evil way, in any way • f sin whatsoever. There is an unruliness in sin beyond all this, that neither the Bear, nor • y other fierce Creature can vent, All the creatures have been tamed but man, his tongue • an no man tame, Jam. 3. Now you may say, why, who sets bounds unto this Sea, and who • hall command and rule this swift Dromedary, this chafed Horse, this wild Ass, and this be • aved Bear, &c. surely no natural power. Thence,

2. The Spirit of God doth aim in his dealings with man to keep under and restrain their • sts. Here you are to distinguish between what he doth per se, and in his own proper nature, • d that which he doth per accidens and occasionally. The aim of the Spirit of God in all his • orks, is properly and in its own nature to keep down the lusts of men, but yet occasion •• lie his dealing with man doth draw them forth the more: as by sending an affliction, the • ord doth it to take away his sin; but yet it does raise up his sin; and so does the Law, sin taking occasion by the Commandment, and so the Ordinances of the Gospel also. And this will appear, Hos. 2.6. I will hedge up their way with thorns, and I will make a wall that she shall 〈◊〉 find her pasture. He compares them to wild beasts that will not be kept within • unds, therefore the Lord made up a hedge of thorns against them, that is, a hedge of af •• iction; and if one affliction will not do it, if they still break through the hedge, he will • ollow them with a wall, and all this is to the end, that she may not find her path, that she may not go on and prosper in a way of sinning; she shall meet with difficulties in sinful ways, • nd they shall also want success, and labor in vain in them: for, though they do follow • fter them, they shall not overtake them, disappointment in the way of sinning is the Lord's • im in all afflictions, Job 33.16, 17. it is, To keep man from his purpose, and to hide pride •• om his heart. And Paul had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him that he might not be •• ted up through the abundance of revelation. The aim of the Spirit of God is to restrain • e lusts of men, and this very restraining Grace is a great mercy: There is a twofold re •• raining Grace; (1) Upon the actions of men; Pharaoh he had a desire to the sin, his lust • s stirred up, but says God, Gen. 20. I with held thee. (2) Upon the lusts of men; says God, Exod. 34.24. There shall no man desire thy land. To have a man's lust restrained is a great mercy, and it is only during the time of this life; for afterwards God will let out men's lusts to the uttermost, as he does the Devils, and their sin shall have rationem poenae, the nature of punishment, as Aquinas observes: after this life the demerit of sin ceaseth, Quia pertinet ad damnationis poenam, because it belongs to the punishment of damnation, as obedience in Heaven belongs to the reward of blessedness. Thus all restraining Grace shall cease, as all natural affection shall; and the Spirit of God shall only work wrath as a spirit of bondage in the hearts of wicked men forever.

3. The Spirit of God does make use of the Law as a glorious instrument in this work: for he works in restraints partly by the Law of God within, and partly by the works of God and afflictions without; but all his aim is, that men may not find their hope, Rom. 1.16. The Gospel is the power of God to salvation; that is, the great and glorious instrument of the power of God; so is the Law also an instrument in the hand of the Spirit, for the Spirit of God does work by the Word, and answerably to the Word, and not above it, or without it. It is so called by the Lord, Jam. 3.2. If any man offend not in word, he is able to bridle the whole body: to put a bridle to anything in Scripture, does signify to moderate that thing, and restrain all the rage and exorbitances of it. Isa. 37.29. I will put a book in his nostrils, and a bridle in his lips. Now what is the bridle that does restrain the enormities of the tongue? see verse. 15. It is the perfect law of liberty; and this also is the bridle for the whole man, Psal. 149.8, 9. To bind their Kings in chains, and their Nobles in fetters of Iron, and this honor have all his Saints! To be bound in chains signifies two things, Subjection and Restraint; now how do the Saints of God do it? the fire goes out of their mouths, Rev. 11. that is, it is partly by their prayers, and partly by their words, setting the the Law of God before them, and by this means they bind them: for they bind up their lusts, they restrain their sins, and they bind over their Consciences unto wrath, and all the Judgments denounced in the Word of God, they do as it were execute them by their bringing them upon them, as Zach. 1.6. So that they do by the Law of God lay chains upon their Consciences, and they execute judgments upon their souls; and for that cause it is conceived that the Law is called the bond of the Covenant, Ezek. 20.37. because (1) as a bond it doth bind to obedience, and all disobedience it does restrain. (2) The Law is counted a bond by men, Psal. 2.3. Let us break their bonds, and thick weighty cords, it is meant the Law of the Lord which brought them into subjection, and they count it cords and bonds which are a token of three things, (1) Of bondage; (2) Of burden; (3) Of baseness; and that also may be the meaning of that expression, Gal. 3.22. For the Scripture has concluded all under sin, &c. And thereupon Luther says, Lex carcer est, &c. the law is a prison; for it does restrain men's lusts, they cannot walk at large as they desire to do in ways of evil; and he says, It is with unregenerate men under the restraints of the law, as it is with wicked men in prison, he that is shut up, does not hate his sin, but hates the prison; and the thief is grieved at heart that he is not free, nor at liberty to steal.

§. 2. How does the Spirit of God make use of the Law for the restraining of sin? The Lord has a working upon the hearts of both regenerate and unregenerate men, and he has mighty acts of restraint upon them both, and they are the wonderful workings of God in the world: a man that shall consider the rage and malice of wicked men may wonder that the earth is not more filled with violence, there being so many Nimrods mighty hunters of men in the earth, that men are not made as the fishes of the Sea, the greater to devour the less without control, breaking forth into all excess of riot, and blood touching blood: Yea, he that shall consider the rage and madness that is in the hearts of the Saints themselves, as we see it in Asa, he put the Prophet in prison when in a rage: and David caused them to pass under axes and sawes, and harrows: and that of Peter, who did curse and damn himself: and that of Theodosius, by whose command seven thousand men were slain in the City of Thessalonica: he would soon conclude, truly the very mercy and grace of God in restraint is great. And he that shall see the horrible abominations that men break forth into from day today, and the strange Apostasies that are come into the world, he must conclude even restraining Grace is a great mercy, and that this is a glorious and an excellent use of the Law, wherein it is wonderfully serviceable to the Gospel. Indeed the Apostle says, 1 Tim. 1.9. that a man uses the Law lawfully, when he knows and considers, that the Law was not given for a righteous man: There is a double interpretation of it that is most common: (1) The Law is not given, that is, not laid upon a godly man as a burden; for he has not only a Rule without, but he has also Grace within, that dictates to him, a living Law within himself. So that a godly man lives above the Law, for he has a Law within as well as a Law without, to restrain him from sin; he has an inward principle that makes him hate every false way: and what should an obedient and well managed Horse need a bridle for? (2) The condemning power of the Law is not for the righteous man, against such there is no Law: the Magistrate should be nothing else but God's Vicegerent, and he is not a terror to good works but to evil; but yet while the Saints of God do live here, and are sanctified but in part, they need the Law to restrain their lusts and corruptions: afterwards when their Graces shall be perfected, they shall need to call in no external help of a Law either to restrain from sin, or keep them in duty, or to quicken them to it; but now corruption gets the head many times of the Law within, that a man is induced to call in the force of the Law without also; and the best of the Saints make use of many legal considerations and motives to constrain and restrain them in this world.

1. The Law does restrain sin when the Lord sets before a man the perfection of it. It is therefore called a perfect law of liberty; this was the perfection in which man was created, this was the perfection of the human nature of Christ, a perfect conformity unto this Law in nature and life; for he was a living Law. And this is the perfection in Glory when the Saints shall have a conformity unto this Law; and from hence the soul stands in awe of it, the Lord showing a man's abasement and imperfection so far as he comes short of the Law.

2. The Law restrains sin so far as the Lord demonstrates its Authority, Jam. 2.8. The Royal or Princely Law, wherein the Authority or Sovereignty of the Great King does appear; for wherein does the authority of Princes lie, but in their Laws? and he is counted a rebel that does disobey them; and that of the Apostle, Rom. 2. Through breaking the Law dishonorest thou God: and the Nomothetick power is that wherein the greatness and the height of Majesty lies; and this Law we are subjected to by bond of Creation, as having received our being from the Lord; and by a bond of Stipulation, having given up our consent to the Law, having given the hand unto the Lord, &c. and as being the rule by which the Lord will judge men at the last day; and this kept Joseph in awe against the importunity of his Mistress, How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God? the Majesty and Authority of God is despised in it; and the Sovereignty of the Law being exalted in his heart carried with it a kind of moral impossibility, (for there be natural and moral impossibilities; as the Apostle in the 1 Cor. We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. ) And sometimes the people of God in the violence of a temptation have been forced to fly to the Commandment; as in the point of self-murder one was fain to do, the temptation was so impetuous, that he was forced to repeat the Commandment for some hours together, Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt do no murder.

3. Sin is restrained from the Curse of the Law, and the Judgments that it does denounce against offenders, and the several examples of the executions of them: says Job, Chap. 31.23. Destruction from God was a terror to me, and because of his highness I could not endure. And 2 Cor. 5. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. And observing the several examples of Judgments, and the Curse of the Covenant upon wickednesses which are wrought, that others may see and fear, and do no more wickedly. When a man looks upon the Judgments that are abroad, as the Curse of the Law executed, a man should say, I will not transgress. It was the sin of Judah, that at the Captivity of Israel she would not be warned, and would not receive correction: for that man that has the Law against him, has God against him.

4. Sin is restrained from the Harmony of the Law; he that breaketh one is guilty of all, &c. This makes men stand in awe of the Divine Commands.

5. From God's love to the Law, it being that which is so dear unto God, Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but not an iota of the Law; which is dearer to God than Heaven and Earth. The Saints are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and they have a conformity unto God in all things, they love what God loves, and they hate what God hates. Says the Psalmist, I hate them that hate thee, yea I hate them sore, as if they were my enemies. Through thy precepts I get understanding. He says, He did love the Law as his portion and inheritance; as that which was sweeter to him than honey: and his obedience unto which did bring him in all his comfort, and therefore, I have refrained my feet from every evil way: this is my life and this is my wisdom in the sight of the Nations.

Lastly, What authority and command the Law of God has in the hearts of men, is that that God's eye is much upon, and with such men he is pleased, and the power of God's Grace is seen mainly in the awe of the Law upon their hearts and lives, which other men despise, and cast behind their back: says the Lord, To him will I look that trembles at my word. And there is a man that fears an oath, My heart stands in awe of thy Word, else I had broken forth and given way to corruption, but I durst not. Isa. 11.6. A little child shall lead him, that which is most easily done; and 2 Chron. 32.12. see the charge against Zedekiah, for he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. If a man come to us from God, and in the name of God, if we despise him we despise the Lord.

§. 3. How is the Law from its restraint upon lust a servant and a handmaid unto the Gospel? This will appear also in these Particulars.

1. The great end of the Gospel is to establish the Earth, and to continue the World; for by sin an utter destruction should have come upon men and upon all the creatures for man's use, only there is a stop put upon Justice for a time, the change of the Covenant bringing in a change of the Government, and the Kingdom that was before the fall, administered by God immediately, is now committed into the hands of the Son, as he is God-man, our Mediator. So Psal. 8. He has put all things in subjection under his feet, and he has given him as a Covenant to establish the earth. And it is upon this ground that those expressions are, Psal. 93. The Lord reigns, he is clothed with Majesty; the world is established that it cannot be moved. And Psal. 97.1. The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice. All this is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ and his Government that is committed to him by the Father under the second Covenant, and by virtue thereof since the fall. And this the Lord doth by the restraint of the Law two ways. (1) Hereby the lusts that are in a man's heart are kept under, that they destroy not one another, for lust is cruel; see it in the second man that ever was in the world, and he that first actually brought murder into the world, and Nimrod a hunter of men before the Lord, and as cruel to men as if they were beasts; nay they are themselves Beasts, and have the cruelty of Beasts, and men would be as the fishes of the Sea, the greater would devour the less, they have no King over them, and are acted by the spirit of the Devil, and his name is Abaddon the destroyer, his delight is wholly in destruction; and if the Lord did leave men to the violence of their lusts, and the impetuosity of temptation, they would overflow as water over-running all banks and bounds, and blood would touch blood, where either as some say by blood is meant murder, or all manner of horrible wickedness (and so some take it) so there is all manner of cruelty, and all manner of unnatural wickedness, even to the destroying of one another, as we see it in Egypt, every man's sword shall be against his brother, and in the cruelty at the destruction of Jerusalem. Now how comes it to pass that it is not so everywhere? Only from the restraint of the Law laid upon the spirits of men, and by this means the world is quieted, as Luther in Gal. 3. hath observed, Di • bolus regnat in toto orbe terrarum & impellit homines ad omnis generis flagitia: sicut ergo hominibus obsessis vincula & catenae injiciuntur, ne quem laedant; sic toti mundo qui est obsessus a diabolo adest Deus legibus cohibens manus & pedes, ne praeceps ruat in omnis generis flagitia. (2) The Lord has set bounds unto the sins of the World as well as unto the sins of particular persons and Nations; which when they have by degrees filled up, judgment shall come upon them to their destruction. As there was a fullness of sin when the Flood came upon the world, and it repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth: so there is a fullness of sin when the World shall be burnt; and when all the wicked have filled up their measure, then shall the fire of God's wrath be kindled upon the World, unto which it is reserved. Only then when the World was drowned, because there was a holy seed remaining upon the earth, the Lord did spare the earth for Noah's sake, because there was a blessing; but when all the Elect of God shall be translated from this earth to Glory, then there shall be an utter destruction, and the earth shall be burnt up, at least refined by fire. Now if there should not be a restraint laid upon the lusts of men, everyone that is now a Serpent would become a Dragon; and they that now sin as men, would act like Devils, and the measure of men's lusts would be quickly fulfilled, and the end of the World would be suddenly hastened. Now because God has appointed a time that the World shall stand for Gospel ends, and to show forth the Grace of the Gospel, that mercy may rejoice, and triumph over judgment, therefore he does restrain the lusts of men, that the fullness of the sin of the World may be filled up by degrees.

2. It does exceedingly exalt the Gospel, and the Grace thereof, that it does make such a use of the Law, as is unto man fallen above the nature of the Law, and contrary to the use that sin does make of the Law. (1) It is above the power of the Law unto man a sinner; for the Law is become weak through the flesh, as we see they that know the Law, yet pour out themselves to all excess of riot, and give themselves over unto all manner of abominations. He that says, thou shalt not commit adultery, doth himself commit adultery, &c. All this shows that the Law of itself is weak: it can forbid sin indeed, but it cannot restrain it; as it can require duty, but it cannot enable a man thereunto; but as Bernard has observed, It commands without grace, and it punishes without mercy. Restraining Grace in respect of sin, and assisting Grace in respect of duty comes not from the Law, but from the Spirit that is given in the Gospel working with it. (2) It is contrary to the use that sin makes of the Law, for sin takes occasion by the Commandment, and the Law is so far from being a means of restraining lust, that by the Commandment corruptions are improved and increased, Rom. 7.8, 11. the flood rises the higher by the damm that is made against it, and there is this devillishness in sin, that it does take occasion by the Commandment to deceive a man, that is, it does work in a man a greater apprehension of the sweetness of it, and a greater desire to it, and longing after it; because it is in the Commandment forbidden; and from the very prohibition does arise the strength of the temptation; a man should never have had his heart so much carried out after it, if the Lord had not forbidden it; and then a man says, Stollen waters are sweet, and the bread of deceit is pleasant. Now when Satan and sin shall take occasion by the Commandment to improve corruption, and to draw it forth, that the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel should make a quite contrary use of it, to restrain it, and bind it up, it does much exalt the power of the Gospel, and the spirit of the Gospel which works with this Law.

3. Restraining Grace which the Spirit of God does work in a man by the Law, is of great use, and does mightily exalt the Grace of the Gospel, in preserving from open violences and immoralities. (1) In reference unto the Saints, that they are not destroyed, for they are sheep in the midst of wolves, their souls are amongst lions, and therefore it is a wonder that they are not destroyed; it is God that lays a restraint upon their enemies lust sometimes, and they desire it not, and sometimes upon their acts, and they cannot effect it. Abimelech's lust was restrained in reference to Abraham, I kept thee that thou shouldst not touch her. And as to Laban, God laid a charge upon his spirit; and so it was with Herod in reference unto John the Baptist: and it is by this restraint laid upon the hearts of wicked men, that the lives and liberties of the people of God are preserved; and this is every day as great a miracle in some respect as to set bounds to the Sea, that it do not overflow, and as to stop the Lions mouths, or to hinder and restrain actum secundum, the second act, of the Fire in the Babylonish Furnace, that it did not burn so much as the garments of the three Children: and that your peace and prosperity, and that the progress of the Gospel is not interrupted, that the Devil does not cast some of you into prison, and seek your blood as in time past, it is not that he is not as truly the Destroyer still as in times past, but the Lord restrains the lusts of men that he cannot act them and draw them forth as he has done formerly. (2) In reference unto wicked and ungodly men, that live in their sins and perish in them. Though it is true while the corrupt will prevails, and a man's enmity to God remains, so long is a man a sinner before God in everything, because he is in his habitual frame of heart an enemy unto all righteousness. But it is a great common mercy that wicked men have by the Gospel, that their lusts are not let out to the uttermost; and the greatest judgment that men can be given over to, is to be given up to their own hearts lusts, delivered over unto the power of sin, and to be acted by Satan to the highest, and the utmost, as Judas, the Devil entered into him, it was but a higher degree of acting of him in a way of wickedness. The restraint that is acted upon them lessens the guilt, and does not spread so much in the defilement, the act of sin does intend the habit. Nor is it so dangerous and infectious unto others; for sinners in their actions are corrupters, and by their example taint many with evil ways and words; the more their restraints are, the less will their judgment and condemnation be; and they shall have this fruit by it, which will be a great one hereafter. Seeing that all men are sinners in Adam alike, and sin in one man is as much improved as in another; that all men are not alike sinful in this life, and alike miserable in the life to come, (for there be degrees of wrath;) and that all men do not sin against the Holy Ghost, and are not by Satan hurried on to the great Transgression; it is no thanks to the man but merely to restraining Grace! So in Mar. 10.21. the young man that came to Christ, Christ is said to love him; he was proud, and stood upon his own righteousness, and he was covetous, and did part with Christ to reserve to himself an Estate, and went away from him as being offended at his Doctrine, and never returned again; and yet it is said that Christ loved him; what was there lovely in such a man? Here Interpreters distinguish [1] of the act, [2] of the object. [1] Of the Act, they say there is a double love of Christ, so Cartwright; a Human and Divine; a Divine love, that is to Salvation; so he loves only the Saints; but there was a human love, and so he loved his friends and kindred according to the flesh, who yet did not believe in him. And some say there is a double love of God, and of Christ as God; there is a peculiar and a fatherly love, and this he bears only to his own people; but there is also a common love, whereby he loves whatever is of his own in any of the Creatures. So Beza and Calvin. But I should rather call them the common works of the Spirit of Christ, dispensed unto unregenerate men under the Gospel. [2] They distinguish of the Object, he • oved the remainder of his own Image, or rather the works of his own Spirit in him, though they were common, that he was preserved unchangeable, in tanta morum corruptela, where there was such a general and universal overspreading of wickedness; and this was Donum Dei gratuitum natural illam pravitatem non quidem immutantis, sed in quibus illi placet paulatim reprimentis, Bernard. i. e. Not mortifying but restraining sin. So that all this was grounded upon the restraining Grace the Lord did vouchsafe unto him in his younger years; for to be preserved is a good thing, a great gift, it is a great mercy not to be tainted with the common corruption, and not to wallow in the common mire of the times, nor to be given over thereunto. (3) In reference unto godly men, before and after their conversion. [1] Before a man's conversion; so it was with Paul, who was concerning the righteousness of the Law blameless, and one that did not sin against his Conscience, even then when he persecuted the Church, Act. 23.1. because there is the greater guilt and horror upon a man's Conscience, having so highly dishonored God, the greater bitterness to a man having ensnared and corrupted others by his example, and the greater matter of temptation, Satan representing unto a man anew the sweetness that a man has tasted in former sins, and his former experience of it does exceedingly strengthen the temptation, and make a man's heart to hanker the more earnestly after them. [2] After conversion restraining Grace is a mercy; Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins, Psal. 19.13. Also the word does signify to restrain, or keep a man back, or with-hold him as with a bridle; the same word is used in Gen. 20. I withheld thee from touching her. And so David, Set a watch before the door of my lips. So that though lust will be in a man's heart, and though it will sometimes arise, and all the power of Grace cannot keep it under; yet to have it restrained, that it shall not break forth, and a man not to be hurried upon sinful actions is a great mercy. After conversion for the lust of Adultery to be up in David, and he desired her, and yet if he had been kept from the act, it had been a great mercy; and so in numbering the people his lust was up, and to have been kept from the act would have been a great mercy; as we see it in the case of Nabal, his lust was up, but how does David bless God, that it did not break forth into acts, but that the lust was restrained beforehand: and so do all the Saints of God bless the Lord that sometimes by his Law, and sometimes by afflictions, and by the admonitions of friends, or by the reproach of enemies, any lust is kept within its bounds from breaking forth, or that there is a restraint of it in any measure, that a man doth not pour out himself upon it with greediness, that a man is not wicked in the highest degree, and that carnal fear doth not prevail upon him as it did upon Peter, and carnal love as it did upon Sampson or Solomon, and passion as it did upon Asa, &c.

4. By the Gospel lust is subdued and mortified, and that is one great end of the Gospel, That we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, Tit. 2.13, 14. And having these promises should purify ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2 Cor. 7.1. And he that has this hope does purify himself even as God is pure. But the Spirit of God doth make use of the Law even to this end also, and the restraints thereof. There is a double way for the mortifying of sin: (1) By infusing a new principle of Grace: (2) By restraining the old principle of sin. (1) There must be a new principle of Grace infused, which will work out the contrary, and hinder the actings of it, the spirits lusting against the flesh; We are not under the Law but under Grace, therefore sin shall not have dominion over you, Rom. 6.12. Not under the Law, strengthening and irritating sin, but under Grace subduing it, the Spirit of God-working in a man a new and another nature, which is contrary unto sin, and is like unto that spirit of holiness that works it: That which is born of the spirit is spirit, Joh. 3.6. and it cannot sin, because it is born of God. (2) There is a power of the same Spirit of God restraining and keeping under the lusts of men, and thereby destroying them; With-hold from me presumptuous sins: in me they are, and I find in myself a proneness to them, but keep them under. With-hold me from the actings of them, lest they grow upon me, and get the dominion over me. As by the exercise of sin it does increase, so by the restraining of it it does die, and is brought to nothing. It is as fire, if it be covered and have no vent, it will go out, and as Trees the more they grow above ground, the more they spread under ground, lop them continually that they grow not above, and they will by degrees wither and die; Grace doth grow by the actings of it, and so does sin; and if a man should have Grace in his heart, and yet never bring forth fruit, though it could not wholly die because it it an immortal seed, upheld by the Spirit of Grace, yet it would never thrive. There is a double way that the Devil takes to increase sin in a wicked man: [1] He doth infuse all the devillishness into them that he can; the Devil entered into Judas, and put it into his heart to betray Christ; the wicked one toucheth them. [2] All that wickedness that is in them he does act and draw forth to the utmost. And there is a double way of the decay of Grace: (1) By stirring up and strengthening the contrary principle of sin. (2) By hindering Grace from acting in all things: and so though it be immortal seed, yet in the degrees of it it will decay: So it is here, the Spirit of God infusing a new principle, and restraining and hindering the actings of the old, by this means sin dies by degrees, and the heart is weaned and taken off from it, and this is done by the Law.

SECT. IV. The Subservience of the Law to the Gospel as it is a Rule.

§. 1. WE have thus far considered the Law as it is in its subservience to the Gospel, as a glass discovering sin, and as a bridle restraining it; now we come to the third Consideration as it is a Rule to guide and direct a man in all the ways of obedience; and it is a Rule within, and a Rule without.

1. It is a Rule within, that is, the Spirit of God given by the Gospel, or the second Covenant, doth make use of the Law of God as an Instrument of Conversion, and so plants in a man a rule of holiness and obedience in his own heart, a principle of conformity unto the will of God in all things. The Law indeed cannot do this of itself, looked upon as a Covenant alone, for so it is a dead letter, but as it is in the hand of the Spirit, Rom. 7.9. The saving knowledge of the Law is brought in by a secret and yet sacred blast of the Spirit of God breaking in and blowing when he listeth.

Now that the Law is an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for the conversion of souls, is plain: (1) Every part of the Word of God has a converting power, if the Spirit of God be pleased to concur with it; for every part of the Word of God is seed to beget, as well as milk and strong meat to nourish; if any part of the Word of God be engrafted in the heart, it will change the stock of what nature soever. (2) It is that which is attributed to the Law, Psal. 19.7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Indeed there is some difference about the word converting; some say it is reviving or returning the soul when going down to the pit, thou sayest Return again; but it is returning from sin as well as sorrow, and therefore Act. 7.38. called verba viva & vivificantia, living and life-giving oracles, which give life here, and bring to life hereafter. (3) That is the promise of the new Covenant, I will put my Law into their hearts, and write it in their inward parts: for no man has by nature the Law of God in his heart; for the image of sin, and the law of sin is upon the heart of man by nature. [1] The Law of the Lord is by sin blotted out of the hearts of men, that image of God and conformity unto his will is taken away which they had at first, and they have a new law the law of sin there. [2] It is the Law put into the heart by the Spirit of God, that is the rule of all a man's inward obedience and conformity unto God. Adam had the Law written in his heart, not only a Law without, but inward dispositions conformable to it within: and when man had blotted it out, God wrote it in tables of stone; but now he will put it into the hearts of men, so that they shall have an inward principle answerable to the Law-rule without, and whatever he does require in the Law, something within shall answer to it, but this Law is put in by the hand of God. [3] In Conversion God does put in the whole Law into the heart of man: what Law is it but the Moral Law? that which is a Rule of a man's way without, is the Rule of a man's heart within; and God will put it so therein that it shall never be blotted out again by sin, for he will write it there, that it may remain, Litera scripta manet, &c. but more particularly observe,

1. That no man hath in him the Law of God by nature; but all are enemies unto the Law in their minds, they are not subject unto it, neither can be: and therefore the Apostle says, When the Commandment came, &c. it was a coming Commandment, not of his own fetching; it is therefore said to be a voice crying behind us, This is the way walk in it: for every man by nature hath another law, the law of sin, the law of his members, which stands in opposition to the law of his mind; the image he has upon him is the image of the Devil, and he has contrary dispositions in his inward man unto God, and to the will of God in all things, not formed by the word.

2. That which is written there is the Moral Law: There are two great principal parts of a man's holiness, Faith and Obedience; and because the ground of Obedience is Faith, therefore it is commonly called in Scripture the Obedience of Faith: and answerable unto these are the two great principal parts of the Word, there are the precepts of the Law, and the promises of the Gospel, and both these the Lord makes an engrafted word: the foundation of a man's faith is the Promise, and thereby a man is made partaker of the Divine nature; and the foundation of a man's obedience is the Precept; for in the regeneration we are renewed after the image of him that created it; therefore writing the Law in the heart, is a renewing of the image of God, which in Adam we had lost, and that was a knowledge of the whole will of God, in whatever concerned God's glory and his own duty; and he had an inward ability and disposition of soul in all things to submit himself thereunto with cheerfulness. So that in the fall, the Law of God that was written in our hearts, that was stamped upon us, and concreated with us, was utterly blotted out, and now the renewing of this Law in our inward man, is our regeneration, a putting the same dispositions within us that were at first created with us.

3. The finger that writes it is the Spirit; or the writer is Christ, and the ink is the Spirit, and the table is the heart; in which the Spirit works the habits of all Grace. Austin has decided it against the Pelagians, that there must not only be freedom of will in men, and a teaching and a moral persuasion from God, which they hold; and the Papists and Arminians since: but there must be an almighty work of the Spirit of God upon a man, creating in him a new nature, and putting into a man inward dispositions answerable unto what the Law of God doth require, and that by a hand without, and so writing does signify something wrote in a man from without; and that I conceive to be the meaning of Rom. 2.15. The work of the Law written in their hearts; all the outward acts of obedience that they do, and their Consciences accusing or excusing them, all those are but the fruits of the work, the efficacy of the Law that is written in their hearts. We do not read that the Law is said to be written in Adams heart, only God created man righteous; but writing notes rather an act from an extrinsical hand. And therefore I should rather conceive those practic notions, Rom. 2.15. to be written in man by the common work of the Spirit of Christ, than to be left in him after the fall, not the dross of the old Adam, but the foundation of the new, &c. so that the Spirit of God has his works wrought in both; only in the one by a common hand, in the other by a saving work.

4. The thing that the Spirit of God doth write there is the whole Law: he doth write the Gospel and all the Promises thereof; he doth take of Christ and show it unto you; he reveals his glory to you, and the preciousness of Gospel-promises and privileges; and a man does believe them, and is transformed into them. He does also show a man the Law of God, and a man is transformed into the likeness thereof, even the whole Law, so that a man has respect unto all the Commandments, there is an universal change; for there is not any part of the Law but it is written within him. Civil men may have something of the Law put into their hearts as the Heathen had, and they may show forth something of the work of the efficacy of this Law in their hearts, and in their lives also, but they have but half the copy; but where the Spirit of God does write the Law savingly, he writes the whole Law.

5. The Law is written in the heart, as it is written in a Proposition: that which is written in the greatest Letters in the Law, hath the greatest Characters in a man's soul; and that which is most often repeated in the Law, that is most often repeated in the heart, and therefore Rom. 6.17. There is a form of doctrine into which you were delivered as into a mould. Now in a thing cast into a mould, as there is not the least scratch in the mould but it will appear in the thing molded thereby, so answerable unto the impression in the mould will the impression be in the thing, and if it be deeper in the one, it will be deeper in the other: now to know God, and to fear him, to cleave unto the Lord Christ, and honor him, and obey him, these are the great things of the Law of God; wherefore for men to neglect these, and have their hearts much taken up though about truths, yet things of less consequence, and lay out the whole intention of their spirits in these, to tythe mint and cummin, and to be all in meat and drink, and neglect true godliness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, in which the Kingdom of God consists mainly, this is an evil sign, and an argument there is not the right moulding of the Law in the heart.

6. Lastly, It notes an abiding and continuing of the Law there; as things written are for continuance, and for after times. So Jer. 17.1. The iniquity of Judah is written, with the pen of iron; that is, they are so set upon sin, and so hardened in it, that there is little or no hope of their repentance; their sin is written in the stains and the guilt of it upon their souls. So Prov. 3.3. we are exhorted, To write the Law upon the tables of our hearts; that is, by constant observation and meditation to fix them, and to imprint them. So that the Law is said to be written in our hearts for continuance: the Law that was concreated with us in Adam, Satan has blotted out; but when the Spirit of God does write it there again, by the finger of God, surely it is that it may be never more obliterated, or blotted out.

Christ saith, Mat. 11.30. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy: so that Christ suffers not his people to go without a yoke, he is not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , lawless, as to his actions, he is not a son of Belial, which Glassius saith, signifies, a man without a yoke; and this yoke is the obedience which in the Gospel the Lord requires, and that is nothing else but the obedience of the Law, for though Christ hath fulfilled it, yet it lies upon us still as a duty, though not by way of satisfaction to be performed, and this yoke is mainly upon the souls and the spirits of men. Now writing the Law in the heart is a perfect conformity of a man's inward man unto the Law of God, and all duties that the Lord requires; and this is it that makes the yoke easy, because it is become another nature, an inward principle; and what a man does so work from is not burdensome; there is a potentia visiva, a visive power in the eye, therefore it is not weary of seeing; and there is a principle, a law of motion in the nature of the Sun, and therefore it is not weary of motion, because it works from an inward principle. Men do evil with both hands earnestly, and are never weary; the reason is, because they work from an inward principle. And in this conformity unto the will of God, which is taking up the yoke, (1) There is obedientia voti, the obedience of desire, when a man desires to obey God in all things, and has a careful respect unto all the Commandments, and desires to make his heart perfect with the Law of God. (2) Obedientia conformitatis, obedience of conformity, when a man does in some measure answer the Law of God in his actions, and in the workings of his inward man. (3) Obedientia resignationis, obedience of resignation, when a man can wholly give up himself to it, as to the perfect Law, with joy and delight, love the law and finds sweetness in it, and sees a goodness in whatever it requires, and gives up himself unto it as the perfect law of liberty, that wherein his happiness lies; this is that which makes the yoke easy, and the Commandment not grievous: and the ground of it is, because the Law is written in his heart, and this is to serve Christ in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter, not barely to have a duty in the letter enjoined, which is that which only prevails with other men to perform duty, whilst all that is in their heart is against it, they do it, and yet hate the duty when done, and the Law that enjoins it; but here is the Spirit of God renewing and working in a man such dispositions of heart, which answer the duties of the Law in all things; so that a man loves the duties, and the Law that commands them, as setting him about a service that he is pleased with; so that it is the Law that is the yoke of Christ, and it is writing it in his heart, that makes it an easy yoke. In putting the Law as a rule into a man's heart, the Spirit of God doth let a man see, (1) The Holiness of the nature of God; for man was in this created after God, neither did the Creature behold the Holiness of God any other way than in the Law which doth forbid the least blemish and defilement, all filthiness of flesh and spirit. (2) Herein a man sees the glory that was stamped upon him in his creation, for his heart was nothing else but a perfect copy of this Law created in it; and in this conformity in his inward man to the Law of God, did this image principally if not wholly consist. (3) This is a perfect resemblance of the Holiness that was in the human nature of Christ, in whom the Law was fulfilled, for there was no sin in him, He knew no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, he was a lamb without spot or blemish; he was a living Law. (4) This is a perfect copy of that conformity unto God, that is in the Saints and souls of just men made perfect: When he shall appear we shall be like him. The law of his mind shall be perfected, and the law of the members wholly destroyed. Now we are conformable to the will of God but in some degrees; for that perfectio graduum, perfection of degrees, is to come; but the Spirit of God will go over our hearts and write more and more of this Law in us, till we be made in all things answerable thereunto. And in our conformity to the Law, (glory being nothing else but Grace perfected) shall our conformity unto God in Heaven be, where we shall not be like God in part, as here we are, but shall be wholly conformable to him, which is the perfection which we strive for, and aspire unto; and therefore the Scripture calls this our perfection, Paul saith, I long for your perfection, that is, a perfect writing of the Law in the heart, and this fits a man for Gospel-Ordinances, and the perfection hereof is the reward of the Gospel; for the Law written in the heart is the foundation of all obedience unto the Law, and the perfect writing the Law in the heart is the highest reward of all the Promises, and all the obedience of the Gospel.

§. 2. As the Law is a rule within, being planted there by the Spirit given in the second Covenant, which does change a man's nature, and doth give a man inward dispositions suitable thereunto, a law of the mind; so is the law a rule to guide and direct a man in his way, unto which all the Saints are to give heed, from which they are to learn their duties, and by which they are to judge of all the ways of God, and the ways of the world; the Law is added unto the Gospel, as the rule to the hand of the workman; the rule is able to do nothing of itself, it is a dead thing, it is the hand only that does the work, and if the hand can do nothing aright without the rule, the Law can work nothing being dead, without the Grace of the Gospel, that only enabling a man to perform all acts of obedience, and yet the Grace of the Gospel does enable a man to no other obedience but that of which the Law is the rule. Christ himself tells us, that his intention in coming was not to destroy the Law of God, or put an end to it, or make it void; Think not that I come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, and interpreters of the Law. Now there are in the Law but three things to be considered, either it is for Justification, for Condemnation, or for Direction. Now for Justification unto all that are in Christ, it is by Christ abolished; no man is justified by the works of the Law, but by the Grace of Jesus Christ: and for condemnation also; for he hath delivered us from the curse of the Law, and was made a curse for us. There remains now no other proper use of the Law but for Direction, as it is a rule; and therefore either Christ has destroyed it wholly, or else he will have it remain in this last sense, and so the next verse. 18. tells us, Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away, and the whole frame of this world fall to pieces, before the Law shall pass away: therefore it doth remain for Direction unto the Saints unto the end of the world. So Rom. 3.31. the Gospel does not destroy but establish the Law; the word in the Greek doth signify, to strengthen and make a thing firm, that was falling before; so by the sin of man the Law became weak through the flesh, neither to be fulfilled in the precept of it, or the curse, but men must be forever satisfying it; now the Gospel comes and it makes the Law firm: (1) In our Surety; for in him is the precept fulfilled, and the curse born; he did fulfill all righteousness. (2) In us, because by the Grace of the Gospel we do attain strength in some measure to obey the Law, which is increased more and more, till in our nature and actions we shall be made perfectly conformable unto the Law in Heaven, and so the righteousness of the Law perfectly fulfilled in us, the Lord perfecting his good work that he has begun in the day of the Lord, so that the Law remains as a rule to Believers, being not abolished but established by the Gospel.

2. The Gospel sends us unto the Law as a rule of duty, Luk. 16.30, 31. They have Moses and the Prophets, the Law and the Expositions of the Law; and the Lord requires, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, as well under the Gospel as under the Law. And Jam. 1.25. He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word; and therefore Jam. 2.8. we are exhorted to fulfill the royal Law, and to keep the precepts of the Law, and to walk in them. The whole Law as to its second Table, is fulfilled in this one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: and for this cause Christ in his first Sermon frees it from its corrupt glosses, and interpretation of the Pharisees, and restores it unto its spiritual sense, because it was to be of a perpetual use in the Church of God; and it is so perfect a rule, that Christ added no new precept to it, but only interpreted and expounded the Law, and restored it unto its primitive and original glory.

3. Christ has left us an example, and he is unto us not only the principle of holiness, from whence it is derived, but also the pattern to which it is conformed, Joh. 13.15. Now the acts of Christ were of two sorts, (1) Acts of Office, as he was a Mediator, by which he merited of God the Father pardon and acceptation for us, and so we cannot imitate him; but there are (2) acts of Moral obedience, which he did as our Mediator, and as our Pattern; and in these we are to follow Christ unto this day: for his whole life was nothing else but a spiritual Commentary upon the Law of God; and herein we must be followers of all men as they follow Christ; because there is a defect in all men's conformity to the Law, but so there was not in Christ.

4. So far as we come short of it, even the best of the Saints, we sin; for what is sin but a transgression of the Law? therefore to the Saints the Law is a rule of obedience, or else they should never transgress it; and if a man would try and examine his ways, he must bring it to the rule; for it is a rule for examination. Adam was bound to the Law, and therefore his least transgression was a sin; and we are bound as strictly as Adam was, and so far as a justified person comes short of universal obedience unto the whole Law, he sins as well as Adam in the state of innocence; only in the Gospel by the Mediation of Christ, the sin is pardoned. Therefore under the Gospel there is no other rule of obedience, but the Law of God, and every sin is a transgression thereof. Christ came into the world to be made a curse for sin, but not a cloak for it: the Saints are bound to the Law under the danger of committing sin, though not under the danger of incurring death; and therefore sin is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a transgression, and Christ when he would show a sin, has recourse to the Law, and also in all his temptations; and so Act. 23.5. some expound that of Paul, I wist not brethren that he was the high Priest, because it is written Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy people, &c.

5. The Law hath all the properties of a rule, (1) It is recta, right, the Law of the Lord is holy and perfect. (2) Nota, known, it is promulgated and made known in the authority of God himself, I have written to them the great things of my Law, and they have counted it a strange thing. (3) Adaequata, answerable unto the thing to be measured by it; and so is this Law spiritual, Rom. 7. and gives laws to the spirits of men, and to their words, and their actions; there is no case can fall out, that there is not a rule to be found for it in the word, were our eyes opened to behold the wonders that are there. I have seen an end of all perfections, but thy law is exceeding broad. In all the laws of men we can look beyond them, but there is a latitude here, that we cannot reach; it was to David his counselor; and it is such a counselor that you cannot put that case to it, that it cannot resolve and fully clear; if thou give ear unto it when thou walkest by the way, it shall lead thee, and when thou risest up, it shall walk with thee as a friend and counselor.

6. That is the rule of obedience to a man in this life, by which God will judge him in the life to come, and according to which he will reward him, Rom. 2. They that have sinned under the law shall be judged by the Law, as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Joh. 12. There is one that judges you even Moses in whom you trust. And Paul says, The Lord will judge men according to my Gospel. And the greater Grace there is rejected, the greater shall their judgment be; but the curse that is executed upon wicked men in Hell, is the curse of the Law, which the Lord Christ did undergo for those that are his; and the reward both here and hereafter is very great, in keeping of them there is great reward, in this life the fruit is unto holiness, and in the end everlasting life. And though the Law be to all unregenerate men a Covenant of Works, and a curse of the same Covenant made with Adam, yet this is made a handmaid unto the Gospel, and is the only rule of all Gospel or new obedience; the strength to perform it is from the Gospel, but the duties to be performed are from the Law; the ability to walk is from the Gospel, but the way in which we must walk is the way of the Lord's precepts.

[Objections answered.] §. 3. There are some Objections against this, that are necessary to be cleared; not that I desire to enter upon a Controversy, or a Polemical discourse, but because it will help us to understand many Scriptures, and so happily free us from many snares, in which men are sometimes taken.

[Object. 1] It is said, That the Law and the Prophets were till John, since the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it; therefore the Law was to last no longer, and is not therefore as you say to be preached as a servant unto the Gospel, because its service and its prophecy is ended; for in John Baptists time it did expire, it lasted so long, and no longer.

[Answ.] 1. It cannot be the meaning that the Law and the Prophets were to cease, and to be wholly abolished; for Christ immediately confirms them, and says, Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than a tittle of the Law shall pass; which words are added, as Interpreters generally observe, to prevent that objection against, or misinterpretation of this Doctrine of Christ, the Law and the Prophets were till John, but yet mistake me not, as if I would be understood acsi post haec lex in ecclesia exauctoratae esset, as if henceforward the Law should be abrogated; for Heaven and Earth shall sooner pass than the Law, which is a glass to discover sin, and a rule to guide in duty to the end of the world; and there will be use of this rule without, as long as Heaven and Earth shall last, and this frame of Heaven and Earth shall continue, till the image of God be perfectly renewed in all the Saints, and the law written perfectly in their hearts, and they are a law fully unto themselves, and so can live above the law, and can live upon the law, till then you will need the law without, and so long this law shall continue and be of use in the Church of God.

2. The meaning therefore is, that the state of the Old Testament, which is here called the Law and the Prophets, that is, that manner of discovering of the mind of God unto his people, which was in the Law and the Prophets, that was unto John, that is by speaking of Christ to come, and promising a higher and a greater light, and a greater measure of the spirit in after times; but yet it was not accomplished, but in 1 Pet. 1.12. To them it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things that are now reported to us, to whom the Gospel is preached, with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven, which things the Angels desire to look into. So that the state of the Church of God under the Old Testament, and the manner of revelation of the mind of God, and that measure of dispensation of the Spirit of God, and not the Typical part only, as some would have it, is here meant. So that the Ceremonial Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come, and did vanish in John 's time, the Substance being come, the Shadows must fly away; but also all that manner of dispensation being more obscure and less spiritual, and less powerful, all that did end, because the Law and the Prophets did but speak of Christ to come, but John of Christ already come, Behold the lamb of God, &c. so much that word in the Original signifies.

3. At the coming of Christ the Law and the Prophets were as it were taken away, not by abrogation, but by way of excellency, as when the Sun rises, the Stars disappear, and are darkened, and all men's eyes gaze on the Sun. This is a new and a higher and more glorious way of discovery, 2 Cor. 3.10. That which was glorious had no glory, in respect of the glory that excelled, because now Christ was manifested to be more fully that which he was styled to be before, Dan. 8.13. the word Palmoni signifies the wonderful numberer of secrets, or as Junius and Glass. what has innumerable secrets. And there are divers such names given unto Christ in the Scripture, his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, to set forth his nature and his actions, Prov. 30.1. Ithiel and Ucal, &c. The Angel Dan. 9. prays unto Christ to discover unto him how long the Vision concerning the daily Sacrifice, and the desolation of the Sanctuary shall be: for as Christ is the head of the Angels, so he is the teacher of the Angels also, and the secrets of the Counsels of God he knows, and he reveals them unto the Angels, in answer to their prayers. Now there being a fuller and a more glorious way of revelation, and a fuller dispensation of Grace, the state of the Old Testament under the Law and the Prophets is to be done away, not by way of Abrogation, but by way of Excellency; and so these Scriptures also I conceive are to be understood, They shall say no more The Lord lives that brought up his people out of the land of Egypt, &c. Not that this mercy should be wholly forgotten, but as it were darkened and obscured by a greater mercy, and a more glorious deliverance: and that place also, They shall no more teach one another, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall be all taught of God from the greatest unto the least: that is, there shall be a more full and glorious way of discovery, that in comparison of that abundance of light, when the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the fullness of Grace, when the weak shall be as David, there shall be no need of those former ways of instructions, but they shall have their teaching more immediately from the Lord: and so that place, There shall be no more need of the light of the Sun and of the Moon, there shall, be a fuller and more glorious light; there shall now seem to be no need of these former ways of instruction by them: and also that place, they shall see his face; not that men shall have the Beatifical vision here, but that there shall be a fuller manifestation of God, insomuch that in comparison of what it was before, it shall be even, as seeing his face in glory; as there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying; not that absolutely there shall be no more, for while there shall be sin there will because of sorrow, and there shall be death till the Resurrection, when the change of them that are found alive at the Lord's coming, shall be to them instead of death; death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed, immediately before the giving up of the Kingdom of Christ unto the Father; but the peace and prosperity of the Church shall be such, all the former persecuting Monarchies being destroyed, that there shall be in comparison of what there was in former times, no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying under persecutions, and groaning and mourning under the cruelties of men no more. And thus you see for all this the Law and the Prophets continue till Heaven and Earth be no more.

[Object. 2] But it is said in this Text, Gal. 3.19. that this subserviency of the Law was but to last till the seed should come, unto whom the promise was made, and afterwards be given in the hand of a Mediator, But till then; and that seed is said to be Christ, and therefore now Christ being come, who is that seed, this subserviency of the Law is ended, for till then it was to last and no longer.

[Answ.] 1. Some would seem to understand this only of the Ceremonial Law, which they say is afterwards said to be a School-master to bring men unto Christ: and so Beza seems to carry it, namely that the School-master is only the Ceremonial Law, (which I conceive our former whole discourse of the use of the Moral Law in this great work of bringing a soul to Christ by discovering of sin, and restraining sin, and showing a man the way of Gospel-obedience, hath fully rectified) but if we consider what is said verse. 12, 13. this will be clearly manifested; for he speaks of that Law that saith, He that doth them shall live in them; and of that Law that saith, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things written in the book of the Law to do them: which cannot be meant of the Ceremonial Law, but of the Moral Law; and therefore if this Interpretation could stand, the answer were easy, that the subserviency of the Ceremonial Law was to end when the seed came, and yet the Moral, the copy of the first Covenant, was still to remain, and might be a servant to the Gospel, and Gospel-ends: but it must be understood of the Moral, and that was the Law that was added till the seed came.

2. Some by the Law understand the whole Pedagogy of Moses in the Ceremonial, Judicial, and Moral Law; and so Beza and Pareus, that way of discovering of the mind of God under the time of the Law, which was to last only till the coming of Christ the promised seed, and all these were added because of transgression, that the Jews might thereby be stirred up to long for Christ to come, and to pray and wait for the consolation of Israel, being shut up under the Law, and this darker and obscurer and less spiritual administration, till Faith should come, that is, the dispensation of the Gospel which was afterward to be revealed, as it is ver. 23. for though the Saints were heirs of the Promises, yet they were during that administration, as it were under the morning twilight, the Sun not being yet risen, as Beza has it; and so by the Law, he understands the same that before we understood, in the continuance of the Law and the Prophets until John, and makes the sense of the words to be the same.

3. Some do conceive the seed to be meant primarily indeed of Christ personal, but yet in the second place of Christ Mystical, Christ with the whole body, of Christ and the Church: the promise being made unto Christ primarily, being primus foederatus, the second Adam, and the Head and Prince of the Covenant; yet so, that as the first Covenant was not made with the first Adam in his person only, but together with him with all his posterity in him, so the Covenant is first made with Christ the second Adam, but yet not with him apart from his body, but with them in him: and so they understand the seed to be not only Christ in himself, though he be primarily meant; but also Christ in his body, all the faithful: and then the meaning seems to be this, that so long as there are any of this seed to come, or to be brought into the body of Christ, and to be continued and kept there, so long there will be this use of the Law, discovering sin, restraining it, and condemning it, that they may with the greater earnestness fly to the city of refuge. And as for those places, Rom. 6.14. and Rom. 7. it is spoken of Adam as under the Law as a Covenant, and as a Husband irritating, strengthening, and stirring up sin in us, sin taking occasion by the Commandment; for so he saith, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the Law; as a husband stirring up sin in you, and thereby bringing forth fruit unto death; but under grace, as pardoning, and so healing corruption, and subduing sin, and breaking the power thereof; and so you are not under the Law provoking sin, and strengthening it, but under Grace healing, sanctifying, and subduing it: Gal. 5.18. As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the law, irritating sin, and forcibly compelling unto duty. Thus a man may be freed from the Law in these evil effects of it, which are but fruits of the Curse, even upon the Law of God itself, accidentally, as it meets with a corrupt nature, and yet the Law remain unto those good ends for which it was given in the hand of a Mediator for our Salvation, and to advance the Grace of the Gospel.

[Use 1] §. 4. First then it is for Instruction in several particulars: 1. It shows us the great end of God in publishing the Law, it was for the Saints, and for their good only. The Law was published by Christ, he was the Law-giver, of him Moses received lively Oracles; and Heb. 12. the end and giving of the Law was in reference unto the seed to whom the promise was made. As there is a double end of the Gospel, so there is of the Law. (1) That which was intended principally and by itself, and that only was Salvation both in the Law and in the Gospel, to advance the ends of the Gospel. (2) There is an accidental end, that which follows not from the nature of the thing but from the evil disposition of the subject, and so unto all unregenerate men the Law doth discover their sins, and make them out of measure sinful; doth irritate and stir up their corruptions, and so doth heighten and increase them, and their condemnation for them, as the Gospel doth: but yet we may say of the Law as Christ does of himself, That he came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world by him might be saved: yet by accident he did condemn the world, being despised, and set for the falling as well as the rising of many in Israel; but the proper and principal intent of his coming, was salvation and not damnation; so here. I may say of the Law, as it's said of Christ, had there not been some souls that Christ did intend to life, he had never come into the world; so had there not been a seed unto whom the Law was to be a servant, the Lord had never given the Law, never renewed it, for there was condemnation enough in the world before, and death enough before, and the wrath of God did abound upon men, the Gospel brings it not upon them, but leaves them under it; neither was it God's intention in the Law, to bring them under further condemnation, though it does through their corruption prove so; but had it not been for the seed, the Law had never been added as a handmaid to the Gospel: so that all the use of the Law, and the discoveries of it to unregenerate men, they do owe to the Saints; for it was for their sakes only that Christ did reveal it again to the world.

2. See the folly of those that cry down the preaching of the Law; it was published by Christ the foundation of the Gospel, and the only Gospel Preacher, the great Evangelist, as Gloss. and Jerome do expound the word, Isa. 41.27. and yet the Law is dispensed unto the seed by, and in the hand of this Mediator; he that loved this seed so, that he laid down his life for it, abased his glory, and veiled his Godhead; yet he did as a fruit of his love unto this seed, deliver the Law unto them, and in the days of his flesh interpreted it; and will you slight his Love? will you say it is unnecessary? He that appointed the city of refuge did as necessarily appoint an avenger of blood to pursue, or else men would not have fled unto that city. Will you say this is preaching damnation, and driving men to despair? was it not preached by Christ, whose heart was so full of love and thoughts of Grace, and who wept over Jerusalem? he preached the Law, and published it for his seeds sake. Truly when we preach the Law we preach Salvation, and not damnation intentionally; the Lord did deli • er the Law for Salvation, to serve the ends of the Gospel, and so we do preach it; and • et if it proves not so, it is by accident, by reason of the corruption of the heart of man; • he damnation that it meets withal is thence. Therefore see your folly, and be ashamed of your ignorance: It is a high act of Grace, and one of the greatest privileges that Believers have by Christ, that the Law is a servant to the Gospel, and yet that Mercy you despise, and that Grace you do not love; you are to be ashamed of your folly and unthankfulness herein.

3. It should teach Ministers that the Law must be preached to the same intent that it was revealed and delivered in the hand of a Mediator, and to the ends of the Gospel, and that not only the curses and threatenings of the Law, but the precepts and duties of the Law also. In the curses and threatenings of the Law our Divines have usually sent men to Christ to bear those; but duties have been pressed, though not without Christ, but that a sufficiency is to be had in him, and acceptance from him, yet not laying Christ as the foundation of duties as he should have been, in time past; but men have been pressed to duty without a through discovery of a man's Union with Christ as the ground of his assistance and acceptance, as there should have been, and so men have been put upon duties in a Moral or Legal way, as if they had wrought them by their own strength, and had a power in themselves; though without Christ, by reason of their imperfection, they could not be accepted; and so the way of the Gospel hath not been so clearly discovered, and the subserviency of the Law unto the Gospel-grace, as it should. When the Law is so preached that men are stirred up to seek for Grace in another, and to obey him, and when the Grace of the Gospel is thus offered, as that it enables a man to walk in the way of the precepts of the Law, this is indeed to preach the Gospel; when a man does so publish the Grace thereof that he does also publish the Law as a servant thereunto.

4. See how the heart of God is much in the Salvation of Sinners, and to exalt the Grace of the Gospel, and honor and magnify Mercy: it is now that he would force men to accept of it. If men were left unto themselves, Christ should never be accepted, but die in vain, and not a man ever be saved; though there were a city of refuge, unless there were also an avenger of blood; it is not enough for to offer mercy, a moral persuasion will not do it; but there is without, a Law compelling, breaking, and within there is a spirit drawing, and the drawing of the Father, Joh. 6.44. lies in a great measure in this work of the Law; the Lord bringing the soul so low, that the Blood of Christ, and the Grace of the Gospel is precious, and a man will accept him upon his own terms, and say, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners. Thus is the Son a servant unto the Father, and the Law also a servant to the Son, and put into his hand; and this shows how much the heart of the Lord is on this work, and next to the subjecting of his Son, is the subserviency of the Law thereunto.

[Use 2] It should stir us up to make use of the Law in subserviency to the Gospel; for so long as we are in this life, the ends of the Gospel are not accomplished, there is still sin to be discovered and restrained, and condemned, there are inward principles (the Law in the heart) to be perfected, and there are duties in which men are to be directed in their whole course; and so long as the ends of the Gospel are not attained, so long the Law is still to be used: and this is that mentioned 1 Tim. 1.8. The Law is good if a man use it lawfully: that is, when it is used by us as it was delivered and published by Christ; not for Justification, so as to exact righteousness and acceptation from it, not to set it up against Christ, and the Grace of the Gospel, to make the way of the Gospel void, as the Jews did, Rom. 10.3. but in the hand of a Mediator, and for the ends of it; and they are the great things of the Law; it is the Royal Law, and therefore it is a dangerous thing to abase it, and therein to take the name of God in vain. And as to neglect the Salvation of the Gospel, so to despise the convictions or instructions of the Law. When the Law is used to discover sin, and to keep a man always low and humble in the sense of his own vileness, it makes him set a high price upon Christ, and the Mercy and Grace of God in him, and makes him to keep close to him, to keep in the city of refuge, because the avenger of blood is without the gate to expect him; and that which did at first bring a man in, will keep him in; for Christ is made a curse for us: There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And when a man comes once to delight in the Law of God, it is sweeter to him than honey, and dearer to him than thousands of Gold and Silver, upon this ground, because it furthers the Salvation of the Gospel: as Paul says, I delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man; so far as a man hath an inward principle of conformity to the Law, and is regenerate, so far the Law is his delight; the more a man is sanctified, the more precious and sweet it is to him; the Commandments of Christ are not grievous, but he doth willingly take up the yoke of Christ, because it is sweet and light, and profitable. There is a sweetness in obedience as well as an ease, and there is a profit also; for there is a fruit unto holiness here, as well as the end everlasting life; and when the Law does bring a man down, to follow the Lamb whither soever he goes, and to walk humbly with his God, and say, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? this is properly for a man to use the Law lawfully, for the Law is added to the Gospel, as the Rule is to the work-man's hand; and the yoke of Gospel-obedience is nothing else but the duties that the Law requires, as being the servant unto the Gospel; the way of the Gospel is still the way of thy Precepts, O God.

[Use 3] It is also for Consolation, it is the greatest ground of comfort, and the greatest gift of God, even next unto Christ and the second Covenant, that he hath made the Law a servant thereunto. It's much that the Lord has given us all the Creatures, and they are all our servants, Angels and Principalities, and Powers, all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollo; and the curse of the Law also, persecutions, afflictions, death, are all sanctified; but above all that he has made the Law a servant to the Gospel, For the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law; all is from the Law, and all our fear is from the Law, and to have the Law of God to charge sin upon a man is the great ground of a man's terror, because it comes to the Conscience with the Authority and Majesty of the great King, the highest Judge and Law-giver; now to have this Law made a servant, and in subordination unto all a man's spiritual and eternal welfare, it is a very high ground of a man's consolation; and so a man under the second Covenant loseth only that which is evil in the first Covenant, but all the good of the first Covenant he attains under the second; whatever good the first Covenant can do him; he hath that also purchased by Christ for him, through the overplus of the Grace, the superabundant Grace of the second Covenant, that we may say Grace abounded much more; thus, Out of the eater came meat, and out of the strong came sweetness; and that which was the ground of the greatest terror in the world, a man can now claim as his portion, talk with as his counselor, and feed upon as the sweetest of all his delights, that his soul is even ravished with it. Thus the Lord has subjected the Law to the Gospel, and do you rejoice in its Ministration.

Thus have we brought this large Tract to an end, which is the Key of all the whole Treasury of God: wherein you have heard, (1) That God in the Creation did deal with man in a Covenant-way. (2) The foederati, the Covenanters were Adam and his Posterity. (3) The terms of this Covenant were perfect, personal, and perpetual Obedience. (4) The Condition on God's part was Life Spiritual, Temporal and Eternal. (5) This Covenant Adam brake, not only for himself but for all his posterity. (6) That the Curse of the Covenant broken is death spiritual, temporal and eternal. (7) That the Covenant of Works is not abolished by the fall, but all unregenerate men stand under it still. (8) That this is to every unregenerate man a desirable Condition. (9) That under this Covenant all unregenerate men are for Irritation, Coaction and Condemnation. (10) There is a Translation out of this Covenant, and an abolishment of it to all that are regenerate. (11) The Subordination of it to the Gospel.

SECT. I. The Person who makes this Covenant, Jehovah, and why he will deal with all in a Covenant way.

T HE Covenant of Works as made with man in his Creation, as violated by the Fall, and as cancelled in his Regeneration, and as subordinate and made subservient to the Covenant of Grace, we have seen in the former Discourse; and we now come to consider the nature of the second and better Covenant, which all the Saints in Heaven are saved by, which man can never break, and the righteousness whereof sin can never spend.

There are in Scripture four eminent public persons with whom this Covenant was made, which are set down in two instances in the Scripture: (1) With Adam, where it is very darkly represented. (2) With Noah, and with his Sons, which is a branch of the Covenant of Grace, and is so brought in, Isa. 54.9. This is the waters of Noah to me. (3) With Abraham, and to him was the clearest manifestation of it, who it may be was therefore called as a special term of honor the Friend of God, because the Lord imparted secrets to him in a more evident familiar manner than he had done with the Saints of old, as a man does with his friend, Luk. 1.73. it is his Oath that he sware to Abraham, to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made; and if you be Christ's you are Abraham's seed; and Gal. 4.22, 23, 24. Abraham's Family is made a type and a shadow of the two Covenants, and the durable generation of men under them. Abraham had two Sons, which things are an Allegory, they are the two Covenants, &c. and therefore Mic. 7. ult. it is mercy unto Abraham, and truth unto Jacob, because in Abraham after a sort the Promise and the Covenant did begin, and therefore it is mercy in making it, but it is truth in keeping of it. (4) With David, Psal. 89.3. I have made a Covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. And Isa. 55.3. I will make an everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David; and Act. 13.34. you will find it again repeated; and therefore is Christ called the Son of David, and also David that shall be King over them. The Tabernacle of David is said to be raised up in the Primitive times; but there is a time coming that God will raise up the throne of David also, when that promise shall be fulfilled, I shall give him the Throne of his father David, of his Kingdom there shall be no end: and when that ( Dan. 7.14.) shall be accomplished, He shall be brought unto the Antient of days, and shall receive a Kingdom, after the four persecuting Monarchies shall be taken down, which we see not accomplished; when that Scripture Rev. 11.17. shall be fulfilled, That the Kingdoms of the Earth shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord. His they are now as he is the King of Nations, but they shall be so also as he is the King of Saints; and they shall subscribe unto the Lord, and his name shall be called upon them, &c.

I have made choice of this Scripture, as setting forth the Covenant made with Abraham, or rather renewed which God had made fourteen years before, but herein gave a more full expression of his entering into Covenant with him. Wherein you may observe three things, (1) That there is a Covenant, the Lord will deal with Abraham in a Covenant way, the Lord will bring him into the bond of the Covenant. (2) The Author of this Covenant, Jehovah, the Lord God all-sufficient; and therefore he doth not here call it Abraham's Covenant, but it is my Covenant. (3) The fountain from which in God this Covenant does flow, And I will make my Covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. This Covenant is a free gift, and an act merely of free grace, and so much doth Abraham acknowledge immediately; for he falls upon his face to show that he could never be thankful enough. The property of a thankful soul is this, the more mercy it receives from God, and the more boldness it may have with God, and with the greater confidence he may come to him, with the greater reverence he does walk towards the Lord; for there is nothing that a gracious heart fears more than goodness, and he is lowest in himself when the Lord exalts him highest by his Grace. And this doth the Lord repeat three times, I will make a Covenant with thee, and my Covenant shall be with thee; and verse. 7. I will establish my Covenant with thee; I will cause my Covenant to arise; that is, I will raise up such a relation between me and thee, I will take thee into Covenant with myself, and I will enter into Covenant with thee; and this he doth repeat so often, (as Mercer does observe) partly to confirm the Faith of Abraham in the promised mercy, partly to set forth the greatness of the mercy, which no words were sufficient to express; also the repetition does stir up and awaken Abraham yet further to consider of the greatness of the mercy of God to him in it, and the greatness also of his engagement to God thereby. And from hence the first observation that I shall give you is from looking upon Abraham's Covenant as being the same with that God made with all the faithful, Gal. 3. ult.

Doct. After man was fallen and had broken the first Covenant, the Lord out of his free Grace hath made with his people a second Covenant, and a better Covenant. In the handling hereof are four things to be cleared: (1) The Person that makes the Covenant, who it is, Jehovah El-shaddai, (2) That God will after the fall, as well as before, deal with his Elect in a Covenant-way. (3) The Lord hath the first and the chief hand in it, I will do it, I, even I; and therefore he doth everywhere call it my Covenant. (4) That the fountain of this Covenant is from God's free Grace.

1. The Person that makes it, the Author of this Covenant; and here there are two things, (1) That all the persons in the Trinity do enter into Covenant, and thereby bind themselves to make themselves over unto the Elect; and that will appear to you by these Considerations: (1) They have all of them the same nature and essence, the same will, and have all a hand in the same acts; as Creation is the act of them all, so they do all concur in making of the Covenant, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (2) This is a Covenant of peace and reconciliation, and the Son and the Spirit are as truly offended with the sin of man, and had a hand in the first Covenant, and their authority was as truly despised in the first transgression, as the authority of the Father; and a dishonor was put upon them also, and therefore there was as much need that they should be reconciled and enter into a Covenant with man for his Salvation, as God the Father. Yea some Divines conceive, that the first transgression of Angels and men was chiefly against the Son; and some of our own Divines (as Reinolds in Psal. 110. pag. 421.) say, That the first sin of man was principally committed against the Son, it being an affectation of that which did properly belong to him, to be like unto God in Wisdom; and also in this was sown the seed of the unpardonable sin which was to be the fatal sin under the second Covenant: and therefore as the mercy was the more glorious that they would undertake Offices in this Covenant for reconciliation, so there was the greater necessity that they should also join and be taken into the Covenant. (3) If we consider the person that does transact this business and strike up this Covenant with Abraham, who though he did it as the Word of God in the name of all the persons, yet it was the Son who did immediately speak in it, as Glassius expounds Job 33.3. the word is there, The breath of the Almighty; and Psal. 91.1. where the same word is used, it is the shadow of the Almighty, &c. (4) If we consider that the Son speaks of himself in Covenant as well as his Father; for it is by this Covenant that the Lord is the God of Abraham, because therein he did promise so to be: now Exod. 3.2, 6. the Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses, and saith, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, &c. and the Angel of the Lord is by Scripture plainly proved to be God the Son; and it's generally (or for the most part) consented unto by all Divines, ancient and modern; and it may be that having the great hand in striking up the Covenant, he is therefore called the Angel of the Covenant.

2. Though all the persons enter into Covenant with the Saints, yet the person that the Scripture says we do chiefly enter into Covenant with, and that hath the main and first hand therein, is God the Father.

1. Because it is said in Scripture to be a Covenant of peace and reconciliation, and therefore it doth suppose an enmity and a war. Now though sin was committed against all the Persons, yet the suite against sinners in Scripture does chiefly run in God the Father's name, as in all Societies there is usually one in whose name all their suites are commenced▪ therefore 2 Cor. 5.18, 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself; he speaks 〈◊〉 of God the Father, who does reconcile us unto himself by Jesus Christ; and therefore we are said to be reconciled to God, and the work of the reconciliation of a sinner Christ calls his Fathers business; and he is said to be an Advocate with the Father, 1 Joh. 2.1. Sin is an offense to all the Persons, they having all a hand in man's Creation, and all of them joining in giving man a Law, and entering into Covenant with him in his Creation, but in Scripture the suite against sin is said to run everywhere in the Fathers name, and our reconciliation is unto him; and therefore it is the Father that has the great hand in the Covenant as the person reconciled.

2. Because in the Scripture the other Persons have their peculiar Offices, which they have voluntarily undertaken in this Covenant to reconcile men unto God, and therefore both are said to be sent, which is a term of Office, the Father sends the Son, and the Son from the Father sends the Spirit, Joh. 14. When the Comforter is come which I will send from the Father. Now Christ is the Mediator of the Covenant, Heb. 12.24. and the Spirit the seal of the Covenant, Ephes. 1.13. the Covenant is the Covenant of Promise; and the Spirit of the Covenant is the Spirit of Promise, and the Person that transacts all from each Person within us in reference to this Covenant; as Christ does all with God without us in reference to this Covenant. Thence in Prayer we are said chiefly to pray to God the Father; and Christ teacheth us to say, Our Father, &c. not that we are not to pray to all the Persons, but because the other Persons have undertaken their peculiar Offices in reference to the Prayers of the Saints; the Spirit within us as a spirit of supplication indites our Prayers, and stirs up affections answerable to our Petitions, and groans unutterable; and Christ as our High Priest receives this Incense, and offers it, and as the great Master of Requests tenders our Prayers unto the Father, and they are received out of the Angels hand; therefore in Scripture we are chiefly directed to pray unto the Father: so though all the Persons, Father, Son, and holy Spirit, do enter into Covenant with the Saints, yet the Covenant in Scripture is said to be chiefly made with God the Father, because of the Offices that the other Persons have undertaken in the administration of this Covenant, and the Grace thereof.

3. It will appear by this, because all things in this Covenant are from him, and the other Persons in all the Offices that they undertake do it by his appointment, the original of all is in the Father.

1. The plot and the project was his to reconcile sinners to himself by a second Covenant, and all that the Son does therein is not his own will, but the will of him that sent him; and it is by this will of the Father that we are sanctified: the original and foundation of all the benefits that we have from Christ in this Covenant is from this will of the Father; the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do. The plot and platform was by him laid, and as (with reverence be it spoken) David said, the platform of the building of the Temple was shown unto him, and the design was his, though Solomon his Son built it; so it is here, the plot and the form was laid by the Father, but it was the Son that did build the Church.

2. The Person with whom he would make this Covenant, he did design, Joh. 17.6. Thine they were and thou gavest them me: And he shall give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. And therefore there is God's book of Life, and the Lambs book, and they do exactly answer one another, the latter being but a transcript only out of the former. The foundation of the Lord remains sure, and hath this seal, &c.

3. He doth appoint how much Grace and how much Glory he will dispense unto everyone of them by this Covenant, the Lord has made Christ the Treasurer, 1 Joh. 5.11. and as it were a Feoffee in trust, but Christ does not dispense Grace unto all alike: there is a fullness of the age of the stature of Christ; but all Saints do not attain to the same stature in Grace, neither shall they in Glory, the difference is in the appointment of the Father; for in dispensing of Grace as well as in meriting of the same, Christ is but the Fathers servant, and does his will. To sit at my right hand and at my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

4. It was the Father that employed Christ in this great work, to be the Mediator of this Covenant, he did not take it of himself, and of his own motion, but as the Father enters into Covenant, so he appoints the Mediator of the Covenant, Isa. 49.8. He gives him as a Covenant, and he did call him to be a Priest; therefore you read, Mat. 12.18. My servant whom I have chosen.

5. He did confirm this Covenant by an Oath, and thereby made it unchangeable; or else it could never have been. And there is a double Oath, (1) An Oath to Christ, Psal. 110.4. making him a Priest by an Oath: (2) An Oath to all his federates, Heb. 6.17, 18.

6. He has delighted in this Covenant, and spent infinite thoughts upon it; and it is therefore called the pleasure of the Lord. How many are thy thoughts to us ward, &c. Psal. 40.5. it is the speech of Christ unto his Father, as appears afterwards, If I should speak of thy thoughts unto us, they are more than can be expressed: and all these thoughts are in reference unto this Covenant, and his thoughts of peace towards the Elect, which he delighted in from everlasting. And by all this it will appear, that though all the persons be in Covenant with the Saints under the second Covenant, yet it is chiefly God the Father.

§. 2. God will after the fall deal with his people in a Covenant-way: though mankind did prove unfaithful, and break the Covenant of their Creation, and so should have perished forever under the curse of it, Covenant breaking being the great aggravation of all transgression; and therefore though it was an act of grace and mere goodness before, yet now a man would have thought the Lord should have tried man in a way of Covenant no more, but only have ruled him in a way of Sovereignty, and given him a command, and if he did not obey, to have taken him away as he saw good; but God will deal with man in a Covenant-way.

1. The Lord will do it, thereby to make known his mercy and his truth, and he doth manifest both these in the Covenant; there is mercy in making the Covenant, and mercy infinitenitely the more, because it is now with a perfidious and sinful people, whose hearts have not been steadfast with the Lord; and there is truth and faithfulness in keeping it, and there was no way for God to show forth his faithfulness but this, by continuing a Covenant, and to be constant in it; from a man's conversion unto his glorification, for spiritual mercies, and for temporal, he is always mindful of his Covenant; he has commanded his Covenant forever, that is, to stand fast forever; his Faithfulness is as the Mountains, and as the Ordinances of Heaven, and you may as soon change the one as the other: and this Faithfulness under the second Covenant is so much the more seen, because of our unfaithfulness unto him; when the unfaithfulness of man cannot make the faithfulness of God of none effect

2. Because the Lord will honor his Son as the second Adam; and the glory of the first Adam was a Covenant and an Image, and so shall the second Adam be. And he must have a seed also to whom these shall be conveyed, In whom he shall see his seed, and prolong his days, as Psal. 72. and Christ is his Son in both generation and succession, naturally, as they bear his Image, and legally as they stand under his Covenant, and the Lord will honor the second Adam as he did the first; in both these the Lord having made Adam the type of him that was to come.

3. That hereby the Lord might honor the Creature; the Covenant is the staff of beauty, because it is the great beauty and glory of any people that God hath taken them into Covenant, specially if we consider the second Covenant to be Matrimonial, and the Lord doth thereby betroth him unto himself in loving kindness, and mercy and faithfulness, as Hos. 2.18. the great honor of the people of Israel, Deut. 26.18. was, that they were a people peculiar unto God; thence he is called the God of Israel: and this is the great honor of the Saints, which makes them more excellent than their neighbors, because they have God so nigh them to be their God in Covenant.

4. That it may be the greater obligation unto men to obedience, Gen. 17.7. I will establish my Covenant with thee, thou shalt therefore keep my Covenant. And it is the great answer unto all Temptations, I am in Covenant with the Lord, as a woman that is married, it is a sufficient answer unto all other suitors, I am already married unto another. Je • . 13.11. As a girdle to the loins of a man, so have I caused the whole house of Israel to cleave unto me, that they might be unto me for a name and for a praise. The Lord bound them to him by Covenant, and it is a great aggravation of sin, that the Lord loves us and we forget the Covenant of our God; therefore Adultery is aggravated above all other sins, Hos. 3.2. A woman beloved of her husband, yet an adulteress, how abominable is it!

5. To sweeten obedience, and make it the more free and voluntary; when a man takes it upon himself and gives the hand to the Lord, 2 Chron. 30.7, 8. which was the custom amongst men, when they entered into Covenant, and that men might see that their good always goes along with their duty, and that God that did command to obey, did promise to reward, and therefore did it not ex indigentia sed potentia, out of indigence, but from power; Christ's goodness extends not unto God as munificentia, by way of munificence. Austin puts the difference between man and God in this, as the Earth drinks up the water, so doth the Sun-beams also, one out of its own necessity, but the other out of its power; so God requires duty out of bounty for your good always, that he may reward it; Grace does not destroy but raise and rectify self-love; Christ in his obedience had a glory set before him, and so had Moses a respect to the recompense of reward. There is a love of reward which is lawful, when it is not this that is the only thing that launcheth a man forth in a duty, but only fills his sails; but when it is mercenary love and has respect to nothing in the duty but the loaves, this is sinful; and it is this Covenant that makes the yoke of Christ easy and profitable, having an eye to the exceeding great and precious promises, which engages a man to have respect to all the Commandments; for the Lord doth delight to allure men into ways of holiness and duty.

Lastly, the Lord will have it so: (1) That by the promises of this Covenant, he may sanctify a man, change his image, and make him partaker of the Divine nature, and that everyone of them may carry the soul continually to Christ as streams to the fountain, in whom they are Yea and Amen. (2) That this may be the ground of a working faith, and a lively hope, and a fervent prayer, all which are grounded only upon the promises of this Covenant; for had there not been a Covenant between God and us, there had been no place for faith, no ground for hope, and no room for the prayer of faith, which only is bottomed upon a promise. (3) Whatever is done in this Covenant it is God that has the first and chief hand therein, and we do not enter into Covenant with him, but he enters into Covenant with us first; though the Covenant be mutual, yet it is called the Lord's Covenant, as Christ faith unto his Disciples, Joh. 15.16. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you: they did choose Christ (as every believing soul doth) but the love first began on Christ's part; and so it does also in this Covenant, 1 Joh. 4.10. Not that we loved him, but he loved us, and me love him because he loved us first: so we do not begin the Covenant with God, but the Lord doth begin with us; and the motion came from him alone. God the Father is not passive in it, but active, he was content that Christ should reconcile us to him. As it was to David an acceptable service of Joab in reconciling his Son Absalom to him, because his heart did run out to him; so God the Father is active in this work, he is in Christ reconciling the world; and all that Christ does is by the Fathers appointment; and he is his servant in it, and it is the pleasure of the Lord, and he doth love to have it so; and had not he employed Christ in this work, there had never been a reconciliation between God and man. As it is true by our Union with Christ we are joined to, or as the word signifies, glued to the Lord; yet the Union doth begin on Christ's part first, and Christ unites himself to us by the Spirit, before we can by our faith be united to him: so it is in the Covenant also, it does begin on God's part; and as it was the Woman's great dishonor to be first in the transgression, so it is the Lord's great glory to be first in the reconciliation. And therefore when Adam, after his fall, stood trembling, and could expect nothing but a sentence of condemnation, the Lord was pleased to reveal a new Covenant to him; for the Text saith, he was afraid and he hid himself: so unto Abraham, the motion of a Covenant was from the Lord, and not from Abraham. There is a Grace preceding which works Grace, and there is also a Grace co-operating that acts Grace, but it is preventing Grace that is the first.

§. 3. The main part of this Covenant is transacted by God without us, which will appear if we consider the particulars of it.

1. The Purpose and intention of it, that is in himself, from his own will only; for all is done according to the good pleasure of his will, and he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy: so that the whole purpose and plot of it is in the bosom of God alone, and according to this plot all things are done in this Covenant. As in the Creation all things are done from an Idea in the mind of God, and according unto that platform, as the Temple was built according to the pattern, so in the Covenant also; and therefore Christ is said to come from the bosom of the Father; being from this gracious intention and purpose of God himself from everlasting.

2. He entered into Covenant with Christ the second Adam that he should be the Mediator of the Covenant, and the person that should do all the great works that he had intended in this Covenant: and therefore we read of a promise of eternal life made unto us before the world began; God did not content himself with a purpose, but he added thereto a Promise and Covenant to his Decree, which could not be unto us, because we were not; therefore it must be unto one that did represent our persons, and was looked upon as in our stead; for a purpose might be in himself, but a promise cannot be but unto another; and there was a glory and a posterity that God did promise unto him in this Covenant, and that he would carry Christ through the work that he had to do, as appears afterwards: and therefore Christ says, He is my God, and the lot is fallen to me in a fair ground, which is the speech of Christ; and therefore Prov. 8.22. he says, The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way. The Covenant that he made with Christ was the first of his going forth unto the Creature, and upon this were grounded those true delights of Christ mentioned, Prov. 8.30, 31. And my delights were with the sons of men.

3. By virtue of this Covenant are all those Legal acts past in God. In the work of Redemption there are some acts spiritually natural, and they are acts of God within us, which do imply a real and physical change, when our natures and principles are changed, and of unholy are made holy: but there are also some Moral acts, and they are acts of God upon us; as if a man be a guilty person, or accused as such, and there be an act of pardoning and accepting, this is a Moral act, an act upon him; and if he be a sick person, and there be a Physician to cure him, or blind, and his eyes be opened, this is a natural act in him; and if a man be a captive and he be made a free man by a ransom paid, this is a change of his state; the one is in Justification, and the other in Sanctification; the one is mutatio moralis, and the other naturalis. Now the main acts of God in this Covenant, and the main of the Covenant consists in acts done without us and upon us; as by sovereign imputation he doth count our sins Christ's, and he makes to meet upon him the iniquities of us all; he died as the second Adam, and all the Elect died in him, and so his death took place for all the Elect that ever were, or shall be, by virtue of the Covenant of God, and the sovereign imputation of God immediately after the fall; therefore is he said, To be a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; that is, in respect of efficacy grounded upon the imputation of God, who can call things that are not as if they were; and so all the sins of the old world and the ancient Saints were pardoned the sins that were past through the forbearance of God: and so Christ rose as a public person, as a second Adam, and he being justified all the Elect were justified, though there be an actual Justification when they do believe, and so with him we ascend and sit together with him in Heavenly places, &c. And as he is made sin for us, so we are made the righteousness of God in him; as our sins are laid upon him, so his righteousness is imputed unto us, and truly accepted for us as our Surety. For the debt paid by a Surety is in the esteem of the Law said to be paid by the debtor, and he for that cause is acquitted. And so it is in Adoption, Now we are the sons of God, that is, God accepts us as Children and Sons, and because we are Sons he has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our heart, we being by God counted members of Christ, and so by our Union with him we do partake with him in his filliation; and all these are acts of God upon us, but without us, and therefore the main benefits and acts of the Covenant are transacted by God without us; and that is as truly and as perfectly done now as ever it shall be.

4. There is not a soul that is brought into this Covenant but it is by God the Father; he hath said, I will bring them into the bond of the Covenant. No man can come to me except God the Father draw him. What is the meaning and intent of the preaching of the Gospel without, and all the tenders and offers of Christ to the soul by the Spirit within? It is only to this end, that they might be a people in Covenant with God; and all things that Christ doth, he doth as God the Fathers servant, to draw men into Covenant with him, that by Christ we should come unto God. The expression of drawing does set forth unto us its efficacy and certainty; and therefore drawing and coming are put together, to show that man by nature is not willing but an enemy unto this Covenant, but ex • olentibus volentes facit, he makes men of unwilling willing; he does powerfully work as if he did draw, and men do as certainly come as they that are drawn: Grace works strongly, and therefore God is said to draw, and it works sweetly, and therefore men are said to come; it is an act of power in God, and yet an act of will in man; it is a noble thing to consider how man is drawn to God: never any man did come into the bond of the Covenant but he that was before drawn by the Father; and there is an Almighty power that goes to the work, even the same power that raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead to glory.

5. All things that are within us or performed by us, he has undertaken to work in us to will and to do; the beginning of it and the finishing of it belongs to him; and here lies the happiness of the Saints, that in the Covenant God has undertaken both parts, and therefore the Covenant doth commonly run, I will be their God, so shall they be my people. He doth undertake for us, as well as for himself, he doth undertake that he will be a good husband, and you shall be a good wife; and in this lies the great blessing of the second Covenant, and the Grace thereof. It is true, that the passive part is ours; and there are some acts that do belong to us properly, we believe and we repent, but it is he that works in us to believe and repent of his good pleasure. Nos agimus sed acti; nos volumus, sed ipse facit ut velimus, We act but as acted by him; we will, but he makes us to will. Aust.

6. We are kept in the Covenant by him alone: he brings us within the bond of the Covenant, and he doth also keep us there, Jer. 31.33.