A Discourse of the Two Covenants

SECT. II. God in the Covenant has made over all his Attributes.

§. 1. LET us now come unto the first thing to be considered in God, and that is his Divine Essence: there is a twofold discovery, a double manifestation of God that the Scripture speaks of, the face and the back parts of God: God's face is his Essence; for that is to see him as he is, we shall see him face to face, which is the vision that the Saints and Angels have of God in Heaven; for their Angels behold the face of your Father in Heaven, Mat. 18.10. And this is that in which the happiness of rational creatures doth consist, it is this which destroys sin, and perfects grace, and makes the creature impeccable: our conformity unto God in holiness and happiness is grounded upon our vision of him, 1 Joh. 3.2. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is: and it's true, that this is also promised by God unto his people in this promise, to be their God in fruition, as will afterwards appear; for this promise is never fully accomplished till we come to Heaven, and yet even then we shall not find out the Almighty to perfection; for an infinite Being can never be comprehended by a finite understanding. It's the happiness of God to know himself to perfection, We shall know him sufficiently for our perfection, but we shall never be able to know him according unto his perfection; but the knowledge of God in his Essence doth not agree unto a man's present state, the imperfection whereof is set forth by a threefold similitude, 1 Cor. 13.12. (1) of a glass, (2) of a riddle, (3) it is answerable to the knowledge of a child, of the things of a man. Therefore the knowledge that we have of God in this life is not of his essence or his face, but of his back parts, non sicut est, sed sicut vult, non as he is, but as he wills. Bern. And the back parts of God are those Attributes that he is pleased to express of himself in the Scripture, by which he is made known, either viâ negationis, in a way of negation, as he is infinite, immortal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable; or else viâ causalitatis, in a way of causality, as he is holy, and merciful, and just, and wise, &c. These being excellencies in the creature are attributed unto God, as being wrought by him; and therefore must needs be in him in a more glorious and transcendent manner, than they can be in any creature. This is a knowledge of God suitable unto this life, and it is an interest in God that is attainable in this life, God has made over himself to his people in all his Attributes.

[Doctrine.] Observe hence, That the Lord in the Covenant of grace has made over unto his people all the Attributes of his Divine Nature. Here for the opening of it we must show, (1) That it is so, that God's Attributes are made over; (2) That this is peculiar to the second Covenant, and is the Saints privilege or portion; (3) The manner of making them over, how they are in God, and how a man may conclude that they belong to us. (4) To what end they are made over unto the Saints. (5) What a glorious revenue such have who have an interest in the Attributes of God, and how infinitely more it is than a man's interest in all the promises of God, and all the creatures of God for his inheritance. Lastly, the application of all unto ourselves.

1. That the Lord has made over all his Attributes unto the Saints. And that will appear by these arguments or demonstrations. 1. The Lord is said in Scripture to be the portion of his people, their lot, and their inheritance: so the Church, Lam. 3.24. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. And it is the same claim, and in the same way that Christ made unto God, Psal. 16.5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. The word signifies to divide into parts, as the land of Canaan was divided by several lots, and every man had his share: and thus it is here, there is a division and a distribution made, all ungodly men have their portion out of God, because they are not in Covenant with him, and they have their portion in this life and in the things of this life: Son remember that in thy life time thou hadst thy good things; but in this a Saint is not satisfied, he will not be put off with this worlds goods: as Luther says, Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari, I greatly protested I will not be so satisfied. And the Lord says, I am thy exceeding great reward: the word in the Original doth signify premium laboris, the reward of thy labor, &c. and the Hebrews having no Superlatives, do express them by an Adjective and an Adverb; and so it is here 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 exceeding great, and it's as much as to say, thy greatest reward. There are variety of rewards that God gives unto all his laborers, even in this life; though it be true, as Manasseh Ben Israel has observed, That this life is mundus laboris, the world of labor, and the world to come retributionis, of reward; yet the reward is begun in this life. There is no man that shall labor for God in vain, no man shall shut his door, or open it for nothing; but yet God doth give many things as a reward unto those to whom he doth never give himself, because there are many that do work for God, that do never give themselves unto God: and therefore Jehu shall have a Kingdom, and Nebuchadnezzar shall have Egypt for his hire, &c. they have their reward from God, but yet the Lord himself is not their reward. And even the people of God have many great blessings from the Lord, as the reward of their services; for the Apostle Paul says, All things are yours: but yet the greatest of all their rewards, and that without which all the rest were nothing, lies in this, that the Lord is their God. Now how doth God become the portion and reward of his people in this life, but as he has revealed himself. There is a discovery of God that is beyond the capacity of grace in this life, and the people of God by virtue of this promise may rejoice in the hope of it, as Rom. 5.2. but yet they cannot possess it in this life; but as the Lord has revealed himself to his people in this life, so he hath made over himself unto them. Now the great discovery of God being in the Attributes of the Divine Nature, it's in thi • that he has made over himself unto his people: this is the portion Christ had, and his reward, and ours also, by virtue of the same Covenant.

2. This will appear also if we consider the Promises are, that we shall have all in God; He that overcomes shall inherit all things, I will be his God; the Lord is his Inheritance, and he that has God he doth inherit all things, he shall have a hundred-fold more in this life, that forsakes any comfort of it for God, in this present time: Now a man cannot understand this formaliter, formally, but eminenter, eminently, he shall have that in God that shall exceed all this, if they were a hundred times multiplied; and so the Lord is a Sun, and a Shield, and how is all this to be understood, but that we have all in God? It's true, that a Christian has all things in promises, but yet the promises are not the root of his inheritance, but there is something that is a root, and is the foundation of all the promises, and that is the Attributes of the Divine Nature, and the goodness and faithfulness of God, &c. which I conceive also is the meaning of that, Isai. 2.6. and last: Come my people, enter into your Chambers, &c. it's referred unto the mind and the state of the Soul, and so it doth signify pacatum animi statum, the quiet state of the mind: But I conceive this is not all the meaning, that the Soul is quiet as in its Chambers of refuge, in the time of the greatest trouble and unquietness, but as Forer hath it, Ne solliciti essetis de rerum visibilium vicissitudine, sed de Deo, &c. be not solicitous about visible things, but about God: And the Chambers in which the Soul only rests, are the Chambers of Promises, and of Providences; For upon all the Glory there shall be a defense; but the Attributes of God are the secrets of his presence in them both, so that the people of God have all in him, as there are attributes in him that answer unto all their conditions.

3. So much the several relations in which God stands to his People do imply; the Lord is said to be unto them a Father, I will be their Father, and they shall be my Sons and Daughters; and he is said to be their Husband, Thy Maker is thy Husband; and their Friend, as he was Abraham 's Friend, and he was called the Friend of God; and the terms of friendship are mutual; and it is the sweetest relation; a true friend is as a man's own soul. Now what do all these relations import amongst the Creatures, but this, that answerably to the Wisdom and the Power, and the Mercy, and the Love that is in me, saith God, so will I lay them all out for you, as the duties or offices of my relation do require; and we know amongst men, relations are great obligations, and they do carry with them vast affections; they are maxima efficaciae, of greatest efficace, as the School-men speak: therefore though it be less to say, I will be thy Father, thy Husband, or thy Friend, than it is to say, I will be thy God, because this imports an Infinite Being; yet it is as much, he being a God to stand in these relations, as if he should have said, I will be thy Father, and Husband, and Friend, after the manner of a God, whatever there is in infinite wisdom, and in infinite power, and in infinite goodness or holiness, to dispense, it shall be laid out for thee, suitable unto the relation in which I stand unto thee; for though men in their relations act weakly as men, yet in the relations which God stands in to his People he doth act infinitely, and as it becomes a God.

4. It will appear also by the expressions in Scripture, that the Saints have interest in several Attributes of God, and from their interest in some of them, we may conclude their interest in all, for God is not divided; Integram salutem à Deo diviso sperare non possumus, we may not hope for an entire salvation from a divided God, Psal. 59.10. he is called not only the God of Mercy, as he is commonly, but the God of my Mercy; so of all the Mercy that was in God, David lays claim to it as his Mercy; it's in God indeed subjective, but yet it is mine, even all the Mercy that is in God, and he is the God of my Mercy: Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; and the Apostle's exhortation is, Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; the meaning is, that very Omnipotence that is in God, is by the Covenant on God's part, so made over unto his people, that it becomes as effectually theirs unto all the ends and intents thereof, as if they themselves were the subjects of it; and the meaning of the Apostle doth arise unto this height, that they should take unto themselves as great confidence in the overcoming of enemies, be they never so powerful, and in performing of duties also, be they never so difficult, as if they had Omnipotence in their own hand, to exercise and put forth according to their own desires, and for the effectual procuring of their own happiness; and on this ground it is, that the Saints are said to glory in God, and make their boast of him all the day long, and they triumph in the God of their salvation, because they do look upon all things, as having the attributes of God engaged unto them, and by this means the Soul treads down strength, for what can be too intricate for infinite wisdom? and what can be too heinous for infinite mercy, or too difficult for infinite power, &c? and so the Soul does laugh at all oppositions, and all the power of man to scorn, because he looks upon himself with all the Saints to be interested in all the Attributes of God, and fortified by them.

5. The great end of Christ's coming into the world was to bring us unto God: and that was not only, that all the Attributes of God should work for us, as they did for Christ, which because we had forfeited, therefore they all acted against us, and should have done forever; but that Christ by bringing us to God, might give us also an interest in them all, that they should all become ours, as they were his; for Christ is but the way, as he himself saith, I am the way, the truth and the life: and therefore Aquinas hath well branched Divinity into these heads, De Deo & de Christo prout via est nobis tendendi in Deum, Of God and of Christ, as he is the way tending to God. Christ came to reconcile all the Attributes of God unto Man, and the great purchase of the death of Christ was not an interest in all the Creatures, but an interest in all the Attributes of the Divine Nature, that they should be ours, and should act for us.

6. The highest object of faith is God, he is, Objectum ultimatum, the ultimate Object, Christ is but Mediatum, the Mediate Object: Now what is there in God that is revealed unto our Faith, but his Attributes? we know him no otherwise but by his back parts, and we know that every Attribute of God is an object of Faith in the Scripture, and whatever Faith lays hold on as its object, it makes it to become its own, in ipso amplexu, in the very embracement. He that takes hold of Christ by Faith makes him his own; Thou art my Lord and my God, and if it lay hold of its promises, they become its own; and there is nothing that gives a propriety to the Soul, but its receiving of it, and appropriating it; he loved me, and died for me, and gave himself for me: Thus Faith argues and appropriates Christ and all his Benefits; and so it is in laying hold of every attribute of God, that doth appropriate it unto his person, and it becomes his own, rests upon infinite wisdom, and lays hold on infinite power, and relies upon infinite mercy, and holiness, and grace, and all shall be thine: Believe Soul, and all shall be thine; for all the objects of faith are offered and propounded by God, and nothing is required to make them ours, but receiving them; as it's said of Christ, To as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the Sons of God, to them that believe in his Name; so it's of promises, and of attributes also, and if they be not ours, it's because we receive them not; our interest lies in our application.

§. 2. This is peculiar to the Second Covenant, that the Lord should make over unto his people the inheritance of all his Attributes. 1. It's true, that Adam had an interest in God, or else he could not have lost it: But we have heard of Mans great misery in the Fall, that it lay in his loss of God, and we know that if he had continued in that state of Innocency, that Covenant would have brought him unto God; for death threatened upon his breach of it was eternal separation from God in Hell, therefore the Life promised must be an eternal fruition of God in Heaven; but yet it was not such an interest as the Saints have under the second Covenant, for that was limited only unto one condition, that men if they did stand in their integrity, the Lord would be so unto them, but if they fell, the Lord would become their God no more, but now is become their enemy, &c. But there is this in the New Covenant, that the Lord is their God in all conditions whatever, and they have in all conditions an interest in all the Attributes; and they may expect that they shall be all employed for them, and every Saint may conclude with the Psalmist, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all my days; which is more than the petra sequens, that Rock that followed the People of Israel in the wilderness, in their long journey; they had wisdom to direct them, and power to protect them, and mercy to pardon them, and grace to heal them; and so it is of all the other Attributes of God, they belong unto his People in all conditions, and though there be never so great changes in them, yet there is no change in the Lord. We read in Isai. 57.17, 18. of a man in a wicked way, and the Lord corrects him, but he goes on freely in the way of his heart; now what should the Lord do? Felix cui Deus dignatur irasci, &c. Happy man with whom the Lord is angry: but if this avail not, casts he him off, as he did the Devils, and the Angels that sinned? nay, the Attributes are now engaged, and though the man be unfaithful to God, yet the Lord has engaged himself to be his God, and therefore he says, I have seen his ways, and I will heal him, I am his God, and he is mine for all this, &c.

2. Under the Second Covenant there is a fuller and a more glorious discovery of all the Attributes than there was under the First Covenant. As the Saints have a greater interest in the Attributes of God than the Angels have, so they are more fully revealed unto the Saints, than they were to the Angels; and therefore they are said to go to School to the Church to learn; for by the Church they are taught the manifold wisdom of God: The Lord Christ as Mediator is a Glorious Stage, upon which all the Attributes do strangely act their parts; and therefore the Lord saith of Christ, My Name is in him, and he is therefore called, the Image of the invisible God, because all the Glory of God doth shine forth in him. (1.) Here are some Attributes that could never have been discovered under the first Covenant, and those are [1] the mercy of God, as it respects misery; for had the first Covenant continued, there had been no misery, and therefore no place for mercy: [2] the love of God to mankind, when he did catch at man fallen, and did let the Angels go, as it is Heb. 2.6. [3] the patience and the longsuffering of God; for there had been no place for these, if the Lord had not been provoked by sin against the sinner; for it is it that hardens them in their impenitency, and magnifies this patience of God that he can bear so long with such sinners. (2) All the Attributes under the second Covenant are discovered in a far higher way than they could have been under the first Covenant. [1] There was higher wisdom discovered than in the Creation; indeed there was great wisdom in making a World and in giving a Law, but there is a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , manifold wisdom in this, Eph. 3.10. that the Angels that had studied the wisdom of God in the first Edition, ever since their Creation, now do desire to look into this Mystery, or they stooped and with great diligence and observation looked into it: but now there is such a discovery of wisdom as was never known to the world before; which is a second Edition, and has put the Angels to School again; and therefore Aquinas says, There is a threefold knowledge of the Angels, 1. matutina, morning, that which they had of God in their Creation, 2. respectiva, respective, that which they did attain further of God rebus ipsis, from their own experience and observation, 3. the knowledge that they have of God in Christ, and that he calls meridiana, meridian knowledge. [2] There is a greater power under the second Covenant than was under the first Covenant; for that was but to command a creature to stand up out of nothing, and it was done by a word; but now for the Godhead to join itself into a personal union with the creature is much more: the power of God over a creature is not so much as the power of God over himself, for to forgive sin is an act of power; to support a creature against himself, and his own revenging hand under the guilt of sin, shows the depth of wisdom and grace. [3] There is greater Justice under the second Covenant; for the first Covenant being broken, God's rejection of Adam was but rejecting of a creature; and the Angels they were but God's Servants, and he might punish them for their sin; but herein is higher Justice, when God will not spare his Son; and his strong cries and tears moved him not, nay and God himself was to be his Executioner, and yet his Justice is pleased with it, It pleased the Father to bruise him, Esa. 53. conterere, it signifies to grind one to powder, for that is to make one contrite, &c. he hath put him to grief, and he was wounded for our transgressions, and was bruised for our sins. [4] There was a greater discovery of God's truth under the second Covenant. Under the first Covenant the Lord had spoken the word, the day thou eatest thou shalt die; and the Lord was as good as his word, and had cast off man, and Angels by it, but they were as clay in his hand, he had no need of them: but now if his Son will undertake it, surely one would think God would either abrogate his Law, or mitigate it; but the Lord will do neither, his truth shall stand rather than Heaven or Earth, and therefore if the Son of God be made sin, he shall be made a curse also.

3. Under the second Covenant we have a firmer hold upon all the Attributes, than we could ever have had under the first Covenant: the Lord was the God of Adam, and also of the Angels; but yet so as he might by their Covenant become their enemy, if they were not confirmed by his grace, in the new Covenant: therefore the Angels are beholding to Christ for their confirmation, as well as men are for their reconciliation; but the Lord becomes the God of his people so under the second Covenant, that he is their God forever and ever, this God is our God forever and ever. The wisdom of God is eternally thine, and shall never be turned against thee, as the manner of enemies is, they turn your own ammunition against you, many times. His mercy is everlasting mercy, and his power is everlasting power, and his loving-kindness is everlasting.

§. 3. What is the manner how the Lord makes over all his Attributes unto his people? This Question is of moment, that so we may know the tenure by which we hold so glorious an inheritance. Now the manner of it is this.

1. Man by the Fall having departed from God, and thereby lost and forfeited his interest in him, and become to him wholly a stranger and an enemy, there was no way to restore a man to a title in God again, unless sin, which was the cause of enmity, were taken away, as that which did take God off from man; as if ever a man's inheritance in the creatures were restored, that must be taken away which did deprive man of them; therefore the great business that God had to do, and which was the great thing in his eye by Christ was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Heb. 10.5. to take away sin, to prepare him a body, that he might bear the iniquity of us all, &c. and therefore he is set forth as a propitiation for the remission of the sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, Rom. 3.25. and as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. Therefore the Lord cannot become our God immediately, no not so much as by Law, but in the hand of a Mediator, that is Ministerio, by the intervention of a Mediator, who is as it were a days-man, to lay hold upon both parties. Now the Lord therefore becomes Christ's God in Covenant, and makes over all his Attributes unto him, and therefore saith Christ, I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God; and therefore says the Apostle, Eph. 1.3. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's that which Christ lays hold of for himself and his people, My God, my God, &c Now how doth the Lord becomes Christ's God? as he is the second Person? no, that he cannot, for so he thinks it no robbery to be equal with God. One person cannot be said to be a God to another, having all of them the name of God given to them, and all of them having one and the same Essence or Divine Nature. But as Christ is Mediator, as he is God-man, as the Word is made flesh, so the Lord is become Christ's God by the Covenant that he did enter into with his Son, when he did possess him in the beginning of his way, that is, of all his goings forth towards the creature, and therefore did anoint him and set his King upon his holy hill, which is the same word as is used Psal. 2.6. And by this Covenant the Lord did wonderfully manifest his love to his Son, by engaging himself that all the Attributes of the Divine Nature should work for him: the Love of God should work for him; for the Father loveth the Son, and shows him all things, and gives him all things into his hand; and the Power of God works for him, Esa. 42.6. I will hold thee by the hand, and I will keep thee: and the Justice of God works for him, that when he had paid the debt, he should be released out of prison; and therefore after he had lain three days in the grave, to show forth the truth of his death, the Lord sent an Angel as a public Minister of Justice; for he was taken from prison and from judgment: and the Faithfulness of God is also engaged for him: Thus saith the Lord, to him whom man despiseth, and the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship because of the Lord that is faithful, and he shall choose thee, &c. And we may see what it is in verse. 8. In an acceptable time have I heard thee, in a day of salvation have I helped thee, I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant to the people to establish the earth, &c. So that Christ has a double inheritance, (1) in God, all that is in God is his, and all works for him: for the Lord is become his God. (2) In the creatures; for he is appointed heir of all things. Now all the Attributes being in this manner made over unto Christ by the Father, and he given as a Covenant to the Nations, and as primus foederatus, the first federate in the Covenant, and that covenanting being not only for himself, but as a second Adam for us; hence it is, that whatever is made over unto Christ by his Covenant, is made over unto us also, he being our head, and so we come not only to have the same claim to the creatures that Christ had, and can say all things are ours, but the same claim also unto God that Christ has; for we can say, that whatever is in God is ours, because he is become our God; and therefore he is said to love us as he loved Christ: and a great ground of a Christians consolation comes in by it, that they may know that thou hast loved them, even as thou hast loved me, and that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, that is, that this love in the apprehension and assurance of it, may be shed abroad in their hearts abundantly; and that under this notion, that it's the same love that God bears unto us, that he did bear unto the Lord Christ, as Mediator; it is to be understood of an as of similitude, not of equality; it was such a love as made over not only all creatures unto Christ, but all Attributes unto Christ, and it was a love that gave Christ an union and an unction; and such a love it is unto us in both: but consider it is but pro modulo, according unto our condition, so as the Lord Christ in all things may have the preeminence.

2. The Lord hath made over all his Attributes to Christ as Mediator, that they shall all of them work and be employed for us, according unto the necessity we are in. For Christ did not only as Mediator make way for all the Attributes to work, and to be put forth for us, that so no Attribute might stand in the way of mercy and goodness towards us; and so Christ came in as causa removens prohibens, &c. but all the Attributes thus made over to Christ in covenant, are all of them to be acted and exercised by Christ as Mediator; as the government of all the creatures is committed to him, so also the discovery and the exercise of all the Attributes of God are committed to him; and therefore it's said, My Angel shall go before thee; and that Angel that God sent and led his people in the Wilderness was Christ, called therefore the Angel of his presence, or of his face, because in him the face or the glory of God is discovered, and not only because he doth behold his face, for so do the other Angels: it cannot be spoken of Christ as God, for so he is not the Angel, that is, the Messenger of God sent forth from God; and it's said of this Angel, that the name of God is in him. Now the name of God is whatever God is made known by; and therefore when the Lord doth publish his Attributes he saith, he will proclaim his name, Exod. 33.19. and therefore all the Attributes of God are in him, and by him to be acted and exercised; for the Father judgeth no man, but has committed the administration of all things to the Son, to this end, that all men may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father: and therefore Col. 1.15. he is said to be the image of the invisible God. All the glorious Attributes of God do show forth themselves in Christ, he it is that acts them all: the love of God to the Saints is exercised by Christ, and all the grace of God is dispensed by Christ, and the wrath of God against his enemies is executed by Christ; and therefore we read of the wrath of the Lamb: for it's he that shall give everyone of them their portion. Now if it be so, that all the Attributes be in the hand of Christ to exercise and act, then the Lord reign, therefore let the earth rejoice. Christ Jesus exerciseth all the Attributes of God for his people in another way than ever they could else have been acted by God immediately. Now if we be in Christ, and by a mystical union make up one body with him, then as he doth exercise and act all the Attributes of God, as the Sovereignty of God is given to him, and he sits upon the Throne of God in the administration of all things; so they shall be all laid out for us, for the Church which is the body of Christ, and the fullness of him that fills all in all.

3. Though all the Attributes be made over unto us in this manner, yet it's after a certain order in the Attributes: the Attribute that the soul doth first close with is the mercy and the free grace and love of God; and by that a man comes to have an interest in all the rest; and the Attribute that is engaged for all is the faithfulness and truth of God. (1) The attribute that the soul first closes with is his love and mercy and free grace, which are the attributes that the Lord doth mainly exalt in this life, and has most gloriously set forth, and therefore 'tis called riches of mercy, and the glory of God, the knowledge of the glory of God. It's this attribute in which the Lord doth mainly glory, and therefore it's called his glory; and it's said, that mercy rejoiceth over judgment; for in the time of this life under the offers of the Covenant of grace the attribute that God doth mainly exerercise in the Gospel is free grace, that God is in Christ reconciling the world, and has sent abroad the ministry of reconciliation; and God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. This is the great Load-stone that doth draw in the heart unto God, God who is rich in mercy, out of his abundant love, &c. Now the soul being thus drawn in with a cord of love, the Lord giving a command unto loving kindness to fetch in such a wandering soul unto himself, hence the soul at first coming unto God grounded upon his mercy, by closing with him in this, is made partaker of all the attributes of God, and has an interest in them all; but so as the soul doth close with mercy first, and with free grace. As it is in the offices of Christ, the soul doth close with them all, and has an interest in them all; but yet so, as it doth take Christ as he is offered him by the Father, and that is, first as a Priest, as a surety for sinners, and as one set forth to be a propitiation for sin; and the soul having in this manner closed with Christ as a Priest, and having a title to the Priestly Office, now he has taken whole Christ, and submits to him as his Prophet and King also: thus as the immediate object of faith that justifies is Christ dying and rising, and as made sin, and as made a curse for us, &c. and then the soul having closed with Christ, it has an interest in whole Christ with all his Offices: so it's here also; though all the attributes of God are gloriously displayed in the second Covenant, yet the attribute that mainly the Lord delights to honor is mercy and free grace; and the soul first closes with this, and so comes to have a title and an interest in all that is in God, in every attribute. (2) As his love is the first attribute that the soul closes with, and so comes to have an interest in them all; so it's his faithfulness that is engaged for the exercise of them all, and therefore all our forgiveness is put upon his faithfulness: He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. How do we know that the pardoning mercy of God shall be exercised towards us, when we have sinned? God is faithful who has promised: and he hath wholly made over himself unto us in every attribute, and the promise and the oath of God are both grounded in his faithfulness for the performance thereof; so that the faithfulness of God doth not only assure us that all creatures shall work for us, shall all work together for our good; but that all the attributes of God shall work for us in their season and in their order: as it is said, That the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, so there is an order for the working of all the attributes, and everyone of them in their courses work for the Saints, the faithfulness of God is engaged for them so to do.

§. 4. What are the ends for which God has in Covenant made over the Attributes unto his people? They are many, and we shall best discover them by the use that the people of God have of all the attributes in the Scripture.

1. That they may be all discovered and made known unto the Saints: there is in all men a blindness of heart, and that specially in reference unto God, from whom they are estranged through the ignorance that is in them. Now they having an interest in them all, the Lord will proclaim his name, and cause his mercy and goodness to pass before them, though not in that visible manner as he did unto Moses, yet in a more spiritual way they do behold the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus; and therefore the great aim of God in all his works is the discovery of his attributes unto the Saints, and all his great works are done to that very end, and therefore he gives them a Law that he may manifest his Holiness: To show his power he has made a world, to manifest his love he has given Christ, to declare his grace he doth pardon sin, and to show his justice and wrath he has made Hell, and laid the foundations of the bottomless pit: and this is the first end why God has made over his attributes unto his people, it is that they may know them; and therefore the great thing the Saints look at in all God's works, and his goings forth is, what attributes are discovered: I would see thy power and thy glory in the Sanctuary: He saved them for his name sake, that he might cause his power to be acknowledged.

2. God hath made over his attributes to his people, that they may take from them all grounds of faith, with an assurance that they shall be all exercised for them according unto their necessities: so the Mercy of God, I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Here is mercy the object of faith, and an assurance that this attribute shall show forth itself in a work of salvation, and deliverance for him; I have trusted in the mercy of God, for the bringing me out of this and another affliction, and I have been delivered; therefore I will always exalt the mercy of God. So for the Power of God, the soul can argue from thence, when men threaten, and Devils rage, and the fiery furnace may be heated seven times hotter to consume the soul that has no help amongst creatures, yet says Daniel and the three Children, the God whom we serve is able to deliver us. And the Lord encourages the soul from the assurance of his power, Is my arm shortened, that I cannot save, is anything too hard for the Lord, is there any restraint to omnipotence? And so also Christ puts them upon it in this, With man it's impossible, but with God all things are possible; it's spoken in reference to a work of Sanctification, when the Disciples said, Who then can be saved? So for the Eternity of God, Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord Jehovah is a Rock of Ages: and so men are said to take hold of the strength of God. And so of the Holiness of God, I have sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David: and therefore Psal. 23.6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And so Abraham believed God was able to raise him up again from the dead, if it might stand with his glory; he did not question his will, but that his power should be put forth for the accomplishment of his promise. We know that the ultimate object of faith is God through Jesus Christ; our faith and hope is in God: now the highest object of faith in God is the attributes of God, that he has discovered: for we can believe in him no otherwise than we know him, and as he has revealed himself; and the way of God's revealing himself unto his people in this life, is only by his back parts, which are his attributes, and therefore this is the way of the acting of faith in this life, and all the promises of God, and the precepts and the threatenings of God are all of them founded on his attributes, and in these doth the strength and stability of them lie, because the Lord Jehovah is a rock of ages: As it is in ends, all intermediate ends work in the strength and the power of the utmost end; so it is in objects also, Objectum mediatum fidei movet in virtute objecti ultimati, & ab eo perfectionem accipit, The mediate object of faith moves in the virtue of the ultimate object, and receives perfection from it.

3. That from these the soul may receive all principles of grace: grace is called the Life of God; and the Divine Nature, the Image of God created in the soul it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , according unto God. Now in an image there are two things required, (1) Proportion or similitude and resemblance. (2) There is a deduction or a derivation, it must be taken from it. As there is a resemblance of the nature of God, so there is a derivation of it from God. Now though the incommunicable attributes of God are so called, because there are in the creatures no footsteps or resemblances, yet there are of the attributes that are communicable; from them the image of God is derived unto us, and we are made partakers of his holiness, holy as he is holy, and merciful as he is merciful, and wise as he is wise: If any man want wisdom let him ask it of God; as all of them shall be employed for man without him, so all of them shall work in man an image or a resemblance of himself within him; that a man beholding the glory of the Lord, is transformed thereby into the same image. And this is to be made the rule to judge the measure of our graces by; for primum est mensura reliquorum, &c. The first is the measure of the rest in that kind. So far as they do come short of bearing a resemblance with the communicable attributes of God, I say of bearing a resemblance (for they are in God by nature, but in us by grace, and by new creation; they are nature in him, they are not so in us) so far we are to bewail the defects of our graces; and so far grace is the image of God in us but in part, a good work begun, and no more; and it is a discovery of his attributes, which are the original pattern that doth perfect his image in us, which is but the counterpane; and therefore we shall be perfectly like him, when we shall see him as he is, 1 Joh. 3.3.

4. God hath in Covenant made over his Attributes, that from these the soul may take all rules of duty: and as the highest objects of faith are in God, so from him are the highest rules of duty: and therefore Eph. 5.1. the exhortation is, Be ye imitators of God, and be you holy in all manner of conversation, because he is holy: and so from the Sovereignty of God it's the ordinary argument, thou shalt do thus and thus, for I am Jehovah thy God. And David takes his rule from this in the preparation he made for the Temple, the house must be exceeding magnificent; and therefore all his preparation, though the wealth of a Kingdom, was but an act of his poverty; for it is for the Lord, who is a great God; and dwells not in Temples made with hands, &c. And it's the argument that he himself useth as the rule unto them in their performances, Mal. 1.13. I am a great King, and my name is dreadful amongst the Heathen: As the soul is never rightly bottomed upon a promise, till it is carried out into that attribute upon which the promise doth depend; so the soul is never grounded in duty, till it looks beyond the precept, and sees the attributes in God, which are the foundation of the duty; and this is properly to walk worthy of God, Col. 1.10. That ye may walk worthy, &c. It doth not note exactam proportionem, sed quandam decentiam & convenientiam, not an exact proportion, but a certain decence and convenience; when a man's duties are done by rules taken from so great a God, and proportionable unto the nature, holiness, and excellency of that God. God is a Spirit, and therefore must be worshipped in spirit and truth.

5. That the great motives unto duty, and the great restraints from sin be taken from these. It's a matter of great consequence, not only that we do the duties that God requires, but also what motives they are that fill the sails in our performances. For a man to perform high duties upon low motives, argues a heart full of flesh: to preach the Gospel is a high service, but to do it to serve a man's belly or his pride, to gather Disciples after him, that he may have the credit of a Teacher of others, and be cried up amongst them; this doth in a great measure blast all his service; therefore let men look to their motives in their performances. And so for sin, it's not enough to abstain from sin, but a man is to have an eye upon the principle that lies the restraint upon him, what it is; many a man may be kept from sin for fleshy aims, as Haman refrained himself till he came home, and so King Joash during all the days of Jehoiada: the fear of man will restrain lust many times, where there is no fear of God. There are as it were several topicks from which the arguments and reasonings of the soul are taken; for the Word of God is quick and powerful, &c. Heb. 4.12. the one refers to principles, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is the seat of principles; and the other to the dianoetick faculty, a man's arguments and reasonings from those principles; and there are some high and noble motives suitable to the nature of grace, and there are some low and sinful motives agreeable to the nature of flesh; and the Word of God is a curious discerner of both, and it's a great matter from what topicks a man doth take the argument that does mainly act his spirit in duty; and as the highest rule of duty is to be found in the attributes of God, so the noblest motives unto duty are to be found in them also: Joel 2.13. Rent your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and gracious, he is longsuffering, slow to anger, and of great kindness, who knows if he will return and repent? And Gen. 17.1. I am God all-sufficient, walk before me, and be upright. There are arguments enough to be taken from God, and those of the highest kind, to quicken a soul in all duties required of him. And so it is also as to restraint from sin, Hos. 3.5. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness: Heb. 12.29. Let us have grace to serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Thou shalt worship no other God; for the Lord whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.

6. That they may be unto the Saints the ground of prayer; and that is in three things. (1) They desire that God would manifest his attributes, it's something of God that they would have discovered, therefore they cry out with the Psalmist, O send out thy light and thy truth, send forth thy mercy and thy truth: it is the discovery and manifestation of an attribute, that is the great thing the people of God do beg in all their prayers: Let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast said. (2) It's the great argument that they use in prayer, the main argument of faith is from an attribute, and a man's interest therein: Remember me O Lord for this, and pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy, for thy mercy and for thy truths sake. And Asa argues from the power of God, It's all one to thee to save with few, as with many. (3) They do come to God under such an attribute suitable to the mercy that they beg, and their faith is staid thereupon, and 'tis a great matter to look upon God under an attribute that answers our necessity; as Christ when he would speak of Judgment, and give God thanks for it, he call him righteous Father; and when he begs Sanctification for his people, he calls him holy Father: and so when Moses prays for the pardon of sin, he calls him the Lord merciful and gracious.

7. That they may admire and adore the Lord for the excellencies that are in his Divine Nature, and that they may give him the glory of every attribute. Glory is but the shining forth of an excellency, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Effulgence and brightness of it, Heb. 1.3. and our giving glory is but the reflection of this excellency. Now we give God the glory of his works and of his going forth unto the creature; but we should not only give him the glory of these, but also of the excellency of his own nature: there is none holy as the Lord, who is a God like our God, pardoning iniquity? If we had hearts truly spiritual, we would admire God more for the excellencies that are in himself, than for all his goings forth to the creature; and so the Saints and Angels in Heaven do.

8. That in the manifestation of every attribute and the working of it for his people, the Saints may rejoice, and particularly give God the glory of that attribute, which he hath now so eminently put forth for them, and that they may glory in their inheritance thereby. Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy own strength, so will we sing and praise thy power. I will sing of thy power, and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To thee O my strength will I sing, for God is my defense and the God of my mercy: and so do all the Saints, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is, and was, and is to come. The attributes of God are the last city of refuge that the Saints can fly unto, even the Name of the Lord is their strong tower: and when the Lord doth make bare his arm, and takes to himself his great power, and sends forth his mercy, and relieves his people in their distresses, Oh! how then do the Saints triumph and rejoice in him? The last refuge is in God, and the highest triumph is in God; and these are the glorious ends for which God has made over his attributes unto the Saints.

§. 3. See the glory of this inheritance: that of the creatures is indeed glorious, and that of promises is more, but the foundation of all and top of all lies in attributes. It's of no small concernment for a soul to know the glory of his own inheritance, partly because there is a profaneness of heart in all men that do undervalue spiritual things, as well spiritual privileges as spiritual truths, or spiritual graces, with Esau, who did despise the birth-bright, Heb. 12. and partly that the soul understanding it, may receive satisfaction, and see an all-sufficiency in it; for godliness hath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a self-sufficience going with it, as it is 1 Tim. 4.8. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Perfect good seems to be self-sufficient: and for this cause the Apostle prays for a spirit of illumination, Eph. 1.18. That the eyes of their understanding being opened, they might know what is the hope of their calling, and the riches of this inheritance which God has prepared for the Saints; that God whose are all things, and of whom are all things, yet his portion is his people; they are of all people his peculiar treasure: and what a glorious inheritance the Lord has chosen to himself in them, making up one glorious body with the Lord Jesus Christ! Now if it be necessary the eyes of our understanding should be enlightened to know the glory of God's inheritance in us, how much more the glory of our inheritance in God's attributes? that the soul may be able to rejoice in the goodness of the Lord, and say, Thou art my portion, says my soul: that as Calvin observes upon that place, Zac. 9.12. Satis praesidii in uno Deo, There's safeguard enough in one God, so it may be said of all things else, there is wisdom enough, and holiness enough, and all to be had in him; and it is enough, if it be in him alone. There is a threefold inheritance that Christ hath stated upon his people, for Christ is heir of all things, (1) by Nature and Generation, (2) by Donation, as he was man; now the first belongs unto him alone, and he cannot communicate it; and the other he doth impart unto us, as we are one body with him: and as we partake with him in the same Sonship, so we do also in his inheritance, and this inheritance of Christ the Saints have a treble benefit by, (1) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as he is the Heir of all things, we have by him an inheritance of creatures; as Christ is God, he comes not under an act of God's will, and therefore it's spoken of him as he was Mediator. (2) He has an inheritance of promises; for they are all made first unto him, to him were the promises made, not of seeds, as of many, but as of one who is Christ; and therefore it's in him that all the promises are Yea and Amen: as we were chosen in him, he was first elected, and we in him; so the promises were first Yea, and then Amen in him, and by virtue of our union with him unto us. (3) There is a higher inheritance, and that is, that the Lord is the portion of Christ, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup, &c. Answerable unto this is the inheritance that Christ has made over unto the Saints, who as they are fellows with him in his Unction, so they are Coheirs with him in his Inheritance: as they have an inheritance in creatures, for all all things are yours, whether life or death; and also in promises, which is beyond what they have in any of the creatures; so they have an inheritance that is far beyond both these, and that is in God himself, Rev. 21.7. He shall inherit all things, I will be his God. Now if we consider it, we shall see that there are great riches in this; to have all the attributes of God theirs, is greater than to have all the creatures and the promises of God made over to them.

1. The Attributes of God are nothing else but the transcendent perfections that are in God, the Divine Nature shadowed forth to us according to the capacity of the creatures, in which the Lord as in his back parts, that is, pro nostro modulo, according to our capacity, makes known himself unto us, and causes his goodness to pass before us; and if the Lord would take any soul of us, as he did Moses, and in this manner discover himself, there is nothing in the world would affect the soul like unto it; for if these be the perfections of God, how infinitely must they needs exceed all things that are in the creatures? for they are all in him after the manner of a God, and therefore all the attributes may be predicated of God in abstracto; he is Wisdom, and Holiness, and Mercy, &c. because they are all of them the Divine Nature: all the excellencies that are in the creature are received from him; and therefore surely there is infinite more in himself. Thence the Saints have been more taken with the Divine Excellencies that are in the Nature of God immediately, than in all the blessings and benefits that come from him: as Hanna after the blessing she had received from him, she admires his goodness and the excellency that is in him, there is none holy as the Lord, and who is a Rock save our God? and if the Saints did not do so, their love were not of a right kind, plus diligere attractum quàm sponsum meretricius amor, to love the token more than the bridegroom is adulterous love.

2. This is the foundation of all our interest, and all the comfort of it, either in creatures or in promises. How comes it to pass, that all things are yours, and promises yours? &c. but because the Lord is our God; and therefore it's brought in as the foundation of all blessedness, having spoken of all creature-comforts in the highest, he adds this, Blessed are the people that are in such a case, yea blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. There is a blessedness therein without the creatures, and the only foundation of blessedness in the creatures lies in this. (1) In creatures; consider this is the difference between the portions of godly men and wicked men, they may both possess the same thing, but with a different temper, and the one has only a title unto creatures, as a gift of God, but the other, as he has a title unto God; the one has them by a single, and the other by a double title; and so a little that the righteous has, is better than great riches of many wicked, because he has all that he has conveyed unto him from his interest in God, as the Original thereof. (2) In promises; it's true that their inheritance in them is very glorious, far beyond that of Adam in Paradise, but yet the foundation of all the promises is an attribute, and they must all lead the soul unto God, and his interest in him that did promise; for Faithful is he that has promised, and he will also do it. There is a promise of pardon of sin, but still it is to be resolved into an attribute, He is faithful and just that forgives us our sins. As all the precepts of the Law are to be resolved at last into the authority of the Law-giver, so all the promises of the Gospel are to be resolved into the power and faithfulness of him that made the promise; so that every promise is but a line to lead the soul into this center, first unto Christ, unto whom the promises were first made, and through Christ unto God who made the promises. It's full of sweetness, when a man can look upon all the creatures in the world, and can say all things are mine, all shall work together for my good; when he can look into the precepts and promises of the Word, and can say, I have claimed it as mine inheritance forever, for it is the joy of my heart; but much more when the soul can look upon the attributes of God, which are as far above creatures and promises, as the Heaven is above the Earth, in comparison, and can claim a propriety in these also; and therefore it's the Motto of the Saints, Tolle Deum, & nullus ero, Take away God, and I am nothing. If I had all the creatures in the world, and all the promises in the Word, yet if I have no interest in God, all these could be no good to me.

3. It's the last refuge of the Saints in this life: The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and his name is his attributes, called the Memorial of God; it's the property of men to fly to the city of refuge that is next unto them, and at hand, and therefore in danger the Saints are apt to betake themselves unto creatures, and think that their mountain shall stand strong; but then God breaks all their hopes and expectation in the creatures, and the man's provision proves to be made of snow, and it melts away; and being thus beaten off from creatures, now the Saints betake themselves unto promises, and they suck these breasts of consolation. But when the soul looks upon himself, and finds his unsuitableness unto them and his title but baffled, he can find no sweetness in them; now unto what shall the soul fly? it comes to Attributes, and under them it sits down securely, and can rejoice in the Lord when creatures fail; and when a man has not a promise that his soul can pitch upon, yet he can say, The Lord, the Lord merciful and gracious: and from thence, though he hath not a promise, yet he can gather as it were a half-promise, and that is, who knows if he will return and repent, &c. Joel 2.14. The Lord in this doth delight to train up the soul to an immediate dependence, and therefore doth often reduce a man unto such extremities, that he may see the foundation upon which all his mercy is built; and therefore as he deals with comforts and signs in reference unto Christ, so he deals with creatures and promises in reference unto God. Now God gives unto his people the consolations of the promise, and signs of his grace, to refresh them in their way, that they may be unto them as grapes in the wilderness; but yet he will sometimes hide the consolations of his Spirit, and withdraw his light, and sometimes will hide the light of a man's own graces from him, on purpose that a man may fly unto Christ, and see that it is in him only that we hold them, and from him we must fetch them also; the Lord will let his people enjoy the comfort of promises and of creatures, but sometimes he will turn away from us as it were the comfort of them both, that our souls may retire unto him alone, in whom our happiness and comfort doth consist; so that a man that has for many years walked in the light of God's countenance, and enjoyed the assurance of his love, yet shall be brought unto acts of recumbency again, and to launch out into the fullness that is in Christ, and the all-sufficiency that is in God, as if he were to begin all anew; and therefore Bernard, de Amore Dei cap. 2. has such an excellent speech of himself, who did daily strive to see his interest in God: Manibus pedibús{que} sursum tendo ad te, sed respiciens factum, sum mihi ipsi de meipso laboriosa & taediosa quaestio, I do greatly tend upward to thee, but beholding the work, I am a tedious question to myself. Now he says his heart is filled with joy in his interest in God, Clamo, vociferor, Domine, bonum est nos esse hìc, sed repent cado in terram quasi mortuus, & respiciens, nihil video & me ubi priùs eram invenio, in dolore scilicet cordis, & afflictione spiritûs, &c. I cry, Lord, it's good being here, but presently I fall on the earth as dead, and looking back see nothing, &c. Now in such withdrawments, blessed is the man whose God is Jehovah; and in the failing of all the rest of his comforts, yet he can rest and stay his soul upon this Rock of Ages.

4. This shall be the only happiness of the Saints in glory, when this promise shall be perfectly fulfilled; for there will come a time when both creatures and promises shall cease, for the earth and all the works thereof shall be burnt up, when the Heavens do shrivel together as a scroll, and then the good things of thy life-time will take their leave forever; for God did but set up the stage of this world to be as the wilderness through which the Saints should pass into Canaan; but the stage of this world shall be taken down, and all the promises of God shall come to an end, for they shall all of them speak in their due time, and not lie: there is a time for the finishing of the whole Mystery of God; and the Decrees of God shall bring forth in mercy, or in wrath, and the promises shall be delivered of all the blessings that are in them, and the threatenings shall be eased of all the plagues that are in them. Now when both these inheritances shall cease, what has a Saint then to live upon? Now he has a higher inheritance, and that is of Attributes; for then God shall be all in all, and in him alone shall the happiness of the creature consist; and it is observable, that then our perfect happiness begins in God, when creatures and promises are come to an end; and therefore the soul that has his interest in him, can take his leave with delight of all creature-comforts, as never to have use of them more, as Elijah did part with his mantle when he was taken up into Heaven, because they see that it shall be infinitely made up in God, though it come not in in this low way, as it did unto his people in times past, suitable to their low estate, while they walked as servants upon the earth.

5. Creatures and promises could never make a man happy, if a man's interest in them were never so clearly discovered to him; for it could never put his soul into a fruition of the chiefest good, it would only make all to be faith, and we should rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; and it is true, that this is a joy unspeakable and glorious, Fruitio est actus voluntatis circa finem, & importat quietationem & delectationem anima in amato, Fruition is an act of the will about the end, and it imports the quietation and delectation of the soul in its beloved. Medin. But the soul would be forever unquiet, and always full of restlessness, still tending towards God, therefore it enjoys him as the end of faith and hope, and thence souls in Heaven are made perfect, not only because their image is perfected by the beatifical vision, but also because they are put into a fruition of that which was the highest and ultimate object of their faith and love, and fruitio est nobilissima actio voluntatis, the most noble act of the will; and it's this act upon the highest object that doth perfect the will, and the perfection of the will is the perfection of the man, as the act of the will is the act of the man.

[Use 1] §. 4. From hence see the misery of all those that are out of Covenant with God, they have all the Attributes of God against them, and they have no inheritance in him; thou mayst have large revenues amongst the creatures, (for God doth give Kingdoms unto the basest of men) but it is but mica canibus projecta, a crumb thrown to a dog, as Luther speaks of the Turkish Empire; and in them all thou shalt but inherit the wind, for thou hast no inheritance in the Lord, he is no God to thee, tolle meum & tolle Deum, take away my and take away God; it is unto thee as if there were no God. And here it's good to consider,

1. If a man had all the creatures armed against him for his destruction, as all men out of Covenant have, for the Creation groans under their service, that is the bondage of corruption spoken of Rom. 8.21. but also they are very ready to make war upon thee; for when a man is taken into Covenant with God, there is a league made with the beasts of the earth, the stones of the field, and the creeping things of the ground,

2. Consider if it were but a threatening, what a miserable thing it is to lie under any evil aspect thereof: the Lord has spread out the Expansum of his Word over the rational world, and the Lord rules all by it, and according to it he will judge them all, Did not my word overtake your fathers? for the Decree will surely bring forth, it will not always carry the judgment in the womb of it; and if it be so terrible a thing to be under the power of any one threatening of God, what is it to lie under the evil aspect of all the threatenings of God; that there is not a word in this book but speaks terror unto the man? much more under the evil aspects of all the Attributes of God.

3. This is the happiness of the Saints, that they have something in God to plead for them, they have as it were a threefold Advocate, (1) within themselves, and so the Spirit pleads the causes of the soul: (2) without them, and so Jesus Christ is an Advocate with the Father: (3) they have something in God himself, I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you, &c. So here is the misery of wicked men, not only the Spirit pleads against them, and will strive with them no more, but becomes unto them a spirit of bondage in themselves, and binds them over unto wrath; and Christ pleads against them; as Luther tells a story of one Doctor Krans. in a Tract of his, De Fascina spirituali, in Gal. 3. Ego Christum negavi, ideo stat coram Patre, & accusat me; illam cogitationem tam fortiter conceperat, ut nullâ adhortatione, aut consolatione sibi pateretur excuti, at{que} ita desperavit, & seipsum miserrime occîdit, &c. I denied Christ, and therefore he stands before the Father, and accuseth me, &c. The learned do for our understanding frame a holy kind of conflict between the Attributes of God, according to the liberty allowed them in Scripture, speaking of God after the manner of men, in the work of our Redemption, as if the Lord were reduced into some straights by the cross demands of several Attributes, Justice calling for vengeance upon sinful and cursed creatures, and with Justice the Truth of God doth join to make good his threatening, the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die, and mercy on the other side pleads for compassion towards miserable and seduced man; and this sets infinite wisdom on work to reconcile the different pleas of the Attributes of God in man's redemption: but what a misery will that man be in, that shall have no Attribute of God to plead for him; but they shall all join in their pleas and demands against him, not only those terrible Attributes that the soul is afraid of, as Justice, and Truth, and Holiness, but also the Attributes in which a man's hope is? Men cry out God is merciful, Oh but mercy is set against thee, O sinner, and thou hast no interest in his mercy, he is not the God of thy mercy, and his patience and longsuffering thou hast no claim to; but all these Attributes shall join also with Justice in their pleas against thee: what is there that can stand in the way to hinder the fullness of wrath from falling on such a soul?

4. The perfection of this misery thou wilt never know, till thou comest unto Hell, as the fullness of this promise can never be known by the Saints till they come to Heaven: here you may enjoy your inheritance in creatures and promises, but thou that art a Saint shalt enter one day upon the inheritance of Attributes more fully than can be enjoyed here, there where they all shall be set forth gloriously for thee, in their full luster, to make thee happy in the Lord: so also it shall be a man's utmost misery when he comes to Hell, that all the Attributes of God shall be in his utmost extremity turned against him forever, and thou shalt know God to be perfectly an enemy unto thee, and all that is in God; as he is the God of his people, all that is in him is for them, so all that is in him is against thee. And then every Attribute shall act to the full forever. Here in this life Justice doth not act its utmost, and God does not stir up all his wrath; there is by the Kingdom of Christ not only a benefit comes upon all the creatures, for they all stand and continue in their being by it; but there is a suspension upon the workings of all the Attributes of God towards wicked men, that though they have an evil eye at them from day today, as 'tis said, God is angry with the wicked every day, yet he does not immediately break forth against them; but when the Kingdom shall be given up unto God the Father, and God shall be all in all, this restraint upon the Attributes in the actings of them shall cease, and every Attribute shall have its perfect work against thee forever, and then he will show his power upon the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.

[Use 2] 2. Take comfort in the Attributes of God, look upon these as the main of thy inheritance, and shelter and shroud thyself under them from day today, for this is your strong hold, you are prisoners of hope, and this is the desire of the Saints. As Bernard, de Amore Dei cap. 1. speaks in reference unto Christ, he would not only touch him with Thomas, and put his finger into his side, &c. sed totus intrem, us{que} ad ipsum cor Jesu, &c. in sanctum sanctorum, I would enter wholly, even into the very heart of Jesus, &c. into the holy of holies. So should the soul wholly hide itself in these Chambers, this secret of his Pavilion. 1. In the middle of all creature-comforts, and inward consolations of thy Spirit, let thy heart rise from them, and say, Surely this is not my portion; there is indeed a great deal of sweetness in this, but yet there is much more in that which is my portion: a gracious heart should rise in this manner, and please itself with thinking, if there be sweetness on Earth, much more in Heaven, Si adeo splendeat terrestris Roma, saith Fulgent. So we should rise from our privileges and comforts below, and our inheritance in them to that in God; and so as Christ comforts himself in this, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.

2. If at any time God takes away the creatures from thee, retire unto him and say, Lord, my portion was not in them, I can stand upon the ruins of the world, and can say I have lost nothing; for the time will come when God will put an end unto all creature-comforts, and he will supply all immediately in himself; and therefore so he give thee more of himself, it's no matter what thou dost lose of all things else, Christ says Mat. 21.22. that man hath a treasure. Now where there is so, there are some Exchequer-days when the Treasure comes in: a worldly man that has his treasure and portion in this life, when God takes away the creatures his soul dies within him, that's the best day to him that brings in most of that treasure; but he that has his portion in the Lord can rejoice in his income that way, even when he is deprived of the creatures: and it's a disparagement unto God not to rejoice in him alone, as if there were not enough in him, as Elkanah told his wife, Am not I better to thee than ten sons? Cannot all my comforts be supplied in thee?

3. Do not unworthily fear the fear of man; it is true that they do speak high, and they will threaten much, and the people of God are apt sinfully to fear, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy, and so by and by are apt to say a confederacy with the wicked: O! should you fear who have infinite wisdom and infinite power of your own, either to disappoint or to resist, it doth plainly argue, that you are not acquainted with, and do not make use of your interest in the Attributes of God in Covenant, Should such a man as I fear, and should my heart quail, and fear in the evil times? Let us never profane the name of the Lord our God in this manner: says Christ, Why reason you because you have no bread? perceive you not, have you your hearts yet hardened, when I brake the five loaves, &c? It's the most unworthy thought that could lodge in you, after so much experience of my power and provision for you, to think you should want: consider, you have had so much experience of my power and infinite wisdom that has wrought for you, when your own reason was at a non plus, and infinite power, when your hands did hang down, and your knees feeble: consider the setting forth of every Attribute of God, and delight your souls in it, Hos. 13.3. He will scatter them as smoke out of a chimney. A man should look upon them, and laugh them to scorn, from a high assurance, that vincet mea audacia in Christo: this raiseth in the soul only true courage, and a holy greatness of mind.

4. Look upon the Attributes as having an interest in them; and as in a strait you eye a promise, and expect its accomplishment, do the same with attributes also, and thereby honor them by taking hold of them: if thou sin, eye mercy, the Lord merciful and gracious, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin: if thou want wisdom, look on him as the Father of lights; and if power, be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might, &c. And sometimes thou mayst have no creatures, no hills to look to, then look towards God: when thou knowest not what to do, it may be there are no promises that thy soul can fasten upon, yet there is an attribute left which will be tabula post naufragium: now expect the goodness of God to appear for thy succor in his putting forth of an attribute; for none of them shall fail in their season: there are no graces in the Saints but there is a season for their working, Phil. 4.10. Your care for me, says the Apostle, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 doth reviviscere, it doth flourish, or wax green again; so that graces have their opportunity of working, there is a spring-time. Now we do not say, that a tree is dead that bears not fruit always, but that which doth not bring forth in the Summer, which is the season of fruit, and therefore I cannot but look upon it as an act of Sovereignty, that of Christ's cursing the fig-tree, Mark 11.13. for the Text says, The time of figs was not yet come. Some say that the fig-tree in this country did bear fruit all the year; but that this word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 will not bear: for it is plain there was a season of the fruit of this Tree, as well as of other trees. Some say, that the time of the ripening and the gathering of fruit was not yet, but there might be expected green figs; but there was no fruit, nor hope of fruit, for the Tree had leaves only. Innuit Christum hoc facto altius quid significâsse, ficum scil. symbolum esse populi Judaici, Kem. Christ hereby signified the Jewish Church, from whom the Lord expected always fruit, because the season of it was always, and this was an act of absolute Sovereignty over the creature, and he that created it might curse it at his pleasure; but the Lord does never expect fruit but in the season of fruit: at the season he sent to the Husband-men, that they should give him of the fruit of his Vineyard; for that grace is not idle that doth not act at all times, but Quae non operatur quando dabitur 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , That which doth not act when a season shall be offered. So also there is a season, an opportunity for the exercise of every attribute; and as the Lord expects the one of us in its season, so should we, and we may with boldness and comfort expect the other from him in the season. The Hebrews say, In the mount will the Lord be seen. If thou hast sinned at any time, then expect that pardoning mercy shall be put forth; say, The Lord is the God of my mercy, now pardon me according to the greatness of thy mercy. And if thou be at any time assaulted with temptation, expect that the Power of God shall be put forth for thee, and that the Lord shall say, My grace is sufficient for thee. If thou be at any time perplexed with difficulties, and thou knowest not what to do, now look up unto infinite Wisdom, The Lord knows how to deliver the just out of adversity; though I know not which way to scape, yet say, deliverance shall come from some other hand, as Mordecai said; though I cannot see from whence it shall come, and I cannot in my wisdom see a way of deliverance, yet it shall come; now is the season for such an attribute to show forth itself; and therefore now I can look for the acting of it with comfort, as having an interest in it, God is a help found in the time of need, he is a help promised before, but he is never found so to be before the season; when the soul is in trouble, then he puts forth himself, and makes bare his arm; and therefore as the Apostle says, He is as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. So the Saints, they have them not in possession, but they have them in their right of inheritance, and for their use, as their occasions and necessity do require; that if it were possible for them to stand in need of the service of the whole Creation, all the creatures should work for them, and wait upon them in their necessity; and look what experiences the ancient Saints have had thereof, they in the like cases and necessity may expect, if it stand with God's glory, and their best good: the Moon shall stand still, and the Sun shall go back, and the Lions shall stop their mouths, the fire shall cease to burn, and be a defense, the Ravens bring meat, the Heavens shall rain bread, the Rocks shall give water, &c. and whatsoever attributes the Lord has at any time exerted and put forth for the Saints in the season of their need, that you may expect, grounded upon the same Faithfulness, the same Covenant and Oath that was performed unto them; and it's the highest privilege and happiness of the Saints, to have the Attributes of God lie as a rescue for them, as the Angels did behind the Myrtle-trees, in the bottom, when there can be an expectation from nothing else in the world; as David speaks of his enemies, They did imagine mischief, and consulted how to cast him down from his excellency, whom God had exalted, but says he, My soul wait thou on God only, my expectation is from him alone. He can now look up to God, and expect salvation from him, when he can see no hope any other way. As we are not the fountain of our own grace, but it is laid up in Christ, and we can expect that all the grace that is in Christ shall be put forth answerably unto our necessity in the season of it, and therefore our grace shall abound as our trials and occasions do increase; for suitable unto them shall our supplies of the Spirit be, Phil. 1.19. says the Apostle, For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ: So the fountain of all our happiness is not in ourselves, but in our God; and all the attributes that are in him, shall be managed and put forth for us, as our necessity shall require, according to the Love, Wisdom, and Faithfulness of a God; so that if thou couldst stand in need of infinite wisdom, and infinite power, and grace, and mercy, all of them should be put forth and exercised for thee; not only a conspiracy and combination of all the creatures, but also of all the Attributes of God, all of them shall work together for thy good.

5. Is not this a mighty ground of assurance, that all the creatures shall be given you, and that the Lord here will deny you nothing that may be for your good? He that gives the greater, will he deny the lesser? He that makes over all that is in himself, will he deny anything that is in any of his works? Surely it was a good saying of Bernard, for the things of this life, Qui dabit regnum, non dabit viaticum? &c. He that gives a Kingdom, will he not give a viatick or livelihood? And also of the Apostle Paul, He that spared not his Son, shall he not with him freely give us all things? There is a higher inheritance, a greater gift of God, than giving Christ as our Mediator, which is this, in giving us himself, that is the Fountain of it. Now if it be a good argument that he will deny us nothing that may be for our good, he that gives the greater, will he deny the less? He has given us his Son; much more because he has given us himself will he give us all things. Every wise Builder doth build answerably unto the foundation; he doth not lay a foundation of Marble, and set upon it a mud-wall, and cover it with a roof of straw. Now the Lord that has laid so glorious a foundation as this in the giving of himself, surely he hath thought nothing too much or too dear for the Saints. O! what heart can but admire his love! The love of the giver may be seen in a very small gift; and so there is unto the Saints peculiar love seen even in temporal favors, a small token may be magni amoris indicium, an argument of great love; but much more the greatness of love is seen in the greatness of the gift. Now of all other this is the greatest; and therefore to distrust God for mercies and blessings of an inferior nature, of meat and drink, deliverance and preservation, it is the most unworthy thought that can enter into the heart of a Saint; for if the Lord hath, like a God, bestowed himself, it is a principle of the basest unbelief and jealousy of spirit to doubt, whether he will not bestow all things else.

6. Hereby the Saints may see wherein their all-sufficiency lies, I am God all-sufficient, and the all-sufficiency of God lies in the Attributes of God, which he has made over unto his people: and hence it comes to pass, that there is unto the Saints an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , self-sufficiency, as there is in God an 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , All-sufficiency, 1 Tim. 4.8. Godliness is profitable to all things: and it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a perfect good, I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound, everywhere, and in all things I am instructed: I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. It must needs be a perfect good that makes a man self-sufficient, that he can want nothing else; and therefore it's said, A good man shall be satisfied from himself, it notes full and abundant satisfaction. I am full of the burnt-offerings of Rams, and the fat of fed beasts. Now how is Self considered here? not in opposition to God, for so there is in a man's self no satisfaction; for there is nothing but emptiness; but it is self in union with God, for tolle meum, & tolle Deum, take away my, and take away God: and so there is satisfaction in a man's self, for Deus est intimior intimo nostro, he is as the utmost end, and our chief good, nearer to us than our self, and as it were more one with us, than we are with our self; therefore it is in the all-sufficiency of God that the self-sufficiency of a Saint doth lie.

[Use 3] 3. It's a Use of Direction, and that unto two sorts.

1. Unto all the ungodly of the earth, who are engaged against the Saints, and confederate against them that are of a contrary party; the men of this world; for the Lord Christ saith, If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Here is a double direction to you. (1) Let fall your desires, and cease your hopes of prevailing against the Saints; for all the Attributes of God are engaged for them, beat your swords into plowshares, &c. It's the misery of all ungodly men, and they have so much of the Devil in them, that though they be frustrated, and see that they labor in vain never so long, yet their hopes are born up, and they think, surely if that plot did not take against the children of God, yet this will; as men that are deluded in the Philosophers stone, they try this and that experiment; but that did fail by a mischance, now they'll try another, and then they have great hopes, but all comes to nothing: for so it's with the Devil himself, and it's his envy blinds him, and it doth so besot him, that though he hath conspired against God and his people so often, and sees that he cannot prevail, but still his own weapons are turned against himself, and that which he thinks shall be for the ruin of the Church, that still tends to its advancement; yet he is a restless and an indefatigable Spirit, he constantly walks about as a roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour. Now if men would be persuaded to lay down their hopes, all their endeavors would immediately cease; but the delusion that Satan has upon their spirits is, that he feeds them still with new plots and fresh hopes, that they cannot say, Esa. 44.20. Is there not a lie in my right hand? And if they consider duly, this doctrine must needs bring down all such hopes: has the Lord given unto them, thinkest thou, an interest in all his own Divine Excellencies to this very end, that they may be food unto thy malice, and that they may perish by thee? what conceit can be more vain? It's true they are a people that are injuriis opportuni, exposed to injuries, the worm Jacob, that every man is ready to tread upon, lies to every ones mercy, as the complaint is, They eat my people as they eat bread, and they are as a cup in their hand, it's as easy to destroy them as to drink; but yet do not promise thyself much that way, for thou wilt never prevail, because all the Attributes of God are made over unto them for their succor and their portion the Lord Jehovah is a man of war, though he may never appear till the day of battle, and then he will fight for them against all their enemies, and shall certainly be victorious, and lead captivity captive, &c.

(2) Let this be a means to raise up your fears in the way that you go; for he that lifts up his hand against these anointed ones of the Lord, all the Attributes of God are engaged for them against him. It was good counsel given by Gamaliel, Act. 5.39. Refrain from these men, and let them alone, lest you be found fighters against God: and did ever any man fight against God and prosper? Hast thou a counsel able to out-plot infinite Wisdom, and a power that does exceed the holy arm of the great and terrible God? &c. There is no such way for a man to engage the Attributes of God against himself, as to engage against those that have an interest in the Attributes of God; for the Covenant that God hath made with his people is offensive and defensive, and the Lord will surely appear for them; it's therefore a design that did never prosper in the hand of any that did undertake it, nay be sure thou wilt perish under the power of those attributes: there is no such way to turn the edge of them all against thee, as this is: as it was said of Canaan, It's a land that eats up the inhabitants; so we may say of this, it's a work that devours the workers, the Lord will rebuke Kings for their sakes, if they touch his anointed; and there is no vengeance like unto that of the Temple, thou wilt surely perish in thy own opposition; for it doth arm all the Attributes of God against thee, and they do arm the Church against thee, and therefore the worm Jacob must thresh the mountain; and when the strength of the Churches enemies is greatest, and their hopes highest, when they are folded up as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry; and in the same place where they did expect the destruction of the Church, they shall be sure to find their own. Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion; but they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel, for he shall gather them as the sheaves in the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass, and thou shall beat in pieces many people, &c. They are to the world as a burdensome stone, all men will be lifting at them, till they be broken in pieces by them; it's their own folly to dash and fall upon them, percussum e pectore ferrum.

2. It's a Use of direction to the Saints that have an interest in God, as their God in Covenant, and so are intitled unto all the Attributes of God. (1) Exercise faith upon every attribute, and thereby make it to be your own in the use and improvement thereof: Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, that is, let your faith take hold of the strength of God, and thereby let it rise unto such a height of confidence, as if you had almighty power in your own hand to exercise; if thou be in any straight, and dost want wisdom to direct thee in thy way, be thou wise by the wisdom of God, and let thy faith raise thee up unto that height of confidence, that it is as impossible for Satan to out-wit thee, as it is to go beyond infinite Wisdom; and so if thou sin at any time, question thy pardon no more than if thou hadst infinite mercy in thy own hand, and wert able to pardon thyself; for it's all made over to thee in this one promise, I will be thy God for that which is originally and essentially in God, that by our dependency becomes ours, as truly as if we were the subjects in which it doth reside.

(2) It should raise up in a man a holy greatness of mind suitable unto such a privilege: and it's a thing of no small concernment, that the people of God should be raised up to such a holy greatness; for it would free them from those vain hopes and fears, and those low employments that now they are busied about, for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , there is nothing great here below: a man should look upon all things with the eye of God, to have all the Attributes of God made over to him: if dangers offer themselves, the soul is not surprised; for as God sits in Heaven, and laughs them to scorn, when the workers of Babel did build a Tower to their own confusion; so do the Saints also, the virgin, the daughter of Zion doth laugh thee to scorn, &c. If wisdom show itself, and a man hath to do with the policy of an Achitophel, he fears it no more than folly, and believes it shall be as he prays, Lord turn it into folly, and he laughs at the plot. And if the guilt of sin rise up in his conscience, he can say, Though I have sinned, and am a sinner, yet God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and grace is free, Jesus Christ is ascended up into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God: for it's a fault in the Saints, they think when they sin it's their duty to question their estates, their interest in God: and it's good to question it for trial and examination, but not by way of diffidence unto a man's dejection; for the way to increase a man's sanctification is not to weaken his faith in the point of justification: and if the power of sin do prevail, yet a man goes forth against it in the strength of the Lord, and he saith, Though it be to 〈◊〉 impossible, yet it is possible with God, and his power is engaged for my perfection; and this were to live the life of God, as grace is called, Eph. 4.18.

(3) Sing unto God the praises of every Attribute; for as we should look through all that is in Christ, that our hearts might take in whole Christ, and the Church doth so, Cant. 5 and Paul, Phil. 3.7, 8, 9. so should we of all the Attributes of God also: Be thou exalted in thy own strength, O Lord, so will we sing and praise thy power: and I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of trouble. Observe the attributes that at any time God discovers to thee, in thy straits specially, and unto those sing praises: it's all that the Lord expects as a return for all that his attributes work for you, that you should give them glory: and the way to engage any Attribute of God for you again, is to give it the glory of any of the former discoveries thereof, and the way to disengage an attribute is to neglect to give that attribute its glory, when it has been put forth: Cessat gratiarum decursus ubi cessat recursus, &c. Where the recurse or return of graces ceaseth, the decurse or flowing forth of fresh graces ceaseth. For the Lord's aim under the new Covenant is the glory of the attributes of his nature, as well as the glory of the persons, that they all of them may have their due place and order in our hearts; and as the Lord doth distinctly put them forth in their order for a man, as his necessity does require, so he does expect that we should take them as our portion, and rejoicing in the Lord therein give unto them in our hearts their particular and distinct honor; for the Lord is not a God of confusion, he loves to have everything done distinctly, he cannot delight in a general confession of sin, because generals do not affect nor afflict; neither can he take pleasure in a general thanksgiving and blessing of his Name, but he delights to be honored by distinct apprehensions in the soul; and as it brings the greatest honor unto God, so it will surely bring the sweetest consolation unto the creature.

(4) Get a resemblance of every Attribute stamped upon thy heart. There is a double image that we read of; that of God after which we were created, and that of Christ according to which we are renewed, Rom. 8.29. Now as we must get an impression of all the graces that be in Christ, receiving of his fullness grace for grace, that we may be conformable to the image of Christ; so we must also of all the Attributes of God, that we may be made conformable to the image of God: there is something in grace that doth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , make us God-like, as Nazian. And he that is a Christian, saith Ignatius, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a man that carries God with him wheresoever he goes, he has an image of the Omnipotency of God, and may say, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me: and also of the Eternity of God, he doth all things upon eternal principles and unto eternal ends; and of the Immutability of God, his heart is established and will not shrink, he is not changed with ev • ry wind, but he is steady in his course, as the Sun going forth in its strength. [1] This is the only ground of assurance, that thou hast an interest in that attribute; for if it work no resemblance of its self in thee, it is none of thine: For beholding would transform thee into the same image: if thou wouldst know whether thou hast an interest in any of the graces of Christ, look into thy own heart and on the prayer of Christ in Heaven, look into the workings of thy own heart, and see if there be any resemblance between Christ and thee, and then thou mayest conclude it; so it's here also, if thou hast an interest in any Attribute, there is a resemblance wrought in thee. [2] This will give thee a ground of assurance, that it shall be put forth for thee, or else it will be exercised against thee; he that shows mercy shall attain mercy; and on the contrary, he shall have judgment without mercy that shows no mercy; and therefore it's of great concernment to the Saints, that they may have in themselves an image and resemblance of every Attribute; for though their portion lie not in that, but in God, yet in that is a great ground of their assurance that it's theirs, and shall be acted for them in its season.

CHAP. III. The Beatific Vision of God's Essence explicated and applied.