The Covenant of Grace, Chapter 4
CHAP. IIII.
Of the gift promised by this Oath in general, and of the two parts thereof joyntly.
THus much of Zacharies exposition of Gods Oath, now we come to the words thereof, that he would give us, &c. The thing then promised in this Oath is a gift: Of this gift we are to speak; first in general, and then in particular. In general, we may observe, first, the main difference between the Covenant of works, made with all mankind: and the Covenant of Grace▪ made with Abraham and his seed, the heires of promise, In the former, the Lord … perfect obedience to the performed by our selves to our justification, and salvation and denounceth his fearful c…rse against those, that do not continue in a total and perfect obedience. In the latter, the Lord, i… in stead of requiring perfect obedience to be performed of us to our justification and salvation; promiseth to those, which believe, redemption and justification without works: and being redeemed and justified by faith, he promiseth to give them grace to walk in new obedience, as being an unseparable fruit of our redemption and justification, and as the high-way wherein we are to walk towards our glorification. Of this new Covenant the holy Ghost prophesieth by Ieremy, Chap. 31. vers. 31. 32, 33. Behold the days come saith the Lord, that I wil make a new Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the Covenant which I made with their fathers, when I brought them out of Aegypt (which was the covenant of works:) but this shal be the Covenant that I wil make with them, I wil put my law in their inward parts, & write it in their hearts, &c. Wch is the covenant of grace recited by the Apostle, Heb. 8. v. 8. 9. 10 of which, being a better Covenant, Christ is the mediator, v. 6. according to that Iohn 1. 17. This Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ. The same Coven…nt repeated by Ezekiel, Chap. 36. 26. 27. The Gospel therefore or Covenant of Grace is not a new law, nor Christ a new law-giver (as the Papists absurdly teach, confounding the Law and the Gospel; saving that they teach, that the Gospel requireth more perfect obedience to be performed by our selves, then the Law it self doth prescribe unto justification) but to them that are redeemed and justified by faith, it promiseth grace to walk in new obedience. Howbeit this is true, that as men deprived themselves of what was promised in the Old Covenant, by disobedience: So if men do live in sin without faith, and without repentance, not so much as desiring, caring, and endeavouring to worship God in holyness and righteousness: they can have no assurance that they are within the Covenant of grace, made only with those that truly beleeve: God having promised to those, which are redeemed and justified by faith, to give them grace to worship him, in holyness and righteousness.
Secondly, we note, that our justification and sanctification are both the free gifts of God, for it is he that redeemeth and justifieth, and it is he also that sanctifieth, which point needeth no proof, seeing God … swear they are both his gifts. The use where of in a word is, that both they, which want these benefits, being neither freed from the guilt of their sins, nor purged from their corruptions, may know where to seek them… & also those that have them maybe thankful to God the giver of them: which is the thing, whereunto the holy Ghost by Zachary exciteth us in this Psalm.
Now this gift promised by Oath (that I may come to the parts thereof) is twofold; our redemption or justification (for to be redeemed is to have our sins remitted, Ephes. 1. 7. Col. 1. 14. and to have our sins remitted is to be justified) and the fruit or end of our redemption, which is our sanctification, consisting in the faithful, sincere, and constant service of God in holyness and righteousness.
Of these I am to speak, First, joyntly of both together; and then of either of them severally. In the ioynt consideration, we are to observe both the order and coniunction of them. The order is plainly expressed by the Participle foreign that being delivered from the hand of our enemies we should worship him &c. For the meaning of the holy Ghost is, that God would give us, both that we should be redeemed and delivered from the hand of our enemies; and also that we should worship him; But to note the order, he hath expressed the former part, which is the benefit of redemption, by the Participle, that being delivered from the hand of our enemies we should worship him, &c. which teacheth us, that before we can worship God aright, we must be delivered from the bondage of our spiritual enemies, and that for two reasons. For first, naturally we are the servants of sin, and of Sathan. Being servants of sin, we are in two respects utterly disabied from serving God, until we be delivered out of this bondage, for first, being servants of sin, we are fr…e from righteousness, Rom. 6. 20. in respect of that privative corruption, which is in us all derived from our first parents; being a privation of all spiritual goodness, Rom. 7. 18. not only in respect of the act, but also in respect of the habite and power (as blindness is of sight) being a meer impotency to that which is spiritually good, in so much that not only we do not think, nor wil, nor do that which is good; but also we are not able thereunto, Of our selves we cannot so much as think a good thought, 2 Cor. 3. 5. The natural man doth not understand spiritual things, neither can he understand them, 1. Cor. 2. 14. Fulgentius, De incarnat, & gratia, … wel, that Adam by his sin wholy lost the faculty of thinking those things which appertain to God, and also of willing that which is good, and much more of doing that which is good: for wil may be present when performance is wanting, Rom. 7. 18. But it is God that worketh in us both to wil, and to do, Phil 2. 13. Insomuch that the faithfull themselves, if they think, or … or do any thing that is good, may truly say every of them, 1 Cor. 15. 10. not I, but the grace of God which is with me. For the carnal mind, or the disposition of our corrupt nature is not subject to the Law of God, neither can it be, Rom. 8. 7. Augustine truly faith, that man by his fall lost bonum passibilitatis, and our Saviour professeth, that without him, or not being in him, we can do nothing. John 15. 5. Doth not the holy Ghost elsewhere teach the same, when he affirmeth tha… we are naturally dead in fin, Ephes. 2. 1. 5? And therefore, as a dead man cannot perform the actions of the natural life; no more can he▪ that is dead in sin, perform the actions of the life spiritual: likewise, when he calleth our recovery from sin, sometimes, the first resurrection, whereby the soul, which before was dead, is
Homo per peccatum facultatem … perdidit & bona voluntatis.
it raysed as it were from the grave of sinne▪ sometimes, regeneration, whereby, we being before dead, are quickened, and begotten a new unto God. Sometimes new creation, by which we are made new creatures created unto good works. For as the first creation was a motion from nothing to those things which are; so the new (xChrysost. in Eph. 2. 10. foreign &c.) creation is a motion from our not being of grace, and spiritual goodness, to a being thereof; which serveth notably to confu…e the erroneous conceipts of the patrons of freewil, the Pelagians, Papists, Arminians, and our new Anabaptists.
Secondly, being servants of sin, sin raigneth in us, as a Iyrant, without resistance, imposing upon us a necessity of sinning. In respect whereof it may truly be said, that naturally we do nothing but sin, neither can we do otherwise but sin. Our free-wil by nature having (as Augustine saith)yNihil vnlet nist ad peceandum. De spiritu & lit. c. 1. no hability but to sin. For as the same Augustine saith, zAd …facium … Pelag. lib. 3. cap. 8.… The frame of a mans thoughts and imaginations which the Apostle calleth foreign, is evil, and only evil, and that …, Gen. 6. 5. 8. 21. and therefore of the … Apostle affirmeth, Rom. 8. 7. … foreign but foreign not an … also enmity against God. And for the … cause our Saviour, when Peter … counsel, called him Sathan; … why he so called him, was, … foreign that is mind and affect, the things which are of men, Mat. 16. 23. And S▪ … affirmeth, that that wisdom which is … ▪ and carnal, is also foreign … ▪ Iam. 3. 15. As therefore it was wel said of Augustine, De natura & gratiae contra Pelag. that man by his fall did lose … possibilitatis; so as truly he did deny that he retaineth possibilitatem non peccandi. And this … the estate of all men in their pure … ▪ which the Philosophers do magnifie as good▪ and the Papists qualifie as not evil. In regard whereof notwithstanding, we may truly be said, besides the guiltiness of Adams heynous transgression, to have but two faults; the one, that there is in us no goodness spirituall, nor possibility of our selves, but a meer impotency to that which is good. The other, that there is us naturally an evill disposition, and … into all m…er of s…, which doth so dom…r in us, that it imposeth a necessity of sinning, so that by nature, as we do no good, neither can we think, or wil, or do that which is good; so do we nothing but sin, neither can we do any thing but sin. And as we are naturally the servants of sin; so by sin we are also the serof the devil, who is the Prince, Ioh. 12. 31 and God of this world 2 Cor. 4. 4. under whose subjection the whole world of the wicked lyeth, 1 Ioh. 5. 19. who is the powerful Prince of the aire, working effectually in the children of disobedience, Ephes. 2. 2. carrying them away captive to do his wil. 2 Tim. 2. 26.
This servitude to sin and Sathan, the mystery of our redemption doth presuppose. For if we were not captives, we needed not to be redeemed. And he doth therefore redeem us, that we might serve him; and therefore before he doth actually redeem us, we cannot serve him in holyness and righteousness.
Socondly, we are by nature the children of wrath, Ephes. 2. 3. and enemies, yea rebels against GOD. And therefore until we be reconciled unto him by the death of Christ, and justified by faith through redemption wrought by Christ; we cannot do any thing which may be acceptable to God. for they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom. 8. 8. The person must be accepted, before his actions can be accepted▪ And without faith it is impossible to please God. Heb. 11. 6.
Now if this be so, that we cannot serve God, or do any thing that shal be accepted of him, unle…s we be first redeemed, justified, and reconciled to him: how doth it beho…e every one, that hath not yet obtained these graces, to labour for them above all th… things in this world? For until then, he doth nothing but sinn, and by multiplying sinns he doth hoard up wrath against the day of wrath.
The means of Gods part, is the preaching of the Gospel, which is therefore called the ministry of reconciliation, which God hath committed to the Preachers thereof, by whom, as his Embassadors in Christs steed▪ he intreateth you to be reconciled unto God▪ 2 Cor. 5. 18, 20.
The means on our part, are faith, praye…, and repentance. For if thou dost truly, and by a lively faith effectually believe, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and Saviour of all that believe in him; thou art bound to believe also (or else thou makest God a lyar) that he is thy Saviour, and so believing thou art justified, and being justified by faith, thou shalt have peace with God.
Secondly, if the Lord who is the party offended, and needeth not thy friendship, desi…eth thee to be reconciled unto him; wilt not thou, who art the offendor, who also without his favour, shalt perish eternally; wilt not thou (I say) by hearty and earnest prayer de…i…e him to be reconciled unto thee? Now if … dost by the prayer of faith desire God to be reconciled unto thee; what should hind… thy reconciliation, when thou destrest … of God, which God by his Ministers desireth of thee?
But unto these two we must add the duty of repentance. For if we continue in sinn without repentance, and please our selves in …pleasing God; how can we perswade our s…lv…s, that we desire to be reconciled unto him? And if we do not desire to be reconciled, then are we the professed enemies of God, for whom remaineth the fearful expectation of that judgment wch shaldestroy the adversa… of God. Heb. 10. 27. So much of the order.
Now we are to speak of the concur…nce of these two graces. For when the Lord sweareth, that to those whom he redeemeth and justifieth, he wil give grace to worship him in holyness and righteousness; from hence we do necessarily collect, that sanctification is an unseparable companion of justification; and that no man can have assurance, that he is justified, unless he be in some measure sanctified. Let no man therefore deceive himself with a vain profession of an idle and dead faith, …. 2. 14. for unlesse thou doest, at the least, desire and endevour to worship God in holnesse and righteousnesse; it is as certain, as the oath of the Lord is true, that as yet thou art not justified, nor actually made partaker of the redemption wrought by Christ. It is true that our Saviour Christ in the dayes of his flesh, did redeem us meritoriously, paying a ransome sufficient for all that should beleeve in him: but none are actually made partakers of this Redemption, but they to whom it is applyed; and it is applyed only to those that truly believe, and true faith▪ purifieth the heart, Act. 15. 9. and worketh by love▪ Gal. 5, 6. and is to be demonstrated by good works, … faith, as all those are which truly believe in him, in them Christ dwelleth by his Spirit (for, Rom. 8. 9. they are not his, who have not his Spirit) applying unto them not only the merit of his death, to their redemption, and the benefit of his resurrection to their justification, Rom. 4. 25. but also the vertue and efficacie of his death to mortifie their sinnes, Phil. 3. 8, 9. and of his resurrection to raise them to newnesse of life; so that for whose sinnes Christ died, they die to their sinne; and for whose justification he arose, they also rise to newnesse of life. The Apostle, Rom. 6. 3. 4. affirmeth, that those who have been bapt…zed into CHRIST, were baptized into his death, and resurrection; that as CHRIST did die and rise againe; so they also die to sinne, and rise to a newnesse of life.
2. CHRIST was given unto us by his Father, not only to be our justification, and redemption; but also our Sanctification, 1 Cor. 1. 30. Neither did hee come with blood alone, or with water alone; 1 Iohn 5. 6. But as Saint Iohn in his Gospell carefully observeth, as a thing most remarkable. Iohn 19. 34, 35. He came both with water and with blood, with the blood of redemption, to expiate the guilt of our sins, and with the water of ablution, or sanctification, to cleanse us from the corruption▪ 1 Iohn 5. 6. And in respect of both, his blood doth cleanse us from all our sins, 1 Ioh. 1. 7. from the guilt, perfectly, in our justification, from the corruption, in part, and by degrees in our sanctification. See Hebr. 9. 14.
3. Whosoever are the sons of God by adoption, as all those are, Io. 1. 12, 13. that truly believe, they also are his sons by regeneration.
4. The same is implied in the benefit of Redemption, whereby Christ our blessed Saviour doth not only redeem us from the guilt of sin, which bindeth men over to damnation, but also from the bondage of sinne, that howsoever sinne doth remaine in the faithfull, yet it shall not reigne in them, Rom. 6. 14. nor have dominion over them. For they that practise sinne, are the servants of sinne, Iohn 8. 34. and of Satan, 1 Ioh. 3. 8. in them sin reigneth; and therefore they are not by Christ redeemed from the bondage of sinn… ▪ For whom the Sonne maketh free, they are free indeed, Ioh. 8. 36.
5. The same is proved by the nature and property of a true faith. For faith is a grace of regeneration, which the Spirit of God, when he doth regenerate us, ingenerateth in us: wherby, as we are justified alone, because no other grace doth concurre with it to the act of justification: So are we sanctified in part, …gether with other graces; and therefore is never severed from the grace of regeneration, or from other sanctifying and saving gra…, and further it is the property of faith, having justified us, inwardly to purifie the heart Act. 15. 9. and outwardly to work by love, Gal. 5. 6. Therfore, though to the act of justification, neither outward obedience, nor inward graces do concur with faith, as any cause thereof: Yet in the subject, that is, in the party justified; they must, and do concur, as necessary fruits of a true and lively faith, without which it is dead, Iam. 2. 20. And therefore a true, lively, justifying faith, is also a sanctifying faith.
Now, both from the order, and conjunction of these graces, we may infer a singular consolation to all the true… Children of God. For if there be such a conjunction between these two graces of justification and sanctification, that whosoever hath the one, hath also the other, and who hath not both hath neither: then it followeth necessarily, that, as he that is justified, is also sanctified; So he that is sanctified, is also justified; and if the order between them be such, that a man cannot serve God in the duties of sanctification, untill he be justified, nor cannot worship God aright, untill he be redeemed from his spirit…all enemies▪ then it followeth …, that they who are in any true measure sanctified, are also justified; that they who sincerely desire, and endevour to walk in the obedience of Gods holy will, making conscience of their wayes, are redeemed from the hand of their spirituall enemies. And not only may we from our sanctification come to the certain knowledge of our justification: but also we may thereby make our calling and our election sure. For dost thou, professing the true faith, endevour to keep a good conscience, and to walk uprightly before God; then it is certain, that thou art justified by a true faith; art thou justified? then … is certain, that thou art effectually called: art thou called according to Gods purpose? then without doubt thou art elected: art thou elected? then undoubtedly thou shalt be saved. Seeing then such singular comfort … set… from the leading of a godly and upright …, as that thereby we may make our calling and election sure, hereby we should all of us be excited to the study of godlinesse, and practise of piety: for the greatest comfort that we can have in this life, is to be … of our election and salvation. But to the knowledge of our election, we cannot come …, by any thing going before, as the cause thereof, but à posteriori by the effects. The s…ries or chaine of the degrees of salvation, may not unfitly be compared to Iacobs ladder, which reached from the earth to heaven, the lowest step whereof in this life is our sanctification, whereon, if we can set our foot, we may from thence arise to our justification, and from thence to our effectuall calling, and from thence to our election. But if we will without ascending by these degrees, take upon us to conclude the certainty of our election, we shall be like him, that being to go up a ladder, would strive at the first, to set his foot on the highest step of the ladder, neglecting the lower degrees.