A Discourse of the Two Covenants, Book 3 · Chapter 2 · Section 1
SECT. I. The Covenant of Grace makes God ours, and the Benefits hereof.
§. 1. LEt us come more particularly unto the words of the Promiſe, in which the main of the Covenant lyes on Gods part, for we have heard it's unfolded in promiſes, or to uſe the Apoſtles word, eſtabliſhed in Promiſes,Hebr. 8.6. and theſe promiſes Muſculus calls Caput foederis, the Head of the Covenant: the chief and the bottom promiſe, on which the Covenant ſtands, is this, I will be thy God: and Pareus calls it anima foederis, the ſoul of the Covenant; for it's the principal promiſe of the Second Covenant: as in our part of the Covenant, there is one great Commandment, Thou ſhalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; ſo there is in Gods part of the Covenant one great promiſe, and that is, that he will be our God, and we ſhall be his people, and therefore a great weight is to be laid upon it.
1. For the opening of it we are to conſider there are Two things to be diſtinctly conſidered in God: (1.) Eſſentia, his Eſſence: (2.) Subſiſtentia, his Subſiſtence. (1.) The Eſſence of God is but one pure and ſimple act of Being, but yet cannot be comprehended as ſuch by a finite underſtanding, becauſe it's infinite; therefore it is ſet forth unto us by ſeveral Attributes, which though in God they be all one, yet they are diverſify'd according to the different objects upon which they are ſet, and about which they are converſant, and the different acts that they do put forth unto the Creatures: and ſo when the Lord doth promiſe to be our God, he doth make over unto the Creature by promiſe an intereſt in all the Attributes of the Eſſence and Divine Nature. (2.) In this Divine Nature there are three diſtinct ſubſiſtences, foreign, is the word uſed by the Apoſtle;Hebr. 1.3. and why we ſhould be offended, as ſome of late, at the word Perſon, by which it is expreſſed, I know not, but from the novelty and curioſity of this laſt Age: There is in the God-head, Father, Son, and Spirit, and theſe Three are One.Joh. 5.7. Now when the Lord doth promiſe to be a God to his People, he doth make over his whole ſelf, God in Eſſence, according to all the Attributes of his Nature, and God in Subſiſtence, according unto all the perſons or ſubſiſtences in the God-head; and it is very neceſſary, that as in point of obedience we take in the whole latitude and extent of the Law, for the Commandment is exceeding broad, ſo in point of Faith alſo, that we take in the whole latitude and extent of the promiſes; that as in the one our hearts and deſires in obeying may anſwer God's in commanding, ſo in the other our hearts and deſires in believing may anſwer God's in promiſing.
2. To be a God implies a ſufficiency. (1) It is a term of Sufficiency, and ſo it is here, Gen. 17.1. I am God all-ſufficient: he that is ſelf-ſufficient in himſelf, is all-ſufficient to his people. What is there that can be neceſſary unto your happineſs, but it ſhall be had in me? and therefore Pſal. 144. ult. Bleſſed is the people whoſe God is Jehovah; becauſe in God there is an all-ſufficiency, that not only you ſhall have all happineſs from him, but you ſhall have all things in him: ſo that as he is ſufficient for himſelf, of and from himſelf, without going forth unto any other; ſo ſhall you have all things in him immediately, that you need look unto nothing elſe to make you happy; for all the perfections of a God ſhall be yours. (2) To be a God is a term of Soveraignty, for he is the moſt high King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,Dan. 4.17. the moſt High rules in the Kingdoms of mortal men, and he is God over all,Rom. 9.5. bleſſed for evermore. Therefore to be a mans God is to undertake the rule and government over him, and to rule and govern all things for his good, that they may be all unto him a bleſſing;Eph. 1. v. ult. that as Chriſt is made the head of all things for the Churches ſake, ſo will the Lord rule over all things for his peoples ſake, rule all as a God, as truly for their good, as for his own glory.
3. It points alſo to the manner of the fulfilling of this promiſe, it ſhall be as becomes a God, and in the way of a God: and ſo much alſo A Lapide hints upon the place, Ero tuus tuorúm que Deus, ut à vobis ſolus colar, I will be the God of thee and thine, that I may be worſhipped by thee. Now there are two ways by which a people employ their intereſt in God, (1) by way of Communion, they come unto God, and they draw near to him, which are terms of Communion, (2) by way of Fruition, their happineſs is in him, and he will be their portion and reward in the land of the living. When the Lord caſts off a people from being a Church to himſelf, he will own them in ways of worſhip no more, he doth expreſs it ſo,Hoſ. 1.9. calls them Loammi, they are not my people, I will not be their God: he does not ſay, You ſhall not have the creatures to be yours, as the fruits of my bounty, you ſhall not have reſpite of torment, as the fruits of my patience; but yet when you have all things here below, you ſhall not have me in them all, in ways of communion here, or of fruition hereafter.
Doctrine 2 The main intendment of God in the new Covenant is this, That he may become the God of his people. Every man that is brought into the new Covenant doth change his God, Jer. 2.10. it's ſaid, Paſs over to the Iſles of Chittim, and ſend unto Kedar, and ſee if there be ſuch a thing, has any nation changed their God? It's looked upon as a ſtrange thing in the world, and yet this is the condition of all thoſe that come under the ſecond Covenant; and therefore as the great Commandment to a people is, Thou ſhalt have Jehovah for thy God, and thou ſhalt have none elſe; ſo the great promiſe on Gods part is, that I will be thy God, that though the earth be mine, and the fulneſs thereof, all ſouls are mine, yet I will be thy God, and thy portion, as if there were no other men in the world beſides thee. There is a double change wrought in the Saints, (1) a change of a mans ſtate, (2) a change of a mans life. The firſt is the great and the univerſal change that God works in men at their firſt converſion, and that the School-men do well ſay is mutatio circa finem ultimum, a change of a mans utmoſt end. Now finis ultimus & ſummum bonum inter ſe convertuntur, the laſt end and chiefeſt good are convertible: therefore he that doth change his utmoſt end, does alſo change his chiefeſt good, and he that doth ſo, doth change his God.
1. Here we are to conſider, that all mankind that are out of covenant with God, have no intereſt in God, they have all of them another God. Eph. 2.12. they are all of them Atheiſts, or men without God. Before Abraham was taken into covenant with God, he did ſerve other Gods beyond the river with Terah his father, Joſh. 24.2. but when he was taken into covenant, the main intendment of the Covenant was this, he ſhall change his God. Now I will make a covenant with thee, to be a God to thee and thy ſeed, and thou ſhalt worſhip the Nations god no more. It's true that there are no men but they have ſome impreſſions of a Deity upon them; every man worſhips ſome God, a Numen he doth acknowledge, and there is a God that every one doth chuſe unto himſelf, as it is ſaid in Judges, they choſe new Gods, but they are called Stercorarii, they are dunghil-gods, they are not the God of Abraham, they are not the God that makes over himſelf in covenant unto his people, but they are new Gods newly come up. It's true, he that is without the true God, will be ready to fancy any thing to himſelf as a God; therefore one man doth adore himſelf, and another this or that creature, and another ſerves his belly as his God, and the other he chuſes Mammon for his God, every man as his fancy leads him; for all theſe Gods are nothing elſe but foreign,Act. 7.43. but the truth is, it is the Devil that is worſhipped under all theſe forms as a God, Deut. 32.17. They ſacrificed to devils and not unto God: or Demons or new-made Gods newly come up, whom their Fathers knew not: and ſo did the Gentiles in all their ways of worſhip, they ſacrificed unto Devils,1 Cor. 10.20. and not unto God. And ſo it is in the worſhipping of Saints and Angels under Popery, it's but worſhipping of Devils or Demons, Rev. 9.20.they repented not of the works of their hands, that they ſhould not worſhip Devils, &c. And for this cauſe the Doctrine of worſhipping Saints is called the Doctrine of Devils, or Demons. And it's true in both ſenſes, either the worſhipping of Saints, or the worſhipping of Devils in them. And this is indeed the Idolatry of all unregenerate men in the world,2 Cor. 4.4. they do worſhip Satan who is the God of this world; and therefore all unregenerate men being of this world, they have no God but the God of the world, and therefore it's ſaid of the world, 1 Joh. 5.19.In aliquo poſitum eſſe, in ejus poteſtate eſſe. Camer. The world lies in wickedneſs: it notes the higheſt ſubjection to the Devil that can be, to be ſubject to him as God. And this is the great ſin of all unregenerate men, who are out of covenant with the Lord; and therefore it's well called by Tertullian, Principale crimen humani generis & ſummus ſeculi reatus, The principal crime of mankind and chief guilt of the age. So that every man that has not the Lord for his God in covenant, he worſhips the Devil for his God inſtead of the true God.
2. When men are in covenant with God, they do change their God, and Jehovah becomes their God. And that will appear in two things. (1) The Lord ſtyles himſelf their God; and therefore when he had taken Abraham into covenant with himſelf,Exod. 3.6. then he calls himſelf the God of Abraham: and it's ſaid Heb. 11.16. of all the Saints, He is not aſhamed to be called their God. And that's the great promiſe of the Covenant,Jer. 31.33. 2 Cor. 6.16. Rev. 21.7. I will be their God, and they ſhall be my people. He that overcomes ſhall inherit all things, I will be his God. (2) Upon this ground they do claim an intereſt in him as their God: ſo doth Moſes, Exod. 15.2. Thou art my God, and thou art my father's God. So doth David, Pſal. 63.1. Thou art my God, early will I ſeek thee: and ſo doth Eſa. 7.13. Will you weary my God alſo? ſo doth the Church, God, even our own God ſhall bleſs us: this God is our God for ever and ever. Pſal. 67.6. Pſal. 48. v. ult.And therefore all they that are in covenant with God, they have the Lord for their God.
Now what is there that doth make the Lord to become our God, that a man may ſay he has changed his God? There are three things in the new Covenant that give a man a propriety in God.
1. The Lord doth graciouſly and freely make over himſelf: it's an ordinary thing amongſt men to make over a propriety, either in things or perſons, by covenant; as you have heard, the wife by covenant has a propriety in the husband, and the husband in the wife; and ſo the Prince has a propriety in the Subject, and the Subject in the Prince. Now the Lord doth thus freely make over himſelf unto his people by covenant with them to be a God to them.
2. There is a Union with Jeſus Chriſt that the Saints have, they are one body with him, and the Covenant of grace being made primarily with Chriſt, the Lord becomes his God in covenant, and ſo he ſaith, I aſcend unto my Father and your Father, Joh. 20.17. Pſal. 22.1.unto my God and your God: My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken me? Therefore the great intention of this Covenant was, that the Lord might become the God of Chriſt, as he is the Mediator, and being his God, and we being one with him, he becomes our God alſo.
3. There is a free and a voluntary acceptation and conſent on the creatures part to embrace this God for his, and to give up himſelf to him, to perform all thoſe acts of ſoul towards him as becomes a God: the Lord will not receive a man for his that has another God, he muſt caſt off all the dunghil-gods that before he ſerved. He ſaith, What have I to do any more with Idols? He doth caſt his Idols of ſilver and gold unto the moles and to the bats. It's not honourable for the great God to put himſelf upon a people to be their God againſt their will, and therefore there goes forth an illumination upon the hearts of his people, by which they chuſe him for their God, and they will own no other: and this mutual conſent between God and them doth compleat their intereſt and propriety in him. How did Dagon become the God of the Philiſtins, and Apis the God of the Egyptians, and Chemoſh the God of the Ammonites? it was, becauſe they choſe them unto themſelves to worſhip them; and there is no means to ſet up a God over a people, and to intitle them to him but by their own conſent: and ſo it is with the God of Iſrael, it is becauſe they yield themſelves to give the hand to the Lord: 2 Chron. 30.8.They gave themſelves firſt to God (ſays the Apoſtle Paul) and then to us, by the will of God, 2 Cor. 8.5. And by this means it is, that he that is taken into covenant with God, doth change his God, and take the Lord for his God. The Lord doth make over himſelf unto him in the Covenant to be his God, and he does conſent to it, and ſays, This God ſhall be my God for ever and ever, and I will have no other God but him.
Ʋſe 1 §. 2. Firſt, ſee here the miſerable condition of all thoſe that are out of covenant with God: for they that are ſtrangers to the Covenant of Promiſe,Eph. 2.12. they are without God in the world; and that will appear 1. in this, it's the greateſt ſin to live without God, it's againſt the great Commandment of the Law, and againſt the grand promiſe of the Goſpel: the great Commandment of the Law is, Thou ſhalt have Jehovah for thy God, and thou ſhalt love the Lord thy God. If he that loves his wife loves himſelf, much more he that loves his God muſt love himſelf moſt; for he is, as the School-men ſpeak, intimior intimo noſtro, more intimate than our moſt intimate part: he is nearer unto a man than a man is to himſelf; and therefore converſion being a writing the Law in the heart, this being the great Commandment, this is ſpecially written there, to love the Lord our God with all our heart: and the truth is, upon this all the other Commandments do depend, on this hang all the Law and the Prophets; and therefore Auſtin well obſerves, Qui non diligit Deum non diligit proximum, quia non diligit ſeipſum, He that loves not God loves not his neighbour, becauſe he loves not himſelf. A man ought to love his neighbour as himſelf; but he that loves not himſelf cannot love his neighbour: and he that doth not love God, neither doth he, nor can he love himſelf, he hates his own ſoul: and as this command to love God is the greateſt, it is the grand promiſe of the Goſpel, that the Lord will be our God. Now in a mans converſion as the precepts are written in the heart as ſoon as he is new-born to God, as the rule of his obedience;2 Cor. 3.2, 3. ſo alſo are all the promiſes written in his heart, as the ground of his faith: Ye are (ſays the Apoſtle) the Epiſtle of Chriſt miniſtred by us, written, not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, in the fleſhly tables of your heart. And therefore as it is in vain for a man to ſpeak of obedience unto leſſer precepts, if the great Commandments be wanting; ſo it's in vain to claim an intereſt in inferior promiſes, if the great promiſe, I will be thy God, thou haſt no part in.
2. The baſeneſs and unworthineſs of a mans ſpirit is ſeen in nothing ſo much as in this, that a man can take any thing for a God. The Lord doth juſtly deride his own people, that they turned their glory into ſhame,Jer. 2.11, 12. they changed their glory for a thing of nought, the word in the Hebrew is*foreign To worſhip the true God is a mans glory, and to have an intereſt in him, he is ſaid to be the glory of his people Iſrael. Pſal. 62.7. nihilitates, nothingneſſes: and the Heathen man could well ſcorn the Egyptians for that porrum & caepe neſas violare & frangere morſu. Men commonly count it a great matter what ſervants they have, and much more what yoke-fellow they take, as the companion of their lives, or what Prince they ſubject themſelves unto; but here is the baſeneſs of the ſpirit of man, that he cares not what God he hath, but he is contented to worſhip the creatures, which God has ſubjected to him as ſervants, nay to honour the Devil as a God, who is his enemy, and curſed above all creatures; and yet all men that have not the God of Heaven for their God, they worſhip the God of this world, the Prince of the air, the Devil. Therefore to be miſtaken in a mans God, and to joyn himſelf unto a ſtrange God,Hoſ. 9.10. is the greateſt reproach that can befal a man. It's ſaid of Iſrael, That they joyned themſelves unto Baal-Peor, and ſeparated themſelves unto that ſhame, and they were abominable ſecundum amorem eorum, according to their love, that is, as the Gods that they loved, as God is called the fear of his people.
3. It is more to loſe God than to loſe all bleſſings that come from God. And therefore Hoſ. 1.9. that's made the top of the judgment Lo-ammi; it's more than Lo-ruhamah, for to have God is more than to receive any mercy from God; and therefore this is the true difference between an hypocrite and a gracious heart, one is content with what comes from Gods hands, the other can be ſatisfied with nothing but God; Sicut mea tibi non placent niſi mecum, ſic tua non ſatiunt niſi tecum, &c. As my good works pleaſe not thee without my ſelf, ſo thy good things pleaſe not me without thy ſelf. Bern. Let a man tender to God thouſands of rams, and ten thouſands of rivers of oyl, yet all this doth not pleaſe God, unleſs we give our ſelves to the Lord: and ſo it is with the Saints of God. Should God beſtow all the creatures upon them in Heaven and in Earth, yet all this would never make them happy without God himſelf. Now if the Lord ſhould ſtrip you naked of all the comforts of the creatures,Luk. 16.25. as one day he will all ungodly men; for it ſhall be ſaid, Son remember in thy life time thou hadſt thy good things; you ſhould neither have bread to eat, nor cloaths to warm you, nor the Sun to give you life: If the fig-tree ſhould not bloſſom, and there be no fruit on the vine, you would think your ſelves miſerable men to want all theſe. Now the people of God can rejoyce in the want of theſe, can rejoyce and triumph in the God of their ſalvation;Hab. 3.7. and yet at the laſt day to depart from God, and to loſe your God to all eternity ſhall be much more; for the greateſt judgment that doth befal men is the loſs of God, and it's very juſt with God to take men in their own ſin: as they in the Goſpel being invited to the marriage, made excuſes, and would not come; therefore that which was their ſin was their judgment and plague, they ſhall not come, thoſe that were bidden ſhall not taſte of my ſupper: you will not come, you ſhall not come; and ſo they will have none of God, Iſrael will have none of me, that's your ſin, and ſhall be your plague, you ſhall have none of me, I will not be your God for ever: for he that has not the Lord for his God in this life, ſhall have no intereſt in him in the life to come. It's the miſery of all unregenerate men that they ſpeak of God as another mans God, and not as their own; as Laban ſaid to Jacob, Gen. 31.29.the God of your fathers, and Pharaoh, I have ſinned againſt the Lord your God. But this is the happineſs of the Saints, that they can ſay, The Lord is our own God; as Tertullian ſaid to Marcion, Chriſtus in Evangelio tuo meus eſt, Chriſt in thy Goſpel is mine, &c.
4. He that has not the Lord for his God, ſhall ſurely have him for his enemy; and as he doth rejoyce over his own Covenant people for good, ſo he will rejoyce over you for evil:Deut. 28.63. Jer. 44.27. he will watch over you for evil; you ſhall have all evil to befal you here, as pledges of eternal wrath, Heb. 10.27. As a people in Covenant with God do receive all mercies as pledges of glory in Heaven; ſo do they; there is an expectation of wrath, &c.Heb. 10. All acts of common goodneſs are in wrath to them: if the Lord do ſuffer them to proſper, and they be fed as a lamb in a large place, it's in wrath, that their table …ay become their ſnare, and to fat them againſt the day of ſlaughter. Nihil eſt infoeliciùs foelicitate peccantium, quâ poenalis nutritur impuritas & voluntas mala roboratur, &c. There is nothing more unhappy than the happineſs of ſinners, whereby their penal impurity is nouriſhed, and their evil will fortified, Auguſt. And if the Lord forbear to puniſh them, it's in wrath; why ſhould they be ſmitten any more? And if the Lord do hear their prayers, and grant their deſires, it's in wrath: he may grant their requeſt, but ſend leanneſs into their ſouls, Q…oſdam ad utilitatem exaudit, quoſdam ad damnationem, Some he hears for their profit, ſome for their damnation. Aug. And if he beſtow mercies, Iratus dat amanti quod malè amat. The whole deſign that the Lord hath in all his dealings is againſt ſuch a one for evil. Lord, who knows the power of thy wrath!Pſal. 90.11.
Ʋſe 2 2. We may hence learn, what the happineſs is of a people in Covenant with God, they have the Lord for their God. 1. Conſider every man has a treaſure which in this life he doth lay up: one man hath treaſure in Earth, and another hath treaſure in Heaven, as that wherein he does place his happineſs, which is the chief good, upon which he ſets his heart; which if he may attain, he ſays it is enough, and by this he values himſelf and all things elſe, in which he glories: the rich man glories in his riches, and the wiſe man in his wiſdom, and the ſtrong man in his ſtrength, &c. Now in this a godly man doth glory, that he is the Lords treaſure. For Saints are his Jewels: Exod. 19.5.and as a godly man is Gods Jewel, ſo God is his, and in him he has full ſatisfaction: and without this chief good they contemn all things elſe, Omnis copia quae non eſt Deùs meus, egeſtas eſt, All abundance that is not my God is want. The Scripture pronounceth a bleſſedneſs upon ſuch, Pſal. 144. ult. Bleſſed are ſuch who have Jehovah for their God. Now unto happineſs (as the Philoſophers ſay) there are three things required, it muſt be foreign, perfect, proper, and eternal good, which properties are to be found no where but in God in Covenant. (1) It muſt be bonum perfectum, a perfect good, a general and univerſal good extending unto all things, and all times, and all conditions: for the Lord is a God all-ſufficient,Gen. 17.2. he can make a man happy according to the whole life, as Moſes ſaid to Iſrael, The Lord alone led thee, and there was no ſtrange God with him. And the people of God ſhall need bleſſings from none but their own God, God, even our God ſhall bleſs us. (2) It muſt be proprium, proper good: there is nothing can be ſaid to be a mans own that can be taken away from him: all a mans eſtate and riches and honour here are but this worlds goods, and they ſhall ceaſe and fail him, and not follow him into another world, naked he came in, and naked muſt he go out; nay his gifts and tongues will fail: I, but God is a mans own, that he can never loſe. It was the folly of the Heathens, which Auſtin derided, that they tyed their Gods, that they might not be ſtoln; ſuch are the dunghil-gods of the world, qui non poſſunt cuſtodire cuſtodes, who cannot keep thoſe that keep them. But this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will ſave us, it is our own God. (3) It muſt be perpetuum, eternal: Eſa. 25.the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath is the everlaſting arms: they tempted Baſil with money, but he replied, Da pecuniam quae permaneat, ac gloriam quae ſemper floreat, Give me money that will abide, &c. Therefore you ſee how the people of God may ſatiate their ſouls with fatneſs, and how God has promiſed they ſhall be ſatisfied with goodneſs,Jer. 31.14. for with him is the fountain of life, and it will run for evermore; there are pleaſures at his right hand for evermore.
2. This is the ground of all the great things that the Lord hath done, and will do for his people: as David ſays, The Lord has done great things for us whereof we rejoyce. Pſal. 126.This lets us ſee (1) the fountain of all the great things that have been done for his people; and truly you have lived in the times, when the towers fall, and the mountains skip, and the Sea goes back, &c. Some truſt in chariots, and ſome in horſes, Pſal. 107.8.but we will remember the name of the Lord our God; they are brought down and fallen, but we are riſen and ſtand upright, for their rock is not as our rock, nor their God as our God, our enemies themſelves being Judges. Therefore ſay, Had not the Lord been on our ſide, they had ſwallowed us up quick: Pſal. 124.1.for they eat thy people as bread, Zac. 12.3.and drink them alſo at ſweet wine, though they ſhall prove a cup of trembling in their hand, and God will puniſh them who have puniſhed his people.
(2) The Lord has ſpoken great things concerning his people for time to come, ſpecially in the latter days, becauſe the Myſtery of God ſhallbe finiſhed. Conſider, new Jeruſalem ſhall come down from God out of Heaven, and then the Churches foundations ſhall be laid with Saphirs,Calvin. which is to be underſtood, non de doctrina, ſed de hominibus, not of doctrine, but of perſons, i. e. then the Lord will lay the foundations of Churches with choice men, and not with common and ordinary ſtones, that ſhall be built up a ſpiritual houſe unto himſelf; and the glory of the Lord and of the Lamb ſhall be the light thereof, and the name of the City ſhall be Jehovah Shammath; and the Kingdom and Dominion under the whole Earth ſhall be given to the Saints, and Satan ſhall be bound from raiſing up any perſecution againſt the Saints for a thouſand years: ſo that there ſhall be as it were a triumphant ſtate of the Church in this life, that they that hated them ſhall be dumb before them, and ſhall lick up the duſt of their feet, and the Lord will make them to know and acknowledge that he has loved them: and this is a ſufficient ground for it, Rom. 8.32. If he has given us his Son, ſhall he not with him give us all things. So I ſay, if he hath given himſelf,Bernard. we may reaſon from the greater to the leſs, he will give all things elſe: Qui dedit regnum, nonne dabit viaticum? He that hath given a Kingdom, will he not give a viatic? Wiſe men do uſe to make the building anſwerable to the foundation; no man doth lay a foundation of Marble to cover it with a roof of ſtraw, and ſet upon it a mud-wall: and this we ſhould conſider the rather, becauſe before the accompliſhment of theſe promiſes there is a great cloud that will overſhadow all the Gentile Churches in this Weſtern part of the world, and then our hearts are apt to fail us, and ſay our bones are dry, our hope is paſt. He that could but look into the enlargement of the ſoul of the Almighty in this promiſe, and could meaſure the height and breadth and length of it, might eaſily read in the face thereof what great things he will do for his people, even when he yet ſees nothing in preparation or tendency thereunto.
(3) He may be aſſured of the acceptation of his ſervices: and that conſiſts in two things, [1] ut ſunt in ordine ſupernaturali Deo grata, as they are in a ſupernatural way accepted by God, not only as natural actions, but as acts flowing from grace, and the immediate influence and motions of the Spirit of Chriſt: [2] ut ordinationem habent ad vitam aeternam, as they have reſpect to an eternal reward, and the ground of all their intereſt in God; for jure venit cultos ad ſibi quiſ que Deos. And this is the ground of acceptation of ſervices, Lord thou art my God, early will I ſeek thee: and of expecting a bleſſing, God, even our God, ſhall bleſs us. A man can expect nothing from a ſtrange god, but the worſhippers of Baal did expect he ſhould hear them, becauſe he was their god; and ſo do the Saints alſo: and upon this ground it is, that Luther ſaid, That one good work of the Saints, ex fide & in fide eſt pretioſius quàm coelum & terra; & totus mundus non potest reddere dignam maercedem pro unico bono opere, flowing from faith and in faith is more precious than heaven and earth, &c. it is accepted of our God, and this is to walk before him to all well-pleaſing.
Pſal. 23.4.(4) They ſhall be ſure of a ſpecial preſence and providence. [1] A ſpecial preſence. The Lord being Abrahams God, tells him, I will be with thee in all places where thou ſhalt come: the Lord is my ſhepherd, though I walk in the valley of the ſhadow of death, yet I will fear no evil: Ferer.umbra quâ morientium occupantur oculi. They were reſembled by Shew-bread, becauſe God ſets them before his face for ever, his eye and his heart are never off them from one end of the year to the other. [2] There is a ſpecial providence over them, the Lord is their glory, and therefore they are the glory of the world, they being the image and glory of God unto them: and upon all the glory there ſhall be a covering, there is the ſecret of the pavillion of God, Eſa. 4.4. foreign Iſa. 26. v. ult. Cant. 1.4.in which he hides his people; they have their Chambers into which the King doth bring them: therefore be not diſcouraged when you look without you, he is no fool that is wiſe by the wiſdom of God, and he is not weak that can ſay, he is ſtrong by the power of his might; therefore though innumerable difficulties in thy condition in the world, and adverſaries encompaſs thee round about, and threaten to ruine thee, fear nothing, thy God is with thee.
(5) In the ſaddeſt condition of the Saints, in reference to the decays of their inward man, this is their cordial, that God is their God. There are two ſad ſtates of a Saint, Apoſtaſie and Deſertion. [1] Apoſtaſie, they may fall from God into ſin, and may relapſe into ſin again; and relapſes are very dangerous, worſe than the diſeaſe, and yet the people of God are not ſecure from them, they may fall into the ſame ſins, and their hearts may ſtrangely depart from the Lord; and then erubeſcit conſcientia, conſcience bluſheth. Tertull. Yet this is the way to recover the fall, the Lord in his Covenant is thy God to reſtore thee: Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. This was when they were under the ſenſe of dreadful Apoſtaſie from God. [2] In a ſtate of Deſertion, when the Lord hides his face, takes away the light of his countenance; and yet now this doth raiſe up the ſoul again to be able to ſay, My God, my God, though thou haſt forſaken me; and this is properly to take hold of God, when a man lays claim to his intereſt in him as his own God.
2. How ſhould a man know whether he has Jehovah for his God, and whether he has an interest in God by virtue of this grand promiſe of the Covenant or no?
1. If he has choſen the Lord for his God, his will is the leading faculty, and the primum mobile in the lower world: and if it be an act of Election, it muſt be free; that as we become God's, becauſe he choſe us, as Chriſt ſays, Thine they were, and thou gaveſt them me: ſo the Lord becomes ours, becauſe we chuſe him; and the ſoul of man is in nothing more free than in his choice, ſpecially in the choice of his God; and therefore 'tis ſaid,Hoſ. 9.10. They joyned themſelves unto Baal-Peor, and ſeparated themſelves unto that ſhame. So in converſion a man doth change his God; the great work of grace is upon the will, The Lord ſhall perſwade Japhet, vocatione alta & ſecreta, by a deep and ſecret vocation, and all that power is put forth by making them a willing people, Pſal. 110.3.
2. He that has Jehovah for his God muſt have no other God, Pſal. 81.9. There ſhall be no ſtrange God in thee: thou ſhalt have none other gods but me. And therefore Dagon falls before the Ark. And it was the great objection of the Senate againſt worſhipping of Chriſt as a God in their Capitol, when offered by Tiberias, becauſe he would be God alone; it's the great objection that Nature has againſt exalting of God in the heart: when God is exalted, all luſts muſt give place, Satan then falls from Heaven as Lightning,Luk. 10. Hoſ. 14.8. and all the Idols of the ſoul give place to God: What have I to do any more with Idols? There are Parelii in Nature by way of reflection, two Suns, but there cannot be ſo in the Soul in reference to Gods; and if there be ſo, and any thing allowed in the ſoul for God but the true God, that mans intereſt in God is but a fancy.
3. If the Lord be thy God, thou wilt exerciſe all theſe acts of ſoul towards him that becomes a God; for that is to have Jehovah for thy God: for Mic. 4.5. All nations do walk in the name of their gods, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. There is a twofold worſhip of God, (1) Cultus naturalis, natural Worſhip, which is inward, and there is ſomething in nature that dictates it without a word of inſtitution. (2) Inſtitutus, inſtituted Worſhip, an outward worſhip that depends upon an additional manifeſtation of his will: and theſe outward acts of worſhip may be interrupted, but the inward acts can never be, but you may be abundant in them, namely to fear him as a God, to truſt him as a God, and to love him and believe in him as a God: and theſe acts let thy ſoul be moſt in, offer all thou haſt to him, and expect all good from him: he it is that is called the hope of Iſrael, becauſe all their hopes are in him, as all our ſprings are in him: look for your happineſs from no other, depend upon none but him, take up this noble reſolution before all the world, and ſay it ſhall never be ſaid that the King of Sodom made Abraham rich by the things of this life, I will have all from my God, and then they are all bleſſings indeed, becauſe God comes home to the ſoul with every mercy, and the more immediately any mercy comes from God, the ſweeter it is; and this ſhould make a man walk worthy of God, and of ſuch an intereſt in him. It was ſaid of Felix by Tacitus, Jus regium ſervili ingenio exercuit, He exerciſed the kingly power with a ſervile mind: a greatneſs of mind, a Princely ſpirit anſwerable to the greatneſs of your intereſt is becoming you: it is the honour and glory of the Saints to be always ſhewing themſelves worthy of their high calling before the world.