681. ANGELS. HEAVEN. SAINTS. DEGREES OF GLORY. <INCARNATION & DEATH OF X.> WISDOM OF GOD IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION.

The angels of heaven tho a superiour order of beings and of a more exalted nature & faculties by far than men are yet all ministring spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be the heirs of salvation, & so in some respect are made inferiour to the saints in honour So likewise the angels of the churches the ministers of the gospel that are of an higher order and office than other saints yet they are by Xs appointment ministers & servants to others, and are least of all as Math 20. 25. 26. 27. Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant. Math 23. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. but be ye not called Rabbi for one is your master even X and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Neither be ye called masters for one is your master even X But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted & Mark, 9. 35. If any man desire to be first the same shall be last of all & servant of all Tis as tis in the body natural those parts that we account more noble and honourable are as it were ministers to the more inferiour to guard them and serve them as the Apostle observes I Cor 12. 23. 24. And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness for our comely parts have no need but God hath tempered the body together having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. Gods ways are all analogous and his dispensations harmonize one with another. As tis between the saints that are of an inferiour order of beings & the angels who are of more exalted nature & degree and also between those Xtians on earth that are of inferiour order & those who are of superiour, being ministers of X So without doubt it also is in some respects in heaven between those that are of lower & those that are of higher degrees of glory there those that are most exalted in honour & happiness tho they are above the rest yet in some respects they are least, being ministers to others and employed by God to minister to their good and happiness. Those forementiond sayings of X in the the [sic] forequoted texts Math 20. 25 &c-- & Mark 9. 35, were spoken on occasion of the disciples manifesting an ambition to be greatest in his by which they meant his state of exaltation & glory. & so it is in some sort even with respect to the man X Jesus himself, who is the very highest & most exalted of all creatures, & the Head of all he to prepare him for it descended lowest of all was most abased of any and in some respects became least of all. and therefore when X in those forementioned places directs that those that would be greatest among his disciples should be the servant of the rest & so in some respect [D: -s] least, he enforces it with his own example Math 20. 26. 27. 28. Whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister & whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant Even as the Son of man come not to be ministred unto but to minister, & to give his life a ransom for many . & Luke 22. 26. 27. He that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief, as he that doth serve for whether is greater he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth is not he that sitteth at meet. but I am among you as he that serveth. None in the kingdom of heaven ever descended so low as X did who descended as it were into the depths of hell. he suffered shame & wrath and was made a curse he went lower in these things than ever any other did & this he did as a servant not only to /p. [182]/ God but to men that he undertook to serve us & minister to us in such dreadfull drudgery while we sit at meat in quietness & rest, & partake of those dainties that he serves up to us X took upon him to minister to us in the lowest service which he represented & typified, by that action of washing the disciples feet, which he did chiefly for that end. Thus X is he that seems to be intended in Math 11. 11. by him that is least in the kingdom of heaven who is there said to be greater than John the Baptist.

¶The design of God in thus ordering things is to teach & shew that he is all & the creature nothing and that all exaltation and dignity belongs to him & therefore those creatures that are most exalted shall in other respects be least & lowest. Thus the glorious angels they excell in wisdom & strength and are advanced to glorious dignity they are principalities & powers & are kings of the earth yet God makes them all ministers to them that are much less than they, of inferiour nature & degree, & so the saints that are most exalted in dignity are servants to others the angelical nature is the highest & most exalted created nature, but yet God is pleased to put greater honour upon an inferiour nature viz. the human by causing that the Head of all & the King of all creatures should be in the human nature <& the saints in that nature in X to be in many respects exalted above the angels> that the angelical nature maynt magnify it self against the human. & that creature that is above all, its superiority & dignity is not at all in it self, but in God viz union with a divine person & tho it be above all, yet in some respect tis inferiour for tis not in the highest created nature, but in a nature that is inferiour to the angelical, & to prepare it for its exaltation above all it was first brought lowest of all in suffering & humiliation & in some respects in office in those parts of that office that were executed in his state of humiliation. & tho the saints are exalted to glorious dignity even to union & fellowship with God him [self (om. E)] to be in some respects divine in glory & happiness & in may respects to be exalted above the angels yet care is taken that it should not be in themselves but in a person that is God & they must be as it were emptied of themselves in order to it. & tho the angels are exalted in themselves yet they are ministers to them that are not exalted in themselves but only in communion with a divine Person, as of free grace partaking with him. Thus wisely hath God ordered all things for his own glory that however great & marvellous the exercises of his grace & love & condescension are to the creature, yet he alone may be exalted & that he may be all in all. & Tho the creature be by Gods grace unspeakeably & wonderfully advanced & honour [sic] of Gods grace & love, yet it is in such a way & manner that even in its exaltation it might be humbled & so as that its nothingness before God & its absolute dependence on God & subjection to him might be manifested. & yet this humiliation or abasement that is join'd with the creatures exaltation is so as not to detract from the priviledge & happiness of the exaltation. so far as exaltation is suitable for a creature, & is indeed a priviledge & happiness to the creature it is given to the creature & nothing taken from it. that only is removed that should carry any shadow of what belongs only to the Creatour & that might make the distance between the Creatour & creature, & its absolute infinite dependence on the creatour less manifest. That humiliation only is brought with the exaltation that is suitable to that great humility that becomes the creature before the Creatour. & this humiliation dont detract any thing from the happiness of elect holy creatures but adds to it for it gratifies that humble disposition that they are of, it is exceeding sweet & delightfull to them to be humbled & abased before God to cast down their crowns at his feet as the four & twenty elders do in Revelation 4. 10. & to abase themselves & appear nothing and ascribe all power & riches & wisdom & strength & honour & glory & blessing to him. They will delight more in seeing God exalted than themselves & they wont look on themselves the less honoured because that God appears to be all even in their exaltation, but the more. & those creatures that are most exalted will delight most in being abased before God for they will excell in humi[li]ty as much as in dignity & glory as has been elsewhere observed. The man X Jesus that is the Head of all creatures is the most humble of all creatures That in the 18 of Math. 4. v. Whosoever therefore humbleth himself as this little child the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven is true both with respect to the humility that they exercise in this & in another T. & they that have most humility in the T will continue to excell in humility in heaven. & that proposition is reciprocal they that have the greatest humility shall be most exalted & shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven & they they [sic] that are greatest in the kingdom of heaven are most humble.

¶Corol. 1. What has been said above confirms that some in heaven will be a kind of ministers in that society teachers ministers to their knowledge & love & helpers of their joy as ministers of the gospel are here.

¶Corol. 2. Hence we may learn the sweet & perfect harmony that will reign throughout that glorious society, & how far those that are lowest will be from envying those that are highest or the highest from despising the highest [sic] For the highest shall be made ministers to the happiness of the lowest, & shall be even below them in humility . & the lowest shall have the greatest love to the highest for their superiour excellency & the greater benefit which they shall recieve from their ministration[, or s] as tis the disposition of the saints to love & honour their faithfull ministers here in this world. [finis]

 

¶682. FREE GRACE. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. It may be an objection against what has been supposed viz that an interest in X & a right to his benefits is not given as a reward or from respect to the moral fitness of any thing in us what X says in the 10. of Math 37. 38. 39. he that loveth Father or mother more than me is not worthy of me & he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, & he that taketh not his cross & followeth [not (om. E)] after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall loose it &c--Worthiness is a moral fitness & this place seems to intimate that it was from respect to a worthiness or moral fitness that men were admitted even to an union with X or an interest in him . & therefore this worthiness cant be consequent on being in X by the imputation of his worthiness or from any value that is in us or our actions on[ck MS] Gods account as beheld in X.

¶To this I answer That tho persons when they are accepted are not accepted as worthy yet when they are rejected they are rejected as unworthy he that dont love X above other things, that treats him with such indignity as to set him below earthly things shall be treated as unworthy of X his unworthiness of X especially his unworthiness in that particular shall be marked against him & imputed to him tho he be a professing Xtain and live in the enjoyment of the Gospel, and has been visibly ingrafted into X and admitted as one of his disciples as Judas was yet he shall be thrust out in wrath as a punishment of his vile treatment of X But the abovementioned words dont imply that if he did [put (om. E)] X above father or mother &c--, that he would be worthy but it implies that he would not be treated as unworthy. He that believes is not recieved for the worthiness of faith, but yet the visible Xtian is rejected and thrust out for the unworthiness of unbelief, being accepted is not the reward of believing but being thrust out from being one of Xs disciples is properly the punishment of unbelief, Joh. 3. 18. 19. he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Salvation is promised to faith as a free gift but damnation is threatend to unbelief as a debt,[?] or punishment due to unbelief. They that believed in the wilderness did not enter into Canaan because of the worthiness of their faith but God sware in his wrath that they that believed not <should not enter in,> because of the unworthiness & baseness of their unbelief. The design of this saying of X is to make <them> sensible of the unworthiness of their treatment of X [prob. meant to write ""them" here] that professed him to be their Lord & Saviour & set him below father & mother, &c-- & not to perswade of the worthiness of loving him above father & mother. They that dont prize the benefit in any wise in proportion to the greatness of it, that dont treat the gift or possession in any wise suitably to the value of it, shall be rejected as unworthy to have it, & yet it wont follow, but that, if they had recieved it it would have been a free gift. as if a beggar should be offered a very great & precious gift, but as soon as offered should trample it under his feet, it might be taken from him as unworthy to have it or if a malefactour should have his pardon offered him & to be freed from execution & he should only scoff & jeer at it, his pardon might be refused him as unworthy of it, tho if he had recieved it, he would not have had it for his worthiness for his being a malefactour supposes him unworthy and its being offeerd him only on his accepting it supposes that the king looks for no worthiness nothing in him for which he should bestow pardon as a reward. & this may teach us how to understand Acts 13. 46. It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you & judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life, Lo we turn to the Gentiles. vid No 687. vid also 1 vol in quarto p. 63. [finis]

 

¶ 683. Join this with [xo E] <to> Num. 673. COMMON GRACE. SPECIAL GRACE.

¶8. Natural men have nothing of that nature in them that true Christians have & that appears because the nature that they have is divine nature which [xo prob. c] the saints alone have Tis <.N> [c] not only they alone that [xo c] partake of such degrees of it, but tis the chxxxx [xo E] they alone that [xo c] are partakers of it to be a partaker of the divine nature is mentioned as a chxxx [thxxxx? xo c?] peculiar to the saints in /p./ [184]/ 2. Pet. 1. 4. tis evident that it is the true saints that the Apostle is there speaking of the words in this verse, with the foregoing are thus According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life & godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory & vertue whereby are given unto us exceeding great & precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust The [xo E] divine nature & lust are evidently here spoken of as two opposite principles in men those that are in [xo c] <of> [c] the T or that are the men of the T have only the latter principle but to be partakers of the divine nature is spoken as [sic] peculiar to them that are distinguished & separated from the T by the free & sovereign grace of God giving of [xo c] them all things that pertain to life and godliness by [xo E] giving the knowledge of Christ & calling them to glory & vertue & giving them the exceeding great & precious promises of the gospel & that have escaped the corruption of the T world of wicked men. Tis spoken of not only as peculiar to the saints but as one of the highest priviledges of the saints.

¶9. A natural man has no degree, of that relish & sense of spiritual things or things of the Spirit of their divine truth & excellency which a godly person has as is evident by 1. Cor 2. 14. The natural man recieveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned here a natural man is represented as perfectly destitute of any sense or [xo E] perception or discerning of those[ck MS] things For by the words he neither does nor can know them or discern them So far from that that they are foolishness unto him he is a perfect stranger so that he knows not what the talk of such things means they are words without a meaning to him he knows nothing of the matter any more than a blind man of colours . Hence it will follow that that sense of things of religion that a natural man has is not only not to the same degree but nothing of the same nature with what a godly person has. & [xo c] besides if a natural person has that fruit of the Spirit which is of the same kind with what a spiritual person has then he experiences within himself the things of the Spirit of God & [xo c] how then can he be said to be such a stranger to them & to have no perception or discerning of them The reason why natural men have no knowledge of spiritual things is <, that> [c] because [xo c] they have nothing of the Spirit of God dwelling in them This is evident by the context For there we are taught that tis by the Spirit that these things are taught 1. 11. 12. & [xo c] godly persons in the text we are upon are called spiritual evidently on this account, because [xo c] <that> [c] they have the Spirit & unregenerate men are called natural because they have nothing but nature hereby the 6th argument is confirmed For natural men are in no degree spiritual they have only nature & no spirit if they had any thing of the Spirit tho not in so great a degree as the godly yet they would be taught spiritual things or the things of the Spirit in proportion the Spirit that searcheth all things would teach them in some measure there would not be so great a difference that the one could percieve nothing of them & that they should be foolishness to them while to the other they appear divinely & unspeakeably wise & excellent as they are spoken of in the context in the 6. 7. 8. & 9 v. & as such the Apostle speaks here of discerning them. The reason why natural men have no knowledge or perception of spiritual things is <, that> [c] because [xo c] they have none of that anointing spoken of 1 Joh. 2. 27. But the anointing which ye have recieved of him abideth in you & ye need not that any man should teach you But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth & is no lie and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him This anointing is evidently spoken of here as a thing peculiar to true saints <they [xo c] sinners [c] never had any of that oil poured upon them.> & because ungodly men have none of it therefore they have no discerning of spiritual things. if they had any degree of it they would discern in some measure. Therefore none of that sense that natural men <have> [c] of spiritual [xo E] things is of the same nature with what the godly have. & that natural men are wholly destitute of this knowledge is further evident because their [xo c] conversion is represented in SS. by opening the eyes of the blind. but this would be very improperly so represented if a man might have some light tho not so clear & full time after time for scores of years before his conversion.

¶10. The grace of God's Spirit is not only a precious oil with which X anoints the believer by giving it to him but the believer anoints X with it by exercising of [xo c] it towards him which seems to be represented by the precious ointment that Mary poured on Xs head herein it seems to me that Mary is a type of Xs church & of every believing soul <see notes on Mark 14. 3.> & if so doubtless the thing that she typifies the chh <has> [c, who read ""is" as ""in" & om. 2d in] in is in something peculiar to the chh. that would not be a type orderd on purpose to represent the chh that shall represent only something that is common to the chh & others therefore, unbelievers pour none of that sweet & precious ointment on Christ /p. [185]/

¶11. That unbelievers have no degree of that grace that the saints <have> [c] is evident because they have no communion with X. If unbelievers partook of any of that spirit those holy inclinations affections & actings of [xo c?] that the godly have from the Spirit of Christ then they would have communion with Christ The communion of saints with X does certainly partly consist in receiving of his fullness & partaking of his grace which is spoken John 1. 16. & [xo E] of his fullness have all we recieved & grace for grace. & in partaking of that Spirit which God gives not by measure unto him partaking of Xs holiness & grace his nature inclinations tendencies affections love desires must be a part of communion with him yea a believers communion with God & X does mainly consist in partaking of the Holy spirit as is evident, by 2 Cor. 13. 14.

¶But that unbelievers have no communion or fellowship with X appears. 1. because they bent united to Christ they are not in Christ & [? xo c] t[?]hose <T> [this cap over ""those" c] that bent in Christ or are not united to him can have no degree of communion with him For union with Christ or a being in X is the foundation of all communion with him. The union of the members with Head is the foundation of their communicating or partaking with the Head & so the union of the branch with the vine is the foundation of all communion it has with the vine of all partaking of any degree of its sap or life or influence so the union of the wife to the husband is the founda [sic] of her communion in his goods. But that [xo E?] no natural man is united to Christ because all that are in Christ shall be saved. 1 Cor 15. 22. as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive i.e all that are in X for this speaks only of the glorious resurrection and eternal life. See my notes on the text. & [xo E?] Philip. 3. 8. 9. Yea doubtless & I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things & do count them but dung that I may win X & be found IN HIM, [E's caps and line] not having on my own righteousness &c-----2 Cor 5. 17 Now if any man be IN CHRIST [ditto] he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new 1 Joh. 2. 5. Hereby know we that we are in him chap. 3. 24. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him & he in him, [E's lines here and those immediately following] & hereby we know that he abideth in us &c-- & 4. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him & he in us &c--

¶2. The Scripture does more directly teach that tis only true saints that have communion with Christ as particularly this is most evidently spoken of as what belongs to the saints & to them only in 1 Joh. 1. 3. 6. 7 That which we have seen & heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us & truly our fellowship is with the Father & with his Son Jesus X----If we say that we have fellowship with him & walk in darkness we lie & do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship on with another & the blood of Jesus Christ his son cle[anseth (mto)] us from all sin & 1. Cor. 1. 8. 9. Who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithfull by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord by this it appears that they that have fellowship with X are those that cant fall away whom God's faithfullness is bound to confirm to the end that they may be blameless in the day of Jesus Christ [finis]

 

¶684. JESUS, why called MESSIAH or CHRIST or ANOINTED. See Notes on Dan 9. 25. [finis]

 

¶685. RIGHTEOUSNESS of X. Deeds of love and respect towards God are more valuable in Gods sight in proportion as the person is in his eyes of greater dignity For in the deeds that he offers to God so far as they are deeds of love or respect, he offers himself to God so far as he loves he offers his heart to God but this is a more excellent offering in proportion as the person whose self or whose heart is offered is more worthy. [finis]

 

¶686. SPIRITS WITNESS. vid. No 375. Sometimes the strong & lively exercises of love to God do give a kind of immediate & intuitive evidence, of the souls relation to God divine love is the bond by which the soul of the saint is united to God & sometimes when this divine love is strong & lively, this bond of union can be seen as it were intuitively; the saint sees that he is united to God and so is Gods for he sees & feels the union between God and his soul he sees clearly & certainly that divine love that does evidently beyond all contradiction or exception unite his soul to God. he knows there is an union for he sees it & [A; an(d)?] feels it so strong that he cant question it or doubt of it. 1 Joh. 4. 18. There is no fear in love but perfect love casts [sic] out fear. how can the saint doubt but that he stands in a childlike relation to God when he plainly sees a childlike union between God and his soul He that has such a strong exercise of a divine and holy love to God he knows at the same time that tis not from himself this that he feels so strong in his own heart brings its own evidence with it, that it is from God. it is a childlike union of his heart to God that God himself gives & therefore in seeing & feeling this union he sees & feels that God has taken his soul & has united it as a child to him so that he does as it were see that he is a child of God. This seems to be that in SS. which is calld the Sp. of God bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, Rom 8. 16. as the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father as in the preceding verse the spirit of God gives those motions & exer- /p. [186]/ cises of a childlike love to God that naturally inclines the heart to look on God as his Father & behave towards him as such vid note on Rom 8. 16. God in giving this does manifest himself to be our Father. for the soul does as it were feel it self to be to be Gods child it feels beyond doubting as it were a childlike union to God in the heart. [finis]

 

¶687. FREE GRACE. JUSTIFICATION. add this to num 682. And besides Christ in this place seems not to have respect to Gods treatment of persons in his invisible transacting with them as the searcher of hearts by the rules he has established for the justification or condemnation of the souls of men in his sight, or to their being invisibly admitted to or debar'd from an interest in Christ, But rather to Christs treatment of them acting as the Head of the visible church after they in the visible covenant have been admitted or recieved by him as his disciples. When that question comes to be decided whether they shall be own'd & continued as his disciples or cast out and removed from the station they have been admitted to as such. For Christ evidently has respect to his treatment of those that are visibly his disciples & that have appeard & professd to be his followers Christ in thus transacting with visible disciples as the head of the visible church in deciding that fore mentioned question whether they shall be ownd before his Father & continued in their station, or cast out, has indeed respect to a moral fitness in them When they are cast out it will be as a punishment, as unworthy of their station When they shall be own'd & continued it shall be as having an evangelical worthiness of it. See. No 689. of the visible chh. especially §. 10. [finis]

 

¶688. FREE GRACE. JUSTIFICATION. vid No. 627. 671. As to that passage in the 3d of Rev. 4. v. They shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. Even according to our scheme of grace & justification, It[it?] may be said without the least strain upon the words that God accepts of persons into his favour & to a right to eternal life as being in his sight worthy of it, not only that he bestows heaven and all those parts of salvation that are consequent on justification but he bestows the whole of salvation upon them and even that admission to a right to salvation that is granted in justification as looking upon them worthy of it Tis on the account of that value that God sets upon them or their preciousness in Gods sight all that are in X are precious in Gods eyes they are precious jewels in his account, & their preciousness with him is such as to render them worthy to be thus accepted and admitted to such priviledges as they are in justification tho they become so valuable & precious only as being in Christ & by being members of him tho they are not worthy in themselves yet they are worthy in Christ but yet the value or [and?] preciousness is truly & properly the preciousness of them the preciousness is of the jewel & tis on the account of this their preciousness that they are worthy are <thought> worthy to be admitted to such priviledges tho the way they come by that preciousness is by being in such circumstances viz. by being in X or by standing in such a relation to him. Jewels of great value & preciousness are worthy to be set in the kings crown. and may properly be said to be set there as worthy of it, when it is on the account of the degree of its preciousness that it was thought fit to be set there by what means soever they come[ck MS] to be of such high value. Thus Gods jewels are set in his crown as being looked upon by him to be worthy, Zech 9. 16. They shall be as the stones of a crown. So far as the saints may [be (om. E)] said to be properly valuable in Gods sight so far may they properly be said to be worthy tho neither their worthiness nor valuableness is in themselves separately. A child of a prince is worthy to be treated with great honour & therefore if a mean person should be adopted to be a child of a prince, it would [be (om. E)] proper to say that it was worthy of such & such honour & respect, or that it ought to have such respect because it is worthy & there would be no force upon words to say so tho it be only on the account of its relation to the prince that it is so. That preciousness or high valuableness of believers is a moral valuableness & yet the righteousness of Christ is the foundation of it. The thing that respect is had to is not the excellency that is in them separately by themselves, but to the value that God sets upon them on other considerations as is the natural import of these expressions. Luke 20. 35. But they which shall be accounted worthy [E's lines here and following] to obtain that world and the resurrection of the dead & Luke 21. 36. Watch ye therefore & pray alwaies that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass & to stand before the Son of man & 2 Thess 1. 5 which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer [finis]

[End p. 186; End of Book 1 of the MS.]

 

¶689. VISIBLE CHURCH. <§ 1.> [in mg.] When persons regularly enter into the visible church we are not to look on their admission as what is done meerly by man they bent meerly admitted by man nor are they admitted meerly to be treated as some of Gods people by man they are admitted or accepted of God For the officers of the church when they admit are to act in the name of God in admitting; to them are committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and when they open the door it is to admit not only into their society but into Gods kingdom, into the kingdom of heaven So that when they act regularly God concurs with them in admitting & what they do is done in heaven.

¶§ 2. But God acting as the Head of the visible church as he transacts by man so he is wont to conform to man & to transact with us in our own way as we by reason of our want of omniscience & ability to search the heart are forced to do one with another. Thus the officers when they admit any person into the church they admit them in [over on?] presumption that they are sincere <upright,> and that they will be faithful in that station & approve themselves as Gods faithfull people. So God conforms to man herein & dont act as the Searcher of hearts but admits and recieves persons to be his people, as it were on presumption of their on their sincerity and faithfullness. Gods admission of them to be his people, and his treating them as such and as being himself their God is not absolute & unalterable as his invisible justification of them is nor yet is it meerly conditional. i. e his admitting them is not put off as suspended on conditions yet to be fulfilled . but tis presumptive. God admits them as his people and for the present treats them as his people <as it were> trusting to it, that they are sincere & will be faithfull, <tho as to future blessings it is in fact conditional.> it is as when a man marries a woman he enters into covenant with her & recieves her to be his wife, to live with him as such. The promises that he makes & his transacting with her to recieve and treat her as a wife are not properly conditional that is his thus doing is not suspended on her future faith fullness because he proceeds forthwith to [wwxo] to take her to communion with him in his goods & to treat her as his wife. Nor yet is it absolute and unalterable, without any manner of conditions so as to be engaged that let her carry her self how she will whether she be true to his bed or not yet she shall remain in the enjoyment of the priviledges of his wife. but it is presumptive, he trusts to it & presumes so far upon it that she will be faithfull to him that he dont wait[, ?] to see whether she will or no but forthwith proceeds to treat her as his wife. tho as to what is future[, ?] the covenant is in fact conditional and [or?] his continuing to treat her as a wife is suspended on conditions yet to be fulfilled. < See at the end.>

¶§3. When persons regularly enter into Gods visible church God proceeds immediately to treat them as / p. 2/ his people. He gives them means of grace not meerly as such and such external things but as means of grace, as they are by his blessing made ordinary means of grace. In themselves they are no means of grace at all any more than any other things but there is a blessing of God with them there is a connection established by that blessing, between these external things and his grace, tho not absolute and certain yet in some manner & degree, and as such these means are given to them that regularly enter the visible church. The word of God and the gospel of Christ is a ministration of the Spirit & as such God gives it to them & the ordinances are conveyancers of the Spirit and as such God gives them to them. & so God appears ready to succeed their worship when they worship him in those duties that he has appointed . he is more ready to hear and answer their prayers & he not only is more ready to bless means of good to them but to defend them against means of evil. So God is wont the more to defend them from Satan & his power & influence. <He in primitive times of the church gave them miraculous gifts of the Spirit and still gives them the common gifts of the Spirit.> Thus God admits them into his house, or dwelling place, to an enjoyment of the good things & the protection of his house, and as they are now admitted, so God becomes engaged that they shall always abide there & never be turned out[, ?] on condition that they prove faithfull, [From this pt. till end of ¶, added after next ¶ had been begun.] & overcome in times of trial. Rev. 3. 12. <he that overcometh I will make a pillar in the temple of my God & he shall go no more out> & eternal life is promised on condition of perseverance, in case there be opportunity for that trial.

¶§.4. That God as the Head of the visible church thus conforms to man & acts as presuming on mens[ck MS] faithfullness is evident, Isai 63. 7. 8. 9. 10. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us & the great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said surely they are my people, children that will not lye, so he became their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them in his love & in his pity he redeemed them and he bare them and carried them all the days of old, but they rebelled & vexed his Holy Spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy & he fought against them. & God is represented in the 16. chapter of Ezekiel & elsewhere as recieving his visible people and entering into covenant with them in the same manner as an husband does with a wife, bestowing his goods upon her and admitting her to great priviledges, tho she afterwards played the harlot, & so provoked him to cast her off. Hence also God is often represented /p. 3./ as proving his people to see whether they will be faithfull to their promises or no. & this is further evident, in that God often represents himself as disappointed by the unfaithfullness of his people. Ps. 78. 54. 55. 56. 57. And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary even to this mountain which his right hand had purchased & cast out the heathen &c---------yet they tempted & provoked the most high God and kept not his testimonies But turned back & dealt unfaithfully, like their fathers they were turned aside like a deceitfull bow. God particularly represents himself as disappointed by the unfaithfullness of his visible people as a man is disappointed by the unfaithfullness of a wife. Hence also jealousy is so often ascribed to God as the Head of the visible church. next p.

¶§. 5. Christ as Head of the visible church deals with professing Christians as he did when on earth with his disciples who were then his visible church.8 <The visible chh has still a Head which is not the pope but tis the same that it was when X was on earth For tho' he be not present yet he may act as Head of the visible church, as a King that is absent his administration may be upheld by his laws & commissioners. So X administers the affairs of his visible kingdom by his word & by his ministers, & his Spirit. See No. 1011.> Christs way of dealing with his visible church, when he was on earth is a true example or specimen, of his method of dealing with the visible church to the end of the world He then in recieving & admitting persons into the number of his disciples did not deal as the Searcher of hearts tho he then knew the hearts of all men & knew what was in man and was indeed the Searcher of hearts then, as well as now. But he reciev'd Judas to be a disciple and treated him as such tho he knew he was not a disciple, but that he was a devil he recieved him not only to be one of his church but to be an officer in his church he made him a minister of the gospel For Judas was the very man or the same sort of man spoken of in Ps. 50. 16. 17. 18 But unto the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldst take my covenant into they mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee. when thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him &c-- For he was a thief as we are told John 12. 6. and Christ knew it & yet made him a minister Yea he made him an officer of the highest kind viz an apostle, he sent him forth with the rest of the apostles to preach and to do miracles & endued him with miraculous gifts of his Spirit, because Christ did not see cause to act in this matter as the Searcher of hearts but govern'd himself by what was visible, and Judas was not rejected & deprived of his office and priviledge, tho he was a wicked treacherous man till he proved so by his behaviour & then he fell from his place and office in the church by his transgression & then it was said concerning him Let his habitation be desolate & let another take his office. And as Christ behaved himself in the visible church then so he doth now; he is the Searcher of hearts now and so he was then but as the Head of the visible church he did not act as such then no more doth he now.

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¶Thus X promised unto Judas the kingdom of heaven & it's glorious priviledges, Luke 22. 28. 29. 30. Math 19. 28. 29. [This ref. added at bottom of p. after next page written] /p.4./

¶ And hence Christ is represented as spewing visible Christians out of his mouth when they prove naught, as a man doth food that he has recievd into his mouth on presumption that it was good and wholesom but when it proves otherwise & he is disappointed, & finds it offensive or unwholesom he spits it out or vomits it up. So Christ is represented as enrolling of visible Xtians amongst his people on presumption of their being such indeed & afterwards if they prove unfaithfull, blotting their names out of the book of life. and as giving visible Christians a part in the book of life, & holy city promises of God but as taking away from them these priviledeges if they afterwards prove unfaithfull so Rev. 3. 5. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my Father & before his angels & Rev. 22. 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book

¶ § 6. When persons therefore do regularly enter into the Xtian church God recieves into his family as his children, & X recieves them as his spouse, and they are as it were then redeemed X gives them the price of his redemption and they are as it were then justified and adopted, on presumption of their being sincere, i.e Christ for the present accepts them into his house & treats them as such as tho they were now free from guilt & had a title to life those blessings that were mentiond that he gives them at present, are given on that supposition that they are now justified for they dont belong to those that bent justified they are not fit to have them An[d] promises of future blessings are as it were made to them on a supposition that they are sincere, as the husbands promises are to the wife when he marries her. the present blessings that they have as Xs people, and inhabitants of his house are the fruits of Xs purchase, they would not have had them had it not have been for Xs redemption. there would have been no room for such a transacting with fallen man.[ck MS] & if they fail of obtaining those promises that X has presumptively made over to them they must not lay it to Xs unfaithfullness but to their own, to their own guile & deceit in covenanting & their own treachery towards him by proving otherwise than they pretended to him & as he graciously trusting in them reciev'd them. in this manner it is that they that we are speaking of, are cleansed from sin & thus they have the benefits of the body & blood of Christ given them in the Lords supper. They have the Holy Ghost given them in baptism as they have the means of grace given them as such /p. 5./ that are so only through the blessing of the H. Gh. attending them they have the gospel given them as a ministration of the Spirit, & have the common gifts of the Spirit[, ?] as before mention'd. and they are in their baptism and admission into the church presumptively justified & clear'd from guilt, through the blood of Christ, separated from the impure world, and consecrated to God as his people.

¶Hence we may be helped to understand the meaning of those texts 2. Pet. 2. 1. Denying the Lord that bought them, & Heb. 10. 29, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing.

¶§.7. That covenant transaction[, ?] that there is between God as the Husband of the visible church and men is not the same with that which there is between God as the Searcher of hearts and the soul of a believer at its closing with Christ, the covenant, in the foundation & drift of it is the same, but the transaction of covenanting is different. the covenant of grace is the foundation of the transaction and the same blessedness & glory that is promised in the covenant of grace is the ultimate drift of it, but the covenanting is different from Gods covenanting with those that before his allseeing seeing [sic] eyes perform that condition of the covenant of grace & in the following respect. 1. Eternal benefits are not absolutely bestowed and confirmed on the fundamental condition being already certainly fulfill'd. But is only presumptively promised on a supposition or presumption of the fulfillment of that condition . & the actual possessing of eternal benefits is suspended on a condition yet to be fulfill'd.

¶§ 8. 2. The condition on which future benefits are suspended is in effect the same but in some respect different. The condition of the covenant of grace[, ?] is the performance or existence of sincere faith & repentance. in the other it is the proof or evidence of such a faith and repentance. the condition in this latter case is not so properly their being sincere as their proving sincere in the trial. this trial is twofold either in this life or in the life to come the trial in this life is perseverance in good works in the life to come it is standing the test of the judgment. if it should be so that there should be no opportunity for the former trial then the latter is the condition For God as the Head of the visible church[, ?] acts as tho the day of judgment discoverd the reality of things to him as well as to others the day is to try & declare every mans work before God and man and one reason why X dont for the present treat men as the Searcher /p. 6./ of hearts is because he would not anticipate the work of the future judgmt. Judging men is reserved for a day appointd to that end. tho X recieves em now and treats them as children, yet if they appear to be false guilefull & deceitfull [sic] when the light of that day comes to shine thro' all their veils if they appear as they pretend when the fire of that day comes to burn up all coverings & disguises, then will X own them & never will cast them off < see No 722 p. 113.> But perseverance in good works is the main condition of this covenant, in case there be opportunity for this trial <1 joh. 2.24.25.26. Rom 11.22> If there be they will be judged by this in the day of judgment. for everyone shall be judged according to his works.

¶§ 9. 3. The thing promised also tho in effect the same, yet is in some respect different. The thing promised in the invisible justification of a sinner, is the bestowmt of eternal benefits the thing promised in this transaction is the everlasting continuance of a benefit already bestowed viz. a continuance in the house of God What is given in the covenant transaction that there is at the admission of a person into the visible church is either what is present of what is future. What is present is on presumption on a condition already performed viz sincere profession; & this is an actually [sic] admission of them into Gods house. the future good promised, which is on condition yet to be perform'd viz. perseverance & this is continuance in the house of God into which they have been admitted <1[A; prob covered on film] Joh. 2. 24. 25. 26. & John 15. 1. to 11. Rom 11. 22.> Rev 3. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out & v. 5. he that overcometh I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.9

¶§ 10 4. Another thing wherein this covenant transaction differs from that in the invisible justification of a sinner is that the benefit promised is connected with the condition of perseverance in good works with some respect to an evangelical worthiness in the condition. Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy. 2 Thes. 1. 4. 5. So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience & faith in all your tribulations that ye endure which is a manifest token of the righteous judgmt of God that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom /p. 7./ of God[, ?] for which ye also suffer & they that have professed faith & obedience & so have been admitted [It looks like TS begins an < here, but there is no end >] & afterwards prove treacherous & false to X they shall be rejected & cast out of the house of God and from being the spouse of Christ as unworthy of him. Math 10. 37. he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me &c--. I have elsewhere shown how that eternal life is in the gospel is [sic] promised to the good works of the saints as a reward of their good works and how that God in bestowing the reward has respect to the evangelical worthiness of the saints obedience.

¶§ 11. The covenant that God and the visible Xtian enter into at his admission cant in strictness be called a distinct covenant from that which established between God & a soul in his invisible justification but yet may be distinguished from it as well as the former dispensation of the covenant of grace, may be called another covenant from that under the New Testament, as it is in SS. This covenant therefore may for distinctions sake be called the visible covenant for want of a better name to call it by.

¶§ 12. There is just so much difference between this covenanting and the invisible covenanting with a believing soul, & no more, as will naturally & necessarily arise, from Gods acting in the one case as the searcher of hearts & in the other not, supposing God in both cases to proceed on the same foundation & with the same drift.

¶§ 13. One thing among others that may show[touched up by JE over ?] the wisdom of God in such a method of dealing with men[ck MS] is the tendency it has to mens conviction it tends to convince mens consciences how it is of themselves if they perish in that X shows[ck MS] himself ready to recieve them and does actually recieve them on their profession of faith and obedience trusting to their sincerity & promising never to cast them off if they persevere and dont prove treacherous & unfaithfull. if they perish it will be by as it were casting themselves out of Gods house into which they have been admitted by their own voluntary unfaithfullness to their promises on which they have been admitted & reciev'd of Christ. because Christ promises never to remove them from the station he has admitted them to unless they depart from him & prove false to him. God in his dealings with men with relation to their eternal state, has a great respect to that viz that his justice be made manifest, and especially to the conviction of mens own consciences. For this end /p. 8/ end [rep.] a day of judgment is appointed, wherein God, tho he needs it not being omniscient will yet judge men in a formal manner to make his justice manifest to the T and to mens own consciences therefore that day is called the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom 2. 5. and hence God in judging men will make so much of works tho works are not that by which they are primarily entitled to justification but being visible evidences of that which is so to the T & to their own consciences hence every one shall be judged according to his works.

¶§ 14. It may be objected against what has been said that [a (om. E.)] person when he is admitted into the church tho he may be regularly admitted so far as the chh or its officers are concern'd yet may know in his own conscience his own insincerity, & that he lives in a way of wickedness at that time must we suppose, that God as the Head of the visible church acts as being ignorant of this and admits & recieves him as presuming on his sincerity, tho it may be he lives at the same time secretly in adultery or some other like wickedness. Answer. I have spoken hitherto only of those that regularly enter the visible church in order to this, both what the church does in admitting & also what he does in coming should be regular neither the chh must know nor his own conscience of his insincerity & treachery at that time.10 if he knows that he lives in wickedness, he dont do regularly in coming nor can he think that God accepts him nor can he expect any blessing with ordinances but a curse. [From here to end of ¶, added after next ¶ begun; or is it at the end of wrong ¶ ?] these dont need those means of conviction of their conscience[-s?] spoken of § [not filled in]

¶§ 15. If persons after they have been admitted, fall into sin that seems to hold forth unfaithfullness and to have a shew of want of sincerity yet if there be seeming repentance and disposition to amendment, God will accept them still[, ?] as it were on hope of their amendment after the same manner as he directs the church to do. he still recieves them on presumption on their sincerity. [TS has beginning < but no end >; also he wrote that the last line was added after the next ¶ had been begun.] <When the church forgives them & recieves them God recieves them Math 16. 19

¶§ 16 Corol. 1. Hence we may see that which seems to be a ground of the institution of infant baptism. For as when persons enter into the church as acting for themselves God /p. 9./ recieves them on presumption on their own faithfullness. So when they are reciev'd as children they are reciev'd on presumption on their parents faithfullness that they do sincerely & with their whole hearts give up their children to him & will be faithfull to bring them up for him.11

¶§ 17. Corol. 2. Hence we learn that when persons are regularly excommunicated they bent meerly cast out by men out of their society For as when they are regularly admitted God admits them into his house & the priviledges thereof, so when they are regularly excommunicated they are cast out of God and are treated by him as those that have proved treacherous & unfaithfull to him. they are deprived of the protection of Gods [sic] & so exposed to his enemies, and is deprived of all blessings to which he was admitted and not only so but becomes a subject of special tokens of wrath, as Gods wrath is greater towards those that have been admitted into his house & have proved false & treacherous than towards those that never were admitted.12

¶§ 18. Corol. 3. Hence we have a solution of the main objections against the doctrine of perseverance ,[?] as particularly the apostles frequently speaking of the obtaining future glory & blessedness as what is suspended on the perseverance of Xtians. For the apostles evidently speak to them as visible Xtians their epistles are directed to all the visible Xtians in such a city or region or through the world excepting those that are directed to particular persons and perseverance as has been observed, was the main condition of that covenant they were under as such. The apostles treat them in their epistles in the same manner as God treats them in the visible covenant, as tis most proper & fit that the ministers of the visible church to [sic] treat visible Xtains in the same manner as God treats them as Head of the visible church.13 If God <tho the Searcher of hearts will> conforming himself to man & transacting by man will thus treat Xtians as it were divesting himself of the character of Searcher of hearts, much more is it proper that man himself who is not a searcher of hearts shou when a minister under that Head of the visible church should should [sic] thus treat them

¶And again this may help us to understand what is said in /p. 10./ Ezekiel, about the righteous mans falling away from his righteousness By a righteous [man (om. E)] must there doubtless be understood one, that is righteous with a visible righteousness i. e as to what is visible either to men or his own conscience, & that is accepted as righteous in the visible covenant. such are in Scripture[, ?] often called saints or holy persons or which is the same thing in Scripture language righteous person. And such are liable to fall away from their righteousness & often do & as such the condition of their living & not perishing is perseverance.

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¶ see §. 2. Christ deals with men as he directed his disciples to deal with them when he sent them forth he directed them to enquire who in it was worthy, i.e who were reputed vertuous or of good conversation, and that they should go and desire entertainment [of (om. E)] them & if they recieved them into their houses when they first entered they should say peace be to this house & if the Son of peace was there if they proved as they hoped their peace should rest upon it but if otherwise their peace should return to them again. So those persons that are of good behaviour & in their profession recieve and entertain him he gives his peace to them as it were hoping that they are & will prove as they appear. but if in the trial it proves otherwise his peace returns to him again. [finis] [Latter half of p. left blank.]

 

¶690. EXTREMITY of HELL TORMENTS. The torments of the damned tho so very great will not rise to a greater extremity than their wickedness. The dreadfullness of the wickedness of a fallen creature unrestrain'd appears by the greatness of the spite of the devils against both God and men[ck MS] their malice against both appears by their extreme & incessant endeavours through so many ages through so many disappointments & bafflings to dishonour one & undo the other . the degree of their cruelty towards men[ck MS] appears by his so earnestly desiring & seeking the utmost possible degree of eternal misery & torment for man. No degree of misery tho it be eternal will satisfy him so but that he would be glad to have it greater. how great is this cruelty & how great must all other wickedness be that is in proportion to it. [finis]

 

¶691. SABBATH. LORDS DAY. We are taught in the 5 of Deut 15 v. that the Jewish sabbath was instituted in commemoration of the deliverance out of Egyptian bondage Which was a great type of the work of redemption by Jesus Christ the chief type of it in all the Old Testament. Bedford in his SS Chronology supposes it to be appointed on the day when the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea and rested from their march through the same, & there are several things to be considered which being put together do make it very evident that it was so the day when the children of Israel first began their journey from Egypt, as appears by Numb. 33. 3. And they departed from Rameses in the first month on the fifteenth day of the first month on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in sight of all the Egyptians & Exod 12. 17. 18. But Mr Bedford proves by astronomical calculations that that day fell that year on the first day of the week < see at the end.> & it could not be in a much shorter or a much longer time after that that they past through the Red Sea than seven days after. For doubtless on the fist day of their march they came to Succoth <the going from Rameses to Succoth seems to be spoken of as what was done on that day, Exod 12. 37. 41. 42. 51 & chap. 13. 1. 2. 3. 4. what is said there seems to be spoken to Moses in Succoth.> where they build booths for their conveniency a little while, till the company that was driven out of Egypt in hast could be got together See Exod 12. 37 together with Numbers 33. 3. 4. 5. The place in all probability was called Succoth from their building booths there to lodge /p. 12./ under (vid Gen 33 17) till they could get together for they were under a necessity of stopping some where for that end & tis not likely that less than a day would suffice to this end for so vast a multitude of both sexes & all ages with flocks & herds to get together, who were driven out in hast without any time to get into a company or body before they came away <And they would hardly build booths to stop less than a day. and then there was need of a little time to communicate to that vast congregation those instructions we have an account of in the 13 of Exod & also to give directions for their march how they should follow the pillar of cloud & fire &c--> & probably it was not much longer than a day that they would stay here so near the Egyptians that had been so urgent with them to be gone, & were in no good temper towards them having so lately suffered so bitterly by reason of them. So that here are two days spent the first & second days of the week. after they had formed themselves into something of a body in Succoth then the pillar of cloud & fire appeared to be thenceforward their guide, and on the next day the third day of the week they went to Etham. Exod 13. 18. 20. 21. 22. & Numb 33. 6. on the next day the fourth day of the week they came to Pihahiroth, Exod. 14. 2. & Numb. 33. 7. & Pharaoh did not entertain a resolution of pursuing them till he had heard that they turn'd towards Pihahiroth for upon that it was told them that they fled, or turned out of their course towards the wilderness where they had asked to go as Exod 14. 5 6. & there must at least be that day & another allowed for Pharaoh to hear of it & to get such great forces ready as we have an account of Exod 14. 6. 7. & not much more for doubtless their motions were well observed & Pharaoh when he heard where they went was in great hast to pursue them which carries us through the 5th day of the week. on the next day which was the 6th day of the week Pharaoh overtakes them, & that very night the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea For Moses tells the people when the Egyptians came, that the Egyptians whom they had seen that day they should see no more forever & it is also evident by the story that follows . on the seventh day in the morning watch God looks unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of cloud & fire, & troubled the host & took off their chariot wheels & that morning the chil- /p. 13/ dren of Israel came up out of the sea and the Egyptians were drown'd.

¶§2. Mr. Bedford quotes a passage to the present purpose out of A. Bp. Usher the words he quotes are these, Factum vere hoc[ck MS] esse mensis primi, die vicessimo primo, postremo videlicet Azymonum. Quo convocatio sancta ex Dei instituto erat habenda, constans Hebraeorum, eaq. veritatie maxime consentanea, est sententia. <Here see SSS on Exod. 12. 16.>

¶§ 3. Another argument that the day when the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea was on the seventh day after they departed from Rameses is that the feast of unleavened bread which was to begin on the very day of their departure lasted seven days & no longer for the people being about to depart out of Egypt they went about to prepare bread for their journey but were hurried away by the Egyptians so that they were forced to take their dough before it was leaven'd as Exod 12. 34. & as the feast of unleavened bread was appointed in remembrance of this so tis reasonable to suppose, that the feast lasted for so long a time as the necessity of their circumstances at that time obliged them to live upon bread that was unleavened for want of rest & leisure to do which in all probability was till the hurry & danger of their flight was over which was not before they came up out of the Red Sea, when they were first clear of Egypt being quite out of the countrey & were wholly delivered from the Egyptians. they doubtless lived on their unleaven'd dough that they brought with them till then for if we consider their circumstances before we cant think that they had any leisure[, ?] to think of going about to make any other preparation till then. & tis evident[, ?] that they had leisure enough then so that we may hence argue that the seven days in remembrance of which the days of unleavened bread were kept were not out before that time, & must be ended at that time unless that day was the day of the sabbath which if it was they could not have opportunity to make leaven'd bread till the next day because the sabbath is a day of rest, & if it was so it will be both the sabbath & the last day of unleaven'd bread as we suppose. So that that morning when the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea /p. 14/ must be the morning either of the seventh or the eight day of their departure. it could not be short of the seventh because then the time of their hast when they had no opportunity to leven their bread would be out in less than seven days for their hast was ended & nothing then remain'd to hinder their leavening their bread unless it was the day of the sabbath which if [it (om. E)] were short of the seventh it could not be it could not be after the 8th for then the time of their hast would last more than seven days. It must therefore be either the 7th or the 8. & if it was on the 8. then God so ordered it that the seventh or sabbath was spent in flying & the 8 in resting which is not probable, it therefore remains that it must be on that very day even the seventh after their coming out of Egypt & on the sabbath day.

¶§4. We cant find out any way wherein all that was accomplished from the children of Israels departure before they came up out of the Red Sea could be accomplished in less than six compleat days not one day can by any means be spared & if so and never a sabbath had passed from their departure till that time, then the day of their coming up out of the Red Sea must be the very seventh day of their departure and also the day of the Sabbath & tis not probable that any sabbath had past from the time of their departure till that time, because they had no convenient opportunity to keep a sabbath till then there was no day wherein they could have rest till that day. <upon two accounts especially it is unlikely that any sabbath had past before> 1. that God had brought out the children of Israel out of Egypt for that end that they might serve him that they might be at liberty to worship him free from molestation from the Egyptians & separate from the pollutions of that land. tis highly probably that when God had brought them that he would when the sabbath came, the day designd for his worship & service, give them opportunity to serve him at rest, and freedom from molestation from the Egyptians, & without being distracted by fear of them . and also without the borders of the polluted Egyptian land but the day that they had such an /p. 15/ opportunity was the day when they came up out of the Red Sea. While they were in Egypt, they had not liberty to serve God and what they were especially hindered in was keeping the sabbath the day that God had appointed for rest & for his special service. they were hindred from this by their taskmasters that would let em have no rest from their service to keep a sabbath or to serve God. and therefore Gods end, in bringing them out (which we are often told was that they might serve God) was especially to give them opportunity to serve him on the sabbath the day appointed for his service, & therefore without doubt God when he had brought them would give them liberty to keep his sabbath in perfect freedom from any fear of the Egyptians or molestation from them in spite of all that they could do to hinder. But this could not be till the day that they came up out of the Red Sea.

¶§ 5. 2. Another thing that strengthens the probability that God would give the children of Israel opportunity to keep the first sabbath that there was after they came out of Egypt in rest & quiet is that it was also one of Gods ends in bringing them out of Egypt was to give them rest. in Egypt they had no rest they were kept continually at hard labour & made to serve with a cruel service and their taskmasters would suffer em to have no time of rest: but God brought them out of this house of bondage for that end that they might enjoy rest Jer 31. 2 Even Israel when I went to cause him to rest. Seeing therefore this was Gods very design, tis highly probable that God would not suffer it still to be so after he had brought them out that they should still be deprived by the malice of the Egyptians of opportunity to rest on Gods day of rest even the sabbath. their cruel masters the Egyptians would not so much as suffer em to rest on the sabbath but if the Egyptians should through their obstinate opposition to God & malice against his people still prevail to deprive the people of rest on the very day appointed for the rest of the people of God God would seem to be frustrated by the rebellious obstinate Egyptians that was [sic] now set to overcome in this matter. & This

¶§.6. <& this argument> argument [sic] is abundantly strengthened by this viz. that the Jewish sabbath was appointed of God for this very end viz to /p. 16/ commemorate Gods giving of them rest from their Egyptian bondservice, as in Deut. 5. 14. 15. there tis particularly insisted on that the manservant & maidservant should rest on that day from their service, that reason is given there for it, that they were servants in the land of Egypt & God gave them rest from that service, & therefore commanded them to keep the sabbath day. Seeing that God appointed the sabbath day to be kept throughout their generations in joyfull remembrance of Gods giving them rest when he brought them out of the land Egypt [sic] would not God give them opportunity to rest in the time of their deliverance, on that day that was from age to age to be kept as a day of rest in remembrance of that deliverance. If God thought the sabbath a proper time for them to keep rest upon throughout their generations in remembrance & representation of the rest he gave them when he brought them out of Egypt was it not a proper time for them to enjoy rest on in the time of their deliverance out of Egypt. They were commanded to rest in all their generations on the sabbath day in conformity to their rest when God brought them out of Egypt. therefore doubtless God gave them rest on the sabbath day when he brought them out to be conformed to and remembred. Seeing God appointed the sabbath to be kept from age to age in joyfull remembrance of their rest that God gave them then would not God then on the sabbath day give them opportunity in rest & quietness to solace themselves & rejoice in their deliverance, in the time whereon it was bestowed. But tis evident that the day of the children of Israels coming up out of Egypt was the remarkeable time of the beginning of the rest & joy of their deliverance out of Egypt they had no quiet day before no day free from Egypt & the troubles of it & the molestation of the Egyptians till that day.

¶§. 7. These things considered conjunctly viz that God brought out the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage for those ends viz to give them rest & that they might serve him and there being a day appointed of God wholly for those very ends viz for rest & for his service & the hardness of their Egyptian masters towards [them (om. E)] had chiefly appeard in denying liberty for these things so much as on that day they make the probability strong that God when he had brought them did set them free of this difficulty & did give them rest & /p. 17/ opportunity to serve him on the sabbath free of any molesta [sic] from their Egyptian masters however great endeavours those Egyptians used to hinder & especially seeing that God ordained that that nation should rest on that day [TS has the word ""forever" crossed out twice. Is it in the text or not?] as long as their state continued in remembrance of this rest.

¶§.8. And another argument[, ?] that renders it probable that the day of the children of Israels passing through the Red Sea was the seventh day of the feast of unleaven'd bread or the seventh day of the children of Israels departure out of Egypt, is that the first & the seventh days were by Gods appointment remarkeably distinguished from the other days as the greatest days of the feast of unleaven'd bread in that there was an holy convocation on each of these days Exod 12. 15. 16. which denoted them to be the greatest days of the feast as appears by Leviticus 23. 2. and as the passover & the days of unleavened bread that followed it were appointed in commemoration of what came to pass in those days of the year at the time of the children of Israels deliverance out of Egypt, so it is probable that the first & last days of unleavened bread were thus distinguished & appointed to be holy convocations in respect to remarkeable events that those days were distinguished by when the children of Israel departed the first day we know was distinguished by that that it was the day of their departure, but the next remarkeable event that we read of, was their passing through the Red Sea which has been shewn, could not be within less than six days after & therefore that probably happen'd on the seventh day of unleavened bread.

¶§. 9. But the principal argument[, ?] that the day of the children of Israels coming up out of the Red Sea was on the same day of the week, is that the Jewish sabbath was appointed in remembrance of that very event, and what was implied in it, as appears by Deut. 5. 12. 13. 14. 15. being one of the two places where the ten commandments are rehearsed. the words are /p. 18/ these, keep the sabbath day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour & do all thy work. But the seventh is the sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant[, ?] nor thine ox nor thine ass nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates that thy manservant & thy maidservant may rest as well as thou And remember that thou was [sic] a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. Here it may be noted.

¶§.10. First that here is no mention of Gods creating the heavens & the earth & resting from that which was the ground of Gods institution of a sabbath at first, but only Gods delivering the children of Israel & this is expressly said to be the ground of the institution God had had given to the Jews distinct from a former appointment For it is said therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day [xo ?] & most probably it is thus said because that was the reason that Mosaic sabbath was appointed or that such a day was appointed for a sabbath.

¶§.11. Secondly it is evident that Gods delivering the children out [sic] of Israel out of Egypt was not only the ground of the institution of the Mosaic sabbath but that that sabbath was instituted the resting on that sabbath was appointed in remembrance of the Israelites resting from the toil & affliction of their Egyptian bondservice For here it is particularly insisted on & repeated that their manservant & maidservant should rest on that day the last clause of the command is that thy manservant & thy maidser- /p. 19/ vant may rest as well as thou. And then the reason by which it is enforced is plainly this that they themselves were servants in the land of Egypt & that God <brought them out of Egypt> caused [sic] them to rest from their service, and that in commemoration of that very rest God commanded them to keep the sabbath day.

¶§ 12. But the first day wherein the children of Israel were out of the land of Egypt was the day when they pass'd through the Red Sea till that day they were in the land of Egypt in the land that was under the dominion of Pharaoh their cruel oppressor for the Read [sic] Sea was the boundary of the countrey on that side, & that was the first day of their rest & deliverance from their affliction, distress & oppression from the Egyptians & no day before. that was the day of their deliverance from their enemies & old taskmasters in the destruction of those taskmasters and was the day of Israels salvation. Exod 14. 13. And Moses said unto the people Fear ye not stand still & see the salvation of the Lord which he will show unto you this day For the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day ye shall see them again no more forever. This day was a day of sweet rest to the Israelites and the only day of rest they had had for many years it was the day when they were wholly set at liberty & had no more to feel or fear from their cruel oppressours a day wherein they were refreshed a day of great joy to them whereon they sung [sic] a song of praise & deliverance the first song, that is recorded in the Scripture. it was the happiest & best day that ever that people had see a day most worthy to be commemorated. Here add Num. 719.

¶§.13. Seeing therefore that the rest of the Jewish sabbath was appointed in remembrance of the rest that God gave the Israelites that day doubtless it was appointed on the day of their rest as the sabbath that was appointed in commemoration of Gods rest from the work of creation was appointed on the day of his rest. God thought that rest worthy to be thus commemorated & therefore God did not only set apart /p. 20/ a certain day of rest but he blessed that day & hallowed it So seeing that God thought that the rest he accomplished for the children of Israel when he brought them up out of the Red sea worthy to be thus commemorated doubtless he blessed that very day & hallowed it.

¶§ 14. Having thus considered what reason we have to conclude, that the Jewish sabbath was appointed on the day of the children of Israels coming up out of the Red Sea & in commemoration of that event & of their redemption out of Egypt then perfected and the rest they then obtain'd, I proceed to consider How this confirms the divine appointment of the Christian sabbath or [mg] or that that day of [sic] the weekly sabbath now ought to be kept in commemoration of the work of redemption by Jesus Christ, and on the day when he rose from the dead and so finished and rested from that great & hard work. & here,

¶1. The redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt was a little thing in comparison of the great & eternal redemption of Jesus Christ tis nothing & less than nothing in comparison of it. if therefore[, ?] if God thought that petty redemption worthy to be so commemorated as to have the sabbath appointed to be kept in remembrance of the finishing of it, & on the day in which X the angel of Gods presence who redeemed them finished it & rested from it, & wheron the children of Israel rested from that temporal bondage, how much more is the great redemption of Christ worthy to be thus commemorated & to have the weekly sabbath appointed to be kept on the day whereon X finished & rested from that & wheron the chh in him were set at liberty from their spiritual bondage & eternal misery.

¶§ 15. 2. This redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt was a type of the great & eternal redemption of Jesus Christ Tis the most eminent type of it that we have in all the Old Testament[, ?] was ordered in all its circumstances for that end to be an image of it. Christ who was the angel /p. 21/ of Gods presence, who redeemed the children of Israel & carried them all the days of old managed this whole affair in an absolute subordination to that great redemption that was so much on his heart and the principal end of the being of such an event seems to be to shadow forth the great & eternal redemption. if therefore X who is Lord of the sabbath had so much respect to the redemption which was the shadow as to appoint the weekly sabbath to be kept in remembrance of it, & on the day when it was finished & rested from[, ?] how much more would he appoint the sabbath to be kept in remembrance of the great antitype and cause that the time of it should be regulated by that. is it not agreable to the Scripture that the shadow should give place to the substance. [xo ?] It was probably more out of respect to the antitype or for the sake of the typical relation that the redemption out of Egypt had to the spiritual & eternal redemption that was thus honoured in the institution of the Mosaic sabbath than out of respect to the greatness of the event in it self considered <See how often the children of Israels passing thro' the Red Sea is spoken of as a resemblance of what is brought to pass for Gods people by the Messiah, Miscell. B. 7. p. 9.> [later add]

¶§ 16. 3. Not only was the redemption out of Egypt which was finished & which X rested from in the coming up of the children of Israel out of the Red Sea a type of the great spiritual redemption which X rested from when he rose from the grave. But that particular event of the children of Israels coming up out of the Red Sea was a remarkeable type[, ?] of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. <See notes on 1 Pet. 3. 18. 19. 20.> To illustrate this matter several things may be considered

¶1. That that congregation that came up out of the Red Sea was the mystical body of X the congregation of chh of Xs people is often called his body by which tis evident, that there is in it a lively representation of Xs body So that when the chil- /p. 22/ dren of Israel came up out of the Red Sea that which then rose out of the sea was what represented the body of X the same which rose from the dead.

¶§ 17. 2. Not only the real body of X on the first day of the week rose from the dead but the chh did as it were rise in him For he neither died nor rose again as a private person but as representing the church. So that that day that Christ rose might be looked upon as the day of the churches resurrection from death and from hell for it was a state of spiritual & eternal death <as well as temporal death,> that the church was brought up from by the resurrection of X & were begotten again to a living hope. Isai 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise, Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs And the earth shall cast out the dead. <and a number of the dead bodies of the saints did actually rise from their graves with X. vid Hosea 6.2 with note above ?> This resurrection of the spiritual Israel in & with X might therefore be well represented by the children of Israels rising up out of the Red Sea.

¶§ 18 3. Moses who was the leader of Israel their great prophet & teacher & who was king in Jeshurun & led & conducted that congregation as a shepherd does his flock and was a great type or image of X by Gods own testimony Deut. 18. 15. 18. he came up on that day out of the Red Sea and brought up the congregation with him in like manner as X on the first day of the week rose from the dead & brought up his church with him from death & hell & an exceeding depth of wo and misery. Which shews the resemblance to be yet more exact. <See Isai 63. 11.>

¶§ 19 4 X himself came up on that day out of the Red Sea with the children of Israel in the pillar of cloud & fire, who was [with (A: om. E)] them then as their shepherd & captain to defend them from their enemies & from being overwhelmed with the waters & to bring them out & destroy their enemies. He that in all this affair acted as their Redeemer came out of the sea with them X did as it were go both before & behind them before he led the people by his Spirit in Moses who was a type of them [sic] & he went behind them in the pillar of cloud & fire to defend them thus the Lord went /p. 23/ before them & the God of Israel was their rereward [sic] as Isai 52. 12. & 58. 8.

27. 34. 48. & Mark 15. 23. & John 19. 29. v. 22. & Rom 11. 9. 10. v. 25. & Act 1. 20

¶§ 23. 8. As Xs state of humiliation & suffering is in that Psalm is [sic] represented by his being in great waters so his deliverance from this state by his resurrection is represented by being delivered out of deep waters in the 14. 15. verses There X prays for his deliverance after this manner Deliver me out of the mire & let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters Let not the water flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up & let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. the deliverance X has here respect to is that in his resurrection for that was the deliverance appointed & promised and that he expected & this is further evident, in that he in these verses prays that the pit may not shut her mouth upon him by the pit in Scripture is commonly /p. 24/ meant the grave. so that what he prays for is that he maynt continue in the grave. Christs resurrection is also in like manner compared to a being delivered out of great waters in Ps. 42. 7. 8. 11. & so 2. Sam 22. 5. 6. &c--

¶§ 24. 9 The place of the dead or the region of the dominion of death & destruction, or hell, is represented as being down under the waters or at the bottom of the sea in Scripture, Job 26. 5. 6.

¶§ 25. 10. The children of Israels coming up out of the Red Sea was the more lively image of the resurrection of X because in rising out of that sea they escaped the hand of Pharaoh & his host, who was a type of the devil & his host, & therefore is called the Leviathan and the dragons in the waters Ps 74. 13. 14. So X & his church in his resurrection eternally escaped the hand of Satan & were delivered from all the powers of darkness[. ?] the sea from whence & by which the Israelites were delivered was the sea in which their enemies were destroyed So that passion & humiliation of X from which X & his chh were delivered & by which they were saved was that which was the means of the destruction & ruin of Satan.

¶§ 26. 11 What makes this very clear is that Jonahs being brought up out of the sea was by Xs own testimony a type of his resurrection from the grave Math 12. 40. For as Jonas was three days & three nights in the whales belly so shall the Son of man be three days & three nights in the heart of the earth Which demonstrates that a coming up out of the sea is a fit type of the resurrection of X. That case of Jonah is exceeding parallel to this of the children of Israel, as Jonah in coming up out of the sea escaped the whale that had swallowed him so the children of Israel escaped Pharaoh that is in this case called Leviathan or the whale who had in his expectation swallowed them up as Exod 14. 3 & 15. 9.

¶§ 27. 12 This event resembled the resurrection of X in the time of its accomplishment for it was about the breaking of the day. We have an account that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire & of the cloud & troubled all their host & took of [sic] their chariot wheels & then the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea and as soon as ever they were all come up Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea & the sea returned to his strength /p. 25/ & that was when the morning first appeared. which was the time when X arose from the dead and by what has been said before §. 1. It is very probable that the time that the children of Israel had been in the sea & on the Egyptian shore of it was about as long as the time from Xs death to his resurrection <as account of the things that have been mentiond, not only Gods leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea but his bringing em up out of the Red Sea is particularly spoken of as a glorious work of God in Isai 63. 11.>

¶§ 28 4. Another way that this confirms that the sabbath now in the days of the gospel ought not to be kept on a Saturday but on the first day of the week, for this proves that the day of the sabbath among the Jews was a day of rejoicing & therefore was abolished by Christs [long space?] lying in the grave on that day For the church the bride & the children of the bridechamber were then called not to rejoice but to mourn, because the bridegroom was taken from her Math 9. 15. & Mark 2. 19. 20 Luke 5. 34. 35. But the day following was the day of the brides rejoicing when the bridegroom return'd to her from the dead and from such extreme sufferings from the land of darkness & out of the belly of hell and came to her with salvation with deliverance from everlasting misery & eternal life & glory for her in his hand. This was a day wherein the disciples were as it were raised from the dead for while X remaind dead their spirits were sunk as it were into the shades of death but when he revived how were their spirits revived & Peter doubtless spake very feelingly when he said X had begotten them again to a living hope by the resurrection of X from the dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. See what a time of joy this was to the Lambs wife in notes on Math 28. 9. vid 748. [notes ref. in orig. sitting]

¶§ 29. Corol. BEGINNING OF THE SABBATH. Hence no argument to prove that the sabbath ought to begin in the morning can be drawn from Christs rising in the morning For it was at the same time of day that the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea in commemoration of which the Jewish Sabbath was appointed & yet their sabbath began in the evening. they were to keep that day wherein this event happened but were to have no regard to the time of day in the beginning of the sabbath, but the days were to begin and end as they used /p. 26/ to do.

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¶ <vid §. 1.> & that the day of the children of Israels departure was Sunday may be argued from the time of the day of Pentecost which was kept in commemoration of Gods descending on Mt Sinai & giving the law from thence, & this day of Pentecost was by divine appointment alwaies to be kept on the first day of the week as is evident by Levit 23. 15. 16. & therefore doubtless the thing that it was to commemorate, came to pass on that day of the week. & it was called the feast of weeks, because it was appointed to be kept alwaies at the end of seven weeks or on the fiftieth day from a certain time whence God appointed them to begin to reckon & the most rational account why G should appoint the day to be found or determined in this way is that it was so long a time after the children of Israel came out of Egypt before God gave the law on Mt Sinai & if so then the day that the children of Israel came out of Egypt was on a Sunday. and then it appears very probable, that the giving vid after num 693 [finis]

 

¶692. SABBATH LORDS DAY. Mr Bedford in his SS. Chronology shews it to be exceeding probable that X was born & circumcised on the first day of the week Book IV. Chap IV. <If he was born on the feast of tabernacles which there are solid arguments for then both his birth & circumcision that year happend on the first day of the week.> [finis]

 

¶693. SABBATH LORDS DAY If the sabbath was originally kept on a Sunday or the day that answers to the Xtian sabbath till it was changed by Moses as Bedford in his SS chronology renders exceeding probable then it must return again when the Jewish dispensation comes to be abolished & therefore the change must begin from the time of Xs resurrection & no other time for it was X resurrection that abolished the Mosaic dispensation and on that is built the Christian Chh or dispensation as is many ways evident and seeing that X rose on the morning of that day the day of his resurrection must be the first Xtian sabbath because as soon as ever he was risen the Mosaic dispensation ceased & things returnd immediately to their old channel [finis]

 

[Between No. 693 and 694; addition to No. 691]

 

¶ see before Num. 692] [E's brack.] the law at Mt Sinai was 50 days after they departed out of Egypt from the account we have of the time when the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sinai which we are told in Exod 19. 1. was in the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land the same day that is on the very day when the third month began. but they came out of Egypt on the 15th day of the first month so that there were 16 days of that month after they came out including the day when they came out the months consisting of 30 days which being added to the 30 days of the second month makes 46 days but the 1 day of the 3d month seems to have been spent in their journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai Exod 19. 1. 2. & that makes 47. days and on the next day Moses went up to God & brought the message from God that they should sanctify themselves that day & the next which makes 49 & that the third day which was the 50th he would come down on the mountain which was done accordingly. & hence God appointed the children of Israel should count 50 days from the day after the sabbath that next followed the passover or the sixth Sunday after the passover & that the 50th day from thence should be the feast of Pentecost because that on the first Sunday after the first born of Egypt were slain & the Lord past over their first born, the children of Israel came out of Egypt & on the fiftieth day from thence the law was given at Mt Sinai [¶ ?] God had probably reference to this first feast of Pentecost when he said as in Exod 5. 1. Let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness & so 10. 9. But the children were so long viz 50 days travelling before they held this feast. & if so the day of their departure was a Sunday

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¶See an argument for the Xtian sabbath in Notes on Exod 19. 10. 11. [finis] [May have been wr. at same time]

 

¶694. BAPTISM BY SPRINKLING. vid notes on Ps 68 8. 9. in the book of notes No. 210. Coroll. 2.

¶That the pouring of water on the person to be baptized is properly called baptism in the Scripture use of the phrase and is also a more lively representation of the thing signified by baptism than dipping or plunging are both evident by the words of John the Baptist who said to the Pharisees & Sadducees I indeed baptize you with water but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost & with fire here John's baptizing & the baptizing with the Holy Ghost are both called baptizing and the one as the antitype and end of the other But what is here called the baptizing with the Holy Ghost, [lines by c?] is the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon them which was also typified by the pouring <of> [c] oil on the heads of those that were anointed and it was especially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was so remarkeably poured out on the Xtian Church. because that baptizing with water was designed as a shadow of baptizing with the Holy Ghost therefore both were conjoind when Christ was baptized when John baptised him with water God remarkeably poured out the Spirit from heaven upon him & it seems to me much the most probable therefore that John baptizd by affusion & not by dipping or plunging & that so there was a greater agreemt between the type & the antitype that were then conjoined than their would have been if John had baptized by dipping. [finis] [JE Jr. has worked this over; not published]

 

¶ 695. PERSEVERANCE Concerning the [xo c] <Some> [c] reasons why grace to persevere is promised in the covenant of grace

¶1. God when he had done such great things to redeem men[ck MS] & had not spared his own Son had so compleatly provided for mens[ck MS] redemption in the dignity of the Person that he had provided [c?] <of the Redeemer> [c] & in the greatness of the things that he did & suffered to magnify his grace towards poor fallen man I say God when he had thus laid out himself to glorify his mercy & grace in the redemption of poor fallen man[ck MS] did not see meet that those that are redeemed by X should be redeemed so imperfectly as still to have the work of perseverance lift in their own hands which they had already been found insufficient for even in their perfect state and are now ten times so insufficient for <as before> [all xo c] in their fallen broken state with their imperfect sanctification <tentimes so insufficient for, as they before, &> [c] wherein they [xo c] are ten times so liable to fall away & not to persevere as before if the care of the matter be betrusted [sic] with them. The poor creature [xo c] tho redeemed by X so as to have the holy Spirit /p. 29/ of God & spiritual life again restored in a degree yet is left a very poor piteous creature notwithstanding [xo c] because all is suspended on his perseverance as it was at first and the care of that affair is left with him as it was then & he is ten times or a hundred times [xo E?] so likely to fall away as he was then if we consider only what he has in him <self> [c] to preserve him from it The poor creature sees his own insufficiency to stand from what has happened in time past his own instability has been his undoing already and now he is vastly more unstable than before & now [xo c] tho <T> [c cap ""Tho"] he be redeemed to spiritual life yet he has no remedy provided against that which has once proved his ruin & is so much more likely to do [xo c] <be> [c] so again the more considerate & wise he is the more will he be sensible of his own insufficiency & how little his own strength is to be depended on & how much he needs Gods help in this matter but [xo c?] yet he has nothing to trust to but his own strength he wants some person that is to be depended on to fly to for help here [xo c] but there is none provided.

¶God in his providence made void the first covenant to make way for the second [xo c?] a better covenant one that was better for man It was the will of God that it should first appear by the event wherein the first was deficient or wanting of [xo c] what man needed which was manifest in the fall therein it appeared that the great thing wherein the first covenant was deficient was that the fulfillment of the righteousness of the covenant & mans perseverance was betrusted [sic] with man himself with nothing better to secure it than his own strength & therefore God introduces a better covenant that should be an everlasting covenant a new & living way wherein that which was wanting in the first covenant would be supplied & a remedy should be provided against that which under the first covenant proved mans undoing viz. mans own weakness & instability by a mediatours being given who is the same yesterday to day & forever who cannot fail who should undertake for them [xo c] <his people> [c] /p. 30/ who should take the care of them that is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him & who ever lives to make intercession for them. God did not see it fit that man should be trusted to stand in his own strength a second time God at first entered into such a covenant with man wherein he was left to stand in his own strength for that end that the event might shew the weakness & instability of man & his dependance on God but when the event has once proved this there is no need of entring into another covenant of the same tenour to manifest it

¶Tis not fit that [xo E?] in a covenant that is distinguished from the first covenant as a covenant of grace wherein all is of meer free & sovereign grace that the reward of life should be suspended on mans perseverance as dependant on the strength & steadfastness of his own will tis <It> [c] a covenant of works & not a covenant of grace that suspends eternal life on what is the fruit of a mans own strength. Eternal life was to have been for mans own righteousness & as it was suspended on what was [xo E] the fruit of his own strength for tho our first parent [sic] depended on the grace of God the influences of his Spirit in their [xo c] <his> [c] hearts [-s xo c] yet that grace was given him already & dwelt in him constantly & without interruption in such a degree as to hold him above any lust or sinfull habit or principle and [xo c] eternal life was not meerly suspended on that grace that was given him & dwelt in him but on his improvement of that grace his persevering by his own strength with that grace which he already had for in order to his perseverance there was nothing further promised beyond his own strength no extraordinary occasional assistance was promised. it was not promised but that man should be left to himself as he was (tho God did not oblige himself not to afford extraordinary assistance on occasion as doubtless he did to the angels that stood). But the new covenant is axl [xo E?: all?] of grace in a manner distinguishing from the old in both those[ck MS] respects that the reward of life is suspended neither on his own strength or worthiness it provides something above either. But if eternal life under the new covenant was suspended on mans own perseverance or his perseveringly using diligent endeavours to stand without the promise of any thing further to ascertain it than his own strength it would herein be further from being worthy to be called a covenant of grace than the first covenant /p. 31/ because now mans strength is exceedingly less than it was then it was then [xo E] & he is under far less advantages to persevere perseverance is much more difficult & if he should obtain eternal life by perseverance in his own strength now eternal life would be [xo c] with respect to that be much more of himself than it would have been by the first covenant because perseverance would now be a much greater thing than under those circumstances & he has but an exceeding small part of that grace dwelling in him to assist him that he had then & that which he has dont dwell in him in the exercises of it by such a constant law as grace did then but is put into exercise by the spirit of grace in a far more arbitrary & sovereign way

& [xo c] again X came into the T to do what meer man failed of he came as a better surety & that in him those defects might be supplied that proved to be in our first surety & that we might have a remedy for that mischief that came by those defects But the defect of our first surety was that he did not persevere he wanted steadfastness & therefore God sent us in the next place one that could not fail that should surely persevere But this is no supply of that defect to us if the reward of life be still suspended on our perseverance which has nothing greater to secure it still than the strength of meer man & [xo ?] the perseverance of our second surety is no remedy against the like mischief which came by failure of our first surety but on the contrary we are <much more> [c] exposed by far <more> [xo c; E put more in wrong place] to the mischief than before the perseverance on which life was suspended depended then indeed on the strength of meer man but now it is now [xo c] suspended on the strength of fallen man

¶In that our first surety did not persevere we fell in & with him & so <as> [change by E; Rem: for] doubtless if he had stood we should have stood with him & therefore when God in mercy has given us a better surely to supply the defects of the first surety & [xo E] a surety that might stand but [xo c] <&> [c] persevere & one that has actually persevered through the greatest imaginable /p. 32/ trials doubtless [?] we shall stand & persevere in him after all this eternal life wont be suspended on our perseverance by our own poor feeble broken strength.

¶Our first surety if he had stood would have been brought to eat of the tree of life as a seal of a confirmed unalterable [xo E] state of life in persevering & everlasting holiness & happiness & he would have eat [sic] of this tree of life as a seal of persevering confirmed life not only for himself but as our head as <A> when he eat [sic] of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he tasted as our head & so brought death on himself and all his posterity so if he had persevered & had eat [sic] of the tree of knowledge of good and evil [xo c] <life> [c] he would have tasted of that as our head & therein confirmed holiness & life would have been sealed to him and all his posterity But X the second Adam acts the same part for us that the first Adam was to have done <but> [c] but & [& prob. by E over t of but xo c ?] failed <of> [xo E] <in> [xo c] he has fulfilled the law and has been admitted to the seals of confirmed & everlasting life God as a testimony & seal of his acceptance of what he had done as the condition of life raised him from the dead & exalted him with his own right hand recieved him up into glory & gave all things into his hands. & [xo c] thus the second Adam has persevered not only for himself but for us and has been sealed to confirmed & [xo E] persevering & eternal life as our head So that all those that are his & that are his spiritual prosperity [sic!] are sealed in him to persevering life here it will be in vain to object & say [xo c] that persons persevering in faith & holiness is the condition of their being admitted to the state of Xs posterity or to a right in him and that none are admitted as such till they have first persevered For this is as much as to say that X has no church here in this world that there are none on this side the grave that are admitted as his children or people because they hant yet actually persevered to the end of life which is the condition of their being admitted as his children & people. which is contrary to the whole Scripture /p. 33/

To suppose that a right to life is suspended on our own perseverance that is uncertain & has nothing more sure & steadfast to secure it than our own good wills & resolutions (which way soever we suppose it to [be (om. E.)] dependent on the strength of our resolutions & wills either without assistance or in the improvement of assistance or in seeking assistance). is exceeding<ly> [<c>] dissonant to the nature & design of the gospel scheme for if it were so it would unavoidably have one of these two effects either 1. Exceedingly to deprive the believer of the comfort hope & joy of salvation. but this is very contrary to Gods intention in the scheme of mans salvation which is to lay a foundation for mans abundant consolation every way & to make the ground of our peace & joy in all respects strong & sure. or <O> [c] else 2. he must depend much on himself & the ground of his joy & hope must in a great measure be his own strength & the steadfastness of his own heart the unchangeableness of his own resolutions &c-- which would be very dissonant from the gospel scheme

______________________________________________________________________________ ¶696. How RENEWED ACTS OF FAITH & PERSEVERANCE IN FAITH DO Influence influence [sic] in our Salvation. The first act of faith is that which first obtains a title to salvation & therefore tho salvation be promised to after acts of faith & to perseverance in faith yet they dont give a right to salvation in the same manner as the first act doth

______________________________________________________________________________ ¶ X being the second Adam and having finished the work of Adam for us he [xo c?] dont only redeem or bring us back to be in the probationary state of Adam while he had yet his work to finish having his eternal life uncertain because suspended on his uncertain perseverance that is very inconsistant with Xs being a second Adam & having undertaken & finished the work of Adam for us For if X succeeding in Adams room has done & gone through the work that Adam was to have done & did this as our representative or surety he hant only thereby set us that are in him & represented by him in /p. 34/ Adams probationary uncertain state having the finishing or persevering in the work on which eternal life was suspended yet before him & uncertain or the state that Adam was in on this side a state of confirmed life But if X has finished the work of Adam for us as representing us & acting in our stead then doubtless he has not only gone through himself but has carried us who are in him and are represented by him through the work of Adam or through Adams working probationary state unto that confirmed state that Adam should have arrived at if he had gone through his own work

¶That the saints shall surely persevere will necessarily follow from that that they have already performed the obedience which is the righteousness by which they have justification to life or it is already performed for them and imputed to them for that supposes that it is the same thing in the sight of God as if they had performed it now when once the creature has actually performed & finished the righteousness of the law he is immediately sealed & confirmed to eternal life there is nothing to keep him off from the tree of life to seal him to it any longer but as soon as ever a believer has Xs righteousness imputed to him he has vertually finished the righteousness of the law to this add Num 711. p. 100 [finis]

 

¶696 EXCELLENCY OF X vid serm on Cant 1. 3 & also on Rev. 5. 5. [finis 2nd ref. later?]

 

¶697. UNITY if the GODHEAD. The unity of the Godhead will necessarily follow from Gods being infinite. For to be infinite is to be all & it would be a contradiction to suppose to ALLS. because if there be two or more one alone is not all but the sum of them put together are all. Infinity and omneity if I may so speak must go together because if any being falls short of omneity then it is not infinite therein it is limity therein there is something that it dont extend to or that it dont comprehend if there be something more then there is something beyond & wherein this being dont reach & include that which is beyond therein it is limited Its bounds stop short of this that is not comprehended. and infinite being therefore must be an all comprehending Being He must compre- p. 35/ hend in himself all being that there should be another being underived & independent & so no way comprehended will argue him not to be infinite, because then there is something more, there is more entity there is some entity beside what is in this being & therefore his entity cant be infinite these[ck MS] two beings put together are more than one for they taken together are a sum total, and one taken alone is but a part of that sum total & therefore is finite for whatsoever is a part is finite. God as he is infinite & [wxo] and the being whence all are derived and from whom every thing is given does comprehend the entity of all his creatures, & there [sic] entity is not to be added to his as not comprehended in it for they are but communications from him Communications of being bent additions of being. the reflections of the suns light dont add at all to the sum total of the light. Tis true we mathematicians concieve of greater than infinite in some respects & of several infinites being added one to another but tis because they are in some respect finite, as a thing concieved infinitely long may not be infinitely thick & so its thickness may be added to or if it be concieved infinitely long one way yet it may be concieved having bounds or an end another but G. is in no respect limited & therefore can in no respect be added to [finis; is the mark at end JE's?]

 

¶698. The SUFFERINGS of CHRIST from the beginning of his life to the end of it. vid serm on Isai 53. 3. [finis]

 

¶699. END of the CREATION. GLORY OF GOD. God dont seek his own glory for any happiness he recieves by it as men are gratified in having their excellencies gazed at admired and extolld by others but God seeks the display of his own glory as a thing in it self excellent the display of the divine glory is that which is most excellent tis good that glory should be displayed The excellency of Gods nature appears in that that he loves & seeks whatever is in it self excellent. one way that the excellency of Gods nature appears is in loving himself or loving his own excellency & infinite perfection & as he loves his own perfection so he loves the effulgence of shining forth of that perfection or loves his own excellency in the expression & fruit of it Tis an /. 36/ excellent thing that that which is excellent should be expressed in proper act & fruit Thus tis an excellent thing that infinite justice should be [wwxo] shine forth & be expressed in infinitely just & righteous acts & that infinite goodness should be expressed n infinitely good & gracious deeds. [finis; line in left mg. JE's ? looks like it.]

 

¶ 700. PREDESTINATION. <SUPRALAPSARIANS SUBLAPSAR.> REPROBATION <vid p. 55 &c> God in the decree of election is justly to be consider'd as decreeing the creatures eternal happiness antecedent<ly> [c] to any foresight or <f> [c] [sic] good works in a sense wherein he does not in reprobation decree the creatures eternal misery antecedent<ly> [c] to any foresight of sin because the being of sin is supposed in the first thing in order in the decree of reprobation which is that God will glorify his vindictive justice but the very notion of revenging justice simply considered supposes a fault to be revenged. But faith & good works is not supposed in the first things in order in the decree of election the first things in order in this decree are that God will communicate his happiness & glorify his grace (for these two seem to be coordinate) but in neither of these is faith & good works supposed for when God decrees, & seeks to communicate his own happiness in the creatures happiness the [wwxo] the notion of this simply considered supposes or implies nothing of faith or good works nor does the notion of grace in it self [E's line?] suppose any such thing it dont necessarily follow from the very nature of grace, or Gods communicativeness of his own happiness that there must be faith & good works. this is only a certain way of the arbitrary appointment of Gods wisdom wherein he will bring men to partake of his grace. But yet God is far from having decreed damnation from a foresight of good [xo c] <evil> [c] works in the sense of the Arminians as if God in this decree did properly depend on the creatures sinfull act as an event the coming to pass of which primarily depends on the creatures determination so that the creatures determination in this decree is [& other ww. xo E] <may> [c] be properly to be looked upon as antecedent to Gods determination & on which his determination is consequent & dependent. [finis]