Eighteen sermons preached in Oxford 1640 of conversion, unto God. Of redemption, & justification,…

GAL. 3.22. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

You see in this excellent portion of Scripture the two Covenants of Almighty God: to wit, the Covenant of Nature, and the Covenant of grace. The first of Nature, which was written by God in mans heart, and this is the holy Law of God, by virtue whereof a man was to continue in that integrity, holiness, and uprightness, in which God had first created him, and to serve God according to that strength he first enabled him with, that so he might live thereby.

YOu see in this excellent portion of Scripture the two Covenants of Almighty God: to wit, the Covenant of Nature, and the Covenant of grace. The first of Nature, which was written by God in mans heart, and this is the holy Law of God, by vertue whereof a man was to continue in that integrity, holinesse, and uprightnesse, in which God had first created him, and to serve God according to that strength he first enabled him with, that so he might live thereby.

But now when man had broken this Covenant, and entered into a state of Rebellion against God, he's shut up in misery, but not in misery for ever, as the Angels that fell were, being reserved in chains till the judgment of the great day: No, the Lord hath shut him up in prison, only for a while, that so he may the better make a way for their escape and deliverance, and for their entrance into the second Covenant of grace: that so ⟨p. 77⟩making him see his own misery, wherein by nature he is, and cutting him off from his own stock, he may be ingrafted into Christ, draw sap and sweetness from him, and bring forth fruits to everlasting life. And this is the method the Scripture useth: It concludes all under sin, that so the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. It's no new Doctrine devised by us, but it's the course and method of the Scripture: for it begins in this great work with imprisoning and shutting up. The Law is as a Justice of Peace, that by his Mittimus commands us to prison: It's a Serjeant that arrests a man, and carries him to the Gaole: But why does the Scripture do thus? It's not to destroy you with famine; the Law sends you not hither to starve you, or to kill you with the stench of the prison, but thereby to save and preserve you alive, and that you may hunger and thirst after deliverance. So that we find the reason added in the Text, The Scripture concludes all under sin, why? It's that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. You are shut up as prisoners and rebels, that having found the smart of it, seen your misery, and learned what it is to be at enmity with God, and the folly to make your selves wiser and stronger then God, you may submit your selves casting down your plumes, and desire after Christ with an hungry and thirsty appetite, for not only a Priest to sacrifice himself for you, and a Prophet to teach and instruct you, but a King to be swayed by him, earnestly craving from thy soul