THE HOLY SPIRI us. It is true, there is a supposition of an antecedent covenant, but not as a.bargain or contract between God and us. The covenant of God, as it respects the dis- pensation of the Spirit, is a mere free gratuitous pro- mise; and the stipulation of obedience on our part is consequential thereunto. Again, he that giveth an earnest in a contract or bargain, doth not principally aim at his own obligation to pay such or such a sum of money, or somewhat equivalent thereunto, though he do that also; but his principal design is to secure unto him- self that which he hath bargained for, that it may be delivered up unto him at the time appointed. But there . is nothing ofthis nature in the earnest of the Spirit, wherein God intends our assurance only, and not his own. And sundry other things there are wherein the comparison will not hold, nor is to be urged, because they are not intended. Thegeneral end of an earnest or a pledge, is all that is alluded unto: andthis -is to give security of somewhat that is future, or to come. And this may be done in a way of free bounty, as well as upon the strictest con- tract. As ifaman have a poor friend or relation, he may, of his own accord, give him a sum of money, and bid him take it as a pledge or earnest of what he will yet do for him: so doth God, in a way of sovereign grace and bounty, give his Holy Spirit unto believers; and, withal, lets them know, that it is with a design to- give them much more in his appointed season. And here is he said to be an earnest. Other things that are observed from the nature and use of an earnest in civil contracts and bargains between men, belong not here-. unto, though many things are occasionally spoken and discoursed from them of good. use unto edification. Thirdly, In two of the places whereinmention is made of this matter, the Spirit is said to be an earnest, but wherein, or unto what end, is not expressed, 2 Cor. i. 22. chap. v. 5. The third place affirms him to be an earnest ofour inheritance, Eph. i. 14. What that is, and how he is so, may be briefly declared. And, 1. We have already manifested, that all our partici- pation ofthe Holy Spirit, in any kind, is upon the ac- count ofJesus Christ, and we do receive him immediate- ly as the Spirit of Christ. For to as many as receive Christ, the Father givespower to become thesons ofGod, John i. 12. And because we are sons, he sendsforth the Spirit ofhis Sore into our hearts, Gal iv. L. And as we T, AND HIS WORE. 33 ~receive the Spirit from him, and as his Spirit, so he is given unto us to make us conformable unto him, and to give us a participation of his gifts, graces, and pri- vileges. 2. Christ himself, in his own person, is the heir of all things. So he was appointed of God, Heb. i. 2. and therefore thewhole inheritance is absolutely his. What this inheritance is, whatis the glory and power that is contained therein, I haveat large declared in the expo- sition of that place. 3. Man, by his sin, had universally forfeited his whole right unto all the ends of his creation, both on the earth below, and in heaven above. Death and hell were be- come all that the whole race of mankind had either right or title unto. But yet all the glorious things that God had provided were not to be cast away, an heir was to beprovided for them. Abraham, when he was old and rich, had no child, complained that his steward, a ser- vant, was to be his heir, Gen. xv. 3, 4. but God lets him know, that he would provide another heir for him of his own seed. When man had lost his right unto the whole inheritance of heaven and earth, God didnot so take the forfeiture, as to seize it all into the hands of justice, and destroy it: but he invested the whole in- heritance in his Son, making him the heir of all. This he was meet for, as being God's eternal Son by nature, and hereof the donation was free, gratuitous, and abso- lute. And thisgrant was confirmed,unto him, by his unction with the fulness of the Spirit. But, 4. This inheritance, as to our interest therein, lay under a forfeiture; and, as unto us, it must be redeem. ed and purchased, or we cannever be made partakers of it. Wherefore the Lord Christ, who had a right in Iris own person unto the whole inheritance by the free grant and donation of the Father, yet was to redeem it from under the forfeiture, and purchase the ,possession of it for us: thence is it called the purchased possession. How this purchase was made, what made it necessary, by what means it was effected, are declared in the doc- trine of our redemption by Christ, the price which he paid, and the purchase that he made thereby. And hereon the whole inheritance is vested in the Lord Christ, not only as unto his own person, and his right unto the whole, but he became the great trustee for the whole church, and had their interest in phis inheritance committed unto him also. No man therefore can have 37
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=