The christian covenant is a contract between God and man, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, for the return and reconciliation of sinners unto God, and their justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification by him, to his glory.

Here we must first consider, who are the parties in the covenant. 2. What is the matter of the covenant on God's part. 3. What is the matter on man's part. 4. What are the terms of it propounded on God's part. 5. Where and how he doth express it. 6. What are the necessary qualifications on man's part. 7. And what are the ends and benefits of it.

I. The parties are God and man: God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost on the one part, and repenting, believing sinners on the other part. Man is the party that needeth it; but God is the party that first offereth it. Here note, 1. That God's part of the covenant is made universally and conditionally with all mankind, (as to the tenor exacted,) and so is in being before we were born. 2. That it is not the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, considered simply as persons in the Godhead; but as related to man for the ends of the covenant. 3. That it is only sinners that this covenant is made with, because the use of it is for the restoration of those that broke a former covenant in Adam. It is a covenant of reconciliation, and therefore supposeth an enmity antecedent. 4. When I say that it is repenting and believing sinners that are the party, I mean, (1.) That taking the covenant in its first act, it is repentance and faith themselves that are the act, and are our very covenanting. (2.) But taking the covenant in its external expression, so it is a repenting, believing sinner that must take it, it being but the expression of his repentance and faith, by an explicit contract with God. 5. Note, that though God's covenant be by one universal act, (of which more anon,) yet man's is to be made by the several acts of the individual persons each one for himself, and not by the acts of societies only.

II. The matter of the covenant on God's part is in general, that he will be our God: more particularly, that God the Father will be our reconciled God and Father in Jesus Christ; that God the Son will be our Saviour; and God the Holy Ghost will be our Sanctifier. And the relation of a God to us essentially containeth these three parts: 1. That as on the title of creation and redemption he is our Owner, so he doth take us as his own peculiar people. 2. That as he hath title to be our absolute King or Governor, so he doth take us as his subjects. 3. That he will be our grand Benefactor and felicity, or our most loving Father (which compriseth all the rest). And as he will be thus related to us, so he will do for us all that these relations do import. As, 1. He will do all that belongeth to a Creator for his creature, in our preservation and supplies. 2. He will save us from our sins, and from his wrath and hell. 3. And he will sanctify us to a perfect conformity to our Head. Also, 1. He will use and defend us as his own peculiar ones. 2. He will govern us by a law of grace and righteousness. 3. He will make us fully happy in his love for ever.

III. The matter on man's part of the covenant is, 1. In respect of the terminus a quo, that we will forsake the flesh, the world, and the devil, as they are adverse to our relations and duties to God. 2. In regard of the terminus ad quem, that we will take the Lord for our God: and more particularly, 1. That we do take God the Father for our reconciled Father in Jesus Christ, and do give up ourselves to him as creatures to their Maker. 2. That we do take Jesus Christ for our Redeemer, Saviour, and Mediator, as our High Priest, and Prophet, and King, and do give up ourselves to him as his redeemed ones to be reconciled to God, and saved by him. 3. That we do take the Holy Ghost for our Regenerator and Sanctifier, and do give up ourselves to be perfectly renewed and sanctified by him, and by his operations carried on to God in his holy service. Also, 1. That we do take God for our absolute Lord or Owner, and do give up ourselves to him as his own. 2. That we take him for our universal, sovereign Governor, and do give up ourselves unto him as his subjects. 3. That we do take him for our most bountiful Benefactor, and loving Father, and felicity, and do give up ourselves to him as his children, to seek him, and please him, and perfectly to love him, delight in him, and enjoy him for ever in heaven as our ultimate end. And in consenting to these relations, we covenant to do the duties of them in sincerity.

IV. The terms or conditions which God requireth of man in his covenant are, consent, and fidelity or performance: he first consenteth conditionally, if we will consent; and he consenteth to be actually our God, when we consent to be his people: so that as bare consent, without any performance, doth found the relation between husband and wife, master and servant, prince and people; but the sincere performance of the duties of the relation which we consent to, are needful afterward to continue the relation, and attain the benefits and ends; so is it also between God and man. We are his children in covenant as soon as we consent; but we shall not be glorified but on condition of sincere performance and obedience.

V. God's covenant with man is nothing else but the universal promise in the gospel; and (to the solemnization) the declaration, and application, and solemn investiture or delivery by his authorized ministers. 1. The gospel, as it relateth the matters of fact in and about the work of our redemption, is a sacred history. 2. As it containeth the terms on which God will be served, and commandeth us to obey them for our salvation, it is called the law of Christ or grace. 3. As it containeth the promise of life and salvation conditionally offered, it is called God's promise, and covenant (viz. on his part, as it is proposed only). 4. When by our consent the condition is so far performed, or the covenant accepted, then God's conditional, universal promise or covenant, becometh actual and particular as to the effect; and so the covenant becometh mutual between God and man: as if a king make an act or law of pardon and oblivion to a nation of rebels, saying, Whoever cometh in by such a day, and confesseth his fault, and sueth out his pardon, and promiseth fidelity for the future, shall be pardoned. This act is a law in one respect, and it is a universal, conditional pardon of all those rebels; or a promise of pardon; and an offer of pardon to all that it is revealed to: but it is an actual pardon to those that come in, and conferreth on them the benefits of the act as if they were named in it, and is their very title to their pardon, of which their consent is the condition; and the condition being performed, the pardon or collation of the benefit becometh particular and actual, without any new act; it being the sense of the law itself, or conditional grant, that so it should do. So as to the reality of the internal covenant interest and benefits, justification and adoption, it is ours by virtue of this universal conditional covenant, when we perform the condition. But as to our title in foro ecclesiæ, and the due solemnization and investiture, it is made ours when God's minister applieth it to us in baptism by his commission; as the rebel that was fundamentally pardoned by the act of oblivion, must yet have his personal pardon delivered him by the lord chancellor under the great seal. In this sense ministers are the instruments of God, not only in declaring us to be pardoned, but in delivering to us the pardon of our sins, and solemnly investing us therein: as an attorney delivereth possession to one that before had his fundamental title. Thus God entereth into covenant with man.

VI. The qualifications of absolute necessity to the validity of our covenant with God in foro interiori, are these: 1. That we understand what we do as to all the essentials of the covenant; for ignorantis non est consensus. 2. That it be our own act, performed by our natural or legal selves, that is, some one that hath power so far to dispose of us (as parents have of their children). 3. That it be deliberate, sober, and rational, done by one that is compos mentis, in his wits, and not in drunkenness, madness, or incogitancy.[38] 4. That it be seriously done with a real intention of doing the thing, and not histrionically, ludicrously, or in jest. 5. That it be done entirely as to all essential parts; for if we leave out any essential part of the covenant, it is no sufficient consent (as to consent that Christ shall be our Justifier, but not the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier). 6. That it be a present consent to be presently in covenant with God: for to consent that you will be his servants to-morrow or hereafter, but not yet, is but to purpose to be in covenant with him hereafter, and is no present covenanting with him. 7. Lastly, it must be a resolved and absolute consent, without any open or secret exceptions or reserves.

VII. The fruits of the covenant which God reapeth, (though he need nothing,) is the pleasing of his good and gracious will, in the exercise of his love and mercy, and the praise and glory of his grace, in his people's love and happiness for ever. The fruits or benefits which accrue to man are unspeakable, and would require a volume competently to open them: especially that God is our God, and Christ our Saviour, Head, Intercessor, and Teacher, and the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier; and that God will regard us as his own, and will protect us, preserve us, and provide for us, and will govern us, and be our God and joy for ever; that he will pardon us, justify, and adopt us, and glorify us with his Son in heaven.

Direct. II. When you thus understand well the nature of the covenant, labour to understand the special reasons of it. The reasons of the matter of the covenant you may see in the fruits and benefits now mentioned. But I now speak of the reason of it as a covenant in genere, and such a covenant in specie.

1. In general, God will have man to receive life or death as an accepter and keeper, or a refuser or breaker, of his covenant, because he will do it not only as a Benefactor, or absolute Lord, but also as a Governor, and will make his covenant to be also his law, and his promise and benefits to promote obedience; and because he will deal with man as with a free agent, and not as with a brute that hath no choosing and refusing power, conducted by reason: man's life and death shall be in his own hands, and still depend upon his own will; though God will secure his own dominion, interest, and ends, and put nothing out of his own power by putting it into man's; nor have ever the less his own will, by leaving man to his own will. God will at last, as a righteous Judge, determine all the world to their final joy or punishment, according to their own choice while they were in the flesh, and according to what they have done in the body, whether it be good or evil, Matt. xxv. Therefore he will deal with us on covenant terms.

2. And he hath chosen to rule and judge men according to a covenant of grace, by a Redeemer, and not according to a rigorous law of works, that his goodness and mercy may be the fullier manifested to the sons of men; and that it may be easier for men to love him, when they have so wonderful demonstrations of his love; and so that their service here, and their work and happiness hereafter, may consist of love, to the glory of his goodness, and the pleasure of his love for ever.

Direct. III. Next understand rightly the nature, use, and end of baptism. Baptism is to the mutual covenant between God and man, what the solemnization of marriage is to them that do before consent; or what the listing a soldier by giving him colours, and writing his name, is to one that consented before to be a soldier.[39] In my "Universal Concord," p. 29, 30, I have thus described it: |External baptism, what.|Baptism is a holy sacrament instituted by Christ, in which a person professing the christian faith (or the infant of such) is baptized in water into the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, in signification and solemnization of the holy covenant, in which as a penitent believer (or the seed of such) he giveth up himself (or is by the parent given up) to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, forsaking the devil, the world, and the flesh, and is solemnly entered a visible member of Christ and his church, a pardoned, regenerate child of God, and an heir of heaven.

As the word baptism is taken for the mere administration or external ordinance, so the internal covenanting or faith and repentance of the (adult) person to be baptized, is no essential part of it, nor requisite to the being of it; but only the profession of such a faith and repentance, and the external entering of the covenant; but as baptism is taken for the ordinance as performed in all its essential parts, according to the true intent of Christ in his institution (that is, in the first and proper meaning of the word); so the internal covenanting of a penitent, sincere believer, is necessary to the being of it. And indeed the word baptism is taken but equivocally or analogically at most, when it is taken for the mere external administration and action: for God doth not institute worship ordinances for bodily motion only; when he speaketh to man, and requireth worship of man, he speaketh to him as to a man, and requireth human actions from him, even the work of the soul, and not the words of a parrot, or the motion of a puppet. Therefore the word baptism in the first and proper signification, doth take in the inward actions of the heart, as well as the outward professions and actions. |Complete baptism, what it is.|And in this proper sense baptism is the mutual covenant between God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and a penitent believing sinner, solemnized by the washing of water, in which as a sacrament of his own appointment God doth engage himself to be the God and reconciled Father, the Saviour and the Sanctifier, of the believer, and taketh him for his reconciled child in Christ, and delivereth to him, by solemn investiture, the pardon of all his sins, and title to the mercies of this life and of that which is to come. What I say in this description of a penitent believer, is also to be understood of the children of such that are dedicated by them in baptism to God, who thereupon have their portion in the same covenant of grace.

The word baptism is taken in the first sense when Simon Magus is said to be baptized, Acts xxviii. And when we speak of it only in the ecclesiastic sense, as it is true baptism in foro ecclesiæ; but it is taken in the latter sense when it is spoken of as the complete ordinance of God, in the sense of the institution, and as respecting the proper ends of baptism, as pardon of sin and life eternal; and in foro cœli.

In this full and proper sense it is taken by Christ when he saith, Mark xvi. 16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;" that is, he that believeth, and is by baptism entered into the covenant of God; and in this sense the ancients took it, when they affirmed that all that were baptized were regenerated, pardoned, and made the children of God. And in this sense it is most true, that he that is baptized (that is, is a sincere covenanter) shall be saved if he die in that condition that he is then in.[40] All that the minister warrantably baptizeth, are sacramentally regenerate, and are in foro ecclesiæ members of Christ, and children of God, and heirs of heaven: but it is only those that are sincerely delivered up in covenant to God in Christ, that are spiritually and really regenerate, and are such as shall be owned for members of Christ and children of God in foro cœli. Therefore it is not unfit that the minister call the baptized, regenerate and pardoned members of Christ, and children of God, and heirs of heaven, supposing that in foro ecclesiæ they were the due subjects of baptism. But if the persons be such as ought not to be baptized, the sin then is not in calling baptized persons regenerate, but in baptizing those that ought not to have been baptized, and to whom the seal of the covenant was not due.

None ought to be baptized but those that either personally deliver up themselves in covenant to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, professing a true repentance, and faith, and consent to the covenant; or else are thus delivered up, and dedicated, and entered into covenant in their infancy, by those that, being christians themselves, have so much interest in them and power of them, that their act may be esteemed as the infants' act, and legally imputed to them as if themselves had done it. If any others are unduly baptized, they have hereby no title to the pardon of sin or life eternal, nor are they taken by God to be in covenant, as having no way consented to it.

Direct. IV. When you enter a child into the christian covenant with God, address yourselves to it as to one of the greatest works in the world; as those that know the greatness of the benefit, of the duty, and of the danger. The benefit to them that are sincere in the covenant, is no less than to have the pardon of all our sins, and to have God himself to be our God and Father, and Christ our Saviour, and the Holy Ghost our Sanctifier, and to have title to the blessings of this life and of that to come. And for the duty, how great a work it is for a sinner to enter into so solemn a covenant with the God of heaven, for reconciliation and newness of life, and for salvation! And therefore if any should abuse God by hypocrisy, and take on them to consent to the terms of the covenant, (for themselves, or their children,) when indeed they do not, the danger of such profaneness and abuse of God must needs be great. Do it therefore with that due preparation, reverence, and seriousness, as beseemeth those that are transacting a business of such unspeakable importance with God Almighty.

Direct. V. Having been entered in your infancy into the covenant of God by your parents, you must, at years of discretion, review the covenant which by them you made, and renew it personally yourselves; and this with as great seriousness and resolution as if you were now first to enter and subscribe it, and as if your everlasting life or death were to depend on the sincerity of your consent and performance. For your infant baptismal covenanting will save none of you that live to years of discretion, and do not as heartily own it in their own persons, as if they had been now to be baptized. But this I pass by, having said so much of it in my "Book of Confirmation."

Direct. VI. Your covenant thus, 1. Made; 2. Solemnized by baptism; 3. And owned at age; must, 4. Be frequently renewed through the whole course of your lives. As, (1.) Your first consent must be habitually continued all your days; for if that ceaseth, your grace and title to the benefits of God's covenant ceaseth. (2.) This covenant is virtually renewed in every act of worship to God; for you speak to him as your God in covenant, and offer yourselves to him as his covenanted people. (3.) This covenant should be actually renewed frequently in prayer and meditation, and other such acts of communion with God. (4.) Especially when after a fall we beg the pardon of our sins, and the mercies of the covenant, and on days of humiliation and thanksgiving, and in great distresses, or exhilarating mercies. (5.) And the Lord's supper is an ordinance instituted to this very end. It is no small part of our christian diligence and watchfulness, to keep up and renew our covenant consent.

Direct. VII. And as careful must you be to keep or perform your covenant, as to enter it, and renew it; which is done, 1. By continuing our consent; 2. By sincere obedience; 3. And by perseverance. We do not (nor dare not) promise to obey perfectly, nor promise to be as obedient as the higher and better sort of christians, though we desire both; but to obey sincerely we must needs promise, because we must needs perform it.

Obedience is sincere, 1. When the radical consent or subjection of the heart to God in Christ is habitually and heartily continued. 2. When God's interest in us is most predominant, and his authority and law can do more with us, than any fleshly lust or worldly interest, or than the authority, word, or persuasions of any man whosoever. 3. When we unfeignedly desire to be perfect, and habitually and ordinarily have a predominant love to all that is good, and a hatred to that which is evil; and had rather do our duty than be excused from it, and rather be saved from our sin than keep it.

Direct. VIII. While you sincerely consent unto the covenant, live by faith upon the promised benefits of it, believing that God will make good on his part all that he hath promised. Take it for your title to pardon, sonship, and eternal life. O think what a mercy it is to have God in covenant with you to be your God, your Father, Saviour, Sanctifier, and felicity! And in this continually rejoice.

CHAPTER IV.

DIRECTIONS ABOUT THE PROFESSION OF OUR RELIGION TO OTHERS.

Direct. I. Understand first how great a duty the profession of true religion is, that you may not think as some foolish people, that every man should conceal his religion, or keep it to himself.[41] Observe therefore these reasons following which require it.

1. Our tongues and bodies are made to exercise and show forth that acknowledgment and adoration of God which is in our hearts. And as he denieth God with the heart who doth not believe in him and worship him in his heart, so he denieth God imputatively with his tongue and life, who doth not profess and honour him with his tongue and life; and so he is a practical atheist. Isa. xlv. 23-25, "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength—In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." So Phil. ii. 9-11, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Isa. xliv. 5, "One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call him by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel."

2. The public assemblies, and worship of God, are purposely appointed by him, that in them we might make open profession of our religion. He that denieth profession, denieth the public faith and worship of the church, and denieth baptism and the Lord's supper, which are sacraments appointed for the solemn profession of our faith.

3. Our profession is needful to our glorifying God. Men see not our hearts, nor know whether we believe in God or not, nor what we believe of him, till they hear or see it in our profession and actions. Paul's life and death was a profession of Christ, that in his "boldness Christ might be magnified in his body," Phil. i. 20. Matt. v. 14-16, "Ye are the light of the world: a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle to put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

4. Our profession is the means of saving others: that which is secret, is no means to profit them. They must see our good works that they may glorify God, Phil. i. 12-14.

5. God hath required our open and bold profession of him, with the strictest commands, and upon the greatest penalties. 1 Pet. v. 3, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Rom. x. 9, 10, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Mark viii. 38, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."[42]

Direct. II. Next, understand what it is in religion that you must principally profess.[43] It is not every lesser truth, much less every opinion of your own, in which you are confident that you are wiser than your brethren. This is the meaning of Rom. xiv. 22, "Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God." By "faith" here is not meant the substance of the christian belief, or any one necessary article of it. But a belief of the indifferency of such things as Paul spake of, in meats and drinks. If thou know these things to be lawful when thy weak brother doth not, and so thou be wiser than he, thank God for thy knowledge, and use it to thy own salvation; but do not proudly and uncharitably contend for it, and use it uncharitably to the danger of another's soul, much less to the wrong of the church and gospel, and the hinderance of greater truths. 2 Tim. ii. 14, "Of these things put them in remembrance," (that is, of the saints' hope in God's faithfulness,) "charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but the subverting of the hearers." Yet "for the faith we must earnestly contend," Jude 2, 3. 2 Tim. ii. 23, 24, "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men."

But that which is the chiefest matter of our profession is, The being and perfections of God himself; his love to man, and power over him, and man's subjection and obligations unto God; the person, and office, and works, and benefits of our Redeemer, with all the duty that we owe to him in perfect holiness, and all the hopes that we have in him; the happiness of the saints, the odiousness of sin, and the misery of the wicked. These, and such as these, are things that we are called to profess; yet so as not to deny or renounce the smallest truth.

Direct. III. Understand also the manner how we must make profession of religion. 1. There is a professing by words, and a professing by actions. 2. There is a solemn profession by God's public ordinances, and an occasional or privater profession by conference, or by our conversations. And all these ways must religion be professed.

Direct. IV. Understand also the season of each sort of profession, that you omit not the season, nor do it unseasonably. 1. Profession by baptism, Lord's supper, and church assemblies, must be done in their season, which the church guides are the conductors of. 2. Profession by an innocent, blameless, obedient life is never out of season. 3. Profession by private conference, and by occasional acts of piety, must be when opportunity inviteth us, and they are likely to attain their ends. 4. The whole frame of a believer's life should be so holy, and heavenly, and mortified, and above the world, as may amount to a serious profession that he liveth in confident hope of the life to come, and may show the world the difference between a worldling and an heir of heaven; between corrupted nature and true grace. The professors of godliness must be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, and adorned with them.[44]

Direct. V. Take special care that your profession be sincere, and that you be yourselves as good as you profess to be. Otherwise, 1. Your profession will condemn yourselves. 2. And it will dishonour the truth which you deceitfully profess. There can scarce a greater injury befall a good cause, than to have a bad and shameful patron to defend it. Rom. ii. 3, "And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God." Verse 23-25, "Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles through you—."

Direct. VI. Let not your profession be so much of your own sincerity as of God and his excellencies: boast not of yourselves, but of God and Christ, and the promise, and the hope of true believers; and do it to God's praise, and not for your own. Be sure that in all your profession of religion, you be seeking honour to God, and not unto yourselves. And then in this manner he that doubteth of his own sincerity, yet may and must make profession of Christ and true religion; when you cannot proclaim the uprightness of your own hearts, you may boldly proclaim the excellencies of religion, and the happiness of saints.

Direct. VII. Live upon God alone, and trust his all-sufficiency, and abhor that pusillanimity and baseness of spirit which maketh men afraid or ashamed openly to own the truth. Remember the example of your Lord, who before Pontius Pilate "witnessed a good confession," 1 Tim. vi. 13; who came "for this end into the world, to bear witness to the truth," John xviii. 37. Fear not the face of man, whose breath is in his nostrils, and is perishing even while he is threatening.[45] If thou believe not that Christ can secure thee from the rage of man, thou believest not indeed in Christ. If thou believe not that heaven will satisfy for all that by scorns or cruelties thou sufferest from sinners, thou hast not indeed the hope of a believer. And no wonder if thou profess not that which thou believest not. But if thou believe that God is God, and Christ is Christ, and heaven is heaven, and the gospel is true, thou hast enough in thy belief to secure thee against all the scorns and cruelties of man, and to tell thee that Christ will bear thy charges, in all that thou sufferest for his sake. Oh what abundance are secretly convinced of the truth, and their consciences bear witness to the wisdom of the saints, and a holy life; and yet they dare not openly own and stand to the truth which they are convinced of for fear of being mocked by the tongues of the profane, or for fear of losing their places and preferments! O wretch, dost thou not tremble when thou art ashamed of Christ, to think of the day when he will be ashamed of thee? Then when he comes in glory none will be ashamed of him! Then where is the tongue that mocked him and his servants? Who then will deride his holy ways? Then that will be the greatest glory, which thou art now ashamed of. Canst thou believe that day, and yet hide thy profession, through cowardly fear or shame of man? Is man so great, and is Christ no greater in thine eyes than so? If he be not more regardable than man, believe not in him: if he be, regard him more; and let not a worm be preferred before thy Saviour.

Direct. VIII. If any doubt arise, whether thou shouldest now make particular profession of the truth, (as in the presence of scorners, or when required by magistrates or others, &c.) let not the advice or interest of the flesh have any hand at all in the resolving of the case; but let it be wholly determined as the interest of Christ requireth. Spare thyself when the interest of Christ requireth it; not for thyself, but for him. But when his interest is most promoted by thy suffering, rejoice that thou art any way capable of serving him.[46]

Direct. IX. Though sometimes a particular profession of the faith may be unseasonable, yet you must never make any profession of the contrary, either by words or actions. Truth may be sometimes silenced, but a lie may never be professed or approved.

Direct. X. If any that profess christianity reproach you for the profession of holiness and diligence, convince them that they hypocritically profess the same, and that holiness is essential to christianity: open their baptismal covenant to them, and the Lord's prayer, in which they daily pray that God's will may be done on earth even as it is in heaven, which is more strictly than the best of us can reach. The difference between them and you is but this, whether we should be christians hypocritically in jest, or in good earnest.

CHAPTER V.

DIRECTIONS ABOUT VOWS AND PARTICULAR COVENANTS WITH GOD.

Tit. 1. Directions for the Right Making such Vows and Covenants.

Direct. I. Understand the nature of a vow, and the use to which it is appointed.

A vow is a promise made to God. 1. It is not a bare assertion or negation. 2. It is not a mere pollicitation, or expression of the purpose or resolution of the mind: for he that saith or meaneth no more than, I am purposed or resolved to do this, may upon sufficient reason do the contrary; for he may change his mind and resolution, without any untruth or injury to any. 3. It is not a mere devoting of a thing to God for the present by actual resignation. For the present actual delivery of a thing to sacred uses is no promise for the future: though we usually join them both together, yet devovere may be separated from vovere. 4. It must be therefore a promise, which is, a voluntary obliging ones self to another de futuro for some good. 5. It is therefore implied that it be the act of a rational creature, and of one that in that act hath some competent use of reason, and not of a fool, or idiot, or mad-man, or a child that hath not reason for such an act, no nor of a brain-sick or melancholy person, who (though he be cætera sanus) is either delirant in that business, or is irresistibly borne down and necessitated by his disease to vow against the sober, deliberate conclusion of his reason at other times, having at the time of vowing, reason enough to strive against the act, but not self-government enough to restrain a passionate, melancholy vow. 6. Whereas some casuists make deliberation necessary, it must be understood that to the being of a vow so much deliberation is requisite as may make it a rational human act, it must be an act of reason; but for any further deliberation, it is necessary only to the well-being, and not to the being of a vow, and without it it is a rash vow, but not no vow.[47] 7. When we say, it must be a voluntary act, the meaning is not that it must be totally and absolutely voluntary, without any fear or threatening to induce us to it; but only that it be really voluntary, that is, an act of choice, by a free agent, that considering all things doth choose so to do. He that hath a sword set to his breast, and doth swear or vow to save his life, doth do it voluntarily, as choosing rather to do it than to die. Man having free-will, may choose rather to die, than vow, if he think best: his will may be moved by fear, but cannot be forced by any one, or any means whatsoever. 8. When I say that a vow is a promise, I imply that the matter of it is necessarily some real or supposed good; to be good, or to do good, or not to do evil. Evil may be the matter of an oath, but it is not properly a vow, if the matter be not supposed good. 9. It is a promise made to God, that we are now speaking of; whether the name of a vow belong to a promise made only to man, is a question de nomine, which we need not stop at.

A vow is either a simple promise to God, or a promise bound with an oath or imprecation. Some would appropriate the name of a vow to this last sort only, (when men swear they will do this or that,) which indeed is the most formidable sort of vowing; but the true nature of a vow is found also in a simple self-obliging promise.

The true reason and use of vows is but for the more certain and effectual performance of our duties: not to make new laws, and duties, and religions for us, but to drive on the backward, lingering soul to do its duty, and to break over difficulties and delays: that by strengthening our bonds, and setting the danger before our eyes, we may be excited to escape it.

It is a great question, whether our own vows can add any new obligation to that which before lay upon us from the command of God. Amesius saith, (Cas. Consc. lib. iv. c. 16.) Non additur proprie in istis nova obligatio, neque augetur in se prior: sed magis agnoscitur et recipitur a nobis: passive in istis æque fuimus antea obligati: sed activa recognitione arctius nobis applicatur a nobismetipsis. Others commonly speak of an additional obligation; and indeed there is a double obligation added by a vow, to that which God before had laid on us, to the matter of that vow. Premising this distinction between obligatio imponentis, a governing obligation, (which is the effect of governing right or authority,) and obligatio consentientis, a self-obliging by voluntary consent, (which is the effect of that dominion which a rational free agent hath over his own actions,) I say, 1. He that voweth doth oblige himself, who before was obliged by God only; and that a man hath a power to oblige himself, is discerned by the light of nature, and is the ground of the law of nations, and of human converse: and though this is no divine obligation, yet it is not therefore none at all. 2. But moreover he that voweth doth induce upon himself a new divine obligation, by making himself the subject of it. For example; God hath said, "Honour the Lord with thy substance:" this command obligeth me to obey it whether I vow it or not. The same God hath said, "Pay thy vows to the Most High," Psal. l. 14; and, "When thou vowest a vow to God, defer not to pay it," Eccles. v. 4. This layeth no obligation on me till I vow; but when I have vowed it doth: so that now I am under a double divine obligation, (one to the matter of the duty, and another to keep my vow,) and under a self-obligation of my own vow: whence also a greater penalty will be due if I now offend, than else would have been.

Hence you may see what to think of the common determination of casuists concerning vows materially sinful, when they say, a man is not obliged to keep them. It is only thus far true, that God obligeth him not to do that particular thing which he voweth, for God had before forbidden it, and he changeth not his laws upon man's rash vowings; but yet there is a self-obligation which he laid upon himself to do it: and this self-obligation to a sinful act, was itself a sin, and to be repented of, and not performed; but it bringeth the person under a double obligation to penalty, as a perjured person, even God's obligation who bindeth the perjured to penalty, and the obligation of his own consent to the punishment, if there was any oath or imprecation in the vow. If it were true that such a person had brought himself under no obligation at all, then he could not be properly called perjured, nor punished as perjured; but he that sweareth and voweth to do evil, (as the Jews to kill Paul,) though he ought not to do the thing, (because God forbiddeth it,) yet he is a perjured person for breaking his vow, and deserveth the penalty, not only of a rash vower, but of one perjured. Thus error may make a man sinful and miserable, though it cannot warrant him to sin.

Direct. II. Try well the matter of your vows, and venture not on them till you are sure that they are not things forbidden: things sinful or doubtful are not fit matter for a vow: in asserting, subscribing, and witnessing, you should take care, that you know assuredly that the matter be true, and venture not upon that which may prove false; much more should you take care that you venture not doubtingly in vows and oaths. They are matters to be handled with dread and tenderness, and not to be played with, and rashly ventured on, as if it were but the speaking of a common word: "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God," Eccles. v. 2. It is a grievous snare that men are oft brought into by ignorant and rash vows;[48] as the case of Jephthah, and Herod, and many another tell us for our warning: an error in such cases is much more safely and cheaply discerned before, than afterwards. To have a rash vow or perjury to repent of, is to set a bone in joint, or pull a thorn out of your very eye; and who would choose such pain and smart? "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands," Eccles. v. 6. "It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry," Prov. xx. 25. Be careful and deliberate to prevent such snares.

Direct. III. Vow not in a passion: stay till the storm be over: whether it be anger or desire, or whatever the passion be, delay and deliberate before you vow; for when passion is up, the judgment is upon great disadvantage. In your passion you are apt to be most peremptory and confident when you are most deceived: if it be your duty to vow, it will be your duty to-morrow when you are calm. If you say, that duty must not be delayed, and that you must do it while the Spirit moveth you: I answer, Was it not as much a duty before your passion was kindled as now? It is no sinful delaying of so great a duty, to stay till you have well proved whether it be of God. If it be the Spirit of Christ that moveth you to it, he will be willing that you deliberate and try it by that word which the same Spirit hath indited to be your rule. God's Spirit worketh principally upon the judgment and the will, by settled convictions, which will endure a rational trial: it is liker to be your own spirit which worketh principally on the passion, and will not endure the trial, nor come into the light, John iii. 18, 19; Isa. viii. 20.

Direct. IV. Make not a vow of things indifferent and unnecessary: if they be not good, in a true, comparing, practical judgment, which considereth all accidents and circumstances, they are no fit matter for a vow. Some say, things indifferent are the fittest matter both for vows and human laws; but either they speak improperly or untruly, and therefore dangerously at the best. If an idle word be a sin, then an idle action is not a thing to be vowed, because it is not a thing to be done, being as truly a sin as an idle word: and that which is wholly indifferent is idle; for if it be good for any thing, it is not wholly indifferent; and because it is antecedently useless, it is consequently sinful to be done.

Object. I. But those that say things indifferent may be vowed, mean not, things useless or unprofitable to any good end; but only those things that are good and useful, but not commanded: such as are the matter of God's counsels, and tend to man's perfection, as to vow chastity, poverty, and absolute obedience.

Answ. There are no such things as are morally good, and not commanded: this is the fiction of men that have a mind to accuse God's laws and government of imperfection, and think sinful man can do better than he is commanded, when none but Christ ever did so well.[49]

Quest. I. What is moral goodness in any creature and subject, but a conformity to his ruler's will expressed in his law? And if this conformity be its very form and being, it cannot be that any thing should be morally good that is not commanded.

Quest. II. Doth not the law of God command us to love him with all our heart, and soul, and strength, and accordingly to serve him? And is it possible to give him more than all; or can God come after and counsel us to give him more than is possible?

Quest. III. Doth not the law of nature oblige us to serve God to the utmost of our power? He that denieth it, is become unnatural, and must deny God to be God, or deny himself to be his rational creature: for nothing is more clear in nature, than that the creature who is nothing, and hath nothing but from God, and is absolutely his own, doth owe him all that he is able to do.

Quest. IV. Doth not Christ determine the case to his disciples, Luke xvii. 10?

A middle between good and evil in morality is a contradiction: there is no such thing; for good and evil are the whole of morality: without these species there is no morality.

Object. II. It seems then you hold that there is nothing indifferent, which is a paradox.