3. It is wonderful for purity and perfection. The decalogue in ten words comprisetli the whole duty of man, and reacheth to the very soul and all the motions of the heart. All the precepts of morality are advanced to the highest perfection. Those fragments and sorry remainders of the light of nature, that have escaped out of the ruins of the fall, will show us the necessity of a good life. But the word of God calleth for a good heart, a regeneration as well as a reformation, not only abstaining from acts of sin, but lusts : 1 Peter ii. 11, ' Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, that ye abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.' Not only the outward work, but the spirit, that is weighed in the balance of the sanctuary : Prov. xvi. 2, 'All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.' It mightily establisheth faith, fear, and love to God, as the essential graces. When we consider duty in the lump, we have no admiring thoughts ; but when we look abroad into all the parts and branches of obedience whereunto the law dift'useth itself, then the holiness which the law requireth is admirable ; then Ave see it no easy matter to serve this holy and jealous God ; it is no easy matter to go to the bottom of this perfection.
4. It is wonderful for the harmony and consent of all the parts. All religion is of a piece, and one part doth not interfere with another, but conspireth to promote the great end of subjection of the creature to God. The law hath a mighty subserviency to the gospel, and the first covenant shutteth up the sinner immediately under the curse, that mercy may open the door to him. The gospel is first darkly
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revealed, and still it growcth as the light doth till noonday. At first an obscure intimation, ' The seed of the woman ; ' to Abraham, ' In thy seed,' which after was repeated to Isaac to cut off Ishmael ; then to Jacob, to cut off Esau; yet not what tribe: Gen. xlix, 10, ' The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come ; ' yet not what family of Judah ; to David : 2 Sam. vii. 13, ' I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever ; ' then Isa. vii. 14, ' Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Immanuel ; ' then John the Baptist, John i. 29, ' Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,' points with a finger to Christ. Thus while in short the scriptures do so set forth the mercy of God as that the duty of the creature is not abolished, so offers grace as not to exclude our care and use of means; justi- fication and sanctification promote one another, all is ordered with good advice: 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, 'Although my house be not so with God, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.' Thus the wonderful harmony, order, and consent of all the parts with respect to the great end, which was the glorifying of God and the subjection of the creature, demonstrates the wonderful- ness of God's testimonies, the glorifying of God's grace and mercy in those that are saved, and his justice in those that are damned. With respect to this, God made man upright, furnished with abilities to do his will ; but mutable, and, in case of a fall, to begin with a new covenant. He will have his mercy honoured without prejudice to his justice; the comfort of the creature established, so as duty not abolished ; not all of commands, nor all of promises, but these inter- woven, that they may serve one another. A promise at the back of a command, to make it effectual ; command besides a promise, to cause humbling ; neither looseness nor rigour. If the covenant had been left to our ordering, it had been a confused business. Now it is wonderfully suited ; God keepeth up his dominion and sovereignty, notwithstanding his grace and condescension ; justice hath full satis- faction, yet grace glorified.
5. Wonderful for the power of it. There is a mighty power that goeth along with the word of God, and astonisheth the hearts of those that consider it and feel it: 1 Thes. i. 5, ' Our gospel came to you not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost.' By this power it doth not only fill the head with notions, but pierceth the heart, alarms the conscience, awakens the affections: Heb. iv. 12, ' The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.' This power was seen in the wonderful success of that doctrine and religion which the scriptures do establish. It hath diffused and spread itself like leaven in the mass and lump, through- out all parts of the known world, within the space of thirty or forty years or thereabouts. Hesterni sumus, saith Tertullian, et tamen omnia vestra irnplevimics, urhes, insulas, castella, mumcipia, conciliabula, castra, tribus, decurias, palaiium, senafum, forum ; sola vobis relin- quimus tem.pla — We are but of yesterday, and yet how are we in- creased ! Christians are found in all places, cities, villages, isles.