Covenant of Grace because so few are enumerated where it is mentioned as with us Gen. 12. 17. Heb. 8. 10 11 12. But seeing all are made and fulfilled in Christ hence they must all flow as living streams from that Fountain The Covenant of grace with Jesus Christ that is the great Charter that we hold all our priviledges by and all the promises do some way or other appertain to that Some Promises are Constitutive of the Covenant as those between the Father and the Son concerning a Seed others are executive or referring to the execution and application of it Isa 53 10 11. Heb. 8. 10 11 12. Some are principal and concerning the end eternal life Heb. 8. Heb. 9. 15. Gal. 3. 8 9 18. Others less principal concerning the means internal the Spirit and faith or external as ordinances Not only Spiritual but even promises of temporal blessings as of succour and relief in particular cases and conditions in outward straits and distresses yet these belong to the Covenant of grace Psal 105. 39 40 41. He spread a cloud for a covering here is protection a fire to give light by night that intimateth direction he brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven here is gracious provision he opened the rock and the waters gushed out this speaketh miraculous refreshment and consolation And whence was all this care over them vers 42. For he remembred his holy Covenant and Abraham his Servant All these then were to be deemed Covenant mercies Where had the Lord particularly promised any such extraordinary relieves unto Abraham or his Seed O he witnessed himself to be their God and promised the land of Canaan and that implyeth all mercy and means necessary for them in the pursuance of the Call to it So that all protections preservations provisions all for the sustaining upholding and succouring of the people of God yea even their lowest mercies have a tincture of Covenant-love to put quickness into them So returns of prayer in a day of outward affliction are in remembrance of his Covenant Psal 106. 44. 45. 2 King 13. 22 23. Yea observe in some places where the Covenant is mentioned there are promises added and so belong to it which in other repetitions of it are left out As Jer. 32. 38 39 40. One-ness of heart and way and his fear in their hearts are promised in the Covenant yet are omitted in the recital thereof Jer. 31. 31 to 35. And the Word Covenant is omitted and yet many promises thereof are mentioned Ezek. 36. 25 to the end as appeareth by the identity of some with those expresly in it else-where So that we are not to confine the Covenant of grace to those mentioned in the new Covenant all the promises to us are some way comprised in it Corol. 2. Hence there is infallible certainty in and grounded consolation issuing from the Covenant of grace seeing it is made joyntly with Jesus Christ and us All the promises are his right as well as ours and so can never fail Is Jesus Christ the Seed of the woman who hath assurance of being victorious over the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. So are Believers yea they are of the Seed of Abraham and David interested in the same promises Gal. 3. 19 21. If any thing be a Condition of the Covenant of grace it must be so of the promises to Jesus Christ as well as of those to us that taking in all and being joyntly with both and principally with him and with us but in him as his Seed and so faith cannot be it for the promises were not made to Jesus Christ upon Condition of our believing but upon what he himself should do and suffer rather therein he hath a promise assurance that we shall believe Isa 5â— 10. he shall see his Seed It would highly derogate from the honour of the Lord Jesus to say that the efficacy and effect of all his undertaking had dependance upon any act of ours as that of believing It is by the efficiency of the Word of the new Testament that faith is given Rom. 10. 14 15 16 17. Act. 13. 47 48. Yea the gift of faith is promised in that of writing his Law in their hearts Heb. 8. â—0 and therefore by its Obligation for it is a contradiction to speak of a promise without Obligation for performance unto the persons to whom it is made and what matter is it whether it be upon an Obligation to the Sinners themselves or to another to Jesus Christ their Feofee in trust for them it is by the new Covenant which is made to them and that of grace is joyntly with Christ and them Believers are not only the objects for 〈◊〉 concerning whom he promiseth to Jesus Christ that he will do them good as bruit oâ— inanimate Creatures are improperly said to be in Covenant with him but the Subjectâ— to whom he promiseth special blessings iâ— Christ so as the promises are directed to and may be claimed by them Jesus Christ had an interest therein they are his right as we as theirs and this is no damage but 〈◊〉 advantage as giving assurance that they wiâ—â— be made good to a Tittle Jer. 33. 20 21 If you can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night then may all so my Covenant be broken with David my servant Long before the prophesying oâ— Jeremiah David had been in the dust and yet the Covenant with him holdeth still and it being made with Jesus Christ who is our David hence the order of nature the entercourse and revolutions of night and daâ— might as readily fail as any promises madâ— to him be disanulled or go unaccomplished yea he will sue them out for us when by reason of inward cloudings and darkness even about an interest in them we cannot lay any claim unto them our selves He should be a loser if they should not be fulfilled he should lose his right as well as we ours Christ and we having a joynt interest therein Had Christ assurance of being Victorious over the Serpent we also have assurance of standing Conquerours over him in Christ by the same promise and that under the same notion of the Seed of the woman So that this is a bottom of everlasting consolation that Jesus Christ and we are within one and the same Covenant CHAP. III. Of Christ as the sum of the Covenant THe Covenant of grace running primarily to Jesus Christ and to us in him so as he not only maketh it with but even is the Covenant of the people Isa 42. 6. It will be necessary to inquire What interest Jesus Christ hath or how and in what place and Office he standeth in reference to the Covenant 1. Jesus Christ is the very foundation which Evangelical Covenant is built upon as he is our life Coloss 3. 3. 1 John 5. 20. the cause of it So he is the Covenant i. e. the very basis of it as 1 Cor. 3. 11. For other
obedience in the Life or bringing up a self-resignation to the Lord as Isa 44. 5. in tho Covenant it is expresly promised they shall be my people These things are insisted upon elsewhere yea frequently by others therefore I shall pass them over at present and mention only one evidence Answ By the operations and actings of precious Faith a Soul may have a clear knowledge of its actual interest in the New and better Covenant That noble Grace of Faith hath such a special relation to the Covenant which is made up of promises that the Gospel is called the Word of Faith Rom. 10. 8. It is so expressive of the great matters of it that Faith often and the Law or Old Covenant are the opposite terms of a distinction Gal. 3. ver 2 5 12 23. Yea ver 9. they that are of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham they are sharers with him in the same Covenant and blessed therein the very blessings of Abraham come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ ver 14. That we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith Much is to be drawn out of the free Promise for our relief and succour in any condition yea for the influenceing of any other Graces by Faith By that our entercouse with God here is kept up Not that the Promise is made to beliving as a Grace in us or as a gracious Act put forth by us but to the Believer as in Christ Faith is not magnified as a quality but as in the Office of receiving the Promise and of excellent use therein Vers 22. That the Promise through the Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe Faith is not then properly the condition of the Covenant upon the performance of which they have a right and title to it but a choice effect of it and a singular means for the application of the promises and fetching in of Covenant blessings to the Soul by that the Promise or what is in the Promise is given to it and Faith having thus to do with the Promises it must needs have an aptitude above other Graces above Sanctification and Evangelical obedience to witness a Souls interest in the everlasting Covenant Heb. 11. 1. It is an evidence of things not seen and therefore it self is not as inevident as those other things There are various acts of Faith that by the concurrence of the Divine Spirit may evidence interest in the Covenant 1. By Faith in the Free Promise such glorious discoveries of the Grace and Lovâ— of God in Jesus Christ unto sinners arâ— afforded as their hearts consent to thâ— offer thereof it is by the shining of Gospel light through the Free Promise into the hearts of men that they are turned from darkness to light Act. 26. 18. The highest natural light will leave them short of a discovery of sin in its exceeding sinfulness and of the riches of Grace in Jesus Christ for the recovery of lost sinners they cannot see these aright till they be revealed by the Divine Spirit Matth. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 2. 10 14. Tit. 2. 11 12. Unbelievers may have a notion of these things but when they are seen by an eye of Faith they appear in another manner Rom. 1 16 17. The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation to every one that believeth The heart stood immediately before at an infinite distance from the Lord Jesus and was full of opposition against him but when there is a work of Faith upon it then Diâ—ine power is exerted by the Word or Promise of the Gospel for the drawing it off from all other objects to â—itch upon Jesus Christ alone for Salvation in a way of Free Grace then it â—ccepteth of the blessed offer when all â—rguments in the World before would not prevail with it The heart that stood off from him is then brought over to him by the Gospel and why For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith It is in a Gospel-Glass that a Soul gaineth a right discovery of the excellency of Jesus Christ and that righteousness of his without which no Salvation It is by Faith that there is a learning of the Father so as effectually to be drawn unto the Son This cordial consenting to the offer of the Gospel in submitting to the obediential righteousness of Jesus Christ alone for acceptation unto Life this is Faith unto Justification Rom. 10. ver 3 4 6 10. as the like consent to have him for our Lord to rule over us by his Spirit dwelling in us is Faith unto Sanctification Act. 15. 9. Rom. 8. ver 9 to 16. Thus the Soul maketh out to the blood of Jesus Christ for cleansing from all sin and the first act of closing with Jesus Christ is by Faith in a Free Promise that is the first Grace that lives in it the first breathings of Spiritual Life are thereby such powerful and admirable alterations are found at first acquaintance with Jesus Christ by discoveries above sense fetching in the heart unto him beyond all other means that they must needs be evidencing of interest in the Promise or Covenant from whence all these come Such first things have a mark upon them and often are most discernable the state thereupon being so vastly different from what it was how refined so ever the nature was before Thus some have had their interest cleared up in such a word as that 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief By the eye of Faith a Soul gaineth such a prospect of matchless Love and Free Grace as it is won over to Jesus Christ thereby through a powerful application of the Promise to it self 1 Joh. 5. 10 11. He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself he being inabled by Grace to entertain and cordially subscribe to the blessed record upon a Divine Testimony viz. that God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son thereby he setteth to his Seal that God is true in the Word of his Grace that hath a witnessing power and the person hath the witness within himself even when he sometimes doth not discern it 2. By Faith the Soul maketh out to Jesus Christ in the Free Promise as he alone that giveth it subsistence in spiritual Life Oneness with Jesus Christ cannot be without interest in the Covenant 2 Pet. 1. 4. In whom are given to us exceeding great and precious Promises c. Ephes 3. 6. Partakers of the Promise in Christ Ver. 17. That Christ may dwell in your heart by Faith It is a promise-hold that we have of Jesus Christ here his in-being and indwelling is by Faith so he even animateth the Souls of Saints Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me how I live by the Faith of the Son of God Others live by sense they
looking to the Lord in and venturing to take hold of the absolute Promises for the gaining a freedom from sin and every gracious frame this is duty and the neglecting of it is presumption as being a standing out against a Divine Call There is a ground for putting forth direct acts of Faith upon the Lord in the absolute Promise for all Grace wanted When there is not a present discerning by a reflexive act that gracious qualifications are injoyed yet there may be an outgoing of heart in the Promise to God in Jesus Christ for them or that they may be afforded It is a great mistake to think that we are to exercise Faith upon the Lord in the Promise only upon a sight of a condition in our selves this were to ground our Faith rather upon something of our own than upon the Lord in his Free Promise it were to subject the absolute Promises and make them depend upon those that are called conditional as to their efficacy and usefulness whereas the truth lieth the contrary way for the New Covenant is as it were the Fountain of all the Promises to us and that runneth altogether upon absolute Promises and therefore those which are called conditional Promises being streams flowing thence and branches of that Tree they must be reducible to and partake of the Nature of the New Covenant and so are really absolute in themselves only as a quickening means to our seeking after the blessings of them they are represented sometimes as if they were dispenced out in a conditional way but the Lord doth not confine himself to that way for when Israel was destitute of commendable qualifications had failed in the worship of God and wearied him with their sins yet he turned their eye upon an absolute Promise Isa 43. 25. I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my Names sake 5. They are of Use for the evidencing interest in Jesus Christ and clearing up how the case stande thas to their Eternal conditions The Lord can make a saving change i. e. such as hath Salvation and Eternal Life infallibly in connexion with it in the opening of any Promise but it is from absolute Grace The begetting of Faith or first Grace in the Souls of any is by an absolute Promise For what condition can there be in any Soul before first Grace to have a Promise annexed to it It were to frustrate and make void the undertaking of Jesus Christ to assert that the Lord hath promised Eternal Life to a work of nature or that Souls are in a state of Salvation before union with Jesus Christ which they must be if they had any qualification which had Salvation certainly promised to it The Lord saith Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh What precedent qualification was here but stonyness and hardness of heart and so uncleanness before the sprinkling ver 25. Here then is a Promise of first Grace and it is absolute and the operations of the Spirit herein are so supernatural and transcendently glorious as they are evidencing The Word of the Gospel cometh in such power for the accomplishing the very end which the Promise is appointed to and there are such sparklings of Divine excellency in the impressions that are made upon the Spirits of men hereby that without having recourse to any other promises which are called conditional they may read or see their personal interest in an absolute Promise By its efficacious application or the fulfilling of it by their actual injoyment of what is promised they may discern their sharing in it And seeing all gracious qualifications are begotten or first wrought by an absolute Promise why should not that give evidence as well as the after sanctified frames Besides the absolute Promises are made to some persons even to the house of Israel and Judah Ezek. 36. 21 to the end Jer. 31. 31. and being expressions of the determinate Will of God hence they must needs be evidencing For the chief intendment of Promises is to give assurance how the heart of God standeth towards persons under them the Lord is ever speaking to them therein after this manner I will be your God and your sins and iniquities will I remember no more Ezek. 36. 28. Heb. 8. 12. This is the natural Language of the Covenant to them And though unbelievers who are out of Covenant may fancy the same things and delude themselves yet this hindreth not but that the Lord may really speak thus to Believers who are undoubtedly under it So sometimes the state or condition of a Soul is evidenced by such Words or Promises as these Isa 41. 10. Be not dismayed for I am thy God Ezek. 34. 31. I am your God saith the Lord God Isai 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins c. The Divine Spirit oftentimes maketh such a powerful application of such promises and maketh such glorious discoveries of the loving kindness and free grace of God to the soul as he giveth it clearly to understand that God is speaking to it therein and it is the voice of God and not of man or of Satan and thus it is evidencing The Lord is so shining upon his own graces as then a soul usually can discern these yet it is not meerly a reflection upon faith or other graces that now give the evidence but faith receiveth it as it were upon a Divine testimony 6. They are of use for the filling souls with consolation in the saddest conditions and under the most trying dispensations Jeremiah was sent to prophesie of the Jewish captivity procured by their sin for the space of seventy years yet to keep them from despair and utter despondency and to comfort them against all their trials he not only assureth them of a return but prophesieth of the New Covenant and its being put into an absolute form Jer. 31. 31. Therefore the absolute promises are of comforting use against the saddest trials that sin it self may bring us under The Apostle turneth their eye upon those two immutable things the Promise and the Oath of God Heb. 6. 18. as those which the Lord appointed on purpose to usher in strong consolation Thus we see that when the Condition of sinners seemeth most despicable and when the graces of Saints are most out of sight yet then they may have recourse to the Absolute Promises and look unto the Lord therein for all grace and supply that is wanted CHAP. XIV Of those that are called Conditional Promises SOme may inquire what use is there of those called Conditional Promises Or when and in what cases are they to be made use of Answ 1. Some of them are of discovering use what an extensiveness there is in Divine grace sutable to all the worst conditions
seed upon earthly comforts but Christians live by Faith by what is laid up in Divine Promises by these things they live they know not how to subsist in any state or condition without a Promise they would count themselves dead creatures without that whatever earthly enjoyments they had in possession Neither will a Promise alone satisfie without Jesus Christ in it Christ liveth in me he is the very Life of their lives without him nothing but spiritual swoonings faintings dyings and all from the want and failings of Faith That fetcheth in all influences from Jesus Christ for the supporting and hath the great hand and stroak in all the actings of spiritual Life all spiritual motions are managed thereby Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God And therefore Sanctification is but a secondary or after evidence That is not discernable till first there be a discerning Faith which speaketh Justification If Faith be inevident all other Graces will be so also Faith may be shewed unto others by Works Jam. 2. 18. A man may be Declaratively justified by Works but if a man doubteth of his Faith he will as well doubt of his Works whether they be from a Gospel root or not For no Love of the right stamp and so no due obedience but what is the fruit and issue of Faith in the Lord Jesus For that worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. As first acts of Faith do not consist in believing that our sins are pardoned but in a receiving Jesus Christ and his righteousness as the way to pardon Joh. 1. 12. So if Christians kept up in acts of Faith by outgoings of heart to him in the way of the Promise for all that is wanted there would be not only sweet flowings of Love and Evangelical obedience issuing thence but also they would be filled with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15. 13. I have often thought if Christians did give more attendance to such direct acts of Faith and spent less time in questioning their conditions or giving way to doubtings about them they would find their interest in the Covenant cleared up yea and consolation also coming in as by the by 3. By Faith Souls are venturing upon the Free Grace and faithfulness of God in his Covenant in the greatest distresses with good success The New Covenant is made up all of Promises and the Gospel is called the Word of Faith because it is the Work of Faith to draw out what is vesseled up there Heb. 10. 38. Now the Just shall live by Faith Not only as to Justification but as to expectation of mercy promised Many would be acting Faith in the concluding interest in Christ and Eternal Life but they should be acting it by a cordial owning of Evangelical principles Yea Christians should lead their whole Life in looking to the Love and Faithfulness of God in his Promise for all their relief and succour in any condition they come into here yea even for Eternal Mercy Heb. 6. 18. They are pursued by spiritual enemies corruptions and Temptations and are in great danger but by hope which floweth from Faith and can act no higher than Faith doth they go yea run for refuge to the hope to the heavenly glory that is set before them so as they lie as at Anchour in such stormy daies and here are two immutable things the Promise and the Oath of God that by these they might have strong consolation By Faith they realize the very things contained in the Promise or Covenant and so their interest in it is experimentally witnessed to them They can say at such a time when we were in Soul distress so as all the means in the World could contribute nothing towards inward ease quietment and consolation then we being inabled by Grace to bear the weight of our Souls and our conditions upon the Faithfulness of God in his Covenant or Free Promise we found relief and refreshment It was not meerly our own fancy and imagination but we were delivered out of our distresses by Faith we were inabled to draw out of the Promise the Milk of consolation which it was beyond the power of all creatures to afford us and thus they find that the Covenant or Promise is their own 4. By Faith in the Free Promise there is a standing Conquerours in Jesus Christ over all spiritual enemies it is a great matter of the Covenant that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents bead Gen. 3. 15. And therefore there is through Grace a vanquishing all the enemies of Salvation Sin and Satan through the blessed Seed the Lord Jesus The Promises are accomplished within the Soul but the way is Ephes 6. 16. Above all take the Shield of Faith That not only is best for descrying Satan in all his Stratagems but for the withstanding of him also Joh. 5. 4. This is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith When the Soul hath Combates or Spiritual Conflicts and reason is foiled cannot bear up then Faith appeareth as Victorious not in its own strength but in the strength of Christ and his conquest which it maketh use of in these encounters And thus conquering acts of Faith as before venturing relieving and discovering acts are useful for witnessing interest in the Covenant I might shew that Faith hath other acts as acts of assurance drawing up conclusions he hath loved me and given himself for me Gal. 2. 20. But I have said enough to shew that it giveth a knowledge of being within the New Covenant CHAP. XIII Of the Use of Absolute Promises THe Question will now be What Use is there of absolute better Promises When or in what cases are they to be made use of Answ 1. They are of Use for the manifestation of the riches of Divine Grace and Love to sinners if there may be some Grace in promising great blessings upon a very small condition certainly there must be more Grace and Love in promising the same absolutely without any condition This maketh to the magnifying of the Lord in his owning Israel above all people that he loved because he would love Deut. 7. 6 7 8. not because they were greater or more lovely than others or had any beauty or comliness in them but for his own sake as is often intimated Absolute Promises are high expressions of Divine Love as Heb. 8. 10 11 12. They proclaim rich mercy and great Love Eph. 2. 4 5. That the Lord should break through all unworthiness and undeservings this may work into the greatest self-emptiness and self-abasement The Lord peremptorily promised the establishing of Davids throne for ever 2 Sam. 7. 13 16. and this Grace melts his heart into a deep sense of his own nothingness ver 18 19. Who am I O Lord God what is my house c. Thou hast spoken also of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of man O Lord God So that absolute Promises of Divine
is the faithful Witness still as if he should say I lay in the bosom of the Father I have seen all transactions all passages I know how the heart of God standeth towards this Covenant work if my word may have any credit with you I testifie saith Jesus Christ that the Father is real herein and the work is done the Covenant is struck yea ratified and sealed with my blood When souls are full of jealousies concerning the willingness of God to give entertainment to them and admittance into Covenant grace and to deal with them in a Covenant way though they cannot peep into Heaven and look into the bosom of the Father and read all things there yet Jesus Christ stoopeth so low as to take upon him the Office of a faithful Witness to give assurance thereof As he is our Spiritual head and the blessed Seed so he is a party contracting in the Covenant he is the chief Seed of Abraham and of David Gal. 3. To whom the promises are made vers 19. Matth. 15. 22. All is assured to him as well as to us and his standing on our side as a party with us in the sme Covenant as it is an honour so it is a comfort to us in that it giveth assurance of its accomplishment to a tittle for the Lord will not fail his only Son Jesus Christ of any thing which he hath promised to him and he being a party it were an injury to him if any thing were unfulfilled As he is the Substance of the Covenant so he is said to be the Covenant of the people and well may he bear this name he standing in all these relations to it 3. Jesus Christ was the principal promise of the Covenant this denominates him the Covenant his being really the chief part of it or thing firstly promised in it and all other things for his sake Thus he primarily was the Seed of the woman that was promised to break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. Heb. 2. 14. 1 John 3. 8. He is that Seed of Abraham in whom all the Nations are blessed Gen. 22. 18. Gal. 3. 16. He is the royal Seed of David to be enthroned of whose Kingdom there shall be no end Luke 1. 32 33. Indeed this is a grand priviledge of Gospel times that what was of old the great thing under promise to come viz. a blessed Seed a Messiah is now turned into a performance and he now standeth actually a Mediator in stead thereof All the prophesies were of him Act. 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness Of the Scriptures he saith Joh. 5. 39. They are they which testifie of me as if they said nothing else but Christ Christ and thus he is the Covenant 4. Jesus Christ is really to us all that which under any antient Covenant was typically represented unto men and so he is Substantially the Covenant of the people as Dr. Sibs observeth Christ is all to us which was held forth of old either in personal types he is the Second Adam the true Isaac Joseph Joshua Solomon Melchisedeck Or in real types he is the true brasen Serpent that cureth sin-stung souls which by an eye of faith are looking to him Joh. 3. 14 15. He is the true Manna bread of life to all those that believingly feed upon him Joh. 6. 31 33 35. He is the true sacrifice the Paschal Lamb our hearts being sprinkled with his blood the destroying Angel shall pass over us He is our true Tabernacle true Altar and true Ark all typified by these is really fulfilled in him 5. Jesus Christ is the excellency marrow and sweetness yea the sum and Substance of all that is under promise and so he is the Covenant of the people indeed he is the very store-house where the promises are treasured up All mercies from the Father must have their conveyance to us through the hands of his Son Yea Jesus Christ is the very quintessence the chief in the very life of all the mercies themselves and all come with him Rom. 8. 32. How shall be not with him also freely give us all things It is Christ that putteth fulness into other things and addeth sweetness to them they are imbittered and as nothing if without him The promises though full in themselves yet are empty to us unless taken with Christ all priviledges empty all injoyments empty unless taken with him hence he is said to be all in all Col. 3. 11. He is all in all graces all in all peace in all promises in all comforts in all glory 6. Jesus Christ doth all that is necessary for the procurement of all federal blessings and so he is the Covenant of the people as he is the resurrection i. e. the cause of it John 11. 25. So he is the cause and procurer of all federal blessings Not only shall he make a Covenant with the people but be a Covenant of the people i. e. All that is required in a federal way from the people that Jesus Christ shall be so them if the Father demandeth it of them they must not present him with any duties or performances of their own for acceptation unto life but with Jesus Christ he is their Covenant to perform all for them which they are obliged to in order to that end Saith the Lord I will not enter into Covenant or deal in an immediate way with them as with the first Adam but I will take a surer course I will give thee for that end thou shalt undertake all the matters therein even for thy Seed I will look to thee for the performance thereof and thus he is the Covenant of the people All that is promised to Jesus Christ or to us it is upon his obedience Isa 53. 10 11 12. Not by the obedience of every one for himself but by the obedience of one i. e. of Jesus Christ many are made righteous Rom. 5. 19. Justification of life and remission of sins are procured by him vers 18. Rom. 3. 24. And so reconciliation or promised peace Isa 53. 5. The Chastisement of our peace was upon him We must for ever have stood at enmity if he had not stepped in for the procurement of our peace hence he is our peace Ephes 2. 14. Not only the Author and Procurer but even the sum of it So the promise of propriety in and Communion with God hath its procurement and taketh effect only upon the obedience of Jesus Christ all are afar off from God under the greatest estrangement till made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ Ephes 2. 12 13. the promise of the Communication of Sanctifying grace of giving the Law into the heart is from him Isa 53. 10. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Yea the promise of Salvation and eternal life taketh effect from him his death was for this end Heb. 9. 15. That they which are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance And thus he is for a Covenant of the people CHAP. IV.
being actually disobliged for the subjects must exist before even a relative change can pass upon them also after they are born they are at a great distance from God without making up of that they are uncapable of an actual possession of Redemption As a common person Jesus Christ represented many that lived in several Ages of the World and therefore of necessity the actual discharge of particular persons must be at different times not all at once but when they become his Seed Further A debt may be charged upon the principal debtor by an Old Law till a New Law or Covenant declareth his discharge from the obligation Thus the Sentence of the violated Covenant of Works may stand against men till they be declared to be discharged by the New Covenant Heb. 10. 16 17. Yea observe Jesus Christ in suffering death for our Redemption stood as Mediatour of the New Testament Heb. 9. 15. Though therein he satisfied for our breaking of the Covenant with the first Adam as this was drawn into the Covenant of Grace as the condition thereof Once more A debt may be charged upon the principal debtor after a Sureties satisfying the obligation in case the Sureties name was not at first in the same obligation but is admitted afterward by voluntary contract Covenant and consent For there the Covenant is the only determining rule of all matters concerning the discharge Why are they not sanctified and glorified immediately after their coming into the World these being effects of the death of Christ but because the Covenant provideth otherwise If the Name of Jesus Christ as as Surety had been Originally or at first in Adams obligation then more might have been said for an immediate discharge upon his payment of our debt and suffering death but this was not the case for if it had then his suffering death had been necessary and unavoidable though no New Testament had ever been made yea the making of it had been unnecessary vain and useless Whereas it was extreamly necessary there could have been no transferring of our guilt to him without it and his submitting to death was by a voluntary contract Joh. 10. 17 18. And his name not being at first in our bond hence his payment was a refusable satisfaction It was by an act of Free Grace that he was admitted to undertake for us and his payment accepted in our stead and so though he paid the idem the same that we did owe yet there was nothing contrary to justice or equity if the Father added other terms than before and so no need that we should be ipso facto discharged And the Law passeth Sentence not only upon sinful actions but upon the persons for them Gen. 2. 17. Gal. 3. 22. And therefore no Justification till delivered out of this state which is at union with Jesus Christ and Faith 5. I might argue from the many absurdities that attend the asserting Justification from Eternity It would sound harsh to deny that Adam was an Elect vessel and being Elected if Eternal Justification be admitted then he must be actually both under the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace at once and so was bound at the same time to seek Life in two waies utterly inconsistent each with other Gal. 3. 12. viz. by Works and by Jesus Christ through Faith Yea then Adam was actually justified from sin before he had any sin to be justified from before sin entred into the World by his Fâ—ll Rom. 5. 12. and did not become guilty by â—his falling being disobliged from Eternity Neither will this be evaded by saying Our sin was imputed to Jesus Christ before committed and an actual existence of sin is no more requisite unto our disobligation than unto our obligation unto the punishment thereof I Answer The sins of the Elect were not actually upon Jesus Christ till he came actually under the Law which was their very obligation Gal. 4. 4 5. And thus all their sin by that Law did meet upon him before committed answerably when persons do actually come under the New Covenant I grant they are justified yea even virtually from sins not yet committed but the Old Law of Works must needs be in force against them till a New dischargeth from it and this is not till union with Jesus Christ and the gift of Faith And O how miserable then are all they who are out of Christ they are in an unjustified estate seeing they have no Word or Promise to assure them that the Lord hath laid down his Sute against them but great is the happiness of all in Christ of all believers in that they stand justified before the Lord Rom. 4. vers 7. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven c. it is sin alone that rendreth miserable and now the Apostle challengeth even Earth and Hell for all such Rom. 8 33 34. It is God that justifieth who shall condemn It was God that was injured by sin and who hath power to discharge from it none can reverse or disanul Gods act who shall lay any thing to their charge Sin Satan their own hearts may draw up many charges but will be able to make none good against them why it is God that justifieth It is very extensive it reacheth to all sins Col. 2. 13. Jesus Christ is a propitiation for the sins that are past Rom. 3. 25. that is for sins committed before his Incarnation for it is spoken in opposition to those that sought to be justified by the Works of the Law vers 20 21. To draw off from this he telleth them as Heb. 9. 15. that the Redemption of transgressions that were under the first Testament or their remission was not by legal sacrifices and observances but by the blood of Jesus Christ It doth not deny his being a propitiation for sins to come his faithfulness is ingaged to afford the remission of these 1 Joh. 1. vers 8 9. 1 Joh. 2. vers 1 2. even Believers are daily sinning and the Lord will be extending pardoning mercy unto them yea he will all their life long be magnifying this Title or part of his Name The Lord God pardoning iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34. 7. yea it is his glory that he is a sin pardoning God Mica 7 ver 18. Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity c. CHAP. XII Of the evidences of interest in the New Covenant IT may be Questioned How or by what means may a Soul know its actual Interest in and Title to the New and better Covenant and the better promises thereof For the clearing of this I shall not insist upon the testimony of the Divine Spirit which is the primary evidence Rom. 8. 16. 1 Joh. 5. 8. nor upon Sanctification as it standeth in spiritual dispositions and inclinations for compliance with the Divine Will either in causing an answerableness of heart to what is commanded from us comprised under a writing the Law there or working into Evangelical