God Wherefore the Covenant of Grace could not be procured by any means or cause but that which was the cause of this Covenant of the Mediator or of God the Father with the Son as undertaking the work of Mediation And as this is no where ascribed unto the Death of Christ in the Scripture so to assert it is contrary unto all spiritual Reason and Understanding Who can conceive that Christ by his death should procure the Agreement between God and him that he should dye 3. With respect unto the Declaration of it by especial Revelation This we may call Gods making or establishing of it if we please though making of the Covenant in Scripture is applied principally if not only unto its execution or actual Application unto Persons 2 Sam. 23.5 Jerem. 32.40 This Declaration of the Grace of God and the provision in the Covenant of the Mediator for the making of it effectual unto his Glory is most usually called the Covenant of Grace And this is twofold 1. In the way of a singular and absolute Promise so was it first declared unto and established with Adam and afterwards with Abraham The Promise is the Declaration of the Purpose of God before declared or the free Determination and Counsel of his Will as to his dealing with sinners on the supposition of the Fall and their forfeiture of their first Covenant state Hereof the Grace and Will of God was the only cause Heb. 8.8 And the Death of Christ could not be the means of its procurement For he himself and all that he was to do for us was the substance of that Promise And this Promise as it is declarative of the Purpose or Counsel of the Will of God for the Communication of Grace and Glory unto sinners in and by the mediation of Christ according to the Ways and on the Terms prepared and disposed in his Soveraign Wisdom and Pleasure is formally the New Covenant though something yet is to be added to compleat its Application unto us Now the substance of the first Promise wherein the whole Covenant of Grace was virtually comprized directly respected and expressed the giving of him for the Recovery of Mankind from sin and misery by his death Gen. 3.15 Wherefore if he and all the Benefits of his Mediation his Death and all the Effects of it be contained in the Promise of the Covenant that is in the Covenant it self then was not his death the procuring cause of that Covenant nor do we owe it thereunto 2. In the additional prescription of the way and means whereby it is the Will of God that we shall enter into a Covenant state with him or be interessed in the Benefits of it This being virtually comprized in the absolute Promise for every Promise of God doth tacitly require Faith and Obedience in us is expressed in other places by the way of the Condition required on our part This is not the Covenant but the Constitution of the Terms on our part whereon we are made Partakers of it Nor is the Constitution of these Terms an effect of the death of Christ or procured thereby It is a meer effect of the Soveraign Grace and Wisdom of God The things themselves as bestowed on us communicated unto us wrought in us by Grace are all of them effects of the death of Christ but the Constitution of them to be the Terms and Conditions of the Covenant is an Act of meer Soveraign Wisdom and Grace God so loved the world as to send his only begotten Son to dye not that Faith and Repentance might be the means of Salvation but that all his Elect might believe and that all that believe might not perish but have Life Everlasting But yet it is granted that the Constitution of these Terms of the Covenant doth respect the foederal Transaction between the Father and the Son wherein they were ordered to the praise of the Glory of Gods Grace and so although their constitution was not the procurement of his Death yet without respect unto it it had not been Wherefore the sole cause of Gods making the New Covenant was the same with that of giving Christ himself to be our Mediator namely the Purpose Counsel Goodness Grace and Love of God as it is every where expressed in the Scripture 4 thly The Covenant may be considered as unto the actual Application of the Grace Benefit and Priviledges of it unto any persons whereby they are made real partakers of them or are taken into Covenant with God And this alone in the Scripture is intended by Gods making a Covenant with any It is not a general Revelation or Declaration of the Terms and Nature of the Covenant which some call an universal conditional Covenant on what Grounds they know best seeing the very formal nature of making a Covenant with any includes the actual Acceptation of it and Participation of the Benefits of it by them but a Communication of the Grace of it accompanied with a prescription of Obedience that is Gods making his Covenant with any as all Instances of it in the Scripture do declare It may be therefore enquired what respect the Covenant of Grace hath unto the Death of Christ or what Influence it hath thereunto I answer supposing what is spoken of his being a surety thereof it hath a threefold respect thereunto 1. In that the Covenant as the Grace and Glory of it were prepared in the Counsel of God as the Terms of it was fixed in the Covenant of the Mediator and as it was declared in the Promise was confirmed ratified and made irrevocable thereby This our Apostle insists upon at large Heb. 9.15 16 17 18 19 20. And he compares his Blood in his Death and Sacrifice of himself unto the Sacrifices and their Blood whereby the Old Covenant was confirmed purified dedicated or established ver 18 19. Now these Sacrifices did not procure that Covenant or prevail with God to enter into it but only ratified and confirmed it and this was done in the New Covenant by the Blood of Christ. 2. He thereby underwent and performed all that which in the Righteousness and Wisdom of God was required that the Effects Fruits Benefits and Grace intended designed and prepared in the New Covenant might be effectually accomplished and communicated unto sinners Hence although he procured not the Covenant for us by his death yet he was in his Person Mediation Life and Death the only cause and means whereby the whole Grace of the Covenant is made effectual unto us For 3. All the Benefits of it were procured by him that is all the Grace Mercy Priviledges and Glory that God hath prepared in the Counsel of his Will that were fixed as unto the way of this communication in the Covenant of the Mediator and proposed in the Promises of it are purchased merited and procured by his Death and effectually communicated or applied unto all the Covenanters by virtue thereof with others of his Mediatory Acts. And this
unto Believing is 1 convinced of sin and exposed unto wrath 2 Hath nothing else to trust unto for Help and Relief 3 Doth actually renounce all other things that tender themselves unto that End and therefore without some Act of Trust the Soul must lye under actual Despair which is utterly inconsistent with Faith or the Choice and Approbation of the way of Salvation before described 5. The most frequent Declaration of the Nature of Faith in the Scripture especially in the Old Testament is by this Trust and that because it is that Act of it which composeth the Soul and brings it unto all the Rest it can attain For all our Rest in this world is from Trust in God And the especial Object of this Trust so far as it belongs unto the Nature of that Faith whereby we are Justified is God in Christ reconciling the World unto himself For this is respected where his Goodness his Mercy his Grace his Name his Faithfulness his Power are expressed or any of them as that which it doth immediately rely upon For they are no way the Object of our Trust nor can be but on the account of the Covenant which is confirmed and ratified in and by the Blood of Christ alone Whether this Trust or Confidence shall be esteemed of the Essence of Faith or as that which on the first fruit and working of it we are found in the exercise of we need not positively determine I place it therefore as that which belongs unto Justifying Faith and is inseparable from it For if all we have spoken before concerning Faith may be comprised under the notion of a firm Assent and Perswasion yet it cannot be so if any such Assent be conceiveable exclusive of this Trust. This Trust is that whereof many Divines do make special mercy to be the peculiar Object and that especial mercy to be such as to include in it the pardon of our own sins This by their Adversaries is fiercely opposed and that on such Grounds as manifest that they do not believe that there is any such state attainable in this Life and that if there were it would not be of any use unto us but rather be a means of security and negligence in our Duty wherein they betray how great is the Ignorance of these things in their own Minds But Mercy may be said to be Especial two ways 1 In it self and in opposition unto common mercy 2 With respect unto him that believes In the first sense Especial mercy is the Object of Faith as Justifying For no more is intended by it but the Grace of God setting forth Christ to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood Rom. 3.23 24. And Faith in this Especial mercy is that which the Apostle calls our Receiving of the Atonement Rom. 5.11 That is our Approbation of it and Adherence unto it as the great Effect of Divine Wisdom Goodness Faithfulness Love and Grace which will therefore never fail them who put their Trust in it In the latter sense it is looked on as the pardon of our own sins in particular the especial mercy of God unto our Souls That this is the Object of Justifying Faith That a man is bound to believe this in order of Nature antecedent unto his Justification I do deny neither yet do I know of any Testimony or safe Experience whereby it may be confirmed But yet for any to deny that an undeceiving belief hereof is to be attained in this life or that it is our duty to believe the pardon of our own sins and the especial Love of God in Christ in the order and method of our duty and priviledges limited and determined in the Gospel so as to come to the full assurance of them though I will not deny but that Peace with God which is inseparable from Justification may be without them seem not to be much acquainted with the Design of God in the Gospel the Efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ the Nature and Work of Faith or their own Duty nor the professed Experience of Believers recorded in the Scripture See Rom. 5.1 2 3 4 5. Heb. 10.2 10 21 20. Psal. 46.1 2. Psal. 138.7 8. c. Yet it is granted that all these things are rather fruits or effects of Faith as under Exercise and Improvement than of the Essence of it as it is the Instrument in our Justification And the Trust before mentioned which is either Essential to Justifying Faith or inseparable from it is excellently expressed by Bernard De Evangel Ser. 3. Tria considero in quibus tota mea spes consistit charitatem adoptionis veritatem promissionis potestatem redditionis Murmuret jam quantum voluerit insipiens cogitatio mea dicens Quis enim es tu quanta est illa gloria quibusve meritis hanc obtinere speras ego fiducialiter respondebo Scio cui credidi certus sum quia in charitate adoptavit me quia verax in promissione quia potens in exhibitione licet enim ei facere quod voluerit Hic est funiculus triplex qui difficulter rumpitur quem nobis ex patria nostra in hanc terram usque demissum firmiter obsecro teneamus ipse nos sublevet ipse nos trahat pertrahat usque ad conspectum gloriae magni Dei qui est benedictus in secula Concerning this Faith and Trust it is earnestly pleaded by many that Obedience is included in it But as to the way and manner thereof they variously express themselves Socinus and those who follow him absolutely do make Obedience to be the Essential form of Faith which is denied by Episcopius The Papists distinguish between Faith informed and Faith formed by Charity which comes to the same purpose For both are built on this supposition that there may be true Evangelical Faith that which is required as our Duty and consequently is accepted of God that may contain all in it which is comprised in the name and duty of Faith that may be without Charity or Obedience and so be useless For the Socinians do not make Obedience to be the Essence of Faith absolutely but as it justifieth And so they plead unto this purpose that Faith without works is dead But to suppose that a dead Faith or that Faith which is dead is that Faith which is required of us in the Gospel in the way of Duty is a monstrous Imagination Others plead for Obedience Charity the Love of God to be included in the Nature of Faith but plead not directly that this Obedience is the form of Faith but that which belongs unto the perfection of it as it is justifying Neither yet do they say that by this Obedience a continued course of Works and Obedience as though that were necessary unto our first Justification is required but only a sincere active purpose of Obedience and thereon as the manner of our days is load them with reproaches who are otherwise minded if they knew who they
in all Ages and that derived from and founded in express Testimonies of Scripture with all the Promises and Presignations of his Exhibition in the flesh from the beginning cannot now with any Modesty be expresly denied Wherefore the Socinians themselves grant that our sins may be said to be imputed unto Christ and he to undergo the punishment of them so far as that all things which befell him Evil and Afflictive in this life with the Death which he underwent were occasioned by our sins For had not we sinned there had been no need of nor occasion for his suffering But notwithstanding this concession they expresly deny his satisfaction or that properly he underwent the punishment due unto our sins wherein they deny also all Imputation of them unto him Others say that our sins were imputed unto him quoad reatum poenae but not quoad reatum culpae But I must acknowledge that unto me this distinction gives inanem sine mente sonum The substance of it is much insisted on by Feuardentius Dialog 5. pag. 467. And he is followed by others That which he would prove by it is That the Lord Christ did not present himself before the Throne of God with the burden of our sins upon him so as to answer unto the Justice of God for them Whereas therefore reatus or guilt may signifie either Dignitatem poenae or obligationem ad poenam as Bellarmine distinguisheth de Amiss Grat. lib. 7. cap. 7. with respect unto Christ the latter only is to be admitted And the main Argument he and others insist upon is this That if our sins be imputed unto Christ as unto the guilt of the fault as they speak then he must be polluted with them and thence be denominated a sinner in every kind And this would be true if our sins could be Communicated unto Christ by Transfusion so as to be his inherently and subjectively But their being so only by Imputation gives no countenance unto any such pretence However there is a notion of legal uncleanness where there is no inherent defilement So the Priest who offered the Red Heifer to make Atonement and he that burned her were said to be unclean Numb 19.7 8. But hereon they say that Christ dyed and suffered upon the special Command of God not that his Death and Suffering were any way due upon the account of our sins or required in Justice which is utterly to overthrow the satisfaction of Christ. Wherefore the design of this distinction is to deny the Imputation of the guilt of our sins unto Christ and then in what tolerable sense can they be said to be imputed unto him I cannot understand But we are not tyed up unto Arbitrary distinction and the sense that any are pleased to impose on the terms of them I shall therefore first enquire into the meaning of these words guilt and guilty whereby we may be able to judge of what it is which in this Distinction is intended The Hebrews have no other word to signifie guilt or guilty but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this they use both for sin the guilt of it the punishment due unto it and a Sacrifice for it Speaking of the guilt of Blood they use not any word to signifie guilt but only say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is Blood to him So David prays deliver me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Blood which we render Blood-guiltiness Psal. 51.14 And this was because by the Constitution of God he that was guilty of Blood was to dye by the hand of the Magistiate or of God himself But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascham is no where used for guilt but it signifies the Relation of the sin intended unto punishment And other significations of it will be in vain sought for in the old Testament In the new Testament he that is guilty is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.19 that is obnoxious to Judgment or vengeance for sin one that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they speak Act. 28.4 whom vengeance will not suffer to go unpunished And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11.27 a word of the same signification Once by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 23.18 to owe to be indebted to Justice To be obnoxious liable unto Justice Vengeance Punishment for sin is to be guilty Reus guilty in the Latine is of a large signification He who is Crimini obnoxius or Poenae propter Crimen or Voti debitor or Promissi or officij ex sponsione is called Reus Especially every sponsor or Surety is Reus in the Law Cum servus pecuniam pro libertate pactus est ob eam rem Reum dederit that is sponsorem expromissorem quamvis servus ab alio manumissus est Reus tamen obligabitur He is Reus who ingageth himself for any other as to the matter of his ingagement And the same is the use of the word in the best Latine Authors Opportuna loca dividenda Praefectis esse ac suae quique partis tutandae reus sit Liv. de Bello Punic lib. 5. That every Captain should so take care of the Station committed to him as that if any thing happened amiss it should be imputed unto him And the same Author again at quicunque aut propinquitate aut affinitate regiam contigissent alienae culpae rei trucidarentur should be guilty of the fault of another by Imputation and suffer for it So that in the Latine Tongue he is Reus who for himself or any other is obnoxious unto Punishment or payment Reatus is a word of late Admission into the Latine Tongue and was formed of Reus So Quintilian informs us in his Discourse of the use of obsolete and new words lib. 8. cap. 3. Quae vetera nunc sunt fuerunt olim nova quaedam in usu perquam recentia Messalla primus Reatum munerarium Augustus dixerunt To which he adds Piratica Musica and some others then newly come into use But Reatus at its first Invention was of no such signification as it is now applied unto I mention it only to shew that we have no reason to be obliged unto mens Arbitrary use of words Some Lawyers first used it pro crimine a fault exposing unto Punishment But the Original Invention of it continued by long use was to express the outward state and condition of him who was Reus after he was first charged in a cause criminal before he was acquitted or condemned Those among the Romans who were made Rei by any publick Accusation did betake themselves unto a poor squalid Habit a sorrowful countenance suffering their Hair and Beards to go undressed Hereby on Custome and Usage the people who were to judge on their cause were enclined to compassion And Milo furthered his sentence of Banishment because he would not submit to this custom which had such an appearance of Pusillanimity and baseness of Spirit This state of sorrow and trouble so expressed they called Reatus and nothing else It came