with some publick Person Head or Representative for all others that should be concerned in them Thus it was in the Covenant of Creation which God made with Adam in his upright State and with all Mankind in him and the same is to be observed in the Noachical Covenant as also in the Covenants made with Abraham considered either as the Father of Believers or of the Israelitish Nation in the interest of a spiritual Relation to him Believers claim the Blessings of the Covenant of Grace that was made with him and in the interest of a natural Relation to him his off-spring according to the flesh did claim the Rights and Priviledges of that Covenant of Peculiarity which was first made with him as the Head of that separate People but more eminently the Covenant of Grace is established in Christ as the Head thereof all its Promises were first given to him and in him they are all Yea and Amen It is by Union to him that Believers obtain a new-Covenant-interest and from him they derive a new Life Grace and Strength to answer the Ends of the New-Covenant § 6. Now as it is evident from what hath been already said that all foederal transactions of God with Men flow only form his good pleasure and the counsel of his Will so upon that ground it is certainly to be concluded that our Knowledg and Understanding of them must wholly depend upon Divine Revelation none can pretend acquaintance with the Secret of God but as he hath pleased to reveal it in his Word this Light must guide all our Inquiries after it and our sentiments of things of this nature must be strictly governed by this Rule seeing the nature of them is such as transcends the common Principles of Reason or natural Light inasmuch as they owe their original to the free acts of the divine Will and Wisdom which are unaccountable till revealed by God himself and therefore it becomes us to captivate all our thoughts of them to the obedience of Faith as knowing that Learning and Strength of parts tho' of excellent use in their place not guided by Scripture-light in these Inquiries can only form an ingenious error and lose a Man in the Labyrinth of his own Imagination and uncertain guesses seeing the single advantage of those assistances in this case trusted to and stretched beyond their line can reach no further than to enable him cum ratione errare and so to wander from Truth in a Path seeming more smooth tho' no less dangerous than others light upon And therefore in these things lies the Spring of most Mistakes and corruption of Doctrine and Practice in matters of Religion Men do easily find out and agree in the true dictates of the Law of Nature but in things pertaining to the Covenants of God how various are their Sentiments Yea many great learned and good Men have been divided in their Judgments about some things of great importance to the Faith and Edification of the Church tho' not absolutely necessary to her Being and some one error admitted about the nature of God's foederal transactions with Men doth strangely perplex the whole Systeme or Body of Divinity and intangle our interpretation of innumerable Texts of Scripture and by this means Jars and Contentions have been perpetuated in the Church to the great grief and hindrance of all the offence of the weak and greater scandal of the blind World and all this hath been much occasioned thro' the want of a due and humble attention to that Revelation of Truth which God hath given us in the holy Scriptures and indeavouring to collect the mind of God from thence without prepossession of Judgment which is a greater occasion of these mistakes then Men are generally aware of and a careful avoiding the undue mixture or confusion of things natural with those that are purely of a foederal nature Forasmuch then as the Covenant of God is his Secret and he only can make us to know it and yet our Faith and Practice Comfort and Holyness is nearly concerned in a good acquaintance with it we need no other Motive to a diligent and humble search of the Scriptures for the right informing of our Judgment thereabout nor no other Caution not to attribue overmuch to our own Wisdom or Abilities but to manage all our Inquiries with earnest prayer to God for that holy spirit of Light and Truth who only can lead us into all this Truth and bring us to a clear acquaintance with the mind of God concerning it Of God's Transactions with Adam CHAP. II. The Importance of this Enquiry the method proceeded in stated § 1. The original state of man the Law that he was made under both moral and positive the sanction of this Law and the Reward proposed to him § 2. That he had a promise of Reward farther asserted and proved § 3. Some farther remarks upon this Transaction Reward and Punishment not alike necessary the sanction of the Law by the Curse most expresly mentioned and why it was so § 4. Adam a publick person the consequent hereof § 5. That Transaction with Adam of a foederal nature proof that it was so herein consists the Mystery thereof § 6. The general nature of this Covenant Man left to the freedom of his own Will under it his mutability the original of Sin § 7. The sin of our first Parents some Remarks thereupon § 8. The state and condition of Man fallen described in several particulars the death threatned in the sanction of the Law was eternal death two reasons urged for the proof of it § 9. The Mercy of God to fallen Man two things premised to the consideration thereof § 10. God holds a treaty with man the issue of it A Promise of Redemption implyed in the commination of the Serpent A restraint and modification of the Curse ensuing thereon this the occasion of temporal Death the institution of Bloody Sacrifices the Covenant of Grace not made with Adam as a publick person § 11. The state and condition of Adam's Posterity after the Fall described in some particulars § 12. § 1. IN the former Chapter I have briefly touched upon some things of a more general nature which I thought needful to be premised to the handling of those Particulars which are to follow and now my work is to consider the first state of Man an account of which is to be taken from the state of Adam in whom the world of Mankind was Epitomized and in the Transactions of God with him the Relation he had to God with the Event and Issue thereof we are all most nearely concerned for the right understanding of these things is not only necessary in order to but lies in the very Foundation of all useful Knowledg of our selves and of the mind of God in all Revelations that he hath in following Ages made of his Will and Counsel to the Children of Men either before or in the Law of Moses or by the word
whom they come for tho' they fall as so many Drops of Wrath that bode a dreadful Storm coming upon the wicked yet are they * De primâ igitur Corporis Morte aâ—ci potest quod bonis bona sit malis mala secunda vero sine dubio sicut nullorum bonorum est it a nulli bona Aug. De Civit. Dei Lib. 13. Cap. 2. all sanctifyed unto a Believer and turned into real Blessings which change the utmost Execution of the Curse is not capable of for eternal Punishment can never be turned into a Blessing upon any Yea supposing as there is Reason to do that God did not only promise a Redeemer to Adam before he pronounced this Sentence but also gave him Faith in the Promise it came immediately upon him as a fatherly Chastisment and not as a Fruit of unpacified Anger It is also true on the other side that the Godness and Forbearance of God is thro' the Wickedness of Man turned into a Judgment upon the Ungodly and Impenitent who abuse the day of his Patience unto the treasuring up of Wrath against the day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Rom. 2. 5. So that both temporal Mercies and temporal Evils are wholly subservient to the Design of God's Glory in the future and eternal State of Man and we may conclude there had been no such thing as temporal Death if there had not been a day of Patience 4. It is more than probable that at the same time or immediately after God did institute those bloody Sacrifices that were offered unto him from thenceforth and accepted by him when offered in Faith for the further Instruction of Man in the general Notion of the way of his Redemption by the promised Seed and for the Help and Confirmation of his Faith in the Promise Yea even the Coats of Skins which the Lord made and wherewith he cloathed Adam and Eve then confounded with the shame of their own Nakedness seem to be designed of God not only for a natural but also a mystical Vse were for their Instruction concerning that imputed Righteousness wherein they must now stand before him and without which they could find no acceptance with him Especially if these Coats were made of the Skins of those Beasts that Adam was then directed to offer in Sacrifice to God as some conjecture they were we can hardly imagine less to be intended thereby for no doubt with the Institution of Sacrifices something of the Vse and End of them was revealed unto Adam 5. This also must be noted That altho' the Covenant of Grace was thus far revealed unto Adam as we have heard yet we see in all this there was no formal and express Covenant-Transaction with him much less was the Covenant of Grace established with him as a publick Person or Representative in any kind but as he obtained Interest for himself alone in the Grace of God thus revealed by his own Faith so must those of his Posterity that are saved thereby And therefore altho' the Corruption of fallen Adam and the Guilt of his Fall be from him derived to all his Offspring because they were in him as a publick Person and foederal Root when he fell yet can they not derive from him any Interest in his renewed State or in the Grace or Holiness thereof seeing with respect thereunto God dealt with him only as a private Person and the Good of the Promise now given out was no more intrusted with him then with his Posterity or any of them in particular § 12. The State and Condition that the World of Adam's Posterity are now in is as followeth 1. They are all born in original Sin in the Image of the first Adam fallen and so under a broken Covenant being by Nature Children of Wrath unholy and without Strength 2. Yet are they necessarily under the Obligation of a Law to obey worship and serve their Creator tho' they have no Covenant-Interest in him for it is impossible and implies a Contradiction that reasonable Creatures should be brought forth into the World and not be subject to the Law of their Creator or that eternal Death should not be due to the Breach of that Law by them The Law of Creation binds when the Covenant of Creation is broken tho' the Transgression of Man hath forfeited his Interest in the one yet it cannot dissolve the Obligation of the other But yet 3. The World is set under a general Reprieve and the full Execution of the deserved Curse is delayed until the day of Judgment until which time the Children of Men are under a Dispensation of Goodness and sparing Mercy and so in a remote Capacity or Possibility of obtaining Salvation by Christ where it pleaseth God to send the Gospel the Dispensation of which is made effectual for the Salvation of all the Elect who are thereby gathered into the Kingdom of Christ 4. The Lord Christ hath undertaken in the close of his Mediatorial Kingdom when all his Sheep are brought into his Fold for whose sake alone the day of his Patience is lengthened out to the World to raise all Mankind again in an incorruptible State prepared for that eternal Duration unto which they were designed in their first Creation And then will he glorifie all those with himself for whom he hath satisfyed the Justice of God born the Curse of the Law and wrought out everlasting Righteousness who have been also called by his Grace to a Participation of these Benefits thro' Faith and others he will deliver up by a righteous Sentence unto the full Execution of that Curse upon them in its utmost Rigor which till then for the Ends aforesaid was suspended Of God's Covenant with Noah CHAP. III. The Children of God stated in a new Relation and their Obedience upon a new Foundation from the first Promise § 1. The Word of God the Rule of their Faith and Obedience how revealed to them § 2. Enoch's Translation the Instruction and Benefit the whole Church had thereby His Prophecy how written in the Old Testament § 3. The ordinary Propagation of the Church in those times Mixt Marriages one cause of the general Defection of Mankind Noah finds Grace in the Sight of God § 4. The Ark its typical Respect the general nature of such a Type illustrated by conference of some other like extraordinary Works of Providence The form of the Ark its mystical Vse how Baptism answers to the Ark Noah not altogether ignorant of the mystical Signification of the Ark How he became Heir of the Righteousness of Faith by building it § 5. The Covenant of God with Noah the establishing thereof at his entring into the Ark the Benefit of the Church thereby § 6. The farther management of God's foederal Transaction with Noah when he came out of the Ark the Promises obtained in the Interest of his Sacrifice what signified thereby The reason of his Name the particular Benefits of this
by the Disobedience of one many were made Sinners Rom. 5. And in this respect he is said to be the Type and Christ the 〈◊〉 or the Figure of him that was to come because as Adam's Sin is imputed to all that were in him and so the Judgment is come upon all unto Condemnation that were represented by him so also the Obedience of Christ is imputed to all that are in him and the free Gift redounds upon them unto the Justification of Life by vertue of their Union to and Communion with him § 6. From these things it is evident that God dealt with Adam not only upon Terms of a Law but in a way of Covenant and that this Transaction with him was of a Foederal Nature and altho it be not in Scripture expresly called a Covenant yet it hath the express Nature of a Covenant and there is no reason for Niâ—â—â—y about Terms where the thing it self is sufficiently revealed to us there is no express mention of a Covenant of Grace before Abraham's time and yet the thing is certain and clearly revealed in Scripture that all who were saved before his time were interested in such a Covenant and saved only by the Grace thereof The Evidence of Adam's Covenant-Relation to God may briefly be summ'd up thus 1. It is probable in that God set him not only under the necessary Law of his Creation but added thereunto a positive Law which we may observe in all his After dealings with Men to be an adjunct of a Covenant Transaction But hen 2. It is certainly concluded from that Promise of Reward and the Assurance thereof that was given to Adam which he could never have obtained but by God's condescending to deal with him upon Terms of a Covenant 3. It could only be upon the account of such a Covenant that his Posterity should be concerned as they were in his standing or falling let the first be denyed and the latter is altogether unaccountable for had he only been under a Law to God his Sin had remained upon himself and could not have redounded upon the whole World of Mankind as now it doth by a just Imputation no more then the Sin of any particular Person can now be imputed to another Man that is not actually guilty thereof at least the Sins of immediate Parents unto their Children And herein lies the Mystery of the first Transaction of God with Man and of his Relation to God thereupon which did not result immediately from the Law of his Creation but from the Disposition of a Covenant according to the Free Soveraign and wise Counsel of God's Will and therefore tho' the Law of Creation be easily understood by Men and there is little Controversie about it amongst those that are not degenerate from all Principles of Reason and Humanity yet the Covenant of Creation the Interest of Adam's Posterity with himself therein and the Guilt of original Sin redounding upon them thereby is not owned by the generality of Mankind nor can be understood but by the Light of Divine Revelation nor is the Heart of Man humbled unto a due Acknowledgment of it by a clear and deep Conviction but by a Work of the Holy Ghost And while Men will measure this Counsel of God by their own narrow and dark Reason and refuse to submit their Sentiments thereabout to the Revelation of his Soveraign Pleasure his unaccountable Will and Wisdome they must necessarily fall into grievous Mistakes and fill the World with fruitless Contentions thro' their darkening of Counsel by words without Knowledg § 7. This Covenant that God made with Adam and all Mankind in him as to the Terms and Condition of it we see was a Covenant of Works with respect to immediate Priviledg and Relation it was a Covenant of Friendship and with regard to the Reward promised it was a Covenant of rich Bounty and Goodness but included not nor intimated the least Iota of pardoning Mercy but as while the Law of it was perfectly observed it raised Man within a Degree of the Blessed Angels so the Breach of that Law inevitably brought him under that Curse which did sink him to the Society of Apostate Devils and left him under a Misery like to theirs 2. Under this Covenant Man was left to the Freedom of his own Will It was in his own Power and Choice either to obey and be eternally happy or to sin and so expose himself to eternal Misery he was not so confirmed in Grace as that he could not sin and dye but he was indued with that Power and Rectitude of Nature as that he might not have sinned nor ever dyed tho' he had not a non posse peccare and so a non posse mori yet he had a posse non peccare and so a posse non mori he was a perfect tho' a mutable Creature and had all possible advantage of moral â—â—â—sion to make him constant in his Obedience he could not be without a clear Conviction of the greatest Obligation thereunto both in point of Duty and Gratitude towards his Creator and Covenant-God he had present Happiness and future Hope in the way of his Duty and fair warning of the Misery that Sin would bring upon him in the denouncing of that Curse which was the Sanction of the Law given unto him and yet when the time of Trial comes all this prevails not against the Temptation but his Mutability becomes the Original of that Original Sin whereby himself and in him the World of Mankind were ruined and made miserable § 8. The next thing therefore to be enquired into is The Sin of our first Parents and then State and Condition thereupon As to the first Their Transgression was actually compleated by eating of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil concerning which the Lord had commanded them that they should not eat thereof Gen. 3. 6. and with respect to this let it be observed 1. That it was by the Breach of a positive Law that Mankind was lost This was the Door thro' which Sin and all the Miserie 's consequent thereto invaded and by their Entrance ruined this lower World 2. In that Man fell by the Transgression of this Positive Precept his Breach of Covenant with God was so much the more conspicuous inasmuch as this Precept belonged not immediately and necessarily to the law of his Creation but was superadded thereto as a special Term and Condition of his Covenant-Relation 3. The Breach of this positive Law doth suppose and necessarily infer a Violation of the eternal Law of his Creation this Transgression was a total Apostacy from God and in it all conceiveable Wickedness was included even the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eyes and the pride of Life 1 Joh. 2. 16. yea all the Villanies that to this day have been or ever shall be perpetrated in the World are the genuine Fruit thereof and upon a strict search its Aggravations will be found
and Gracious God who from Eternity foresaw the Fall of Man had also from Eternity a gracious Purpose in himself according to the Counsel of his own Will to redeem 2 Tim. 1. 9 10. Tit. 1. 1 2. and save a Remnant of lost Mankind from their lapsed and fallen State and by his All-powerful Grace thro' the Merits of Christ to recover them from Misery to the Inheritance of a Kingdom and Glory far greater than that set before Adam in his Integrity And these eternal Counsels that were hid with himself were transacted in a way of Covenant between the Father and the Son even in a Covenant of Redemption now revealed in the Scriptures of Truth And to this Covenant belong all the Promises of the Father to the Mediator and the restipulatory Engagements of the Redeemer about the Salvation of Sinners and the way and method of its Accomplishment And with respect to these Counsels the Son of God is said to be the Father's Delights and himself also to have his Delights in the habitable World when the Head of the Dust thereof was formed Prov. 8. 22 31. In which Context the mutual Acquiescence both of the Father and the Son in this admirable Contrivance of infinite Grace and Wisdom is not obscurely set forth 2. In pursuance of this Covenant of Redemption and the Suretiship of Christ taken therein upon the Fall of Man the Government of the World was actually put into the hands of the Son of God the designed Mediator who interposed himself for the Prevention of its present and utter Ruin And by him were all future Transactions managed for the Good of Man and all Discoveries of Grace and Mercy were made to the Children of Men in him and by him And all things in Heaven and Earth were brought into an order subservient to the Ends of the new Creation and the Redemption of lost Man to be accomplished in the fulness of time by the Son of God incarnate Fallen Man could have no more to do with God nor God with him in a way of Kindness but in a Mediator § 11. And from this Design of Love and Mercy it was that when the Lord God came unto fallen Man in the Garden in the cool of the Day and found him filled with Horror and Shame in the Conscience of his own Guilt he did not execute the Rigor of the Law upon him but held a Treaty with him which issued in a Discovery of Grace whereby a Door of Hope was opened to him in the laying of a new Foundation for his acceptance with God and walking unto well pleasing before him For 1. In the Sentence passed upon the Serpent which principally concerned the Devil whose Instrument he had been in tempting Man and who probably was made to abide in his Possession of the Serpent till he had received this Doom Gen. 3. 5. there was couched a blessed Promise of Redemption and Salvation unto Man which was to be wrought out by the Son of God made of a Woman and so her Seed which Salvation thus promised Man was to receive by Faith and to hope in it for in this implyed Promise was laid the first Foundation of the Church after the Fall of Man which was to be raised up out of the Ruines of the Devil's Kingdom by the Destruction of his Work by Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3. 8. 2. In this Commination of the Serpent there is not only implyed a Promise of raising up a Saviour of the Seed of the Woman and sending him into the World for the breaking of the Serpents Head that is the perfect Conquest of Satan and the utter ruining of his Kingdom but also of propagating and preserving a Church in the World that should be Heirs of that Salvation and should maintain a spiritual War with Satan and his Kingdom which on their part should end in perfect Conquest and Victory The God of Peace bruising Satan under their Feet while he is nibling at their Heel and making them to be more than Conquerors thro' him that loved them for the Seed of the Woman is to be understood collectively of Christ and his members as the Seed of the Serpent includes all wicked Men tho' it hath a principal respect to Christ personal who alone hath obtained the Victory over the infernal Power and destroyed the Works of the Devil But altho' this was done by himself alone yet was it not for himself only but for his Body the Church of which every true Believer is a Member and shall certainly obtain Victory thro' the Faith of his Name And against this Church the Gates of Hell can never prevail but a Church there ever shall be in the World so long as the World continues and ever was since the first Promise tho' maligned and persecuted by the Devil and wicked Men as early appears in that Instance of Cain and Abel Gen. 4. compared with 1 Joh. 3. 12. And something of this nature is intimated in the Name of Seth and the Reason given by Eve of her imposing that Name Gen. 4. 25. 3. Hereupon there was a present Restraint and Modification of the Curse in the Sentence pronounced upon Adam and Eve Gen. 3. 16 19. whereby altho' they and their Offspring were necessarily subjected to many Evils and Miseries while they lived and Dissolution by a temporal Death at last yet they were not immediately laid under a Sentence of eternal Death which was the Punishment they had deserved And concerning this Sentence we may farther observe 1. That the Promise of breaking the Serpents Head which was revealed to our first Parents did not give them a Deliverance from all Misery but only an Exemption from eternal Death But notwithstanding this Promise and all that Christ hath now done for the full Accomplishment thereof it is the Will of God that all Men even Believers as well as others shall in this World be exercised with Miseries and remain subject to temporal Death or Dissolution of the Body into Dust 2. The Corruptibility of Man all the Miseries he is subject to while he lives and temporal Death at last are the Fruits of Sin and of the Curse due to it as they are natural Evils or Punishments but yet they are not the Fruit or Result of the Curse only nor the full Wages of Sin As they are evil they flow from the Curse but as temporal only the Evil of them is limited and thus modified by Mercy or compassionate Goodness at least The Position of temporal Death concludes indeed that Sin is in the World but this Limitation of Death doth also prove that there is Mercy reserved for some and that such as obtain not Mercy must be brought to an after reckoning inasmuch as the Fruit of their Doings hath not fully been repaid to them in this World And hence 3. There are none of these Evils but are capable of a Change as to their penal Nature together with the Change of that Man's State upon