they did hear the Law and this was the language thereof that those who are born by it or are the seed of it are not of the Free Promise and must be cast out they are excluded even by the Law it self from the eternal inheritance therefore it was alwaies an abuse of it to expect the dispencing out of Spiritual blessings thereby the Lord ordained another way viz. the Free Promise for that end CHAP. VIII Of the Sinai Covenant whether ceased or continuing IT is Questioned by some Whether the mount Sinai Covenant be still continuing so as Christians are laid under the obligation of it in Gospel times I may premise that it is called the Law Mal. 4. 4. Rom. 7. and a Covenant or Testament Exod. 34. 23. Deut. 4. 13. Jer. 31. 31 32. Gal. 4. 24. Answ The moral Law which was contained in the Sinai dispensation is still obliging but consider it as a Covenant or Testament and so it is not continuing Cessavit lex ut norma est operum naturae ex formula foederis operum manet vero iis qui in Christo sunt ut est regula operum gratiae saith Rolloc de Vocat Cap. 2. 1. The moral Law as an external Rule of obedience is universally and perpetually obligatory to the Sons of men Some circumstances as the coming out of Egypt and prolonging the daies in the Land i. e. in Canaan Exod. 20. 2 12. were peculiar to the Children of Israel and it is union with Jesus and an internal vital principle that all acceptable obedience no weth from Joh. 15. 5. but the substance of the ten Commandments is still obliging For 1. The moral Law is a perfect rule of righteousness and conformity to the Will of God and therefore is perpetual All good is commanded and all evil forbidden there 1 Joh. 3. ver 4. Sin is the transgression of the Law The very description of sin is fetched thence that if we be bound not to sin then we are to keep the Law Mat. 4. 4. Remember the Law of Moses and this referreth to the times of the Gospel when the Sun of righteousness ariseth with healing in his wings Indeed it is a repetition of the Law of Nature which is ingraven upon the hearts of those which are most barbarous Rom. 2. 14 15. The work of the Law is upon their hearts and therefore so long as the Nature continueth the obligation to the Law of it must also be continuing Rom. 7. 13. The Law is holy and the Commandment holy just and good whatsoever therefore is opposite to it must be unholy unjust and evil The same moral Law that was delivered at mount Sinai was before and since as it referred to the Free Promise a rule of inward holiness Sanctification and obedience and had Spiritual injoyments attending of it as it had relation to the Sinai Covenant and its end so it ushered in temporal mercies unto Israel 2. The Lord hath declared his approbation of conformity to the moral Law and with great severity witnessed against disconformity to it in all Ages Long before the Sinai ministration Abel is commended for his Faith owning and Worshipping the true God and Cain for the contrary disapproved Gen. 4. 4. Heb. 11. There was a reverend use of the Name of God Gen. 14. 19 20. The Sabbath Instituted Gen. 2. 3. Superiours honoured Gen. 9. 23. and 22. 7. Murther witnessed against in Cain Adultery and Unchastity punished in raining Fire and Brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham reproved for bearing false witness saying of Sarah she is my Sister Laban accused for defranding and coveting Gen. 31. 7 8 9. So that though the wording of it in the formality of ten Commandments was at mount Sinai yet immoralities were ever sinful Yea in the times of the New Testament Jesus Christ declareth his observing the waies actings and inclinations of men and some are blamed others commended even in his Churches Rev. 2. and 3. the least swarvings from the rule are sinful 3. The Natural tendency of the moral Law is to promote love Jesus Christ himself is giving the Epitome and summ of the Law and reduceth all the ten to two great Commandments Mat. 22. ver 36. to 41. viz. Love to God and the Neighbour Doubtless men are obliged at all times to let the Streams of their Love run out towards God to Love him with all their Heart with all their Soul with all their Mind and to Love their Neighbours as themselves and upon these two hang all the Law and Prophets ver 40. Yea the fulfilling of these is the keeping of the Law 4. The moral Law is explained and obedience to it earnestly pressed in the times of the Gospel to free it from the false glosses of the Jewish Rabbins Jesus Christ himself giveth an explication of it Mat. 5. declaring that not only grosser acts are to be avoided but whatsoever hath a tendency that way unchast looks unclean thoughts are sinful ver 28. Christians are under an obligation not only to sincere but to perfect obedience unto the royal Law of liberty Jam. 1. 15. so as the least failing of it it sinful though it doth not bring believers under condemnation Yielding Worship to God is duty still Mat. 4. 10. as the way to withstand Satan in his temptations and the duties of the second Table are plainly urged Eph. 6. 3. Rom. 13. 8. Love is undeniably a duty in Gospel times and the fulfilling of the Law is wrapt up in it ver 9. Thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not Steal thou shalt not bear false Witness thou shalt not Covet These Commandments then are in force still and the Romans who were Christians of the Gentiles were under the obligation of them and therefore they are perpetual Yea Jesus Christ owneth them as his Joh. 15. 10. If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love c. keeping these by believing and loving one another is the way to the manifestations of his Love this of Love he calleth a new Commandment Joh. 13. 34. Indeed this putteth sweetness into it Christians are under the Law but it is to Christ 1 Cor. 9. 21. to their Mediatour who satisfied for their breaking of it they take it not from the hand of Moses in its terrour and rigour but from the hand of Jesus Christ who hath Redeemed from the curse of it The first Tables which were the work of God were quickly broken Exod. 32. 16 19. but the second Tables that were to be hewed by Moses a typical Mediatour they were more durable of longer continuance and then the Lord proclaimeth his pardoning Mercy Exod. 34. 1 4 6. The moral Law in the hand of Jesus Christ the true Mediator is abiding and pardoning Grace and mercy experienced under it Of old the Ark of the Covenant had only the moral Law put into it not the ceremonial Deut. 10. 2. to note this was to be abolished but the Moral to abide with the
a cause or condition in the New Covenant There is Absoluteness 1. In the form of the New Covenant 2. In the actual admission into it 3. In the freedom of those under it from the curse of the Old and in their participation of the blessings of the New 1. Wherever the form of the New Testament is given forth it is in an Absolute way I will and ye shall Heb. 10. 16 17. Heb. 8. 8. to the end He insisteth upon it that now Jerem. 31. 31 32. was made good and this purposely to draw off the Hebrews from the Old Covenant which they did too much take up in and to put them upon looking unto the New Other Scriptures may discover what is our duty before and after being actually interested in the blessings of it but the nature of the Covenant is most fully expressed here in these Texts which speak of the great matters or promises contained in it of the Mediator and subjects of it The tenure thereof must be fetched from these places where the Covenant is purposely insisted upon rather than from others where only one promise is named and it not so much as mentioned And here it is not called a purpose or prophecie but a Covenant or rather Testament and is so absolutely held forth as God undertaketh all He promiseth as well that they shall be his people as that he will be their God He promiseth not only that he will remember their sins and iniquities no more but also that he will write hiâ— Laws in their hearts i. e. give a frame of faith and new obedience these are as absolutely promised here as any other matters and therefore believing and obeying cannot properly becauses or conditions but are fruits and effects of the Covenant by its being accomplished upon them Their duty iâ— necessarily implied yet as it standeth here in the Covenant the design of iâ— plainly is to express the work of God what he will do for them how he with furnish and capacitate them to discharge it towards him 2. The actual admission of all that Jesus Christ stood for into the New Covenant or the bringing them under it is absolutely determined he had an absolute assurance that his undertaking should take effect on all those that he designed therein Isai 53. 10 11. He shall see his seed all that he travelled for and therefore they must be effectually brought into Covenant with him There was no condition that his obedience had dependence upon or upon which it was to be accepted for such souls otherwise not He did not suffer at any such uncertainty but for those which were assuredly to become the heirs of promise Yea the making Covenant with us is challenged by the Lord as his work Isai 53. 3. 61. 8. I will make or cut an everlasting Covenant with you so Jer. 31. 31 32. Jer. 22. 40. Ezek. 16. 8. Heb. 8. 10. God hath undertaken to bring under the promise and make an application of it Attendance upon means is duty but it is not said that men do make the Covenant with God or bring themselves into it by an act of theirs but God maketh it with them they do but take hold of Gods Covenant Isai 56. 4 6. The will of God is not determined by any act of man When God will work who shall lett him what he undertaketh shall be absolutely accomplished hence as those under the Old Covenant who were to be redeemed are represented under the name of Israel so also are those under the New to whom all is to be applied the same are the subjects of both 3. Those that are actually in Covenant have an absolute freedom from the curse of the Old and a like Promise of the blessings of the New Jesus Christ hath not only suspended but redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3. 13. Hence we are said not to be under the Law and to be dead to it Rom. 6. 14. 7. 4. Gal. 2. 19. Christians then have not only a conditional freedom from the curse of the Law in this life but such as is absolute and if they should believe themselves to be under it they should believe a lie Rom. 8. 1. Yet Divine threatnings are of great use not only to the unregenerate but even to believers to strike them into a filial fear so as to deter them from sin which hath such punishment annexed to it and this when they see themselves secured from it even as an ingenuous Child will be afraid upon hearing his father threaten another for a fault and will beware of committing it The non-elect are formally under the curse of the Law and vindictive Justice The Elect before conversion are not only materially under it but the Laws sentence of condemnation is against them Believers are so freed from it as their sicknesses death c. are but materially the same mentioned in the curse and turned into blessings to them Also all the Promises of the New Covenant are absolute to all that are under it Heb. 8. 6 c. No act of ours induceth an obligation upon God to vouchsafe salvation to us That great blessing of the Covenant Justification is by faith not said to be by it as a condition and the same may be said of other blessings thereof yet I deny not but figuratively that may be ascribed to faith which belongeth to Jesus Christ alone The absoluteness of the Covenant is not attended with any such consequence as that then man is at liberty but God is not for such as are yet out of Covenant or want a personal interest in the blessings of it even all men are under a Divine Law and an obligation to obedience else they could not be charged with sin as they are Rom. 3. 23. 5. 12. where there is no Law there is no transgression seeing sin is the transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3. 4. So then the obligation unto duty doth not arise meerly from entring or coming into Covenant and that is so far from taking off the tie that it superaddeth strength to it but no man is at liberty whether he be in or out of Covenant As to the way of the Lords entring into Covenant with men it is thus He by his Spirit in the Gospel revealeth and giveth Jesus Christ for he is the first saving gift and all the Promises are vouchsafed in and with him Coloss 2. 6. 1 Joh. 5. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Eph. 3. 6. 2 Cor. 1. 30. 2 Pet. 1. 4. The same New Covenant or Testament hath various effects As the Spirit worketh effectually by the Promise of it upon the souls of men so it is a Covenant of life and grace to them it is by the New-Testament that the Lord saith to any souls live and that first grace is wrought in them Ezek. 16. 8. 36. 26. Heb. 8. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 6. As the Lord by giving and promulging the Promises obligeth or putteth
that he may establish the Second Nothing cometh in the room and stead of it self but of something else now the Second better Covenant cometh in the place and stead of the First so as the one must be removed and taken away that the other may be established and so they must be two distinct Covenants the first is Old and Heb. 8. vers 13. That which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb. 7. vers 18. There is verily a disanulling of the Commandment going before i. e. of the first Covenant The Old then is such as it is disanulled and vanisheth away whereas the New Covenant cannot be disanulled never vanisheth away neither is it said that one administration vanisheth is disanulled and taken away that another might succeed though this is true but one viz. a first Covenant it self is taken away that a Second may come in the room of it 6. They are expressly called two Covenants or Testaments The Apostle mentioneth Abrahams two Sons the one by a Bond-woman who was born after the flesh the other by a Free-woman who was by Promise and maketh this application of it Gal. 4. vers 24. Which things are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants or Testaments the one from the Mount Sinai which gendreth to bondage which is Agar What can be more plain Here it is expressly affirmed that there are two Covenants or Testaments and neither of these two was formally though material one might be the Covenant of Works or of friendship made with the first Adam in his estate of Innocency For then man himself must have been the worker for Life and therefore of necessity there must be two Covenants besides and so it is no way incongruous to speak of three Covenants seeing that with Adam is generally acknowledged to be One and here the Scripture expresly speaketh of two Covenants and that with Adam is none of them It is not that signified by the Free-woman and her Son Isaac for that in opposition to the other is said to be free and to be by Promise v. 23 26 31. Neither is it signified by the Bondwoman and her Son for after he said these are the two Covenants it immediately followeth vers 24. The One from the Mount Sinai which gendreth to bondage which is Agar So then not the Covenant of Works as made with Adam but the Sinai Covenant is the other here intended And plainly he speaketh of both according to Divine Ordination or Institution and concludeth them so to be two Covenants in this Allegory he doth not mention them considered abusively according to the intention of the Judaizing Prophets but in themselves vers 21 22. Ye that desire to be under the Law do ye not hear the Law for it is written Abraham bad two Sons c. therefore as they warrantably heard the Sinai Law so it and the free Promise made two Testaments Yea in the times of the Old Testament these were kept very distinct hence it is observable that when the Children of Israel had sinned egregiously in making the Calf and the Lord severely threatned even to consume them Exod. 32. 10 11. Moses in interceding for them doth not plead the Covenant newly made at Mount Sinai but that with Abraham vers 13. Remember Abraham Isaac and Israel thy servants to whom thou swarest c. He saw he could not ground his plea upon the Sinai Covenant already violated by them and therefore he fleeth to another founded upon free grace So Deut. 9. 27. 2 King 13. 23. The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and had respect to them he doth not say because of his Covenant with Moses at Mount Sinai but because of his Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. So that whilst the Sinai Covenant was in force yet that with Abraham which went before was not swallowed up in it or mixed with it but remained intire and distinct still dispencing our blessings to the Subjects of it they were not one and the same Covenant in that day O then let Christians beware of mixing and confounding the Old and New Covenant which are so distinct It is the great design of the Epistle to the Romans and Galatians to beat off from this mixture both have their great use but they must have their due place Gal. 4. 21. Ye that desire to be under the Law c. there is a great aptness to legalize or desire to be under the Law The false Prophets were ready to be branding Paul for an Antinomian as if he rendred the Law unprofitable by his Preaching the Doctrine of free grace for the taking off this aspersion he putteth the question Gal. 3. 19. Wherefore then serveth the Law that is if the Law doth not justifie why then was it given or what use was it of He answereth it was added because of transgression till the seed should come to whom the Promise was made Where observe how carefully the Apostle doth distinguish these he doth not make the Sinai Law or Covenant one and the same with the Promise but something added or put to it a distinct thing it was additional and so not the Promise it self but yet was of admirable use it was added because of transgression say some to reveal and discover sin and lay restraint upon men that they run not into it but the Law in the hand of Christ is of such use to Believers still whereas he speaketh of such a use of it as lasteth only till the coming of the promised Seed and therefore I understand it thus because or for the sake of transgression viz. that Jesus Christ by coming under it might make full satisfaction for that transgression which man was in it was added not for Justification but for transgressions sake that its curse might be indured and removed and this additional use of the Law was but till the promised seed came then it ceased having its accomplishment in him the Law was added that he might finish transgression and make an end of sin as Dan. 9. 24. And this way was made for the Divine Promise to pass upon us Now there is a sinful mixing these two Covenants the Old and the New which are distinct 1. When there is a joyning any thing of ours with Jesus Christ in the matter of acceptation unto eternal Life this was the case of those Judaizing Prophets Act. 15 1. they taught except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved The like we have Gal. 5. 2. If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing They expected advantage by Jesus Christ else this Argument would have been of no force to them vers 4. Christ is of no effect to you c. They were therefore jumbling works of their own and Jesus Christ together mixing these in the matter of their acceptation unto Life and this is intimated to be desperately dangerous Christians ought to perform all duty in conformity to Jesus
that I am he ye shall die in your Sins Thus the Apostle speaking not meerly of the false opinion of the Jewes concerning the meritoriousness of their good works or their external services being perfect obedience to the Law unto Life I say he not insisting upon these errours but having mentioned the very righteousness of the Law Rom. 10. 5. in opposition to that he saith ver 6 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 It is then a believing in him as already come and having all righteousness subjected in him yea as dead and risen that is called for When they were doting upon works of the Law as performed by themselves to take them off from this he telleth them that all this legal doing for Life must be found in Christ alone and as it followeth for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness that is as a means unto righteousness It is not his own working that will be his righteousness nor his saith it self only that is a means for the applying that righteousness which is subjected in Christ alone So that the Apostles aim is not to call them off from a legal doing by natural power and ability and instead thereof to put them upon Evangelical believing and doing as the condition giving right to Life but his design is to put them upon looking wholly out of themselves and all their own doing whether by nature or grace unto Jesus Christ alone for righteousness unto Life If a man should set about any Gospel service upon a legal ground he would be culpable as the Judaizing Professouâ—s were It is such a doing as giveth a little unto Life by performing the condition of it that is rejected in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians as dangerous Evangelical services are required on other accounts and to be performed to testifie conformity to the Will of God and these may evidence Life in the way to it but Faith it self though necessary yet doth receive a title from Jesus Christ doth not give one Joh. 1. 12. That Axiom he that believeth shall be Saved is not expressive of the tenour of the New Covenant we claim Salvation not in the right of any act of ours not upon the Rent of Faith as men hold Tenements by the payment of a Penny a Rose or such like no such thing here all is paid to the utmost Farthing by our Surety and we hold and claim upon the obedience of Jesus Christ alone Rom. 5. 18 19 21. 2. The New Covenant representeth the Lord as dealing with his people universally in a way of Promise and so is better than the Old which representeth him as treating them in a way of threatning The New consisteth all of Promises Heb. 8. ver 8 c. as if the heart of God were so full of Love and running over therewith that he could express nothing else but what he would be to and do for his people The Father having received full satisfaction to all demands in the Old Covenant by the mediation of his Son now he maketh it his business to give the fullest assurance by a constellation of Promises in the New that he will fulfill to a tittle whatsoever on his part resteth for performance Believers are wholly freed from the Curse there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8. 1. Heb. 12. 18. They are under a ministration of righteousness 2 Cor. 3. ver 9. But the Old Covenant represented God as a consuming fire denouncing Curses and threatnings against the Children of Israel who were his own people for with them was the Sinai Covenant made and not with unbelievers of the Gentiles there were indeed some Promises sparingly scattered up and down in it but they run conditionally and Israel failed of coming up to the condition that if they had not been priviledged with the Covenant with Abraham to run unto for relief what might they think would become of them By Divine appointment there were some to stand upon mount Ebal to Curse as well as others upon mount Gerazim to bless Deut. 27. 13 c. There are about twelve curses which they were injoyned to declare their assent unto all the people shall say Amen yea the last was a general one ver 26. If they continued not in all things they were liable to it Gal. 3. 10. which sheweth that although a temporal Curse was not excluded yet an Eternal was also some way intended on which account it is called a ministration of condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 7. It was otherwise with them in reference to that Curse than it is with Christians under the New Israel by that voluntary act the Old Covenant passed Sentence upon themselves yea the Curse of the Law was not then actually undergone by Jesus Christ it was not then satisfied and so might be presented before them as their obligation or bond uncancelled to their great affrightment But Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law Gal. 3. 13. Now all is discharged for us and so the New is a better Covenant 3. The New Covenant consisteth of absolute Promises and therefore is better than the Old Sinai Covenant which did run upon conditional Promises yea had works as its condition In the times of the Old Testament the price of our Redemption was not paid by Jesus Christ and therefore Life was then held forth upon the condition of obedience the Lord said Do and Live Lev. 18. 5. Rom 10. 5. Gal. 3. 12. Yea as that which under the New seemeth to be conditionally mentioned in one place is absolutely promised in another so on the contrary what seemeth to some to be absolutely propounded in the Old in one part of it yet is conditionally promised in another Exod. 29. 45 46. I will dwell among the Children of Israel and be their God Indeed this is not properly absolute but as the foregoing Verses shew upon what Aaron a Type of Jesus Christ should do however the very same is clogged with a condition Levit. 26. 3 11 12 13 14 15. The promise of circumcising their heart and the heart of their Seed to love the Lord Deut. 30. 6. runneth upon condition If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God and keep his Commandments c. ver 9. But the New Covenant consisteth altogether of absolute Promises Heb. 8. ver 10 11 12 13. I will and ye shall When the condition of any Covenant is performed it becometh as absolute as if there had never been any annexed to it Now Jesus Christ is mentioned as our great High-Priest and Mediatour and that as having finished the work of Satisfaction ver 1 2 6. and the condition contained in the Old being exactly and compleatly fulfilled by him it naturally or necessarily must turn into an absolute form as in the New because upon his performance nothing more
our sin that is do not hold us as guilty It is noted by not imputing sin Psal 32. 2. that is do not charge it upon us It is called a covering of it a blotting of it out as when a man crosseth a debt Book and Heb. 8. 12. a remembring it no more that is he will not so remember it as to keep it upon record and hold the person obliged to its penalty 2. Pardon noteth impunity or a discharge from the punishment of sin when pardoning mercy is extended to a Soul the Lord doth give a freedom from the punishment it self that is due to sin as well as from the obligation to it Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people c. i. e. do not inflict deserved punishment The Lord had threatned to cast them off to disinherit them and kill them as one man vers 12 15. Mâ—ses intercedeth and the Lord answereth vers 20. I have pardoned according to thy Word that is I will not punish and execute the fierceness of my wrath upon them yet he sweareth that they should not enter into the promised rest vers 21 22 23. The Lord then may pardon so as not to deal in utmost severity with a people and yet may reserve to himself a liberty to chastise them by withholding some desired injoyments from them Yea in this sense so far as he doth not chastise them he may be said to pardon when her i. e. Sions warfare is accomplished then it is said as Isa 40. 2. that her iniquity is pardoned i. e. the Lord will not visit for her iniquity as he did before she hath received of the Lords hand double for all her sins not that her suffering had given the least satisfaction to Divine justice for her sin that belongeth to Christ alone but she had experienced a large measure of fatherly chastisement and now being released from this she is said to be pardoned Isa 33. 24. The inhabitant shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity As there is a freedom from sickness and tokens of fatherly displeasure so in this sense sin is said to be forgiven Now in the New Covenant the Lords remembring iniquity no more implieth this also his not executing eternal wrath upon the sinner nothing vindictive or satisfactory to divine justice will ever be laid upon him yea fatherly chastisements will be taken off so far as may be good for him And now what a rich treasury is this New and better Covenant it hath enough in it to supply all the wants to answer all the grounded desires of poor Souls If they want an obediential frame of heart here it is promised I will write my Laws in their hearts If they desire interest in God as that only which will satisfic their immortal Souls behold it is promised I will be to them a God Do they find a backwardness to giving up themselves to God here it is promised they shall be to me a people Do they find cause to complain of spiritual blindness darkness and ignorance it is promised all shall know me Doth sin sadly threaten it is promised their sins and iniquities will I remember no more And O how miserable are all unbelievers who want an interest in this New Covenant they have not this Law of Grace written within are without God and a due knowledge of him strangers to forgiving Grace in these is the summ of all unhappiness Quest Whether that better Covenant wherein the ministration of Jesus Christ doth lie be distinct from that at mount Sinai Are they two Covenants or but one Answ That New or better Covenant is distinct from that at Mount Sinai it is usually said that they are two administrations or dispensations of the same Covenant I think they are not meerly one and the same Covenant diversely administred but they are two Covenants Yet to prevent mistakes I would explain my meaning herein I grant that the Sinai Covenant had a special relation to the Covenant of Grace and was of great use thereabout Also I am far from thinking that there are two Covenants of Grace if thereby be meant two waies to Life and Salvation specifically and essentially different each from other I conclude that the Elect were saved in one and the same way for substance and essence in all Ages viz. by Grace through a Mediator by Faith in him The grand Covenant of Grace was made with Jesus Christ and us in him and is essentially one in all times so as no one of those federal expressures to Adam fallen or to Abraham or to David can rightly be deemed the Covenant of Grace it self unless summarily or as an Epitome thereof but only discoveries of some small parcels and branches thereof and differ from it as a part from the whole or as a particular Article from a whole federal transaction which consisteth of many more yea that compriseth all the Promises of furnishing Jesus Christ for the work and rendring him prosperous and successful in it Isa 53. ver 10 11 12. as well as Promises of what he will do for us and one Article may be distinct enough from another As among men a Father by an Indenture containing many Articles may settle an inheritance upon his Son and his Posterity and all make up but one Covenant in the main yet one Article may be distinct enough from another and any one may be called a distinct Covenant when it is compared with another one Covenant may be concerning some condition to be performed by the Son another Covenant for the Father to acknowledge a Fine or give a further assurance another to free from incumbrances So the great God settleth an everlasting inheritance upon some of the Sons of men by one grand Covenant of Grace made with Jesus Christ as their Head which hath many Articles and matters belonging to it distinct enough each from other as one Covenant concerning a condition to be performed by men in their surety Jesus Christ this is that as Mount Sinai another Covenant concerning the priviledges which shall be afforded by him that condition being performed this is the New Covenant Jer. 31. vers 31. Behold the daies come saith the Lord that I will make a New Covenant Here is a Covenant to give further assurance and of what and thus although the grand Covenant be but one yet these several Articles thereof compared each with other are clearly enough distinct and so that at Sinai and the New are two Covenants as may appear these wales 1. The Sinai Covenant is denied to be made before Israels coming out of Egypt and therefore must be distinct or another Covenant from that which promised special blessings in Christ For that was made with the Patriarchs as Abraham Israe and Jacob c. long before Israels deliverance out of Egyptian bondage Gen. 12. vers 1 2 3 c. Gen. 17. vers 2 7. The Apostle asserteth the stability
still be come up to only under the Covenant of Works man was personally to perform it for himself but now Jesus Christ is admitted to work out this perfect righteousness of the Law for him Rom. 5. vers 18 19. By the obedience of one i. e. of Jesus Chist many are made righteous Hence he is said to be made of God to us wisdom and righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. and we are said to be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. vers 21. It is not the righteousness of a meer man but of one who is also God that we must stand in Now the Sinai Covenant is a Platform of the legal righteousness which was indispensibly necessary unto Life there it is deciphered delineated and described more clearly than in any other federal expressurn The Sinai Covenant excelleth all other in discovering what that righteousness is upon which we enjoy Eternal Life The Promissory part of the Covenant of Grace is more fully revealed in other federal expressures as that with Abraham David and the New Covenant but the Mandator and Minatory part of it in order to Life the duty to be performed and the Curse to be indured is most fully set forth in that a◠Mount Sinai Adam was obliged to a righteousness in obedience to a Position Command of not eating of the Tree o◠Knowledge Gen. 2. vers 17. as well a◠to Moral Commands answerably in the Sinai Law there is a righteousness required of the same kind standing in obedience to many Positive and ceremonial Commands and this was fulfilled by Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 did take it as his Office to fulfill not only some but all righteousness Mat. 3. 15. And also the righteousness of the Moral Law Mat. 5. vers 17 18. he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it he yielded obedience to the Moral Commands yea and satisfied Heb. 9. 15. even for transgressions that were under the first Testament 2. The Sinai Covenant denounceth a dreadful Curse which can be undergone by none but Jesus Christ upon the least failing of perfect obedience and therefore expresseth the legal condition of the Covenant of Grace to be performed by Christ or is a Covenant of Works as to be fulfilled by him for that only threatneth a Curse upon the least imperfection in point of obedience Now the Sinai Law doth that Gal. 3. vers 10. For as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them The Law then runneth upon such terms as if a man should perform never so many acts of obedience yet if he should not come up to all that is written in the Book of the Law it curseth him If he should come up to all yet if he did not continue therein it curseth him it exacteth perfect obedience upon pain of a Curse Nothing can more fully express the nature of a Covenant of Works than this that with Adam in innocency cannot be one if this be not so For there is no more in that then if thou Eatest thou shalt Die and there is as much here if thou dost not all thou shalt be Cursed and yet the Apostle is not speaking here of the very Covenant with Adam in innocency but of one in the matter of it resembling that made a long time after even at Mount Sinai For he saith it is written thus now it is in Moses Law long after Adam that this was written viz. Deut. 27. vers 26. He speaketh of it as belonging to the Sinai Law as expressing the renour of that and he doth not mention it only as the opinion of the false Prophets amongst the Galations but as the intention of the Divine Law it self it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all Yea further let it be observed the scope of the Apostle is to evidence the impossibility of attaining Justification by the Works of the Law for saith he as many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse and why Because it is impossible that any meer man should continue in all that is written in the Law the best of men will have some sinful infirmities and imperfections and the least transgression layeth under a Divine Curse according to that Law which must be undergone either by men themselves and that would sink and ruine them for ever or else by Jesus Christ and then the legal condition is performed by him for them 3. Jesus Christ by coming under and fulfilling the Sinai Covenant did work out Redemption for us and therefore that did hold forth not only an obedience to be performed by Israel but also such as was a legal condition of the Covenant of Grace to be performed by Jesus Christ For surely that whereby we are redeemed was not any work of Israel they did not redeem themselves or us but a work of Jesus Christ answering the demand of the Covenant of Grace which is for Redemption Now Gal. 4. vers 4 5. God sent his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to Redeem them that were under the Law He speaketh of that Law by which they were held in bondage before the Incarnation of Jesus Christ vers 3. which was that at mount Sinai vers 24. and a great design or end of his coming is said to be to Redeem them that were under the Law how this was accomplished or brought about is declared viz. by his being made under the Law and therefore thereby he performed the condition of Redemption Indeed I think one great end of God in bringing Israel under this Sinai Covenant was to make way for Christ his being born or made under the Law in order to the fulfilling of it for us I do not see how by any visible dispensation Jesus Christ could have been born actually under the Law if this Sinai Covenant had not been made For the Covenant of Works with the first Adam being violated it was at an end as to the promising part it promised nothing after once it was broken it remained in force only as to its threatning part it menaced Death to all the sinful seed of Adam but admitted no other into it who were without sin either to perform the righteousness of it or to answer the penalty it had nothing to do with an innocent person after broken for it was never renewed with man again as before therefore an admitting an innocent person as Jesus Christ was into it must be by some kind of repetition or renewing of it though with other intendments than at first viz. that the guilty persons should not fulfill it for themselves but that another a surety should fulfill it for them Some medium or means there must be whereby this innocent person Jesus Christ might be taken into it and come under the very same Law that was broken to fulfil the righteousness and
a compleat pardon till the day of Judgement They are now as fully and perfectly justified and pardoned as they were condemned It was by a Law against them that they were under condemnation and so it is by a Law grant viz. the New Covenant that they are justified and have the remission of sin Some call it a sentential Justification there will be a repetition of its Sentence so as they will be judicially acquitted before all the World in the great day In what Court or by what Judge are any so pardoned here If the Bar or Tribunal of this Judgement be a mans own Conscience that can hardly pass Sentence without discerning and knowing it self within the New Covenant and pleading that against the accusation of Satan whereas a Soul may have the righteousness of Jesus Christ and justifying Faith before he knoweth it or be able to discern it and therefore Justification and Pardon may be before any judicial act of Conscience Object If Believers be not actually under the obligation to punishment which is guilt then asking the removal of it or praying for daily pardon of sin is unnecessary Yea if they be not obliged they cannot be disobliged and so not pardoned therefore it seemeth that the Curse of the Law must be in force against them for some space before the new Pardon cometh Answ I. Believers in their daily pardons are declared to be discharged from the very obligation and Curse of the Law it self but not from a personal obligation to it There is an obligation to punishment residing in the Law but it doth not actually pass upon the persons of Believers one moment It must be remembred that present pardon is not a judicial act but it is a Sentence of a Law of Grace which declareth all under it to be discharged from the penalty of another Law Observe when a violated Law hath already passed Sentence upon an offender an act of pardon coming afterward in force to him there it dissolveth or taketh off an obligation to punishment which is already passed upon the person and this is the case of the Elect at first conversion But where an Act or Law of Pardon is in force to any persons and reacheth to offences yet to come or not yet committed there the obligation to the penalty never passeth one moment upon the persons and yet they have as much forgiven even the whole penalty of the Law as the other and more Grace in it For it preventeth the passing of the Sentence upon them Now this is the case Believers are alwaies under the New Covenant which is a Divine Act of Pardon this Law is in force to them before their Commission of new acts of sin and declareth their discharge from the penalty of the Law of Works that the instant wherein the sins are committed they are remitted thereby The commanding Law is not repealed for then they were no offences but yet the Curse of it resteth not upon their persons one moment 1 Joh. 2. 2 3. If any one sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins 1. Pardon 's afforded to sinners are from Jesus Christ as an offering Priest making satisfaction for sin but if one of those who have fellowship with God if Believers sin their succour and relief is also by the standing Advocateship of Jesus Christ Now an Advocate or Atturney pleadeth a Law in force whereby his Client is discharged so Jesus Christ pleadeth Believers being already under the New Testament whereby they have a right unto indempnity that though the Cursing Law remaineth in force still to unbelievers yet this new Act of Grace granteth a pardon to the Saints for all transgressions committed against it 2. It is yet unquestionably the duty of Believers to be daily praying for pardoning mercy Those who are taught to cry unto God Our Father Luk. 11. 2. yet are to say ver 4. Forgive us our sins Those then which have the Spirit of Adoption yet are to be praying daily for the pardon of Sin There is reatus simplex as well as reatus redundans in personam though Believers are not to confess themselves to be personally i. e. in their persons to be under the obligation or Curse of the Law there is cause for highest thankful acknowledgement of Grace in their freedom from that yet there is room for the deepest acknowledgement of their own sin and guiltiness in deserving of it and here is enough for their humiliation though the person by Grace is acquitted or pardoned yet there is a dueness of such a penalty to such an offence according to the Divine Law and this may be owned even under the clearest evidences of pardon for that doth not remove the desert of sin but freeth from what is deserved thereby Yea there is a great deal of work for Faith in Prayer upon this account Believers are to pray for the continuation of the Pardon which they do already injoy and for the remission of those sins which shall hereafter be committed by them The New Covenant containeth in it a Promise of future pardons and therefore Faith may act upon the Lord in it and that although they know they shall be forgiven The Promise-assurance of a mercy doth not exempt us from praying for it Jesus Christ had assurance that he should be glorified and yet he prayeth Joh. 17. 5. Father glorifie thou me he knew that he should be kept and yet he prayeth for it ver 11. David had an absolute Promise of establishing his House and Kingdom for ever 2 Sam. 7. 14 15. 16. and yet he the rather prayeth for it and upon that ground even the Promise of it So we may ask future Pardons though we certainly know we shall have them Also we are to ask clearer manifestations of our interest in pardoning mercy But further Believers in praying for pardon of Sin are 1. To ask a fresh application of the blood of Jesus Christ in the promise of pardon he is said to be to that very end a propitiation through Faith in his blood Rom. 3. 25. not only is a manifestation of pardon to be sought after but Faith is to be exercised in an application of the blood of Jesus Christ as that which hath purchased and procured the pardon that is to be eyed as the price of Redemption as that which ratifieth the New Testament for the remission of sins Mat. 26. 28. it is that blood which cleanseth those that have fellowship with God from all Sin 1 Joh. 1. 3 7 9. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins It must be by a Word or Promise that the faithfulness of God is ingaged this way and it is the work of Faith to own that and the Grace of God that shineth forth therein Act. 10. 43. whosoever believeth on him shall receive the remission of sins The Lords giving it is in order of nature first but to be followed
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