performance the Apostle telleth them the least sin would lay them under the curse yea they thereby would frustrate and make void to themselves the whole undertaking of Jesus Christ so as they should have no profit or advantage by him Gal. 5. vers 2. 4. The Lord exacted perfect obedience without any abatement in order to Eternals it was a strict Covenant of works there But as to Temporals it was otherwise although these were promised in the Sinai Covenant upon condition of Israels perfect obedience yet when there was coming short of it and so a forfeiting them yet there was provision made for the forgiveness of many sins so as the Lord would not take the forfeiture or deal with them upon such strict terms as in the Covenant of Works for in case they duly offored sacrifices they should not lose their temporal mercies and thus it was an administration with some grace in it unto Israel This appeareth these ways 1. The Laws and Ordinances for the Publick worship of God among the Children of Israel were contained in the Sinai Covenant as part of its Condition and therefore it did belong to the administration of the Covenant of grace there is a description of the Tabernacle which was for the worship of God Exod. 26. and in Levitieus many sacrifices and services are required of the Children of Israel burnt offerings trespass offerings peace offerings c. and the Rules and directions left by the Lord must be exactly pursued by them in their several places at their utmost peril that they die not or be not cut off Exod. 28. vers 35. 30. vers 20 21 33. Levit. 7. vers 21 25 27. 15. vers 31. 16. vers 2 13. 17. vers 4 9. and many others The Lord would never so punctually have laid out the way of his worship if he had not intended that Israel should find acceptation in keeping close to him in those his appointments The free-will offering must be brought to the door of the Tabernacle Lev. 1. vers 3 4. and it shall be accepted for him i. e. for him that bringeth it he shall have acceptance with the Lord to some end and many of those ceremonial services are said to be for a sweet savour unto the Lord Lev. 4. vers 31. 6. vers 15. 23. vers 18. which implyeth their acceptation with God in those acts of worship at least to the affording promised temporals and so speak their appertaining to the administration of the Covenant of grace for sinners cannot be accepted but in that way of grace in any service yea the Lord owned them with eminent tokens of his presence when they duly acted therein Lev. 9. vers 23. The glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people 2. Israels obedience was not to be that righteousness which was the procuring cause of those temporal blessings promised in the Sinai Covenant and therefore that was an administration of grace the procurement even of those was by the righteousness of another by the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ and therefore of grace In the Covenant of Works man might have expected blessings for his own obedience but it is otherwise in the Sinai dispensation Deut 9. vers 4 5 6. Speak not thou in thy heart saying for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this Land but for the wickedness of these Nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee and again vers 5. Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thy heart c. and a third time vers 6. The sruition of Canaan was a great mercy promised in the Sinai Covenant and with what vehemency doth the Lord deny that it was afforded for the righteousness of Israel three times over he doth inculcate this and therefore they must needs have it in a way of grace and favour 3. There is an intimation in the Sinai Covenant of a provision made against the sins and transgressions of persons under it and therefore it was an administration of grace for a Covenant of Works revealeth no relief or succour in case of sinning nothing but death and a divine course is there to be expected Gen. 2. 17. But it was otherwise in the Sinai Covenant the Children of Israel came exceedingly short of the obedience required therein yet behold divine indulgence even in the bowels of that very Covenant there is pardoning mercy represented in the ceremonial Law thus in case the Priest the Rulers and the whole Congregation or any of the common people became guilty of sins through ignorance against any of the Commandments of the Lord there was a sin offering provided Levit. 4. throughout and pursuing the directions therein it is said they shall be forgiven vers 20 26 31 35. so in case of sinning wittingly there were trespass offerings Levit. 6. Also there were days of attonement and many washings all which intimated that the Lord would not deal with them in a way of strict justice according to the rigor of a Covenant of Works and therefore that was to Israel a ministration of grace Indeed Israel had stood under an impossibility of reaping any temporal blessings by the Sinai Covenant if they had been held strictly by the Lord to the condition of perfect obedience without any way to be freed from their sin for Israel could never have answered the condition of it and so would have missed and come short of all the good of it and consequently this Covenant for temporal blessings would have been vain and useless which were an impeachment to the wisdom of God the maker of it to assert there must therefore be grace in it 4. Considerations of mercy are made great inducements to the obedience of Israel in the Sinai Covenant and therefore it was an administration of grace to them A Covenant of Works runneth upon perfect obedience as the condition of it urgeth duty in a way of Justice as in that with Adam in innocency the inforcement to obedience was primarily the danger of failing thereof viz. dying thou shalt die Gen. 2. vers 17. Or on the other hand the hope of a reward of debt Adam perfectly obeying the Lord in justice would be obliged to afford what he had promised Whereas in the Sinai Covenant a grand motive and provocation to Israels obedience was mercy in the very preface to the Decalogue Exod. 20. vers 2. I am the Lord thy God that noteth Covenant interest in him a choice mercy to a sinful people which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage there was mercy in their redemption and this is mentioned to urge their observation of the following Commandments vers 3 4 c. so that covenant mercy and redeeming mercy are grand arguments unto Israels obedience in this Sinai Covenant and therefore there was grace in that ministration Likewise Deut. 27. ver 9 10. Thou are become the people of the Lord thy God here is their
salvation some act of ours then should give the â—iâ—le to life and we might claim it upon our own act but such doing for life is disclaimed and condemned in the Gospel whatever the act be Rom. 4. 4. Eph. 2. 8 9. Tim. 1. 9. Faith it self doth but receive a right doth not give one It is not upon any act of ours that the Lord is ingaged to make good his promise and that we lay claim to it If a Malefactor had not petitioned to the Prince he had died though no promise of life was made to him upon it and so his petitioning was only a way or means to his being spared had it been a condition thereof then the Prince had been unfaithful yea unjust if he had not granted it In the most absolute grants or where there is no condition making an estate liable to forfeiture by the non-performance yet there may be parties and stipulation It is the excellency and glory of the New Covenant that it runneth upon absolute promises it doth not leave at uncertainties no liability to a forfeiture of its special priviledges and this with the admirable treeness of it afford matter of great incouragement and everlasting consolation to all under it See more for this in the last question concernig the use of those called conditional Promises The New Covenant bringeth in a real plenary and perfect remission of sins and so is better than the Old which left short oâ— it Some sins had no sacrifice provided for them in the Old and were not forgiven so as they might injoy temporal blessings promised Some must be cut off as they that did ought presumptuously were to be cut off from among the people Numb 15. 28 30. yet believers in that day might be forgiven those very sins and injoy eternal salvation through the free promise in Jesus Christ and Act. 13. 38 39. By him i. e. by Jesus Christ those that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses The typical remission did not reach to all sins as Christs doth except to that against the holy Spirit Matth. 12. 31. 1 Joh. 1. 7. The great design of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to shew the excellency of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice above the Levitical and how much better the New Covenant is than the Old in the point of the remission of sin There was imperfection in the legal sacrifices the forgiveness there was only so far as temporal judgements were averted and temporal mercies afforded they could not really take away sin did not purge the Conscience or make the comers thereunto perfect Heb. 9. 9. Heb. 10. 1 2 3 4. but in opposition hereunto it is the glory of Jesus Christ vers 12 14. by one offering he hath perfected for ever those that are sanctified i. e. the people of God those in Covenant This he cleareth from the New Covenant vers 15 to 19. which saith their sins and iniquities will I remember no more Saith Calvin from this we gather that sins are now pardoned in another manner than they were in old time but this diversity consiseth neither in the word nor in faith but in the ransom of the remission thus he In the old there was a repetition and iteration of their sacrifices the typical pardon of new sins was stayed and suspended till they had offered new sacrifices and there was a yearly remembrance of their old sins vers 3. but in opposition to that it is the perfection of the New Covenant that as there will be no more offering for sin so there will be a remembrance of the sins of believers no more that is they will not any more come one moment under the curse or obligation of the Law to eternal punishment for them the declared discharge from this which is that wherein â—he pardon of sin doth properly consist as it is Gods act is not suspended till the putting forth new acts of saith or repentance although these ought to follow but is afforded to the believer the very moment of his sinning whether he then taketh notice of it or not I confess there is difficulty here on either hand for if believers be under the Laws curse and obligation by new sins then they are unjustified as often as they sin which may not be admitted and if they be not under it then it seemeth they are not daily pardoned seeing pardon consisteth in a declared discharge from that obligation this will be answered in a following objection It is actual pardon that is here inquired after for it will be granted that at our first justification all sins past present and to come are virtually pardoned That the actual remission pardon or forgiveness of their sins who are in Covenant and already justified is the very instant wherein the sins are committed so as believers remain not one moment under the obligation of the Law to eternal punishment or the immediateness of pardon may appear thus 1. Believers have always an actual interest in Jesus Christ his righteousness and the satisfaction made by him and therefore are not one moment so unpardoned after the commission of new sins Eph. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins It is a glorious mysterie of the Gospel that sin is removed upon a full satisfaction and yet in a way of forgiveness It was in a way of redemption to Jesus Christ and yet in a way of pardon and free grace to us it cost Christ dear even his precious blood it cost us nothing The Elect whilst unconverted are not interested in that redemption in their own persons and so are unpardoned but we believers not only shall have it hereafter but have it already and therein the remission of sins they cannot one minute be without that for there is an inseparable connexion between these they that have the one have the other also Christ is theirs in whom they have redemption there will never be an interruption of believers union with him and Christ being theirs his satisfaction is theirs which answereth and dischargeth the obligation of the Law and so they are always in a state of freedom from that Jesus Christ being theirs they are always interested in his righteousness and the Law cannot actually oblige or curse any that are interested it its righteousness but only those that want it righteousness and pardon are in such connexion that the Apostle argueth from one to the other Rom. 4. 6 7 8. He proveth the blessedness of men in imputed righteousness from Davids saying vers 7. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven therefore unless believers could be disrobed of that righteousness and for some space lose that blessedness they cannot be the smallest season unpardoned If souls were actually under the Law guilt of any sin one moment they were then not perfectly righteous for these are inconsistent to be compleatly righteous and yet to be under the Law guilt
it and comparatively with the New Covenant which hath more Evangelical inforcements unto duty by Grace and the free Promise The Sinai Law hath a tendency to work into the fear of a Servant towards his Master and so as the Apostle saith gendreth to bondage rather than to the fear or love of a Son which is the issue of Gospel Revelations Christians now are to act upon more Evangelical accounts from more Love yea and more Faith having received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father it is by this believing Spirit that Souls have liberty of access to God with that freedom that Children use to have in going to a tender Father The fearing Spirit kept them at a distance from the Lord like a Servant that durst not come near an austere Master but by this they may with a holy boldness and firm assurance repair to him and cry Abba Father This will appear more clearly if we compare it with that parallel place Gal. 4. 1 2 c. The Heir so long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant c. Even so we when we were Children were in bondage under the Elements of the World c. Here the state under the Old Sinai Covenant plainly is expressed by bondage not absolutely that of bondslaves they were not in pure slavery nor so in the condition of Servants but as under Tutors and Governours and in a state of subjection that they differed little in outward appearance to themselves or others from Servants they seemed to have more of that Spirit being acted by fear than of the Spirit of Sons but since the dispensation of the New Covenant they are freed from the servile state redeemed by Jesus Christ from the rigour of the Law and have much of the Spirit of Adoption ver 5 6. there is such an alteration for the better as if their Sonship now began ver 7. that is comparatively with the other therefore Christians now are to act in a different way from what they did of Old more in a free Spirit of Adoption thus bondage and freedom are opposed ver 24 25 26 31. not as taken for simple slavery but for a state of less freedom though in the same Family and House as Hagar and Sarah were the one expresly intending the state under the mount Sinai Covenant the other under the Free Promise so Gal. 3. 24. The Law was our Schoolmaster until Christ so it is in the Original we have not there those words to bring us This Text doth not speak of a work of the Law still continuing in order to conversion before closing with Jesus Christ for the bringing Souls unto him but telleth us of the rigorous discipline of the Law of Old to Israel the people of God like a Schoolmaster with a Rod compelling to duty until Christ i. e. until his Incarnation until his satisfaction it speaketh of such a use thereof which is now at an end in Gospel times as appeareth by the Antithesis ver 25. but after faith is come we are no longer under a Schoolmaster c. that is after Christ the object of Faith is come in the flesh and hath satisfied the Law hath purchased Redemption for us now we are no longer under the menaces and severities of the Law as a Schoolmaster as Christ is said to be our hope so he is our faith that is the object of it the thing believed That which is held forth here by the coming of faith is expressed by the coming of the seed vers 19. which is Jesus Christ and our present freedom from the Law as a severe Schoolmaster speaketh the betterness of our state and so of the New Covenant 6. The New Covenant is established upon spiritual Promises and so is better than the old Sinai Covenant which did run upon temporal promises to Israel now I speak of it as an administration to them all the promises of the New are of a spiritual nature that promiseth to give the Law into the heart that God will be their God their sins shall be pardoned Heb. 8. these spirituals are firstly promised and temporal things are comprised in these godliness hath the promise of this life but spirituals are mentioned here that we might be taken up mostly with spiritual injoyments grace peace communion with God c. I have wondred why the New should be made up of such promises as if only real Christians could be interested therein but I consider he speaketh of it not to exclude all from visible interest which elsewhere is witnessed to Act. 8. 12. even when the â—â—al was wanted but in opposition to the old to discover how these promises are better than those of the Old Covenant which run upon temporal things to Israel is long Life the Land of Canaan c. Deut. 5. 11. Levit. 26. these were most obvious there and better things represented by these whereas the New putteth on to duty rather by spiritual promises and blessings than by temporal and so is a better Covenant 7. The New Covenant it self ushereth in spiritual blessings and in a more immediate way than under the Sinai Covenant and so is established on better promises the more immediate mercies of God the better the more new pure and fresh from the fountain of Divine Love Immediate visions of God in Heaven will render them surpassingly excellent and in this world those that are not without all means but comparatively immediate are the best mercies as the more immediate judgements are the worst of these The Old Covenant did not it self dispense out spiritual and eternal blessings but provoked to have recourse unto the Abrahamatical Covenant for these they must setch a greater compass in travelling to those injoyments than under the New they must look from the Old for remission of sin which was typified there and so for such other mercies unto the free promise In the New Covenant mercies are absolutely promised Heb. 8. and therefore the application of them is more immediate than under the Old they may forth with by an eye of faith look to Jesus Christ for a fruition-of them there is not such a vail of typical institutions to intervene that is a better way to the obtainment of those blessings Joh. 1. 17. Yea the dispensation is also better the Apostle saith Heb. 1. 1 2. That God in the last days hath spoken to us by his Son This is the excellency of Gospel discoveries above visions dreams and such like afforded in old restament times that now Jusus Christ himself speaketh to us with his own mouth we have more immediate manifestations and on that account there is infinite danger in non-attendance to what is spoken Heb. 12. 25. As the Gospel is more extensive it reacheth not to Jews only but to Gentiles also as equal sharers in the blessings by faith the partition-wall being broken down Eph. 1. 12 14. Rom. 3. 22. So there is a more open door of access to
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
foundation can no man lay then the is laid which is Jesus Christ The Covenant of Works was founded upon something in man his concreated ability and natural strength all the obedience of the first Adam if he had stood and the fruits thereof would have been resulting from the sufficiency of his own power and free-will and he failing all the fabrick fell But the Lord hath established another glorious Covenant and this is built upon what is firmer and of greater strength even Jesus Christ this stone that is laid in Zion is a tried stone Isa 26. 16. A sure foundation Now the structure of our Salvation will never fall because it hath such a sure ground-work able to bear up the weight and stress of all that is laid upon it No other can be laid He is the only foundation of all the promises of all the graces of all the obedience of all the peace of all the comfort of all the glory that is promised That with Abraham before his incarnation was confirmed of God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. He was the Mediator of Abrahams Covenant and therefore that had in it the same for substance with the new Indeed Jesus Christ is the foundation of all the blessings and special priviledges in the Covenant as with us If the Lord be a God to any it is in Christ if their iniquities be forgiven it is in the blood of Christ if the Divine Law be written in their hearts it is by the finger of the spirit of Christ thus he lieth at the bottom of all and so is the Covenant of the people 2. Jesus Christ maketh way for our injoyment of all federal blessings by standing in manifold relations to the Covenant As he standeth between God and us as a middle person to make reconciliation so he is the Mediator of the Covenant Heb. 9. 15. There was a wide breach that we could never have made up yea such a variance as there was no possibility of our approaching to God to enter upon a Treaty of Peace much less to procure our own reconciliation sin raised such an enmity as the Lord would have been a consuming fire to us if we had come near to him now the Lord Jesus interposed and took up this case undertook to compose and put an end to this difference There were iniquities in the way to hinder our fruition of promised mercies but he took an effectual course for the removal of these He is the Mediator of the new Testament to what end for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament Satisfaction was made by him to Divine Justice to the full he answered all the demands of the righteous Law and so wrought out reconciliation for us As he undertook for the parties at variance so he was the surety of the Covenant Heb. 7. 22. Jesus made a Surety of a better Testament The Lord would not take our bond for that great debt which we had contracted and were never able to pay It was now with us as with a poor man under an arrest for a vast sum unless there can be procured an able sufficient man to enter bond with him he must to prison without hope of being released any more so the Law of the righteous God arrested us for infinite breaches thereof it exacted a great and yet most just debt at our hand which we being already bankrupts were never able to answer it required a debt of infinite suffering the just due of our sin which if laid upon us would sink us for ever for the wages of sin is death The Lord demanded a debt of perfect obedience universal righteousness unto life which we were never able to yield and now unless one able and sufficient will undertake and be bound for us there is no possibility of escaping the prison of Hell the chains of infernal darkness the everlasting wrath of the Omnipotent God under this misery we must have layen without hope of recovery this was our state upon the fall of our first parents and in this strait and distress one not of our procuring but of his own grace offering it even Jesus Christ stepped in and became a surety for us to pay our ransom to answer our debt to the utmost farthing he put his name into our Obligation was made under the Law to redeem those that were under the Law Gal. 4 4. Yea he became God's surety to us to free us from all doubtings about the fulfilling of the Covenant to us he undertook and promised that he would lose nothing that was given him John 6. 39. But would raise in up at the last day i. e. to everlasting Salvation for others shall be raised up also unto Condemnation but these unto eternal glory As he ratified and confirmed all so he was the Testator of the Covenant Heb. 9. 16 17. Where there is a Testament then must also of necessity be the death of the Testator for a Testament is of force after men be dead Nothing less than death it self was threatned upon the first transgression Gen. 2. 17. that must be indured if ever Sinners be recovered unto a fruition of eternal life and now behold the matchless love of Jesus Christ saith he I will die in their stead to save them from eternal death and thus he hath turned it into a Testament a new Testament fealing it with his own blood As he acteth for our obtainment of the blessings promised so he is the Messenger of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. The Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come We should have been without a knowledge of this grace altogether strangers to it and unacquainted with it if he had not revealed it to us and so we should not have made out after but come short of those spiritual blessings of the Covenant but now Jesus Christ himself travelleth with these blessed tidings he maketh a report of all the federal transactions between the Father and him in order to our Salvation he openeth all those soul-ravishing Mysteries and all those precious promises yea the way to our participation of those blessed priviledges and so he is the Messenger of the Covenant As he seeketh to satisfie us of the reality of God in all those federal transactions so he is the wâ—tness of the Covenant Isa 55. 4. Behold I have given him for a witness of the people When poor sould hear the tidings of Covenant love in the heart of God towards them they are ready to suspect it is too good news to be true are apt to be incredulous here are hardly perswaded to believe the truth thereof at least as to themselves now Jesus Christ condescendeth so far as to take upon him the Office of a Witness to assure of the truth of all yea now he is in heaven he doth not throw up that Office he continueth still in this work and sendeth down news from heaven thereof Revel 1. 5. 3. 14. He
wilderness of Sinai and both the matter of the Covenant and manner of its promulgation we see in that and the following Chapters It is a conditional grant it promiseth nothing but upon the condition of obedience Exod. 19. vers 5. If ye will obey my voice and keep my Covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure All is upon an If So Levit. 26. vers 3 4 c. If ye walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments and do them then will I give you rain c. The like in many other places all Promises run there upon the condition of keeping his Commandments The whole Law is generally distributed into three parts viz. Moral Judicial and Ceremonial no Precept but may be referred to one of these and obedience to all of them is required as the condition of this Sinai Covenant or all are comprised therein 1. The Moral Law is such a principal part of it as it beareth the very name of the Covenant and the Table thereof are called the Tables of the Covenant Exod. 34. vers 28. Deut. 9. vers 9 11 15. Yea the terrible appearances of God in thundrings and lightnings and the noise of the Trumpet was at the promulgation of the Moral Law before the Ceremonial was given forth Exod. 19. vers 16. Exod. 20. 1 to 19. So that the first constitution of the Sinai Covenant was only of the Moral Law it is very observable that Moses having rehearsed these very Commandments Deut. 5. he closeth up thus vers 22. These words the Lord spake unto your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the Cloud and of the thick darkness and he added no more i. e. in making this Covenant he added no more than these Moral Precepts although he reserved to himself a liberty to add the Coremonials afterward yet for the present he did not indeed virtually they were contained therein but not actually before the discovery of them any more than Gospel Institutions which Israel was not obliged to until revealed and after that were equally reducible thereunto The holy God that he might tame their rebellious Spirits he cometh in this terrible way requiring exact obedience to the Moral Commandments and added no more At the first hand he revealed no way for their relief and succour yet then before any Ceremonials were added it made a Covenant vers 2. Even when the people could see nothing but wrath and a curse before them they were forbidden coming up into the Mount upon pain of death and so were not admitted to familiar converses with God must have dreadful tokens of a Divine presence as a consuming fire and in that respect the Sinai Covenant is opposed to the New Heb. 12. vers 18. to vers 25. For ye are not come to the Mount that might be touched and that burnt with fire c. That is ye are not come to Mount Sinai and the terrour of that Old Covenant but ye are come to Mount Sion To Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant 2. The Judicial Laws belong to it these are called Judgements Exod. 21. 1. and obedience unto them is urged therein upon as strict terms as to the other Levit. 18. ver 4 5. Ye shall therefore do my Judgements Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgements which if a man do he shall live in them I am the Lord. Here keeping his Judicial Laws is urged as necessary unto Life 3. The Ceremonial Law also appertaineth to the Sinai Covenant For the Apostle mentioneth the Levitical Priesthood and Sacrifices c. as belonging to the Old Testament and preferreth the Ministry of Jesus Christ before it even in the Text in that he is a Mediator not of the Old but of the New Testament Heb. 7 and 8. Chap. Heb. 9. ver 1 2 3 c. ver 15. These Ceremonial Laws were called by the name of Statutes containing Institutions of worship and are urged also on as strict terms as the Moral Lev. 18. v. 5. Ye shall therefore keep my Statutes and my Judgements which if a man do he shall live in them These Positive Precepts his Statutes run upon those terms do and live and therefore belong to the Law in the strict sense Rom. 10. ver 5. Yea exact obedience to these ceremonials is required on pain of the Curse Deut. 26. ver 27. compared with Gal. 3. vers 10. So Levit. 26. vers 2 3 4 14 15. He injoyneth reverencing his Sanctuary and keeping his Statutes and Judgements threatening deâ—th upon the neglect thereof and Verse 46. These are the Satutes and Judgements and Laws which the Lord made between him and the Children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses and also he closeth up the Book of Leviticus thus Levit. 27. vers 34. These are the Commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the Children of Israel in mount Sinai By which it is evident that those Laws contained in that Book of Leviticus of which many are ceremonial and judicial as well as moral do belong to the Sinai Covenant So also do some contained in the Book of Numbers compare Numb 19. vers 3 4. with Heb. 9. vers 13. and 13. vers 11. And also some contained in the Book of Deuteronomy for the Apostle mentioneth that as part of the Law Gal. 3. vers 10. which is drawn from Deut. 26. vers 27. I do not say that all things in those Books are to be esteemed as parts of the Sinai Covenant For some matters are not of a federal nature as the taking the summ of the Congregation Numb 1. the order of their Tribes Numb 2. the stories of their murmuring Numb 10. vers 33. to the end Numb 11. vers 1. c. of Miriams case Numb 12. of the Spies searching the Land Numb 13 and 14. of the rebellion of Korah Numb 16. of Balaam and Balak Chap. 23 and 24. of Israels journeys Chap. 33. and many other stories as Deut. 1 and 2 and 3. These are not included in it but whatever scattered up and down in those Books hath the nature of such a Covenant in it whereof obedience is the condition that is to be deemed as belonging to the Sinai Covenant The Ceremonial Law came in by way of addition to the other after an apparent interval upon their desiring a Mediator that might receive the Law for and declare it to them Exâ—d 20. 19 24 25 26. and Exod. 21 and 22 and 23 Chapt. There was a solemnization and ratification of all upon the peoples promising to fulfill it Exod. 24. God himself uttered the Moral Law to the people with great terrour but the Ceremonial although it did after belong to the Sinai Covenant yet was revealed to Moses in the Mount without those thundrings and lightenings which the other was attended with I have wondred what should be the reason of these additional things But I consider that temporal mercies being promised by that Covenant unto Israel upon their
mercy what improvement to be made of it Ver. 10. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God and do his Commandments and his Statutes which I command thee this day Likewise Levit. 19. many Verses Levit. 20. ver 7 8. 5. No violation or breaking of the Covenant on Israels part deprived them of those temporal mercies promised unless it were against the substantials of the Sinai Covenant and therefore it was an administration of Grace to Israel for else every even the least sin would have cut them short of all the benefit thereof Now where the Lord speaketh of breaking the Covenant it is in some principal matters thereof as Levit. 26. vers 1 2 c. You shall make you no Idols nor graven Images c. despising his Statutes and breakng his Covenant are in connexion ver 15. also Jesh 23. ver 16. When you have transgressed the Covenant of the Lord your God which he commanded you and have gone and served other Gods and bowed your selves to them Every sin was some breaking of that Covenant but upon the account of the Covenant with Abraham they were only such transgressions as serving other Gods and Worshipping them that provoked the Lord to anger against them so as to destroy them see Jer. 11. ver 10. Deut. 8. ver 19 20. If we view the instances or examples of the Lords plucking away those temporal mercies from them the Lord did not take advantage to do it upon every sin of infirmity but upon grosser failures against the substance of the Covenant Deut. 4. ver 3. The Lord destroyed them that followed Baal-Peor there is judgement upon transgressors and in opposition to them ver 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day ver 5 6. Those that were in the firmest adherence unto God yet were not sinless but the Lord doth intimate that he would not take advantage upon leffer sins of infirmity to deal in such a way of severity with them but upon greater miscarriages they that walked in a believing careful conscientious obedience were spared by the Lord as here he telleth us so their going into the Babylonish Captivity and other scatterings out of the Land of Canaan and deprivation of their temporal mercies were upon their crossing some main ends of that Covenant and not otherwise which argueth that there was Grace attending it unto Israel 6. After a violation of the Smai Covenant by Israel yet it admitted of Repentance and promised a return of mercy and therefore was an administration of Grace to them Had it been a Covenant of Works to them then no benefit could have been expected by it after a violation whatever Repentance had succeeded But it was otherwise here Deut. 30. ver 1 2. when under scatterings among the Nations then if ver 2. thou shalt return to the Lord thy God and obey his voice with all thy heart c. Ver. 3. Then the Lord thy God will turn thy Captivity and have compassion upon thee Ver. 5. And will bring thee into the Land which thy Fathers possessed and thou shalt possoss it and he will do thee good and multiply thee above thy Fathers When by their sin they had forfeited their temporal mercies yet on the condition of their Repentance they might repossess and reinjoy them and therefore to Israel it was an administration of the Covenant of Grace Object But did not the Lord dispence out Spiritual and Etennal mercies of the Covenant of Grace by the Sinai Covenant as well as temporals if so why is it mentioned as if it were only an administration of it to Israel for temporals Answ 1. Many persons under the Sinai Covenant did obtain Spiritual and Eternal mercies I freely grant But whether these were dispenced out by that is questioned Moses and other Israelites were enriched with Faith Heb. 11. and were saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ even as we Act. 15. ver 11. But they might injoy those blessings by virtue of the Covenant with Abraham and not by that at mount Sinai 2. Under those temporal things in the Sinai Covenant many Spiritual priviledges were typically represented The dealings of the Lord with Israel in that dispensation are said to be as with an heir whilst in infancy Gal. 4. ver 1 3. Now Children in their minority are led into apprehensions of and affections to things by the Pictures of them and are not so capable of right conceptions thereof other waies and therefore a great design of the Lord in this Sinai Covenant was to Picture and point out many spiritual blessings unto Israel under these shaddows Heb. 8. ver 5. for the drawing out that Faith which they had by the Covenant with Abraham to be exercised about them so as their Faith might be raised or helped by that at Sinai though the blessings themselves were not dispenced out thereby but by that with Abraham 3. The Sinai Covenant must be considered either as holding forth the condition of the Covenant of Grace and so it promised nothing but upon a perfect obedience and this not to be performed by Israel but by Jesus Christ and thus as it could not give life by any obedience of Israel Gal. 3. ver 21. Rom. 8. ver 2 3. so neither did Jesus Christ dispence it out thereby for he was the Mediatour of the New and better Covenant and his ministration did lie there Or we must consider it as it was an administration of the Covenant of Grace though but a servile one and the obedience thereof to be performed by Israel and thus it was added Gal. 3. ver 19. it was Additional or an Appendix to that with Abraham containing many Precepts Rules and Ordinances of Divine appointment as Sacrifices and other ceremonial services relating to the Tabernacle Priests and External Worship of God not before given forth and so the persons who were found in a due performance of these with an eye upon and relation to the antient Promise had many Spiritual blessings dispenced out to them but they might be only externally represented by the Siuai Covenant and dispenced out by their looking from thence to that with Abraham which it was annexed to and to be taken in conjunction with I cannot think that the Lord would require their exercising themselves about so many acts of Worship without intending that they should injoy his Spiritual presence and have acceptance in a due observance thereof Yea the temporal mercies themselves promised and afforded to them under the Sinai dispensation were fruits of the Covenant of Grace no outward mercies can be injoyed by sinful men in a federal way but there must needs be Grace therein And thus the matter cometh to the same reckoning in many respects whether those spiritual priviledges were derived to them through the one Covenant or the other I am far from thinking that the Israelites injoyed only temporal mercies doubtless they had Spiritual also though
is to be demanded of him but all must certainly be accomplished unto us The Apostle in the Text is purposely putting a difference between these and seeing the Old Covenant was unquestionably conditional and the New here in opposition to it or distinction from it is as undoubtedly absolute must it not needs be concluded that herein standeth much of the excellency of the New above the Old It was Prophesied of Jesus Christ Dan. 9. ver 27. He shall confirm the Covenant with many for one week A great end of his coming and death was the confirmation of the New Covenant on the behalf of the many which he stood for so as now it is turned into a Testament as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which generally it is expressed by doth evidence Gal. 3. 15 16 17. Though it be but a mans Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto The Free Promise was confirmed by Oath before and by way of Testimony since but especially confirmed by the death of Jesus Christ by his performing the condition of it and therefore it can admit of no addition or alteration Heb. 9. 16 17. For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator for a Testament is of force after men are dead c. It beareth the name of a Testament as in relation to his death so in such a proper sense as it hath the Laws of a Testament attending it on which account he mentioneth a necessity of the testators death and its being in force thereupon Indeed a man may put some conditions into his last Will I do not argue thus it is a Testament and therefore absolute but therefore unalterable and so being delivered in an absolute form I will and ye shall hence it must abide in it even in its accomplishment and whereas some argue for conditions from the nature of a Covenant against that it is asserted to be a last Will or Testament which may bequeath Legacies without any condition There is a vast difference between the way of Jesus Christ his acting in the Work of his mediation before and since his Incarnation and the latter is much more glorious than the former Before he might plead Father thou hast promised me upon my obedience hereafter to be performed that those Souls which I have undertaken for should enjoy such blessings there was a mutual trust between them and so he might plead it in point of faithfulness but now he hath actually performed the condition of the Covenant and may plead it in point of Justice Christ being actually exhibited as a propitiation upon that God is said Rom. 3. 25 26. to declare at this time his righteousness c. in opposition to the time of the Old Testament he saith at this time that is at the time of the New Testament wherein the Blood of Jesus Christ is truly shed now God declareth his righteousness in the justifying him that believeth in Jesus it is an act of Grace to those who attain the remission of Sin but an act of righteousness to Jesus Christ he may plead Father I have made satisfaction to the full for the sin of these Souls now declare thy righteousness in pardoning of them it is that which I have purchased for them I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. 4. I have paid the full price of their Redemption now let them have what I have procured for them thus he appeareth in Heaven in our nature not as a meer Intercessor but as an Advocate 1 Joh. 2. 1. to plead that in Law in right we are to be discharged and this putteth a great excellency upon the New Covenant that it is in it self and to Jesus Christ thus absolute And note if some priviledges of the Covenant were dispenced out properly in a conditional way as suppose Justification were afforded upon Faith as a condition or temporal mercies upon obedience yet this would be far from proving any thing to be the condition of the Promise or of the Covenant it self Indeed even Faith is a particular blessing of it and therefore cannot be the condition of the whole Covenant for what shall be the condition of Faith And there is no such special Covenant now extant as the Old was for temporal mercies they are indefinitely promised and Soveraign Grace is the determining rule of dispencing out these to the Saints when they are wanted for time and measure as it is most for the glory of God and their good Matth. 6. 32 33. Nothing performed by us then is conditio foederis the condition of the Covenant it self Jesus Christ hath performed all required that way But whether any thing be conditio foederatorum cometh now to be considered Object Is the New Covenant absolute to us or conditional Are there not conditional promises therein to us as there were in the Old unto Israel Can we expect any mercy but upon our performing some condition that it is promised to Answ 1. If condition be taken improperly for that which is only a connex action or medium fruitionis a necessary duty way or means in order to the injoyment of promised mercies in this sense I acknowledge there are some promises belonging to the New Covenant which are conditional and thus are many Scriptures to be taken which are urged this way That this might not be a meer strife of words I could wish men would state the Question thus Whether some Evangelical duties be required of and graces wrought by Jesus Christ in all the persons that are actually interested in the New Covenant I should Answer yea For in the very Covenant it self it is promised that he will write his Laws in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. and that implyeth Faith Repentance and every gracious frame and those that have the Lord for their God are his people If the accusation be that there is a want of interest in Jesus Christ they need not plead that they have fulfilled the condition of the Covenant but that the Covenant it self in some promise of it which uses to be distinct from its condition hath its accomplishment upon them therein And those that are altogether without those precious Graces are strangers to the Covenant Ephes 2. 12. they cannot lay claim to the blessings of it It is our duty earnestly to be seeking after what is promised and one blessing may be sought as a means to another as the Spirit as a means to Faith and Faith as a means to obedience Gal. 5. 6. Believing is a great Duty in connexion with and a means of Salvation he that believeth shall be saved Mark 16. 16. Joh. 3. 36. Ephes 2. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 5 9. There is an order in giving sorth these blessings to us and that by Divine appointment so as the neglecting to seek them therein is highly displeasing unto God This is our priviledge that Divine promises are so conjoyned and twisted together for
short of all its blessings No I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me If there were any danger of forfeiting and losing these it must be either on Gods part by his leaving of them or on their part by their departing from him and here the Lord hath undertaken to secure against both these and so the matter is out of Question it was not thus in the Old Covenant Indeed what the Lord hath absolutely promised yet he hath appointed means in order to the attaining of it internal as Faith and external as Ordinances and commands utmost attendance upon him ordinarily in the use thereof this is necessary as a duty and sin ariseth upon the neglect of it Thus the Lord is unalterably determined to vouchsafe a frame of obedience Ezek. 36. 25 to 30. Yet obedience is to be performed by us we are to be the Agents and we may sin about the means in the way to the injoyment of such mercy as is laid up in absolute promises Faith is to be exercised in these else what use are they of and we may be faulty in not attending to it 3. If there be any such condition of the New Covenant it were most like to be precious Faith but that is not A condition properly taken is influential into right if performed it giveth right to the benefit promised if not performed there is no right and therefore is a cause it giveth jus ad rem which a man may have and yet be forced after to Sue for possession If it be only in a Mode or accident it is thus as if a great Estate be granted upon paying a white Lilly if a person bringeth a yellow Lilly and not a white he hath no right all is null and void upon such a tickle point are they who stand upon such conditions for Eternal mercies Now Faith giveth no right Joh. 1. 12. To as many as received him gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Jesus Christ is offered in the free Promise of the Gospel Faith that consenteth or receiveth him and a right and title in him to the blessings of the Covenant it doth not give one The Father offereth righteousness in a way of gift Rom. 5. 17. Faith accepteth the offer receiveth Jesus Christ for righteousness and so conduceth to Justification Rom. 4. 3. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness i. e. it was reckoned a means unto righteousness so ver 5. Not that Faith it self was reckoned the least of that righteousness whereby we are justified but a means for the applying of Jesus Christ who is our righteousness The Covenant as to that priviledge of it Justification is not so absolute as to be without all means yet may be absolute without any condition properly so called As condemnation without any new act of receiving is the resultancy from the Law upon disobedience to all under the Covenant of Works so Justification is the resultancy of a Divine Promise upon the obedience of Jesus Christ to all those that are under the New Covenant That unbelievers are not justified by it is because they are not actually under it Not because they have not fulfilled the condition of it but because they are not interested in the obediential righteousness of Jesus Christ which is the condition of it Rom. 10. 10. The act of God in justifying is to be answered by the act of Faith consenting to the offer of the Gospel As the death and satisfaction of Jesus Christ is enough to answer if the accusation be that we are sinners and deserve Eternal wrath so if the accusation be that we have no interest or portion in this satisfaction any thing that can evidence our interest in Christ is a sufficient plea to answer that be it Faith or other Graces they may be pleaded as evidences but not as titles as fruits and effects of a right given but not as causes and conditions fulfilled by us giving us that right It is a great mistake to think that there is no plea in this case but from the performance of a condition For an evidence may be from the effects as well as from causes even in civils a meer witness may carry it in such a charge when he can testifie I saw the person put into peaceable possession of such an Estate Besides if this charge he drawn up against those out of Christ many things may make it good if against those that are in Christ then who draweth this up Not God for he it is that justifieth and therefore he will not condemn Rom. 8. 33 34. if Satan or their own hearts then as gracious effects are enough to answer so by direct acts of Faith there ought to be a stedfast resisting and withstanding of Satan and he will flee from them 1 Pet. 5. 9. Jam. 4. 7. No necessity of pleading the performance of a condition to help against this 4. Our obedience though evangelical is no such condition of the New Covenant as there was of the Old unto Israel For the Lord hath undertaken that his people shall obey Ezek. 36. 25 to 30. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways Heb. 8. 10. obedience is as absolutely promised as any other blessings in the New and therefore it cannot be the condition thereof The Apostle having asserted and largely proved Rom. 3. that justification is by faith not by the works of the Law he further cleareth it from the instances of Abraham and David Rom. 4. 3. Abraham believed c. and vers 4. Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt This strongly implieth that the reward must be reckoned of grace but of debt This strongly implieth that the reward must be reckoned of grace and not of debt the emphasis is upon this so as if it were otherwise the whole force of his argument were taken away and the stress is not upon the word reckoned yet if it were the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being applied to both must signifie a true judgement and just estimation as Rom. 8. 18. 9. 8. 1 Cor. 4. 1. for really and in true account the reward is of grace and it is as firmly asserted that if it were of works it were in the same account of debt Say some only meritorious works would make it so but let it be considered that works can be meritorious only one of these two ways either 1. By being of such value and worth as that in justice such a recompence is deserved by them yea though there were no contract that way and dare any say that any works of men even in innocency could thus merit at the hands of God is not all obedience due to God so as when we have done all we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17. 10.
God Heb. 9. 8. under the old the way was not yet opened into the holiest which implieth that since the way is open there is a greater freedom Eph. 2. 18. Heb. 10. 19 22. and better incouragements the price is already paid and now Christians ask mercy as already pruchased Of old the people must not come near unto the Holiest but only the Priests now believers are become Priests unto God Rev. 1. and may have more immediate converses with him than before all which argueth this to be a better Covenant 8. The New Covenant is full of efficacy and so is better than the Old in the New all is undertaken by an omnipotent God Heb. 8. 10 11 12. and therefore whatever difficulty or opposition lieth in the way yet this word of power is enough sowards the accomplishment of it whereas in the Old Covenant much is required of Israel but no such absolute promises assuring effectually of their accomplishment there is such a difference between the Old and the New as between the letter and the spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. The Ministers of the New Testament are not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter killeth the spirit giveth life The Lord not only uttered the Law by lively voice but did write it with his own fingers in those lasting monuments tables of stone and the Jews grosly mistaking did too much take up in the letter in external literal obedience the chief efficacy and impression they felt thereby was in the threatning part the letter killeth the Divine curse was a killing thing struck into the fear of death but the New hath more efficacious vivifying operations vers 6. 8. the spirit giveth life and so that is a ministration transcendantly glorious that is a powerful means for recovering the heart out of the greatest spiritual deadness indisposition disconsolation it is full of quickning life-giving influences abundance of the spirit in the gifts and graces of it may be found there and so it is a better Covenant Lastly The New Covenant is more durable and lasting not liable to such violations as the Old and so is a better Covenant the Lord in promising to make a New Covenant addeth Jer. 31. 32. Not according to the Covenant made with their Fathers c. which Covenant they brake c. So Jer 11. 4 6 10. Heb. 8. 9. yea the Old Covenant it self is said to be vanishing vers 13. which importeth that this is a grand difference between them that the Neâ— should not be subject to be broken as the Old was If those that are only externally and by visible profession within the New may totally and others who are internally and really in it may parsially break it yet not totally so as to cast themselves altogether out of it nor comparatively with those within the Old The vital principles and impressions of divine love in Gospel times shall be so strong and the Divine Law imprinted and ingraven in such lively characters upon the hearts of men as shall wonderfully secure those that are really in the New from the violation of it far bove the other and unsteadiness of spirit or want of establishment is an argument that souls have but a slender participation of its blessings and the New shall never be antiquated there is none to succeed that both the Mediator and the priviledges of it are eternal the blood of Christ is the blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13. 20 21. and therefore it is better Covenant than the Old CHAP. XI Of the time of first coming into Covenant IT may be asked When is it that any are actually and personally interested in the Spiritual benefits or blessings of the New and better Covenant It is not a virtual but an actual interest that is here inquired after and not when they were representatively in Covenant in their common person but when personally by an application of its blessings to their own persons And indeed the New Covenant is for application and is the summ of all that is to be applyed though it be not the whole Covenant of Grace which taketh in all Articles between God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son in order to our restoration And it is to be noted That some are visibly others are really under the Covenant Some who are branches in Jesus Christ yet may be broken off Joh. 15. 2 6. Rom. 11. and therefore were but visibly in him Some are sanctified with the blood of the Covenant and yet afterward may count it an unholy thing Heb. 10. 23. and so are but visibly under it by an outward separation to or profession of the name and Faith of Jesus Christ to as to partake of common priviledges belonging to its external dispensation persons thus in Covenant and under the sign of it may be in a perishing condition still Act. 8. 13 23. Outward profession of Faith is not that which entituleth to the external administrations of it but only is a character or mark of persons fit for them as shewing a visible interest in the Promise by a possession of the things promised and their Seed have as sure a mark of their being visibly under the Promise by the Lords declaring them interested therein with their Parents Gen. 17. 7 9. Act. 2. 38. and this not by the Old Covenant as some would have it which is disanulled but by that with Abraham which is yet in force Gal. 3. 17. And besides the same that are the subjects of the New Covenant were the subjects of the Old even the house of Israel and Judah Jer. 31. 31 32. Heb. 8. As the Faith of Abraham was to be exercised in the Promise which was made to him for his Seed so many other Parents Faith be acting for theirs It 's true all of them may not be saved the same is to be said of adult Professours and therefore the Promise unto either as to rea interest is to be understood indefinitely not universally even as promises attending Family instruction yea and the publick Preaching of the Word Christ is with his Ministers to the end of the World though all that hear be not converted they are the means usually blessed to such ends But there is a real interest in the New Covenant such as is certainly attended with Salvation when the special blessings of it be theirs Heb. 8. 10. 1 Pet. 3. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 23. this is it that I would chiefly inquire after here when it is afforded Real actual and personal interest in the New and better Covenant is afforded unto Souls when they attain unto union with Jesus Christ and the gift of Faith not one moment of time before Abstractedly from Christ or till in him not one Promise is thine For all the Promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. Ephes 3. 6. all made treasured up and fulfilled or accomplished in him if Christless then Promiselessâ— Ephes 2. 12. Rom. 8. 32. Jesus Christ is
seed upon earthly comforts but Christians live by Faith by what is laid up in Divine Promises by these things they live they know not how to subsist in any state or condition without a Promise they would count themselves dead creatures without that whatever earthly enjoyments they had in possession Neither will a Promise alone satisfie without Jesus Christ in it Christ liveth in me he is the very Life of their lives without him nothing but spiritual swoonings faintings dyings and all from the want and failings of Faith That fetcheth in all influences from Jesus Christ for the supporting and hath the great hand and stroak in all the actings of spiritual Life all spiritual motions are managed thereby Heb. 11. 6. Without Faith it is impossible to please God And therefore Sanctification is but a secondary or after evidence That is not discernable till first there be a discerning Faith which speaketh Justification If Faith be inevident all other Graces will be so also Faith may be shewed unto others by Works Jam. 2. 18. A man may be Declaratively justified by Works but if a man doubteth of his Faith he will as well doubt of his Works whether they be from a Gospel root or not For no Love of the right stamp and so no due obedience but what is the fruit and issue of Faith in the Lord Jesus For that worketh by Love Gal. 5. 6. As first acts of Faith do not consist in believing that our sins are pardoned but in a receiving Jesus Christ and his righteousness as the way to pardon Joh. 1. 12. So if Christians kept up in acts of Faith by outgoings of heart to him in the way of the Promise for all that is wanted there would be not only sweet flowings of Love and Evangelical obedience issuing thence but also they would be filled with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15. 13. I have often thought if Christians did give more attendance to such direct acts of Faith and spent less time in questioning their conditions or giving way to doubtings about them they would find their interest in the Covenant cleared up yea and consolation also coming in as by the by 3. By Faith Souls are venturing upon the Free Grace and faithfulness of God in his Covenant in the greatest distresses with good success The New Covenant is made up all of Promises and the Gospel is called the Word of Faith because it is the Work of Faith to draw out what is vesseled up there Heb. 10. 38. Now the Just shall live by Faith Not only as to Justification but as to expectation of mercy promised Many would be acting Faith in the concluding interest in Christ and Eternal Life but they should be acting it by a cordial owning of Evangelical principles Yea Christians should lead their whole Life in looking to the Love and Faithfulness of God in his Promise for all their relief and succour in any condition they come into here yea even for Eternal Mercy Heb. 6. 18. They are pursued by spiritual enemies corruptions and Temptations and are in great danger but by hope which floweth from Faith and can act no higher than Faith doth they go yea run for refuge to the hope to the heavenly glory that is set before them so as they lie as at Anchour in such stormy daies and here are two immutable things the Promise and the Oath of God that by these they might have strong consolation By Faith they realize the very things contained in the Promise or Covenant and so their interest in it is experimentally witnessed to them They can say at such a time when we were in Soul distress so as all the means in the World could contribute nothing towards inward ease quietment and consolation then we being inabled by Grace to bear the weight of our Souls and our conditions upon the Faithfulness of God in his Covenant or Free Promise we found relief and refreshment It was not meerly our own fancy and imagination but we were delivered out of our distresses by Faith we were inabled to draw out of the Promise the Milk of consolation which it was beyond the power of all creatures to afford us and thus they find that the Covenant or Promise is their own 4. By Faith in the Free Promise there is a standing Conquerours in Jesus Christ over all spiritual enemies it is a great matter of the Covenant that the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents bead Gen. 3. 15. And therefore there is through Grace a vanquishing all the enemies of Salvation Sin and Satan through the blessed Seed the Lord Jesus The Promises are accomplished within the Soul but the way is Ephes 6. 16. Above all take the Shield of Faith That not only is best for descrying Satan in all his Stratagems but for the withstanding of him also Joh. 5. 4. This is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith When the Soul hath Combates or Spiritual Conflicts and reason is foiled cannot bear up then Faith appeareth as Victorious not in its own strength but in the strength of Christ and his conquest which it maketh use of in these encounters And thus conquering acts of Faith as before venturing relieving and discovering acts are useful for witnessing interest in the Covenant I might shew that Faith hath other acts as acts of assurance drawing up conclusions he hath loved me and given himself for me Gal. 2. 20. But I have said enough to shew that it giveth a knowledge of being within the New Covenant CHAP. XIII Of the Use of Absolute Promises THe Question will now be What Use is there of absolute better Promises When or in what cases are they to be made use of Answ 1. They are of Use for the manifestation of the riches of Divine Grace and Love to sinners if there may be some Grace in promising great blessings upon a very small condition certainly there must be more Grace and Love in promising the same absolutely without any condition This maketh to the magnifying of the Lord in his owning Israel above all people that he loved because he would love Deut. 7. 6 7 8. not because they were greater or more lovely than others or had any beauty or comliness in them but for his own sake as is often intimated Absolute Promises are high expressions of Divine Love as Heb. 8. 10 11 12. They proclaim rich mercy and great Love Eph. 2. 4 5. That the Lord should break through all unworthiness and undeservings this may work into the greatest self-emptiness and self-abasement The Lord peremptorily promised the establishing of Davids throne for ever 2 Sam. 7. 13 16. and this Grace melts his heart into a deep sense of his own nothingness ver 18 19. Who am I O Lord God what is my house c. Thou hast spoken also of thy Servants house for a great while to come and is this the manner of man O Lord God So that absolute Promises of Divine
are to the Lord as being duties commanded by him though they be not properly conditions upon which Covenant mercy is promised to us Will any say that nothing is acceptable unless it be performed under the notion of a condition upon which the Lord hath obliged himself to give our mercy Thus many Scriptures that seem to run in a Conditional form are to be understood as Coloss 1. 21 22 23. Rom. 2. 7. they declare his approbation of faith hope obedience c. 3. They are of exciting and incouraging use to the duty of seeking in an absolute promise those gracious qualifications which the other promises are annexed to the seemingly conditional expressions are not intended as discouragements but as powerful provoqations and incouragements to that duty or seeking that grace conjoyned with the promise Whatsoever mercy is mentioned any where either with or as a condition is absolutely promised in the New Covenant Heb. 8. particularly the remission of sin is promised there yet it is said Matth. 6. 14 15. If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you c. Not as if divine pardons were suspended till we have forgiven others that so long any were unpardoned and so condemned who before were justified This were to make divine acts have dependence on our actings and so to subject as one saith the Creator to the creature Our forgiving others is not properly a condition as if a performance of ours did ingage the Lord or lay him under an obligation to forgive us or as if we had right and might lay claim to Divine remission upon such an act of ours but it is expressed in a Conditional form as a pressing argument and a quickning spurr to so necessary a duty as the forgiving others although the Lord hath absolute intentions to pardon us and to cause us to forgive others Thus many other Scriptures are to be understood as Matth. 18. 31. Mark 11. 26. Luk. 6. 37. thus repenting and blotting out of sins are conjoyned Act. 3. 19. As a Father who is absolutely determined and resolved to afford some great favor to his son yet may speak of it to him with an if that he may lay an aw upon him towards some duty which yet is not in the least the condition of his affording it 4. They are of directive use unto the right way and means of seeking the mercies promised the eternal decrees of God are not conditional but absolute and unalterable yet are not exclusive of all means in order to their execution in time So Divine promises which are absolute without any condition properly so called yet are not fulfilled without any means It is a gross mistake to think that if there be no condition to be performed by us then we need not take any care or trouble our selves about the matters For we must know there are Divine commands putting upon the use of means in order to the execution of absolute promises and those that are called conditional promises are of this use to declare in what way and by what means those great favours shall be derived to us and men neglecting to seek mercy in the way of Divine appointment may miss of it not because they have failed of performing a condition but have neglected a duty and by sinning provoked God to â—â—t short Jam. 1. 6 7. Psal 78. 21 22. The promises of first grace are generally granted to be absolute for if they did run upon any condition that must be performed before union with Jesus Christ yea that must be seen in the soul before it had a ground to meddle with the promise and so it should be ascertained of salvation whilst it is in a state of nature If faith were supposed the condition that then must be prae existent in the soul and discerned also before it had a ground to believe in the promise that it were the condition of whereas faith is a grace and is the fruit of a promise as well as any other graces Indeed the promises of first grace though absolute yet seem to be as conditionally propounded as any Prov. 2. 3 4 5. Mark 16. 16. Joh. 3. 16. herein is holden forth the way and means to the obtainment of salvation for it is propounded and offered indefinitely to all elect and not elect not particularly promised to any but as it turneth into an absolute form to those persons described as the subjects of it Thus the Lord giveth forth a cluster of absolute promises Ezek. 36. 25 26 27 c. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean a new heart also will I give you c. and yet vers 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them This inquiring is not mentioned properly as a condition for all was before unalterably determined but as the way and means to the fruition of what was absolutely promised and thus as a means to promised mercies we may not only believe but exercise our selves in other duties ordinances and appointments of the Lord Jesus as pray that we may be pardoned justisied saved that the Lord would give us a new heart and put his spirit within us c. though not as conditions giving right to salvation for no act of ours layeth the Lord under an obligation by promise to afford these to us All is from meer grace and good pleasure But yet as a man may have purchased physick that would cure a disease which he laboureth under he may have payed for it and so performed the condition and hath right to it yet if he doth not make use of it he may be uncared so believers have a right to all even to those that are called conditional promises they being in Covenant all are theirs 2 Pet. 1. 4. 2 Cor. 1. 20. yet if they do not make use of these they may come short of mercies promised not because they fail of a condition but because they use not the means to the fruition thereof like men that have a civil and absolute right to great estates and yet are without the comfort thereof because they make not use of them 5. They are of some evidencing use who the persons are that are interested in the promises though other promises are primary yet these are secondary evidences when those gracious qualifications can be discerned they are useful for the confirmation of our interest in eternal mercies They give a description of the persons and are so far distinguishing as when they are seen we may measure our estates and conditions by them Thus many scriptures speak of those qualifications not as conditions giving right but as declarative evidences of a title to Covenant blessings even to salvation So Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life Not that their keeping of them did give a right and title unto