with Jesus Christ which was for the reconciling the World unto the Father 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. Coloss 1. 20 21. It is true Christ only is our surety and Redeemer not we in our own persons yea he is our head our Lord and King and on that account of his standing in those different capacities he hath some peculiar precepts and promises appropriated to him which are not afforded to us in the same manner or degree yet this hindreth not the Oneness of the Covenant with him and us as it is promised unto Abraham that in him all the Families of the Earth should be blessed that he should be a Father of many Nations Gen. 12. 3. and 17. 4. Which promises are of a higher nature than are made to us for every Believer is not the Father of many Nations yet we are within the same Covenant that was made with Abraham Rom. 4. 11 12 13. Gal. 3. As in Covenants between Princes some Articles may be concerning prerogatives or royalties that are peculiar to them in their publick capacities which the people share not in but in them as striking sayl c. other grants may concern the people in their private capacities as Merchants Mariners c. yet Prince and people within the same contract So doubtless there may be diverse grants to Jesus Christ in his publick capacity in the office of a Mediator other promises made to his Seed yet King and Subjects head and members are within one and the same Covenant as the principal debtor and the surety within the same obligation Gal. 4. 4 5. Indeed the same Covenant of grace may be distinguished as it is made with Jesus Christ and as with us yet not to intimate two distinct and compleat Covenants but two Subjects of the same Covenant As with Jesus Christ it had its constitution from eternity before we had a being as with us it hath its application in time after we exist I had rather therefore distinguish one and the same Covenant of grace into these two parts 1. For redemption and reconciliation this as with Jesus Christ for us Gal. 3. 13. Tit. 1. 2. 2 For Application this as with us in him Heb. 8. 10. From eternity Jesus Christ was a Mediator undertaking the Covenant but in time is executing and interceding for our participation of it 2. The Covenant of grace was made with Jesus Christ as a publick person a second Adam and therefore with all his Seed in him the Covenant of Works being violated Jesus Christ was appointed as the means for restoration and recovery He was our David King of Saints Isa 53. 3. Luke 1. 32. and so represented many Subjects he was a common parent having a great Spiritual Seed Isa 53. 10. The first Adam was a figure of him that was to come Rom. 5. 14. i. e. of Jesus Christ and wherein it is specified as the first standing for his Seed derived unto them sin and misery death and condemnation So the second standing for and representing his Seed deriveth unto them righteousness justification and eternal life vers 15. to the end 1 Cor. 15. 45 47. Thus they are compared together and Jesus Christ the Second preferred before the first If the first Adam had never fallen it is not imaginable that he should have injoyed life by one Covenant and his posterity by another their life would have been by keeping as their death was by breaking one and the same Law of Works So Jesus Christ the Second Adam and all his spiritual Seed injoy justification and life by one and the same Covenant of grace We are quickened together with him Coloss 2. 13. i. e. as our common person standing in our stead 3. All in the Covenant as with us is undertaken for and promised in the Covenant as between the Father and the Son and so together make up but one Covenant For his being the Covenant of the people implieth that all promised to or to be performed by the people it is secured in the contract with Jesus Christ Whatsoever was requisite unto our restoration redemption and reconciliation he agreed to work it out Isa 53. 10. there were the same objects and end in that as with him and that as with us 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. 1 Cor. 6. 20. Yea all necessaries also for application is in the Covenant as with him Is Justification and the giving of a new heart promised to us Jer. 31. 31. The same is promised to Jesus Christ Isa 53. 11. By his knowledge i. e. by the knowledge of him shall my righteous Servant i. e. Jesus Christ justify many and he shall see his Seed and be a light to the Gentiles Isa 4. 2. 6. Which implyeth newness of heart and having God for their God 4. All blessings afforded in a Covenant way to us were primarily granted to Jesus Christ and therefore the Covenant is joyntly with him and us as Mr. R. observeth Christ is first justified and acquitted from the guilt of sin and then we Isa 53. 11. Christ first Sanctified and filled with the Spirit and then we Isa 42. 1. He first glorified and then we Heb. 1. 2. Rom. 8. 17. Jesus Christ is our great Fcosee in trust he hath all the riches of grace and glory granted to and vested in him to our use and behoof both have them by the same Covenant Indeed he hath the precedency he excelleth in dignity and power he is the first-born among many brethren Rom. 8. 29. the first born from the dead Coloss 1. 18 19. All fulness dwelling in him all is firstly granted into his hands and in the Second place to us If we would obtain any Spiritual gists any graces any comforts any glory we must be beholden to him borrow all from his store receive all from his hand The Divine Spirit is from him Joh. 16. 7 8. All grace from him Rom. 16. 20 24. 1 Cor. 16. 23. Repentance from him Act. 5. 31. He is exalted to give repentance and the forgiveness of sins Faith it self from him Heb. 12. 2. Which argue that all flow from the same Covenant The Name of Jesus Christ is in the Covenant he is the principal party there to whom all the promises are primarily made on our behalf 5. Union with Jesus Christ is the only way to promised blessings and therefore the Covenant is made joyntly with him and us 2 Cor. 1. 20. Not only some but all the promises of God in him are yea and in him amen Twice in him none of the promises are made immediately to us but all invariable unchangable in their making and in their performance or accomplishment yet it is in him I might argue also from Jesus Christ his receiving the same signs with us Baptism and the Supper and why were they applied to him if he were under one Covenant and we under another 6. All the antient Covenant expressures run joyntly to Jesus Christ and also to Relievers which are his Seed the promises to
Adam Abraham David c. were not so many distinct Covenants of grace they were but various gradual discoveries of the same Covenant according to the variety of occasions in the several ages every new one being for some new end and bringing with it a further degree of manifestation and all run to Jesus Christ and us 1. That gracious promise revealed to Adam primarily runneth unto Jesus Christ as to the blessed Seed and then to us in him wretched man having eaten of the forbidden fruit what could he expect every moment but the execution of that dreadful Sentence Gen. 2. 17. In the day thou eatest dying thou shalt die O what unexpressible astonishment must needs seize upon his guilty Soul on this account there being no contrivance by any Creature wisdom no way open either for the escaping the stroke of Divine wrath or for standing under it for how should a feeble Creature bear up or avoid being crushed under the weight of an omnipotent arm Now behold in the cool of the day when the shadows of the evening were comming upon undone fallen man then was the first dawning of a day of grace saith God Gen. 3. 15. I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy head c. The bowels of Divine compassion did so tenderly rowle towards him that he could not pass one day without some intimation of his love and revealing his gracious intendments towards him Indeed this was immediately spoken not to Adam as a promise but to the Serpent as a threatning yet was uttered that Adam might over-hear and Spell out Something of a promise in it But Jesus Christ is primarily this Seed of the woman which bruiseth the Serpents head For it is he that standeth Conquerour over all the enemies of Salvation sin Satan death and Hell he procureth their utter overthrow destroyeth the works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. Vanquisheth and overcometh him Revel 12. 9. Christ is chiefly intended by it Believers are Victorious only in and by Jesus Christ they overcome by the blood of the Lamb and so the promise is joyntly to him and them Many matters in this first discovery of the Covenant did lie dark and were hidden it not discovering distinctly what Seed of the woman it should be nor the way or means to this or that he should be God as well as man and how this should be brought about which were afterward revealed 2. The Covenant with Abraham was joyntly with Jesus Christ and us there was a gracious promise which saith might hang upon as early as the days of Adam this was a promise of a blessed Seed to be given for man but the Covenant with man concerning it seemeth to be dated not from Adam but from Abraham Gal. 3. because the Lord was pleased to deal with Abraham in a more familiar way than with others before him putting himself under Covenant ingagements to him Gen. 12. 3. In thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed and Gen. 17. They must needs be at a great loss about the Seed of the woman of whose posterity it should come and it was the chief additional excellency of this federal expressure to assure Abraham that the Messia should come of his Seed according to the flesh Gen. 22. 18. In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed and thus that which was more general in the former to Adam is here more particular for it is restrained to this family and it was an advantage to know the family which he should come of There were other promises made to him as concerning the land of Canaan and that the Lord would be his God Gen. 17. 7. The latter was hinted before to another person Gen. 9. 26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. It is observed by some that Shem was the first man in all the Scripture that had this honour It is not expresly said that he was the God of Adam or of Noah but the God of Shem. Now this becometh more general he will be the God of Abraham and his Seed And this Seed expresly is Christ Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made he saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ So vers 19. Whether it be taken for Christ mystical or as a publick person yet Christ is firstly that Seed and it is as clear as the Sun that not only Christ but Believers also are the Seed in the same Abrahamatical Covenant Gal. 3. 7 26. especially vers 29. and if ye be Christs then are ye Abrahams Seed and heirs according to promise What can be more evident Believers are also of the Seed and so the Covenant with Abraham runneth joyntly to Jesus Christ and them 3. The Covenant made with David runneth joyntly to Jesus Christ and us Psal 89. 20 28 29. I have found my Servant David my Covenant shall stand with him Abraham was not a King but David was and the Covenant was made with him in that capacity as the great additional excellency thereof and it typically holdeth forth Jesus Christ in his exaltation to regal dignity Herein are some things appliable only to Jesus Christ as vers 27. and often he is called the Son of David and it is promised Ezek. 34. 24 25. I the Lord will be their God and my servant David a Prince among them This was long after David was dead and therefore must refer to Jesus Christ And also this Covenant with David extended to that Seed which would break statutes and sin against the Lord. Psal 89. 30 31 32. Which cannot refer to Jesus Christ but to us and thus that Covenant expressure did run joyntly to Jesus Christ and us 4. The New Covenant runneth joyntly to Jesus Christ and us for he died as Mediator not of the old but of the new Testament Heb. 9. 15. Which he could not have done if he had not been under it As an additional excellency of the new Jesus Christ is mentioned not as undertaking but as actually exhibited or come and his being the Mediator and the new Covenant it self whereof he is the Mediator are distinct things yet both within the Covenant of grace Indeed whatever promises there are for application of blessings to us in Christ are included in the new Covenant that extendeth to all matters of his ministration as already in that Office buâ— the promises are all firstly made to Jesuâ— Christ and to us in him Corol. 1. Hence the Covenant of grace is very extensive it taketh in all the promises made to Jesus Christ and to us yea all the antient promises of a blessed Seed to come did belong to that Covenant in lieâ— of which we have a Mediator actually exhibited and also the new Covenant It may be questioned by some whether all the promises still in force in the Book of God do belong to the
is the faithful Witness still as if he should say I lay in the bosom of the Father I have seen all transactions all passages I know how the heart of God standeth towards this Covenant work if my word may have any credit with you I testifie saith Jesus Christ that the Father is real herein and the work is done the Covenant is struck yea ratified and sealed with my blood When souls are full of jealousies concerning the willingness of God to give entertainment to them and admittance into Covenant grace and to deal with them in a Covenant way though they cannot peep into Heaven and look into the bosom of the Father and read all things there yet Jesus Christ stoopeth so low as to take upon him the Office of a faithful Witness to give assurance thereof As he is our Spiritual head and the blessed Seed so he is a party contracting in the Covenant he is the chief Seed of Abraham and of David Gal. 3. To whom the promises are made vers 19. Matth. 15. 22. All is assured to him as well as to us and his standing on our side as a party with us in the sme Covenant as it is an honour so it is a comfort to us in that it giveth assurance of its accomplishment to a tittle for the Lord will not fail his only Son Jesus Christ of any thing which he hath promised to him and he being a party it were an injury to him if any thing were unfulfilled As he is the Substance of the Covenant so he is said to be the Covenant of the people and well may he bear this name he standing in all these relations to it 3. Jesus Christ was the principal promise of the Covenant this denominates him the Covenant his being really the chief part of it or thing firstly promised in it and all other things for his sake Thus he primarily was the Seed of the woman that was promised to break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. Heb. 2. 14. 1 John 3. 8. He is that Seed of Abraham in whom all the Nations are blessed Gen. 22. 18. Gal. 3. 16. He is the royal Seed of David to be enthroned of whose Kingdom there shall be no end Luke 1. 32 33. Indeed this is a grand priviledge of Gospel times that what was of old the great thing under promise to come viz. a blessed Seed a Messiah is now turned into a performance and he now standeth actually a Mediator in stead thereof All the prophesies were of him Act. 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness Of the Scriptures he saith Joh. 5. 39. They are they which testifie of me as if they said nothing else but Christ Christ and thus he is the Covenant 4. Jesus Christ is really to us all that which under any antient Covenant was typically represented unto men and so he is Substantially the Covenant of the people as Dr. Sibs observeth Christ is all to us which was held forth of old either in personal types he is the Second Adam the true Isaac Joseph Joshua Solomon Melchisedeck Or in real types he is the true brasen Serpent that cureth sin-stung souls which by an eye of faith are looking to him Joh. 3. 14 15. He is the true Manna bread of life to all those that believingly feed upon him Joh. 6. 31 33 35. He is the true sacrifice the Paschal Lamb our hearts being sprinkled with his blood the destroying Angel shall pass over us He is our true Tabernacle true Altar and true Ark all typified by these is really fulfilled in him 5. Jesus Christ is the excellency marrow and sweetness yea the sum and Substance of all that is under promise and so he is the Covenant of the people indeed he is the very store-house where the promises are treasured up All mercies from the Father must have their conveyance to us through the hands of his Son Yea Jesus Christ is the very quintessence the chief in the very life of all the mercies themselves and all come with him Rom. 8. 32. How shall be not with him also freely give us all things It is Christ that putteth fulness into other things and addeth sweetness to them they are imbittered and as nothing if without him The promises though full in themselves yet are empty to us unless taken with Christ all priviledges empty all injoyments empty unless taken with him hence he is said to be all in all Col. 3. 11. He is all in all graces all in all peace in all promises in all comforts in all glory 6. Jesus Christ doth all that is necessary for the procurement of all federal blessings and so he is the Covenant of the people as he is the resurrection i. e. the cause of it John 11. 25. So he is the cause and procurer of all federal blessings Not only shall he make a Covenant with the people but be a Covenant of the people i. e. All that is required in a federal way from the people that Jesus Christ shall be so them if the Father demandeth it of them they must not present him with any duties or performances of their own for acceptation unto life but with Jesus Christ he is their Covenant to perform all for them which they are obliged to in order to that end Saith the Lord I will not enter into Covenant or deal in an immediate way with them as with the first Adam but I will take a surer course I will give thee for that end thou shalt undertake all the matters therein even for thy Seed I will look to thee for the performance thereof and thus he is the Covenant of the people All that is promised to Jesus Christ or to us it is upon his obedience Isa 53. 10 11 12. Not by the obedience of every one for himself but by the obedience of one i. e. of Jesus Christ many are made righteous Rom. 5. 19. Justification of life and remission of sins are procured by him vers 18. Rom. 3. 24. And so reconciliation or promised peace Isa 53. 5. The Chastisement of our peace was upon him We must for ever have stood at enmity if he had not stepped in for the procurement of our peace hence he is our peace Ephes 2. 14. Not only the Author and Procurer but even the sum of it So the promise of propriety in and Communion with God hath its procurement and taketh effect only upon the obedience of Jesus Christ all are afar off from God under the greatest estrangement till made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ Ephes 2. 12 13. the promise of the Communication of Sanctifying grace of giving the Law into the heart is from him Isa 53. 10. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Yea the promise of Salvation and eternal life taketh effect from him his death was for this end Heb. 9. 15. That they which are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance And thus he is for a Covenant of the people CHAP. IV.