to the Ransoming of his Chosen from sin and misery it may there fore well be called the Covenant of Redemption If the Son of God became a Redeemer by his own Consent freely and was determined unto it before the World began it infers according to our Capacity that there was something propounded to him and that he did accordingly accept of it The Transactions between the Glorious Divine Persons Infinitely Transcend our Understandings but if we will form a Conception of them it must be after this manner and God is pleased so to declare it unto us that we may be able to entertain it in our Faith and in as much as this stands among the Decrees of God in which there is the whole Idea of this work and it is in all of it ratified unchangeably there must together with the mention of all those things which relate to it be also a final and determinate conclusion about it all must be ratified In this regard the Counsel of Peace is said to be between them both Zech. 6. 13. hereupon also the proposal of it by the Father to the Son is represented under the form of a Covenant Hypothetically propounding both a Condition and a Reward Isa 53. 10. and in Psal 110. 7. there is a Connexion which amounts to the same thing for in a Copulate Axiom where there are things joyned together that are consequent the one upon the other it bears the force of a Connex and so it is in the Text and this may suffice for the evidence of the thing or that there is such a Covenant CHAP. 4. Of the Parties in the Covenant of Redemption IT follows now that we come a little nearer make a more distinct Survey of this Covenant according to the Light afforded us concerning it in the Word of God I shall therefore here explain it in such things wherein the special nature of it and its difference from other Covenants may be discerned especially the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace and here may these things be Enquired into 1. Who are the Parties in this Covenant 2. Whence this Covenant had its rise or what was the ground of its being made 3. When it was made 4. Whether it be a Covenant of Works or of Grace 5. Who are Covenanted for 6. What are the Articles of it 1. Who are the Parties in this Covenant A. It is a general Observation that in all Covenants there are two Parties and there can be neither less or more for the notion of a Covenant belongs to the Head of Relation which hath but the Relate and the Correlate and cannot exceed If then there are divers parties they suppose divers Covenants In the Covenant of Works God and Man immediately were the Parties In the New Covenant they are God and Man thro' the Interposition of a Mediator unto whom both Parties have a respect But in the Covenant of Redemption they are God the Son This is agreed on among all those that acknowledge such a Covenant but under what consideration it is debated with reference to each party and may be here particularly Explained 1. God is one Party Psal 89. 3. I have made The Party that speaks there is God himself But it may be asked whether he be to be considered Essentially or Personally and so is to be applied to the Father In the former Description given of this Covenant I have expressed it as belonging to God the Father There are some Divines who would have it taken Essentially and assigned to the Deity considered in the Essence and not in any particular Subsistence lest otherwise the Holy Spirit the Third Person in the Sacred Trinity should be excluded from being personally concerned in this Covenant This Debate needs not be eagerly pursued being easily reconcileable here then observe 1. That the Decree in which this Covenant is to be found is properly an Essential Act or belongs to all the Three Persons in common as they are one in the Essence Acts properly personal are only such as flow from their Relative Properties or at least have their Foundation in these Relations The Decrees is an act of Divine Counsel exerted by the Divine Will which is undivided and common to the three persons and thus the Deity is the one party Covenanting because the Essential acts of the Trinity are undivided Joh. 5. 17 19. 2. That in these Essential Works the Scripture frequently observes a personal propriety and an order of working according to the order of their Subsistence and manner of working so that in whatever work any one persons order of Subsistence and manner of working doth principally appear it is by way of specialty ascribed to that person not because that person is alone in it but because God doth herein manifest himself to us most clearly in such a manner of being or Subsistence The Father is the first Person hence beginning Works are Attributed to him as Election and Creaâ—ion The Son is the Second Person and therefore secondary works are ascribed to him such as Redemption The Holy Ghost is the Third and Last Person and therefore finishing works are given to him such as Application The Father works of himself by the Son and Spirit The Son works from the Father by the Spirit The Holy Ghost works from them both Joh. 5. 19. 16. 13. and this Order is to shew the Oecononomy of the Divine Persons Now in this regard Essential Works may have a peculiar Appropriation to a person not exclusive but inclusive of the other 3. That Jesus Christ in making mention of this Covenant acknowledgeth the Father to be the Party whom he had Indented withal See Psal 2. 7 8. the mentioning of the Son here spoken to and owned points us to the Father under the Personal Relation So also in Psal 89. 26. which Psalm hath a proper reference to this Covenant and how often in the Gospel have we Christ declaring his Mission to be from his Father more particularly in John 17. he challengeth of him the performance of the Promises of this Covenant and truly as this Covenant is the beginning of all our Salvation and the spring or Original from which all the good that we hope for so it is fitly attributed to him who is the first of the persons 2. The other Party is the Son of God the Second Person in the Trinity who is Coeternal with the Father The Covenant being Eternal there could not be any party in it but one who was an Eternal Person Whosoever is engaged in a Covenant which is a voluntary act must be presumed to Exist either in himself or in his Representative Nor is this disputed whether the Son of God be the other party but yet there is no little difference in the notions about the qualility or respect in which he stands as a party in this Covenant The Son of God is considered under a treble notion 1. Meerly as he is a Divine Person and so is
latter the Grace of God which was so made way for is to be applied In the former the Law was to be fulfilled by Christ in the latter the Gospel is to be complied with by man In the former Christ was made one party in the latter he stands as the Mediator between both parties 1 Tim. 2. 2. 5. In the former God Covenanted for us in the latter he Covenants with us there he promised us to his Son here he promiseth himself to us But though these are two Covenants yet there is a near Conjunction between them and the latter hath a manifold dependance on the former yea such as all the Believers solid comfort and permanent hope ariseth from it yea indeed all the Grace that there is in this Covenant derives from that as a stream from a Fountain and this may be observed more especially in five respects 1. The Covenant between God the Father and God the Son was that which opened the way for his Covenanting with his people Had not that Covenant been first made this would never have been heard of The Covenant which God Indents with his people is wholly of Grace in all the parts of it as it is made by him from the foundation to the top-stone of it there is no other voice to be heard but that of Grace Now had there not been an Antecedent Covenant which man had some relation unto this might immediately and without any previous prepication have entred into Grace is free else it were not Grace and God might have exprest it to whom he saw meet But when we consider how it was with man when this Covenant was declared viz. that he stood under an Old Covenant of Works and was related to it as a Transgressor the Precept of it being violated by him and the Curse of it having taken place on him and the Justice of God standing obliged to the fulfilling of the Articles in that Covenant which God had engaged in it stood up as an high Wall of Separation between God and Man and called for vengeance to be executed upon him according to his Earnings nor could it be appeased without full satisfaction given to it for the Injuries done it by the sinning Creature All mankind stood thus Condemned and Men of Death Hence it was necessary that without a Covenant of Reparation interposing there could not be a Covenant of Salvation Had not this great Transaction past the Covenant of Works must of necessity have taken place and we must have been judged and condemned and for ever destroyed by it God must be Just in being gracious he must not deny himself or any of his Attributes Mercy and truth must correspond and how could that be as the case stood had there not been such a transaction as this If Justice had not interposed Grace might have proceeded without any more ado but because God must be Just in Justifying a sinner there must be provisâ—ion made that he may be so So that this Covenant of Redemption may be looked upon as the procuring cause of the Covenant of Grace it opened the door to it removed the obstructions that would else have impeded it and made the way for God to be gracious to poor sinning man and save him without any injury done to his justice or violence offered to his law Here it was that all was laid in that needed to satisfy that to the utmost farthing and when that is once appeased and its mouth stopt so that it hath no more to say Grace hath now its full and free scope In this regard we shall find the Apostle reducing of our Salvation to this Covenant which was made with Christ before time as the Root and Original of it 2. Tim. 1. 9. 2. The Application of the Grace of the Covenant of Reconciliation whereby any of the children of men are brought into that Covenant and truly entituled to all the good which is therein promised to the Children of God bears an entire respect to the Covenant of Redemption That all the Children of men are not taken into the New and Everlasting Covenant is certain That all those to whom it is offered in the Gospel do not cordially embrace it is also evident upon observation So that the reason of the difference cannot be because some do hear of it and others do not That any refuse to come into this Covenant and remain in their unbelief when they are outwardly called is their own fault and it will be charged upon their wilfulness Joh. 5. 40. But that any do entertain it and actually close in with the terms of it and believe in Christ for salvation is not of themselves or by any power of their own but of God Eph. 2. 8 And if he should have done no more towards their believing than he did to the other they would have been for ever under their unbelief Now there must be some reason assigned why God applies it to this and not to the other This cannot be in the Creature because all are alike Children of wrath and equally guilty and filthy in their natural state as born Eph. 2. 3. It must then be in God And as the Covenant of Redemption was a result of his meer good pleasure so the Application of the Grace of the New-Covenant is an act of his faithfulness to his promise to Christ in that Covenant Hence when God comes with his Converting Grace to bestow it upon any when he powerfully perswades the man to receive the word of truth and accept of Jesus Christ upon his offer and terms and passeth by that other who sits by him and leaves him to despise and make light of the Grace exhibited to him he evermore hath his eye upon and proceeds according to the tenour of this Covenant So that those who were Covenanted for by Christ and given him of his Father are brought into the Covenant of Grace by the Holy Ghost The Spirit of God when he comes to make the Gospel Efficacious unto the salvation of sinners by putting them into the Covenant of Grace he takes his measures by this Covenant he reads those ancient records observes who they were by name that were given to the Son of God in that transaction he addresseth these with his power and causeth them to hear his voice that they may live we have such an expression in Acts 15. 48. as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed Yea and our Saviour Christ lays that down as a Rule which never fails John 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Christ first redeems them by Price and then the spirit delivers them by Power he first buys them out of the hands of Justice and then the Holy Ghost comes and fetcheth them out of the Prison of Sin and from under the Power of Satan and enlargeth them So that the Covenant of Grace in respect to the extensiveness of it to the Subject is made just as large as the
needs look yet farther 2. Hence in the Covenant of Grace the Obedience of Christ is propounded to a sinner as the Matter of the Justification which he is to believe in him for Christs Righteousness is exhibited as both the Meritoorius and also the Material cause of our being acquitted before God To perswade us to Embrace it and Cast ouâ—selves upon it it presents it before us as a Perfect Righteousness which is every way full and answerable to the Law in all points having enough in it to answer all the Demands of that whatsoever hence we read Rom 5 18 19. How compleatly this makes up all that which was procured by Mans Offence but 3 The way how this Righteousness came to be ours by Imputation and so accepted for us unto our Justification is discovered in and by the Contemplation of the Covenant of Redemption in which we may Observe 1. That we were there Covenanted for This Covenant was not made with us but for us Though Christ were the only Party Covenanting with his Father yet we were the Subjects of the Covenant That great Transaction was made with respect to us and in order to the bringing about of our Salvation so that as Christ was the Redeemer so we were the Persons to be Redeemed by Him Galatians 4 5. 2. That hence all that Christ did in that Great Work was for us or upon our account He Lived not for Himself neither Dyed He for Himself but for us Gal. 2. 20. 2. Cor. 5. Ult. He had no occasion to put himself into the Condition of a Redeemer upon his own account He Owed no Active Obedience to the Law for himself being the Eternal Son of God nor did he deserve to suffer any Penalty for himself for he was without sin it was therefore for such as did need all this to be done for them Gal. 4. 4. 5. 3 That what he thus did was upon agreement between his Father and him That there first past a firm Covenant about it before he engaged actually in the doing of it so that there was a firm Foundation laid for the securing of the Fruit and Benefit of it and for this reason the Blood of Christ is called the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant Hebr. 13 20. Because it was Shed upon this Compact 4. That he had a firm and inviolable Promise from his Father that all this should be made ours and that we should reap the fruit and benefit of it Isa 53. 10. It was a Promise made by God who cannot lie and it was sealed by Two Immutable things Hebr. 6. 18. There was Gods Purpose and his Oath to confirm it Now when all these things are put together they clear up the Righteousness of Gods Proceeding for though it be a sinner that stands at the Bar and one who is in himself by Law a man of Death yet when it is made to appear that he was redeemed by an Everlasting Covenant That Temporary Covenant of Works cannot infringe it but must be subservient unto it And since he is Righteous in his surety how Unrighteous soever he is in himself God is Righteous in Justifying of him and no injustice can justly be charged upon him in declaring him to be Righteous by vertue of this Righteousness So that our Justification is built upon a Foundation which is stronger than the Earth or Heavens INFERENCE V. Here we Learn that mans whole Salvation proceeds from God himself It plainly tells us how little hand poor man hath in his own deliverance from misery and obtaining of blessedness and this will be discovered in two Propositions 1 That the foundation of mans Salvation was laid in this Covenant From hence it is that it derives its rise and original that any of the undone Children of Adam are brought to Inherit eternal Glory they owe the whole acknowledgment of it hither Fallen man could not have bin saved without such a Covenant his happiness absolutely depended upon the good will of God and these are the first thoughts that God enterteined in himself about mans delivery and here began the futurition of it If God had not Chosen them first they would never have Chosen him If Christ had not come to be a Redeemer all the children of men must have died hopelesly in their sins and if God the Father had not Covenanted with his Son about his coming on this great errand he had certainly never come again if Christs obedience had not been accepted with God upon the account of those for whom he both Did and Died it could never have been Imputed to them so as to be accounted the procuring cause of their Salvation and if God had not thus Covenanted with his Son about it it had never been thus accepted No one of these things could have been left out in this great affair Now all this proceeds from God himself it is his own doing The creature that is to be saved by it was not there to speak for it self for it was before the Creation so that neither was there any other Created being to speak unto God in its behalf If God had not thought of it and done it it had never been for this was an eternal act it past in the Divine Counsel and was ratified there before the world was II That all that which contributes to mans Salvation ariseth and flows down from this Covenant whatsoever else can be mentioned or thought of that hath any influence into the eternal Salvation of the children of men is hither to be reduced as to the Original of it Here were the contrivances and ways for the accomplishment of all this business laid out and most wisely delineated Here was all that was needful to bring sinners to the actual possession of eternal life prepared yea the very Covenant of Grace in and by which the Treaty is held and carried on between God and Sinners under the Gospel Dispensation is here fountained Not only the Redemption it self but the Application of the Redemption is wholly derived from hence in all the parts and steps of it in this Covenant it was that Christ was made all for us that he might be so to us 1. Cor 1. 30. All the Promises which were made of providing the Ordinances for and giving them to men of sending them the means of Grace and the calls of the Gospel of sending the Holy Spirit to them and into them of drawing sinners home to Jesus Christ making them to comply with him on his terms of keeping them in him and preserving them from Falling away from Grace after they are in him and of bringing them to and making them to inherit Eternal Glory at the last they are all the promises of this Covenant and the engaged benefits of Christs Undertaking were made to him upon it and were fulfilled eminently upon his having done the Work Eph. 4. 10. c. So that all this is of God because it is all of it laid up in Gods Covenant