Paul argues Rom. 5.10 Chap. 8.32 5. Or would Jesus Christ die for the whole World and yet refuse to pray for them that they may all be saved See Joh. 17.9 The Reprobate World he prayed not for yet he prayed for all that should be saved Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their Words that World Christ is a Propitiation for their Sins or had made their Peace with God for he died for Even that World which he takes away the Sins of he died for and that All which he draws to himself by his Spirit he died for on the Cross he taketh away the Sin of the World by bearing it himself or by satisfying for the Sins thereof He was made Sin for us that knew no Sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him He made a Plenary Satisfaction to the Justice of God for the Sins of this whole World and obtained plenary Remission and Grace by his Blood that we might be Redeemed from a vain Conversation The Elect before Calling are as much the World as any others yea and the best part of it too Moreover by A Metonomy All is put for a part frequently in the Scripture God so loved the World that he gave his only Begotten Son that is God so loved Sinful Mankind both Jews and Gentiles That whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting Life Object We do not plead for an absolute Vniversal Redemption but for a Conditional one that is so that if all Repent act Faith are Regenerated obey Christ and are Holy and continue so to the End they shall be saved Answ. Is this Gospel Doth the Proclamation of Peace run thus 1. I argue then that Christ is but a Conditional Redeemer and hath only made a Conditional Peace i. e. he made our Peace and paid our Debts upon this Condition viz. That we Repent change our own Hearts or are Regenerated and get Faith and sincere Obedience and continue Holy and Obedient to the end 2. Moreover this Notion of a Conditional Peace and Redemption renders our Salvation not to be of God's Free Grace alone through that Redemption that is in Jesus Christ but that we procure our Peace or make it with God our selves with our own Money i. e. by our Repentance Faith Holiness and final Perseverance and that Christ only merited or purchased this Grant that our Money i. e. our Faith Obedience c. should go for good Coin in Heaven and procure our Justification Peace and Eternal Life for us And thus the Glory that we are saved would not belong to God and Jesus Christ alone true that we might be saved we may thank God and Christ God by the Death of his Son is made reconcilable but that we are saved we may thank our selves Christ doing no more for us that are saved than he did for them that perish but only we had more Wit and Care than they had i. e. for by improving our common Grace God was obliged to give us his Special Grace 3. After this Notion Christ might be or might not be a Redeemer at all our Peace might or might not be made with God because it wholly dependeth upon the Will of Man Man's Will determines the Issue of the whole matter not that Christ undertook to how our Wills or reconcile us to God no but that we our selves must Answer the Condition of Repentance Faith Obedience c. or else all that Christ hath done is lost and comes to nothing and why might not all refuse to do this as well as some who never will believe c. Christ shall be a Redeemer and make our Peace if we please this puts a Bar to the Purchaser as one observes a Man can't in any good sense be called a Redeemer of such Persons out of Slavery till the Persons perform those Conditions upon which he laid down the Price As for Example saith he I lay down an Hundred Pounds for the Redemption of a Person in Slavery upon this Condition that he yield to serve me Seven Years after I must have his Consent before I can Redeem him and therefore upon these Conditions I am certainly suspended from being a Redeemer nay and am no Redeemer of such Persons if they refuse the Terms So that for Christ to be an Universal Redeemer is a Contradiction for it is to be a Redeemer of all if they please but can be a Redeemer of none but of such that consented to the Terms proposed 4. Besides this casteth horrid Reproach upon the Son of God as if he had done some great thing for us in dying and making our Peace when indeed according to this Notion he doth but deceive poor Creatures for he has made their Peace and Redeemed them if they will but get out of Satan's Hands and break his Chains and Bonds in pieces and raise themselves from the Dead and change their own Hearts c. whereas he knew we were no more able to do this than to create a new World Therefore Brethren pray observe we affirm that whatsoever Conditions were agreed upon in the Covenant of Peace our Lord Jesus Christ undertook to do and perform them all both for us and also in us I will give them a new Heart I will take away the Stony Heart and I will give them a Heart of Flesh I will put my Fear into their Hearts and they shall not depart from me I will Circumcise their Hearts to love the Lord their God He that hath begun a good Work in you will perform it to the Day of Christ who were born not of Flesh nor of Blood nor of the Will of Man but of God To believe is our Duty but 't is Christ that gives us Grace and Power so to do and this Grace was also purchased for us by his Blood He is exalted at God's Right Hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance c. And Faith also is the Gift of God Eph. 2.8 5. Moreover Who can believe that Christ would shed his Blood for such whom he knew would never answer those Conditions which these Men speak of besides they being Conditions out of their power to perform 6. Moreover I might argue thus i. e. If Christ died for all he intended to save all but he never intended to save all therefore he died not for all Who shall frustrate his Purpose or Intention 7. That Purchase of Peace and Remission of Sins that leaves many Man under a certainty to be Damned is not to be esteemed a Redemption at all 8. Moreover Christ's Death and Resurrection shall have its full and proper Effects for whom or in whose stead he died See Joh. 12.23 24. 9. If there be the same Eternal and Unchangeable Cause of the Price of the Redemption as of the Application to the same Persons then whosoever his
Benjamin Keach Minister of the Gospel Aetat 57. 1698 J. Drapentier del in et sculp THE DISPLAY OF Glorious Grace OR THE Covenant of PEACE OPENED In FOURTEEN SERMONS Lately Preached In which the Errors of the present Day about Reconciliation and Justification are Detected By BENJAMIN KEACH PSAL. Lxxxix 34. My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my Lips LONDON Printed by S. Bridge and Sold by Mary Fabian at Mercers-Chappel in Cheapside and Joseph Collier at the Golden-Bible on London-Bridge by the Gate and William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1698. TO THE Unprejudic'd Reader AS I Preach not to please Mens Ears so but little regard ought to be had to the Scoffing Reflections of such Men who contemn every thing of this kind unless it consists of a Fancy-taking Modelation of empty Rhetorick or a high Florid Stile mixt with Wit Learning and Philosophical Notions Sad it is to see that in Divine Matters nay in Preaching Persons should affect New Modes and Fashions as to the shame of the present Generation they do in respect of Garbs and Dresses I am not for Airy and Florid Orations in the Ministration of the Word of God but for that plain Way of Preaching used by the Holy Apostles and our Worthy Modern Divines Besides could I so Preach or Write as is the Flesh-pleasing Ear-tickling A-la-mode of the Times of such who study Words more than Matter it would be utterly dislik'd by all such Pions Christians for whose sake and at whose Importunity these Sermons are published The Holy Apostle who tho profoundly Learned disclaims any Rhetorical Flourishes or perswasive Oratory but professes that his Speech and Preaching was not with the Inticing Words of Man's Wisdom but in the demonstration of the Spirit and with Power 1 Cor. 2.4 I may say of some Mens Orations or Elocutions as Plutarch speaks of the Nightingale who was at first taken with his delicate Notes but when he saw him said Thou art a Voice and nothing else But alas since the Sacred Scripture it self can't escape some Mens Censure as if the Stile was rude and unpolished they being destitute of that Spirit which gave them forth What can I expect to meet with from such Reader The great Joy that generally appeared amongst all People upon the Conclusion of the late Peace put me upon Preaching on this Subject and when I found so great a Number of Books Subscribed for I thought I had a Call to Print and Publish them which was the least of my Thoughts when I first entered upon this Work And indeed I greatly fear many will see their Expectation frustrated I mean such who did not hear the Sermons Preached but only had some small account of them yet they knowing the Author I may see cause to recal what I speak of my Fears I must confess divers Worthy and Learned Men have wrote most excellently upon the Covenant of Grace yet perhaps hardly any in the Method here used nor under the Notions of a Covenant of Peace In some things thou wilt find that I do differ from many Learned Men who make the Covenant of Redemption a distinct Covenant from that of Peace and Reconciliation yet I desire thee to read the tenth Sermon before thou judgest who is in the right By the Baxterian Party I expect to be called an Antinomian for that hath been their Artifice of late to expose the True Ancient Protestant Doctrine about Justification c. but others who are sound in the Faith will I am sure acquit me of that Charge My main design in all my Preaching if I know my own Heart is wholly to advance the Free Grace of God through that Redemption which is in Jesus Christ and utterly to abase the Creature tho it may seem a hard thing to keep in an even Line and not fall into either Extream May be some may stumble at some Expressions about God's being Reconciled in Christ to the Elect whilst Sinners But sure they can't think that I mean because he is reconciled in the Second Adam that therefore he is actually Reconciled to any as they are considered in the First Adam and abide under God's denounced Wrath and the Curse of the Law I know I have been abused of late in Print by some on the other Hand but let all well weigh what I have said in my Medium betwixt two Extreams and what is here said and so receive Satisfaction if in the Judgment of any I have missed the Truth in any material Case I shall gladly receive Information from such and readily embrace it upon the Evidence of Truth For I confess I see but a little and the Best know but in part That which possibly may seem most distastful is the frequent repeating of some things yet in so doing I have followed the Directions of a very great Man viz. That such Things that are Emphatical should be often repeated to fix the Matter the better on the Mind of the Hearer or Reader Besides they come in occasionally upon different Heads And also I find the very same has been done by others who are look'd upon as Stars of the first Magnitude See the Epistle to Dr. Manton's Fourth Volume p. 8. where you have these Expressions viz. Let it not offend thee that some things are repeated which frequently happens in the Course of any Man's Ministry when the same Subject has been formerly handled Moreover one Reason of it might be because of the different Times of my Preaching these Sermons I being called oft to Preach upon other Subjects betwixt them neither do I think any thing is Vnprofitably repeated it being chiefly to Refute the New prevailing Errours about Justification Reader Thou wilt find many of the Essential Points of the Christian Religion are handled in these Sermons tho but weakly according to that small Gift-received And also thou wilt see how Vnjustly I have been misrepresented in an Epistle to a certain Book lately Published I do not say that thou hast all the Enlargements here Printed as Delivered when these Sermons were Preached especially in some of them for if I had so done the Book would have swelled too big and indeed it exceeds now what I first proposed But to Conclude If thou dost receive any Light Spiritual Profit or Advantage by thy perusing of these Sermons let thy care be to return the Praise to the God of Truth and with Charity to cover my Weaknesses and forget me not in thy Prayers who am now drawing towards the Period of my Labours and Days But yet through God's Grace at present remain thy Servant in the Gospel for Christ's sake From my House at Horslydown in Freeman's-Lane this 12th of the 3d Month called May 1689. B. Keach Reader there are some Faults escaped the Press which thou art desired to mend with thy Pen before thou readest PAg. 76. lin 13. for Author read Orthodox p. 10. l. 11. a Figure is false plac'd
wellcome News shall be saved from Hell and be Crowned with Glory in Heaven for ever and ever 9. O Bless God for the Gospel for the News of Peace and you Sinners see that you attend upon the Preaching of the Word of Reconciliation for this way he has ordained to work Faith in you O! Cry to him to pour out his Spirit and help you to believe never rest till you have got a Heart a Will to take of the Water of Life 10. Terror But tremble you that reject these Tidings this Grace for such that finally do so shall never have a share of that Peace Christ hath made by his Blood for on such the Wrath of God abides and will for ever Moreover he will also make it appear that Man's Destruction is of themselves tho their help is only in him Dread least God gives you up to blindness of Mind and hardness of Heart nay leave you also to Temporal Plagues and Judgments as he dealt by the Jews of old 11. Comfort Moreover here is Comfort to Believers who have heard and do know the Joyful Sound 1. They have Interest in this Peace and have a Title to Heaven by Christ's Righteousness alone 2. It is also a sign they were beloved from Everlasting because drawn to Christ or were Elected before time because called in time therefore let all such praise the Holy God To whom be Glory now and for ever Amen SERMON VIII Shewing when the Covenant did Commence also the Nature of the Covenant opened ISA. Liv. x. Neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Doct. THAT there is a Covenant of Peace made or agreed on and stands firm in the behalf of all God's Elect. The next thing under the General Head I am upon I shall as it were but mention which is the Sixth thing proposed viz. Quest. When did the Covenant of Peace Commence and who are included in it and what is required in order to their actual Possession of the Peace and Blessings thereof 1. The Covenant was made in Eternity but the time of its first Commencement was after our first Parents had violated the Law of the first Covenant 2. But it did not so fully commence in the actual dispensation thereof until Christ put an end to the Covenant of Works then it was as you have heard established He took away the first that he might establish the second II. As to those who were included in it they were all the Elect or all the Seed of Christ or all that he as a publick Head represented and no more True the whole World receives many external Blessings by virtue of it for the Elect sake for Jesus Christ is their Great Landlord and Glorious Sovereign The World is upheld by a new Title i. e. from Christ as Mediator for had not he interposed between God and it the whole visible Fabrick doubtless had been dissolved and the whole Race of Mankind lost for ever III. That which is required in order to actual Interest in and Possession of the Sacred Blessings of this Covenant and the Peace thereof is Union with Christ I will cause you to pass under the Rod and bring you into the Bonds of the Covenant Under the Rod God brings Sinners under Convictions that wounds like a Rod and makes them pass under the Yoke i.e. he Marries them to his Son and so brings them into the Covenant Sinners by Faith take hold of this Covenant and Christ being given to them they also give themselves to him to be his and no more their own but the Lords they take God to be their God and Christ to be their Saviour and so come to possess the Blessings of the Covenant and the Peace thereof But no more as to this I shall proceed to the third General Head Thirdly My Business and Work is now to open the Nature of the Covenant of Peace 1. I shall God assisting shew you what a kind of Covenant it is or explain the Properties of it 2. Apply it I. The Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace But pray observe that the Covenant of Peace may be considered as twofold or a mixt Covenant 1. As it refers to Christ or to his part and Work therein and as thus it was a Conditional Covenant Christ receives all for us wholly upon the account of his own Desert or Merits 2. But whatsoever we receive by virtue of this Covenant it is wholly in a way of Free Grace and Favour through his Merits or through that Redemption we have by his Blood But take it either ways 't is of Grace First As to the Rise Spring or Efficient Cause thereof it was God's Infinite Love and Free Grace to his Elect This moved the Fato send his Son to be our Mediator and to accept of him as our Surety to do and suffer for us and in our stead I have before shewed God was no more obliged to enter into a Covenant of Peace with Christ for us or any of Adam's Off-spring than he was to reconcile himself to the Fallen Angels for they were his Creatures and more glorious in their first Creation than Mankind were The Surety of the Covenant was alone of God's finding he procured him He hath devised means that his Banished might not for ever be expelled from him For the Lord hath ransomed Jacob and he sent Jesus What could be an Act of higher or greater Grace and Favour than for God to vouchsafe or provide such a Mediator and Surety for his Enemies One so Great Glorious Worthy and Able and one so willing to undertake to make our Peace and bring us again home to God Secondly And then as to us this Covenant God entered into with Christ for us must needs be of God's Free Grace For as I have before hinted I. It was not of Constraint I mean there was no Necessity laid on God or Jesus Christ thus to Love Redeem and Save us in respect of Motive there was nothing in Man I say that could move the Affections of God thus to do and much less was there any thing in us in respect of Merit we deserved no such Love either absolutely or comparatively because we were not only undeserving but an ill-deserving nay Hell deserving Creatures being Rebels to God Vile Contemptible and Base Creatures even as loathsome as filthy Worms What is Man that thou art mindful of him What is his Deformity his Polution his Filthiness And O! What Cursed Enmity was there in our Carnal Mind Yea how much like to the Devil were we by Nature II. In that God hath manifested his Love and Mercy to so many this shews his Infinite Grace to us-ward Object May be you will say Why not to more Nay Why not to all Answ. I answer Why to so many Nay why to any at all Or Why to such that are called Why to us and not rather to those
in time this is done absolutely in God's bestowing Grace and the Gifts of the Promise to dead Creatures or to Sinners as Sinners In whom as saith our Worthy Author there is an absolute Impossibility of performing the least entitling Act to the Promise There can be nothing freer than Life to a dead Creature neither doth Life give a Title to Action but it is the Principle of Action III. All the Promises of the Covenant in the Promulgation of it in its Original Nature and as respecting us expresses the Tenour of it as most Free and Absolute Thus it was to Adam to Abraham to David and to us I will be your God and you shall be my People It is not you shall have Peace upon the Condition that you do this or that ye shall be Pardon'd or then be Justified No but quite otherwise But he that worketh not but believeth on him that Justifieth the Vngodly 'T is not by our Obedience or Duties but by the Promises that we partake of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 c. All is given absolutely of Free Grace True there are in the Covenant Conditions of Connexion if a Man believes he shall be saved But who gives that Faith Is it not God Pray observe that Jesus Christ hath made our Peace and Faith to receive the Atonement is given as an absolute Promise Is not the Spirit so given And pray doth not God give the Spirit before Faith can be exerted by us Is not Faith the Fruit of the Spirit And doth not the Fruit proceed from the Seed and the Act flow from the Habit Brethren beware of them that Preach Peace to you upon a Conditional Covenant the Condition they speak of is your Repentance Faith Regeneration and Obedience And alas who is able to perform these hard Conditions Besides this is to turn the Covenant of Grace into a Covenant of Works you must work for Justification and Peace if you will have it nay and you shall be no further Justified nor have Peace than you are Sanctified if you believe these Mens Gospel But we say that Peace is made and God hath promised that he will give the Spirit even pour it out upon Sinners he first pours out the Spirit of Grace and then the Sinners believe or look to him whom they pierced and receive the Blessing of Peace or have the Minifestation of it to their Consciences There is no Condition saith Reverend Cotton before Faith but a Condition of Misery a lost Condition These Men render God like Pharaoh's Task-masters who would have their Tale of Brick but find the Israelites no straw They will not have Sinners to have Peace without doing that for it which indeed no Man is able to do But O! let poor lost Souls look up to Christ wait on him attend on his Word cry to him who hath received Gifts for the Rebellious also i. e. the Gift of the Spirit the Gift or rather the Grace of Faith the Gift of Righteousness Will you have a Righteousness wrought out of your own Bowels or by doing or have none at all Will you be saved by Works and not by Grace But to proceed 5. The Absoluteness of the Covenant saith this Author appears as to us in that all the Foederal Intitling Conditions contained in it are found in another i. e. in Christ and not in us neither wrought in us nor by us for whatsoever is wrought in us is of Free Grace My Brethren Doth a Child contribute any thing to its own Formation in the Womb Alas What is in us before we are Born again And of his own Will begat he us c. Object But doth not the Gospel require Faith and Repentance as the Condition of Justification and Eternal Life 1 Answ. I told you but even now there are Conditions of Connexion by way of order and dependance of things one upon another As in Logick saith the same Reverend Divine if a Creature be a Man he is a Rational Creature or if God be the first Cause he is the Creator of all things And in this sence saith he Creation is a Condition of Salvation if a Man be Saved he must be Created So if a Man believe he shall be Saved believing is a Condition of Connexion a State of Grace is thus a Condition to a State of Glory by way of Connexion in the Promise but one is not the Foederal Condition of another but both come in as the Gift of Grace in this sence the Covenant contains all the Conditions of Order and Dependance in the Exhibition and Performance the hearing the Word is the Condition of Faith but hearing is not a Foederal Condition so the giving the Spirit is the Condition of Union to Christ and Faith and Faith the Condition of receiving of Pardon and living in Holiness and the giving of Pardon the Condition of receiving it and Holiness the Condition of seeing God and of having Eternal Happiness but these kind of Conditions are not Foederal Intitling Conditions to the Promise but are contained in the Promise and denote the Connexion and Dependance of one promised Benefit upon another 2. God requires Faith and Repentance of them that shall be saved but 1. Not that the Creature can do either of these of himself but to shew he will work Faith and Repentance in all whom he will save or as he hath ordained the End so he hath also ordained the Means 2. But not that either of these are procuring or Foederal Conditions of the Covenant blessings or of Salvation because all the Graces of the Spirit are contained in the Covenant as part of it therefore neither Faith Repentance Regeneration as the Creatures Part or Work can be Conditions of it These Men call Faith c. such a Condition that the Mercies granted are suspended till we perform the Condition It is therefore saith he no more than an Act of ours True we have a good Bargain as a Man that gives but Twenay Guineas of his own Purchases an Hundred Pounds per Annum Brethren as our Author observes We must distinguish of the Ministry of Reconciliation in respect of the Letter of it and the Spirit of it 1 Cor. 3.6 in the Letter of it or meer external Dispensation it kills because the Sinner looks upon all these Conditions of dependance Foederal Conditions but the Spirit in its Ministry is absolute according to the Original Contract and the fullest Discovery in its highest freedom therefore the Apostle says The Spirit giveth Life The believing Corinthians are said to be the Epistle of Christ written and transcribed from the Original-Covenant Contract Not with Ink but with the Spirit of the Living God Therefore From hence we must distinguish between the Covenant in its Absolute Tenure and the Ministry thereof which is Conditionally dispensed according to the Connexion Order and Dependance of good Things contained in the Promise to a mix'd People The Effects of
II. A seasonable Covenant in respect of the Revelation or Manifestation of it even just as Adam had sinned and when Divine Justice was ready to lift up his direful Ax of Divine Vengeance How seasonable is it for a poor condemned Criminal to hear of a Pardon just when he is brought to the place of Execution and the Halter is put about his Neck or the Ax lifted up to Cut off his Head III. It is a seasonable Covenant in respect to the application of the blessings thereof to a poor Sinner 1. 'T is by the Spirit applyed when the sinner sees he is Condemned being under the sense of Sin Wrath and Condemnation beholding himself just dropping into Hell then this Covenant is opened and the blessing of free Justification and Pardon is applied 2. When the Soul and Conscience of a sinner is wounded and his wounds bleed then is the Balm of the Covenant applied to heal him 3. When the Sinner sees he is pursued by the Avenger of Blood and sees no way to escape then his Eyes are opened and he is directed to fly to the City of refuge the way being made plain and easie and the Holy Spirit directs the Soul to Christ and crys Refuge Refuge 4. When the Sinner sees he is so sick that he can't live even then the Physician provided in the Covenant comes immediately and pours in his Oyl and Wine When I passed by and saw thee polluted in thy Blood I said unto thee live Ye I sware unto thee and entred into Covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine Eighthly It is a Sure Covenant Ordered in all things and sure Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your Souls shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David I. It is a sure Covenant because it is made with such a Surety as Jesus Christ is it is not made primarily with us but with Christ for us and with us in him the sure mercies of David That is our Lord Jesus Christ he is the true Antitipical David Sure because they are Mercies granted to us thro' Christ's suretiship and when a Sinner is brought into the bands of the Covenant God is said to make this Covenant with him i. e. he actually entering then thro' Christ into Covenant with God but our standing then in it is upon the account of Christ's Covenant with the Father for us II. It is a Sure Covenant because it stands upon the absolute purpose and unchangeable Decree and Councel of God My Mercy will I keep with him and my Covenant shall stand fast with him My Covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Hence the absolute Decrees of God are compared to mountains of Brass Zach. 6.1 Denoting how unmovable stedy and unchangable his Councels are nay Tho' the Mountains should depart and the Hills be removed yet saith the Lord my loving kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed c. All Covenant-Mercys are according to God's Eternal purpose which be purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord The Covenant stands not only as the act of God's Eternal Wisdom but as his Eternal Decree and Purpose before all Worlds III. The Covenant of Peace is sure because it is confirmed by the witness of the Holy Ghost 1. The Spirit of God was a witness to the Covenant when it was made 2. Moreover it was confirmed in the promulgation of it by the Holy Ghost by wonderfull Miracles for what served all those Miracles more clearly for than to confirm the Authority of the Mediator and the verity and stability of the Gospel Covenant IV. Furthermore The Covenant was as you heard confirmed by the Blood of Jesus Christ therefore it is a sure Covenant V. The Covenant is sure because it is confirmed by the Promise and Oath of God Once have I sworn by my Holiness that I will not lye to David his Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the Sun before me This is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I will not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee compared with Heb. 6.13 16 17 18. VI. It is a Sure Covenant to all Gods Elect because the Execution of it is put into Christ's own hands he is the Executioner of his own Will and Testament for tho Christ was dead yet he is alive I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore Christ sees his last Will and Testament fully executed by his Spirit Ninethly It is a Covenant of Peace this is the Name that is given to it in my Text which also shews it is of an excellent and precious nature I. 'T is a Covenant of Peace with God God is hereby reconciled to us and we to him and that for ever II. Hereby we come also to have peace in our own Souls or peace of Conscience nor indeed can we ever have true peace any other ways For can your repentance give you peace of Conscience Can Tears of Blood apease Divine Wrath or satisfy Divine Justice Can Reformation of life give you Peace or your inherent Sanctification or pious and religious duties Do you fetch your peace from thence If you do your peace will be turned into trouble and anguish of Spirit or can your lively and spiritual Frame give you true and lasting peace I affirm 't is a false peace that is simply grounded on a lively and Spiritual Frame or disposition of Heart for there can be no true peace of Conscience but by Jesus Christ thro' the Blood of the everlasting Covenant He is our peace c. He will speak peace to his People Not as the World giveth give I unto you Dare a Man plead his Faith or good Duties to Justifie him and so from thence fetch his peace and comfort alas What unrighteousness cleaves to our righteousness what doubtings attend our Faith and what wandrings of heart attend us in our best Duties nay may we not find some Hypocrisie in us also tho in the main we are sincere our peace is only had in Christ. III. 'T is only by the peace made by Christ as is revealed in this Covenant that a poor wounded disparing and distressed Soul comes to have peace I once cited a passage out of Dr. Owen being pious Anselem's directions to a poor tempted Soul on a Death-Bed let me repeat it here once again Minister Dost thou believe thou canst not be saved but by the Death of Christ. ' Sick-man Yes I do so believe Minister Then let it be said unto thee go and whilest thy Soul abideth in thee and put all thy confidence in Christ's death alone place thy trust in no other thing commit thy self wholly to
and Wrath of God only but also from Sin or a vain Conversation and out of the Power and Kingdom of Satan which Christ by his Blood as poured forth and in applying it undertook to do in the Covenant of Peace which is called Christ's Covenant As for thee by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth the Prisonâ—rs out of the Pit wherein there was no water Reverend Charnock says Christ is the surety of the Covenant of Grace but the Covenant of Redemption had no surety the Father and the Son trusted one another the Covenant of Redemption was not Confirmed by Blood c. Answ. Had God only entred into Covenant with Christ as a single Person and for himself there had been no need of a surety but since he entred into that Covenant as a publick person and that for broken and fallen mankind whom God regarded not their Credit being for ever gone there was a necessity of Christ's suretyship in that said Covenant in respect had to those things which Christ was to do for us and also work in us which he then engaged to the Father to perform and if the Covenant of Redemption from Sin and Wrath was not confirmed by the Blood of that Covenant one grand part of our safety and security is gone for ever My Brethren Our Lord Jesus Christ when he first entred into the Covenant with the Father agreed to be the Mediator and Surety thereof also evident it is that there are some Transactions where suretiship is required which a Surety must undertake to do and readily agree unto even all such things which the Creditor requires and the nature of the Covenant calls for So that there are some things that peculiarly belong to him as surety even so and in like manner it was here about the compleat accomplishment of the Covenant of Grace entered into between the Father and the Son in behalf of the Elect. Yet all the good we receive through the applicatory part of the said Covenant are but the effects fruits or product of the same Covenant as it was made with Christ for us as our Surety Also among Men those things and Covenant Transactions betwixt the Creditor and the Surety which peculiarly appertain to him to perform and answer though the poor debtor nevertheless is mainly concerned therein they being such things that must be performed by the Surety for him or the Debtor can have no benefit by it yet the free grants to the Debtor in the said Covenant upon the Suretys engagement is never called a distinct Covenant in it self but as I said before 't is one and the same Covenant our Covenant therefore is but a branch of Christ's Covenant with God the Father in which he engaged to Spouse and Marry us to himself for ever Therefore I know not what these Mens nice distinctions signifies unless it be to amuse the world or except it be for the worser purpose just now hinted Brethren The distinction lies not in two distinct Covenants Essentially differing from each other but in the distinct parts of the said one intire Covenant I. One part as it refers to Christ viz. he is the Surety and we the Debtors whom he engaged for his money and not ours pays all and makes satisfaction to God Christ is the Redeemer in this Covenant and we the Redeemed Christ is the Saviour and we the Saved II. That part that appertains to Christ was upon conditions of what he was to do and suffer he hath obtained all for us wholly by Desert and Merit and we have all every way of meer grace and favour particularly in the applicatory part thereof Moreover let it be noted that there is a difference in respect of the time of the making of the Covenant and of the Revelation Execution and Application thereof Christ in the Covenant first Articl'd with the Father to be Mediator and Surety c. and in the execution of the Covenant actually discharges those Offices and all things that appertains to them one thing being his bringing of us home to God or into the bonds of his Covenant Moreover Take here what the Reverend Assembly of Divines have said about the Covenant of Grace viz. Q. 30. Doth God leave mankind to perish in a state of Sin and Misery Answ. God doth not leave all mankind to perish in a state of Sin and Misery into which they fell by the Breach of the first Covenant called the Covenant of works but of his meer love and Mercy delivereth his Elect out of it and bringeth them into a state of Salvation by the second Covenant commonly called the Covenant of Grace Q. 31. With whom was the Covenant of Grace made Answ. The Covenant of Grace was made with Christ as the second Adam and in him with all the Elect as his Seed Thus that Learned Assembly From hence it doth appear that this opinion of two distinct Covenants was not received by that Assembly they own but two Covenants i. e. that of Works and that of Grace and I am sure the Scriptures bear witness of no other Covenant of Redemption but that of Grace and Reconciliation which includes Redemption and all Covenant-Blessings My Brethren That very Covenant made between the Father and the Son was hidden or kept secret as to the clear manifestation of it till Christ came and then it was manifested and the clear revelation of it is in the Gospel which shows how God manifesteth the grace of this Covenant by offering Pardon and Peace to sinners by revealing of Christ who is called the Covenant and offering him to them for Life and Salvation so that this Covenant contains all Grace Mercy and Redemption Moreover Remarkable it is to see how that Learned Person that wrote the Book called The Ark of the Covenant who too boldly asserts the Covenant of Redemption a distinct Covenant from the Covenant of Grace doth in divers places contradict himself herein take some of his words viz. So that I take saith he the meaning of these words This is my Covenant with them my Spirit that is upon thee c. to be This is my Covenant that I have made with thee upon their account and for their behoof or the Covenant that I have made with them to wit virtully when I Covenanted with thee and made promises to thee for their behoof He confesseth that the Covenant of 〈◊〉 was made with Christ primarily and representatively and with the Elect in him and all promises of Grace was made to us in Christ in that Covenant And what do we say more but this is to overthrow his own Notion of two distinct Covenants Nay the same Author confesseth that the grand thing he argues for is to prove that there is nothing spoken of Christ's Seed as parties with whom God deals in this Covenant and upon whom he layeth any Commands Answ. We say so too Christ is only the Covenanting party for us and on
he believes in Jesus Christ Also you may hereby see what a strong ground here is for our Faith and Comfort From hence also we may see the Cause why the Holy Angels pry into this Mystery this Love and Grace of God to Mankind they bow down to look into these things yea look with admiration And shall not we admire it who are more especially concerned herein IX Sinners be exhorted from the Considerations of the whole to labour and strive to receive Jesus Christ And let such of you who think and hope you have received him try your selves by what you have heard O be exhorted to know in this your Day the things which belong to your Peace before they are hid from your Eyes Luke 19.42 X. Believers see that you labour after a strong Faith in Christ and in the Covenant for the measure of your Peace will be according to the measure and degree of your Faith O get a great Faith and then your Peace will not be little but like a River yea wonderfully abound in you XI Tryal Let all that hear me this Day try themselves examine themselves whether they have Peace with God or not Take a few Rules to try your selves 1. Are you at War with Sin Is Sin cast out of your Love and Affections Is there an unreconcilable opposition made in you against all Sin And as it is Sin do you loath and hate it because it is hateful to God and hath exposed your Blessed Saviour to so much Pain Shame Sorrow and Suffering even to let out his most Precious Blood 2. Do you mourn for Sin because it caused such Cursed Enmity in your Hearts against God causing your Souls to rebel against him yea to hate and despise him in your Hearts 3. Are you reconciled to the Ways of God even to the strictest Acts and Duties of Holiness Do you love the Word of God because of its Purity 4. Do you love all the People of God and are you Reconciled to those who may in many things differ from you Do you pray for them and hate all Bitterness and forbear all Reproachful Language and Sensorious Reflections Dare any reproach and speak against their Father's Children Thou sitest and speakest against thy Brother and slandrest thine own Mothers Son It is thy deliberate Practice and Business as if God should say thus to do 'T is to be feared that such are not at Peace with God that are not at Peace with all the Children of God He that saith he is in the Light and hateth his Brother is in Darkness until now We know that we are passed from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren he that loveth not his Brother abideth in Death Therefore let such tremble that are not at Peace with all those who have Peace with God 5. Do you mourn for such whom you love even for your Brethren your Kinsfolk your Neighbours that are not yet Reconciled unto him See Rom. 9.1 2. 6. Do you Love Esteem and highly Respect and Honour the Ambassadors of Peace and cannot endure to hear them reviled and unjustly slandered and spoken against 7. Have you Peace in your own Consciences and Peace in your Families And do you live peaceably in the Church of God And also strive as much as in you is to be at Peace with all Men 8. Do you long for the Peace of Jerusalem and pray for her Peace for that Peace which is promised to her in the last Days Christ hath purchased Universal Peace for his Church not only internal Peace but external Peace also not only Peace within but Peace without not only Peace with God but Peace with Men also and the Day is near he will give his People Intire and Universal Peace Caution Let none mistake me in any thing I have delivered in any of these Sermons about God's being Reconciled in Christ c. so as to think he is at Peace Reconciled and well pleased with the Elect whilst they remain in a State of Enmity against him being vile and notorious Sinners God can't but hate Sin whereever it is and loath the unrenewed Sinner when he looks upon them as in the first Adam or as in their Filthiness for as such he hates and loaths them but as he looks upon any Persons in Christ so he loves them and is at Peace and well pleased with them God sees not as Man sees for he sees a Man Condemned and Justified at one and the same time nay as being in this World and yet as being in the World to come but whatever sight of Things or of Persons God hath or how we are lookt upon and Justified in his sight in Christ is one thing and what the State of Persons are or what Things and Persons may be said to be as they actually are or when they actually exist or in a proper Sense and Acceptation is another thing for it is ridiculous to say That a Man in a proper Sense is actually or personally Condemned and Justified Dead and yet Alive at one and the same time or is in the first Adam and yet in the second or in a State of Wrath and yet in a State of Grace at one and the same moment Nay and dangerous it is for any to say that a wicked Man whilst he is so is an Object of God's Delight or that such a Person is actually Justified and that God is at Peace and well pleased with him it being so directly contrary to the Testimony of God's Word and the Witness of the Divine Spirit The Sum therefore of what I say and mean is this When I say God in Christ is Reconciled to Sinners viz. God having chosen his Elect in Christ from Eternity was Reconciled to them in him as the Way and Means of the Procurement of their Peace or of their Recovery out of the Fall or out of their lapsed State foreseen by him but to say he was actually reconciled to them personally considered from Eternity or from the Death of Christ seems absurd and improper For how could he be said to be Reconciled to this or that Person before that Person had any personal Existencies or Being or if they had a Being yet were Enemies to him and loathsome Wretches and under his denounced Wrath and Curse and in which State they remain before they are actually united to Christ or are effectually called Yet take notice that that which actually reconciles the Holy God to us is Christ's Satisfaction alone to which there can be no Addition made by any Collateral Work wrought in us and done by us We should therefore distinguish between a Foederal a Virtual and a Representative Vnion and Justification and an Actual Vnion and Personal Justification For from hence perhaps the Mistake may arise The Scripture every where declareth that God is an Enemy or an Adversary to all Unconverted Persons nay and that he hates all the Workers of Iniquity and