Christ in the way to Salvation but not in the least or that which justifieth or saveth See what earnestness and vehemency the Apostle useth herein vers 3. I testifie again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole Law Where is intimated that an acting in any work upon a legal account or on a legal ground is a putting our selves under the obligation of and is all one as if we sought life altogether by the Law For if they were circumcised upon a principle or opinion of its conducing to their Justification they became debtors thereby to the whole Law though they did not think other services required or themselves obliged to them yet by one they put themselves under the bond of the whole Thus then if any should act in any Gospel Institutions as Baptisme or the Supper of the Lord upon a like account as they did take up circumcision viz. with an opinion of their conducing to justification and acceptation with God unto Eternal Life they would thereby make themselves debtors to the whole Law So if they should give Repentance mourning for sin self-emptiness yea Faith it self the same place and act therein upon such a ground as they did in Circumcision Christ would be rendred of no effect unto such Souls 2. When there is a living in the Spirit of the Old Covenant in dealing with the Promises of the New then indeed there is a mixing of the two Covenants which are so distinct The Old Covenant carried with it a Spirit of bondage and terrour Rom. 8. 15. Heb. 12. 18. And if Souls in looking to the Promise carry it as if they were conversing with God upon the burning Mount eyeing chiefly Divine wrath dwelling more upon a Divine curse than upon the Grace of God in the free Promise in looking for mercy here is the Spirit of the Old Covenant so when souls are shie of the Promise and ready to stand at a distance from it when they carry it towards God as if Jesus Christ had not satisfied the curse of the Law and yet in part look to the Promise The Old Covenant did run upon Dâ— and Live intending that Jesus Christ should be the doer in reference to Eternal Life but when souls are like those who were hired into the Vineyard Mat. 20. vers 1 2 c. when they are indenting with God for their penny when they must have such incomes and such injoyments from God in case they act in duty when they seek the reward upon their own doing they may work hard and sink under their burthen and have little thank for their pains as that Parable sheweth When duty is not mannaged with a Gospel Spirit when the Divine Spirit is not acting the Soul by the Promise of the New Covenant it cometh to little The Old Covenant did run upon condition and so when Souls dwell upon conditions performed by or wrought within themselves and build their Hope Peace and Comfort upon them so as they look little or nothing to the free Grace of God in absolute Promises make but little use of these in comparison of the other then they are too much in the Spirit of the Old Covenant and mixing with the New CHAP. VII Of the nature of the Mount Sinai Covenant IT will now be asked What manner of Covenant was that at mount Sinai which is called the worse Covenant what kind of Covenant was it Sol. In general it was a Covenant of Works as to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ but not so to Israel Or It was the Covenant of Grace as to its legal condition to be performed by Jesus Christ represented under a conditional administration of it to Israel This is a knotty puzling Question in Divinity for the clearer opening of it I must answer both Negatively and Affirmatively SECT I. Answ I. NEgatively in four Propositions Prop. I. The Sinai Law was not given as a Covenant of Works to Israel It was designed to be a Covenant of Works as to be accomplished by Jesus Christ as will appear afterward but the end of the Lord was not that it should be so to Israel For 1. The nature of a Covenant of Works and also the general current of Scripture denieth the Sinai Law to be such A Covenant of Works requireth perfect personal obedience promising life or a reward of Justice thereupon and threatning death upon the least violation thereof This is evident from the Covenant with Adam in innocency Gen. 2. vers 17. He obeying it is implied he should live he disobeying by eating the forbidden Fruit the sentence of death passeth upon him and apparently this is a true description of a Covenant of Works for whatever is opposite unto this speaketh Grace if Justification and Eternal Life be attained by anothers righteousness or obedience without their personal performance of it there is Grace herein if the reward be not of Justice it must be of Grace if imperfections and sinful failings be not followed with death there is Grace in that also Now the design or intendment of God in giving the Sinai Covenant was not that Israel should by their own obedience obtain Eternal Life and Salvation Indeed the false Apostles in Gospel times did put upon personal obedience they urged Circumcifion and other works of the Law as necessary unto Justification and Eternal Life but in opposition to them the Apostle argueth in diverse Chapters in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians proving that they come by a righteousness performed for us by Jesus Christ Rom. 3. vers 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law i. e. as performed by themselves shall no flesh be justified in his sight it is vers 28. Without the deeds of the Law Gal. 2. vers 16. Gal. 3. vers 10. As many as are of the works of the Law i. e. as performed by themselves are under the curse and vers 11 12. Gal. 5. vers 2 3. Yea our Salvation is not of works Ephes 2. vers 8 9. 2 Tim. 2. 9. Adam forfeiting life when he might have had it on the terms of his own doing hence the Lord would never deal with man in that way any more And lest any should think that this was only since the Sinai Covenant was at an end the Apostle proveth that our works are now excluded from the instances of Abraham and David Rom. 4. vers 2 3. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God and addeth it is to him that worketh not vers 5. and vers 6. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works Where it is plainly intimated that we are justified in Gospel times in the same way for substance with them of old and he expresly saith that this was not by works of their own performance no not by such as they came up to after they were in a state of grace much less by any works of theirs
before they did believe else the Apostles argument were not cogent for the false Prophets might easily have answered that now in Gospel times we are not justified as Abraham and David were and so they might have waved whatever is urged from these instances seeing all that he saith is built upon this very foundation that we are justified as they were only this can hardly be evaded that David who lived under the Sinai Covenant yet is denied to be justified by works of his own Yea the Apostle excludeth them even from the nature of a Covenant of works which is such a ground as denieth lapsed man in any Age to be saved by his own obedience vers 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt Therefore unless it could be said that those under the Sinai Law had Eternal Life not of grace but of debt it must be said that they had it not in the way of a Covenant of works 2. Moses and the Children of Israel were antecedently under a Covenant of grace or before the making that at mount Sinai therefore that could not be a Covenant of works In the very Preface he saith Exod. 20. vers 2 5. I am the Lord thy God the Lord did not first become their God by that but was so before as they were the seed of Abraham and under that with him Exod. 2. vers 24. and 3. vers 6 7. I have seen the affliction of my people vers 15 16. And Moses himself entred into the same Sinai Covenant with the people Exod. 34. vers 27. I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel Not only with Israel but with him also Now it is not imaginable that the Lord would reduce them and Moses himself from Covenant of Grace back to that of Works Surely the Lord would advance them highor rather than bring them lower He is ever one and the same in his Grace and Promises unto souls no such unconstancy and changeableness is found with him 3. The Sinai Testament typically revealed mercy for sinful men and therefore was not a Covenant of Works For that being once violated and broken holdeth forth nothing of mercy to the smner whatever his Repentance be giveth no hope of Salvation but denounedth Judgement Death and utter destruction against him Adam having eaten the forbidden Fruit that saith Gen. 2. 17. Dying thou shalt die Whereas the Sinai Covenant includeth the Ceremonial Law as well as the Moral as is plain Heb. 9. vers 1 2 3 c. The first Testament had Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary a Tabernacle Priests and Sacrifices offerings for the errors of the people c. Although these services did not of themselves expiate sin and purge the Conscience yet they did point out a way wherein they might have an expiation of and freedom from sin which a Covenant of Works giveth not the least intimation of Yea the Sinai Covenant was ordained by Angels Gal. 3. vers 19. in the hands of Moses a typical Mediator and this argued a variance between God and Israel else no need of any and there is grace in a Covenant that doth admit of any way for the making up of such differences there was abundance of Grace wrapt up in many Types and Ordinances in the Sinai Covenant yea it was confirmed by blood and sprinkling called the blood of the Covenant Exod. 24. vers 3 4 5. Which typified the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore it was no Covenant of Works for that speaketh nothing thereof 4. There had been an utter impossibility for Israel or any other to have attained unto Eternal Life and Salvation if they had been under that at Sinai as a Covenant of Works For they could never have performed the works which were the condition of it and so must have been hopeless of the benefit which was promised thereupon Gal. 3. vers 21. If there had been a Law that could have given life righteousness had been by the Law This clearly concludeth that righteousness did not come by the Law i. e. as performed by us in our own persons and also that the Law could not give Life no Eternal Life to be expected by it and he speaketh of the Sinai Law as is clear vers 17. and therefore that could not be a Covenant of Works to Israel or us for Eternal Life Rom. 8. 3. also proveth the Law could not free from condemnation in that it was weak through the flesh and so no Eternal Life was attainable thereby 5. That way which the Lord had established with Israel for Life and Salvation before the Sinai Covenant was utterly inconsistent with that of Works and therefore that could not be a Covenant of Works Gal. 3. vers 18. For if the inheritance be of the Law it is no more of Promise These two waies cannot stand together if it be by one of them then it is not by the other they carry a contradiction each to other If Israel had the inheritance by the Law i. e. by works performed by themselves then it could not be by the obedience of another of Jesus Christ for them if it were by their own righteousness of the Law then it could not be by the righteousness of Jesus Christ entertained in the Promise by Faith one of these waies doth necessarily subvert overthrow and destroy the other so as the same person at the same time cannot have it both waies Now such an opposite way of a Gospel Promise was established with Israel long before the Sinai Covenant Gal. 3. ver 16 17. They were the seed of Abraham and be concludeth that the Sinai Law coming so long after could not disanul the Abrahamatical Covenant or Promise wherein they had interest which was so long before it and consequently it was no Covenant of Works to Israel for then it must necessarily have disanulled the foregoing Promise as that demonstration vers 18. doth evidence SECT II. Prop. 2. THat the Sinai Law was not a mixt Covenant for Eternal Life to Israel It was not partly a Covenant of Works to them and partly of Grace For 1. It is an undoubted obstacle or hindrance in the way of Salvation to be seeking it in a Covenant of works by personal performances and therefore that at Sinai could not be so much as in part such a one to Israel The reason why Israel obtained not righteousness and so life was because they sought it not by Faith i. e. in another in Jesus Christ but as it were by the Works of the Law Rom. 9. vers 31 32. He doth not say they sought it altogether by their own Works but after a sort as it were and this obstructed and hindred their arriving at it Thus their coming short of Salvation is resolved into the same cause Rom. 10. vers 1 3. They going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God A seeking Salvation then by
THE DIFFERENCE Between the OLD and NEW COVENANT Stated and Explained WITH An Exposition of the Covenant of Grace in the Principal Concernments of it By SAMUEL PETTO Minister of the Gospel Isaiah 55. 3. I will make with you an everlasting Covenant even the sure mercies of David LONDON Printed for Eliz. Calvert at the Sign of the Black Spred-Eagle at the West end of St. Pauls 1674. TO THE READER IT is a matter of highest concernment unto the souls of men to have a special acquaintance with the Covenant of Grace the great Charter which all spiritual and eternal blessings are holden by and the way and means wherein they have their conveyance or are derived to them There are many useful Treatises already extant on this subject but still there are some weighty points referring to it as with Jesus Christ and especially concerning the Old mount Sinai Covenant and also the New which have need of farther clearing for the unfolding of many Scriptures the establishing the faith and promoting the comfort of Christians If it might be the fruit of my present undertaking to contribute any thing this way or to give light into those glorious mysteries so as God might be honoured thereby I should have my aim In order to the further opening of some matters insisted on in this Treatise I shall add that which followeth As the Covenant of Works was made with the first Adam and all his seed in him promising preservation in life upon condition of mans own perfect obedience to the will of God Gen. 2. 17. So the Covenant of Grace was made with Jesus Christ not meerly as God but as to be incarnate or designed to be Mediator as a second Adam and with a Gospel seed in him promising all spiritual blessings even eternal life and salvation upon the condition or consideration of his undergoing the curse and yielding perfect obedience to the Law on their behalf Isai 53. 10 11. Rom. 5. 6. to the end In this large sense it compriseth that between the Father and the Son for our redemption which was full of grace and did flow from the free favour of God to poor sinners 2 Tim. 1. 9. Tit. 1. 2. as well as that to or with us viz. the New Covenant for the application of what is promised thereupon which some speak of as if it only were the Covenant of Grace Thus its constitution was from eternity Tit. 1. 2. though its revelation was in time to Adam Abraham David c. Gen. 3. 15. 12 c. Now that being the condition of the Covenant of Grace that the righteousness of the Law should be performed or all the demands of it as to duty and penalty answered by Jesus Christ hence it was necessary that there should be some means for his coming actually under our very obligation to that end the Lord in infinite wisdom made a revival or repetition of the Covenant of works as to the substance of it with a new intent in the Covenant at Mount Sinai which did run upon Do and Live Gal. 3. 10 12. not that Israel should have eternal life by their own doing but that Jesus Christ should be born under the very Law that we were obliged by Gal. 4. 4. Not meerly to make a valuable satisfaction by something in lieu of it for his taking our nature and making intercession or other works of his being of infinite merit and valùe might then have served the turn without his sufferings but as that word Gen. 2. 17. required to undergo the very curse and to fulfil the very righteousness of it in our stead which he did accordingly and herein especially consisteth our redemption Gal. 3. 12. Gal. 4. 4 5. The fulfillng the Old and confirming the New Covenant are the immediate effects of his death He stood therein as the Mediator not of the Old but of the New Testament Heb. 9. 15. therefore he died not meerly to procure a New Covenant or that God might with honour deal with men upon new terms but to make good the terms or conditions of the New The Mount Sinai Covenant with reference to the matter of it may be said to express the Legal Condition of the Covenant of Grace as to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ even as the New Covenant holdeth forth the blessings promised unto us that condition being performed by him These are matters so distinct as I hope none will take offence that I as I have explained my self speak of the Old and New as two distinct Covenants when compared each with other as Gal. 4. 24. Heb. 8. Seeing I do not assert that at Sinai to be a Covenant of works for eternal life to Israel upon their obedience to it as some would have it rather its reference is wholly to that of grace though it be not the whole of it Neither do I assert two Covenants of Grace or ways of salvation for substance distinct But whereas it is usually judged that the Old is one and the same with the New differing from it only in some circumstances and accidents as rigorous exaction of duty by fear terror c. I on the other hand think that spiritual blessings were dispensed out by the Covenant with Abraham and though Israels obedience to the Moral Law was on another account a fruit of holiness and sanctification yet as the same obedience had relation to the Mount Sinai Covenant so it ushered in only temporals to them even as a child oweth obedience to his Father by a natural obligation but if a Father should promise an estate upon some acts of the same obedience then they would be cloathed with a double respect or have a double use so here The Mount Sinai Covenant being thus opened many Scriptures will be explained and it will be discovered what those works of the Law are which we are so often denied to have justification by viz. All works performed by our selves as the least of a righteousness unto justification or which cometh to the same as a condition giving right and title to Salvation Act. 15. 1. Rom. 9. 30 31 32. Phil. 3. 9. It is only the Obedience of Jesus Christ to the Law that availeth to these ends The Apostle industriously proveth that men have not such eternal mercies by their own works morla or ceremonial either without or in conjunction with Jesus Christ Rom. 3. 20. 9. 3. Gal. 3. 11 21. Gal. 5. 4. the seeking to be justified or saved thereby is opposite unto true sanctification whence discourses thereof are often interwoven in the Epistle to the Romans and Galatians It 's true the very works of the Law of Moses are most particularly opposed because the controversie of that day with the Jews and Judaizing professors of Christianity was concerning these yet if men give any other works the same place and office by acting upon a legal ground they become as works of the Law and the Apostles arguments are equally forcible against them For he
thus reasoneth That cannot be a justifying righteousness in our present fallen estate 1. Which is not perfect for the least sin is enough to condemn Rom. 3. 20. Gal. 3. 10. Nor 2. which is our own of our own working out Rom. 10. 3 5. Nor 3. Which leaves any place for boasting Ephes 2. 9. Rom. 4. 2. Nor 4. which is opposite unto grace Rom. 4. 4. And upon these accounts all Evangelical Works are excluded out of Justification for they are imperfect they are our own subjectively they would leave room for some boasting if acceptance to life were upon these seeing it should be by our giving unto God also the way were opposite to grace for if the condition were never so small yet being performed the reward might be claimed upon our act and so would be of debt not of Gospel-grace Rom. 4. 4. The works of Abraham and David after conversion are excluded out of justification vers 2 3 6. which argueth that although Evangelical obedience kept in its due place doth not derogate from the grace of God yet it doth and is opposite to it if introduced into justification So that Gospel-grace doth not consist in a bare abatement of the rigor of the Law nor in making a bargain with us for the sake of Christ to accept of our faith repentance and sincere obedience instead of that which is perfect but it standeth in excusing us from a personal performance of that righteousness which is the condition of life and admitting Jesus Christ to answer the Law in our stead For the grand difference between the Law and the Gospel is the one justifieth by our own the other by anothers righteousness If man himself be the Doer for life that is the righteousness of the Law which saith Rom. 10. 5. the man that doth them shall live in them In opposition to it that of the Gospel is called the righteousness of faith vers 6. and of God vers 3. because it is to be sought out of our selves in another in the free promise and that which we are the subjects of is to be disclaimed here Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 10. 3. The asserting it to be by any of our personal performances giveth them the very place of works in the Covenant of Works which is anti-evangelical and introduceth some merits as well as perfect works would have done The being enabled by grace to them doth not hinder meriting any more than as one saith my furnishing a man with my tools to work with hinders his deserving a reward All ability that Adam had in innocency was from the favour of God and what he was to do was duty Faith it self is not the least of that righteousness it is an act of obedience but as such it is not said to justifie nor as it worketh by love although it doth so work Gal. 5. 6. Nor as a condition of life as I have elsewhere manifested but only as a means for the applying Christ and his righteousness much less can any works of ours be a part thereof The new creature availeth to being crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14 15. i. e. as a means but it is not said that it availeth to justification To justifie is to declare a person to be righteous the true God cannot pass a false sentence therefore we cannot have justification without having a righteousness this cannot consist in any act of ours as faith repentance or obedience as is already manifested therefore it must be of anothers working out the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 18 19. 1 Cor. 1. 30. And if his obedience being to the Law may be called a legal righteousness yet as the same is applied by faith it is to us an evangelical righteousness All the question then is whether evangelical works are not of the same use in justification that faith is of have they not the same place and office there that faith hath I answer negatively they have not for often we read of the righteousness of faith never of the righteousness of love in that business We are said to be justified by faith not in the same sense to be justified by love or works It 's true there is a necessity of Evangelical works to testifie our faith obedience and thankfulness to God but they are required not as conditions but as effects and declarations of our justification Things are said to be done when they are manifested as Rom. 3. 7. 4. 15. A tree is known by the fruits And thus not only open acts but those that are secret when regular have an aptitude to evidence faith and that a person is justified even when they are not actually seen Paul speaketh of being justified before God by receiving or applying the righteousness of Jesus Christ in the free promise this is only by faith James speaketh of being justified by manifesting to a mans self or others that it is applied this is by Evangelical works and not by faith only Thus by offering up Isaac the person of Abraham was declaratively justified as it did shew his faith to be true vers 18. Gen. 22. 12. and not his working but his believing is said to be imputed to righteousness Jam. 2. 23. if this be justification in the sense of Paul yet it is by faith and he was called the friend of God there is justification declared by works as God acted kindly towards him so he acted in a friendly way towards God He is a vain man that contenteth himself with a faith that standeth in a bare assent to some propositions of truth without the power of them upon his heart vers 14 19 20. That is a dead faith which doth not profit is not attended with salvation which remaineth without works vers 17 20 26. therefore it is not the same true faith which any are justified by but another thing That unfruitful faith which is blamed here certainly was as far from justifying them as it was from saving them and so is not the faith which Paul insisteth upon for by that men were justified and that in order before works for they cannot be performed in an instant though they certainly follow but the justification and faith which they are put upon and called to declare by works these are of a Gospel stamp The Lord Jesus having fully performed the Law as the condition of the New-Testament hence it becometh absolute to us If improperly a duty a way or means to the enjoyment of some blessings of it be called a Condition I contend not But a Condition properly is more than a causa sine qua non it is a cause that hath a moral efficiency in it for the fulfilling of it is that which giveth right and upon which a man hath a title to what is promised and without it none and so it is a moral efficient cause of the enjoyment of the good promised in a Covenant Faith and repentance are great duties but nothing performed by us can be such
of the Covenant with Abraham and his seed and proveth it on this wise Gal. 3. vers 15 16 17. This I say that the Covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disanul Where he argueth thus That which was made at Mount Sinai coming after could not disanul that with Abraham which was of a more antient date or long before it He speaketh not of the moral Law barely as a Rule of Life for so even before Abraham it was immortalities were ever sinful and exposed those that were guilty of them unto dreadful Judgements as Sadom and Gomorrah to fire and brimstone and the old World to a deluge of Water therefore he must speak of the Law considered as a Covenant given at Mount Sinai and thus it was not till four hundred and thirty years after that with Abraham so these must be two distinct Covenants of vastly different dates else the Apostles argument which is built upon their difference in respect of time is not cogent it is of no force if they be of the same date one as early as the other for the false Apostles among the Galatians might have said the Law as a Covenant was as early as Abraham for substance though not for form and administration this had been enough to elude his plea which was grounded upon the time of it especially seeing the Law was urged amongst the Galatians not meerly as to any circumstances in that new ministration but as to the substance of it the question then being Whether Justification and the eternal inheritance were by the works of the Law or by Grace and in a way of Faith The Apostle argueth that this federal transactiion at Sinai not having a being till Moses so long after that with Abraham hence it could not establish another way of life opposite to that viz. by works of the Law Also Deut. 5. vers 2 3. The Lord our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb the Lord made not this Covenant with our Fathers but with us The Sinai Covenant is clearly intended here by that at Hâ—reb compare Deut. 4. vers 10 11 12 13. with Exod. 19. vers 1 8. 9. and this is expresly denied to be made with their Fathers the Sinai Covenant then was not made with the Patriarchs not made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob or with any that lived before the time of Moses they that were alive at that day are intimated to be the first with whom it was made it was not with our Fathers but with us even with us who are all of us here alive this day those then which before the times of Moses were dead had not this Covenant made with them and therefore it is distinct from that which was made with the Fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. He doth not say the Lord made not this administration of it with our Fathers or he made it not in this form but the Lord stroke not this Covenant he denyeth the Covenant it self to be cut with them It is an adding to the word to put in as some do tantum as if the meaning were this not only with our Fathers but also with us This is to say it was made with the Fathers when the Holy Spirit expressly denieth it Such additions admitted else-where in Scripture would be found to be desperately dangerouâ— and here can by no means be allowed seeing the Apostle giveth it an after date Gal. 3. 17. 2. The better Covenant and that at Sinai are contradistinguished and so must be two distinct Covenants else the opposition were groundless Jer. 31. vers 31 32 I will make a New Covenant Not according to the Covenant I made with their Fathers i. e. not according to the Sinai Covenant for that was it which was made when they were brought out of the Land of Egypt He doth not say I will set up a new administration of my Covenant though that had been true but a New Covenant there is a plain opposition between Covenant and Covenant and therefore the New and that at Sinai must be two distinct and not one and the same in different forms and the rather because this New Covenant is not opposed to the Covenant with Abraham and to that with David but only to that with Moses and Israel at Mâ—â—ent Sinai Let any instance be given of any thing that is found contradistinguished in such a manner as these are when only some modification and different respects of the same subject is intended to be signified thereby 3. The bitterness of the Covenant were not a sufficient evidence that the ministration of Jesus Christ is of greater excellency than the other if they were not two distinct Covenants The Apostle proveth that Jesus Christ hath obtained a more excellent Ministry by this Medium Heb. 8. vers 6. By how much also he is a Mediatour of a better Covenant He doth not say Only a better administration but a better Covenant and much of the force of his Argument were lost if the Ministry of those Levitical Priests and also Christs were conversant about the same Covenant but if they be two then it is very foreible they ministred about one Covenant and Christ about another and a better and therefore his is the more excellent Ministry Besides it is taken from his being a Mediatour of that better Covenant which implieth that he was not then a Mediatour of that worse Sinai Covenant though of old typified therein which their Ministry related to Indeed it had been a slender proof of the excellency of his Ministry if the better Covenant were the same for substance with the worse seeing then that at Sinai must be still continuing and so Jesus Christ not only in his Type but in his own person must be Mediatour thereof Ministring therein which that Text doth not give the least countenance to but there and also else-where Christ is called the Mediator of the New Covenant in opposition to the Old Heb. 12. vers 18 19 20 24. Heb. 9. 15. Even in the satisfying the Old by his death And therefore they must be two distinct Covenants 4. The many Notes of distinction that are given of them argue that they are two Covenants they are not only called the Old and the New this possibly might be said of the same Subject as we say the Old and the New Moon and yet one and the same Moon but the first and the second Heb. 8. vers 7. If that first Covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second As Dr. C. saith That it should be affirmed of one and the same Covenant that this is the first Covenant and that is the second and yet those two should be but both one that is strange 5. They are successive the Second cometh in the place of the First and so they must two distinct Covenants Heb. 10. vers 9. He taketh away the First
the first saving gift of God Christ and the Promises go together There are special marks of distinction whereby persons in Covenant are differenced from the World which agree to none that are out of Christ Heb. 9. 15. they are called ones that receive the Promise Abraham that famous Covenanter was not actually so till the time of his effectual calling from thence the four hundred and thirty years do commence which give the first date to the Covenant or Promise as made with him Gen. 12. Gal. 3. 17. not from the day of his Nativity much less from Eternity although then he was an Elect Vessel by becoming Christs men become Abrahams Seed and Heirs of Promise ver 9. 14 26 29. So the New Covenant runneth to the House of Israel and Judah Heb. 8 13. and none are the spiritual Israel for Life and Salvation till in him Rom. 2. 28 29. Till then they are so far from a Covenant state which is of Life Peace Mercy Salvation Mal. 25. Isa 54. 10. and 55. 3. Luk. 1. 71 72. Rom. 11. 26 27. That they are declared to be in an opposite state they are at enmity dead in trespasses and sins and children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2. 1 2 3 5 8 15 16. Col. 1 21. This may appear further by an enumeration of the principal blessings of the New Covenant it is promised there that he will write his Law in their hearts and be to them a God Heb. 8. 10. but till in Christ they are without God in the World Ephes 2. 12. The greatest difficulty is as to the great priviledge of Pardon or Remission of sin under which the whole of Justification is signified Heb. 8. 10 12. Rom. 11. 27. Some think that we are justified from Eternity others at the death of Christ but actual personal Justification of a sinner before God is at his union with Jesus Christ and the gift of Faith not before For 1. None are actually interested in the righteousness of Jesus Christ before union with him and the gift of Faith it is he that is made unto us righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2 Cor. 5. 21. if without Christ then without his righteousness Rom. 5. 18. By the righteousness of one upon all unto Justification of Life none therefore ever attain Justification without a righteousness For it consisteth in a Divine declaration of a persons being righteous and if he were not so it were a false Sentence which is incompatible to the true God Neither will a righteousness of his own working out though by the help of Grace serve for this end of Justification but of that one Jesus Christ hence ver 19. By the obedience of one many are made righteous As his suffering and death did make satisfaction for sin so his obedience is a righteousness meriting blessings even Eternal Life ver 21. and it is called the righteousness of Faith Phil. 3. 9. that being a means for our application of that righteousness which is given Rom. 3. 22 25 26. Not that Faith is the meritorious procuring cause of our Justification it hath not the same causality therein that Jesus Christ hath No more is required to the release of our obligation it self than what the Law by which we are obliged doth exact which is satisfaction as to Duty and Penalty the solution thereof was by Jesus Christ alone but more is required partly to make way for this viz. a compact or new Covenant concerning it without which all sufferings by another had been of no advantage to us partly as a means of application viz. Faith Rom. 10. 10. with the heart man believeth unto i. e. as a means unto righteousness and hence Justification is often said to be by Faith Rom. 3. 28. Rom. 5. 1. And the Question then was not how are men manifested and declared in their own Consciences to be justified but how are they justified before God and in his fight and that is not before but by Faith Gal. 3. 11. The scope of the Apostle Rom. 4. is to prove that we are justified by Faith and the righteousness thereof and not by works of the Law without cause of glorying ver 2. from the instances of Abraham and David ver 3. for what saith the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness and ver 6. David deseribeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without Works And here note Pardon of sin is not the whole of Justification there is also necessary unto that end a righteousness if it were of our own working out then we were justified and saved by our own works which the Scripture generally denyeth this were to confound Justification and Sanctification as if Jesus Christ only satisfied for the sins and defects of a righteousness which we perform so as that is accepted unto Life whereas it is by a righteousness of Faith which is not of our own working out but wrought out for us by Jesus Christ The false Prophets themselves from among the Jews that urged these works of the Law upon the Romans and Galatians insisted much upon the ceremonials which plainly implieth an acknowledgement of sin and argueth that they did not expect Justification without pardon but carnally looked for pardon in the way of their own works and the Apostle in opposition to them excludeth out of Justification not only works wrought by their own natural power but even those which were by sanctifying Grace for the works of Abraham and David who were believers are here excluded Some think the righteousness of Jesus Christ or his active obedience in our stead needless unless as a part of his satisfaction for sin because say they the Law requireth not of us both suffering and obedience I Answer The Law as a Covenant of Works required suffering in satisfaction for sin and as it belongeth to the Covenant of Grace so it requireth perfect obedience to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ as the condition of the Justification and Life of sinners and new obedience which referreth to sanctification is to be performed by Christians as the fruit and effect of their spiritual Life Rather it was needless that Jesus Christ should fulfill righteousness or yield active obedience to the Law as part of a satisfaction for sin when by his passive obedience he underwent death which was the very same and all that the Law threatned against the sinner If man had never violated or broken the Covenant of Works or had never sinned then the Law would have required only righteousness of him for Life the tenour of it being Do and Live When man had sinned then the Law at a Covenant of Works required only suffering and threatned death Gen. 2. 17. but ceased in its promise of Life that immediately became null and void It is true the Law as a natural rule of righteousness required still perfect obedience that was due to God by right of Creation and his sinning could not
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.
Job 22. 3. 35. 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him Rom. 11. 35. Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed to him again Credendum est firmiter dari nihil ab hominibus per modum indebiti vel accipi à Deo per modum lucri Tract Sacr. Or else 2. They merit ex pacto by some contract or Covenant that though the works be inconsiderable in value to the reward yet the Lord hath promised such a reward to them thus only and no otherwise could the obedience of Adam in a state of innocency be meritorious for he did owe all as duty to God even by right of creation he might have required all without ingaging himself to give any reward and finite services could not merit in worth and value an infinite reward but the Lord promised it to his perfect unsinning works No otherwise did any among the Romans or Galatians expect justification or eternal life in a way of works but only falsly imagining that the Lord had made a promise of salvation unto these Thus a reward may be of merit and of debt and yet of grace in some sense though not of special Gospel grace for all good promised or given by the Lord to his creature is of grace seeing God oweth nothing to any Thus the making of a promise to Adam in a state of innocency for the rewarding of his works was of grace yet the promise being made if he had continued in that state the reward would have been of debt and therefore upon the same ground if the reward were now promised to us upon evangelical obedience then that were as truly meritorious though the condition were more favourable and life as really of debt as it would have been to Adam upon his sinless obedience for only the promise must have made it so there and the same is found here The Text in hand must refer either to the works of the Law which cannot properly merit because due even by the Law of Nature or else to those performed by Abraham after believing and then he concludes that if the reward were of these it were reckoned of debt neither of these could render it so but only by a Divine promise assuring such a reward upon the performing such works as the condition thereof and therefore seeing he concludeth it not of debt hence no obedience of our own can be such a condition of the New Covenant It is difficult to understand how the reward can be a debt legally and in justice due and yet not God a debtor when it is only his compact or Covenant that it becometh debt if that may be our due which another possesseth though he be not bound to us yet where it becometh due only by promise as in the case in hand and that upon an act of ours as the supposed condition it seemeth that the promiser is a debtor though considered antecedently to his promise he was free and in Rom. 4. 4. not only is God denied to be a debtor but the reward is denied to be a debt therefore there is no promise of it upon such a condition as our works which would make it of debt in opposition to that it is said to be of grace that is of Gospel Grace It 's true there are Divine Promises of the reward upon Christs works but they are not made immediately to us either upon our believing or obeying but mediately and at the second hand so as the ground of our claim is not our performing any Gospel condition upon which it is promised for then it were as really of debt as Adams but all the Promises are immediately made to Jesus Christ upon his righteousness and meritorious obedience on which account all become debt to him and thus God is not a debtor to us but to himself to his own goodness and faithfulness and to his Son and not our works but faith is the means unto our being counted righteous in his righteousness which only merited our eternal reward 2 Cor. 1. 20. All the promises in him are yea and in him Amen c. We cannot claim any one promise in our own name upon performing any Gospel condition our selves though by the help of grace for then though it were never so small it were of debt to us but our only claim is in him in the right of our elder brother Jesus Christ and thus it is of debt to him but only of grace to us Saith Augustin in Psal 83. Debitorem Dominus ipse fecit se non accipiendo sed promittendo we can plead for nothing promised but upon the account of Divine faithfulness whereas if any act of ours though never so small were the condition of any promise then being performed we might plead for what is promised in a way of Justice whose formal reason Aquinas teacheth is ut sit ad alterum justice consisteth in giving to another what is his due viz. by contract promise or otherwise If Divine Promises pass into a debt it is to none but himself saith Dr. Arrowsmith in his Tract Sacr. Ipsi etiam Deo competit duplex debitum condecentiae unum fidelitatis alterum And a little after out of August Deus sibi debitor est ut agat condecenter prout congruit bonitati suae uâ—i seipsum negare non potest ita non debet aliquid se indignum facere And a little after out of Davenant Cum Deus dat vitam aeternam Petro aut Paulo Divina voluntas non solvit debitum creaturae sed sibi ipsi See more ibid. pag. 335. It either saith or obedience were a condition then there were a suspending acts of God upon some acting of the Creature which saith Dr. O. of Persev P. 53. cannot be without subjecting eternity to time the first cause to the second the Creator to the Creature yea then by our performing of it the Lord were laid under an obligation to afford mercy promised even life and salvation to us and we might claim these upon our own act In short therefore we may have the recompence of reward in our eye as an incouragement unto duty 1 Cor. 15 last Heb. 11. 26. 12. 2. Yea we may exercise faith as a means to the fruition of life and salvation and yield evangelical obedience that we may shew forth the praises or may honour him that hath called us by such choice fruits and effects thereof and as evidences of interest therein Thus we may in the strength of Christ strive to enter in at the strait gate conflict with and overcome spiritual enemies and work out salvation 1 Cor. 9. 24 25. Rev. 2. 7 11 17 26. Phil. 2. 12. We may pray read hear believe repent as ways or means to the obtainnent thereof seeking the right thereunto only in Jesus Christ But we may not believe or obey as a condition for then upon the performance thereof we have right and title to the promised blessings even to eternal
free him from the obligation of it It promised nothing to a sinner it would imply a contradiction that it should promise Life to him still upon perfect unsinning obedience when he was already a sinner under the threatning of Death Yea if immediately after Adams sinning satisfaction had been made and he pardoned yet he had been but in statu quo prius in his former state If the Covenant of Works had been in force again is at the first he must afterward have yielded perfect obedience else no promise of Life and therefore there is no incongruity in saying that man sinning the Law required satisfaction for sin and yet also required righteousness unto Life much more in our case for there is another Covenant viz. of Grace made with Jesus Christ the second Adam wherein he hath undertaken by suffering to make satisfaction for our sin without which we could never have been freed from the threatned death there was no other way to it the Lord might have refused a substitute and therefore might without any shew of injustice put in what terms he pleased for our restoration unto Life If freedom from threatned death were obtained still the Lord might have annihilated us we had no promise of Eternal Life that in the Covenant of Works being null and void upon the transgression of the first Adam Behold therefore the Lord agreeth to stand to the first terms the second Adam undertaking to do what the first should have done to fulfill the same righteousness the Lord doth thereupon promise Life again Thus the Law is drawn into the Covenant of Grace and requireth the same perfect righteousness as before to be fulfilled not by our selves for Life but by Jesus Christ the second Adam as the aforementioned Scriptures do witness which assert not only suffering but also the righteousness of that one Jesus Christ to be necessary unto Justification and Life as Rom. 5. 18 19 c. and hence the Sinai Covenant which he fulfilled did run in the first form of Do and Live The ground of this mistake is a false supposition viz. that no more is needful unto Life but satisfaction for our sin and disobedience as if Life would naturally follow upon that which is to say either that we have Life without any righteousness whereas there is no Promise of it to Adam or to any since that run that way or else that we have it by a righteousness of our own working out Christ satisfying for our sins and defects therein and this is to affirm that we have life still by the Covenant of Works and in the way thereof which to affirm is very anti-evangelical and unscriptural For there are many Testimonies that unto the pardon of sin there is needful a New Covenant Heb. 8. 12. and that Life is by that and the righteousness required to it wrought out not by our selves but by another for us even Jesus Christ And thus the death of Jesus Christ was needful to our freedom from death although we obeyed in him or he obeyed in our stead to merit for us Eternal Life which is promised thereupon not now by the Old Covenant of Works but by the New Covenant of Grace And thus although Christ fulfilled the Law for us so as it is imputed to us and we made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. Yet it doth not follow that we should be freed altogether from the obligation of the Law unto obedience For the righteousness of Jesus Christ his obeying and fulfilling of the Law for us was as the condition of Life or that upon which the Lord hath promised Justification unto Life but we may be and are obliged to obedience not for that but for other ends not in the least for our Justification and title to Life but as a part of our Sanctification and we sin in not obeying that we may glorifie God by those fruits of our being Spiritually alive Christs obedience was for one end ours is for another as his sufferings were for one end our afflictions for another and neither of them unnecessary 2. No actual interest in the promises of the New and better Covenant before union with Jesus Christ and Faith Even the Elect of God so long as unconverted and without Christ are without promises as I have manifested Ephes 2. 12. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Gal. 3. 22. they were not from Eternity the Seed of Abraham ver 29. he had no Seed so early If the sinner himself had satisfied then it had been no pardon for he is not-pardoned that payeth his whole debt himself but Jesus Christ interposed he underwent the Curse and the New Covenant or Free Promise is Gods grant or act of Pardon Heb. 8. 11. and 10. ver 16 17. This is my Covenant Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more Remission of sin then is a glorious fruit and benefit of the New Covenant not only manifested but conferred thereby God justifieth Rom. 8. 33. and this is his pardoning act Not Faith it self or any Grace within us is that which giveth the pardon Faith only receiveth the Remission of sins Act. 10. 43. and the Divine gift of it is by an immutable thing even by the Promise of the New Covenant And hence if any Object That Jesus Christ as a Surety had the obligation of the Elect transferred upon him and made full satisfaction to the Law for them and so disabled it for holding them obliged because they cannot eventually be damned It is Answered As our obligation and condemnation was by the Covenant of Works so our declared freedom from its obligation and our Justification must be by the New Covenant that is the way laid out for the giving of it forth And though our sin was transferred upon him and an Act passed which rendred it certain that we should be justified yea and sanctified too in due season yet not so as that we were immediately disobliged but in the way laid out by Divine appointment for that end The Covenant of Works being violated though satisfaction must be given to that yet that contained no Promise of Life to a sinner upon anothers undergoing the very penalty threatned therein and therefore was so far from giving ipso facto deliverance that it would have availed nothing towards it without a New Covenant because payment by a Surety was a refusable satisfaction the Lord without any appearance of injustice might have said the Soul that hath sinned it shall die Therefore the Sentence of the Law lyeth against us till by the Covenant of Grace we be discharged from it in the way and time therein appointed which is at union with the Lord Jesus 3. None are actually and personally the Seed of Jesus Christ as the second Adam before union with him and Faith therefore none are actually and personally justified till then They are only his Seed such as he redeemed that he doth justifie Isa 53. 10 11. Rom. 3. 24 25. The two Adams
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
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
life for none can duly keep them before believing and then they have it but that their right to it may be evidenced by such good effects For these were already in a state of grace and were before interested in Jesus Christ unto eternal life on which account they are opposed to those that are without vers 15. without are dogs c. The use of the tree of life was the confirming in life Gen. 3. 22 23. So this keeping his Commandments of which believing is chief is the way to a confirmation in a living state or to give a further testimony of their right to life So Jam. 2. 24. By works a man is justified and not by faith only Not that love or evangelical works come in the least into justification it self as a cause or condition thereof the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians are full against this but are the fruits and effects of it They as evidences testifie to a mans self or to others that he is justified as vers 18. I will shew thee my faith by my works We are then not properly but only declaratively justified by works they as precious effects do argue a lively saith which is a means unto imputed righteousness and justification not a syllable that it is a condition thereof So 1 John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Not that our confession is properly a condition ingaging the faithfulness and justice of God to forgive I proved before that is not suspended till our confessing but a way and means to our gaining a sense a fresh application an evidence and manifestation of our interest in forgiving grace And as evidences so they may promote comfort only we are to take heed that we do not ground and bottom our consolation on the qualifications within but on the promise it self or the Lord therein without Many are drawing and fetching their comfort from their faith and other graces and lay the stress of it there and accordingly are up and down ebbing and flowing therein in stead of fetching it from the Lord in the promise an immutable thing Heb. 6. 18. by the means of faith and taking that and other graces only as evidences of interest in it Some because they are weary and heavy laden thence take their rest and refreshment whereas they are called out of themselves to come for it to Jesus Christ Matth. 11. 28. When qualifications lie most dark or are most clearly discerned yet we should not look so much to these as to Jesus Christ in the promise for Consolation Thus I have endeavoured to open the nature of the Old and New Covenant As to the Mediatorial Office of Jesus Christ it is largely handled by others and so shall not be insisted upon by me at present Only I would say thus much when Jesus Christ was upon Earth he performed the Office of a Mediator as to satisfaction and now he is in Heaven he doth it still as to intercession Heb. 7. 25. He presenteth his obedience continually to the Father for our obtainment of what he hath purchased Would we have any soederal blessings thè Law written in our heart in more lively characters the Lord witnessed more fully to be our God or sin to be pardoned let our faith be acting upon him as one that mediateth for our obtainment of all for he is the Mediator not of the Old but of the New and Better Testament which is established upon better Promises FINIS Books Printed and are to be sold by Elizabeth Calvert at the Black-spread Eagle at the West end of St. Pauls Folio THe Scripture Directory for Church Offices and People Or a Practical Commentary upon the whole Third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians To which is annexed The Godly and the Natural Mans Choyce upon Psal 4. vers 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgesse Pastor of the Church of Sutton Coldfield in Warwick-shire IEPON 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Temple of Solomon Pourtrayed by Scripture Light wherein all its famous Buildings the Pompous Worship of the Jews with its Attending Rites and Ceremonies the several Officers imployed in that Work with their Ample Revenues And the Spiritual Mysteries of the Gospel vailed under all are treated of at large by Samuel Lec The History of Diodorus Siculus containing all that which is most memorable and of greatest Antiquity in the first Ages of the World until the War of Troy Renodaeus his Dispensatory containing the whole body of Physick discovering the Natures and Properties and Vertues of Vegetals Minerals and Animals Burgess on the Corinthians Wrighton the Pentateuch Quarto Christopher Goad his Sermons Entituled Refreshing Drops and Scorching Vials Samuel Gorton his Exposition on the fifth Chapter of James Samuel Hartlib of Bees and Silkworms Large Octavo Owen of In-dwelling Sin Steels Anditote His Husbandmans Calling Gales Idea of Jansenism Conversion Exemplified Heaven Realiz'd FINIS