away of sin is the remission of sin by which a sinner is freed from the guilt of sin from the curse of the Law and from the wrath of God hence it appears that Salvation lies chiefly in remission of sin Psal. 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose transgressions is forgiven blessed is he whose sin is covered blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Neither does the consideration of any good works done by man come in as a motive for God to pardon our sins because to pardon sin is to impute Righteousness without works i. e. God looks upon pardoned sinners as righteous through Faith in Christ though their works be not answerable to the Law of Righteousness laid down in the Covenant of works Christ comes in in the room and place of our Good Works and Free Grace confers that upon us for Christ's sake which our own Good Works were to procure for us under the Law For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Eph. 2. 8 9. Thus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. The end of the Law under the Mosaical Dispensation whether Moral or Ceremonial was to lead a sinner to Christ for Righteousness this Righteousness lies in the full satisfaction that Christ made to the Law for the sin of man we must bring to the Law either a perfect Righteousness of our own or a full satisfaction for all our sins which is equivalent to man's perfect Righteousness and not only equivalent but much beyond it for our own perfect Righteousness had we continued in it would have kept us in a happy Paradisical state here on earth I know Divines speak of our Translation afterwards into Heaven but of that the Scripture is silent 't is evident that had we kept the Law we had not died but upon the satisfaction Christ has made to the Law we obtain Eternal Life have a more abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven and this satisfaction accepted for us is in the infinite merit of it our Righteousness Thus the Law obtains its end in that full satisfaction that Christ gave it for the sin of man and can demand no more of any believing sinner for his Justification it becomes the Law to bring things to a righteous Conclusion between the Justice of God and a sinner The Law cannot do unjustly but is righteous in condemning the Unbeliever and righteous in passing by the Believing sinner If any ask How comes a Believing sinner to escape the Vengeance of the Law to get out of the hands of a sin-revenging Law Answ. Because the Law hath obtained its end in Christ and done full execution upon him for the sin of man to its own satisfaction and this secures a man from the curse of the Law as much as his own perfect righteousness would have done The Papists deny the imputation of Christ's Righteousness and derive Remission of Sin from inherent Righteousness whereas inherent Righteousness never frees us from all Sin in this World he is a liar who says he hath no Sin But imputed Righteousness is opposed to all Sin in us and covers it all We are holy and unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God Col. 1. 22. New Obedience and the practice of Holiness is the consequent of Pardon which must not be taken for a permission or licence to Sin Pardoning-Grace lays a strict injunction upon us to Sin no more as Christ did upon the man whom he healed at the Pool of Bethesda Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee John 5. 14. Christ Died primarily for our Justification from all Sins committed by us and also for our Sanctification to prevent the Commission of further sin To that end he purchased for us his holy spirit that we might live to God 2 Cor. 5. 15. That being dead to sin we should live to righteousness 1 Pet. 2. 24. The blood of Christ purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. There are two special parts of the covenant of grace Heb. 8. 10 11 12. viz. Remission of sin and a change of Heart and Nature they always go together to fancy a change of State without a change of Nature is but a fancy Though Justification be a continued act yet that it may be continued to us in a comfortable sense of it Believers must sue out their Pardon for every new sin and by renewed acts of Faith apply the Blood of Christ in particular for the Pardon of this or that sin In Justification all sin is Pardoned past present and future that no place may be left for Condemnation John 5. 24. Sins to come are virtually Remitted to a Believer i. e. we are by Faith put into a state of Pardon Faith knows whither to go for Pardon upon all occasions Tho the Commission of new sins does not cast a Believer out of a state of Grace does not null and make void his former Justification in the sight of God yet he may lose the comfortable sense of it in his own Conscience and lye under though not judiciary Punishments yet under such castigatory Chastisements from an Angry Father that may be a great bitterness of Soul unto him till by a renewed act of Faith he does apply himself to Christ for Pardon and make his peace with God Faith it self can't speak peace to an impenitent Believer who as to this or that sin may be called impenitent though as to his state he be a Believer Till Faith do bring down the Blood of Christ by a particular application of it to the Conscience of a man for the Pardon of this or that particular sin he may and will be very uneasy under it and the longer Repentance is deferred the more angry reflections will Conscience make against that man he may be brought to question his own state by deferring his Repentance so long Care must be taken to set upon this work of Repentance out of hand and when we go about it we must still keep Christ in our eye and not sorrow as without hope that sorrow for sin that in the beginning may be Godly sorrow may by the cunning of the Devil rise so high as to become ungodly sorrow sinking the Soul into despair Many do begin in the Spirit and end in the Flesh therefore care must be taken to keep our selves in a due temper of mind that we be not overwhelmed with sorrow that sorrow for sin that hinders us from coming to Christ is sinful and not to be allowed in a Christian. So that Repentance is required not as a previous condition of our Justification but as that without which no man can or will ever come to Christ for Justification Faith first works Repentance under a secret hope of Pardon and then applies Christ not
his Law in the inward man these are so far from being conditions of the Covenant giving us an interest in it that they are rather the Covenant it self fulfilled in us which is an undeniable proof of our being in Covenant 9. The New Covenant does not so much imply an outward Law or Rule of government set before us as an inward Law or rather a spirit and principle of Love and Obedience inclining us to a willing performance of all those Duties that either Law or Gospel call for The Covenant of Grace brings forth a new creature created in Christ Jesus unto good works that he should walk in them you put a force upon the new creature if you turn him out of his walk By the Covenant of Grace our Justification hangs not upon doing but upon believing That which much perplexes the point of Justification is the separating of Faith and Justification too far asunder which hath many ill consequences in it 1. If you suppose Faith as a quality pre-existing in the Soul before Justification and standing a while alone by it self in order to our Justification this lets in previous qualifications in us as necessary to Justification And if Faith as a quality in us have any causal influence into our justification so must Repentance and all good Works which are linked to it This lets us into a justification by Works of our own doing and by qualities inherent in our selves which is downright Popery 2. If we place our personal Justification before Faith this runs us up to an actual Justification of our persons from eternity which is of as ill consequence as the former Therefore the safest way is to put them both togethet What God hath joined let no man put asunder He that believes is justified and he that is justified Believes there can be no justification without Faith nor no true Faith without justification God's act in justifying doth symphonize and correspond to our act in Believing There cannot be actual giving without actual receiving one is naturally necessary to the other I know Faith and Justification are different notions and may in our way of speaking and expression be put one before the other but the things themselves are always together God justifies us by working Faith in us The Covenant of Grace requires nothing to be done by us as an antecedent moral condition or procuring cause of our Justification it supposes Faith in all who actually partake of the Grace of this Covenant Nay the Covenant of Grace I mean the outward proposal of the terms of the New Covenant is an outward means appointed by God for the working or begetting of Faith in us Faith comes by hearing i. e. by hearing the Doctrine of our Redemption by Christ and this Faith so wrought by hearing the Word disposes the Soul ever after to Repentance and new obedience which are the inseparable effects of Faith in all who are justified He who doth not shew his Faith by his Works is no sound Believer Though it be commonly said by many That Repentance is in order to justification the sense cannot be that Repentance is instrumentally necessary to justification as Faith is Do but keep up the different relation that Faith hath to justification from all other Graces and good Works and we shall quickly understand one another and not confound Faith and Works together in our justification We may differ in our expressions but that should make no real difference if the same thing be meant and intended This account of Faith or to this effect for I will tie none to my words does answer all the ends of true Religion it exalts Christ ascribes our free Justification and Pardon to him and his Righteousness only it secures our own Souls it suppresses and discountenances all Vice all licentious loose living it establishes the Law as a Rule of life it promotes all practical Holiness by the most forcible motives that can be We can never keep up Religion in the power of it if we do not keep up the plain notion of it in the sense that is commonly received by all sober sincere Christians Arguings pro and con may have their use among the Learned but still let us be sure to sail by the Pole-Star to keep that in our Eye as a fixed point that governs all our motions My meaning is this let us ultimately resolve Religion in the main fundamentals of it into such naked simple truths as may fall under the capacity of all plain meaning Christians that they may know what we Believe and what we Profess That we all aim at the same thing in our Preaching and that the same Spirit may still appear in all the diversity of gifts that is among us The reason why the Apostle Gal. 3. 17. calls the Mount Sinai-Covenant a Law is because the Mount Sinai-Covenant is a mixt Covenant made up partly of the Law and partly of the Gospel and the Apostle in that place opposes the Legalities of the Sinai-Covenant to the promise made to Abraham There was no reason why he should oppose the Gospel part of the Sinai-Covennat to the Covenant with Abraham for they were both the same they were coincident there was no opposition between them therefore he calls the Mount Sinai-Covenant a Law in opposition to the Covenant of pure Grace made with Abraham The Covenant of Works made with Adam as to any benefit from it ceased at the entrance of sin which laid all mankind under a curse This curse cannot be taken away but by a New Covenant you see how sin disordered the whole world put all things out of frame God's Government of the world as to the outward administration of it must be altered or else the whole world must be destroyed there must be a new Constitution a new Covenant What havock did sin make in one day that put God upon a second Creation making all things new casting all into a new mould to prevent the utter destruction of all mankind that otherwise must have ensued This Covenant of Grace may be considered Four ways 1. In the promise of the seed of the Woman made to Adam at least in his hearing couched in the threatning denounced against the Serpent Gen. 3. 15. 2. In the Promise made to Abraham Gen. 17. 7. 3. In the Mount Sinai-Covenant with all Israel Exod. 19. 8. this Covenant had the nature of a Testament therefore confirmed by Death hence beasts slain in Sacrifice Heb. 9. 16 18. 4. In the New Covenant with Jews and Gentiles now under the Gospel CHAP. II. SEcondly See Mr. Petto â—n this Subject The comparison of the New Covenant made with Jews and Gentiles now under the Gospel with the Mount Sinai-Covenant made with the Jews only under the Law When Abraham's Posterity grew numerous even into a Nation then commenced the Mount Sinai-Covenant containing the moral judicial and ceremonial Laws given not with an intent to disannul the Promise made Four hundred and thirty Years before Gal. 3. 17. which it must have done had the Law been then given to bring Israel under a Covenant of Works The
witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son and with a pure conscience 2 Tim. 1. 3. void of offence towards God Acts 24. 16. In simplicity and godly sincerity 2 Cor. 1. 12. When with our minds we serve the law of God Rom. 7. 25. God is a Spirit and will be Worshipped in spirit and truth You have reason to enure your selves to this Spiritual worship because ere long you will be all Spirit when you have laid down these earthly tabernacles I mean it is the will of God that the Souls of men should after death live a while out of the body in a separate state till the Resurrection conversing with an innumerable company of Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect Though Believers now are Spiritually joined to the general Assembly of the First-born and in the apprehensions of their Faith do rejoyce in that relation they stand in to the Church-triumphant yet after death they will have actual communion with those blessed Spirits above though we cannot so clearly apprehend what this happy Paradisical state is after death yet those who are spiritually minded conceive so much of it by Faith as makes them long to be dissolved and to be with Christ they grow weary of all earthly converses waiting till their change comes that they may enter into rest from all their Labours and from that hard travel of Soul which they cannot be freed from till their warfare be fully accomplish'd then they put off their Armour as more than Conquerors and sit down in an everlasting Peace with palms in their hands and crowns upon their heads triumphing in the Grace of Christ to all Eternity Could we look through the dark Entry of the Grace into Eternity lifting up our heads within the Vail we should see a Glorious Light that would dazzle our eyes we should have a stronger taste of the powers of the world to come The wiser sort of Heathens were not without some thoughts of a future happy estate they did praesentire in posterum They had some bodings in their minds of some great good or evil that should befal them after death What a shame is it for Christians to be so little affected with the future eternal state of their Immortal Souls Believers while they are in this world are joyned to the Lord in one Spirit i. e. in one spiritual body or in the same spiritual nature with Christ Heb. 2. 11. We live the life of Christ the Head and the Members being acted by the same Spirit Christians have not every one a diverse spirit as every man hath a divers Soul numerically distinct from the Soul of another man but as all Members of the Body have the same Soul though each of them divers operations Rom. 12. 4. so we have all of us one and the same Spirit though the operations of it be divers 1 Cor. 12. 4 13. Therefore if there be any fellowship of the Spirit let us glorifie God in our bodies and in our spirits which are God's CHRIST The ONLY MEDIATOR OF THE NEW COVENANT HEB. XII 24. And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant BEfore I speak to the Words of the Text I shall premise Two Things 1. Compare the Covenant of Grace with the Covenant of Works shewing in what they agree and in what they differ 2. Compare the New Covenant with the Mount Sinai-Covenant CHAP. I. Christ the ONLY Mediator c. FIRST I shall Compare the Covenant of Works with the Covenant of Grace in sundry particulars 1. The Covenant of Grace frees a Sinner from two things which by the Covenant of Works are in force against him 1. From the Curse 2. From perfect Obedience as a Condition of life to be performed by man himself My meaning is That the Covenant of Grace does not take away the Condition of perfect obedience but only the Performance of it by us It is enough that Christ hath performed it for us by whose Obedience we are made Righteous 2. The Covenant of Grace is so far a friend to the Covenant of Works or rather to the Good Works commanded by that Covenant that it takes in all the moral Duties of that Covenant they are as much our Duty now under the Gospel as they were under the Law and our coming short in any of them is as much our sin now as then we ought as much to strive against it nay which is more than could be expected under the Law we are called to repent of it The Law neither gave Grace to repent neither did it admit of any Repentance You see how little countenance the Covenant of Grace rightly understood gives to Licentiousness how much it promotes Holiness even the perfection of Holiness For when all the Grace of that Covenant is given forth it will issue in Perfection then the Saints will be perfect The reason why under the Gospel imperfect Obedience is accepted is not because the Imperfections of it are approved but because they are pardoned and covered 3. The Covenant of Works shews what man must do to be justified The Covenant of Grace what a justified man ought to do how he should carry himself ever after towards God Holiness of life by the Covenant of Works went before Justification as the procuring meritorious cause of it but according to the Covenant of Grace it is the consequent or effect of Justification 4. The Covenant of Grace in the application of it to us begins in the pardon of sin No Grace reaches us till pardoning Grace begins with us we are under a curse till then concluded or shut up under wrath but pardoning Mercy opens the door for all manner of Mercies to enter in turns the whole stream and course of God's Grace towards us Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven c. Psalm 32. 1. This leads the way to all other blessings 5. In the Covenant of Grace God declares what he will be to us and do for us and also what he will enable us to be to him and to do for his Glory his free Grace undertakes both Parts of the Covenant 6. The Covenant of Grace presupposes full satisfaction made by Christ for all our sins against the Covenant of Works else God would not be just in justifying a Believer Rom. 3. 25 26. 7. The Covenant of Grace finds nothing in man to commed him to God but what it brings along with it To suppose any preparatory qualifications conditions causes or motives to make way for us into the favour of God does quite overthrow the nature of free Grace and take off greatly from the glory of it 1. None can have an interest in the Covenant of Grace or be said in a Gospel sence to be in Covenant in whom the essential parts of the Covenant are not already in some measure fulfilled viz. To have the Law written in their heart to have a right Spirit put into us to own God for our God to delight in
and Fear lest we should not walk worthy of it unto all well-pleasing Grace pleases a Believer so well that he cannot but study to please God in all things ever after the Law of Grace constrains him Obs. The clearer Gospel-Light we live under the more holy we should be in our lives and conversations not continuing in sin because Grace abounds Since we are delivered from the terror and bondage of the Law let us not desire to be under it Gal. 4. 21. We are not under the Law but under Grace or which is all one are not come unto Mount Sinai but unto Mount Sion God was very terrible upon Mount Sinai but very amiable and gentle upon Mount Sion sitting upon a Throne of Grace ready to shew Mercy to all who come unto him Heb. 7. 25. he will in no wise cast off any So that Believers now are in a far better case than they were under the Old Testament they enjoy now far greater Priviledges and among the rest we have a more powerful Mediator than Moses was even Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant CHAP. III. Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant IN opening these Words I shall speak to these following Heads viz. 1. What a Mediator is 2. The difference between Moses and Christ. 3. The necessity of a Mediator between God and fallen man 4. How Christ was fitted and qualified for the Office of a Mediator 5. What are those special Mediatory Acts that Christ puts forth 6. Answer some Popish Objections and open some Scriptures very much perverted by them 7. Shew what use we should make of Christ our Mediator First What a Mediator is viz. One who interposes himself as a middle person between two or more who are at variance that he may reconcile them and joyn them together in a New Covenant A Mediator is one coming between two parties at variance to take up the quarrel and reconcile them Medium refertur ad duo extrema the middle refers to two extremes so a Mediator is not of one Gal. 3. 20. There must be two at variance God is one there must be some other at variance with God else no need of a Mediator whilst God and man were one i. e. united in love and affection for then they are said to be one Joh. 17 21. 1 Cor. 6. 17. of the same nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. But there being a difference between God and man Christ is not the Mediator of one i. e. of God only but of God and man God and sinful man for God and a just man are not at variance The first Covenant in Innocency was made between persons perfectly united and agreed the second Covenant between persons mortally offended therefore this needed a Mediator extrema unjuntur in medio So here 2 Cor. 5 18 19. A Mediator stands in the middle to unite both extremes So Christ is the Prince of Peace Isa. 9 6. The Parties disagreeing are God and Man the cause of the difference is sin Isa. 59. 2. which cannot be expiated but by the blood of Christ and because God would not contend for ever Isa. 57. â—6 he sent his Son to dye for our sins and so to make Peace Rom. 5. 10. A Mediator is one who takes hold of both disagreeing Parties one with his right the other with his left hand so bringing them together in Love as Job 9. 33. Isa. 41. 10. God and Man agreeing in one Mediator do walk together Amos 3. 3. The Person of the Mediator as Mediator is inferior to the Father by a voluntary exinanition of himself in the form of a servant but he is above us 1. As God by his Divine Nature 2. As Man by the Purity of his Humane Nature 3. By vertue of his Office and high Prerogatives belonging to it Mediator and Saviour are all one for Mediation is in order to Salvation one the means the other the end He is our Saviour because he is our Mediator Heb. 7. 25. The knowledg of a Mediator is not from the Creatures but from the Scriptures 't is a point of revealed Religion to know who is our Mediator even the Son of God Secondly The difference between Moses and Christ as to their Mediation 1. Christ as Mediator of the new Covenant effectually wins and draws to it all those to whom the benefit of this Covenant belongs he undertakes for the full accomplishment of the Covenant on both sides So did not Moses He was mediator of the old covenant Gal. 3. 19. Exod. 20. 19. Deut. 5. 4 5. 2. The Mediator of the New Testament must die because he is the Testator as well as Mediator Heb. 9. 15 16 17. vide The Priests under the Law did offer Sacrifice but did not offer up themselves as Christ did Moses was only a Ministerial Mediator he was not the Author of the Covenant but only a Witness to the delivery and publication of it in God's Name by his Hand But Christ himself is the Author of the New Covenant and he stands engaged to make good the terms of it to take up the difference between God and us Eph. 2. 14. He is our peace Man's reconciliation with God was drawn into a Covenant therefore Christ is called the Mediator of the New Covenant he is both our Mediator and our Ransom he that is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 John 2. 1 2. 3. The Priest and Sacrifices of old were tipes of Christ the great Mediator of the New Testament the only high Priest who is both Priest and Sacrifice 4. Under the Law many Sacrifices and they often repeated Heb. 10. 11. But in the Gospel but one Sacrifice and but once offered Heb. 9. 28. Heb. 10. 12 14 18. 5. Christ does not only intercede with the Father for us Joh. 16. 23. but promises to do it himself John 14. 14. He does not only intercede for us as an Advocate but himself hears our Prayers and grants our Petitions so could not Moses he is an extraordinary Mediator not only procuring remission from the Party offended but actually remitting the offence himself 6. The new Covenant comprehends both Jew and Gentile Eph. 2. 14 15. Eph. 1. 10. So did not the old 7. There was only Typical forgiveness in the old Covenant as pertaining to the conscience Heb. 9. 9 10 13 14. Heb. 10. 1 2 3. But real forgiveness in the new Heb. 10. 16 17. A real purging the Conscience Heb. 9 14. 8. Moses was not Surety of the new Covenant unto God on the part of the people but only an Internuncius or middle agent between them declaring the mind of God unto the people 9. The Sinai Covenant had relation to the Covenant of Grace and therefore the Ceremonial Law was annexed to it Circumcision was a Seal not of the Covenant of works as the Jews misconceived but of the second Covenant of Righteousness by Faith Rom. 4. 11. Confirmed before of God in Christ Gal. 3. 17. The Law was