Covenant and Testament but the Father's Will and Covenant also Hence the Testament is called The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him that is a Mediator Yet Christ is the Testator or he that is to dispose of all those rich Legacies which the Father by him as Mediator designed to bestow on all his Elect it is called his Covenant Testament or Last Will. And now since the New Covenant was to come under this Character viz. Christ's Last Will and Testament there was a Necessity for many other Reasons that the Covenant should be Confirmed and Ratified by his Death 〈…〉 The Greek Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diathemenos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berith A Testament is the Sentence or Declaration of our last Will of what we would have done after our Death now this Testament contains all the Blessings Grants and Priviledges agreed unto and given to Christ as Mediator of the Covenant of Peace and more properly it denotes Christ's giving them forth as one Dying to confirm the Covenant 1. A Testator signifies a Disposer one that makes his Last Will and Testament who hath Goods to bestow and Persons to give them unto 2. It denotes that a Dying Person who to confirm his Will and Testament there is a Necessity of his Death and thus Christ as a Testator died by virtue of those Covenant Transactions betwixt God the Father and himself on the behalf of God's Elect Where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the Death of the Testator 3. It also denotes that he the Testator hath or is Invested with some Estate and hath a proper Right to dispose of it Jesus Christ in this Covenant had all the Riches of Grace and Glory given to him as Mediator See John 13.3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his Hands c. 4. Moreover it denotes that whatsoever he gives as a Testator is of meer Grace or of the Good Pleasure of his Will 5. Also it gives a Just Right to all such to whom he bequeaths any Legacies to what is given so that such may sue out for them as their own Furthermore it imports the Revelation and Declaration of his Will Love and Affections to all his Relations and Friends So did Jesus Christ in his Last Will and Testament reveal his Will Love and rich Bounty to all God'â— Elect. Now the Design of God and Christ herein was 1. To give or superadd a new Title to alâ— Believers as one well observes of all Covenant Blessings that we might have all manneâ— of Security imaginable to the Inheritance 2. Also to shew the Absolute Freeness of thâ— Conveyance of all Covenant Grants and Bleâ—sings to Believers 3. And more directly to the purpose iâ— hand Jesus Christ came under this Relation to ratifie and confirm the Covenant of Peace anâ— our sure Right and Title to all Blessings contained therein Tho it be but a Man's Testament yet if it be confirmed no Man disanulleth or addeth thereunto The Covenant was in force even from the Beginning and all God's Elect who lived under the Old Testament Dispensation received the Grace and Blessings thereof through Faith in Christ's Death who they knew would come in the fulness of time and by his Blood confirm this Covenant The Father indeed trusted the Son upon his Holy Compact or Covenant with him upon the account of what he was to do and suffer in time Pray Brethren observe That the Death of Christ is the great and sure Ratification and Confirmation of the Covenant of Peace It is a Confirmation of such Validity that it is made unalterable and cannot be disannulled To proceed there are Beloved seven or eight things to be considered in the Death of Christ. I. The Death of Christ put an end to or abrogated the Old Covenant He took away the first that he might establish the second Having abolished in his Flesh the Enmity even the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances for to make in himself of twain one New Man so making Peace The first Will or Covenant is made void by the second i. e. by the Last Will and Testament nor is the Ceremonial Law only abolished but the Moral Law as a Covenant of Works Do this and Live not as it is a Law requiring perfect Obedience on Righteousness but as to the Tenure or Terms of it Not my Brethren but that all Believers who lived under the Old Testament were saved by the Covenant of Grace Christ was to establish as I said before Yet was not the Old Covenant actually taken away till Christ died the latter Covenant is called an Everlasting Covenant not I say again that the first as to Righteousness is ceased or disannulled no but as a Covenant of Works requiring perfect Righteousness of us in our own Persons if ever we are Justified in God's Sight but that the perfect Obedience which Law required of us is transmitted to another Head i. e. the Christ Jesus who having answered all its Demands in point of Obedience and Righteousness so that He is the end of the Law as touching Righteousness to every one that believeth Insomuch that the Law cannot Curse nor any more Condemn them that are in Christ Jesus II. Christ's Death as well as his Active Obedience to the Law was the Condition on his part for us upon which God the Father entered into this Covenant of Peace on our behalf therefore had not Christ died all that believed before he came had perished but neither of these were possible III. The Death of Christ was the Price of our Redemption by this vast Summ we were Redeemed Ye are not your own you are bought with a Price Not our own observe 1. We were sold under Sin and were in bondage to the Law and Justice of God 2. There was a treating about the Price of our Redemption and the Terms were agreed to which was That Christ must die For asmuch as ye know that ye were not Redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold c. but with the Precious Blood of Christ Who verily was fore-ordained before the Foundation of the World or was delivered up according to the Compact or Result in the Covenant of Peace to Redeem us from Wrath and Hell held in Eternity between the Father and himself 3. The Time also when this should be done was also then agreed on that is when Christ should die But when the fullness of Time came God sent forth his own Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh To Redeem them that were under the Law c. IV. The Death of Christ was that Price by which all Grace is purchased for us for tho we have all Covenant Grants and Blessings freely given to us or merely of God's Free Grace yet Faith a New Heart Regeneration Repentance Pardon and Peace and all other Grace and Blessings here and Glory hereafter were all purchased
hear it and do it But what saith the Lord to them O that there was such an Heart in them He knew well their great Inability and Averseness to do whatsoever he required But the Covenant of Grace is an absolute Covenant as to us as I have and shall further shew you by and by IV. The Covenant of Works tho it required perfect Obedience Personally to be performed by the Creature yet it gave no strength to perform what it commanded 1. But in the Covenant of Peace whatsoever God's Law required of us to our Justification in his Sight Christ covenanted and performed it for us and we in him Hence the Apostle saith That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us In us Christ and Believers are here represented but as one Person because what he did we are said to do in him Paul can't refer in this place to our inherent Sanctification for so no Believer can fulfil the Law because his best Works and Sanctification are imperfect 2. Moreover whatsoever Duties God requires of us as to our actual Justification in our own Consciences and as to our Sanctifica-also he hath promised to give us his Spirit to perform and work in us 1. He commands us to Believe and he hath promised to give us Faith so to do For Faith is not of our selves it is the Gift of God to you it is given not only to believe c. 2. He hath commanded us to make us a new Heart and he hath promised to give us a new Heart and to put a new Spirit into us 3. He commands us to love him c. and he hath promised to Circumcise our Hearts so to do c. V. The Covenant of Works laid all that broke it under God's denounced Wrath and Curse and admitted of no Mercy of no Forgiveness Heb. 10.28 In the Covenant of Grace Christ hath born that Wrath and Curse He hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us No doubt but under the Law he that was Hanged on a Tree was not made a Curse only Politically but also Typically as signifying that Curse Christ should be made on the behalf of the Elect. And by being made a Curse for us he bore the Punishment due to us for our Sins and satisfied Divine Justice so that all our Sins who do believe in Jesus are in the Covenant of Grace forgiven for ever VI. The Covenant of Works as to the Tenure of it runs thus i. e. Do this and live but the Covenant of Grace runs thus in the Tenure of it i. e. Believe and be saved Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved The One puts Men upon working or doing for Life the other puts them upon believing and working from Life The first promises Rewards for the Creatures Obedience and threatens Wrath and Death for the Creatures Disobedience The second promises Rewards of Grace to Believers for what Christ hath done or through his Merits and threatens Wrath for not believing or for non-receiving of Free Justification through Christ's Obedience or for refusing the only Remedy or for neglecting that great Salvation purchased and merited by the Lord Jesus VII The Covenant of Works represents God an Angry God an Incensed Judge or as a Consuming Fire But the Covenant of Grace represents God in Christ a Reconciled Father This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Fury is not in me There is no Fury in God no Wrath no Condemnation to any that believe or that are in Jesus Christ. VIII The Covenant of Works consisted all in Precepts in Commands which were partly Moral and partly Ceremonial the latter being numerous some speak of more than three Hundred Precepts that were injoyned on the People for tho the Ceremonial Law shadowed the Gospel yet Paul counts it part of the first Covenant See Heb. 9.1 Yet I deny not but that there was much Grace held forth in it But the Covenant of Grace as to us consisteth only of Free Promises Hence the Elect are called The Children of the Promise Vnto Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made Now we Brethren as Isaac was are Children of the Promise And hence the Covenant of Grace is called The Covenants of Promise Note 'T is called Covenants in respect of the divers Revelations or Declarations of it as to Adam Abraham David c. and as revealed in the Gospel tho it is but one and the same Covenant True it may differ in some Accidents but in Substance it was the same viz. Jesus Christ promised and Free Justification through him Is the Law against the Promises That is Is the Law as given in Mount Sinai against the Covenant of Grace No but given in Subserviency thereunto or as leading to it by discovering the Evil of Sin and the absolute Necessity of Christ's perfect Obedience thereunto in our stead IX The first Covenant required perfect Obedience to the Law in every Man 's own Person in respect to their Justification at God's Bar by which means through Man's Weakness and Inability to perform it 't is called The Killing Letter The Letter kills for Sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and by it slew me Sin revived and I dyed That is as to any hope of Life by the Law But the Covenant of Grace admits of a Substitute or of a Surety to keep the Law for us and God accepteth of his Obedience and Suffering as imputed to us to our free Discharge and Justification in his Sight And hence the Gospel is called The Ministration of the Spirit and Life Thus the Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace 1. As considered in it self 2. Comparatively or in opposition to the first Covenant or Covenant of Works Thirdly The Covenant of Peace is the Covenant of Grace appears in that 't is an absolute Covenant I. It is not made on Conditions to be performed by us i. e. which being performed gives us a Right unto the Reward promised thereupon because our Right and Title to Heaven is only by the Righteousness of Christ through his perfect Obedience to the Law c. The Nature of the Covenant of Grace saith a Worthy Divine is Absolute or a Covenant of Promise notwithstanding all the Conditionalty contained therein 1. In respect of the Original Proposer of this Covenant it came from the Free and Absolute Will Grace and Purpose of the Father 1 Tim. 1.9 The Covenant of Peace was not purchased by Christ I mean the Covenant it self tho the Blessings in it were Christ's Purchase 2. The Covenant is Free and Absolute as to the Elect Personally considered because the whole of the Foederal Conditions lay upon their Head as undertaking for them II If we consider the Covenant saith he in respect to its Application or its being actually applied to the Elect
suffered as our Head and Representative in our stead or room the Just for the Vnjust or the Surety for the Principal or for the Sinner and this according to the Terms agreed upon in the Covenant of Peace and not simply for our good any otherwise God being in his own Nature Just as well as Gracious could not without Wrong or Injury to his Justice Holiness and the Sanction of his Law Acquit Justifie and Pardon any Sinner without a full Satisfaction to both Law and Justice and this must either be done by us or by our Surety for us 2. We affirm that the Law of Perfect Obedience results from the Holiness Purity and Rectitude of God's Nature and therefore it stands as a perpetual Law and can never be abolished as a Rule of Life tho it be taken away as it required perfect Obedience of us or as a Law of Works to be fulfilled and satisfied for in our own Persons in point of Justification Do we then make void the Law through Faith God forbid Yea we establish the Law because by Christ we attain a perfect Righteousness being interested in his most compleat and perfect Obedience to the Moral Law and by his Spirit to live in more exact Conformity thereunto My Brethren Is it not our Duty still and as much as ever it was To love the Lord our God with all our Hearts with all our Souls and with all our Strength and our Neighbour as our selves not only sincerely but perfectly nay to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect Tho we are not able to do this yet the Moral Law still remains and requires us thus to do true we shall not be Damned for want of this perfect Obedienc because Christ hath in our Nature and stead kept the Law perfectly for us and so he is the end of the Law in respect of Righteousness to all that believe Christ did not come to engage or undertake as a Mediator that we should perfectly in our own Persons keep the Moral Law and so be Justified in God's Sight nor did he come to undertake that we should sincerely keep any other Law to that end much less leave us to the exercise of our Natural or Spiritual Abilities to keep such a Law as the Condition of our Justification and Acceptation with God but he came to procure for us such a Righteousness by his own Obedience and Suffering that the Holiness Justice and Law of God doth require of us if we are Justified with God for what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sent furth his Son c. T is a hard case my Brethren that these degenerate Presbyterians or any pretending to be Gospel-Preachers should deny Christ to be a Common Head and Surety for the Elect for he that dies in the stead and room of others is by the consent of the Law-giver substituted in their Law place and so takes upon him the Capacity of a Surety Representative or common Person undertaking to do and suffer what others should but these Men deny this Relation or Capacity of Christ as a Surety in this Sense and therefore deny he obeyed and died in our stead And from hence it follows also that Christ did not do that for us which our own Perfect Obedience did do whilst Man stood and would have done had he not sinned i. e. Justified him or have given him a Title to Life 3. Moreover if Christ was not put in our Law place as our Representative and Surety Why was he made of a Woman and made under the Law Was it not that the Law might reach him 1. As to its commanding Power as our Surety to pay the Debt of Perfect Obedience thereunto 2. And as a Sinner in a Law Sense to die or be made Sin for us that is by Imputation for had not he been under the Law the Law could not have reached him in either sense i. e. either to do or suffer and had not he took our Law place upon him we could not have been the better for what could his taking our Nature on him have profited us had he not been substituted in our room But as we were obliged by the Law Justice and Holiness of God to keep the Law perfectly so he was made under the Law to keep it for us and as we were sinful Men and liable to the Just Sentence of the Law for our Violation of it so he was made under the Law and as our Representative and Surety to die and to satisfie Divine Justice for our Transgressions that were against it He was made under the Law i. e. under the Preceptory part of it to fulfil and establish that he satisfied for that part of the Law He was under the Law as being liable to the Punishment or Penalty of the Law that he might answer and fulfil that and for ever deliver us from the Punishment thereof and all this as our Surety standing in our Law place Reproof This may tend severely to reprehend those new and erroneous Notions that so prevail amongst us concerning Christ's Work and Office as Mediator we say and prove that by Christ's Active and Perfect Obedience to the Law we are justified and delivered from Wrath and Condemnation or that by Christ's Righteousness imputed Believers are perfectly Justified and freed from the Curse of the Law and are certainly entituled to Eternal Life 1. But our new Work-mongers assert That our Justification or Right to Life dependeth wholly upon our Obedience to the Gospel as a Law as the Condition to which it is promised Therefore as one observes it puts us into a Condition of Life imperfect and subject to change as Obedience it self is and that we are not perfectly Justified till our Obedience is perfected Thus Mr. Clark of High-Wickham and others Take Mr. Clark's Words viz. Our Justification at present while we are in this World is but Partial Imperfect and Incompleat Ans. Now say I this confounds Justification with Sanctification and as I have told him then it also follows that Believers are partly justified and partly condemned i. e. we are not acquitted from the guilt of all Sin whilst in this World and so Christ's Dove is not Vndefiled Lord what an Age do we live in 2. We say that we are made Partakers of Christ's Righteousness and the Benefits of it by our Union with him through the Spirit by which means Faith is wrought in us by which we apprehend him and we say that Faith is an Instrument whereby we receive him Faith only Justifying us objectively i. e. It is not Faith but Jesus Christ that Faith takes hold of that doth Justifie us in the Sight of God But they say That Faith in its whole Latitude is our believing and obeying the Gospel that is Faith and all the Fruits thereof or Faith and Obedience or if you please Faith and Gospel-Works For Mr. Clark says That