The Making Of The Covenant Of Grace
THE MAKING OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE
HAVING considered the parties in the covenant of grace, we come now to take a view of the making of that covenant betwixt the parties contracting therein. And here we find ourselves at the fountain-head of the salvation of lost sinners, the origin and rise of the glorious plan, laid from eternity in the secret council of the ever-blessed Trinity, for remedy of man's misery. And this is a manifold mystery, the several folds of which we are not able fully to discover. With God it was all one piece, if I may so phrase it; for with all things are together and at once; and not one thing before, and another after, as with us. Howbeit, we cannot conceive of it but in parcels; first one piece of the mystery and then another; and that because of the weakness of our capacity, as we are creatures; and much more, as we are creatures under much spiritual darkness. Wherefore we must of necessity address ourselves to the consideration of it in parcels; but still remembering, we are in the eternal mystery, transacted in the eternal decree of the holy Trinity all at once, by one eternal act of the divine will; in which, nevertheless, we are allowed to conceive a certain order, since otherwise we cannot take up the mystery.
We have already seen, that the Father, the party-contractor on Heaven's side, is in that matter to be considered as an offended God; but purposing to manifest the glory of his mercy in the salvation of some of mankind lost; yet withal as a just God, who cannot but give sin a just recompense: and also, that Jesus Christ, the party-contractor on man's side, is to be considered therein as the last or second Adam, representative of a seed. Wherefore, first of all, we are to inquire, How Christ the Son of God became second Adam? and then, How the covenant was made with him as such? the former being as it were preliminary to the latter.
First, How Christ the Son of God became second Adam? This we may take up in two things.
1. The Father willed and designed, that his own Son, the eternal Word, should, for the purpose of mercy towards mankind lost, take on their nature, and become man. He saw that sacrifice and offering would not answer the case; the debt was greater than to be paid at that rate; the redemption of souls could not be managed but by a person of infinite dignity: wherefore, having purposed that the darling attribute of mercy should be illustrated in the case of lost mankind, he willed the human nature to be united in time to the divine nature, in the person of the Son.
And hereunto the Son, as the eternal Word, the second person of the glorious Trinity, having no nearer relation to man than as his sovereign Lord Creator, readily agreed: Heb. 10:5, "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me."—Ver. 7, "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." The eternal Word consented to be made flesh, that all flesh might not perish: he consented to become man, to take unto a personal union with himself a human nature, to wit, a true body and a reasonable soul, according to the eternal destination of his Father. This was an instance of amazing condescension. The highest monarch's consent to lay aside his robes of majesty, to clothe himself with rags, and become a beggar, is not to be compared with it. Nay the highest angel's consent to become a worm, is not to be named in one day with the eternal Son of God, the Father's equal, his consenting to become man: for the distance between the divine nature and the human is infinite; whereas the distance between the angelic nature, and the nature of worms of the earth, is but finite.
Now, the effect of this was, that hereby the Son of God was constituted substantial Mediator, or Mediator in respect of nature, between God and man. Being from eternity God equal with the Father, he so stood related to heaven: and having from eternity consented to become man, he so stood related to earth: for though he did not actually take on him the nature of man until the fulness of time appointed by the Father; yet, forasmuch as he had from eternity consented to take it on, and it was impossible that his consent should miss to take effect, he was recokened in law, to all intents and purposes thereof, as if he had actually been incarnate. A type of this his substantial mediation was Jacob's ladder, which was "set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven," Gen. 28:12. A clear emblem of the divine and human nature in Christ, through whom, as substantial Mediator, there was a way opened towards a communication for peace between heaven and earth. Accordingly our Lord Jesus applies it to himself: John 1:51, "Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the "angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man;" to wit, as on Jacob's ladder, Gen. 28:12.
2. The Father chose him to be head of the election; to be the last Adam, federal head and representative of such as sovereign pleasure should pitch upon to be vessels of mercy, and inrolled in the book of life; a head and representative with whom he might make the new covenant for life and salvation to them.
And to this also he readily agreed, consenting to be the last or second Adam, head and representative of the election; to sustain their persons, and transact in their name: Isa. 43:1, "Behold—mine elect in whom my soul delighteth." Psalm 89:19, "I have exalted one chosen out of the people." 1 Cor. 15:47, "The second man is the Lord from heaven." The breach between God and man was greater than to be done away by a mere intermessenger, who travelling between parties at variance, reconciles them with bare words. There could be no covenant of peace betwixt God and sinners without reparation of damages done to the honour of God through sin, and without honouring of the holy law by an exact obedience: but these things being quite beyond their reach, Christ the Son of God saith, "Lo, I come; I am content to take their place, and put myself in their room as a second Adam."
Now, the effect of this was, that hereby he was constituted last Adam, or the second man, 1 Cor. 15:47; and official Mediator, or Mediator in respect of office, between God and man, 1 Tim. 2:5, 6, "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all." Being called of his Father unto that office, and having embraced the call thereto, he was invested with the office, and treated with as such, before the world began, Tit. 1:2. And indeed he, and he only, was fit for it. The two families of heaven and earth being at war, there could be no peace between them but through a Mediator. But where could a mediator be found to interpose between such parties, who would not either have been too high, or else too low, in respect of one of the parties at variance? Man or angels would have been too low, in respect of God; and an unveiled God would have been too high, in respect of sinful men, unable to bear intercourse with such heavenly majesty. Wherefore the Son of God, that he might be fit to mediate; as he being God equal with the Father, was high enough in respect of the party offended; so he consented to become low enough in respect of the party offending, by his becoming man.
Secondly, It is to be inquired, How the covenant was made with Christ as second Adam? And this also may be taken up in two things.
1. The Father designed a certain number of lost mankind, as it were by name, to be the constituent members of that body chosen to life, of which body Christ was the designed head; and he gave them to him for that end: Phil. 4:3, "My fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life." John 17:6, "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." These were a chosen company, whom sovereign free grace picked out from among the rest of mankind, on a purpose of love, and gave to the second Adam for a seed; on which account they are said to have been chosen in him, Eph. 1:4; being in the decree of election laid upon him as the foundation-stone, to be built upon him, and obtain salvation by him, 1 Thess. 5:9; which decree, as it relates to the members elect, is therefore called the book of life; being as it were the roll which the Father gave to the second Adam, the head-elect, containing the names of those designed to be his seed, to receive life by him.
Now, our Lord Jesus standing as second Adam, head of the election, to wit, such as sovereign pleasure should pitch upon to be vessels of mercy, did accept of the gift of the particular persons elected or chosen by his Father: John 17:6, "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." Ver. 10, "And thine are mine." Like as the first Adam, in the making of the first covenant, stood alone without actual issue, yet had destinated for him a numerous issue, to be comprehended with him in that covenant, to wit, all mankind; the which Adam did at least virtually accept: so a certain number of lost mankind being elected to life, God, as their original proprietor, gave them to Christ the appointed head, to be his members, and comprehended with him in the second covenant, though as yet none of them were in being; and he accepted of the gift of them, being well-pleased to take them in particular for his body mystical, for which he should covenant with his Father. And, in token thereof, he as it were received and kept as his own the book of life containing their names, which is therefore called the Lamb's book of life, Rev. 21:27.
2. The Father proposed to him as second Adam, the new covenant for life and salvation to them, in the full tenor, promises, and condition thereof; treating in him with all those particular persons of lost mankind elected unto life, and given to him, even as he treated with all mankind in Adam in the first covenant. The promises therein proposed, were indeed great and glorious; but withal the condition, or terms, on which they were proposed, were exceeding high.
Howbeit, as the first Adam, standing as head and representative of all his natural seed, entered into the first covenant with God, accepting the promise thereof, upon the terms and condition therein proposed, which he engaged to fulfil; so our Lord Jesus standing as second Adam, head and representative of the particular persons of lost mankind, by name elected to life, and given to him as his spiritual seed, entered into the second covenant with his Father; accepting the promises thereof, upon the terms and condition therein proposed; consenting and engaging to fulfil the same, for them. And thus the covenant of grace was made, and concluded, betwixt the Father and Christ the second Adam, from all eternity; being the second covenant, in respect of order and manifestation to the world, though it was first in being: 1 Cor. 15:47, "The second man is the Lord from heaven." Isa. 53:10, "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." Tit. 1:2, "In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began." Psalm 40:6, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened"—7, "Then said I, Lo, I come"—8, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."
Now, Christ the second Adam, giving this consent, took upon him a threefold character, of unparallelled weight and importance; sisting himself, (1.) The Kinsman-redeemer in the covenant, (2.) The Surety of the covenant, and, (3.) The Priest of the covenant. The mediation of Christ doth indeed run through the whole of the covenant. And there are several other parts of that mediation, which respecting the promises of the covenant, do belong to the administration thereof. But these I have now mentioned, do respect the condition of the covenant, and so belong to the making thereof; under which head we shall consider them in order.
OUR Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, giving his consent to the covenant, as proposed to him by the Father, sisted himself Kinsman-redeemer in the covenant: Job 19:25, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth."
Under the law, when a man was not able to act for himself, to assert and use his own right, one that was akin to him, had a right to act for him, coming in his room, and standing up in his right. And such a one was called his Goel; which properly signifies a Kinsman-redeemer. Hence that word is sometimes rendered a kinsman; as Numb. 5:8, "If the man have no (Goel) kinsman to recompense the trespass unto." Ruth 3:12, "I am thy (Goel) near kinsman: howbeit there is a (Goel) kinsman nearer than I." Sometimes it is rendered a Redeemer; as Prov. 23:11, "Their (Goel) Redeemer is mighty." Isa. 47:4, "As for our (Goel) Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name." One's acting in that capacity, is called doing the kinsman's part, or redeeming, to wit, by right of kin, Ruth 3:13; and 4:6. Howbeit, such a one might refuse to do the kinsman's part; as Ruth's kinsman-redeemer did, who resigned his right to Boaz, and in token thereof drew off his own shoe, and gave it him, Ruth 4:6, 7, 8.
Now, Christ the second Adam saw sinners, his ruined kinsmen quite unable to act for themselves. Not one of them all was able to redeem himself, and far less his brother. Withal, the angels, near akin to them in the rational world, durst not meddle with the redemption; being sure they could not have missed to mar their own inheritance thereby, nor have delivered their poor kinsmen neither. If he should have declined it, and drawn off his shoe to them, or to any other of the whole creation, there was none who durst have ventured to receive it, or his foot in it. "I looked," saith he, "and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation," Isa. 63:5. He took on himself the character of their Kinsman-redeemer; and of him as such Job speaks in the forecited passage, which I conceive to be thus expressed in the original: "I know, my Kinsman-redeemer liveth: and the latter one he shall stand up upon the dust." In which words Job comforts himself with a view of Christ as his Kinsman-redeemer living, even in his day, in respect of his divine nature; and as the latter or second one, (in opposition to the former or first, Exod. 4:8, 9; Deut. 24:3, 4.) namely, the latter or second Adam Redeemer, in opposition to the former or first Adam destroyer; firmly believing, that the one uniting to himself a human nature, should as sure stand up upon the dust of the earth, and do the kinsman's part for him; as the other, having the breath of life breathed into his nostrils, stood up upon it, and ruined all.
Now, there were four things the kinsman-redeemer was to do for his kinsman, unable to act for himself; all which Christ the second Adam undertook in the covenant.
1. He was to marry the widow of his deceased kinsman, to raise up seed to his brother. Hereof Boaz was put in mind by Ruth, chap. 3:9, "I am Ruth thine handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman." Compare ver. 10–13; chap. 4:10; and Ezek. 16:8. I spread my skirt over thee—and thou becamest mine." Our nature was in a comfortable and fruitful condition, while the image of God impressed thereupon in Adam, remained with it; but that image being removed, in the spiritual death caused by his sin, there ensued an absolute barrenness, as to the fruits of holiness, in our nature thus left. But our Kinsman-redeemer consented to marry the widow. Being to take to himself a human nature he undertook to take on our human nature in particular, taking his flesh of Adam's family. Thus was it provided, that his body should not be made of nothing, nor of any thing whatsoever that was not derived from Adam as its original. It was a low match indeed for him; and would have been so, even if the family of Adam had been in its primitive state and splendour: but now it was considered as in the depth of poverty and disgrace. Yet, being necessary for our redemption, he consented thereto, as our Kinsman-redeemer. Accordingly, in the fulness of time, he was made of a woman, a daughter of Adam's family, Gal. 4:4, and so was a son of Adam, Luke 3:23–38. Thus was a foundation laid for the mystical marriage of believers with him; which mystical marriage doth not belong to the condition and making of the covenant properly so called, but to the promise and administration of it, being a sinner's personal entrance thereinto. And the great end, in subordination to the glory of God, for which this more intimate union and match with our nature was gone into by our Kinsman-redeemer, was to render it again fruitful in the fruits of true holiness: and without it our nature had for ever remained under absolute barrenness in that point, even as the nature of fallen angels doth.
2. He was to redeem the mortgaged inheritance of his poor kinsman, Lev. 25:25, "If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold;" or rather, "then shall come in his kinsman-redeemer, that is near unto him; and he shall redeem that which his brother sold." Our father Adam waxing poor through the deceitful dealing of the tempter with him, quite sold away the inheritance of eternal life for a morsel of forbidden fruit: and his children waxing poorer still, through their own personal fault, had set themselves farther and farther from it. They could not have raised amongst them all, what would have redeemed so much as one man's part of it. Howbeit, except it was redeemed, they could never have had access to it. Wherefore the second Adam, as Kinsman-redeemer, took the burden of the redemption on himself, and agreed to pay the price of that purchase; "dying for us, that we might live together with him," 1 Thess. 5:10.
3. He was to ransom his poor kinsman in bondage, paying the price of his redemption: Lev. 25:47, "If thy brother wax poor, and sell himself," ver. 48, "After that he is sold, he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him." Ver. 52, "According unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption." Being sold in the loins of our first father, we were brought into bondage under the curse of the law. So we are by nature the law's bond-men, and consequently slaves to sin and Satan, never to have been released without a ransom, the full worth of so many souls. This ransom was stated in the covenant; to wit, that the Kinsman-redeemer should give himself a ransom for his poor kinsmen: and he agreed to it, for purchasing their liberty, 1 Tim. 2:5, 6. The ransom was great, soul for soul, body for body; a person of infinite dignity for his poor kinsmen in bondage. But he consented to take on him the form of a servant, that he might be set free; to have his ear bored at the law's door-post, that they might be delivered out of their bondage.
4. Lastly, He was to avenge the blood of his slain kinsman on the slayer: Deut. 19:12, "The elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the (Goel) avenger of blood, that he may die." Our Kinsman-redeemer saw all his poor kindred slain men. And the devil was the murderer, John 8:44. He had ministered poison to them in the loins of their first parent; yea, he had smitten them to death, killed them with an arrow shot through the eye. But no avenger of their blood could be found, till the second Adam, as their Kinsman-redeemer, did, in the second covenant undertake the avenging of it. Meanwhile, the murderer had the power of death, Heb. 2:14; and "the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law," 1 Cor. 15:56. Wherefore there was no disarming and destroying of the murderer, without taking the sting out of death which he had the power of. And that was not to be done, but by removing the guilt of sin, whereby sinners were bound over to death: neither was this to be done, but by satisfying the law, whose awful sanction of death strongly kept fast the guilt of death on the sinners. These were the iron gates to be broke through, ere the Kinsman-redeemer, the avenger of blood, could get at the murderer. But the mighty Redeemer undertook, by his own death and sufferings, to satisfy the law; and by that means to remove the strength of sin; and by this means again, to take away the sting of death: and so by his own death to destroy the murderer that had the power of death; and thus to avenge the blood of his slain kinsman upon him, Heb. 2:14. So did Samson, a type of our Kinsman-Redeemer, avenge Israel of the Philistines their oppressors, pulling down the house on the Philistines, and dying himself to destroy them, Judg. 16.
Christ the second Adam consenting to the covenant, sisted himself also surety of it: Heb. 7:22, "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament;" or rather, as others read it, of a better covenant. A surety is one who undertakes for another, obliging himself whether for paying his debt, civil or criminal, or for his performing a deed. That we may then rightly understand Christ's suretiship, it is necessary we consider, 1. For whom, 2. For what he became surety in the covenant.
First, For whom Christ became surety in the covenant. I find two things advanced on this head, namely, (1.) That he became surety for God to sinners; and (2.) Surety for sinners to God. To the first of these, the Socinians restrain Christ's suretiship, denying the second; and so overthrow the foundation of our salvation. But all orthodox divines agree, in that the second of these is the main thing in it. Some of them indeed make no difficulty of admitting, that Christ became surety for God to sinners, as well as surety for sinners to God, undertaking, on God's part, that all the promises shall be made good to the seed, even to all that believe. There is no question, but God's promises are, in respect of his infallible truth and veracity, most firm and sure in themselves, and cannot miss to be performed: but we being guilty creatures, are slow of heart to believe; and therefore do need what may make them more sure to us, or assure our hearts they shall be performed to us. And for this cause he hath given us his word of promise under his hand in the holy scriptures, and an earnest of the promised inheritance, Eph. 1:14; the seal of the Spirit, ver. 13; 2 Cor. 1:22: the sacramental seals, Rom. 4:11; yea, and his solemn oath too, in the matter, to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, Heb. 6:17. And if Jesus Christ is surety for God to us, it is no doubt for the same end.
But I doubt if the holy scripture calls Christ a surety in that sense at all. In the forecited passage, Heb. 7:22, the only text wherein Christ is expressly called a surety, it is evident, that his suretiship therein mentioned, respects his priestly office, wherein he deals with God for us; ver. 20, "And in as much as not without an oath he was made priest," 21. (—"by him that said unto him, The Lord aware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec)" ver. 22, "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." But his suretiship for God to us, cannot relate to his priestly office, but to his kingly office, in respect of which all power is given to him in heaven and in earth; and consequently a power to see that all the promises be performed to his people. And therefore his suretiship mentioned in that text, is for us to God, and not for God to us. It is but in other two texts only, as far as I have observed, that we read of suretiship relative to the case between God and a sinner: and in both of them, the suretiship is not to the sinner, but for him. They are Psalm 119:122, "Be surety for thy servant for good;" and Job 17:3. "Put me in a surety with thee." The original phraseology or expression, is the same in the latter text as in the former; and the same in them both, as in the case of Judah's suretiship for Benjamin, to his father, Gen. 43:9; and 44:32. Now, unless the sacred oracles go before us, in proposing Christ as a surety for God to us, I see no reason, why the being of such a thing at all should be yielded to the adversaries, who make such a pernicious use of it. As for the comfort that might arise from it to us, the same is fully secured, in that the whole administration of the covenant is committed into the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ; and he is the Trustee and Testator of the covenant or covenant-benefits; as shall be shown in due place.
But, without all peradventure, Christ the Mediator and second Adam, being surety in the covenant, for sinners to God; as the scriptures do abundantly declare: Psalm 89:19, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty." 1 Tim. 2:5, "One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" ver. 6, "Who gave himself a ransom for all." 2 Cor. 5:21, "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." Isa. 53:6, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Gal. 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Isa. 53:5, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." The covenant of grace was made with the spiritual seed in Christ the second Adam, taking burden for them upon himself as their surety. And without a surety it could not have been made with them. For they were a company of broken men, owing a thousand times more than they were all worth: and their word in a new bargain for life and salvation was worth nothing; there could be no regard had to it in heaven. There was neither truth nor ability left them after the first covenant was broken. Behold their character in point of truth or veracity, Rom. 3:4, "Let God be true, but every man a liar:" and in point of ability, chap. 5:6, "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." The demands in this covenant were high, and quite above their ability to answer: and, besides, they themselves were false and fickle. They brake their word in the first covenant when able to have kept it; how could they be trusted in this new bargain, when their ability was gone? So there was an absolute necessity of a surety for them in it. And Jesus Christ became surety for them; so the new covenant, on which depends all their salvation, was made, and made sure.
Solomon tells us, That "he that is surety for a stranger, shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship, is sure," Prov. 11:15. Our Lord Jesus knew very well, the burden he took on himself in his suretiship for sinners; the character of those whom he became surety for; and that he could have no relief from them; but his love to his Father's glory, and the salvation of sinners, engaged him in it, being perfectly sure to smart for it, as will appear from considering,
Secondly, For what he became surety in the covenant. Suretiship, in respect of the subject-matter of it, is of two sorts. 1. There is a suretiship for paying one's debt: Prov. 22:26, "Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts." 2. A suretiship for one's performing of a deed: chap. 20:16, "Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; and take a pledge of him for a strange woman;" that is of him who is surety for her good behaviour; for she will leave them in the lurch.
Now, our Lord's suretiship for sinners was of the first sort. Christ as the second Adam consenting to the covenant, sisted himself surety for the debt of the seed represented by him. Their debt was by God's eternal fore-knowledge, stated from the broken covenant of works, in the whole latitude of the demands it had on them; and he became surety for it, striking hands with his Father to pay it completely, And,
1. He became surety for their debt of punishment, which they as sinners were liable in payment of, as the original phraseth it, 2 Thess. 1:9. That was the debt owing to the divine justice, for all and every one of their sins, original or actual. The demerit of their sins, as offences against an infinite God, was an infinite punishment. They were liable to bear the pains of death, in the full latitude thereof; to suffer the force of revenging wrath, to the complete satisfaction of infinite justice, and full reparation of God's injured honour. This was their debt of punishment: a debt which they themselves could never have cleared, though paying to the utmost of their power, through the ages of eternity. But this their debt Christ became surety for, obliging himself to lay down his life for theirs which was lost in law: Psalm 40:6, 7, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened—Then said I Lo, I come." John 10:15, "I lay down my life for the sheep." Ver. 18, "I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." Here is a suretiship that never had a match! David in a transport of grief for the death of his son Absalom, wishes he had died for him 2 Sam. 18:33; Reuben will venture the life of his two sons for Benjamin, Gen. 42:37; and Judah will venture his own for him, chap. 43:9, while yet there was hope that all would be safe: but our Lord Jesus deliberately pledgeth his own life for sinners, when it was beyond all peradventure, the precious pledge would be lost in the cause, and that the death he would suffer, would be a thousand deaths in one. Some have offered themselves sureties in capital causes, and embraced death, for their country or friends: and "peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, (and enemies), Christ died for us," Rom. 5:7, 8, 10.
Now, in the second Adam's suretiship for the criminal debt of his spiritual seed, there was not an ensuring of the payment thereof one way or other, only; as in simple cautionary: but there was an exchange of persons in law; Christ substituting himself in their room and taking the whole obligation on himself. This the free grace of God the creditor did admit, when he might have insisted, that the soul that sinned should die: and, a delay being withal granted as to the time of the payment, God thus manifested his forbearance, celebrated by the apostle, Rom. 3:25. And, in virtue of that substitution, Christ became debtor in law, bound to pay that debt which he contracted not; to restore that which he took not away, Psalm 69:4. For, becoming surety for them, to the end there might be laid a foundation, in law and justice, for exacting their debt of punishment from him, there guilt was transferred on him, Isa. 53:6. "The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." This was pointed at, in the laying of the hand on the head of the sacrifices under the law, especially on the head of the scape-goat, Lev. 16:21. "And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat." All the sins of all the elect were at once imputed to the surety, and so became his, as his righteousness becomes ours, namely, in law-reckoning, 2 Cor. 5:21. "For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." And he himself speaks so of them, Psalm 40:12. "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me;" as several valuable interpreters do understand it, according as the apostle gives us direction, determining Christ himself to be the speaker in this Psalm. Heb. 10:5, 6, 7. He was indeed without sin inherent in him; but not without sin imputed to him, till in his resurrection he got up his discharge, having cleared the debt by his death and sufferings. Then was he justified in the Spirit, 1 Tim. 3:16, and so shall appear the second time, without sin, Heb. 9:28; the sin which was upon him, by imputation, the first time he appeared, being done away at his resurrection. This relation of our sin to Christ, is necessary from the nature of suretiship for debt; in which case, no body doubts but the debt becomes the surety's, when once he hath stricken hands for it. And how else could the law have justly proceeded against Christ? How could our punishment have been, in justice, inflicted on him, if he had not had such a relation to our sin? If the law could not charge our sin on him, in virtue of his own voluntary undertaking, it could have no ground in justice to inflict our punishment on him.
2. He became surety for their debt of duty or obedience; the which also is a debt according to the style of the holy scripture, Gal. 5:3, "A debter to do the whole law." The law as a covenant of works, though it was broken by them, and they had incurred the penalty thereof, yet neither lost its right, nor ceased to exact of them the obedience which at first it required of man, as the condition of life. They were still bound to perfect obedience, and on no lower terms could have eternal life, as our Lord taught the lawyer for his humiliation, Luke 10:28, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." The paying of the debt of punishment might satisfy as to the penalty of the bond; but there is yet more behind, for him who will meddle in the affairs of the broken company. How shall the principal sum therein contained, be paid; namely, the debt of obedience to the law, for life and salvation? The honouring of God could not allow the quitting of it: and they were absolutely unable to pay one mite of it, that would have been current in heaven; forasmuch as they were without strength, Rom. 5:6, and dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. 2:1, quite as unfit for the doing part, as for the suffering part. But Christ became surety for this debt of theirs too, namely, the debt of obedience to the law as a covenant, which was, and is the only obedience to it for life; obliging himself to clear it by obeying in their room and stead, and fulfilling what the law could demand of them in this kind: Psalm 40:7, 8, "Then said I, Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." Matth. 3:15, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Chap. 5:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
And here also there was an exchange of persons in law, Christ substituting himself in their room, and taking their obligation on himself: in virtue of which, he became the law's debtor for that obedience owing by them; and this he himself solemnly owned, by his being circumcised, Luke 2:21, according to that of the apostle, Gal. 5:3, "I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law." For becoming surety for them in this point also, he transferred on himself their state of servitude, whereby the law had a right to exact that debt of him, which they, upon the breach of the covenant of works, were liable in payment of.
For clearing of this, it is to be considered, that all mankind was by the first covenant, the covenant of works, constituted God's hired servants; and actually entered into that their service, in their head the first Adam. And in a token hereof, we are all naturally inclined in that character to deal with God; though by the fall we are rendered incapable to perform the duty of it, Luke 15:19, "Make me as one of thy hired servants." The work they were to work, was perfect obedience to the holy law; the hire they were to have for their work, was life, Rom. 10:5, "The man that doth those things, shall live by them." The penalty of breaking away from their master, was bondage under the curse, Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." But violating that covenant of hired service, they brake away from their Lord and Master: so they not only lost all plea for the hire, but they became bond-men under the curse; still obliged to make out their service, and that, furthermore, in the misery of a state of servitude or bondage, Gal. 4:24, "These are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage." Their falling under the curse inferred the loss of their liberty, and constituted them bond-men; as appears from the nature of the thing, and instances of the cursed in other cases, as Gen. 9:25, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be." Josh. 9:23, "Now therefore ye" (namely, the Gibeonites) "are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bond-men." The very ground being cursed, (Gen. 3:17.) falls under bondage, according to the scripture, Rom. 8:21.
Now, Christ saw all his spiritual seed in this state of servitude; but unable to bear the misery of it, or to fulfil the service: and he put himself in their room, as they were bond-men; transferring their state of servitude on himself, and so sisting himself a bondservant for them.
The holy scripture sets this matter in a clear light. That is a plain testimony unto it, Phil. 2:6, 7, 8, "Who being in the form of God—took upon him the form of a servant—and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The form of a servant which he took upon him, was the form of a bond-servant. For so the word in the original properly signifies; being the same word that is constantly used in that New Testament phrase, which we read bond or free, or bond and free, 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 6:8; Col. 3:11; Rev. 13:16. and 19:18. And the apostle leads us to understand it so here, telling ns, that this great surety-servant became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The which kind of death was a Roman punishment, called by them, the servile punishment, or punishment of bond-servants; because it was the death that bond-men malefactors were ordinarily doomed unto; freemen seldom, if ever, according to law. And forasmuch as his being in the form of God, denotes his being very God, having the very nature or essence of God; for the form is that which essentially distinguisheth things, and makes a thing to be precisely what it is; and this form is, according to the apostle, the foundation of his equality with God his Father, which nothing really different from the divine essence, can be: therefore his taking upon him the form of a bond-servant, must necessarily denote his becoming really a bond-servant, as really as ever man did, who was brought into bondage, or a state of servitude.
The Father solemnly declares the transferring of our state of servitude on Christ, speaking to him under the name of Israel, as was cleared before, Isa. 49:3, "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." As if the Father had said to him, "Son, be it known, it is agreed that I take thee in the room and place of Israel, the spiritual seed, to perform the service due in virtue of the broken original contract: Thou in their stead art my servant; my bond-servant," as the word is rendered, Lev. 25:39, and elsewhere: "it is from thy hand I will look for that service." Agreeable hereunto is the account we have of our redemption from the curse, Gal. 3:13. namely, that it was by Jesus Christ being made a "curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" the which Christ did, dying on a cross, the capital punishment of bond-men.
Behold the solemnity of the translation, Psalm 40:6, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened." The word here rendered opened, properly signifies digged, as may be seen in the margin of our Bibles: and so the words are, "Mine ears thou diggedst through;" that is, boredst, as it is expressed in our paraphase of the Psalms in metre, "Mine ears thou bor'd." This has a manifest view to that law concerning the bond-servant, Exod. 21:6, "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost: and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever;" that is, in the language of the law, till death. This is confirmed from Hos. 3:2, "So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver;" which was the half of the stated price of a bond-woman, Exod. 21:32. In the original it is, "So I digged her through me;" the same word being here used by the Holy Ghost, as Psalm 40:6. It is a pregnant word, which is virtually two in signification; and the sense is, I bought her, and bored her ear to my door-post, to be my bond-woman: according to the law, Deut. 15:17, "Thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever: and also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise." That the boring of her ear as a bond-woman, was noways inconsistent with the prophet's betrothing of her to himself, Hos. 3:3, appears from Exod. 21:8.
Joseph was an eminent type of Christ, as the Father's servant. And it is observable, that he was first a bond-servant, and then an honorary servant. In the former state, being sold for a servant, Psalm 105:17, he was a type of Christ, a bond-servant in his state of humiliation; whose most precious life was accordingly sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver, the stated price of the life of a bond-servant; Exod. 21:32, "If the ox shall push a man-servant; or maid-servant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." In the latter state, being made ruler over all the land of Egypt, Psalm 105:21, 22; Gen. 41:40, he was a type of Christ, in that most honourable and glorious service or ministry, which was conferred on him in his state of exaltation, wherein he was constituted a servant, for whose law the isles shall wait, Isa. 40:1, 4; God having given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, Phil. 2:9, 10. This latter service of Christ belongs to the promise of the covenant: but the former, to wit, the bond-service, being his surety-service, belongs to the condition of the covenant. Wherefore, rising from the dead, having fulfilled the condition of the covenant, paid the debt for which he became surety, and got up the discharge, he put off for ever the form and character of a bond-servant, "and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living," Rom. 14:9.
And hence it clearly appears, how the obedience of the man Christ comes, in virtue of the covenant, to be imputed to believers for righteousness, as well as his satisfaction by suffering: for that kind of obedience which he performed as our surety, was no more due by him, antecedently to his contract of suretiship, than his satisfaction by suffering. It is true, the human nature of Christ, being a creature, owed obedience to God in virtue of its creation; and must owe it for ever, forasmuch as the creature, as a creature, is subject to the natural law, the eternal rule of righteousness: but Christ's putting himself in a state of servitude, taking on him the form of a bond-servant, and in the capacity of a bond-servant, performing obedience to the law, as it was stated in the covenant, for life and salvation was entirely voluntary. Obedience to the natural law was due by the man Christ, by a natural tie; but obedience to the positive law, binding to be circumcised, baptized and the like, which is supposed guilt on the party subjected thereto, was not due, but by his own voluntary engagement. And the obedience of a son to the natural law, he owed naturally: but obedience to that or any other law, in the character of a bond-servant, and thereby to gain eternal life and salvation, he owed not but by compact. The human nature of Christ had a complete right to eternal life, and was actually possessed thereof in virtue of its union with the divine nature; so that there was no occasion for him to gain life to himself by his obedience. Wherefore, Christ's taking on him the form of a bond-servant and in that character obeying the law for life and salvation, were a mere voluntary work of his, as surety for sinners; wherein he did that which he was no otherwise. bound to, than by his own voluntary undertaking. Now, forasmuch as the obedience of Christ imputed to believers for righteousness, is his obedience of this kind only; there is a clear ground for its imputation to them according to the covenant.
And thus we have seen Christ's suretiship in the covenant to be of a suretiship for paying one's debt; and what the debt was which he became surety for.
If it be inquired, Whether or not Christ's suretiship is also of the nature of suretiship for one's performing of a deed? or, Whether Christ became surety in way of caution to his Father, that the elect should believe, repent, and perform sincere obedience? I answer, Though the elect's believing, repenting, and sincere obedience, are infallibly secured in the covenant; so that whosoever, being subjects capable of these things, do live and die without them, shall undoubtedly perish, and are none of God's elect: yet I judge, that Christ did not become Surety in the covenant, in way of caution to his Father, that the elect should perform these deeds, or any other; and that that way of speaking doth not so well agree with the scripture-account of the covenant. Because,
1. It doth somewhat obscure the grace, the free grace, of the covenant; whereas the covenant is purposely so ordered, as to manifest it most illustriously, being of faith, that it might be by grace, Rom. 4:16. For such a suretiship, or cautionary for the elect's performing of these things, must needs belong to the condition of the covenant, properly so called; as being a deed of the Mediator, whereby he promiseth something to God, and engageth that it shall be performed by them: and so these things performed by them accordingly, must be a part of the condition of the covenant. But that sinners themselves perform any part of the condition of the covenant, properly so called, cannot be admitted without prejudice to the grace of the covenant: for so far as we perform, in our own persons, any part of the condition, the reward is not of grace, but of debt; for "to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt," Rom. 4:4. But the reward is wholly of grace to us, as it is of debt unto Christ; for "to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness," ver. 5. Chap. 11:6, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace." Suppose a man is surety for a thousand pounds for his neighbour, who is thereupon to have a right to a certain valuable benefit; and that this man absolutely becomes surety for the whole sum, excepting only an hundred pence; for which hundred pence also he becomes cautioner, that it shall be paid by the principal: it is evident, that the condition of this bargain is divided between the surety and the principal, though indeed their shares are very unequal: but however unequal they are, as far as the hundred pence which the principal pays in his own person, do reach, so far the benefit is of debt to him. Or put the case, A surety engageth for the whole of the sum payable; and, besides, is surety of the principal's good behaviour; it is evident, that in this case the good behaviour of the principal is a part of the condition of the bargain, as well as the payment of the money; since caution for it is required by him who is to communicate the benefit. At this rate, the condition is still divided between the surety and principal; and the latter performs a part of it as well as the former: and so the reward is, in part, of debt unto him, as well as to the surety. The application hereof to the case in hand is obvious. The sum of the matter lies here: If Christ did in the covenant become Surety in way of caution for his people's performing some deed; the performing of the condition of the covenant, properly so called, is divided betwixt Christ and them, however unequal their shares are: and if the performing of the condition is divided betwixt Christ and them, so far as their part of the performance goes, the reward is of debt to them, which obscures the grace of the covenant.
2. According to the Scripture, the elect's believing, repenting, and sincere obedience, do belong to the promissory part of the covenant. If we consider them in their original situation, they are benefits promised in the covenant by God unto Christ the Surety, as a reward of his fulfilling of the condition of the covenant. And so they are, by the unchangeable truth of God, and his exact justice, insured beyond all possibility of failure: Psalm 22:27, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord." Ver. 30, "A seed shall serve him." Ver. 31, "They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born." Psalm 110:3, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." See Isa. 53:10. with ver. 1; Ezek. 36:26, 27, 31; Heb. 8:10, 11. If it be asked, To whom are these promises made, and the promises of the like nature through the Bible? it is evident, that several of them are made to Christ expressly; and the apostle answers as to them all. Gal. 3:16, "To Abraham and his seed were the promises made.—To thy seed which is Christ." And whereas there are found promises wherein Christ himself is the undertaker, as John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me;" they are not to be taken for Christ's engaging to his Father, as cautioner for a deed to be done by the seed: but therein he speaks to men, as administrator of the covenant, intrusted with the conferring on sinners the benefits purchased by his obedience and death, and made over to him by the promise of the Father: Matt. 11:27, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father." Ver. 28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Luke 22:29, "And I appoint [or dispone] unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed [or disponed] unto me." Thus far of Christ's suretiship in the covenant.
As it was necessary for Christ the second Adam his doing the part of a Kinsman-redeemer, that he should become Surety in the covenant; so it was necessary to his performing of what he became Surety for, that he should be a Priest. And accordingly, consenting to the covenant, he became the Priest of the covenant, Heb. 9:11, "Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come." A priest is a public person, who deals with an offended God in the name of the guilty, for reconciliation by sacrifice, which he offereth to God upon an altar, being thereto called of God, that he may be accepted. So a priest speaks a relation to an altar, an altar to a sacrifice, and a sacrifice to sin.
Those whom Christ represented in the covenant being sinners, he became their Priest, their High Priest, appearing before God in their name, to make atonement and reconciliation for them: and this was the great thing that the whole priesthood under the law, and especially the high priesthood, did typify and point at. Their nature was the priest's garments he put on, to exercise his priestly office in; the same being pure and undefiled in him: and in their nature he sustained their persons, representing them before God, as their great High Priest. A lively type hereof was Aaron's bearing before the Lord, the names of the children of Israel, the twelve tribes, upon his two shoulders, in the shoulder-pieces of the ephod; these names being engraven on two onyx-stones set therein by divine appointment, Exod. 28:9, 10, 12: as also his bearing them in the breastplate, being engraven on twelve stones set therein, ver. 15–29. Thus Aaron the high-priest was all Israel representatively; an illustrious type of Christ the Priest of the covenant, the spiritual Israel representative, Isa. 49:3.
The necessity of Christ the second Adam his becoming a Priest, appears in these following things jointly considered.
1. Those whom he represented, were sinners: and there could not be a new covenant without provision made for removing of their sin; and that required a priest. The first covenant was made without a priest, because then there was no sin to take away; the parties therein represented, as well as the representative, were considered as innocent persons. But the second covenant was a covenant of peace and reconciliation between an offended God and sinners, not to be made but by the mediation of a priest, who should be able to remove sin, and repair the injured honour of God: Zech. 6:13, He shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." And there was none fit to bear that character but Christ himself. No man was fit to bear it; because all men were sinners themselves, and such an high priest became us, as was undefiled, separated from sinners, Heb. 7:26. It is true, the elect angels were indeed undefiled; but yet none of them could be priest of the covenant; because,
2. Sin could not be removed without a sacrifice of sufficient value, which they were not able to afford. The new covenant behoved to be a covenant by sacrifice, a covenant written in blood; and without shedding of blood, there was no remission, Heb. 9:22. Therefore the typical covenant with Abraham was not made without the solemnity of sacrifice, Gen 15:9; that he might know the covenant to be a covenant of reconciliation, in which a just God did not shew his mercy, but in a way consistent with the honour of his justice. Now the sacrifices of beasts, yea, and whatsoever the creatures could afford for sacrifice in this case, were infinitely below the value. But Jesus Christ becoming a priest, gave himself a sacrifice to God, for establishing the covenant; and that sacrifice was for a sweet-smelling savour, Eph. 5:2, or, as the Old Testament phrase is, a a savour of rest, Gen. 8:21, marg. The represented being sinners, were corrupt and abominable before God; and he as it were smelled a savour of disquiet from them, they being a smoke in his nose, Isa. 65:6; their sin set his revenging justice and wrath astir. But the sacrifice of Christ himself, was fit to send forth such a sweet smelling savour unto God, as should quite overcome the abominable savour rising from them, and lay his revenging justice and wrath to the most calm and profoundest rest.
The necessity of a sacrifice in the second covenant, arose from the justice of God requiring the execution of the curse of the broken first covenant; whereby the sinner should fall a sacrifice for his sin, according to that, Psalm 94:23, "He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness." It was an ancient custom in making of covenants, to cut a beast in twain, and to pass between the parts of it: and that passing between the parts, respected the falling of the curse of the covenant upon the breaker: Jer. 34:18, "And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof;" or rather, more agreeably to the original, "I will make the men that have transgressed my covenant—the calf which they cut in twain, and passed between the parts thereof:" that is, I will make them as that calf which they cut in twain; I will execute the curse on them, cutting them asunder as covenant-breakers, Matth. 24:51. Now, the covenant of works being broken, justice required this execution of the curse of it, in order to the establishing of a new covenant, tip covenant of grace and peace. But had it been executed on sinners themselves, the fire of wrath would have burnt continually on them; but never would such a sacrifice have sent forth a savour smelling so sweet, as to be a savour of rest to revenging justice; forasmuch as they were not only mere creatures, whose most exquisite sufferings could not be a sufficient compensation for the injured honour of an infinite God; but they were sinful creatures too, who would still have remained sinful under their sufferings. Wherefore Jesus Christ, being both separate from sinners, and equal with God, consented in the covenant to be the sacrifice, on which the curse of the first covenant might be executed in their room and stead.
This is lively represented in the covenant made with Abraham, in which he was a type of Christ, Gen. 15. In that covenant God promised the deliverance of Abraham's seed out of the Egyptian bondage, and to give them the land of Canaan; a type of the deliverance of Christ's spiritual seed from the bondage of sin and Satan, and of putting them in possession of heaven, vers. 13, 14, 16, 18. Awful was the solemnity used at the making of this covenant. There were taken a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram, each of them of three years old; typifying Christ, who was about three years in his public ministry, ver. 9. These were each of them, divided in the midst, hacked asunder by the middle; which typified the execution of the curse of the broken first covenenant on Christ our surety and sacrifice for us, ver. 10. Abraham's driving away the fowls that came down upon the carcases, typified Christ's victory over the devils all along during the state of his humiliation, and especially his triumphing over them on the cross, ver. 11. And finally, there was a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between the pieces; which signified the revenging wrath of God seizing on Christ the sacrifice, and justice therewith satisfied, ver. 17.
3. No sacrifice could be accepted, but on such an altar as should sanctify the gift to its necessary value and designed effect, Matth. 23:19. And who could furnish that but Christ himself, whose divine nature was the altar from whence the sacrifice of his human nature derived its value and efficacy as infinite? Heb. 9:14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered up himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works?" His blessed body suffering and bleeding to death on the cross, and his holy soul scorched and melted within him with the fire of the divine wrath, both in the meantime united to his divine nature, were the sacrifice burning on the altar, from which God smelled a sweet savour, to the appeasing of his wrath, and satisfying of his justice fully. Not that Christ was a sacrifice only while on the cross; but that his offering of himself a sacrifice, which was begun from his incarnation in the womb, the sacrifice being led on the altar in the first moment thereof; and was continued through his whole life; was completed on the cross, and in the grave: Heb. 10:5, "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me:"—ver. 6, "Then said I, lo, I come." Isa. 53:2, "When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Ver. 3, "He is—a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." 2 Cor. 5:21, "He hath made him to be sin for us."
4. Lastly, There behoved to be a priest to offer this sacrifice, this valuable sacrifice, unto God upon that altar; else there could have been no sacrifice to be accepted, and so no removal of sin, and consequently no new covenant. And since Christ himself was the sacrifice, and the altar too, he himself alone could be the priest. And forasmuch as the weight of the salvation of sinners lay upon his call to that office, he was made priest of the covenant by the oath of God, Heb. 7:20, 21. As he had full power over his own life, to make himself a sacrifice for others; so his Father's solemn investing of him with this office by an oath, gave him access to offer himself effectually; even in such sort as thereby to fulfil the condition of the condition, and to purchase eternal life for them.
I shall close up this head, of the making of the covenant of grace, with two inferences from the whole.
Inf. 1. What remains for sinners, that they may be personally and savingly in covenant with God, is not, as parties contractors and undertakers, to make a covenant with him for life and salvation; but only, to take hold of God's covenant already made from eternity, between the Father and Christ the second Adam, and revealed and offered to us in the gospel, Isa. 56:4, 6. I have no design hereby to disparage our covenants made for national reformation by our godly progenitors, and commonly called the national covenant, and solemn league and covenant, on which God set the seal of his good pleasure in the experience of many. These and the like are covenants of duties, consequential enough to the taking hold of God's covenant of grace. Neither would I discourage any serious souls, from taking hold of God's covenant of grace, for eternal life and salvation to themselves, with all the awful solemuity of the most express words, yea, and of writing and subscribing it with their hands; which is commonly called personal covenanting. But I would have all to beware of a practical corrupting of the covenant of grace, by making covenants of their own, upon such and such terms, which they will fulfil for life and salvation. The carnal Jews mistaking the design of the giving of the law, did so corrupt the covenant of grace; looking for life and salvation, not for the sake of the promised seed alone, but for their obedience, such as it was, to the moral and ceremonial laws. And thus many, thinking that eternal salvation is proposed to them in the word upon the condition of faith, repentance, and sincere obedience to God's law, do consent to these terms, and solemnly undertake to perform them: just binding themselves to such and such duties, that God may save their souls: and so they make their covenant. And while they can persuade themselves, that they perform their part of the covenant, they look for life and salvation thereupon. This doth quite overturn the nature of the covenant of grace: for "to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt," Rom. 4:4; and "if it be of works, then it is no more grace," chap. 11:6. The sinfulness of this practice is great, as overlooking Christ, the great undertaker and party-contractor by the appointment of the Father; and putting themselves in his room, to do and work for themselves for life. And the danger of it must needs be great, as laying a foundation to bear the weight of their salvation, which divine wisdom saw to be quite unable to bear it. The issue whereof must be, that such covenanters shall lie down in sorrow. So the apostle determines, Gal. 5:4, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
Our part then, in this case, is only to take hold of God's covenant made already, and offered and exhibited to us in the gospel. This hold is taken by faith; which is, in Scripture account, the hand of the soul, John 1:12. So the original expression plainly carries it, Isa. 56:6, "That fasten in my covenant." In which phraseology, the correlate word hand (expressed Gen. 21:18,) is understood; q. d. That fasten (their hand) in my covenant; that is to say, "Who by the hand of faith take fast hold of my covenant;" as Adonijah did of the horns of the altar, 1 Kings 1:50, wherein the same manner of expression is used. And this you do by taking hold of Christ in the free promise of the gospel; believing that he is held forth to you in particular, confiding and trusting in him as your Saviour, for your salvation from sin and wrath, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in the promise, that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life, for he is given for a covenant to you, Isa. 49:8; and to receive him, is to believe on his name, John 1:12.
This is our making a covenant with God by sacrifice, which is mentioned, Psalm 50:5. The original expression is, That cut my covenant upon a sacrifice; namely, by laying their hands in faith on the head of the sacrifice, thereupon cut down in their stead: and so ceremonially transferring their guilt on the sacrifice; but really and spiritually, approving of the device of salvation by a crucified Saviour, and falling in with it as the method of salvation for them. In this way of covenanting, the free grace of the covenant is preserved pure and entire: for "to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness," Rom. 4:5. Here the honour of sole undertaker and party-contractor in the covenant, is, according to the Father's appointment left to Christ, the One that is mighty, Psalm 89:19. Here the second Adam builds the temple, without our laying one stone therein in our own persons; even as the first Adam laid it in ruins, without our pulling down one stone of it in our own persons: and Christ bears the personal glory of the reparation, even as Adam the personal blame of the ruin, Zech. 6:13. And at this rate the soul doth in time, for her own part, give her solemn approbation of the covenant made from eternity, and a personal consent to what Christ from everlasting consented to in her name: even as the princess married by proxy in her childhood, ratifies all when she is come to age, by receiving her husband. Like as all Adam's children, as such, taking salvation to heart, and therefore covenanting with God, do in effect repeat the covenant of works made with Adam their representative; so all the second Adam's seed, as such, taking salvation to heart, and therefore covenanting with God, do, in effect repeat the covenant of grace made with Christ their representative. In the making of the covenant before the world began, the Father proposed to Christ as second Adam, their head and representative, that he should take the burden upon him for them, and be their Kinsman-redeemer, their Surety for their debt of punishment and duty, and their Priest; and Christ consented thereto from eternity. Amen, for my part, says the elect soul in time, in the covenanting day; it is infinitely well ordered: I am a lost sinner, a debtor to divine justice, a guilty creature; he is, with my whole heart and soul, my Kinsman-redeemer, my Surety, my Priest: my part of the punishment incurred, and of the duty owing, is a vast and exceeding great part of that debt; but my soul is well content with and rests in that method of paying it: 2 Sam. 23:5, "He hath made with me an everlasting covenant," (Heb. He hath put to me an everlasting covenant)—"This is all my salvation and all my desire." The Father said to Christ as their representative, For thy so doing and suffering, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Amen, said Christ from eternity, "All mine are thine," John 17:10. Amen, for my part, says the elect soul in the time of personal covenanting. This heart of mine must have some God, I must belong to one or other; and too long have I been for another: but now, timber of the house, and stones of the wall, bear witness, my soul is content with, consents to, and rests in this method of disposing of me: namely, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be my God in Christ, and I one of his people from henceforth and for ever.
This manner of covenanting is inconsistent with a purpose or desire of continuing in sin; even as one's committing himself for cure into the hands of a physician who cures infallibly, is inconsistent with a desire to keep his disease hanging about him. Christ being "made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. 1:30; it necessarily carries along with it, a taking of Christ for a Prophet, and a King, and Lord unto us; as such a one doth necessarily yield himself to the physician's management. In it one joins himself to Christ as his covenant head, who also is the Administrator of the covenant; and so subjects himself to his teaching and government. And it is such a way of covenanting, as no profane person, nor hypocrite, continuing so, ever did or can fall in with. For, (1.) It speaks a heart content to part with all sin, well pleased with Christ's whole salvation, whereof the principal part is to save his people from their sins, Matth. 1:21; whereas unsound covenanters are always offended with some one thing or other in Christ, chap. 11:6. (2.) It speaks a soul carried out of all confidence in itself, its own working and doing for life and salvation, and bottomed only upon Christ's doing and suffering for that end. And thus, such a covenanter, being poor in spirit, Matth. 5:3, and rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh, Phil. 3:3, is distinguished from the presumptuous hypocrite, whose confidence for life and salvation is ever upon his own doing and working, either in whole or in part; as also from the despairing unbeliever, who hath no confidence, neither in Christ, nor in himself that he shall have life and salvation, however he may believe firmly that others shall. So this faith, this covenanting, is quite another thing, than either the false faith of the presumptuous profane, and presumptuous hypocrite, or the no-faith of the desperate, or the wavering doubter, who can never fix in greater or lesser measure of confidence in Christ, for salvation to himself; Jam. 1:6, "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind, and tossed." Ver. 7, "For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."
If any think this to be an easy way of believing or covenanting, either they mistake it, or try it not. To believe upon some ground we see in ourselves, is very natural, but to believe merely upon a ground in another, namely righteousness in Christ, and faithfulness in God, while all in ourselves tends to make us dispair, is above the reach of nature. A conscience thoroughly awakened, will convince a sinner, that it is a matter of greatest difficulty.
Inf. 2. Justifying faith, though it receives Christ in all his offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King; yet as it enters us personally into the covenant, and justifies, it eyes him in his priestly office particularly; namely, as the great high priest, who hath made atonement for sin, by the sacrifice of himself; as the surety, who undertook and completed the payment of the debt of punishment and duty; and as the kinsman redeemer, who having married our nature to the divine nature in himself, redeemed the mortgaged inheritance with his own blood, gave himself a ransom for us, to deliver us from our spiritual bondage, and by his death destroyed him that had the power of death; Rom. 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood." Chap. 5:11, "Our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." The comfort for a wounded conscience, sick with the guilt of tin, lies here. This is that office of Christ to which the convinced sinner, standing trembling before the just Judge of the world, lifts his eyes and makes his recourse for safety: for there, and only there, can one see a ransom, a righteousness, an atonement. In his prophetical and kingly office, he administrates the covenant; but in his priestly office, he performed the condition of it. So it is the foundation of the other two. It was by the sacrifice of himself, that the word and Spirit of the covenant, whereby he teacheth sinners, were purchased: and thereby also he obtained his kingdom. And his intercession is founded upon his oblation. So his priestly office and that considered particularly in point of his offering his sacrifice, doth, as the foundation stone, bear the weight of the salvation of sinners, and of the honour of God and the Mediator therein. Wherefore it is not strange, that his investiture with the priestly office was confirmed by the oath of God; a solemnity not used in the case of his prophetical and kingly offices.
And thus far of the making of the covenant.