Part I (continued, part 2)
Eternal Life in Heaven Promised
2dly, We may consider the condition to be performed, as actually performed, and completely fulfilled. God had appointed to man a time of trial and probation, during which he was carefully to take heed to himself, that he obeyed perfectly and perpetually, as being liable to sin; and so to give proof of himself, of his awful respect to his Creator's will, and his right management of the talents given him by his great Lord to trade with. In this case, viz., upon man's standing in his innocence till that time was expired, eternal life was by the promise secured to him as the reward of his work, Matth. 19:17. And in it these four benefits were implied.
1. The confirmation of his soul in innocence, righteousness, and holiness, that he should be set beyond hazard of sinning, and that for evermore, as the confirmed angels are. Being justified upon his perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience, this would have followed of course, according to the tenor of the covenant; otherwise he would have been for ever upon trial, which is inconsistent with the nature of the covenant. Mutability is woven into the very nature of the creature, and so Adam was created mutable; but he would have been, upon his obedience, secured from actual liability to change for evermore. The need of watching would have been over with him in that case, as it is with the saints in heaven.
2. The setting of his body absolutely and for ever out of all hazard of death, even remote hazard. While he was in the state of trial, there was a possibility of death's making an approach to it, viz., on supposition of sin. But had the condition of the covenant once been fully performed, there had been no more any possibility of his dying, Rom. 6:21, because no more possibility of sinning.
3. The settling of the love and favour of God upon him for ever, without any hazard of his falling out of it. This also necessarily would have followed on his confirmation in righteousness. The sun of favour from God, from that time, should have shone so upon him, as it could never more have gone down. The friendship would have been so confirmed, that there should have been no more a possibility of a breach for ever.
4. Lastly, The transporting of him soul and body to heaven, there to enjoy the perfection of blessedness through eternity. He should not always have lived in the earthly paradise, where he was to eat, drink, sleep, &c., but, in God's own time, been carried to the heavenly paradise, to live there as the angels of God. He was happy while he was in the course of obedience, and had communion with God. But there he would have been perfectly happy, and had more near and full communion with God, Psalm 16 ult.
I am not here to launch forth into the subject of heaven's happiness, which man should have enjoyed by this covenant, had he kept it. Only in a word, for the substance of it, it would have been the same that the saints shall enjoy for ever; for it was the life which Adam lost for himself and his posterity that Christ purchased by his obedience and death for his spiritual seed, Rom. 10:5, compared with Hab. 2:4, both forecited. And that was eternal life in heaven without controversy. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself proposing the covenant of works to a legalist, holds forth eternal life as the promise of it to be had on the performance of the condition; Luke 10:25–28, "And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live." And the weakness of the law to give eternal life now, proceeds only from our inability to fulfil that condition of it, Rom. 8:3. For which cause, Christ put himself in the room of the elect, to fulfil that obedience which they were unable to give, Gal. 4:4, 5, and so consequently gained the life to them which they should otherwise have had if man had not sinned. Besides, it is evident, that by, the breach of this covenant man now falls under the sentence of eternal death in hell; therefore, on the grounds of the goodness of God, and the equity of his proceedings, one may conclude that eternal life in heaven was promised.
The difference between Adam's and the saints' heaven
Yet there would have been considerable difference betwixt innocent Adam's heaven, and the Mediator's heaven, which the saints shall be possessed of; but the advantage lies to the side of the latter. There are four things that would have been wanting (if I may so speak) in innocent Adam's heaven, that will be found in the saints' heaven.
(1.) The additional sweetness of the enjoyment that arises from the experience of want and misery. Two men are set down at a feast; the one never knew what hunger and want meant; the other never got a full meal all his days, but want and hunger were his daily companions. Which of the two would the feast be sweetest to? The case is plain. Sin is the worst of things, there is no good in it; the effects of sin, sorrow, misery, and trouble, are bitter; but God permitted the one, and has brought the other on, in depth of; wisdom; for out of these is a sauce drawn that will give an additional sweetness to the supper of the Lamb in the upper house. While the saints walk in their white robes, and remember the filthy, ragged, black garments they went in some time a-day, it will raise their praises a note higher than innocent Adam's, while he should have looked on his, which there was never a spot upon. When after many tossings on the sea of this world, and the numerous floods of difficulties and dangers from sin and Satan which have beset them, the saints happily arrive on the shore of the heavenly Canaan, their relish of the pleasures to be enjoyed there will be the greater and the more delightful.
(2.) The fairest flower in heaven to be seen by bodily eyes, would have been wanting in innocent Adam's heaven, namely, the man Christ. It is a groundless, anti-scriptural notion, that the Son of God would have been incarnate, though man had never sinned, John 3:16; 1 Tim. 1:15. It was for sinners the Saviour was sent. The ruin of man's nature in the first Adam, was the occasion sovereign love took to raise it up to the highest possible pitch of glory and dignity, in the person of the Son of God. There our nature is personally united to the divine nature, even in the person of the Son; and the man Christ is in heaven more glorious than a thousand suns. It is true, Adam would have had the sight and enjoyment of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but he could not have said, as they, Behold God in our nature, our elder brother, &c.
(3.) The charter, written with blood, securing the enjoyment of heaven's happiness. Adam would have had good security indeed for
it, by the fulfilled covenant of works; but behold a more glorious charter, the covenant of grace, written with the blood of the Son of God, Heb. 13:20. Every dranght of the well of the water of life innocent Adam would have had in his heaven, he might have cried out with wonder concerning it, O the gracious reward of my obedience! But the saints shall say of theirs, The glorious purchase of my Redeemer's blood; this is the purchase of the Son of God, Rev. 7:9, 10, "After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
(4.) Lastly, The manner of living, as members of the mystical body of Christ. Innocent Adam would have lived for ever in heaven as the friend of God; but the saints shall live there as members of Christ, John 6:57, and 14:19. They shall be more nearly allied to the Son of God than Adam would have been, Eph. 5:30. He will be their husband in an everlasting marriage-covenant, their elder brother, the head, of which they are members, and through whom they will derive their glory, as they do their grace, from the Godhead, as united to Christ, the prime receptacle of grace and glory, Rev. 7 ult., "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Rev. 21:23, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
Thus have I shown you the nature of the promise of the covenant of works, and the life therein made over conditionally to man. If we consider the life Adam could have expected from God, in a course of obedience, though there had been no covenant, we say, Adam performing obedience, according to the natural law written in his heart, would have had a prosperous life and being, while he had a being; this Adam might conclude from the good and bountiful nature
of God. But still it would have been consistent with the nature of God, to have withdrawn his supporting hand from man, so as he might have ceased to be any more. And this would have been but taking away freely what he gave freely, being under no obligation to continue it; for even Adam's innocent works could not have properly merited at God's hand, Rom. 11:35, "Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?" They could have only merited improperly, by virtue of compact, not by the intrinsic worth of the thing. Here,
[1.] The continuation of life to Adam, even while he continued obedient, was entirely due to the covenant God was pleased to make with him. And here was grace even in the covenant of works, that God was pleased by promise to secure the continuance of man's being, while he continued obedient.
[2.] The right that Adam could have pled to eternal life in heaven, by virtue of his obedience, was entirely founded on the covenant. If God had not revealed to him the promise of it, he could not have known that he should have had it, nor could he have demanded it. The natural law had no such promise. And here was more grace in the covenant of works. And therefore it is no wonder, that though men overturn the gospel-doctrine of free grace, yet they will not take with it. The Pharisees of old, Luke 18:11, and the Papists to this day, own free grace in their profession; and what wonder, since innocent Adam, pleading life upon his works, could not have denied but he was debtor to free grace? But here lies the matter; they put in their own works, their repentance, holiness, and obedience, (turning faith into a work, that it may go in with the rest), between free grace and them, making themselves but debtors to it at second hand for life and salvation. And if one shall tell sinners, Here you are to do or work nothing for life and salvation, but only receive the free grace gift of life and salvation from Christ by faith, and be debtors at first hand; though withal we tell them, that repentance, holiness, obedience, and good works, are the inseparable attendants of faith; they cry out, Error, Antinomianism, Licentious doctrine! Yet it is the doctrine of
the gospel, Tit. 3:5; Eph. 2:8. And it is not the doctrine of the gospel, nor does the apostle say, "By grace ye are saved, through works;" for so would Adam have been saved according to the covenant of works, being debtor to free grace at the second hand, which the proud Pharisee was content to be. It is true, Adam's obedience was perfect, ours is not; but buying is buying still, though one buy ten times below the worth, as well as when he buys at the full value.
The Penalty of the Covenant of Works
Thirdly, We come now to consider the penalty in case of man's breaking the covenant, not fulfilling the condition. This was death, death in its fall latitude and extent, as opposed unto life and prosperity. This death was twofold. And we may speak of it as a thing that has fallen out.
Legal Death
First, Legal death, whereby man sinning became dead in law, being a condemned man, laid under the curse, or sentence of the law, binding him over to the wrath of God, and to revenging justice; "For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," Gal. 3:10. Thus was man to die the day he should break the covenant; and thus he died that very moment he sinned, because by his sin he broke the holy, just, and good law of God; set himself in opposition to the holy nature of God, and cast off the yoke of submission to his Creator. This was an actual liableness to all miseries for satisfying offended justice. Thus the clouds gathered over his head, to shower down upon him; and thus was he girded with the cords of death, which neither himself nor any other creature could loose.
Real Death
Secondly, Real death, which is the execution of the sentence, Deut. 29:19, 20; the threatened evils, and punishments contained in the
curse of the law, coming upon him. And of this there are several parts, all which man became liable to, or fell upon him, when he sinned. We take them up in these three; spiritual, natural, and eternal death.
Spiritual Death
1. Spiritual death, which is the death of the soul, and spirit of man, Eph. 2:1, where the apostle mentions a being "dead in trespasses and sins." This results from the separation of the soul from God, by the breaking of the silver cord of this covenant, which knit innocent man to God, causing him to live, and live prosperously, as long as it was unbroken; but being broken, that union and communion was dissolved, and they parted, Isa. 59:2. Thus man was separated from the fountain of life, upon which death necessarily ensued. This death may be considered,
1st, As immediately seizing him upon the breaking of the covenant. And thus a twofold spiritual death seized him, as the penalty of the covenant; a moral and a relative death.
(1.) A moral death of the soul, by which it was divested of the image of God, viz. saving knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; and the whole nature was corrupted, Eph. 2:1; and so left destitute of a principle of vital spiritual actions, that it can no more think, will, or do anything truly good, than a dead man can perform the functions of life, Rom. 3:10, 11, 12, where a dreadful picture of the corruption of human nature is given; "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doth good, no not one." The soul of man was a curious piece of workmanship, made by the finger of God; it was set up, and set a going for its Master's use, like a watch; but sin broke the chain and spring; so that all the wheels of a sudden stood moveless and could go no more.
(2.) A relative death of the soul, by which the blessed relation man stood in to God was extinguished. He was no more the friend of God, and the favourite of his maker. This was death indeed, Psalm 30:5. He enjoyed the friendship, favour, and fellowship of God, upon his good behaviour; he sinned, and so he behoved to lose them. Thus God became his enemy as Rector and judge of the world, and he was set up as a mark for the arrows of wrath.
2dly, As preying upon the soul of man, through the course of his natural life in the world. Sin laid the soul as it were in the grave, the house of death; and there being dead while the man liveth, devouring death works and preys in, and upon it, two ways:—
(1.) In the progress of sin and corruption in the soul, as the body in the grave rots more and more, Psalm 14:3. The soul being spiritually dead, the longer it lies in that case, the more loathsome and abominable it becomes. Swarms of reigning lusts breed in it, and are active therein; the remains of the image of God are defaced more and more in it, and the soul still set farther off from God. All actual sins are the workings of this death, the motions of the verminating life of the soul in the grave of sin, Eph. 2:1, 2. So that they are not only sins in themselves, but punishments of the first sin, which cannot cease to follow on God's departing from the soul; which may persuade us of the absurdity of that principle, That there is no sin in hell.
(2.) In strokes of wrath on the soul. Where the carcase is, there these, like so many eagles, gather together. The sinning soul becomes the centre, wherein all manner of spiritual plagues meet together, as worms do in bodies interred, to feed thereon, Job 20:26. These are manifold; some of them felt, as sorrows, terrors, anxieties, losses, and troubles, crossing the man's will, and so vexing, fretting, and disquieting him. Those are indeed a death to the soul, having a curse in them, like so many envenomed arrows shot into man; some of them not felt, so as to make the man groan under them, as blindness of mind, hardness of heart, strong delusions, but they are the more dangerous, as wounds that bleed inwardly.
Natural Death
2. Natural death, which is the death of the body. This results from the separation of the soul from the body. It is twofold; stinged and unstinged death. Unstinged death parts the soul and body indeed, but not by virtue of the curse for sin. This is the lot of the people of God, 1 Cor. 15:55, and is not the penalty of the covenant of works; for that is death with the sting of the curse, Gal. 3:10, which death Christ died, which penalty he paid, and so freed believers from it, Gal. 3:13. So that there is a specifical difference betwixt the death of believers and that death threatened in the covenant of works; they are not of the same kind, no more than they die the death that Christ died.
The natural death, the penalty of the covenant of works, then, is not simply the death of the body, but the stinged death of the body, the separation of soul and body by virtue of the curse; that as they joined in sin against God, they might be separated for the punishment of it for a time; though afterwards to be reunited at the resurrection, with a change of their constitution. For that there will be a change on the bodies of the wicked, as well as on those of the godly, is evident in that they shall continue united to their souls in hell, without food, and under torments; either of which, according to their present constitution, would dissolve their frame, and issue in death. Now, this natural death may be considered two ways, as the penalty of the covenant of works, inwardly and outwardly.
1st, Inwardly, in the body of man. There death got its seat in the day that he sinned; there it spread itself from the soul, where it began that fatal moment of yielding to the tempter. And thus it may be considered three ways; in its beginning, progress, and consummation.
(1.) In the beginning of it. That day that man sinned he became mortal, Gen. 3:19. The crown of immortality, which he held of his Creator, by virtue of the covenant of works, fell from off his head, and he became a subject of the king of terrors. That day he got his
death's wounds, of which he died afterwards. The mutiny then began among the constituent parts of the body, (witness the terror, anxiety, and shame, causing a motion of the blood and spirits, which before their sinning they were unacquainted with); and the end of that was the destruction and dissolution of the whole frame.
(2.) In the progress of it, in maladies and diseases, whereby death carries on its subjects towards the house appointed for all living, Eccl. 3:20. Every pain, gripe, or stitch, is death's working like a canker in the body of man. Every sickness and disease is a forerunner of death, coming before to give warning of the approach. The sweat, toil, and weariness that man is liable to, are fore-tokens of the body's falling down at length into the dust, Gen. 3:19. Man has now his morning, mid-day, and afternoon; and then comes the night. He has his spring, summer, and autumn, and then winter. Like a flower he has his bud, blossom, fading, and then his falling off. But innocent man would have had a lasting mid-day, summer, and blossom. What follows these respectively, is owing to the breach of the covenant.
(3.) In the consummation of it, by the separation of the soul from the body, Heb. 9:27. The pins of the tabernacle being loosed, it lies along upon the earth at length. The body of man like an old house, falls all down together, while the soul, the inhabitant, makes its escape, and leaves it. They joined in breaking of the covenant, and are punished with separation; the body going to the dust, and the soul to God who gave it, to receive its sentence.
2dly, Outwardly, upon the creatures, upon which the body of man has a dependence as to its life and welfare. What dependence we have on the creatures as to this, every one kuows by experience. Without the air we cannot breathe; and as the temperature of it is, it is well or ill with our bodies. On the product of the earth we live; the fruits thereof are the support of our natural life, with the beasts that feed on them. The earth depends on the heavens; and according to their influence upon it, so it is serviceable to us. See the chain of
dependence among the creatures; Hos. 2:21, 22, "And it shall come to pass in that day; I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel." Now man's natural life being so much bound up in these, the life promised him in the covenant could not but comprehend the continuing of these in their original constitution, Gen. 1:31, and fitness for the support of man's natural life and vigour, as means for that end. And so death, the penalty of the covenant, must needs spread itself even to them, and that upon the same score. Thus also it may be considered three ways: in its beginning, progress, and consummation.
(1.) In the beginning of it. And that was the curse laid upon the creature for the sake of the sinner man; Gen. 3:17, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake," said the Lord unto Adam. Man became vanity by his sin, and the creatures were made subject to vanity on his account; so that they could not reach the end of their primitive constitution, but fainted as it were in the way; "For," says the apostle, Rom. 8:20, "the creature was made subject to vanity." Nay, such a burden lies on the creation, as makes the whole to "groan and travail in pain," ver. 22. Where can we turn our eyes now, but we may see death riding in triumph? The earth's barrenness often paints death on the faces of the inhabitants thereof, by scarcity and famine; the air is sometimes empoisoned with pestilential vapours, that kill and sweep away multitudes; the fire often burns and torments men; the waters swallow them up; beasts wound, bruise, and kill them; nay, we are not secure from the very stones of the field. The very sun in the heavens approaching to them scorches and causes languishing; and removing from us, causes us shiver with cold; and holding itself under clouds, damps men's spirits. For death has spread itself over all.
(2.) In the progress of it, Psalm 102:26. Man's declining in the several ages, is manifest. Men are of less stature, less bones and strength, than sometime they were. And why, but because our mother earth is past her prime, and entered into her old age, and her
breasts afford not such nourishment as in her youth? Hence man's days are very few now in comparison of what they were before the flood, when the curse had not sunk so deep into the earth, as it has done from that time, when it had well nigh extinguished her vigour. And whence is this weakness in the earth, but from this, that the heavens also faint, are waxed old, and afford no such influences as before? And whence is that but from the sin of man in breaking the covenant of friendship with God, pursued by death, which extends itself to all things that have any hand in preserving that life, which it has a commission to take away?
(3.) In the consummation of it, in the destruction by fire that is awaiting the world. For "in the day of the Lord the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up," 2 Pet. 3:10. The visible heavens and the earth are now like an old worn garment; then shall the old worn garment be rent in pieces, and cast into the fire. Man's old house, the earth, that has often been made to shake with earthquakes, shall then fall all down to ashes together; and the noble furniture of it, God's works and men's works in it shall be burnt up. The roaring seas shall be silent at length, and be no more. Yea, the sun, who now runs his race like a strong man, shall fall as breathless. And the world, that beautiful fabric of heaven and earth, shall have a dying day. The death threatened in the covenant of works shall pull all down together. And then death itself, with all the appurtenances thereof, shall be pent up in hell for ever, Rev. 20:14, by the power of the glorious Mediator, Isa. 25:8.
Eternal Death
(3.) Eternal death, which issues from the eternal separation of both soul and body from God in hell, Matth. 25:41. This is the full accomplishment of the curse of the covenant of works; and presupposes the union of the soul and body, in a dreadful resurrection to damnation; the criminal soul and body being brought forth from their separate prisons and joined together again, that
death may exercise its full force upon them for ever and ever. That this was the penalty of the covenant of works, is manifest from the event testified by the holy scriptures, this being the lot of all those who, not embracing the covenant of grace, live and die under the covenant of works. For, says the apostle, 2 Thess. 1:7–9, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." And this death may be considered two ways, as flowing from the sanction of the covenant of works, and from the nature of the creature fallen under that sanction.
1st, As it flows from the sanction of the covenant of works, requiring satisfaction to offended justice, and all the wronged attributes of God. And thus it is a punishment inflicted to satisfy for the offence, and repair the honour of God impaired by man's sin. And that punishment is twofold; the punishment of loss, and the punishment of sense.
(1.) The punishment of loss; Matth. 25:41, "Depart from me, ye cursed." Man having sinned, and this death once seizing him, he is deprived of God's favour, and all comfortable communion with him of any sort is blocked up. The sun sets upon him, and the midnight darkness of God's forsaking of his creature falls on. Justice suffers not one grain of comfort to be put into the sinner's cup. All the least chinks, by which the least beam of the Lord's countenance might shine into the soul are stopt, and the creature is left absolutely comfortless. Thus it is with the damned in hell; and thus Christ, as man's surety, had the sun of his Father's countenance eclipsed, Matth. 27:46, when he cried with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
(2.) The punishment of sense, in most grievous torments of soul and body; Matth. 25:41, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." When death has proceeded thus far with the sinner, the waves
of God's wrath go quite over his head, arrows of vengeance dipt in the poison of the curse fly at him continually. Who knows the power of them? Psalm 90:11. The damned are inexpressibly miserable under them for ever and ever. By them was the heart of our glorious Redeemer "melted like wax, in the midst of his bowels," Psalm 22:14.
All this is requisite to shew just indignation against sin, and to wipe off the stain left by it on the honour of God.
2dly, As it flows from the nature of the creature fallen under the sanction of the covenant. And thus in this death, these dreadful circumstances do concur.
(1.) An irrecoverable loss of God's friendship, favour and image, Matth. 25:41. No more communication for ever can be between God and the creature brought to this dreadful case. All passage of sanctifying influences is stopt; the curse lies on the creature, which bars all emanations of love and favour from heaven, and leaves it under unalterable barrenness. The holy frame of the soul marred by sin, must remain so, never to be mended.
(2.) Perpetual bitter despair, Mark 9:44. The creature once sunk into this sea of wrath, can never get up its head, nor see the shore; and knows it never shall. Hence absolute despair seizeth them, and all hope is plucked up by the roots. This lies as a talent of lead upon them, and must continually cut them to the heart. When the man Christ was forsaken of his Father, he knew he was able to get through the floods of wrath, and that he would at length joyfully set his foot on the shore; but that was because he was God as well as man. But weak man can never get through.
(3.) Continual sinning. Think and act they must; and how can they but sin, when their corrupt nature remains with them in hell? Submission to just punishment is their duty; but how can they do that in whose hearts is not the least measure of God's grace? Nay, they will gnash their teeth, in rage against God.
(4.) The eternity of the whole. Because they cannot pay out the debt to the full, therefore must they ever lie in the prison. The wrong done by sin to the honour of God is an infinite one, because done against an infinite God; and therefore the satisfaction can never be completed by a finite sufferer. So the yoke of punishment is wreathed about the neck of the sinner for ever and ever, never to be taken off.
This was the penalty of the covenant of works. And thus much of the parts of the covenant.
The Seals of the Covenant of Works
Thirdly, I shall consider the seals of the covenant of works, whereby it was confirmed to Adam. It has pleased God to append seals to his covenants with men in all ages, for the confirmation of their faith of the respective covenants; and this covenant seems not to have wanted some seals appended thereto for the same effect. Though innocent Adam was not called to faith in a redeemer, no such object of faith being revealed, or competent in that state; yet was faith in God always a duty of the first command, and innocent Adam under this covenant was required to have and exercise a faith agreeable to the nature of the covenant he was under. That was, a firm persuasion that he should have life upon his performing of perfect obedience, but should die upon the least disobedience to his Creator. And according as he maintained this faith so was his obedience. Therefore Satan set himself first of all to attack the faith of our first parents, Gen. 3:4; and when he had got it knocked on the head, then he carried his ruining project according to his wish. No wonder then he still sets himself in a peculiar manner against that grace. Now, for confirming this his faith, there were two sacramental seals appended to the covenant.
1. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Gen. 2:17. What sort of a tree it was the scripture doth not determine, nor do the Jews pretend to define. Some gather from Cant. 2:3, that it was an apple tree. But it is plain from the original text, that these are not the
words of Christ, but of the spouse to Christ; and the book being allegorical, it is too slender a ground at best to build such a fact upon. Whatever it was, it was not so called, as having a power really to make men wise. So the tempter pretended, Gen. 3:5, but he was a liar from the beginning, John 8:44. But it was a sign both of good and evil; sealing to him all good while he should abstain from it, and evil if he should eat of it; and so confirming his faith in both parts of the persuasion of it. And eventually, by eating of it, he knew good by the loss of it, and evil by the feeling of it. Though it was not to be touched, it might be seen, even as the rainbow, the seal of the covenant with Noah.
2. The tree of life, Gen. 2:9. The which, though it might be an excellent means of preserving the vigour of natural life, as other trees of paradise also, yet it could not nave a virtue in itself of making man every way immortal. But it was a notable sacramental sign of life and eternal happiness, according to the nature of that covenant. The which is intimated by the eternal quickening virtue of our Lord Jesus Christ to the perfect happiness of the saints, coming under that name in the New Testament, Rev. 22:2; he being that in reality which the tree of life did signify. And thus the eating of it served to confirm Adam's faith, according to that covenant, namely, his persuasion of life upon performing of perfect obedience. The which is clearly intimated, Gen. 3:22. But man having, by his sin, lost his right to the life signified, could no more be admitted to the partaking of the sacramental sign of it.
The Doctrine of the Covenant of Works applied
USE. What is said upon this subject, serves for instruction, refutation, and exhortation.
USE I. For instruction. Here as in a glass ye may see several things, concerning God, concerning man in his best estate, concerning Christ, and concerning man in his present fallen state.
1. Concerning God, look into this covenant, and behold,
1st, The wonderful condescension of God, and of his goodness and grace toward his creature man. He stoopt so low as to enter into a covenant with his own creature, a covenant wherein he shewed himself a most bountiful and gracious God towards man. Man was not at his own, but God's disposal. Death was the natural wages of sin, but the life promised could not have been pleaded, but upon the foot of a covenant. Before that covenant man was bound to all obedience; but God was free to have disposed of him, after all, as he should see meet. But he made himself debtor to man for eternal life, upon his performing of perfect obedience; yet in the meantime his strength to obey was all from God, and there was no proportion betwixt man's work and the reward.
2dly, The spotless holiness and exact justice of God against sin. When we look to the condition and the penalty of this covenant, we must needs cry out, "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, glorious in holiness?" Exod. 15:11, and, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity," Hab. 1:13. See here, sinners, how God looks on the least sin. Is it not the abominable thing which he hates with a perfect hatred? Such an evil it is as is enough to ruin a world of creatures among whom it spreads its baleful influence, and to dissolve the whole fabric of heaven and earth.
2. Concerning man in his state of primitive integrity.
1st, Man was a holy and happy creature in his first state. He was a spotless creature, meet to transact with God, and to entertain communion with him, immediately by himself without a Mediator. He was able to obey perfectly all the ten commandments. He was happy in God's favour and covenant-friendship. Ah! how is he now fallen like a star from heaven.
2dly, Man at his best estate, standing on his own legs, is a fickle creature, liable to change. The penalty set him in the covenant, spake
him to be mutable, capable of forgetting his duty to his Maker, and his own interest; and the doleful event confirmed it. Why should men put their trust in men, and make flesh their arm? The most accomplished mere man that ever was on earth, was capable of being unfaithful to his trust, and actually was so. No wonder now that every man be a liar.
3. Concerning Christ the Saviour of sinners, behold here,
1st, The absolute necessity of a Surety in the event of a breach of this covenant. The condition was so high, and the penalty so dreadful, in this covenant, that being once broken, it was beyond the power of man to retrieve the matter. He must bear the heavy penalty, and that he could never discharge. He must begin again, and fulfil the condition; and that was beyond his power. Therefore there behoved to be a surety to act and suffer for man, or he was ruined without hope of relief. Hence said our blessed Surety, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?" Luke 24:26. No creature was able to have undertaken this important office; it was a burden too heavy for angels. Only he who was God as well as man could perform the arduous task.
2dly, The love of Christ to poor sinners in becoming Surety for broken men. "Greater love" (says our Lord, John 15:13.) "hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." "God commendeth his love towards us," (says the apostle, Rom. 5:8.), "in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." None less than God man was able to answer the demands of this covenant, when once broken; therefore the Son of God was pitched upon to be the second Adam, to repair the breach made by the first; Psalm 89:19, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people." And when there was no helper, he offered himself to undergo the burden; Psalm 40:6, 7, "Sacrifice and offering," said this blessed Helper, "thou didst not require; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come." If ever ye would see what Christ has done for sinners, so
as to be ravished with admiration of his matchless performance, study the covenant of works which he fulfilled as the second Adam, after it was broken by the first.
4. Concerning man in his fallen state.
1st, It is no wonder, that however scarce good works are in the world, yet working to win heaven is so very frequent. Legal principles and practices are natural to men; the covenant of works being that covenant that was made with Adam, and in him with all mankind, and so after a sort engrained in man's nature. And nothing less than the power of grace is able to bring man from off that way, to the salvation by Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 1:23, 24, "Christ crucified is unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, he is the power of God, and the wisdom of God." We are like those who being bred merchants, though their stock is gone, must still be trafficking with small wares.
2dly, Salvation by works of our own is quite impossible; there is no life nor salvation to be had by the law, Gal. 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." Will ye bring your good meanings and desires, your repentance, your obedience, such as it is, and think to get life, and salvation, and acceptance with God thereby? Remember, if ye will be for doing to live your obedience must be perfect and perpetual; and that if you fail, you are under the curse. That is the tenor of the covenant of works, and it will abate nothing. And therefore ye must quit the way of that covenant, or perish for ever; for ye are absolutely incapable to answer its demands.
USE II. For refutation. With what is said these three things following are inconsistent.
1. That there was no proper covenant of works between God and Adam. The contrary has been already proved from the holy scripture,
and the nature of the thing. If we yield that point, the imputation of Adam's sin will have slender grounds to stand on; and if that fail, the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness will be in hazard.
2. That believers are not wholly and altogether set free from the law as a covenant of works; from the commanding power of it, as well as the condemning power of it. If that be so, believers in Christ are yet in a miserable case; for the commands of the covenant of works are no less than commands of perfect and perpetual obedience, under the pain of the curse; Rom. 3:19, "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Compare Gal 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." But believers are set beyond the reach of the curse; ver. 13, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Rom. 8:1, "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." They are dead to the law as a covenant of works, Rom. 7:4, "Ye are," says the apostle, "dead to the law by the body of Christ;" and death sets one altogether free. They are under the covenant of grace, and they cannot be under both at once; Rom. 6:14, "Ye are not," says Paul, "under the law, but under grace."
3. That believers must do good works to answer the demands of the law, as a covenant of works, if they will obtain salvation. Truly our good works will never be able to answer these demands; and if we pretend to do them for that end, as the covenant of works will never accept them, so we cast dishonour on Christ, who has answered all these demands already for believers, by his perfect and perpetual obedience. When God set Adam to seek salvation by his works, he was able for works; it was a thousand times easier to him to give perfect obedience than for us to give sincere obedience. So we may be sure God bringing in a second covenant for the help of lost sinners, would never put them again on seeking salvation by works, after their strength for them was gone.
USE III. For exhortation. Consider seriously of this covenant, with application to the particular state and case of our own souls. Here was a solemn bargain made with our first father, of the utmost importance to him and all his posterity. Will ye not lay to heart your own case with respect to it? Consider,
1. That this covenant was made with Adam in your name, for you in particular, as well as the rest of his posterity. So that you were all once under it, as really as if you had in your own persons consented to the terms of it; and the obedience it required of Adam was equally required of you; and the curse he subjected himself to by the breach of it, lies heavy on you as well as him.
2. Whether ye be delivered from it or not. If ye be, happy are ye; if ye be not, there is a weight lying above your heads that will sink you for ever in the bottomless gulf of perdition, if ye get not loose from that covenant, Gal. 3:10, forecited.
3. None are delivered from it, but those whom God himself, man's covenant party, has discharged. The breaking of a bargain can never deliver the breaker from it, but lays him under the penalty. Nothing can deliver him but a discharge from the party he bargained with.
4. God discharges none from it, but upon full satisfaction made to all its demands on them. For our Lord has determined the matter thus, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled," Matth. 5:18. The sinner shall be obliged to give the law fair count and reckoning, and payment, else he cannot have his discharge. Consider if ye have any experience of this being done in your own case.
5. Lastly, The only way to satisfy this covenant, is by faith to lay hold upon Jesus Christ the surety, and to plead his obedience and death. The believer counts up to the law all that Christ has done and suffered, as done for him; so the accounts are cleared, the believer is
discharged, the discharge being written with the blood of his Surety. And so he is set free from it for ever.
Thus much of the reality, nature, parts, &c. of the covenant of works.