Of Christ The Only Redeemer Of God'S Elect

Of Christ The Only Redeemer Of God'S Elect

OF THE MISERY OF MAN'S NATURAL STATE

ROM. 5:12.—By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

THESE words teach us a lesson that all the books of philosophers could never do. They were sensible of the depravity and misery of human nature; but how was it depraved, and what was the spring of all the troubles the life of man is exposed to, they were utterly ignorant. We all see a flood of misery let into the world; but what way the sluice was opened, we can only learn from divine revelation. And in this passage we have it, viz. By one man sin entered into the world, and misery followed it close at the heels. This one man was Adam, the natural root, and the federal head of all mankind, ver. 14. In the words we have,

1. A flood of misery passing over the world, Death passed upon all men. For understanding this, ye must compare it with Gen. 2:17. 'In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.' This awful threatening is marked to be accomplished here. Death there implies loss of communion with God, which was evident in the fulfilling of the threatening, Gen. 3:24 when God drave out the man, viz. from paradise, and placed a heavenly guard to prevent man's access to the tree of life. It also implies a being under God's wrath and curse, as the threatening imports. This is spiritual death. It further implies temporal death, a liableness to the miseries of this life and to death itself, Gen. 3:16–19.; and also eternal death; which appears from man's being excluded paradise and the tree of life, ver. 22. This threatened death, says the apostle, passed upon all men, 'It is appointed unto all men once to die.' viz. a natural death. There is no discharge in this war. All men are spiritually dead, dead to God and happiness. And they are all subject to eternal death, in the separation of both soul and body from God and the felicity of the other world.

2. How the sluice by which this misery has overflowed the world was opened. (1.) The personal cause was one man, viz. Adam. (2.) The real cause was his sin, the sin of eating the forbidden fruit. This sin was the sin of all: for all (viz. on whom death passed) have sinned, not in their own persons, for infants on whom death has passed, have not so sinned; but have therefore sinned in Adam. And this sin of the first man is the cause of all the misery that has overtaken the human race.

The text affords the following doctrine.

DOCT. 'All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.'

In discoursing from this doctrine, I shall shew,

I. That all mankind are made miserable.

II. That this misery came by their fall in Adam.

III. What that misery is that hath by the fall overtaken all mankind.

IV. Deduce some inferences for application.

I. That mankind, and all mankind, are made miserable, needs no laborious proof. Sad experience in all ages confirms the truth of this assertion. Troops of misery receive us as soon as we come into the world, whereof some one or other always accompany us till we be laid in the grave. Let men be clothed in rags, or wear a crown, the garment common to all is misery. Every sigh, tear, or sorrowful look, is a proof of this.

II. That this misery came upon men by the fall, is also clear from the text. Man came not out of God's hand with the tear in his eye, or sorrow in his heart, or a burden on his back. He never put on his dole-weed or mourning garment, till he had by sin made himself naked. Death never could enter the gates of the world, till sin set them wide open, Gen. 3. And then one sin let in the flood; and many sins followed and increased it. The first pilot dashed the ship on a rock, and then all that were in it were cast into a sea of misery. Our first parents fell, and we being in them felt with them the sad and mournful effects of their fall.

III. I proceed to shew what that misery is which hath by the fall overtaken all mankind. It may be taken up in these three things.

1. Man's loss by the fall.

2. What he is brought under by it.

3. What he is liable to in consequence of it.

FIRST, Let us view man's loss by the fall. He has lost communion with God. He enjoyed it before that fatal period; but now it is gone. It implies two things. 1. A saving interest in God as his God. Man could then call God his own God, his Maker, his Husband, his Friend, his Portion, being in covenant with him. 2. Sweet and comfortable society and fellowship with God: and all this without a mediator, God and man not having been enemies or at variance. This sweet and agreeable communion he lost, as appears from Gen. 3:8 where it is said, 'They (our first parents) heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.' When God spoke to him before, it was refreshing and comfortable to him; but now it was a terror to him; evidently shewing that all correspondence was broke up.

Thus man lost God, Eph. 2:12 the greatest and the fountain of all other losses. He is no more the God of fallen men, till by a new covenant they get a new interest in him. This is the greatest of all losses and miseries. Had the sun been for ever darkened in the heavens, it had been no such loss as this. God is the cause and fountain of all good; and the loss of him must be the loss of every thing that is good and excellent. Man is a mere nothing without God; a nothing in nature without his common presence, and a nothing in happiness without his gracious presence, Psal. 30:5. 'In his favour is life.' Psal. 63:3. 'Thy loving-kindness is better than life.' That day man fell, the foundation of the earth was drawn away, and all fell down together; the soul and the life departed from all men, and left them all dead, having lost God, the fountain of life and joy. Hence we may infer,

1. Man is a slave to the devil, 2 Tim. 2:26. When the soul is gone, men may do with the body what they will; and when God is gone, the devil may do with the soul what he will. Man without God is like Samson without his hair, quite weak and unable to resist his spiritual enemies, as Samson to oppose the Philistines. Satan has over men in nature the power of a master, Rom. 6:16 so that when he bids them go, they go; and when to come, they come;—that of a conqueror, and so he makes them his slaves and vassals;—and that of a jailor, keeping them fast bound in chains, so that they cannot escape from his clutches, Isa. 61:1.

2. Man has lost his covenant-right to the creatures which he had when in favour with his Maker; and therefore Adam was driven out of paradise. Men have no right to the creatures, or their service now, but that of common providence, until it be otherwise restored by their coming into the bond of the new covenant.

3. Hence man is in a fruitless search after happiness in the creatures, set, as a poor infant that hath lost the breasts, to suck at the dry breasts of the creatures, where nothing is to be met with but continued disappointments.

4. Man cannot help himself, John 15:5. His help is alone in God in Christ, without whom one can do nothing. He is like a poor infant exposed, that cannot help itself, Ezek. 16. He is like one grievously wounded, who can neither make a plaster for his wounds nor apply it. Ah! how miserable is the case of man under the fall!

SECONDLY, Let us consider what man is brought under by the fall.

1. He is brought under God's wrath. Hence sinners are said to be 'the children of wrath,' Eph. 2:3. Wrath in God is mixed with no perturbation, but is pure from all discomposure. It imports,

(1.) That sinners are under the displeasure of God. He can take no delight in then, but his soul loaths them. There is a holy fire of anger burning in his breast against them. Should the sun be continually under a cloud, and the heavens ever covered with blackness, what a miserable place would the world be? But that is nothing to the divine anger: 'Who knows the power of thine anger?' says the Psalmist, Psal. 90:11.

(2.) God deals with them as with enemies, Nah. 1:2. 'God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious, the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries; and he reserveth wrath for his enemies,' Isa. 1:24.—'Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.' To have men in power enemies to us, is sad; but to have God an enemy, is beyond expression dreadful: seeing we can neither fight nor flee from him, and he can pursue the quarrel through all eternity.

2. They are under his curse, Gal. 3:10. 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.' Now, God's curse is the binding over the sinner to all the direful effects of his wrath. This is the dreadful yoke which the broken law wreaths about the neck of every sinner as in a natural state. God's curse is a tying of the sinner to the stake, that the law and justice of God may disburden all their arrows into his soul, and that in him may meet all the miseries and plagues that flow from the avenging wrath of God.

Thus every sinner, while in a natural state, is under the wrath and curse of God; a burden on him, that if not removed by him who was made under the law, and bore the curse thereof, will sink sinners into the lowest pit of hell.

THIRDLY, Let us next consider what man is liable to, both in this world and that which is to come.

First, In this world, he is liable.

1. To all the miseries of this life. Now these are twofold.

1st, Outward miseries. There is a flood of these that man is subject to; as,

(1.) God's curse upon the creature for our sake, Gen. 3:17. 'Cursed is the ground for thy sake,' Under the weight of this curse the whole creation groans and travails in pain, longing for deliverance. It is not the groan of a wearied beast desiring to be disburdened of its load, but a groan the effect of the fall of man. The treason and rebellion of man against his rightful Lord and Sovereign, brought distress and misery upon all that was formed for his use; as when the majesty of a prince is violated by the rebellion of his subjects, all that belongs to them, and was before the free gift of the prince, is forfeited and taken from them. Their lands, palaces, cattle, even all that pertains to them, bear the marks of his sovereign fury. Consult Deut. 28:15, &c.

(2.) Outward miseries, such as sword, famine, and pestilence. Many times the curse of the Lord makes the heavens as brass, and the earth as iron, binds up the clouds, and restrains their necessary influences, so that the fruits of the earth are dried up. It raises divisions, wars, and mutinies in a kingdom. All the confusions and disorders which are to be seen among men, are the woful fruits and native results of sin. It kindles and blows up the fire of discord in families, cities, and nations. This is that fury that brings a smoking fire-brand from hell, and sets the whole world in a combustion. Pride and ambition, covetousness and desire of revenge, have made the world a stage of the most bloody tragedies. We have some terrible threatenings with respect to these judgments, Deut. 28 Lev. 26. And they are all summed up in one verse, Ezek. 5:17. 'I will send upon you famine, and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, and and I will bring the sword upon thee: I the Lord have spoken it.'

(3.) Miseries on men's bodies, sickness and bodily pains, as burning fevers, languishing consumptions, distorting convulsions, ugly deformities, gout and gravel, and all the dismal train of wasting diseases and acute pains. Sin hath made man's body a seminary of diseases, and planted in it the fatal seeds and principles of corruption and dissolution, and made him liable to attacks from all distempers, from the torturing stone to the wasting consumption.

(4.) On our estates, as losses, crosses, wrongs, and oppressions. How often do those in trade suffer heavy losses by the bankruptcies of their debtors, by unfair practices, and sinistrous dealings, by cheating and tricking, by extortion and rapine, &c?

(5.) On our names, by reproach, disgrace, &c. Many estates are blasted, and families reduced to poverty and contempt, which sometime have made a good figure in the world. People are made to groan under pinching straits and wants, and yet they seldom consider the bitter root from whence all this springs. It is sin that makes men poor, mean, low, and contemptible in the world, and that brings reproach and disgrace upon their names, Deut. 28:37.

(6.) On our employments and callings. These are many times full of pain, labour, and disappointments. Men earn wages, and put it into a bag with holes, and they disquiet and vex themselves in vain. "Whence are our cares and fears but from sin? Fear is the ague of the soul that sets it a shaking. Some fear want, and others alarms. Whence come all the disappointments of our hopes and expectations but from sin? When we look for comfort, there is a cross; where we expect honey and sweetness, there we find wormwood and gall.

(7.) On our relations, unequal uncomfortable marriages, false and treacherous friends, harsh and cruel masters, undutiful and unfaithful servants. It is sin that makes children ungrateful and undutiful to parents: they that should be as the staff of their parents' old age, are as a sword many times to pierce their hearts. It is sin that makes wives disobedient to their husbands, and to defile their beds.

2dly, Inward spiritual miseries: As (1.) 'Blindness of mind,' Eph. 4:13 the devil putting out the eyes that would not receive the light of the gospel, 1 Cor. 4:4. (2.) 'A reprobate sense,' Rom. 1:28 whereby men are left of God so as to have no sense of discerning betwixt good and evil, but take bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. (3.) 'Strong delusions,' 2 Thess. 2:11 whereby men, forsaking the truth, doat on the fancies and imaginations of their own hearts, and embrace lies for solid truths. (4.) 'Hardness of heart,' Rom. 2:5 whereby men's hearts are hardened from the fear of the Lord, and proof against conviction, and means used for awakening them. (5.) 'Vile affections,' Rom. 1:26 eagerly desiring sin and vanity, and all manner of filthiness, without regard to the dictates of reason and a natural conscience. (6.) Lastly, Fear, sorrow, and horror of conscience, which torment men, embitter life, and often bring death in their train, Isaiah 33:14.

2. At the end of this life, man is liable to death, Rom. 6:23. 'The wages of sin is death.' The soul must be separated from the body; the man falls into the hands of the king of terrors, and goes down to the house appointed for all living.

Object. But if these things be the effects of the fall, how comes it that those who are delivered from the curse of the law and the wrath of God by Jesus Christ, sustain these outward miseries, and die as well as others? Ans. Because the delivery is but imperfect; but when they shall be free from sin, they shall be free from all these. In the meantime there is a great difference betwixt them: for the sting of God's wrath as a judge is taken out of them to the godly, and they are not accomplishments of the threatenings of the covenant of works, Rom. 6:14 but of those of the covenant of grace, Psal. 89:31, 32, 33 and why may not the Lord take some of those things threatened under the covenant of works, and give them a gospel-die, and inflict them according to the second covenant, as well as he does with the commands, which they are still obliged to obey?

Secondly, Let us consider what man is liable to in the world to come. He is liable to the pains of hell for ever. There the Jordan of wrath will overflow all its banks, and that throughout eternal ages. These pains of hell consist in two things, the punishment of loss, and the punishment of sense.

1. In the punishment of loss. This is unspeakably great, and cannot be sufficiently set forth by the tongue of man. I shall only glance at it a little, without enlarging on particulars. (1.) They will lose all the good things which they enjoyed here in the world, their wealth, their riches, their profits and pleasures, and whatever things they set their heart on while here. (2.) The favourable presence and enjoyment of God and Christ. They will be for ever banished from the beatific vision of God in glory. For he will say to them at the last day, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,' Matth. 25:41. (3.) The blessed company and society of the holy angels and glorified saints in heaven. (4.) All the glory and blessedness above. (5.) All pity and compassion, having none to commiserate, their condition, or regard their pain. (6.) All hope and expectation of deliverance and outgate from their misery. (7.) All possibility of deliverance from their torments. The door of the pit shall be shut upon them for ever, and their fetters shall never be loosed. Thus sinners in hell shall lose every thing that is good and agreeable, even God the chief good, and all the happiness he has prepared for them that love him.

2. In the punishment of sense. They shall suffer the most grievous torments both in soul and body, and that without intermission, for evermore. These torments are beyond expression, and our most fearful thoughts cannot equal the horror of them. 'Who knows the power of thine anger?' says the Psalmist. No man can tell what those plagues and woes are which infinite justice and almighty power hath prepared for obstinate sinners. O that we may be prevailed upon to flee from this wrath that is to come, that so we may not fall into the hands of the living God, and may not be made the dreadful objects of everlasting vengeance.

I conclude with a few inferences.

1. See here the great evil of sin. Many reckon it but a small matter to transgress God's holy and righteous law. They can curse and swear, lie and steal, and commit many other enormous crimes, and yet have no trouble or remorse about it. But if they would consider the dreadful effects of sin, they would be of another mind. Sin is the worst of evils, and big with all kinds of evils whatsoever. It has brought a flood of miseries into the world, which has overflowed the whole creation, under the weight of which the earth and all its inhabitants are groaning. It is the great makebate between God and sinners; it has shut the door of access to God upon us, and exposed us to his wrath and curse in this life and that which is to come.

2. Woful is the case of all who are in a state of nature. They are far from God; they have no interest in or fellowship with him; they are under his wrath and curse, liable to all the miseries of this life, and to the vengeance of eternal fire in the world to come. They are fallen under the power and tyranny of the devil, and if mercy prevent not, shall dwell with him in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever. Whatever your situation and circumstances in the world may be, O ye that are yet in your natural state, ye are in a miserable condition; for ye are without God, the fountain of all good. Ye may read, pray, and communicate, but ye can have no communion with God. Men may be pleased with and bless you; but ye are under God's wrath and curse; and will continue so till ye by faith embrace God in Christ as your God.

3. Lastly, Arise, O ye sinners who are yet in your natural state, and depart; for this is not your rest. Come to the Lord Jesus, who alone can open the door of access to God, whose blood quenches the fire of wrath, and who can deliver from the curse of the law. Who would stay in a house ready to fall? who can sleep sound in a case where God is an enemy? Lay these things seriously to heart, and flee from the wrath ye lie under, for the plague is begun already; and speedily flee from the wrath to come: for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

OF ELECTION TO EVERLASTING LIFE

EPH. 1:3, 4, 5.—Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

1. A party brought out of their natural state into a state of salvation, ver. 3.—Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. For whereas by nature they were under the curse, now they are blessed, and that plentifully, with all blessings, not temporal only, but spiritual and heavenly, coming from heaven, and to be consummated there.

2. The person by whom they are brought into this state. It is by the Redeemer, as the purchaser. God the Father bestows them, as the Father of Christ, viz. for his sake. And they are blessed in Christ, upon account of his merit, and coming from him as their Head.

3. Who those are whom God brings out of their natural state into a state of grace; the elect, ver. 4, 5. According as he hath chosen us in him, &c. Where consider,

(1.) Election itself, he hath chosen us, separated us from others in his purpose and decree, selected us from among the rest of mankind, whom he passed by and left to perish in their natural state.

(2.) That to which they are elected: that is, to salvation, and the means leading thereto. The means are, sanctification, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; and adoption, ver. 5 that whereas they are by nature children of the devil, they should be children of God. The end is everlasting life in heaven; for that is imported in adoption, Rom. 8:23 as the inheritance of the children of God.

(3.) Through whom this decree is to be executed, in him; that is, Christ, whom the Father chose to be the head of the elect, through whom he would save them.

(4.) When God elected them, before the foundation of the world, ere they were created; that is, from eternity; as appears from what our Lord says to his Father, John 17:24. 'Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world;' which can denote nothing else than from eternity.

(5.) That which moved him to elect them, according to the good pleasure of his will; that is, his mere good pleasure, so he would do it; and there was nothing without himself to move him thereto.

The words afford a foundation for the following doctrine.

DOCT. 'God left not all mankind to perish in the state of sin and 'misery, but having from all eternity elected some to everlasting life, brings them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer.'

In illustrating this doctrine, I shall shew,

I. What election is.

II. Who are elected.

III. What they are chosen to.

IV. The properties of this election.

V. That all the elect, and only they, are in time brought out of a state of sin and misery into a state of salvation.

VI. By whom they are saved.

VII. Lastly, Conclude with some improvement.

I. Our first business is, to shew what election is. It is that decree of God whereby some men are chosen out from among the rest of mankind, and appointed to obtain eternal life by Jesus Christ, flowing from the mere good pleasure of God; as appears from the text. So the elect are they whom God has chosen to everlasting life, Acts 13:48. God seeing all mankind lost in Adam from all eternity, in his decree separated some from among them, to be redeemed by his Son, sanctified by his Spirit, and brought to glory.

II. I proceed to shew who are elected. Who they are in particular, God only knows; but in general we say,

That it is not all men, but some only. For where all are taken, there is no choice made. To say that God has made choice, plainly imports that others are not chosen, but passed by. And so there is another party of men who are reprobated; that is, whom God has not chosen to life, but has decreed to let them lie in their natural state, and to damn them for their sins, Jude 4; whom he shews not saving mercy unto, but hardens, they first hardening themselves, Rom. 9:18. Here is no injustice in God, seeing he might have left all to perish as well as some. This is also clear from plain scripture, Mat. 20:16. 'Many are called, but few chosen.' Whence also it is plain, that the elect are the lesser number of the world, Mat. 7:13, 14. 'Enter ye in at the strait gate (says Christ); for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.' They are a little flock, Luke 12:32. Yet the efficacy of the Lord's love and Christ's death is more and greater than that of Adam's sin, seeing it is greater to save one soul than to ruin all. And further, the scripture teaches, that though God has his own of all sorts, yet this blessed company, God does not make up, chiefly of the highest and most honourable among men. 1 Cor. 1:26, 27, 28. 'Ye see your calling; how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are pot, to bring to nought things that are.'

III. The next head is, to shew what they are chosen to.

1. They are chosen to be partakers of everlasting life. Hence the scripture speaks of some being 'ordained to eternal life,' Acts 13:48 and of 'appointing them to obtain salvation,' 1 Thess. 5:9. God appoints some to be rich, great, and honourable, some to be low and mean in the world; and others to be in a middle station, objects neither of envy nor contempt; but electing love appoints those on whom it falls to be saved from sin, and all the ruins of the fall; its great view is to eternal glory in heaven. To this they were appointed before they had a being.

2. They are chosen also to grace as the mean, as well as to glory as the end. God's predestinating them to eternal blessedness includes both, as in the text; and it further appears from 2 Thess. 2:13. 'God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.' Hence faith is held out as a certain consequent of election, Acts 13:48. 'As many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed.' The man who intends to dwell in a house yet unbuilt, intends also the means by which it may be made a fit habitation. So God having from eternity pitched on a select number of the ruined race of mankind as objects of his love, and having predestinated them to everlasting life, intended also the means necessary and proper for obtaining that glorious end. And therefore there is no ground from the decree of election to slight the means of salvation. God has so joined the end and the means, that none can put them asunder.

IV. Let us consider the properties of election.

1. It is altogether free, without any moving cause, but God's mere good pleasure. No reason can be found for this but only in the bosom of God. There is nothing before, or above, or without his purpose, that can be pitched upon as the cause of all that grace and goodness that he bestows upon his chosen ones. There was no merit or motive in them, as Christ told his disciples, John 15:16. 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.' His choice is antecedent to ours. The persons who are singled out to be the objects of his special grace, were a part of lost mankind, the same by nature with others who were passed by, and left to perish in their sin. When God had all Adam's numerous progeny under the view of his all-seeing eye, he chose some, and passed by others. He found nothing in the creature to cast the balance of his choice, or to determine it to one more than another. Those that were rejected were as eligible as those that were chosen. They were all his creatures, and all alike obnoxious to his wrath by sin. It was grace alone that made the difference. So the prophet argues, Mal. 1:2, 3. 'I have loved you, saith the Lord: yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.' And this is abundantly clear in the text. Why doth God write some men's names in the book of life, and leave out others? why doth he enrol some whom he intends to make citizens of Zion, and heirs of immortal glory, and refuse to put others in his register? The text tells us, it is the good pleasure of his will.

You may, says an eminent divine, render a reason for many of God's actions, till you come to this, which is the top and foundation of all; and this act can be reduced to no other head of reason, but to that of his royal prerogative. If you inquire, why doth God save some, and condemn others at last? the reason is, because of the faith of the one, and the unbelief of the other. But why do some men believe? It is because God hath not only given them the means of grace, but accompanied these means with the power and efficacy of the Spirit. But why did God accompany these means with the efficacy of his Spirit in some, and not in others? It is because he decreed by his grace to prepare them for glory. But why did he decree and chuse some to glory, and not others? Into what can you resolve this, but only into his sovereign pleasure? Salvation and damnation at the last upshot are acts of God as the righteous Judge and Governor of the world, giving life and eternal happiness to believers, and inflicting death and eternal misery upon unbelievers, conformable to his own law. Men may render a reason for these proceedings. But the choice of some and the preterition of others, is an act of God as he is a sovereign monarch, before any law was actually transgressed, because not actually given. What reason can be given for his advancing one part of matter to the noble dignity of a star, and leaving another part to make up the dark body of the earth? to compact one part into a glorious sun, and another part into a hard rock, but his royal prerogative? What is the reason that a prince subjects one malefactor to condign punishment, and lifts up another to a place of profit and trust? It is merely because he will, Rom. 9:18. Hence we may infer,

(1.) That God did not chuse men to everlasting life and happiness for any moral perfection that he saw in them; because he converts those, and changes them by his grace, who are most sinful and profligate, as the Gentiles, who were soaked in idolatry and superstition. He found more faith among the Romans, who were Pagan idolaters, than among the Jews, who were the peculiar people of God, and to whom his heavenly oracles were committed. He planted a saintship at Corinth, a place notorious for the infamous worship of Venus, a superstition attended with the grossest uncleanness; and at Ephesus, that presented the world with a cup of fornication in the temple of Diana. And what character had the Cretians from one of their own poets, mentioned by the apostle in his epistle to Titus, whom he had placed among them to further the progress of the gospel, but the vilest and most abominable liars, and not to be credited; evil beasts, not to be associated with; slow bellies, fit for no service. Now what merit and attractive was here? What invitements could he have from lying, beastliness, and gluttony, but only from his own. sovereignty? By this he plucked firebrands out of the burning, while he left straiter and more comely sticks to consume to ashes.

(2.) God doth not chuse men to grace and glory for any civil perfection that is in them; because he calls and renews the most despicable. He doth not elevate nature to grace on account of wealth or honour, or any civil station or dignities in the world, 1 Cor. 1:26 forecited. A purple robe is very seldom decked and adorned with the jewel of grace. He takes more of the mouldy clay, than of refined dust, to cast into his image, and lodges his treasures more in the earthly vessels, than in the world's golden ones. Should God impart his grace most to those who abound in wealth and honour, it had laid a foundation for men to think, that he had been moved by those vulgarly esteemed excellencies, and to indulge them more than others. But such a conceit languisheth, and falls to the ground, when we behold the subjects of divine grace as void originally of any allurements as they are full of provocations.

(3.) Their foreseen faith and good works, or perseverance in either of them, are not the cause of election; because these are the fruits and effects, and therefore cannot be the causes of election, Rom. 8:29. Acts. 13:48. It is clear also from this text, where it is said, they are chosen to be holy, and to adoption, and therefore to faith, by which we obtain it, John. 1:12. God did not chuse and elect men to grace and glory because they were holy, or because he did foresee that they would be so, but that he might purify and make them holy. And let it be observed, that the scripture attributes election only to God's good pleasure, Rom. 9:11, 13, 16. Mat. 11:25. And indeed, if it depended on foreseen faith or good works, we should rather be said to chuse God than he to chuse us.

(4.) God did not chuse some to life and happiness, because he was under any obligation to do so. He is indebted to none, and he is disobliged by all. He was under no tie to pity man's misery, and repair the ruins of the fall. He owes no more debt to fallen man than to fallen angels, to restore them to their first station by a superlative grace. God as a Sovereign gave laws to man, and strength sufficient to observe them. Now, what obligation is upon God to repair that strength which man hath wilfully lost, and to pull him out of that miserable pit into which he had voluntarily plunged himself? None at all. So then there was nothing in the elect more than others to move God to chuse them either to grace or glory. It was, and must be, the gracious issue and result of his sovereign will and mere good pleasure.

2. Election is eternal. They are elected from all eternity, Eph. 1:4 chosen before the foundation of the world, 2 Tim. 1:9. 'He hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.' All God's decrees are eternal, Eph. 1:11. 'We are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. God takes no new counsels, to do which would be inconsistent with his infinite perfection. Because God is eternal, his purposes must be of equal duration with his existence. And to imagine that an infinitely wise and sovereign Being existed from eternity, without any forethought, or resolution what to do, would be to suppose him to be undetermined or unresolved, at the time of his giving being to all things. And to suppose that the divine will is capable of new determinations, is to argue him to be imperfect; which would be as much an instance of mutability in him, as for him to alter his purpose. Election to everlasting life, must therefore be eternal.

3. It is particular and definite. God has chosen a certain number of the children of men to life, whom he knows by name, so as they can neither be more nor fewer. Hence their names are said to be written in the book of life, Luke 10:20. Phil. 4:3 and others are said not to be written there, Rev. 17:8. Though they are known to none, yet God knows them all, 2 Tim. 2:19. And they are given to Christ, John 17:9. Therefore God's decree of election is not a general decree only to save all that shall believe and persevere in the faith; for that way it might happen that none at all might be saved.

4. It is secret, or cannot be known, till God be pleased to discover it. Hence it is called 'the mystery of his will,' Eph. 1:9 as being hid in God from before the foundation of the world, and would for ever have been so, had he not discovered it in his word.

It is unchangeable. Mutability is an imperfection peculiar to creatures. As the least change in God's understanding, so as to know more or less than that hid from eternity, would be an instance of imperfection; the same must be said with respect to his holy will, which cannot be susceptible of new determinations. Though there are many changes in the external dispensations of his providence, which are the result of his will, as well as the effects of his power; yet there is no shadow of change in his purpose. No unforeseen occurrence can render it expedient for God to change his mind, nor can any higher power oblige him to do it; nor can any defect of power to accomplish his design, induce him to alter his purpose. Those who are once elected can never be reprobated. All that are elected shall most certainly be saved. None of them can be left to perish. For all the divine purposes are unchangeable, and must be fulfilled, Isa. 46:10.; and this in particular, 2 Tim. 2:19. Election is the foundation of God's house, laid by his own hand, which cannot be shaken, but stands sure; and a sealed foundation, as men seal what they will have; a seal of two parts securing it; on God's part, God loves and keeps them that are his, that they fall not away; on our part, the same God takes care that his elect depart from iniquity. It is not possible they can be totally and finally deceived, Matth. 24:24, and whom God has chosen he glorifies, Rom. 8:29, 30. When we are bid make our election sure, it is meant of certainty and assurance as to our knowledge of it, and by no means of God's purpose.

V. The next thing is to shew, that all the elect, and they only, are in time brought out of a state of sin and misery into a state of salvation.

1. All the elect are redeemed by Christ, John 10:15. 'I lay down my life for the sheep,' says he. They are all in due time, by the power of the Spirit, regenerated, converted, and brought to Christ, and get faith to lay hold on him, John 6:37. 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.' Acts 13:48. 'As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.' Everlasting love at length breaks forth in bringing them to grace, Jer. 31:3. 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.' They are all justified, adopted and sanctified, Rom. 8:30.; and all of them persevere in grace, John 17:12. 1 Pet. 1:5. And all this by virtue of their election, Tit. 2:14.

2. None other but the elect are brought into a state of salvation; none but they are redeemed, sanctified, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, John 17:9. Christ prays not for them. Those that perish were never redeemed, nor experienced a saving change passing upon them, as appears from Rom. 8:29, 30 and 1 John 2:19. God has passed them by, and suffers them to perish in their sin and guilt.

VI. I come to shew by whom the elect are saved. It is by Christ the Redeemer. Hence the apostle says, Tit. 3:4, 5, 6. 'After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' There is no other way of salvation but by him, Acts 4:12. By him is all grace and glory purchased, and by his satisfaction there is a way opened for the venting of mercy with the good leave of justice. More particularly,

1. Before the elect could be delivered from that state of sin and misery into which they had brought themselves, a valuable satisfaction behoved to be given to the justice of God for the injury done by sin. It is evident from scripture, that God stood upon full satisfaction, and would not remit one sin without it. Several things plead strongly for this:

As, (1.) The infinite purity and holiness of God. There is a contrariety in sin to the holiness of his nature, which is his peculiar glory; and from thence his hatred of it doth arise, which is as essential to him as his love to himself. The infinite purity and rectitude of his nature infers the most perfect abhorrence of whatever is opposite to it. Hence says the Psalmist, Psal. 5:4, 5. 'Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.' God cannot but hate all the workers of iniquity, and he cannot but punish them. His holiness is not only voluntary, but by necessity of nature. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity.

(2.) The justice of God pleads for a valuable satisfaction for sin. And here we are not to consider God as a private person wronged, but as the righteous Judge and Governor of the world, and the sovereign Protector of those sacred laws by which the reasonable creature is to be directed. Now, as it was most reasonable and convenient, that at the first giving of the law he should lay the strongest restraint upon man for preventing sin by the threatening of death; so it was most just and congruous, when the law was broken by man's rebellion, that the penalty should be inflicted either upon the person of the offender, according to the immediate intent of the law, or that satisfaction equivalent to the offence should be made, that the majesty and purity of God might appear in his justice. He is the Judge of all the earth, and cannot but do right.

(3.) The wisdom of God, by which he governs the rational world, admits not of a dispensation or relaxation of the threatening without a valuable satisfaction. For it is as good to have no king as no laws for government, and as good to have no law as no penalty, and as good that no penalty be annexed to the law as no execution of it. Hence, says a learned divine, It is altogether indecent, especially to the wisdom and righteousness of God, that that which provoketh the execution of the law, should procure the abrogation of it, as that should supplant and undermine the law, for the alone prevention of which the law was made. How could it be expected, that men should fear and tremble before God, when they should find themselves more scared and hurt by his threatenings against sin?

(4.) The truth and veracity of God required a satisfaction for sin. The word had gone out of God's mouth, 'In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;' and again it is said, 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.' Now, this sentence was immutable, and the word that had gone out of his mouth must stand. Had God violated his truth by dispensing with the punishment threatened, he had rendered himself an unfit object of trust; he had exposed all the promises or threatening which he should have made after man's impunity, to the mockery and contempt of the offender, and excluded his word from any credit with man for the future. And therefore God's word could not fall to the ground without an accomplishment. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall stand firm. He will be true to his threatenings, though thousands and millions should perish.

2. As satisfaction to justice was necessary, and that which God insisted upon, so the elect could not give it themselves, neither was there any creature in heaven and earth that could do it for them. Heaven and earth were at an infinite loss to find out a ransom for their souls. We may apply to this purpose what we have, Isa. 63:5. 'I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold.' This is the desperate and forlorn condition of the elect by nature as well as others.

3. God pitched upon Christ in his infinite grace and wisdom as the fittest person for managing this grand design. Hence it is said, 'I have laid help upon one that is mighty.' And the apostle saith, he 'hath set him forth to be a propitiation for sin.' On this account he is called 'his servant whom he hath chosen, and his elect in whom his soul delighteth.' God speaks to them, as Job 33:24. 'Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.'

4. Christ accepted the office of a Redeemer, and engaged to make his soul an offering for sin. He cheerfully undertook this work in that eternal transaction that was between the Father and him. He was content to stand in the elect's room, and to submit himself to the terrible strokes of vindictive justice. He is brought in by the Psalmist offering himself as a Surety in their stead, Psal. 40:6, 7. 'Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, &c. Then said I, Lo, I come,' &c. He willingly yielded to all the conditions requisite for the accomplishment of our redemption. He was content to take a body, that he might be capable to suffer. The debt could not be paid, nor the articles of the covenant performed, but in the human nature. He was therefore to have a nature capable of and prepared for sufferings. Hence it is said, Heb. 10:5. 'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not; but a body hast thou prepared me.' It behoved him to have a body to suffer that which was represented by these legal sacrifices wherein God took no pleasure. And he took a body of flesh, surrounded with the infirmities of our fallen nature, sin only excepted. He condescended to lay aside the robes of his glory, to make himself of no reputation, to take upon him the form of a servant, and be found in the likeness of men.

5. Christ satisfied offended justice in the room of the elect, and purchased eternal redemption for them. 'He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,' Phil. 2:8. This was the prime article in the covenant of grace, 'When he shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,' Isa. 53:10. God required this sacrifice exclusive of all others in the first treaty. 'Sacrifice and burnt-offerings thou wouldst not; in them thou hadst no pleasure: then said I, Lo, I come,' &c. These sacrifices were entirely useless for the satisfaction of justice, though fit to prefigure the grand sacrifice that God intended. It was by the death of Christ alone that redemption was purchased for men, Rom. 5:10. Eph. 2:13. Col. 1:21. And when he was upon the cross, he cried, 'It is finished;' that is, the work of redemption is accomplished; I have done all that was appointed for me to do; the articles on my part are now fulfilled; there remain no more deaths for me to suffer.

Thus the elect are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

I shall conclude all with a few inferences.

1. Behold here the freedom and glory of sovereign grace, which is the sole cause why God did not leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery, as he did the fallen angels. He was no more obliged to the one than the other. Why did he chuse any of the fallen race of men to grace and glory? It was his mere good pleasure to pitch on some, and pass by others. He could have been without them all, without any spot either on his happiness or justice; but out of his mere good pleasure he pitched his love on a select number, in whom he will display the invincible efficacy of his sovereign grace, and thereby bring them to the fruition of glory. This proceeds from his absolute sovereignty. Justice or injustice comes not into consideration here. If he had pleased, he might have made all the objects of his love; and if he had pleased he might have chosen none, but have suffered Adam and all his numerous offspring to sink eternally into the pit of perdition. It was in his supreme power to have left all mankind under the rack of his justice; and, by the same right of dominion, he may pick out some men from the common mass, and lay aside others to bear the punishment of their crimes. There is no cause in the creature but all in God. It must be resolved into his sovereign will. So it is said, Rom. 9:15, 16. He saith to Moses, 'I will have mercy, on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.' And yet God did not will without wisdom. He did not chuse hand over head, and act by mere will without reason and understanding. An infinite wisdom is far from such a kind of procedure. But the reason of God's proceedings is inscrutable to us, unless we could understand God as well as he understands himself. The rays of his infinite wisdom are too bright and dazzling for our weak and shallow capacities. The apostle acknowledges not only a wisdom in his proceeding, but riches and a treasure of wisdom; and not only that, but a depth and vastness of these riches of wisdom; but was wholly incapable to give a scheme and inventory of it. Hence he cries out, Rom. 11:33. 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!' Let us humbly adore the divine sovereignty. We should cast ourselves down at God's feet, with a full resignation of ourselves to his sovereign pleasure. This is a more becoming carriage in a Christian, than contentious endeavours to measure God by our line.

2. This doctrine should stop men's murmurings and silence all their pleadings with or against God. O what strivings are there sometimes in the hearts of men about God's absolute sovereignty in electing some and rejecting others? The apostle insists much upon this in Rom. 9 where, having represented the Lord speaking thus by Moses, ver. 15. 'I will have mercy, on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion;' he presently prevents an objection, or the strife of man with God about that saying, ver. 19. 'Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will?' This is man's plea against the sovereign will of God. But what saith the Lord by the apostle to such a pleader? We have his reproof of him for an answer, in ver. 20. 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?' The apostle brings in this argument as to man's eternal state, He must not strive with God about that. He must not say, Why doth God find fault with man? His absolute power in his reason why he disposeth thus or thus of thee, or any other man. He will give thee no account why it is so; but his own will to have it so. He may chuse some for the glory of his rich, free, and sovereign grace, and leave others to perish in their sins for the glory of his power and justice. This should stop men's mouths, and make them sit down quietly under all God's dealings.

3. This is ground of humility and admiration to the elect of God, and shows them to what they owe the difference that is between them and others, even to free grace. Those who are passed by were as eligible as those that were chosen. Though God hath dignified them, and raised them to be heirs of glory, yet they were heirs of wrath, and no better than others by nature, Eph. 2:3. Well may they say with David in another case, 'Lord, what am I, or what is my father's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?' All were in the same corrupt mass, and nothing but free grace made the difference between the elected and the non-elected.

4. Then the elect shall not persist in their infidelity and natural state, but shall all be effectually called and brought in to Christ. Whatever good things God hath purposed for them shall surely be conferred upon and wrought in them by the irresistible efficacy of his powerful grace. God's counsel shall stand and he will do all his pleasure.

5. Then people, may know that they are elected. Hence is that exhortation, 2 Pet. 1:10. 'Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.' Though we cannot break in at the first hand upon the secrets of God, yet if we do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, receive him as our only Saviour, and submit to him as our Lord and Sovereign, we may know that we are elected, seeing the elect and they only are brought to believe. Others may be elected, but they cannot know it till they actually believe.

6. The Lord will never cast off his elect people. He that chose them from eternity, while he saw no good in them, will not afterwards cast them off. God's decree of election is the best security they can have for life and salvation, and a foundation that standeth absolutely sure. Whatever faults and follies they may be guilty of, yet the Lord will never cast them off. They shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

7. Lastly, This doctrine may teach us to form our judgment aright concerning the success of the gospel. The gospel and the ministrations thereof are designed for the bringing in of God's chosen ones. All never did nor ever will believe: but one thing is sure, that all who are ordained to eternal life shall believe and obey the gospel, Rom. 11:7.

OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE*

Psal. 89:3.—I have made a covenant with my chosen.

1 Cor. 15:45.—The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

GOD made man upright, and entered into a covenant with him, forbidding him to eat of a certain tree in the garden of Eden, on pain of death, natural, spiritual, and eternal, and promising him, in case of continued obedience, life in its utmost extent. But, alas! man being in honour did not continue a night, but foully revolted from the obedience and allegiance he owed to his mighty Creator and bountiful Sovereign. Thus his misery was originally owing to the breaking of the covenant of works; and in that dismal state he and all his descendants had remained for ever, if God, in the wonderful depths of his amazing love and grace, had not from all eternity devised a method of recovery, by entering into a covenant with his own Son as second Adam, head and representative of those destinated by sovereign pleasure to be heirs of salvation. Thus fallen man's recovery, from the first to the last step thereof, is entirely owing to the fulfilling of that covenant entered into betwixt the Father and the Son from eternal ages, and in it the whole mystery of our salvation lies. And this covenant I shall endeavour, through divine assistance, briefly to open up unto you, from the texts now read.

In the verse preceding the first text, there is mention made of a building of mercy, which presupposes miserable ruins, and denotes that this building is intended for the benefit of an elect world ruined by Adam's fall. Free grace and love set on foot this building for them, every stone in which, from the lowest to the highest, is mercy to them: from top to bottom, from the foundation-stone to the top-stone, all is free and rich mercy to them. And the ground of this glorious building is God's covenant with his chosen, I have made a covenant with my chosen. In which and the second text four things are to be considered.

1. The foundation on which the building of mercy stands: a covenant, a divine covenant, a sure covenant. The first building for man's happiness, was a building of goodness, bounty, and liberality; but not of mercy, for man was not in misery when it was reared up: it was founded on a covenant too, the covenant of works made with the first Adam. This building soon fell in ruins; for being made with man, liable to change, his foot slipt, the covenant was broken, and the building tumbled down in an instant; there was no more safe dwelling there for Adam or his race, though most of them are still seeking shelter about the ruins of this first building, and will not come to the building of mercy. But this covenant is another, and of a different nature; the covenant of eternal life and salvation for poor sinners, the spiritual seed of the head of the covenant, to be given them in the way of free grace and mercy, and in which they are freed from the curse of the law and the wrath of God. The revelation and offer of this covenant unto the sons of men is called the gospel, announcing the glad tidings of life and salvation to ruined sinners.

2. The parties contractors in this covenant, I and my chosen, the last Adam. Both heaven and earth were concerned in this covenant; for it was a covenant of peace between them, at variance through sin. And accordingly the interests of both are consulted by the parties contractors.

1. On heaven's side is God himself, the party proposer, I have made a covenant with my chosen. Though he was the party offended, yet the motion for a covenant comes from him. The Father of Mercies beholding a lost world, his bowels of mercy yearn towards the objects that his sovereign pleasure pitches upon; and that mercy seeks a vent for itself, that it may be shown to the miserable. But justice stands in the way of its egress, unless a method be found to satisfy its claim, in order to pave a passage for the free efflux of mercy. Then saith the Father 'The first covenant will not answer the purpose; another expedient must be fallen upon. The lost creatures cannot contract for themselves; and it another undertake not for them, they must perish; they cannot chuse an undertaker for themselves. I will chuse one for them, and I will make the covenant with my chosen.'

2. On man's side is God's chosen, or chosen One, for the word of God is singular; the son the last Adam. Who else as fit to be undertaker on man's side; who else could have been the Father's choice for this vast undertaking? No angel nor man was capable for it but the mighty One, ver. 19 whom the Father points out to us as his chosen, Isa. 42:1.

3. The making of this covenant between the parties, I have made a covenant with my chosen One. The Father and the Son made this covenant betwixt them; the bargain was completed by mutual agreement. The terms were on both hands fixed, and the compact closed between them, before the objects of mercy existed; even as the covenant of works betwixt God and the first Adam was made, before we breathed in God's air. And therefore, by the by, ye would take notice, that in reference to covenanting with God, ye pretend not to make a covenant of your own, setting down such and such terms for life and salvation, which you will do. All that remains for us in that matter is to take hold of God's covenant, Isa. 56:6 to believe the promise, approve cordially of the covenant, and consent to it for our part as agreed betwixt the Father and the second Adam; so shall ye evidence that ye are of those in whose name Christ stood consenting to the covenant. This is our making of a covenant mentioned, Psal. 50:5.—'that have made a covenant with me by or upon a sacrifice,' viz. by laying their hands, by faith, on the head of the sacrifice, thereupon cut down in their stead; and so transferring the guilt ceremonially 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.

The original calls it 'cutting of a covenant,' or 'striking a covenant;' being a covenant by sacrifice, confirmed with blood; wherein the party contractor on man's side is both the priest and the sacrifice, the Father's wrath the fire that burnt it, and divine justice the sword that cut it down, Zech. 13:7. This is most lively represented, Gen. 15:9, &c.

Before I go farther in the explication, I will speak a little to this observation, 'That the foundation of all saving mercy to lost sinners is the covenant of grace, the covenant betwixt the Father and the second Adam.' To clear this consider,

1. It is the foundation of the first saving mercy that a poor sinner meets with; and that is the first grace given to the dead soul, viz. spiritual life, the new heart, the first resurrection, by which the soul is enabled to believe and embrace Jesus Christ, Ezek. 36:26. 'A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.' This is saving mercy, Tit. 3:5. 'According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.' Upon what bottom can this stone in the building be laid, but on the covenant betwixt the Father and Christ? No doing of the sinner can be pretended here, for life and salvation, since the sinner is really dead spiritually, and can do nothing; but it is a performing of the promise of the covenant to Christ, Eph. 2:5. 'Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ.'

2. It is the foundation of the middle saving mercies. Look to the soul's actual believing; it is the budding of a promise, a branch of that covenant, Psal. 22:29, 31. 'None can keep alive his own soul. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness.' Compare John 6:37. 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.' Justification is the fruit that grows upon it, Isa. 53:11. 'By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.' So is Sanctification; they are sanctified in Christ Jesus, in virtue of that covenant, as they were corrupted and defiled in Adam by virtue of the breach of the first covenant, 1 Cor. 1:2 compare Ezek. 36:25. 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you.' This is an absolute promise with respect to the sinner. All their obedience itself, and persevering in holy obedience, are fruits of the covenant, ver. 27. 'I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them,' Jer. 32:40. 'I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me;' and so belong to the promise of it, and are no part of the proper condition of it, which must go before partaking of the fruits of it.

3. It is the foundation of the crowning mercy, eternal life in heaven, Tit. 1:2. To whom could this be promised before the world began, but to the Son of God in the eternal compact? So that the sinner comes to be partaker of it in him, as he is of death in Adam, John 17:2. 'Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.' Hence notwithstanding all the good works of the saints, wrought all their life long, they receive eternal life as freely, and as much a gift, as if they had nothing, Rom. 6:21. 'The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Hence they who have done most for God, are as deep in the debt of free grace for their crown, as the thief on the cross, who believed in Christ and then expired. For all is made over to the several persons of the seed, upon one bottom of the covenant, the proper condition of which was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

To confirm it, consider,

1. The justice of God could not admit of mercy to lost sinners, but upon the ground of this covenant; whereby the repairing of the honour of the law by obedience and suffering was sufficiently provided for, Psal. 40:6, 7. The first covenant being broken, the breakers must 'die without mercy,' Heb. 10:28 unless salvation to them be brought about by another covenant, that shall repair the breach; which could be no other but that made with the chosen One.

2. All saving relation betwixt Christ and us is founded on that covenant. Christ obeyed and died; but what benefit have the fallen angels thereby? They were left hopeless for all that, and must encounter with unatoned justice. Why? Not that Christ's doing and dying was not able to save them; the blood of infinite value can have no bounds set to its sufficiency: but because their names were not in that covenant, it had no relation to them, but to lost sinners of Adam's race, Heb. 2:16.

3. The very design of making that covenant was, that it might be the channel of saving mercy, in which the whole rich flood of it might run, for the quickening, purifying, blessing, fructifying, and perfecting of an elect world, lying under the bands of death and the curse by the breach of the first covenant, Psal. 89:2. 'Mercy shall be built up for ever;' compared with the text, I have made a covenant with my chosen. It was the Father's design; and it was the Son's design, Cant. 3:10. Men are apt to devise unto themselves other channels of mercy; but this being the only channel designed by infinite wisdom, here the sinful creature will find saving mercy flowing freely, but all other channels he will find quite dry.

4. Lastly, It has been the ground of all the saints' expectations and hopes of mercy, in all ages. It was first published in the promise made to Adam, Gen. 3:15. 'The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent;' and that was the stay of the souls of the faithful till Abraham's time: then it was more clearly discovered in the promise given to him, Gen. 22:18. 'In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' The ceremonial law, and the prophecies of Christ, pointed out very fully. And thus believers under the Old Testament built their faith of mercy on it. And since that time it has been most clearly and fully discovered in the gospel; and so the New Testament church have raised their faith of mercy on it.

USE I. Behold here the freeness of saving mercy. There is a fountain of mercy opened to sinful creatures; and it was not only provided for them without any merit of theirs, but without so much as any application made by them for it, Rom. 11:34. A covenant of grace is made betwixt the Father and his own Son as party-contractor on man's side, who doth this for their salvation while they knew nothing about the matter. Here is rich and free grace.

1. It is a vain thing to remain about the ruins of the old building, which stood on the covenant of works, and to expect mercy, life, or salvation there, Gal. 2:10. 'Man is not justified by the works of the law. It is evident, that man must have mercy now, else he is ruined for ever, without any possible outgate from his misery. If the building of mercy could have been without a new foundation, why was it laid, and laid so deep? But a new foundation was not laid in vain, but because it was necessary that it should be. Therefore expect no mercy in the way of the first covenant. Mount Sinai shews only thunders and lightnings, the voice of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, and the voice of words, which sinners are not able to bear. There is no voice of mercy and grace but from mount Zion.

2. What a wretched disposition in man's nature is it, to be so much addicted to the way of the covenant of works? God saw that there was no hope for fallen man that way; therefore he made a new covenant to build mercy upon. But fallen man will not see it, but still aims to make a shift for himself that way. Our father Adam was well housed indeed in the first building, if he had managed well; but it was by his sin laid in ruins. Yet his sinful children still abide about these ruins, building cottages to themselves of the ruins, seeking righteousness as it were by the work of the law, Rom. 9:32 and pretending to repair it for themselves. The Jews were never more addicted to the temple, than mankind naturally is to that building on the first covenant. The Jews, after their temple had been laid in ruins, never to be rebuilt, did notwithstanding, in the days of Julian the apostate, attempt to rebuild it; and ceased not, till by an earthquake which shook the old foundation, and turned all down to the ground, and by fire from heaven which burned all their tools, they were forced to forbear. Thus it fares with men with respect to the building on the old covenant; they will never give it over, nor cry for a Mediator in earnest, till mount Sinai, where they work, be all on fire about them. O the mischief of this practice! They thereby affront the wisdom of God, which found out this new way; they despise the grace, free love, and mercy of it; they trample upon the great salvation brought about by it, Heb. 2:3. And withal they fight against their own interest; will not enter by the door that is opened for them, but hang about the door that is closed, and shall never be opened to them, and so perish. Thus they forsake their own mercy,' Jonah 2:8.

3. Lastly, Quit the old Covenant, then, and take hold of the new, that yon may be personally entered into it. This you may do by taking hold of Christ, in the way of believing; for he is given for a covenant of the people, Isa. 42:6. So the proposal of the covenant is made to you, Isa. 55:3. And thus shall ye be lodged in the building of saving mercy; and mercy shall be built up to you for ever. But if you do not take hold of this covenant, ye are off the foundation of mercy, and can look for none of it. But to proceed in the explication of our texts:

4. The nature of the covenant made betwixt these glorious parties. Concerning which we may gather from the texts,

(1.) The design of it, viz. life, the most valuable interest of mankind. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit, viz. to give life, life in perfection, to dead sinners, dead legally, and dead morally.

(2.) The persons for whom this life was designed, the elect, I have made a covenant with my chosen. Christ is the head elect, or head of the company chosen to life. In one and the same decree, the Father chose Christ to be the head, and them to be the members. Hence we are said to be 'chosen in him,' Eph. 1:4.

(3.) The representation. As in the first covenant Adam, the party contractor on man's side, was a representative, representing and sustaining the persons of all his natural seed; so in this covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, the party contractor and undertaker on man's side, is a representative, representing and sustaining the persons of all his spiritual seed. This appears from his being designed the second Adam, who was a type of him, Rom. 5:14. As the first Adam, representing all his seed in the covenant of works, brought sin and death on them; so Christ, representing all his seed in the covenant of grace, brought righteousness and life to them.

(4.) The condition of the covenant laid on the elect's representative, to be performed by him in their name and stead. He was to be the last Adam, to take upon him man's nature, to clothe himself with our flesh, and therein to go through with what the first Adam had stuck in; that is, to fulfil the covenant, by yielding perfect obedience to it, and suffering the penalty thereof in their room.

(5.) The promise of the covenant, to be performed on that condition by the God of truth. This is implied in these words, I have made a covenant with my chosen: i. e. 'I have engaged for such and such benefits, and have bound myself by solemn promise to my chosen, on condition of what I have required of him.' This promise contains whatever is necessary for the complete happiness of the mystical body, grace and glory.

5. Lastly, There is one thing more specially to be considered, according to these texts, belonging to the nature of this covenant, viz. that the party contractor on man's side is the administrator of the covenant: The last Adam was made a quickening Spirit. As Christ was God he could not fail in the performance of his engagement; and therefore God took his single bond for sufficient security; and thereupon he was made administrator of the covenant, Matth. 28:18. He entered on this office at the beginning, and intimated the covenant to fallen Adam in paradise, Gen. 3:15 and will continue in that office till the last elect soul be brought in. The treasure put into his hand is the promises of the covenant, which are the reward of his own obedience and death, Col. 1:9. Hence he bequeaths all the promised benefits by testament, and lives to be the executor of it. There is a fulness of the Spirit lodged in him, to be communicated to the elect dead in sins; and he is made a life-giving head unto them, John 1:4. Eternal life was lodged in him, 1 John 5:11.; and it is communicated by him, John 17:2 as the great trustee and steward of heaven. In the faith of this, Adam called his wife Life, or an Enlivener, Gen. 3:20. No wonder he should be called the covenant itself, Isa. 42:6 since he is the head of the covenant, unto whom the elect are joined unto God in covenant, the condition of the covenant was performed by him, and the Father has put the promises of the covenant in his hand. This is good news to men, that the promised life is in the hands of the Mediator, who is of our flesh and bone.

The doctrine arising from the two texts, thus compared and explained, is,

DOCT. 'The covenant of grace for life and salvation to ruined sinners, was made with Christ the second Adam, and he constituted Administrator thereof.'

In handling this important subject, I shall consider,

I. The parties in the covenant of grace.

II. The parts of it.

III. The administration of it.

IV. Make some practical improvement.

I. I am to consider the parties in the covenant of grace. And these are the party contractor on heaven's side, the party contractor on man's side, and the party contracted or undertaken for.

FIRST, Upon the one side is God himself, and God only, as in the covenant of works. As the covenant was made from eternity, there was no other, and no occasion for any other, to see to the interests of heaven in this transaction. I think that God essentially considered was the party contractor in the person of the Father, Tit. 1:2. Eph. 1:3. Hereby the Son and the Holy Ghost have their part in the covenant on heaven's side, as the party offended; and in the mean time a peculiar agency in this great work is attributed to the Father on that side, as there is unto the Son on man's side. And that we may have some distinct view of God in this character in the covenant of grace, we must consider the following things.

1. God from eternity decreed the creation of man after his own image, and the making of the covenant with him. This whole dispensation was before the Eternal Mind, in all the parts and apurtenances thereof, though, by reason of making that covenant with a creature, it could not actually take place but in time, Acts 15:18.

2. He also from eternity decreed to permit man to fall, and so to break that covenant, and thereby to involve himself and all his posterity in ruin. This fall he permitted for his own holy ends, purposing to bring about good from it.

3. God is to be considered in this covenant as an offended God, offended with all the sins of all mankind, original and actual. In the first covenant God contracted with man as with a friend, without the interposition of a mediator: but in the second covenant it was not nor could be so; for man is considered in it as a fallen creature, a transgressor of the law, an enemy to God; and it is a covenant of reconciliation and peace, for those who had been at war with heaven.

4. Yet he is to be considered as a God purposing and decreeing from eternity to manifest the glory of his mercy, free love and grace, in the salvation of some of the lost race of Adam, Eph. 3:10, 11. Without such a purpose of grace in God, there had never been a covenant of grace.

5. Notwithstanding we are to consider him in this matter as a just God, who cannot but do right, give sin a just recompense, and magnify his holy law and make it honourable. Upon the motion, then, of extending mercy to any of mankind, the justice of God interposeth, and pleads that mercy cannot be shewn, but upon terms agreeable to law and justice. And it was not agreeable either to the nature of God, or to his truth in his word, to shew mercy in prejudice of his exact justice, if a throne of grace is to be erected, it must not be set on the ruins of the justice of God. And therefore justice required,

(1.) That the law which was violated be fully satisfied, and the honour thereof repaired, by suffering and obedience, the former such as may satisfy the sanction of the law and the latter the commanding part thereof. And this the sinners most either do for themselves or another in their room, who can be accepted as sufficient surety.

(2.) That since it was man that sinned, it must be man also who must suffer and obey, that one nature may not sin, and another be put to suffering for it.

Thus lay the impediments in the way of mercy to fallen man, and who could have removed them but God himself? Man could not here have acted for himself; his ability to obey was lost; and ability to suffer what was due to him for sin, so as to exhaust it, and deliver himself, he never had. Angels were not able to bear the burden; their finite natures could not have born so as to bear off infinite wrath. Therefore,

6. Lastly, The Father pitches upon his own Son for this work, as one able to make way for mercy over all difficulties, and remove the impediments lying in the way of its egress, Psal. 89:19. He was able for the work as being the Father's Fellow, Zech. 13:7.; his equal, Phil. 2:6 and so one of infinite power and dignity. And here four things are to be considered.

(1.) The Father designed that his own Son, the eternal Word, should, for this purpose of mercy, take on man's nature, and become man, Heb. 10:5. He saw that sacrifice and offering would not answer the case, that the debt was greater than to be paid so easily, and the work greater than to be managed by a person of less dignity. Wherefore, that the darling attribute of mercy might not for ever remain vailed, he wills that the human nature be united to the divine in the person of his Son.

(2.) He chuseth him to be the head of the election, being one thus in the decree of God raised up from among the people, Psal. 89:19.; and to be the last Adam, the federal head and representative of such as sovereign pleasure should pitch upon to be vessels of mercy, and enrol in the book of life, that they might have a head who was both God and man, Eph. 1:22.

(2.) He designed a certain number as it were by name to be the constituent members of that body chosen to life, whereof he was the designed head, and gave them to him for that end, Phil. 4:3. John 17:9. They were a chosen company, whom sovereign grace selected from among the rest, on a purpose of love, and gave to Christ, the last Adam, for a seed, John 17:6.: therefore they are said to be chosen in him, Eph. 1:4.

(4.) The Father proposed to him, as the last Adam, the conditions and terms of the new covenant, treating with the elect in him as with all mankind in the first covenant. Now, he has found one who is able to answer for the lost company, and treats with him in their name, for life and salvation to them, in a suitableness to the honour of law and justice.

Inf. 1. The redemption of the soul is precious. The salvation of sinners was a work greater than the making of the world. The powerful Word commanded, and the last was done: but much more was to be done ere a sinner could be saved from wrath.

2. Think not that Christ is more willing to save you than the Father is. The will of Christ, his Father, and Spirit, are one. And one person of the glorious Trinity cannot be less willing to help poor sinners than another is. Which should incite and encourage you to come to God by Christ.

3. Behold the matchless love of the Father to lost sinners of Adam's race, 1 John 3:1. The whole contrivance sprung from his free grace, shewing itself in greatest measure and exceeding riches of grace, Eph. 2:7. Man lay in the utmost misery before him: a most miserable creature, needing help, but making no application to him for it, Rom. 11:34.; a sinful creature, having nothing in him to provoke to liking, but loathing; a criminal, upon whom justice demanded vengeance; one whose debt no creature was able to undertake for; therefore he gave his own Son, a gift in grace without a parallel.

SECONDLY, Upon the other side is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with the elect, his spiritual seed, Heb. 2:13.; the former as the party-contractor and undertaker, the latter as the party contracted and undertaken for; which is a good reason for his name Immanuel, Matth. 1:23. The party-contractor then in this covenant with God is our Lord Jesus Christ. He managed the interests of men in this eternal bargain, and there were none of that party with him to help him, nor capable to do it. And he acted in a twofold capacity towards the making of this covenant, as the eternal Word, and the second Adam.

First, As the eternal Word, having no nearer relation to man than as his Creator, and sovereign Lord, John 1:1, 2, 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ is now our near kinsman, the elder brother of the family of mankind, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; but from the beginning it was not so. He was from eternity the only begotten Son of God, and by voluntary dispensation only, for the relief of fallen man he became man, and so was allied to the house of Adam. Here let us consider what our Lord Jesus did as the eternal Word in this covenant, viz. his consenting to it, and the effect of that consent.

1. Let us consider what our Lord did as the eternal Word in making of this covenant. He consented to the proposals made by his Father, in order to the erecting of a new covenant with lost sinners of Adam's race. God saw there was a necessity of a new bargain for the salvation of any of them; that the old covenant would not answer his purpose of mercy; and that this covenant could not be made unless his own Son became the head of it. Hereto the Son of God, for the glory of his Father, and the salvation of sinners, readily agreed; and gave his consent.

1st, That he should become man, by taking into a personal union with himself a holy human nature, according to the eternal destination of his Father, Heb. 10:5, 6, 7. He consents to be incarnate, that all flesh might not perish; which was accordingly fulfilled in time, John 1:14. The two families of heaven and earth were at war, and no peace could take place betwixt them but through a Mediator. And where could a fit Mediator be found, a day's-man meet to interpose betwixt such parties, who would not either be too high or too low, in respect of one of the parties at variance? Man or angel would have been too low in respect of God; and an unvailed God would have been too high in respect of sinful man. Wherefore the Son of God, that he might be a fit Mediator betwixt the parties, as he was by his eternal generation high enough, in respect of God, so he consents to become low enough in respect of man, by a temporal generation of a woman.

2dly, That he should be a second Adam, a head and representative of the chosen company, sustaining their persons, and acting in their name, Psal. 40:6, 7. 'Mine ears hast thou opened,' or 'bored,' as Exod. 21:6; thereby intimating his consent to be the Father's servant for ever, in the work of man's salvation. It was evident the breach betwixt God and man was greater than to be taken away by a mere intermessenger, which should go betwixt the parties, and so reconcile them with bare words. There could not be a covenant of peace betwixt God and sinners, without a reparation of damages done to the honour of God, and without honouring his holy law by an exact obedience as his subjects: and both of these were quite beyond their reach. The Son of God, beholding the strait sinners were brought to, while they could neither do for themselves, nor any in all the creation could afford them help, saith, 'Lo, I come;' I am content to take their place, and put myself in their room, as a second Adam.

Thus was the foundation of the covenant laid, by the Father's proposal, and the consent of his Son thereto, as the eternal Word.

2. Let us consider the effect of this consent of the eternal Word. He was thereby constituted Mediator betwixt God and man, as God-man in one person, 1 Tim. 2:5. Having bad the Father's call thereto, and that call being accepted by his own consent, he was thereby established the great Mediator betwixt God and man, for making and keeping the designed peace between heaven and earth; through whom, and in whom, as a public person, God might enter into a new covenant with sinners of Adam's race. Thus also was he constituted the second Adam, and representative of all the elect, with whom the Father might treat as one answering for them. And was constituted Mediator or Midsman betwixt God and sinners in two respects.

1st, He was constituted Mediator in respect of his natures. He was a substantial Mediator, as partaking of the nature of both parties. He was God equal with the Father from all eternity, and so stood related to heaven: he was designed to be man from eternity, and so stood related to earth. In this divine constitution four things are to be considered.

(1.) That he should be a real man, having a true body, and a reasonable soul, and not be so in appearance only, Heb. 2:14 that so he might be capable to suffer, since without shedding of blood was no remission; and the divine nature could not suffer.

(2.) That that body of his should not be made of nothing, nor of any thing but what belongs to Adam's family, Psal. 89:19. Gal. 4:4.; that so he might indeed be one of the family of Adam, Luke 3 ult.; a brother of those in whose name he was to act, Heb. 2:11 and so the same nature that sinned might suffer.

(3.) That that human nature should be united to his divine nature in the way of a personal union, John 1:4; the divine nature in the person of the Son marrying the human nature to itself, that the Son of God should become as really the Son of man, and of Adam's family, as he was the Son of God, and of the family of heaven. And this to the end that what he might do or suffer in the name of his brethren, might be of infinite value and efficacy, as the deed of a divine person, Acts 20:28. 1 John 1:7.

(4.) That that human nature to be thus united to the divine in the person of the Son, should be a holy thing; since sinful flesh was not capable of an immediate union with God; and that therefore, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, that substance of the body that was to be prepared for the Mediator, should be separated from all corruption and infection from the first Adam; and the soul and body should both be of a perfectly holy nature, Luke 1:35. This was necessary to qualify him to be Mediator, the last Adam; for had he himself been defiled with the least taint of sin, he could not have expiated the sins of others, Heb. 7:26, 27.

2dly, As by his consent to become man, he was constituted substantial Mediator; so by his consent to become last (or second) Adam, he was constituted official Mediator betwixt God and man, or Mediator in respect of office, 1 Tim. 2:5, 6. He had his Father's call to the office, Heb. 5:4.; and having consented to and embraced the call, he was invested in the office, and treated with as such from all eternity, Prov. 8:22, 23.

Now was there one provided to take the desperate cause of lost sinners in hand: a glorious and a mighty One, with whom the new covenant of grace might be made, with safety to the Father's honour and the case of perishing sinners: A fit hand, as partaking of both natures, and invested with that office, which he and only he was fit for. And this brings me to the second capacity wherein he acted in this matter. Then he acted,

Secondly, As the second Adam, head and representative of the election, by the Father's destination and his own consent. What he did as the Eternal Word, made way for the covenant, and was, as it were, the preliminaries of the covenant: but it was in this capacity that the covenant was formally made with him, as appears from our texts already explained.

Now Christ standing in that capacity, as second Adam, head of the election, did two things, whereby he entered actually into the covenant with his Father.

1. He accepted the gift of the particular persons elected by name, from all eternity, by his Father, made to him. Heb. 2:13.; and in token thereof owns them in particular as his brethren, ver. 11. 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, even all mankind, who should with him be comprehended in the same covenant; which Adam, virtually at least, accepted: so God having chosen a certain number of lost mankind he, as their original proprietor, gives them to Christ, the appointed head, to be his members, and comprehended with him in the second covenant, though as yet none of them had a being; and he accepts the gift of them, is well pleased to take these in particular for his body mystical, for which he should engage in covenant to his Father, John 17:6, 10.

2. Christ did in the name and stead of these particular persons elected unto life, and given unto him, consent unto the conditions and terms of the covenant, proposed by the Father for life and salvation to them. And thus the covenant was concluded, Psal. 40:6, 7, 8. Isa. 53:10. As the first Adam, representing all his natural seed, did in their name and stead consent to the terms and conditions of the first covenant, and so entered into that covenant for them; so the second Adam representing all his spiritual seed, did as a public person, in their name, consent to the terms of the second covenant. And as he had in the eternal decree taken on him their nature, so he did from all eternity put on their person, answer to their names as being in law one person with them, even as the cautioner is with the principal debtor, and the husband with the wife in case of debt, who are one in the eye of the law; and, having heard all the demands of law and justice upon them, he struck hands with the Father, to satisfy all these demands to the utmost.

For clearing of this purpose I shall shew,

1. That the second covenant was made with Christ, as the last Adam, head and representative of the elect.

2. Why it was made so with him.

First, I am to shew, that the second covenant was made with Christ, as the last Adam, head and representative of the elect. Consider,

1. Covenants typical of the covenant of grace were made with persons representing their seed. The covenant of royalty, a type of this covenant, was made with David, as representative of his seed; therefore the covenant of grace typified by it was made with Christ, as the representative of his seed. Hence in our first text the party covenanted with and sworn to is called David, which is one of the names of Christ typified by David, Hos. 3 ult. for which cause the mercies of the covenant are called 'the sure mercies of David,' Isa. 55:3. And this David is God's servant having a seed comprehended with him in the covenant, Psal. 89:4. To the same purpose it may be observed, that Phinehas' covenant of priesthood was a type of the covenant of grace; and in it Phinehas stood as representative of his seed, typifying Jesus Christ representing his spiritual seed in the covenant of grace, Numb. 25:12, 13. This is evident from Psal. 110:4 where the everlasting priesthood promised to Phinehas has had its full accomplishment in Jesus Christ. Hereto may be added, that the covenant made with Noah and his sons was made with them as the heads of the new world, and representatives of their seed, Gen. 9:9, 11. And that this covenant was a type of the covenant of grace, and Noah therein a type of Christ, is clear from its being established on a sacrifice, Gen 8:20, 21.; from the nature of that covenant, viz. that there should not be another deluge, chap. 9:11.; typical of the wrath of God against the elect, Isa. 54:9, 10 confirmed by the rainbow about the throne, Rev. 4:3. Wherefore, since in the covenant of royalty, by which the covenant of grace is typified in our text, and in other covenants typical thereof, the parties with whom they were made stood as heads, public persons and representatives of their seed, it is evident, that the covenant of grace typified by these was made with Christ as the head and representative of his spiritual seed: for whatever is attributed to any person or thing as a type, hath its accomplishment really and chiefly in the person or thing typified.

2. This appears also from his being the last Adam, as he is called in the second text; the reason of which most be taken, not from the nature common to the first and last Adam, for all mankind partake of that; but from their common office of federal headship and representation, in the respective covenants touching man's eternal happiness, which is peculiar unto Adam and the man Christ. Accordingly Adam is called 'the first man,' and Christ 'the second man,' 1 Cor. 15:47. But Christ is no otherwise the second man, than he is the second federal head or representative in the second covenant, as Adam was the first federal head and representative in the first. Wherefore, as the first covenant was made with Adam, as the head and representative of all mankind, the second covenant was made with Christ, as the head and representative of all the elect.

3. The promises of the covenant were made to Christ, as the second Adam, head and representative of the elect, Gal. 3:16. 'Unto Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith,—And to thy seed, which is Christ.' I own that here is meant Christ mystical, the head and members: To them the promises are made, but primarily to the head, secondarily to the members in him; even as the promise of life was made in the first covenant to Adam, and to all his natural seed in him. And so the promise plainly stands, Isa. 53:10, 11. 'When thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their iniquities.' Thus the covenant is said to be made with the house of Israel, the spiritual Israel, yet is directed, not to them, but to another person, Heb. 8:10.; the reason of which plainly appears in the promises being made to Christ, as their head and representative. Now, if the promises being made to Christ, as the head and representative of the elect, the covenant was made with him as such; for it is the covenant to which the promises belong, Eph. 2:12.; and he to whom they were primarily made, was no doubt the party contractor.

4. This federal headship of Christ, and his representing of the elect in the covenant of grace, is evident from his suretyship in that covenant, whereby he became Surety for them, Heb. 7:22. Now, he was Surety for them in the way of satisfaction for their debt, and the punishment due to them; and that as for persons utterly unable to answer for themselves, so that he took the whole upon himself. Now, such a surety is a true representative of the parties he is Surety for, one person with them in the eye of the law. Hence not only is Christ said to have been 'made sin for us,' 2 Cor. 5:21 to have had 'our sins laid upon him,' Isa. 53:6 to have 'died in our room and stead,' 1 Tim. 2:6. Rom. 5:6; but also we are said to have been 'crucified with him,' Gal. 2:20.; to be 'made the righteousness of God in him,' 2 Cor. 5:21.; yea, to 'be raised up' and glorified 'in him,' Eph. 2:6.; and to be 'made alive in him,' as we 'died in Adam,' 1 Cor. 15:22. All which necessarily requires this headship and representation of his in the covenant.

5. Christ bears the name of the elect, being called by their name, even as they are by his; a plain evidence of their being one in the eye of the law, and God treating with Christ as their representative in the covenant. The elect are called Israel, viz. the spiritual Israel, Rom. 9:6; and so is our Lord Jesus Christ, Isa. 49:3. Heb. 'Thou art my servant: Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.' This is plainly meant of Christ, ver. 6; and the sense is, Thou art Israel representative, in whom I will glorify myself, as I was dishonoured by Israel, the collective body of the elect. And this may give light into that passage, Psal. 24:6 compare ver. 7. &c. Thus the first man was called Adam, or man, as being the head and representative of all mankind, the person in whom God treated with the whole kind. Accordingly the elect are comprehended under the name of Christ, Gal. 3:16. Col. 1:24; as all men are under the name of Adam, Psal. 31:5, 11. 'Verily every man (Heb. all Adam) is vanity.'

Secondly, I come to shew why the second covenant was made with Christ as a representative, the last Adam.

1. That infinite love might have an early vent, even from eternity. God's eternal love to his elect vented itself in the covenant of grace, which is an everlasting or eternal covenant, Heb. 13:20. Hence we find that covenant and that love of the same eternal date, Isa. 55:3. 'I will make with you an everlasting covenant, Heb. a covenant of eternity.' Jer. 31:3. 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love, Heb. a love of eternity.' But since the elect are but of yesterday, the covenant of grace behoved to be like the covenant of works, but a yesterday's covenant, a time-covenant, if it was not made with Christ as their representative; it could not have been an eternal covenant otherwise; the promise of eternal life, which is undoubtedly a promise of that covenant, could not otherwise have been of so ancient a date, as the apostle says it was. Tit. 1:2. 'before the world began.'—And how could an eternal covenant be made with time-creatures originally, but in their eternal head and representative? Or how could an eternal covenant be made personally with them, by way of personal application to them, had it not been from eternity made with another as their head and representative?

2. Because otherwise it could not have been made a conditional covenant at all, to answer the design of it. This covenant took place on the breach of the first covenant; and it is a covenant of life, Mal. 2:5 life to dead sinners; the last Adam being made a quickening spirit. It was the great design of it, that dead sinners might have life, Tit. 1:2. Now, in order to this, a holy just God stood upon conditions, without the performing of which that life was not to be given; and they were high conditions, Psal. 40:6. 1 Thess. 5:10. Now, how could an effectual conditional covenant for life be made with dead sinners, otherwise than in a representative? Can dead souls perform any condition for life pleasing to God? They must have life before they can do any thing, if it were ever so small a condition. Therefore a conditional covenant for life could not be made with sinners in their own persons; especially considering that the conditions were so high for life to the sinner, that man at his best state was not able for them, far less in his sinful state. Therefore, if such a covenant was made at all, it behoved to be made with Christ as the sinner's representative, Rom. 8:3, 4.

3. That it might be a covenant of grace indeed, and not a covenant of works, to sinners themselves. It is evident, that the design of this covenant was to exalt free grace, and that it is framed so as to be a covenant of pure grace, and not of works to us, whatever it was to Christ, Rom. 4:16. Eph. 2:9. And thus indeed it is a covenant of pure grace, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, as representative, being the sole undertaker for, and performer of all the conditions of the covenant in the sinner's name; whereby all ground of boasting is taken from the creature. But this is marred upon the supposition of the covenant being made with the sinner in and by himself, standing as principal party contracting with God, undertaking and performing the condition of the covenant for life: for how low soever these conditions undertaken and wrought by the sinner himself be, the promise of the covenant is made to them, and so, according to the scripture, it is a covenant of works, Rom. 4:4, 5. And there is no difference between Adam's covenant and such a covenant, but in degree, which alters not the kind of covenant.

4. That the communication of righteousness and life to sinners might be in as compendious a way as the communication of death and sin was, Rom. 5:19. God having made the covenant of works with Adam as the representative of his seed, sin and death was communicated to them all from him as a deadly head, having broken the covenant. This being so, it was not agreeable to the method of divine procedure, to treat with every one to be saved, by themselves as principal parties in the new covenant for life; but with one public person for them all, who should be, by his fulfilling the covenant, a quickening head to them, from whom life might be derived unto them, in as compendious a way as death from the first Adam. This was most agreeable to the way of him whose mercy is above all his other works.

5. That it might be a sure covenant, as entered into with a sure hand, Rom. 4:16. The first covenant was made with a mere creature as principal party and contractor; and though he was a holy and righteous creature, yet he was so unstable in performing the condition laid on him, that the promise was lost. Wherefore the fallen creature was not fit to be the principal party, or party contractor in the new covenant, wherein the promises were to be sure to poor sinners, and not to misgive. Therefore the Lord seeing them all a broken company, not to be trusted in this matter, he proposes to his own Son to be head of the new covenant, and there-in to act for and in name of those given him for a seed; which being accepted, the business is made sure. God looked only to him for the performance of the condition, and the promises were made to him, and so are sure to all the seed, Gal. 3:16. Compare Psal. 89:28. 'My mercy will I keep for him, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.'

Inf. 1. What a spring of unspeakable comfort is it to believers, to look back into eternity, before the world was made, and to behold the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, standing as the last Adam, contracting with God in the second covenant! This may move them to cry, 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!' Rom. 11:33 and to shout, Grace, grace to the glorious contrivance, so full of grace. Here they may see,

1. The covenant on which their salvation depends made with a near relation of theirs, even as was the first covenant by the breaking of which they were ruined. In the one stood the first Adam for them, in the other the second Adam. Why should they look as strangers towards the covenant of grace? The party contracting in it with God is their near kinsman, their elder brother, flesh of their flesh, and bone of their bone, Eph. 5:30.; nay, their Father, who is nearer to and has a more natural concern in them than a brother; even the second Adam, who is their second Father; in respect of which I think he is called the everlasting Father,' Isa. 9:6 compare Heb. 2:13.

2. Their nature highly dignified; the human nature, however corrupt it is in the multitude that partake of it, yet pure and spotless in the second Adam, fit to enter into a new covenant with an offended God. Man's nature, as it was defiled by Adam, became so abominable, that it could never again appear before God immediately to covenant with him; but in Christ it is so perfectly pure, that it was capable of an immediate union with the Godhead in his person, and so of covenanting with him immediately.

3. The covenant so stable and firm, that it cannot be broken, the Son of God himself, being the second Adam, contractor in this covenant. The first Adam being a mere creature, not confirmed, his covenant was liable to breaking, he was capable of failing, and did fail, in the performance of the condition: and so are all the covenants made with God upon conditions to be performed by sinful men: but in regard of the party-contractor, viz. the Lord Jesus, the covenant of grace is an everlasting covenant, it cannot be broken, Isa. 55:3. Psal. 89:30–33, 34.

4. The covenant well-ordered in all things, as for the honour of God, so for their good in time and eternity. The second Adam, manager for them, was the Son of God, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid; he managed for his own family, his own children: so there was neither affection nor wisdom wanting in him. We may be sure then there is nothing in the covenant that their good would have required to have been kept out; and nothing out that their case required to be in. What remains then, but that by believing they approve of the covenant, and take the comfort of it?

Inf. 2. The covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace are not two distinct covenants, but one and the same covenant. I know some great and good men have taught otherwise, alleging the covenant of redemption to have been made with Christ, and the covenant of grace to be made with believers; though they were far from designing or approving the ill use some have made of that principle. However, the doctrine of this church, in the Larger Catechism, is in express words, 'The covenant of grace was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed.' From whence it necessarily follows, that the covenant made with Christ and with believers, or the covenant of grace and redemption, are one and the same covenant. Only, in respect of Christ, it is called the covenant of redemption, forasmuch as in it he engaged to pay the price of our redemption; but in respect of us, the covenant of grace, forasmuch as the whole of it is of free grace to us, God himself having provided the ransom, and thereupon made over life and salvation to poor sinners, his chosen by free promise, without respect to any work of theirs to entitle them thereto*.

Inf. 3. As all mankind sinned in Adam, so believers obeyed and suffered in Christ the second Adam. For as the covenant of works being made with Adam as a public person and representative, when he broke the covenant, all sinned in him; so the covenant of grace being made with Christ as a public person and representative, all believers obeyed and suffered in him, when he fulfilled the covenant, Rom. 8:3, 4. Gal. 2:20.

Inf. 4. Believers are justified immediately by the righteousness of Christ, without any righteousness of their own intervening, as all men are condemned from their birth upon the sin of Adam, before they have done good or evil in their own persons. So that they are righteous before God with the self-same righteousness, which was wrought by Christ in the fulfilling of this covenant; which righteousness is imputed to them, not in its effects only, so as their faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, are accepted as their evangelical righteousness, on which they are justified; but in itself. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified; and faith, repentance, and new obedience, considered as conditions performed, are works and cannot found a title to justification.

Inf. 5. The covenant of grace is absolute, and not conditional to us. For being made with Christ as representative of his seed, all the conditions of it were laid on him, and he has fulfilled the same. So what remains of the covenant to be accomplished is only the fulfilling of the promises to him and his spiritual seed; even as it would have been with the first Adam's seed, if once he had fulfilled the condition of the covenant.

Inf. 6. The way to attain to the enjoyment of all the benefits of the covenant of grace, is to unite with Christ the head of the covenant by faith. Being thus ingrafted into him, ye shall partake of that happiness secured to mystical Christ in the everlasting covenant; even as by your becoming sons of Adam by your natural generation, ye fall under that sin and death which passeth on all by the breaking of the first covenant, Rom. 5:12.

Inf. 7. The offer of Christ made to you in the gospel, is the offer of the covenant of grace to you, and of all the benefits thereof; and the embracing of Christ is the embracing of the covenant, and the personal entering into it. The covenant of grace held forth in the gospel, is the cord of love let down from heaven to perishing sinners shipwrecked in Adam, to save them from sinking into the bottom of the gulf, and to hale them to land. It is their duty to lay hold of the covenant by faith, Isa. 56:4, 6. And that is done by taking hold of Christ in the free promise, believing that he is held forth to you in particular, confiding and trusting in him for your salvation from sin and wrath, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in the promise, 'Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life,' John 3:16. For he is given for a covenant to you, Isa. 49:8 and 42:6. So receiving him you receive the covenant, he being the head of the covenant, who performed the condition, and to whom the promises were made.

Inf. 8. The covenant of grace is a contrivance of infinite wisdom and love, worthy to be embraced by poor sinners with all joy, 2 Sam. 23:5. O admirable contrivance of help for a desperate case! wonderful contrivance of a covenant with them who were incapable of coming into the presence of a holy just God, or to perform the least condition for life and salvation! A new bargain for life and salvation to lost sinners, on the highest terms, made with those who were incapable to come up to the lowest terms! Wisdom found out the way, viz. by a representative: the love of the Father engaged him to make the proposal; and the love of the Son induced him to accept it. Thus a sure covenant is made, and a firm foundation laid, on which the sinner may safely lay his whole weight, for upon it lies the weight of God's honour, Isa. 28:16.

Inf. last, How sinful and dangerous must the course of those be who practically corrupt the covenant of grace, pretending to make a covenant with God, as parties contractors and undertakers, for life and salvation, instead of taking hold of God's covenant; the carnal Jews did so corrupt, it, looking for life and salvation, not for the sake of the promised seed alone, but for their obedience to the ceremonial and moral law: and thus do many to this day practically corrupt it. They think the covenant of grace is a promise of life and salvation upon condition of faith, repentance, and sincere obedience to the law: whereupon they consent to these terms, and solemnly undertake to perform them, and then, upon their (fancied) performance of them, they challenge life and salvation, as having done their part. This quite overturns the nature of the covenant of grace, Rom. 4:4 and 11:6. The sinfulness of it is great, as overlooking Christ, the great undertaker and party contractor by the appointment of the Father; and putting themselves in his room, to act, and do, and work for themselves for life. And the danger of it must be great, as laying a foundation to bear the weight of their souls, which divine wisdom saw to be quite unable to bear it, Gal. 5:4. So the issue of such covenanting must be, that the covenanters shall lie down in sorrow. The true way of covenanting is, to take up the covenant of grace as a free promise of life and salvation, upon condition of Christ's obedience and death performed already; to believe that promise with particular application to the sinner himself, i. e. that the sinner believe, that he shall have life and salvation, pardon of sin, repentance, sanctification, grace, and glory, and that upon the ground of Christ's obedience and satisfaction only, Heb. 8:10. Thus the covenant is held out, as a free and absolute promise, to sinners indefinitely, like a rope to a company of drowning men, that whoever believes it may by it be drawn forth out of the waters. We proceed to consider,

THIRDLY, The party contracted and undertaken for in this covenant. And as the party-contractor was a representative, so the party-contracted for was represented by him. And that these two, the represented and the contracted for, are of equal latitude, is plain from the nature of the thing: for those whom one represents in a covenant, he contracts for in that covenant; and those for whom one contracts in a covenant, made with him as a representative, they are represented by him in that covenant. It is evident also from the relation betwixt the two Adams, the former being a type of the latter. In the first covenant, those whom Adam contracted for, he represented; and those whom he represented, he contracted for: therefore those whom the second Adam contracted for he represented; and whom he represented, he contracted for.

Now, the party represented and contracted for in the covenant of grace by our Lord Jesus Christ, was the elect of mankind; a certain number of the posterity of Adam chosen from eternity to everlasting life, Heb. 2:11, 12, 13. In their person it was that he stood in making this bargain with his Father, in their name it was that he acted when he struck hands with the Father, as a surety to obey the law, and satisfy justice. And that these only could be so represented by him in this covenant, as being the objects of election, is evident from the last discourse, on the doctrine of election.

It will be proper, therefore, to shew how the elect were considered in this covenant and federal representation. They come under a threefold consideration, as sinners, as impotent sinners, and as objects of the divine love.

1. As sinners rained in Adam, lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matth. 15:24. In the first covenant God put all the flock of mankind under the hand of one shepherd, Adam. But he lost all the flock, and was never able to recover them again. God from all eternity had put a secret mark on some of them, whereby he distinguished them from the rest, 2 Tim. 2:19. He saw them among the rest, gone from their pasture, wandering like poor waifs and strays, a prey to every devourer. And he proposeth a new covenant, whereby they might be put under the hand of Christ as their shepherd, to be by him sought out and brought back. And this our Lord Jesus accepted, though he well knew what it would cost him to save the lost sheep.

2. As impotent, and utterly unable to help themselves, in whole or in part, Rom. 5:6. They were debtors, and utterly unable to pay one farthing of their debt; and criminals, and quite unable to bear their own punishment to the satisfaction of justice. Had it lain on them to have paid the debt or borne the punishment, they behoved for ever to have sunk under the load. Then said the Son of God, 'I cannot see them perish; Father, I put myself in their room, I will answer for them; I will pay their debt, and bear their punishment; I will be the debtor and criminal in law reckoning, as representing the criminals and debtors.' The representation is sustained, the payment of all is laid on him, and is looked for from no other hand, in whole or in part, either by the one or other party contracting, Isa. 63:3. Psal. 69:4. Yet,

3. As objects of eternal love, sovereign and free, given to Christ by his Father. The Father loved them, John 17:23 and therefore gave them to Christ, ver. 6. The Son loved them, Eph. 5:2 and accepts of the gift, and represents them in the covenant, as a Father does his children, Isa. 9:6 with Heb. 2:13. This absolutely free love, and mere good pleasure, was the reason why they, and not others in the same condemnation by the breach of the first covenant, were represented by Christ in the second covenant; why their names were put in the eternal contract, when the names of others were left out, Luke 10:21. They were his Father's choice and his choice; and so he became their representative*.

II. The second general head is to consider the parts of this covenant. These are the things agreed upon betwixt God and Christ, as the second Adam, and representative of the elect in the covenant. They may be taken up in two things, the condition of the covenant, and the promises thereof. I shall consider each distinctly.

FIRST, The condition of the covenant. The condition of a covenant or bargain is that part of it, upon the performance of which one's right to the benefit promised is founded, his plea for it is established, as becoming due to him for his performance, according to the agreement betwixt the parties. For instance, the paying of such a sum of money, for such a commodity, according to the agreement of the parties bargaining, is the condition of a covenant commerce, sale, or traffic; and the working of such a piece of work, or doing of such a deed, for such a reward, agreed upon by the parties, is the condition of a covenant of service or hire.

There is also what is called a condition of connection or order in a covenant, whereby one thing necessarily goes before another in the order of a covenant, without being the ground on which one's right and title to that other thing is founded. As in the former instances, the buyer's receiving of the commodity, and the hireling's receiving of the reward, covenanted or bargained for, must needs go before the possession or enjoyment of them: but it is evident, that receiving is not the thing on which the buyer's right and title to the reward is founded: therefore, though it may be called a condition of connection in the respective covenants, yet it connot in any propriety of speech be called the condition of these covenants.

Thus in the order of the covenant of grace, the having of the Spirit must go before faith, faith before justification, justification before sanctification, and holiness before heaven's happiness. These may be called conditions in the covenant of grace, viz. conditions of certain connection; and belong to the established order of the promises of the covenant, which are contradistinguished to the condition of the covenant. But such conditions can in no proper sense be called the condition or conditions of the covenant.

This being premised, we say, that the condition of the covenant of grace, properly so called, is Christ's fulfilling all righteousness, owing unto God by the elect, in virtue of the covenant of works, and that as the last Adam, their head and representative. And here I shall,

1. Evince this to be the condition of the covenant.

2. Explain and unfold that righteousness, the fulfilling whereof was made the condition of the covenant.

FIRST, I am to evince that this is the condition of the covenant of grace. This will appear, if ye consider,

1. Christ's fulfilling all righteousness in the second Adam, is what the Father proposed unto Christ as the terms of the elect's salvation, and upon which he founded his promise of eternal life to them; and not any work or deed of theirs, Isa. 53:10, 11. And says Christ, This cup is the new testament in my blood; as if he had said, All the promises of the covenant were written with my blood, it was the condition which procured them, and without which ye had never obtained them. And accordingly this is what Christ, as the second Adam, did from eternity consent to, undertake, and bind himself for, and in time did perform, Matth. 3:15. 'It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,' as it becomes a person of honour and credit to fulfil his bargain. Luke 24:26. 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?' viz. as one ought to perform the condition of a covenant or bargain he has agreed to.

Object. But the elect's believing, holiness, and good works, were also fixed as terms of their salvation: and Christ undertook also that they should believe, &c.

Ans. Then at that rate Christ performed the chief part of the condition of the covenant, and took it wholly on himself; but they perform another part of the condition, for which he became their cautioner. Thus the condition of the covenant of grace is divided betwixt Christ and the impotent beggarly creature: and so must the glory of their salvation be; for whosoever works part of the work, or pays a part of the price, without question so much of the reward and purchase is due to him. But none of the glory of it is due to us, 1 Cor. 1:31. Zech. 6:13. Rom. 4:4, 5.; and therefore no part of the condition is performed by us. I own these things are secured in the covenant; but they are secured not in the conditional part of the covenant, but in the promissory part of it, Heb. 8:10.

2. This, and nothing done by the sinner himself, is that upon which a sinner's right to eternal life is founded: upon nothing else can he safely found his plea before the Lord for life and salvation. And a sinner thoroughly convinced will find it so, Rom. 3:24, 25. Eph. 1:7. Phil. 3:9. The sinner standing trembling in the court of conscience, by faith gets under the covert of the Mediator's righteousness, and dare oppose nothing to the sentence of the law, but Christ's fulfilling all righteousness, giving up all other pleas for life and salvation. And believing is the pleading itself upon that ground, not the ground of the plea. It saith, 'My Lord and my God,' in the promise, upon the ground of Christ's fulfilling all righteousness only, as the condition of the covenant.

3. This is that alone by which the salvation of sinners becomes due or a debt. Now, it is not a debt to them; therefore they fulfil no part of the condition: but unto Christ; therefore he performed the proper condition of the covenant; for he who fulfils the condition of a covenant, the reward is of debt to him, Rom. 4:4, 6 compare 1 John 2:1. 2 Thess. 1:6, 7. We may see this even in the first Adam's covenant, the condition whereof was perfect active obedience. Which if it had been fulfilled by Adam, eternal life to him and his would thereupon have become due or a debt to him. And hence it is, that Christ's fulfilling all righteousness is the believer's only plea for life and salvation: even as in case Adam had performed the condition of his covenant, the plea of all his posterity for life would have been founded on that performance solely, as being the only obedience that was the condition of that covenant; their personal obedience, at least after the performance of the former, being the accomplishment of the promise of the covenant, not of the condition. And so they would have had life, not for any personal deed or work of theirs, but freely, for the obedience of the first Adam, to which he did graciously make the promise of life in the first covenant.

4. Lastly, The covenant of grace doth so exclude our boasting as the covenant of works did not, Rom. 3:27. But if any deed or work of our own be the condition of the covenant of grace in whole or in part, our boasting is not excluded; for life and salvation is of or by the fulfilling of the condition of the covenant, Rom. 4:4 and so far as life and salvation is of or by any work of ours, there is room for our boasting, Eph. 2:9 even as in the covenant of works, wherein life was by our works, not in the way of proper merit, but only by virtue of paction or covenant*.

SECONDLY, I shall explain and unfold that righteousness, the fulfilling of which was the condition of the covenant of works. And that we may have the more distinct view of it, I shall shew,

1. The parts of that righteousness.

2. The character which, upon his Father's call, the Lord Jesus took upon himself, in the covenant, in order to his accepting and performing the condition of the covenant for his people.

First, I am to shew the parts of that righteousness, the fulfilling whereof was made the condition of the covenant. And forasmuch as Christ undertook the performing of that condition in the room and stead of his spiritual seed, the debt of righteousness was and must be stated from the law or broken covenant of works, which they were lying under. For the law or covenant of works was so far from being neglected in the new bargain, that whatever it had to charge upon or demand of the elect for life and salvation, was summed up and set down in the new covenant, and the full and complete payment thereof made the condition of that covenant, Isa. 42:21. Psal. 69:4. This may from thence be summed up in these three things, holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and satisfaction for sin, which make the whole of the condition of the covenant of grace, the price of the redemption of an elect world, which Christ the second Adam undertook from eternity, to accomplish in himself, in their name, room, and stead.

1. Holiness of nature. That the law required as a term of enjoying eternal life, condemning original sin and corruption of nature as well as of life, saying, 'Thou shalt not covet.' For God being essentially and necessarily holy, nothing can be so contrary to him as an unholy nature. But Christ's spiritual seed were as unable to reach this holiness of nature, as any of their brethren of Adam's family; their nature was corrupt, and it was quite beyond their power to purify it, Prov. 20:9. Wherefore, that the law might be satisfied in this point, it was settled as a condition of the covenant, That the second Adam representing them should be a man of a perfectly holy, pure, and untainted nature, fully answering for them that holiness and perfection of nature required by the law. It consists of two articles.

(1.) That he as the second Adam should be conceived and born holy, for and instead of his spiritual seed, conceived and born in sin.

(2.) That he should inviolably retain the holiness of nature for them, and in their name*.

2. Righteousness of life. This also the law required as one of the terms of life. The law given to Adam and all his seed, which they were obliged to obey in all points, by the tie of natural duty, and by covenant for life, was never fulfilled by them; and Christ's spiritual seed as well as others fell short of it, Rom. 3:23. The first Adam began the course of obedience, but he quickly fell off from it, and all his natural seed in him. But the justice of God, and the honour of his law, could not suffer the reward, the prize, the crown of eternal life, to be bestowed without running the race. The elect having no ability for running that race, it was made a condition of the second covenant, that Christ as a public person, their representative, should begin and perfect the course of obedience to the law in righteousness of life. This may be taken up in these three articles.

(1.) That he, at the second Adam, should, in the name of those represented by him, obey the whole law.

(2.) That every part of that obedience of his should be screwed up to the highest pitch and degree.

(3.) That all this should be continued to the end, without the least failure in one jot of parts or degrees of obedience*.

3. Satisfaction for sin, Isa. 53:10. The former two were in the condition of Adam's covenant; but this was not: for their being no sin, no satisfaction was due. But the new covenant, supposing the first to be broken, behoved to be settled on the condition of a satisfaction, in virtue of the justice of God, and of his truth, who had annexed a penalty to the breach of the covenant of works. And in this part of the condition of the covenant the following articles were settled.

(1.) That Christ, as a public person should satisfy for all comprehended in the covenant, all and every one of his spiritual seed, Isa. 53:6.

(2.) That he should satisfy for them, by suffering for them, and in their name and stead, Heb. 9:22.

(3.) That he should by suffering satisfy for them fully and completely, that the law might have no need to come back on them for any part of the satisfaction due.

(4.) That he should suffer the same punishment that they should have suffered in virtue of the penalty of the broken covenant of works, from which this debt of satisfaction was stated; and that was death in its full latitude and extent.

(5.) That he should suffer all this voluntarily, submissively, and out of regard to the wronged honour of God, willingly repairing it†.

Secondly, I shall shew the character which, upon his Father's call, our Lord took upon himself, in the covenant, in order to his accepting and performing the condition of the covenant for his people. Jesus Christ, the second Adam, hath a manifold relation to the covenant, as he is called the covenant itself: but here I meddle only with those relations to it which concerned the condition; and shall take them up in this threefold character, their kinsman Redeemer in the covenant, the Surety of the covenant, and the Priest thereof.

1. Christ became the kinsman Redeemer in the covenant, Job 19:25. And there were four things which the kinsman Redeemer was to do for his kinsman, which he was not able to do for himself; all which Christ took upon him in the conditionary part of the covenant.

(1.) He was to marry the widow of the deceased kinsman, to raise up seed to his brother, Ruth 3:9 compared with Ezek. 16:8. So our kinsman Redeemer undertook in this covenant to marry the widow, to take on man's nature in the fulness of time, marrying it to himself in a personal union with the divine nature.

(2.) He was to redeem the mortgaged inheritance of his poor kinsman, Lev. 25:25. Heaven and eternal life is the mortgaged inheritance. Our kinsman Redeemer took the burden of the redemption on himself, and agreed to pay the price of the purchase.

(3.) He was to redeem his poor kinsman, brought into bondage, paying his ransom, Lev. 25:47. Sinners had lost their freedom, and become slaves to sin and Satan. Our kinsman Redeemer agreed to give himself for them, for purchasing their liberty, 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

(4.) He was to avenge the blood of the slain kinsman on the slayer, Deut. 19:12. All mankind was slain, and the elect of God among the rest. Our kinsman Redeemer undertook the avenging of their blood on Sin and Satan*.

2. Christ became the Surety of the Covenant. This the scripture expressly teacheth, Heb. 7:22. What suretyship is among men, many have known to their cost, to the ruin of themselves and their families. It is a man's taking on himself the person of another in law, and binding and obliging himself to answer for what can be legally demanded of that other person. Against rash undertaking of this Solomon cautioneth, Prov. 11:15. It is twofold; suretyship by way of satisfaction for debt contracted, (Prov. 21:26), by the party whom one is surety for; and suretyship by way of caution for some deed to be performed by the party for whom one is surety, Prov. 20:16. 'Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; and take a pledge of him for a strange woman;' that is, lest they will not perform, and the cautioner will be left in the lurch. Here I shall enquire, for whom and for what Christ became Surety in the covenant.

1st, For whom Christ became Surety in the covenant. Possibly it may be safely said, that Christ became God's Surety to us in the covenant, taking on himself to see all the promises of the covenant performed to the seed, even to all believers. For in the case of one unknown to us, though in himself most faithful, a surety may be necessary, especially if the party be of a jealous and suspicious temper. It is certain that God's promises are, in respect of his infallible veracity, most sure and firm, and cannot miss to be performed: but sinners are slow to believe, Luke 24:25. And if Christ be Surety for God unto us, it is for the same end that God has given his oath in the case, Heb. 6:17, 18.

But I doubt if the scripture calls Jesus Christ a Surety in that sense. In Heb. 7:22 the only text wherein Christ is expressly called a Surety, it is undeniable that the suretyship respects his priestly office, ver. 20 with 22 and therefore his suretyship for us to God: whereas his suretyship 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 earth, and consequently a power to see that all the promises be performed to his people. In two other texts only, we read of suretyship relating to the case between God and a soul; and in both the suretyship is not to, but for the soul, viz. Psal. 119:122. 'Be surety for thy servant for good,' Job 17:3. 'Put me in a surety with thee.' The original expression is the same in the latter text as in the former. Whatever is of this, one thing is plain, that it doth not belong to the condition of the covenant, but to the promises of it; and therefore lies not here before us.

But Christ became our Surety to God in the covenant. Thus was he most properly, if not the only, Surety of the covenant. The covenant of grace was made with the spiritual seed in Christ, as their head and representative, and their Surety taking burden for them upon himself, Psal. 89:19.

2dly, For what he became surety. This will appear by considering the nature of his suretyship. I spoke before of two kinds of suretyship. It was the first, the heaviest of the two, that our Lord undertook, viz. suretyship in the way of satisfaction for debt contracted, wherein the burden was wholly devolved on himself, and he was to be the sole actor and sufferer. The debt of the elect world was, by God's eternal foreknowledge, stated from the broken covenant of works, in the whole latitude of its demands on them: and Christ became surety for it, and so did strike hands with his Father from eternity, 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 phrase is, 2 Thess. 1:9. That was the debt owing to the divine justice for all and every one of their breaches of the holy law, whether original or actual. The demerit of their sins was an infinite punishment, as being committed against an infinite God. They were liable to bear the pains of death in the full latitude of it; to suffer the force of revenging wrath, to the full satisfaction of infinite justice, and reparation of God's honour. This debt of theirs, Christ became Surety for, engaging his life for their life, which was lost in law, where there was not the least hope of escape, Psal. 40:6, 7 with John 10:18. In this suretyship there was an exchange of persons in law, which sovereign grace did admit, when it might have been insisted that the souls that sinned should die. And in virtue thereof Christ himself became debtor in law, bound to pay that debt which he contracted not, Psal. 69:4. And there was a double translation made on Christ in the covenant, from the elect, with his own consent, as a foundation in law and justice for exacting the elect's debt of him.

[1.] Their guilt was transferred on him, Isa. 53:6. All the sins of all the elect were at once imputed to him, and so became his, as his righteousness became ours, viz. in law-reckoning, 2 Cor. 5:21. So that though he was absolutely without sin inherent, he was not without sin imputed to him, till in his resurrection he got up the discharge, Heb. 9 ult. having done them away, and cleared the debt by his death.

[2.] The curse due to them for their sins was transferred on him, Gal. 3:13. The sentence of the law binding them over to bear the revenging wrath of God for all their sins, till justice should be satisfied, was with his own consent laid upon him. And in virtue hereof his blessed body was hanged on a tree, and the sentence of the broken law, Gen. 2:17 was executed on that body and holy soul, Gal. 3:13.

O heavy, yet happy exchange! heavy for Christ the Surety, but happy for poor sinners. Here is what is got on either hand by the exchange of the persons of Christ and his redeemed ones. All the sins of the redeemed are charged on Christ, for the satisfaction of justice by suffering for them: and all Christ's righteousness, for life and salvation, is reckoned on their score, 2 Cor. 5:21. The curse of the law comes on him for their sake: and the blessing of the gospel comes on them for his sake, Gal. 3:13, 14.

(2.) He became Surety for their debt of duty and obedience, Matth. 3:15. The law as a covenant of works, though it was broken by sinners, who thereby had incurred the penalty, neither lost its right, nor ceased to exact the obedience which at first it required of man, as the condition of life. The sinner was still bound to perfect obedience, and on no less or lower terms could have eternal life, Luke 10:28. 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 contained in the original contract be paid, the debt of obedience to the law for life and salvation? The honour of God could not allow the quitting of it: and they were absolutely unable to pay one mite of it, that was current in heaven, Rom. 5:6. Eph. 2:1. They were quite as incapable for the doing part, as the suffering part. So Christ became Surety for this debt of theirs too, the debt of obedience to the law as a covenant, which was and is the only obedience for life and salvation to the sons of men. Whatever the law can demand of them in this kind, holiness of nature or righteousness of life, he strikes hands for the payment of it, Psal. 40:7, 8.

And here also there was an exchange of persons in law, as to Christ and the elect, he sustaining their person in the eye of the law, sisting himself for them to answer for every item of this debt, as their Surety. And in virtue thereof he became the law's debtor for that obedience which was owing to it by the elect: which debt he owned to be lying upon him by his circumcision, Luke 2:21 compared with Gal. 5:3*.

(3.) Christ became the Priest of the covenant, Heb. 7:20, 21, 22, 28. He undertook that office, and put on that character, at his Father's call, Heb. 5:4, 5, 6 to the end that he might perform the condition of the covenant. A priest is a public person, who deals with an offended God, in the name of a guilty company, for reconciliation, by sacrifice which he offereth to God upon an altar, Heb. 5:1 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. Here I shall inquire, for whom Christ became a Priest, and what need there was of his becoming a Priest in this covenant.

1st, For whom he became a Priest. He became a Priest for sinners, Heb. 8:1. Where there is no sin, there is no need of a priesthood: So Christ's priesthood speaks men to be guilty creatures, needing an atonement and reconciliation. And he became a Priest for those sinners whose names were in the covenant, and them only, that is, for the elect, whose names are written in heaven: for being the Priest of the covenant, he must be their Priest, and theirs only, who were comprehended in the covenant. In a word, he became the Priest of the spiritual Israel in the covenant, that Israel for whose behoof the covenant was made†.

2dly, What need was there of Christ's becoming a Priest in this covenant. The necessity of it will appear in these four things.

(1.) They were sinners, and there could not be a new covenant made without provision for removing of their sin; and that required a priest, and one that was able to remove sin, and repair the injured honour of God. And such a one was Christ.

(2.) Sin could not be removed, without a sacrifice of sufficient value, which they were not able to afford. The new covenant was a covenant by sacrifice, Psal. 50:5 and it could not be obtained without sacrifice; it behoved necessarily to be written in blood, Heb. 9:22. Christ becoming a priest, gave himself a sacrifice, for establishing the covenant, Eph. 5:2 and so it is the New Testament in his blood, shed for the remission of the sins of many.

(3.) No sacrifice could be accepted, but on such an altar as should sanctify the gift to the effect of the removing of sin. And who could furnish that but the Son of God himself, whose divine nature was the altar, from whence the sacrifice of the human nature derived its value and efficacy, as infinite, Heb. 9:14.

(4.) 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 so no new covenant. And who could that be but the Son of God only? Since himself was the sacrifice, and himself the altar, he himself alone could be the Priest*.

Inf. From all that has been said on the head of the condition of the covenant, ye see the price of sinners' salvation, the ransom of souls, the only valuable plea that a sinner can have for mercy, namely, the condition of the covenant performed by the Mediator. Let it be the great concern of your life, to be interested in it in a saving manner, as reckoned of God to have been performed for you. If it be not reckoned on your account, what will it avail you for life and salvation? Be concerned then for the imputation of that righteousness unto you. It is offered in the gospel unto you, that the holiness of Christ's nature, the righteousness of his life, and the satisfaction of his death, shall be yours, yours freely, as a free gift of righteousness, believe it, and lay your souls' weight on it by faith, and it shall be imputed to you.

SECONDLY, We proceed now to consider the second part of the covenant of grace, viz. the promise. This covenant is a proper covenant: and in it there is a promissory part, answering to the conditionary part which we have now explained. And it is God's part of the covenant, as the other was the Mediator's part; and is that which our text, I ham made a covenant with my chosen, doth principally and expressly bear; compare ver. 4. 'Thy seed will I establish for ever.' The promise of the covenant is the bond of promise, whereby God has obliged himself to give the benefits specified in the covenant, and to make them forthcoming, upon the consideration of the performance of the condition. And forasmuch as the condition performed by Christ was strictly meritorious of the benefits promised, the promise is firm and binding, not only in respect of the truth and faithfulness of God, Tit. 1:2.; but also in respect of his justice, 2 Tim. 4:8 which requires the Mediator's obedience to be rewarded according to the promise made in the covenant.

Of what weight and importance the promissory part of the covenant is, will appear by these considerations.

1. The covenant of grace hath its name from this part of it, Eph. 2:12. It is called, 'covenants of promise.'

2. The covenant itself is by the Holy Ghost described as a cluster of free promises of grace and glory to poor sinners, without any mention of any condition, Heb. 8:10, 11, 12.

3. The promises of the covenant are the purchase of Christ's blood, the fruit of his fulfilling all righteousness in his birth, life, and death.

4. The great design and end of the covenant is accomplished in the performance of the promissory part of the covenant: and that is the glory of God, and the salvation of sinners, Rev. 10:7.

5. The happiness and comfort of all God's elect, for time and eternity, depends on the promises of the covenant, Tit. 1:2.

6. The glory of the man Christ, as Mediator of the covenant depends on the promise of the covenant.

7. God has sworn the promise of the covenant, Psal. 89:3. Heb. 6:17.*

For clearing of this weighty point, we shall consider the promises of the covenant in general, and then take a more particular view of them.

FIRST, I am to shew what are the promises of the covenant of grace in general. They are promises made by God himself in that covenant, upon the consideration of Christ's fulfilling the condition of the covenant, as the onerous cause thereof, whereby he has secured all happiness to the elect, after Adam and his children had lost it by the breach of the first covenant, and hath also secured all means leading thereunto. These promises, in respect of the parties on whom they have their direct and immediate effect, are of two sorts.

1. Some of them have their direct and immediate effect on Christ himself, the head of the covenant, who in his own person performed the condition of it; such as the promises of assistance in his work, of a numerous offspring to be given him, and a name above every name, as the reward of his work, Heb. 12:2.

2. Some of them have their direct and immediate effect on Christ's spiritual seed and members, comprehended with him in the same covenant; such as the promises of the new heart, regeneration, cleansing from the defilement of sin, &c.

SECONDLY, To whom the promises are made. We may take up this point in these two things.

First, The promises of the first sort, viz. those that have their direct and immediate effect on the person of Christ, were made to Christ himself, Isa. 49:7. And they were made to him as head of the covenant, the second Adam, the representative of his spiritual seed.

Secondly, The promises of the second sort, viz. those that have their direct and immediate effect on Christ's spiritual seed, the elect, are made to Christ primarily, and to the seed secondarily. They are made to both, but first to the head, then to the members through him.

1. They are primarily and chiefly made to Christ. Though they have their immediate effect on the elect, they are made immediately and chiefly to him. This appears by several documents from the word of God.

1st. The express testimony of the apostle, Gal. 3:16. 'Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made,—and to thy seed, which is Christ.'

2dly, Christ is by the covenant constituted heir of all things, Psal. 89:27. Heb. 1:2. And that must needs be in virtue of the promise of the covenant, which he purchased by his fulfilling the covenant.

3dly, As God promised life in the covenant of works to Adam's children upon condition of his perfect obedience, which is evident from death coming on them by his disobedience; so he hath promised life in the covenant of grace to Christ's spiritual seed, upon condition of his obedience.

4thly, All the promises that have their direct and immediate effect on the elect, are a part of the reward made over to Jesus Christ in the covenant, Heb. 12:2 compared with Isa. 53:10. They are all the price of blood to him, the purchase of his obedience and death, and therefore called the new testament in his blood.

This is a point of great weight, and serves both to inform our minds and direct our practice. For hence may fairly be inferred,

(1.) That the promises are not made to the believer's good works, but to Christ's works, and to the working believer in and through him, Rom. 4:4. They are absolutely free to the believer, and not of debt to him, and therefore are not made to his works.

(2.) That the free grace whereby the dead elect are quickened, and made to believe, and unite with Christ, is conveyed to them in the way and sure tenor of a promise, as well as the grace that follows faith, Ezek. 36:26.

(3.) The way to be personally and savingly interested in the promises of the covenant for time and eternity is to embrace Christ by faith, and thereby unite with him, 2 Cor. 1:20.

(4.) When through deadness and darkness of Spirit, or some conscience wasting guilt, the faith of the promise is failed in you, and ye cannot fasten your hold upon it again, because ye see no good in yourselves, embrace Christ again, and the promise in him, notwithstanding all your first unworthiness and guilt, and stand not off from the promises till you be in better case, Psal. 65:3.

(5.) The true way to plead the promises is, to plead them through Jesus Christ, to plead the accomplishment of them to ourselves for his sake, to come to God in the name of Christ, and to crave the fulfilling of the promises, John 16:23, 24.

(6.) Lastly, This may confirm and strengthen the faith of believers as to the accomplishment of the promises to them.

2. These promises are made to the elect, Christ's seed, secondarily, in and through Christ, 2. Tim. 1:9. As he has the chief and fundamental interest in them, so they have a derived interest in them through him, in respect of their legal and mystical union with him*.

Let us therefore take heed to ourselves, lest standing off from the free promise of life in Christ, we go about to seek our salvation another way. Let us be denied to all confidence in our own works, as we would not thrust ourselves into the room of Christ, and so he become of no effect to us.

[The author next proceeds to take a particular view of the promises of the covenant of grace, which he treats of as peculiar to Christ, and as common to his spiritual seed; for all which we must refer the reader to his View of the Covenant of Grace, under the titles, Of the promises peculiar to Christ, and, Of the promise of eternal life to the elect, considered in three periods; where they are handled more largely than in this work.]

III. The next general head is, to consider the administration of the covenant of grace. Since this covenant is that which the salvation of the whole spiritual seed depends on, and according to it all the dispensations of God towards them, for carrying on and completing that love design, are regulated; and since it was withal a compact entered into betwixt the Father and the Son before the world began, and so in itself a great secret, Psal. 25:14.; it is necessary that there be an administration of it, whereby it may be rendered effectual, for the behoof of those in whose favour it was entered into. Wherefore the administration of it was devolved on Christ, the second Adam: and he hath it as one of his prerogatives, by the covenant itself, made over to him in the promissory part of the covenant, particularly by the promise of a glorious reward of his work in fulfilling the condition, John 5:27. It was for this cause the last Adam was made a quickening spirit, as saith our second text. And so he is 'given for a covenant of the people,' Isa. 49:8.; which imports the constituting him Administrator of the covenant, whereby the people, any people, Jews or Gentiles, may become God's people, and receive all the benefits of that covenant-relation to God.

Now, that Christ is, by the authority of heaven, constituted or made the covenant, imports these two things.

1. He is constituted and settled, by the authority of his Father, Administrator of the covenant. As he had the burden of purchasing the promised benefits, so he has the honour of distributing them, according to the measures laid down in the eternal purpose of God, with respect to the conferring of these benefits. None of the benefits of the covenant are to be had, but out of his hand: he received them from his Father, and sinners must receive them from him. That this is the meaning of this phrase, is evident from the following words, declaring the end of his being given for a covenant of the people: 'To establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages,' ver. 9 compare chap. 42:6, 7. 'That thou mayst say to the prisoners, Go forth.'

2. The whole of the covenant is in him. An administrator of one's goods must have them in his custody; he must have a power over them, as Joseph, who was to furnish the people corn, had all the granaries of Egypt at his command. Our Lord Jesus is such an Administrator of the covenant, as has the whole of the covenant in himself: so that he who has Christ has the covenant; and he that has not Christ has no saving part or lot in it.

For opening of the administration of the covenant devolved on Christ, we shall consider these three things, the objects, the ends, and the nature of this administration.

FIRST, who are the objects of this his administration, the parties to whom he is impowered, by commission from his Father, to administer the covenant. The elect only were the parties represented by the second Adam; and to them only is the administration of the covenant effectual to their salvation. But mankind-sinners indefinitely are the objects of the administration. The extent of it is not founded on election, but on the sufficiency of Christ's obedience and death for the salvation of all; nor is it regulated by election, but by the fulness of power in heaven and earth given to Christ as the reward of his work, his obedience even unto death.

To confirm this truth, which is glad tidings for all sinners of Adam's race, hearing that Christ is empowered by commission to give them, and every one of them the covenant, and all the benefits of it, to their eternal salvation, the following things may be considered.

1. The grant made of Christ by the Father, as the ordinance of God for the salvation of lost sinners of mankind. When the Israelites were in the wilderness, many of them were bitten by fiery serpents: in that case God instituted an ordinance for their cure, viz. a brazen serpent lifted up on a pole. And he made a grant of it to all who would use it for that purpose of healing, for which it was appointed of him, by looking to it, without excepting any that needed healing, Numb. 21:28. So all mankind being bitten by the old serpent the devil, and sin as his deadly poison left in them; God has appointed Jesus Christ the ordinance of Heaven for their salvation, and has made a grant of him as such, to all of Adam's lost posterity who will make use of him for that purpose, by looking to him in the way of believing, without excepting in this grant any, if they are but of the world of mankind, John 3:14, 15, 16.

2. The Mediator's commission for the administration is conceived in most ample terms, Luke 4:18, 19. Isa. 61:1, 2. He is to administer the covenant, not only to the meek, poor, broken-hearted, but to the captives, the blind, bruised, prisoners, slaves, and broken men who have sold their inheritance. What sort of sinners can one imagine to be excepted here? These terms are too general to admit of any exception as to sinners of mankind.

3. The ample powers given him as Administrator of the covenant. All power in heaven and in earth is granted to him, Matth. 28:18. So there is none on earth excepted from his administering the covenant to them; the indemnity which the Father has put in the hands of his own Son to dispense, hath no excepted persons of mankind in it, but he is to dispense it to any of them all whom he will, John 5:21, 22. And it is remarkable, that upon this fulness of power committed to the Administrator of the covenant, the general offer of the gospel is founded, Mat. 11:27, 28, and 28:18, 19. All without exception are declared welcome to come and suck of these full breasts of divine consolations contained in the covenant.

4. His executing of his commission in an unhampered manner, administering the covenant indifferently to any sinners of mankind; not this or that party of them, under this or the other denomination, but mankind in general, Prov. 8:4. So the gospel in which the covenant is administered, is good tidings to all people, Luke 2:10; and the gospel-feast is made unto all people, Isa. 25:6. Accordingly he gives his apostles commission in most ample terms, than which one cannot imagine more extensive, Mark 16:15. 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.'

5. Consider to whom Christ stands related as a Saviour by office. He is the Saviour of the body only, Eph. 5:23 being considered as actually saving from sin and wrath. But considered as an official Saviour, he is the Saviour of the world, as he is expressly called, 1 John 4:14. John 4:42. And his salvation is called the 'common salvation,' Jude 3.

6. Lastly, If it were not so, then there would be some of mankind-sinners excepted, for whom there would be no manner of warrant to believe in Christ, or take hold of the covenant, more than there is for devils: which is contrary to the scriptures, John 3:16. Mark 16:15*.

USE. Know ye then that our Lord Jesus is empowered to administer the covenant of grace to you, and each one of you. There is a Saviour provided for you, to whom you have a right, and to whom you may have access for life and salvation. Ye have heard much of the promised benefits of the covenant: let none say, they are excluded from them. On the contrary, whatever ye are or have been, your name is in Christ's commission for administering the covenant: and ye must either take that covenant, or perish as despisers of it.

SECONDLY, What are the ends of this administration, or the business thus put into Christ's hand.

1. To bring sinners into the covenant personally and savingly, Isa. 49:5.

2. When they are brought in, to be the sole manager of them, according to the covenant, till death, John 5:22.

3. To complete the happiness of his covenant-people, according to the covenant, in another world, Eph. 5:27. Col. 1:22.

These are the ends of this administration committed to Jesus Christ; this is the work that he hath to do as administrator of the covenant. And the putting it in his hand was a method of grace at once adapted to the glory of God the offended party, the comfort and safety of sinners who had given the offence, and the honour of the Mediator the glorious Peace maker*.

THIRDLY, I come to consider the nature of this administration. And hereof we may have a view, by observing Christ's relations to the covenant, in which he stands as Administrator of it. We have seen already, that Jesus Christ, as party-contractor on man's side in the covenant, became the Mediator of the covenant, both substantial and official; that with respect to the conditionary part of it, he became the kinsman Redeemer in the covenant, the Surety of the covenant, and the Priest, the atoning Priest thereof. It remains that we consider his relations to the covenant as he is Administrator of it, which respects the promissory part thereof. And thus he bears a fivefold relation to the covenant, viz. the Trustee, the Testator, the Prophet, the King, and Intercessor of the covenant; each of which is a syllable of that name above every name, given him of the Father†.

From what has been said of the administration of the covenant, we make the following inferences.

1. As the covenant is well ordered in itself, so it is well ordered in point of its administration; and so it is ordered in all things, 2 Sam. 23:5. Many a good bargain is marred as to the success of it by mismanagement, through the unskilfulness and unfitness of him into whose hands it is committed. But the covenant is put into the hand of an infallible Administrator, perfectly fit to deal with all concerned therein, and so cannot miss of an issue agreeable to the design of it. Two things are of fatal consequence in such matters. (1.) Unskilfulness; and (2.) Want of power and ability. Through either of these in the manager, a promising contrivance may be marred in the management of it. The administration of the covenant of grace is a matter that requires the utmost skill, considering the difficulty of the thing in itself, and the ill disposition sinners are of with relation to it. But Jesus Christ is infinitely wise, and nothing can escape his foresight or observation, Col. 2:3. He knows well the fit times and seasons, and has 'the tongue of the learned, that he should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary,' Isa. 50:4. There are many adversaries, set to oppose and counteract the design of the glorious contrivance, the administration of which is put in his hand: the whole force of hell is banded against it. But he is sufficiently enabled to carry it on over the belly of them all: all power in heaven and in earth being given him. And therefore one may conclude, that when the mystery of God shall be finished, the issue will be found exactly to answer the eternal plan.

2. While the covenant is administered to you, it is Jesus Christ himself with whom you have to do in that matter; he is the great Ambassador of heaven to you and each one of you, in this matter of the covenant, Heb. 12:25. Ye would then look above ministers and ordinances unto himself, and regard them as persons and things by which Jesus Christ himself is treating with you, and regard him as your party with whom ye have to do. If ministers go beyond the bounds of their commission, ye may safely so far disregard what they say or do in that manner: but to fill your hearts with prejudices against them, on account of such and such faults ye espy in them, especially on the account of doing their duty, and so make yourselves very easy as to the ordinances by them administered, and to slight these ordinances under pretence that ye can spend the time otherwise to as great advantage; this is but to look on them as divided in their ministration from Christ, and so to cheat your own souls, 2 Cor. 5:20. Luke 10:16. What God then has joined, it will be dangerous so to put asunder. If ye took Christ himself for the party dealing with you, as indeed he is, it would engage you to take good heed how ye entertain the administration of the covenant among you.

3. They who would partake of the covenant, must come to Christ by faith, Isa. 55:3 for that effect. He has the administration of it in his hand: so it is from him we must get it, with all the benefits and privileges of it. The whole of it is in him; so uniting with him we have it, and only that way we can have it. As is your interest in Christ, so is your interest in the covenant of grace; if he is yours in the way of special interest, your souls being married to him; then the privileges of the covenant are all yours, and the covenant is the security ye have for them, if ye are strangers to Christ, ye are strangers to the covenant of promise too, and so without hope and without God in the world.

4. Such as are personally entered into the covenant in a saving manner, and would improve the covenant for their daily needs, must still be coming to Christ for that end; since he is the Administrator of it, all the benefits of it are dispensed by his hand, John 1:16. So the life of a Christian comes to be a life of faith: forasmuch as the whole supply afforded them from heaven is benefits of the covenant, and the riches of the covenant are in Christ's hand as Administrator of it; and the way of believing in Christ is the way appointed for receiving them from him. So the more a Christian is in the exercise of faith, the more he employs the Administrator; and the more he employs him, the more liberally he shares of the things of the covenant.

5. Sinners have abundant encouragement and security for their coming into the covenant, by believing in the Lord Jesus. We are not called to come to enter into a covenant with an unvailed God, the rays of whose glory in his holiness, justice and truth, and all his other perfections, might quite damp and dispirit the guilty creature; but as Christ as a second Adam has made the covenant with his Father, and fulfilled it in the whole of the condition thereof required on our part; so it is put in his hand, who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, to administer it unto any of the family of Adam; and in him we have the whole of it. Here all is ready for us, suited to our case. And we have his word of the gospel for our security, Matth. 22:4 and John 6:37. And well may we trust him, believing the Son, believing his word, since the Father has trusted him with the whole administration of the covenant.

6. Lastly, There is no man who has the offer of Christ made him in the gospel, but if he continue in his sin, and die in it, he will perish with a witness, without all shadow of excuse, John 15:22. The covenant is the contrivance of Heaven for salvation to lost sinners: in the administration of it, none are excluded from the benefit thereof; the net is spread out for even the worst of sinners, wherever the gospel comes. There is enough in the covenant for the worst of cases; the promises of it are made suitable to the sinner's case, both in respect of sin and of misery; so that whatever is their case, in the covenant there is a suitable cure. And that the sinner may at once lay hold on all, God has given Christ as the covenant to the people, making the embracing of Christ, the short and sure way for the sinner to have all. In him is lodged the quickening Spirit: so that by applying to him we may have life. They must then be left inexcusable who reject the offer of Christ, and will not come to him, that they may have life, John 5:40.

And now having opened to you the doctrine of the covenant of grace, that covenant on which the salvation of our souls depends, in discoursing of the parties in it, the parts of it, and the administration of it, I shall shut up the discourse on this subject, with a twofold use of the whole.

USE I. Of trial. Let every one put the question to himself, What interest have I in this covenant? Are ye personally brought within the covenant of grace in a saving manner, or not?

For your help in this inquiry, I shall offer you some marks or characters of those who by grace are personally instated through faith in the covenant of grace, before the Lord, under Christ the second Adam as their head.

1. They are such as have fled for refuge from the covenant of works to the covenant of grace, Heb. 6:17, 18.

2. They are such as cordially approve of and acquiesce in the plan of the covenant, as suited to the honour of God, and to their case in particular, 2 Sam. 23:5.

3. Having the discovery made to them of the covenant as made from eternity betwixt God and the second Adam, and in the gospel offered to them, they will satisfy themselves with Heaven's draught of it in their covenanting, so far as they understand it, and not go about to add to it, or diminish from it, Acts 9:6.

4. The love of God in Christ, is habitually predominant in them, Prov. 8:17. 'I love them that love me.'

5. Jesus Christ, the head of the covenant, is their head with their own consent.

6. The condition of the covenant, as fulfilled by Jesus Christ, is the alone ground of their confidence before the Lord, as to acceptance with God for time and eternity, and as to any of all the benefits bf the covenant they look to partake of, Phil. 3:3.

7. The promises of the covenant are a satisfying portion to their hearts, 2 Sam. 23:5.

8. The spirit of the covenant is in them; and that is another spirit than what the men of the world are actuated by, Ezek. 36:27.

9. The laws of the covenant are in their hearts the holy law of the ten commandments, the eternal rule of righteousness, Heb. 8:10*.

USE II. Of exhortation to sinners and to saints.

FIRST, Let sinners be exhorted to come into this covenant, by embracing it personally for themselves, so as they may be instated therein to all saving purposes. This covenant is brought to, and set before you in the gospel; so that you and every one of you must either be receivers or refusers of it. O refuse it not, for the refusing is dangerous beyond expression. Take hold of it, and embrace it, for it is your life: come, enter into it without delay. Ye are under the covenant of works, O sinners! where ye can have no life nor salvation. But the door of the new covenant is opened onto you, come, flee from the covenant ye were born under, and are living under; and let the sacred knot be cast this day, by your entering within the bond of the covenant of grace, accepting and embracing the offered covenant, to the instating of you personally in it, to all the purposes of life and salvation, grace and glory, by it.

But that ye may more clearly perceive the duty ye are called to, and may not walk in the dark, in your aiming at embracing the covenant, and that the motives to it may have the more weight, I shall,

1. Lay before you, by what means it is that a soul embraceth the covenant of grace, and is instated in it effectually to salvation.

2. Offer some motives to press the exhortation on sinners to enter personally into the covenant.

FIRST, I shall lay before you, by what means it is that a soul embraceth the covenant of grace, and is instated in it effectually to salvation. This, in one word, is by faith in Jesus Christ, Acts 16:31. The covenant is held forth in the gospel to you: God saith to every one of you, 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.' And to state you in it personally, and to close the bargain with you, to all the intents and purposes of salvation, all that is required of you is to hear, that is, to believe, Isa. 55:3. He that believeth is within the covenant of grace personally and savingly? he that believeth not, is still under the covenant of works, where the first Adam left him. This is the hand that takes hold of the covenant; thereby one signs the covenant for himself, and closes the bargain for his own salvation. This is the mouth of the soul, by which it consents to the covenant; and God becomes your God in covenant, and ye his covenanted people. So when we call you to embrace the covenant, and enter into it personally, all that we call you to is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

That believing on Christ should be the appointed mean of entering sinners into the covenant of grace, is very agreeable to the nature and end of that great transaction. For,

(1.) Hereby the grace of the covenant is preserved entire in the dispensation of the covenant; and by that means the promise is made sure to all the seed, Rom. 4:16. Faith is contradistinguished to works, as grace is to debt, Rom. 4:4, 5. If any work or doing of ours were that upon which we were instated in the covenant, and got the right to the promise, then the covenant, and benefits of it, would be of debt to us, contrary to the very design of that method of salvation, which is to exalt the free grace of God, and cut off all boasting. But the nature of faith on Christ is adapted to the exalting of grace, inasmuch as it is a grace purely receiving, not giving; taking all from Christ, without money and without price; laying the stress of the soul's acceptance with God wholly on what Christ has done and suffered; and renouncing entirely all doings and sufferings of our own in that point.

(2.) Hereby the sinner enters into the covenant, by uniting with Christ, who was the representative with whom it was made, John 10:9 and so the unity of the covenant and the representation in it, are preserved. If men entered into the covenant another way, as by accepting such and such properly called terms to them proposed, and promising for themselves the performance of them, the representation in the second covenant is marred, and there would in effect be as many covenants of grace, as there are persons embracing it at different times; at least Christ's covenant would be one, and ours another. But the covenant of grace being made with Christ, as the second Adam, in the name of all such as should be his, it is evident, that the only way of one's personal entering into such a covenant, must be by becoming his, standing related to the head of the covenant, as our head: and it is by faith, and no work or consent of ours differing from faith, that we are united to him, and become members of his body, Eph. 3:17.

But here ariseth a weighty question, necessary to be touched, for clearing your way into the covenant, viz. What is that believing, by which one unites with Christ, and so enters into the covenant of grace? Believing, in the scripture use of the word, is trusting a word, person, or thing. And hence the scripture phrases of believing to, and believing in, i. e. having trust to and in; phrases, however unusual with us in conversation, yet ordinary both in the Old and New Testament. It is the trusting a word, as to report, Isa. 53:1 in God's words, Psal. 106:12. It is trusting a person: thus the Israelites 'believed the Lord and his servant Moses; Heb. believed in the Lord, and in Moses his servant.' Job 4:18. Heb. 'He believed not in his servants,' i. e. trusted them not. And it is the trusting a thing too, Job 39:12. 'Wilt thou believe him,' viz. the unicorn? Heb. 'believe in him,' i. e. trust in him. Deut. 28:66. Heb. 'Thou shalt not believe in thy life.'—And thence I conclude, that saving faith is, in the general, the trusting of a word, and of a person and thing held forth in that word.

Now, there is a twofold word to be believed by all those who would enter into the covenant of grace in a saving manner, namely, the word of the law, and the word of the gospel. The believing of the former is a faith of the law; and of the latter, a faith of the gospel. The faith of the law is the work of the Spirit of God, as well as the saving faith of the gospel, though wrought by him in a very different manner. The former he works by the law, as a Spirit of conviction and bondage, convincing of sin and misery, Rom. 8:15 with John 16:8. The latter he works by the gospel, as a quickening Spirit, a Spirit of saving illumination and adoption.

Whosoever then would enter into the covenant of grace, must, in the first place, have a faith of the law; which therefore is necessary to be preached to sinners. And by it a man believes three things.

1. That he is a sinner, a breaker of the law's commands, liable to divine vengeance. The law pronounces him a guilty man, and he believes the report of the law concerning himself in particular; and so, by this faith, his heavy and sorrowful heart echoes back to the voice of the law, Guilty, guilty! Rom. 3:19. This faith is a divine faith, founded upon the testimony of God in his holy law; and rests not in the testimony of men, whether spoken or written. The Spirit of God as a Spirit of bondage, brings home the law to the man's conscience, and persuades him, that that law is the voice of the eternal God, and the voice of that God to him in particular; and so convinces him of sin upon God's own testimony. And thus he believes.

(1.) That his life and conversation is sinful and corrupt, displeasing and hateful in the sight of a holy God, according to the divine testimony, Rom. 3:12. 'They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one.' He believes, what is true, that his omissions and commissions are to him innumerable; his righteousness and unrighteousness are both together sinful and displeasing to a holy God; that he is gone out of the way of God, and is walking in the way of destruction and misery.

(2.) That his heart is full of mischief and iniquity, according to the divine testimony, Jer. 17:9. 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' He sees those hellish lusts there, which he little noticed before. The law shining into the heart, discovers them; and pressing the man, irritates them; so as he believeth, that he has such a mystery of iniquity in his heart, as he could never before believe to be there, Rom. 7:9.

(3.) That his nature is quite corrupted, according to the divine testimony, as one 'dead in trespasses and sins,' Eph. 2:1. And so his soul echoes back to the law's testimony, 'I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me,' Psal. 51:5 crying, Unclean, unclean. He sees that his disease is not accidental, but natural and hereditary; and so that his nature cannot he mended, but must he renewed. And so he believes, not only that he does no good, but that he can do no good. And in all these respects he sees and believes himself to be an object loathsome in the sight of a holy God, loathsome in respect of his life, heart, and nature too.

2. By the law man believes, that he is a lost and undone sinner, under the curse of the law for his sin, Gal. 3:10. He no more looks on the curse of the law as some strange thing, belonging only to some monsters of wickedness, and far from him. But the Spirit of God brings home the dreadful sentence of that broken law, and applies it close to him, as if he had said, thou art the man. And he groans out his belief thereof under the felt weight thereof, like a man under the sentence of death, Rom. 7:9.

3. By it a man believes, that he is utterly incapable to help himself, and so that he must inevitably perish for ever if he get not help. He believes, that he cannot, by all his doings and sufferings, remove the curse of the law from off him, according to the divine testimony, as being 'without strength,' Rom. 5:6 nor change his own nature, heart, and life, in a right manner, according to that infallible testimony,' Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil,' Jer. 13:23. He believes himself to be a dead man spiritually; legally dead, and morally dead, as the apostle testifies of himself in that case, Rom. 7:9.

This is the faith of the law: and the effect of it is a legal repentance, whereby the soul is broken and bruised with fear and terror of the wrath of God, grieves and sorrows for sin as a ruining and destructive evil, seriously desires therefore to be freed from it, despairs of salvation by itself, and seriously looks out for relief another way, Acts 2:37 and 16:29, 30. Thus the law is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ; and the faith of the law makes way for the faith of the gospel. Not that this legal faith or legal repentance is the condition of the soul's welcome to Christ and the covenant of grace; our access to Christ and the covenant is proclaimed free, without any conditions or qualifications required in us to warrant us sinners of mankind to believe in Jesus Christ. But they are necessary to move and excite us to make use of our privilege of free access to Christ and the covenant: so that the sinner will never come to Christ nor embrace the covenant without them.

In calling you then to embrace the covenant, ye are called indirectly, and by consequence to this faith of the law, to believe that ye are sinners in life, heart, and nature; lost and undone, under the curse; and utterly unable to help yourselves. Yet this is not saving faith.

Saving faith, which unites to Christ, is the faith of the gospel: for the gospel only is the ministration of righteousness, 2 Cor. 3:9. It is in it that the righteousness of faith is revealed unto faith, to be believed, Rom. 1:17. That is the word which gives the sinner the only notice of a Saviour, of the atoning blood, and the new covenant in that blood. And hence it is that it is the only word by which saving faith is begotten in the hearts of lost sinners, Gal. 3:2. In this word of the gospel the Lord Jesus, with all his benefits and covenant, is to be believed on and embraced by faith, Rom. 10:8. And the word of the gospel being received by believing, we have Christ and his covenant, with all the benefits of it; faith being indeed the echo of the quickened soul to the word of grace that bringeth salvation, Mark 1:15. Isa. 53:1. Gal. 3:2 a trusting of the word of the gospel, the person, viz. the Saviour, and the thing therein held forth to us to be believed on for salvation.

This is that believing by which we are united to Christ, and entered into the covenant of grace. So the question being put, how shall I personally enter into the covenant of grace in a saving manner? I answer in the following particulars.

First, You must believe that there is a fulness of salvation in Christ for poor sinners. This is the constant report of the gospel concerning him, Eph. 3:8. Heb. 7:25. He is therein held forth, as an able Saviour, able to save men from their sins, and from the wrath of God. His merit is a sufficient defence against the tempest of fiery wrath that incensed justice is ready to cause to fly forth against transgressors, Isa. 32:2. His spirit is sufficient to sanctify the most unholy, 1 Cor. 6:11. The righteousness he fulfilled as the condition of the covenant is so valuable in itself, and in the eyes of his Father, that it is sufficient to procure justification, sanctification, and all other saving benefits to sinners, who in themselves deserve death and damnation. So that they are happy who are in him, and they shall never perish, but have everlasting life; and they shall be eternally secure under the covert of his righteousness, as a sufficient defence. Believest thou this?

This is the general faith of the gospel, which, being without particular application, doth not unite the sinner to Christ, nor enter him into the covenant; and may be found in reprobates and fallen angels, as being only an assent in general to the truth of the doctrine of the gospel, Matth. 13:20, 21 and 8:29. But it is necessarily pre-requisite to a faith of particular application, by the nature of the thing; for I must first believe a saying to be true in itself, before I can trust to it for my part; and I must first believe a thing to be good in itself, before I can believe it is good for me. But where this faith is carried forward to uniting with Christ, it issues in an ardent desire of union and communion with Christ, an high esteem of him and his covenant, and a longing for his righteousness, as a hungry man for meat, or a thirsty man for drink.

Secondly, Ye must believe that Jesus Christ, with his righteousness and all his salvation, is by himself offered to sinners, and to you in particular. This is the plain voice of the gospel, Isa. 55:1. Rev. 22:17. Prov. 8:4. But, alas! few believe it; yea, none will believe it to purpose, till the Spirit of the Lord make it plain to them, and persuade them by an inward illumination. Many secure sinners hear the gospel, and are glad of the offer; but they discern not Christ's voice in it; they hear it not as the voice of Christ himself to them, but as the word of men; hence it hath no due authority upon their consciences, and so they pass it over lightly.

But where true faith is a-working, the word of the gospel-offer is by the Holy Spirit inwardly brought home and applied to the soul in particular, with power, as the word of the Lord himself, and not of men, whereby the man is assured that it is the voice of Christ, and to him in particular, 1 Thess. 1:5 and 2:13. And so the man applies it to himself by believing. This is necessary; for without it there can be no receiving of Christ, and the soul can see no solid ground of faith: For it is evident, that there can be no receiving aright, where the sinner does not believe the offer to be made to him in particular. And here begins the application of faith, an application tending to union with Christ.

Wherefore, if ye would unite with Christ, and so enter into the, covenant of grace, sist yourselves before the Lord as condemned sinners under the curse of the law; and hear and believe the word of the gospel as made to you condemned and cursed sinners in particular. And so it will come to you as the offer of a pardon to one under sentence of death, as the rising sun to one sitting in darkness, and the shadow of death. And let not your heart misgive by unbelief, but believe the offer, to be made to you, as it is indeed, (Isa. 55:3.) by Christ himself.

Thirdly, Te must believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and your Saviour in particular, by the Father's appointment and his own offer; and that, by the same appointment and offer, his righteousness the condition of the covenant, and eternal life the promise of the covenant, are yours: Yours, I mean not in possession, but in right thereto, so far as ye may lawfully and warrantably take possession of, and use them as your own to all intents and purposes of salvation. Think not this too much for you: it is no more than what is necessary to saving faith in Christ. If you believe only in the general that Christ is the Saviour of the world, and don't believe that he is your Saviour in particular, what do ye believe more than devils do? They believe that he is Jesus a Saviour, Mark 1:24. Ye must needs believe that he is your Saviour, if ye would go beyond them, and consequently that his righteousness and salvation is yours, in the sense before opened; for where Christ is given, all is given with him, Rom. 8:32. How can you take or receive him as your Saviour, if he is not yours indeed? A man may take possession fraudulently indeed of what he does not believe to be his by right: but no man can fairly and honestly claim and take possession of what he does not believe to be his own Certainly God must first give Christ to us, before we can receive him, John 3:27. Giving on God's part, and receiving on ours, are corelates, and the former must needs go before the latter. Therefore believe firmly, that Christ is your Saviour in particular, his righteousness is yours, and eternal life is yours.

Fourthly, Ye must wholly trust in him as your own Saviour, and in his righteousness as made over to you, for his whole salvation to you in particular, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in his word. This is that saving faith, or believing on Christ Jesus, by which a sinner is united unto Christ, and personally entered within the covenant of grace, Acts 16:31. Isa. 26:3, 4. Rom. 1:17. Phil. 3:9. Gal. 2:16. Acts 15:11. 1 Thess. 2:13. 1 Cor. 2:5. This, according to the scripture, is a sinner's receiving and resting upon Christ for salvation, as saving faith is defined in our Catechism. And this is indeed believing and nothing but believing, according to the scriptural use of that word.

1. I say, this is plainly believing in the scriptural use of that word. It is a trusting of or in a person, viz. Jesus Christ, and God in him, the personal object of saving faith, Acts 16:31;—a trusting in a thing, viz, the righteousness of Christ, the ultimate real object of faith, Rom. 1:17 therefore called faith in his blood, Rom. 3:25.—and a trusting in a word, viz. in the record and testimony of God, the word of the promise of the gospel, John 3:16 the proximate or nearest real object of faith. And all this for the great purpose and end of salvation.

2. This is the receiving of Christ alone for salvation, John 1:12. God has appointed Christ Saviour of the world, and your Saviour: you hear that published in the gospel, and you believe accordingly, that he is your Saviour, by his Father's appointment and his own offer: thereupon you trust on him, and on him alone, for salvation, and all you need for salvation. Is not this a receiving of him for your part in the character of a Saviour, wherein his Father sent him to you? a taking of him to yourself as he is offered to you? an using of him as your own Saviour by the divine appointment and offer, as trusting him for the ends for which that offer and appointment was made? Thus your whole case is put in his hand, with heart and good-will; and you truly receive him as appointed for and offered to you.

3. This is resting on Christ alone for salvation, according to the scripture, Isa. 26:3. Neither can one imagine what way a person can rest on a word, or a soul can rest upon a person, but by trusting them, or trusting in them. See 2 Chron. 32:8 and 14:11. So I conclude, that this trust in Christ is that believing on him, by which the soul is united to Christ, and brought into the covenant in a saving manner. And for opening of it, consider the import of this trust.

(1.) It imports not only a willingness, but a sincere and earnest desire to be delivered from sin and wrath; a desire to be sanctified as well as to be justified; to be delivered from the reigning power, pollution, practice, and inbeing of sin, as well as from the guilt of it, Rom. 7:24, 25. For it is trusting on Christ, not for the half of his salvation, viz. salvation from wrath only, as many do who are by no means desirous to part with sin; but for the whole of it, even salvation from sin too, the principal part thereof, Matth. 1:21. Faith is a believing with the heart and affection of the soul. The whole salvation of Christ is the believer's choice: it is the end he desires to compass, and the trust of faith is exerted as the means to compass that end.

(2.) A renouncing of all confidence in all that is not Christ or in Christ, as to that matter particularly. Faith overturns self-confidence, law-confidence, and creature-confidence, to build on a quite new ground, Phil. 3:3 and Jer. 16:19. For it is a trusting in Christ and his righteousness wholly, a trusting or believing with all the heart, Prov. 3:5 and Acts 8:37. The believer is carried off the works of the law, to the blood of Jesus, for his justification; and out of himself too, unto the Spirit of holiness, for sanctification; being persuaded that no doing or suffering of his own can procure to him the pardon of, or atone for the least transgression; and that he is not able truly to mortify one lust, more than to purge away the guilt of one sin, Matth. 5:3 and Isa. 45:24. Thus is the sandy foundation overturned, that the soul may build on Christ the Rock.

(3.) A hearty approbation of the plan of salvation according to the covenant, manifested in the gospel, as suited to the divine perfections, and to the case of sinners, and their own case in particular, Matth. 11:6 and 1 Cor. 1:23, 24. Without this, no man that knows what God is, what sin is, and what is the worth of his own soul, will ever venture his salvation upon it. One's trusting his salvation to Christ and his righteousness, speaks him to be well pleased therewith, as what one may safely trust to, and that in the sight of a holy just God. And this is that rejoicing in Christ Jesus which makes an illustrious part of the believer's character, Phil. 3:3. It implies,

[1.] An eyeing of Jesus Christ in this matter as a crucified Saviour, having fulfilled all righteousness, according to the stated condition of the covenant, 1 Cor. 2:2. This is the view that faith takes of Christ, while the sinner stands trembling before a holy God, beholding him as lifted up on the cross, as the brazen serpent was on the pole in the wilderness, Isa. 45:22. So faith is called faith in his blood, Rom. 3:25.; his righteousness whereof the shedding of his blood was the completing part, being the only spring of the believer's hope.

[2.] A real persuasion of the sufficiency of Christ's righteousness, to save sinners, and them in particular, from sin and wrath; to answer for them before a holy just God in the eye of his holy law, and procure for them eternal holiness and happiness, Phil. 3:9. There is no saving faith without this; Christ's ability must be believed, and that with application to your own case, Matt. 9:28. And in order to this, faith fixes its view on Christ's righteousness, as the righteousness of God, and so of infinite value and efficacy, Phil. 3:9. 1 John 1:7. The reason why the gospel, and no other doctrine whatever, is the power of God to the salvation of sinners, is because therein is revealed the righteousness of God unto faith, Rom. 1:16, 17.; and that is the only righteousness suited to the divine perfections and the sinner's case.

[3.] An acquiescing in that way of salvation for themselves, Matth. 11:6. The believer sees the sufficiency and safety of it, and he hath a cordial liking of it for the way of his salvation. The mistery of Christ is to him the power of God, and the wisdom of God, 1 Cor. 1:24. His soul pronounces them safe and blessed that are in it; he desires for his own part to be found in it, Phil. 3:9 and is persuaded he would be well, saved from sin and wrath, if he were in it.

(4.) A betaking one's self unto Christ and his righteousness alone, for salvation from sin and wrath. This is done by this trusting on him and his righteousness wholly, Ruth 2:12. The sinner believing that Christ is his Saviour and that his righteousness, is made over to him by free gift, and withal that this his Saviour, with his righteousness is sufficient to save him from sin and wrath, doth accordingly trust on Christ and his righteousness, for salvation from sin and wrath.

5. Lastly, An affiance, confidence, or trust on Christ and his righteousness, that he will save us from sin and wrath, according to his promise. That faith is an affiance, confidence, or trust, is evident from the whole tenor of the holy scripture. So it is expressly called, Isa. 26:3, 4 and 50:10. Psal. 28:7 and 118:8, 9. Heb. 10:35. And that it is a particular trust, viz. that Christ will save us, is evident from the nature of the thing: for he that trusts in a person for a thing, hath surely a persuasion of the same degree with the trust, that that person will do that thing for him. And hence where the party trusted doth fail, the party trusting is confounded and ashamed, as being disappointed in that which he trusted he would do for him: and since the trust of faith is never disappointed, therefore it is observed, that the believer shall never be ashamed, Rom. 10:11. 1 Pet. 2:6. 2 Tim. 1:12.; which plainly imports the trust of faith in the Lord to be, that he will do for the sinner what he trusts him for, otherwise there would be no place for this shame in any case*.

SECONDLY, I come now to offer some motives to press the exhortation on sinners to enter personally into the covenant.

1. Being out of this covenant, ye are under the broken covenant of works, which makes your state a deplorable one. Some stand off from the gospel covenant, because they do not incline to come under a covenant with God. But, alas! they do not consider, that there never was nor will be a moment of their life wherein they were or are free from a covenant with God. Ye are born under the covenant of works, and the bond of the covenant is fast wreathed about your necks, as long as ye are out of the covenant of grace: for the two covenants divide the whole world between them, Rom. 6:14.; and there is no getting out of the bond of the first covenant, but by marrying with Christ, and so coming under the bond of the second, Rom. 7:4. And of the broken covenant I may say, that it is strong to command, curse, condemn, and kill those under it, Gal. 3:10 but absolutely barren as to the affording strength for duty, life, or salvation, Rom. 8:3.

2. Ye are all under the covenant of grace externally and by profession, as being baptized in the name of Christ, Gal. 3:27. Why will ye not really be what you have professed to be, members of Christ, believing in him, within the bond of the covenant in a saving manner? Why will ye aggravate your own condemnation, by professing to take hold of the covenant, and yet before the Lord keeping your necks out of that yoke?

3. It is a most honourable covenant. The parties in it confederate are God and his own Son Jesus Christ, and in him the general assembly of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. And seemeth it a small thing to you to be confederated with these?

4. It is a most precious covenant, being a covenant in the blood of the Son of God, 1 Cor. 11:25. It could not be purchased otherwise: heaven and earth, set at odds by the breaking of the first covenant, could not be united again at less expence. Slight it not.

5. It is a most advantageous covenant, and most suitable for you. It is most advantageous for time and for eternity, 1 Tim. 4:8. There is no case you are or can be in, but there is a suitable help for it in the covenant. Yea, it Is suited to your inability for the duties of it, not by loosing the bond of the holy commandments, but promising strength, Ezek. 36:27 and to your fickleness and native instability, John 10:28, 29.

6. It is freely offered to you, and every one of you, Rev. 22:17. Not only is there a warrant for your entering into it, but that warrant is intimated to you, and ye are invited, yea commanded, to come in, Luke 14:23. 1 John 3:23.

7. Jesus Christ himself is appointed Administrator of it to you, Isa. 61:1. Regard it for the sake of the glorious Administrator. He is Heaven's Ambassador to you, and every one of you, in the matter of this covenant: so that if ye refuse it, ye must refuse it at his hand.

8. He administers it to sinners very honourably, taking them to himself, that he may bring them into the covenant, admitting them into it by union with himself.

9. Lastly, Without this covenant there is no salvation, Eph. 2:12. Either ye must be in it, or perish for ever. When the first covenant was broken, there was a second made for the help of sinners; if ye refuse the second, there is not a third. It is the last ship bound for Immanuel's land.

Wherefore let this be a time of your embracing the covenant; and ye that have embraced it before, renew your acceptance of it, that ye may get it sealed by the sacrament.

(1.) Stir up the faith of the law in your own souls, as a preparative to the faith of the gospel.

(2.) Set before you the promises of the gospel, and believe on Jesus Christ, in whom they are all yea and Amen.

(3.) Lastly, In solemn prayer to God, be as express and particular as may be in these things, and so solemnly enter into the covenant in express words before the Lord, Isaiah 44:5.

SECONDLY, and lastly, Let those who have personally entered into the covenant of grace, and are now by faith instated in it, walk worthy of the covenant, walk as becomes the covenant, Phil. 1:27. Look to the covenant which ye are taken into, and let your life and conversation be agreeable thereto.

1. Be holy in the whole of your life, 1 Pet. 1:15. Holiness is the great end of the covenant, next to the glory of God. It is the holy covenant ye are brought into; holiness goes through the whole of it, and the design of it was to make sinners holy. And ye must evidence the reality of your being in it by holiness, holiness of heart and life, Psal. 24:3, 4. An unholy life, and an unsanctified heart in which sin rules and reigns, will be a decisive evidence of estrangedness from the covenant.

2. Turn not back to your former lusts in your state without the covenant, 1 Pet. 1:14. The men of the first covenant live, and cannot but live in their sins, because death domineers under that covenant: and living lusts feed on their souls, as worms do on the dead body. But under the covenant of grace, life reigns; and the soul being thereby restored to life, will cast off these, Col. 3:7, 8. Beware of backsliding and apostasy. It is dangerous to the last degree, Luke 9:62. 'No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.' That is the way hypocrites pull off their mask, 1 John 2:19. Remember Lot's wife. But true believers shall be saved from it, Heb. 10:38, 39. 'Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.' Wherefore, 'hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy Father's house,' Psal. 45:10.

3. Mix not again with the world lying in wickedness, but carry yourselves as a separate company, under a new covenant, and a new head, Acts 2:40. 'Save yourselves from this untoward generation.' If ye are really brought into the covenant, ye are come out from among them: shew that it is so, by your keeping at a distance from them. The grace of the covenant secures it as to all true believers, Psal. 12:7. And,

(1.) Chuse not their company, Psal. 26:4, 5. It is dangerous as a pest-house, 1 Cor. 15:34. Many of the truly godly have been wounded in their soul and conscience deeply thereby; witness Peter in the high priest's hall. Many who have had very fair appearances once a-day, have been mined by ill company, Prov. 13:20. 'A Companion of fools shall be destroyed.' There is no eviting it altogether in this life, 1 Cor. 5:10. But take heed ye have God's call, and then may ye expect the divine protection. Why will ye chuse their company? they are not going your way.

(2.) Conform not to their way, Rom. 12:2. Ye have declared yourselves of a different, yea, a contrary society; why then will ye do as they do? To walk according to the course of this world, speaks one to be a child of wrath, not a child of the covenant. Being come into the covenant, your privilege is beyond others: it is expected then that ye should do more than others, who have not your privilege, Matth. 5:47. The privilege is very singular, ye must then be singular in your walk, in comparison of the world lying in wickedness, though you should be wondered at, Zech. 3:8. 1 Pet. 1:4.

4. Remember that ye are no more your own, but the Lord's by covenant, 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. God has offered his covenant unto you, ye have entered into it: so ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. Let this be an answer to the temptations that ye will meet with; say to them, as Jephthah did to his daughter, Judges 11:35. 'I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.' If others say, their tongues and themselves are their own, and they have no Lord over them, ye cannot say it: for if you have come into the covenant, ye have said, as Isa. 44:5. 'I am the Lord's.' And if you are his, you must be for him only, wholly, and for ever.

5. Espouse the interests of the covenant, saying, 'Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' Matt. 6:10. Have common friends and enemies with the God of the covenant, Psal. 16:2, 3 and 119:21. Your own interest is in it: and if it be really so, the interest of Christ's kingdom in the world will be yours, and ye will fight against the devil, the world, and the flesh, as the adversaries of the covenant. They are very low in the world at this day, and in this island; though the nation is under the bond of solemn covenants to God, that bond is little regarded, backslidings are multiplied, and the generation is dealing treacherously with a witness. If ye have embraced the covenant of grace for your own souls, it will natively produce a well tempered concern for the covenanted reformation of yourselves and the land.

6. Pursue earnestly the ends of the covenant. These are the destruction of sin, and the service of the Lord, Luke 1:74. Christ came 'to destroy the works of the devil;' hold to this end of the covenant in yourselves and others. Study mortification of your own lasts in the first place: labour to break the power of sin in others, according as ye have opportunity, and to weaken Satan's interest in the place wherein you live. Serve the Lord diligently in the duties of inward worship, and in the duties of morality, first and second table duties: and as we have access, stir up one another thereto.

7. Lastly, In all ye do, act as under the influence of this covenant, and not of the covenant of works. Be evangelical in all your duties, and the whole strain of your conversation. The covenant is a covenant of grace: let the grace, mercy, and love of the covenant, be your great motives to obedience, 2 Cor. 5:14. To pretend to embrace the covenant of grace, and in the mean time to serve the Lord as bondmen, just for fear of punishment and hope of reward, is to run back to the old covenant.

More particularly, walk worthy,

1. Of the parties in the covenant, Col. 1:10. 'Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.' The confederates in the covenant of grace, which ye are taken into, are the most glorious and honourable parties that ever entered into a covenant together; even God and his own Son the second Adam, under whom believers come in as members under the head. View the glory and majesty of these parties, the infinite wisdom, love, and grace to poor sinners, wherewith this transaction was managed from eternity; and consider yourselves as taken into the same covenant with them, and ye must see that ye have need to take heed to walk worthy of such confederates. And,

1st, Gratitude obliges to this. Should not the poor sinful creature, considering itself taken into the communion of God and his Son's covenant, look on himself as highly honoured, beyond whatever he could have expected? 1 John 1:3 and ought he not thereupon to be careful to walk worthy of that honourable society? to carry as becomes that honourable character?

2dly, The unsuitable walking of those taken into the covenant reflects dishonour on the glorious parties into whose covenant he is taken, Rom. 2:24. While men give up their names to Christ, and yet walk in the way of sin, they bring up an ill report on the ways of God, and cause the graceless world to blaspheme the glorious name. Then,

(1.) Study to walk so as to 'be followers of God,' Eph. 5:1. Labour to imitate him in all his imitable perfections. He is your God, and ye are his people, if ye are really within the covenant; and surely a people will strive to conform to the nature and will of their God. Be compassionate and merciful to those in misery, ready to do good to all as ye have access, yea even to your very enemies: so shall ye prove yourselves children of the God of the covenant, Matt. 5:44, 45.

(2.) Conform yourselves to the example of the Head of the covenant. They to whom Christ's death brings salvation, will follow the example he left us in his life, 1 John 2:6. 'He hath left us an example that we should follow his steps.' He has writ a fair copy of a life for our imitation, John 13:15 and will have his people learn of him, Mat. 11:29. We are apt to follow examples in things suited to our nature. Christ's example is every whit perfect, and no other is so: and what example should have more influence on the members than that of the Head?

(3.) Labour to maintain actual communion and fellowship with God in Christ, Cant. 3:5. The covenant puts men in a state of communion with God, 1 John 1:3. That is a great privilege, but ofttimes much misimproved by God's own children, who fall secure and indisposed for converse with God, Cant. 5:3.; grieve the Spirit, and so provoke him to depart; regard some iniquity in their heart, and so mar the course of influences, and their own access to God.

(4.) Be heavenly in your frame and walk, Phil. 3:20. God is in heaven, your head Christ is in heaven, and your treasure is there: why should not your heart be there too? The due frame of a communicant, that has taken hold of the covenant is set down, Cant. 3:6. 'Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, and all powders of the merchant!' And it is sad to see those who are in the covenant grovelling among the dust of this earth, like those that are without; to see the heavenly seed like the seed of the serpent. Set your affections then on things above, and not on things on the earth.

Lastly, Let it be your greatest care to please God, to give content to the heart of Christ, Col. 1:10. It should be your great question, 'What shall I render to the Lord?' Let the love of the Father and the Son influence you to this manner of walking. And let God's displeasure be to you the most horrible thing, that you would rather venture on the displeasure of the whole world than his.

2. Walk answerable to the parts of the covenant. And,

1st, To the condition of the covenant performed by Jesus Christ, viz. his fulfilling all righteousness, in his being born holy, living holy, satisfying justice by his death and sufferings, to procure you the promises of the covenant. And,

(1.) Let the stress of your acceptance with God all along lie upon that, and that only, Phil. 3:3. Whatever you look to obtain from God, whether for time or eternity, let all your confidence for it be laid on that ground only. Whatever you go to seek from God, whatever sacrifice you offer to God, or do for him, let it be laid on that altar, as ever ye would have it accepted, Col. 3:17. It is not only when our duties are ill performed, but when they are best done, that we must place our confidence here: for our best duties will otherwise be unacceptable.

(2.) Walk humbly as debtors to free grace, 1 Tim. 1:15. Look to the rock whence ye are hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye were dug. See Ezek. 16. Remember, whatever be your attainments, gifts, or graces, ye are decked with borrowed feathers: be not proud of them. The condition on which any promise is performed to you, you could never perform: the price of the least mercy you could not pay. Only Jesus Christ has set up the poor bankrupt again.

(3.) Walk in love, Eph. 5:2. 'Walk in love' to God in Jesus Christ. This is the fulfilling of the law: and there is the greatest reason for it, both for what he is in himself, and what he is to us. One flame is fit to kindle another. Such love was never seen among creatures, as God has shewn to man; and shall it not inflame our hearts? Walk in love to one another, and in love to mankind.

(4) Walk thankfully. The whole life of a Christian should be a life of thankfulness, 1 Pet. 2:9. Eternal life is won by Christ's fulfilling the condition of the covenant; it is received in the first-fruits of it, and possessed in Christ the head, by faith. What then remains but to express our thankfulness in a well-ordered life, for the unspeakable free gift?

2dly, To the promises of the covenant; they are 'great and precious,' 2 Pet. 1:4. Happy are they that have them for their security, and all that are within the covenant have them so.

(1.) Live upon them, let your souls feed on them, and account them the great stock ye have to trust to, Psal. 119:162. This must be done by believing them, and that with application. However little you have in hand, ye have a full covenant of promises, which are Heaven's bills and bonds, that make a good stock. And so reckon, that though ye have nothing, yet ye possess all things, viz. in Christ; ye have them in the promise, Col. 2:10. 'Ye are complete in him.

(2.) Resolutely set about every duty in the faith of the promise. It will be too hardy to venture on the least without it: and the hardest and most difficult may be ventured on with it, 2 Tim. 2:1. God calls his people to no duty, but what the covenant has furniture for in the promise. And in the faith of it the weak is made strong, and without it the proud helpers stoop.

(3.) Resist temptations in the faith of the promise. The least of them is able to lay us by, if the Lord do not stand by us: the shock of the most violent of them may be endured, and one come off safe, if encountered in the faith of the promise, Eph. 6:16. It is the promise in the hand of faith that keeps the tempted safe, and makes his resistance successful.

(4.) Bear crosses, trials, and afflictions in the faith of the promise, Psal. 27:13. There is no getting forward to heaven, but by the way of the cross: these deep waters must needs be swimmed through; but the faith of the promise will bear up the head, and keep from sinking. It will bring in comfort from the covenant, when other streams are dried.

Lastly, Die in the faith of the promise, Heb. 11:13. That is the last battle to be fought: and then the time draws near of the full accomplishment of the promise to the Lord's people; and that is a special season of exercising faith on the promises.

3dly, and lastly, Walk suitably to the administration of the covenant, which is a most happy one, as being lodged by the Father in Christ's hand. And,

(1.) Go to Christ for all you need. To whom should we go but to him, since he is Administrator of the covenant, and all is in his hand? Whether you need light, life, strength, or whatsoever is necessary for time or eternity, go to him for it.

(2.) Be obedient to his laws, the laws of the covenant. If he administers the covenant effectually to your salvation, he is your King and Lord, and ye must receive the law at his mouth, Psal. 119:6.

(3.) Submit to the discipline of the covenant. If ye meet with crosses, afflictions, and trials, take them kindly, blessing God that they are not curses, effects of revenging wrath.

(4.) Believe that all ye meet with is well ordered. It is so, for it is the product of the wisdom of the great Administrator of the covenant.

(5.) Lastly, Do your endeavour amongst all, as ye have access, to advance the covenant; that those who are without, may be brought in; and that those who are within, may be edified. For Christ is to administer the covenant to whosoever of mankind sinners will receive it.

Thus, by the mercy of God, I have treated fully of the covenant of grace, and laid before you the principal things relating to it; having formerly treated of the covenant of works. In the first covenant, see your misery; in this see the remedy, and apply it by believing. You have here had the mystery of salvation by Christ opened up at large. May the Lord himself open your understandings to understand it, and your hearts to receive it; and save you from slighting it: for so it will be a witness against you.

OF CHRIST THE ONLY REDEEMER OF GOD'S ELECT

GAL. 4:4, 5.—When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

WE are now to speak of the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus Christ, and to consider our Redeemer in his person, offices, and states. As to the first of these, it is plainly taught in the text.

In the former chapter, and in the first part of this, the apostle insists upon the church's freedom from the Mosaic dispensation, which was a very toilsome and burdensome service. This he illustrates by the similitude of a pupil and his tutors, ver. 1, 2 and then he applies it in the following verse, (1.) To the church's bondage under the Old Testament dispensation, when she was in her infant state, kept in subjection under that rigid and strict administration, which served for a rudiment, whereby she was instructed for the most part by resemblances taken from earthly things. (2.) To her freedom from that bondage under the New Testament, in the words of our text. Where we have,

1. The season in which this freedom or redemption was brought about: When the fulness of the time was come, says the apostle. God wrought this deliverance for his people in the time that he had pitched and resolved upon, as the most fit and proper time for it.

2. We have the means of this deliverance, namely Christ's incarnation, and manifestation in the flesh; God sent forth his own Son, made of a woman. He sent his own Son into the world, the second person of the glorious and adorable Trinity, who was incarnate in a miraculous way, being conceived in the womb of a virgin, without the company of a man.

3. We have the condition in which Christ came; made under the law. Being made flesh, he subjected himself both to the precepts and to the curse of the law. He fulfilled all righteousness, and gave complete satisfaction to all the demands of the law in the holiness and integrity of his life, and he bore the punishment threatened for sin, in the bloody and cruel sufferings which he endured in his death.

4. The freedom and deliverance itself: God sent forth his Son, thus qualified, to redeem them that were under the law; that is, to free all the elect from the curse and punishment that was due to them for the transgression of it. Hence it is said, Gal. 3:13. 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.' He freed the whole church from that rigour and servitude under which she was as to her outward state. And hereby also was procured to believers the adoption of sons: by which we are to understand, not only the benefit of adoption itself, which was the privilege of believers under the Old Testament as well as now under the New, but also and chiefly a clearer manifestation of that privilege, and a more free use and fruition of it. They have now a more full and plentiful measure of the Spirit than believers had under the Old Testament dispensation.

The doctrine arising from the text is,

DOCT. 'The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever.'

In discoursing from this doctrine, I shall,

I. Shew that the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. Illustrate this grand truth, that Jesus Christ, being the eternal Son of God, became man.

III. Prove that Christ is God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person.

IV. Deduce some inferences.

I. I am to shew, that the only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, Let us consider the titles and names of our Redeemer.

1. He is called Lord, because of his absolute and universal sovereignty and dominion over all the creatures. 'He is Lord of all,' says the apostle, Acts 10:36. His dominion extendeth to all things in heaven, earth, and hell; 'He hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all,' Psal. 103:19. He is the sole monarch of the whole world, and all the princes and potentates in the earth are but his deputies and vicegerents. He is 'the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,' as the apostle justly styles him, 1 Tim. 6:15. He hath a natural and essential right and authority over all things as he is God, equal with the Father; and he hath a delegated authority as Mediator. The government belongs to him originally as God, and derivatively as God-man, Mediator. He holds his crown by immediate tenure from Heaven. He is declared to be King by the decree and appointment of the Father, Psal. 2:6. God hath invested him with a royal authority over all the creatures. It is said, that 'he hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be the Head over all things to the church,' Eph. 1:22. He rules from sea to sea, and to the ends of the earth, yea, to the utmost bounds of God's creation. All the creatures are subject to his dominion, rational and irrational, animate and inanimate, angels, devils, men, seas, storms and tempests, all obey him. But in a special manner he is King in Zion; he reigns and rules in the church, and sways his royal sceptre there. He is Lord of all the creatures by creation, of the elect by redemption, and of believers by their voluntary resignation and surrender of themselves unto him.

2. He is called Jesus, because he is the Saviour of the elect world, and delivers them from sin and wrath. This was declared by an angel to the virgin Mary before his conception in her womb, Luke 1:31. 'Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus.' This was revealed to Joseph in a dream, Matth. 1:21. The name Jesus is there interpreted to signify a Saviour; and the angel of the Lord, a messenger sent from God, is the expositor. Christ was sent by his Father to be the Saviour of the elect. Now, a Saviour in the proper signification of the word, is one that delivereth from evil. Accordingly Christ not only saves his people from the worst of evils, but bestows upon them the greatest of good. He delivers them from the guilt, stain, and dominion of sin, the wrath of God, the malediction and accusations of the law, and eternal death and misery; and he gives them grace and righteousness, eternal life and glory. He is a Saviour to protect and defend, and a Saviour to bless and save them, Psal. 84:11. He is the only Saviour of lost sinners, and there is no salvation but through him, Acts 4:12.

3. He is called Christ, because he was anointed unto his office by the Father. This title very fitly followeth the former. Jesus implies his office in general, and Christ his designation or ordination to his office. He is an anointed Saviour. This is frequently expressed in the scripture, Psal. 45:7. 'God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' Isa. 61:1. 'The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek,' &c. Acts 10:38. 'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power.' From all which places we see, that Christ's anointing is not to be understood literally, but by a trope and figure, the sign being put for the thing signified. Several persons were anointed of old, as wrestlers among the Gentiles; which may be applied to Christ, who was to conflict and wrestle with all the powers of hell and the world, with all the oppositions and difficulties that were in the way of man's salvation. But this term of anointing is rather taken from the customs of the ceremonial law. There were three sorts of persons commonly anointed among the Jews; as kings. Thus Saul, David, Solomon, &c. Were anointed with material oil; and hence were called the Lord's anointed.—Priests. All the priests that ministered in the tabernacle or temple were anointed, and chiefly the high priest, who was a special figure and type of Christ.—The prophets. Hence God gave Elijah a commission to go and anoint Elisha to be prophet in his room, 1 Kings 19:16. As oil strengthened and suppled the joints, and made them agile and fit for exercise, so it denoted a designation and fitness in a person for the function to which he was appointed. Thus Christ, because he was not to be a typical Prophet, Priest, or King, was not typically, but spiritually anointed; not with a sacramental, but real unction; not of men, but immediately of God. There are two things implied in the anointing of Christ.

(1.) It implies the Father's fitting and furnishing him with all things necessary, that he might be a complete Redeemer to his people. As God gave him a body and human nature, that he might be capable to suffer; so he filled and replenished his soul with all the gifts and graces of his Spirit. Hence it was promised of old concerning him,' that the Spirit of the Lord should rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.' The Psalmist tells us, that he was 'fairer than the sons of men, and grace was poured into his lips.' He, 'received not the Spirit by measure,' but was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. All this was the Father's work, and therefore he saith, 'Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth,' Isa. 42:1.

(2.) It implies the Father's giving him a commission to redeem poor sinner's from hell and wrath. He was invested with a fulness of authority and power for this very end. And therefore in scripture he is said to be sealed, as having his commission under the great seal of Heaven. Hence he says, Isa. 61:1. 'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me,' &c. Every thing that Christ did in bringing about the redemption of an elect world, was given him in commission. His coming to the world in the fulness of time was by the order and appointment of the Father. So he shews, John 8:42. 'I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.' The business on which he came was determined by Heaven. So in the text it is said, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, to redeem them that were under the law, &c. His death and bloody sufferings, which were the price of man's redemption, and the ransom of their goals, were enjoined by the Father. Hence says he, John 10:18. 'This commandment, (viz. relating to laying down his life,) have I received of my Father.'

Secondly, We may consider his office and work in the general. He is called the Mediator, which properly signifies a midsman, that travels betwixt two persons who are at variance to reconcile them. Now, Christ is Mediator, (1.) In respect of his person, being a middle person betwixt God and man, participating of both natures. (2.) In respect of his office; being a middle person dealing betwixt God and man, in the offices of a Prophet, Priest, and King. Which will be more particularly illustrated in the sequel.

He is the Redeemer. To redeem is to buy a thing again, as the nearest a-kin was to buy again the mortgaged land, and so to rescue and deliver from poverty, and misery, and bondage. This is the import of the word in the original. The elect are the redeemed: it is all they, and they only, as was proved before.

This redemption imports, (1.) That the elect were first the Lord's by creation, his property, and bound to serve and obey him. (2.) That they were sold, and in a state of bondage, in their natural condition, slaves to sin and Satan, the captives of the mighty; prisoners to the law, and obnoxious to the justice of God. (3.) That they are recovered or redeemed from this state of vassalage, captivity and slavery, by the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are redeemed by him two ways.

1. By price or purchase, laying down his life a ransom for them. He came to 'give his life a ransom for many,' Matth. 20:28; that is to die in the stead of his people. His life intervened as a price to obtain their redemption. Hence is that note in the song of the redeemed, Rev. 5:9. 'Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.' They were fallen under the dominion of Satan, and liable to eternal death, and could not obtain their liberty by escape, or by mere force and power; for they were arrested and detained prisoners by order of divine justice: so that till God the Supreme Judge was satisfied, there could be no discharge. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ hath procured their deliverance by his death and bloody sufferings. Hence the apostle says, Col. 1:14. 'We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.' No less than the precious blood of Christ, who was God and man in one person, could be a sufficient price for the redemption of poor captive sinners.

2. By power and conquest. By his death on the cross he spoiled principalities and powers. And he manifested this power in his ascension; for when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive. And in the day of power he redeems his people from the slavery of sin and Satan, the curse of the law, from the sting of death, and the wrath of God; and puts them in possession of a full salvation.

The former, viz. redeeming by price or purchase, Christ doth as a Priest, the latter as a Prophet and King. Both were absolutely necessary: for without a ransom justice would not quit us nor let us go: and without overcoming or conquering power, the elect, while slaves to sin and Satan, will not quit their master, nor accept of liberty.

This redemption of elect souls was agreed upon by the Father and the Son in the covenant of grace from eternity. It was first proclaimed to fallen man in the first promise, Gen. 3:15 that 'the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent;' it was shadowed forth under the Old Testament by sacrifices, burnt-offerings, &c; the price was actually paid on the cross, when he 'made peace through the blood thereof,' Col. 1:20; and the powerful delivery is made in the conversion of the elect, the day of God's power, when the captives are delivered, their chains knocked off, and they are rescued from the miserable bondage in which they lay. And although Christ's blood was not actually shed under the Old Testament, yet the elect, during that dispensation, were delivered by the same redemption which we are now partakers of, Heb. 11:39, 40.

Thirdly, That Jesus Christ, and he only, is the Redeemer promised as the true Messiah, is evident, in that all the things that are the marks and characters of the Redeemer agree to him, and him only. He was to be of the tribe of Judah, and of the house of David, to be born of a virgin, to be Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature and on our side, to be born in Bethlehem, to make a mean appearance, to be despised and rejected of men, to be crucified on an accursed tree, to be buried in a grave, to rise again the third day, to ascend into heaven, and sit at the right hand of God, till his enemies be made his footstool. It is evident from comparing the Old Testament with the New, that all these characters agree to Jesus Christ, and him only; and none other but one who possessed these characters could be our Redeemer.

II. Our next business is to illustrate this grand truth, That Jesus Christ, being the eternal Son of God, became man.

First, Christ is the eternal Son of God. And in this he differs from all God's other sons.

1. From angels, who are called 'the sons of God,' Job 38:7. They were filled with joy, and shouted with a triumphant voice, when they saw the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, appearing so illustriously in the work of creation, when God laid the foundations of the earth. Now, the angels are called the sons of God.

(1.) Because they had their whole being from him. They are his sons by creation; in which sense also Adam is called 'the son of God,' Luke 3:38.

(2.) Because of their great and mighty power. Hence they are styled, principality, and power, and might, and dominion' Eph. 1:21. They are like him in power and dignity.

(3.) Because they serve him as sons, cheerfully, willingly, and readily. They do not obey as slaves, or servants, or the best of servants; but they obey as children. They go his errands with a filial cheerfulness and delight. 'A son honoureth his father,' saith the Lord. It should be the temper and disposition of every son to do so. This is not only the disposition of angels, but they have actually done it, and may say unto God, as the elder brother is brought in saying in the parable, Luke 15. 'Lo these many years have we been with thee,' even ever since the creation of the world, 'and have never transgressed nor neglected thy commandments at any time.'

(4.) Because of the great privileges which God bestows upon them. He uses them as his sons and children. They are his courtiers, and near to his person, and always surround his throne, and behold his face. They are continually under the meridian beams of his ravishing and life-giving countenance.

(5.) Because of their likeness to God in essence. He is a spirit, an incorporeal and immaterial being, and angels are spiritual and incorporeal substances. Though the difference between God and them be as great as can be conceived, yea truly inconceivable; God being the creating spirit, and they created spirits; God being an infinite spirit, and they but finite ones; yet the angels bear a resemblance to God in their essence, as well as in their qualifications, and may upon that account also be called the sons of God: but they are only the sons of God by creation: Whereas Christ is his Son by an eternal and ineffable generation. Christ alone is the Son of God by nature.

2. Believers are called the sons of God, John 1:12. And they are so by adoption and regeneration, 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. Believers differ from the angels in this; for they do not stand in need of regeneration, or any gracious change to be wrought in them: for as they were created holy and pure beings, so they have continued in that integrity and holiness with which they were made, and have not lost it: and therefore Christ is no Redeemer to them.

3. Christ differs both from angels and saints in this, that he is the eternal and only-begotten Son of God, as the scripture verifies, Matth. 3:17 and 17:5.

Now, that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, is the eternal Son of God, or was begotten of the Father from all eternity, is clear from the holy scriptures; for to divine revelation alone are we indebted for the knowledge of this important truth. To this end let us consider, Psal. 2:7. 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' This passage is applied to Christ in several places of the New Testament. The word, 'this day,' doth not denote a certain time when this generation began, but is used to express the eternity thereof. And that which is eternal is expressed by that term, to shew and hold forth unto us, that all things past and to come are present with God in regard of his eternity. There is no succession in eternity, no yesterday nor to-morrow; but it is all as one continued day or moment, without any succession or change. Therefore the generation of the Son being eternal, it is rightly designed by this term. And although in this and the following verses we have a declaration of God's decree and appointment concerning the advancement of Christ to his Mediatory throne and kingdom; yet in this verse, the generation of the Son is not mentioned as a part of that decree, but only as the ground and foundation thereof. For unless Christ had been the Son of God by eternal generation, he could not have been our Mediator and Redeemer; nor could he have obtained a throne and kingdom as such. And this eternal generation of the Son was solemnly declared by his resurrection from the dead. This is the apostle's scope when he says, 'We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' Acts 13:32, 33. He might well say, this scripture, Psal. 2:7 was fulfilled by raising Christ from the dead, because by his resurrection the truth of it was openly proclaimed and declared to the world, as the same apostle tells us, Rom. 1:4.

We may argue for this likewise from Micah 5:2. 'But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.' This text is applied to Christ, Matth. 2:6; and that it must be understood of him, and of no other, is plain, because he is promised as the King and Ruler of his church: and in the following verses there is ascribed unto him the calling of the Gentiles, invincible power and majesty in his providential dispensations, doctrine, and miracles, and an universal kingdom and government over Jews and Gentiles through the earth. Now, there is a twofold going forth here attributed to him. The first is external and visible, namely, his going forth from the city of Bethlehem, by being born of a virgin. This is a temporal generation, and is therefore spoken of as a thing to come, 'He shall come forth unto me.' But lest any should look on him as a mere man, and as one that began to be at his incarnation, therefore a second going forth is mentioned, which is internal and eternal: 'Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,' or 'from the days of eternity,' as it is in the original text. These words design his eternal generation, as being begotten of the Father from all eternity; for he could not go forth from the Father from everlasting but by generation.

This truth is further clear from Christ's being called the Son of God. He is often so designed in scripture. The Father did solemnly proclaim him to be so by an audible voice from heaven, both at his baptism and his transfiguration. He is the Son of God in a most proper and singular manner, viz. by the Father's communicating the divine essence to him by eternal generation. This name given to Christ is more excellent than any name given to the angels, though they are also called the sons of God, Heb. 1:4, 5. 'For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee?' He is so the Son of God, as on that account he is equal with the Father. Therefore, when he told the Jews, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,' it is said, 'The Jews sought the more to kill him, because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God,' John 5:17, 18. The Jews concluded from what he had said, that he made himself equal with God. And their conclusion was very just: for he did not find fault with them for so doing, nor charge them with reproaching him; nor doth he clear any mistake about it, as certainly he would have done, if they had been in any. Therefore what they conclude from his discourse is plainly asserted by the apostle, Phil. 2:6 in these words, 'He thought it not robbery to be equal with God.' So that Christ's scope and design, John 5 is plainly to shew, that he was the Son of God in such a manner, that he was the same in substance with the Father, and equal with him in dignity and glory.

And as to the nature of this generation, our blessed Lord himself doth in some measure explain it to us, so far as we are capable to apprehend this great mystery, when he tells as, John. 5:26. 'As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.' So that to beget the Son, is to give to the Son to have life in himself, as the Father hath life in himself; which doth necessarily import a communication of the same individual essence. For to have life in himself was an essential attribute of God; i. e. to have life independently, of and from himself; and to be the source and fountain of life to all the creatures, is a perfection proper to God, inseparable from his nature, yea, the very same with his essence. And therefore the Father cannot give it, unless he give the essence itself: and he cannot give the essence by way of alienation, for then he himself would cease to be God; nor by way of participation, seeing the divine nature is one, and cannot be divided. Therefore it must be by way of communication. So that the generation of the Son is that eternal action of the Father, whereby he did communicate to the Son the same individual essence which he himself hath, that the Son might have it equal with himself. But as to the manner of this generation, or communication of the divine essence of the Son, it is altogether ineffable and inconceivable to us. It is simply impossible for poor weak worms, such as we are, to understand or explain wherein it consists. It is not natural, but supernatural, and wholly divine, and therefore incomprehensible by us. Yea, it is incomprehensible even by the angels themselves, who far exceed men in intellectual abilities. We may justly hereunto apply what we have, Isa. 53:8. 'Who shall declare his generation?' This whole mystery is incomprehensible by us: we ought humbly and reverently to adore what we cannot comprehend. There is a coummunication of the whole essence or Godhead from the Father to the Son, in receiving whereof the Son doth no more lessen or diminish the majesty or Godhead of the Father, than the light of one candle doth the light of another from which it is taken. Whereupon the council of Nice said well, that Christ is God of God, light of light, very God of very God, not proceeding but begotten. Hence it is clear, that he had a being before he was born of a virgin, yea from eternity; and that he is the true God, and the most high God, equal with the Father, Phil. 2:6. John 1:1.; for no being can be eternal but God.

Secondly, The Son of God became man. It was not the Father, nor the Holy Ghost, that was incarnate, but the Son, John 1:14. 'The word was made flesh.' He was 'God manifested in the flesh,' 1 Tim. 3:16. But though he was from eternity God, yet the world had lasted well nigh four thousand years ere he became man.

Thirdly, Why did it behove Christ, in order to be our Redeemer, to be God and man? he could not be our Redeemer, if he had not been both.

1. He behoved to be God, (1.) That he might be able to bear the weight of the infinite wrath of God due to the elect's sins, and come out from under that heavy load, Acts 2:24. (2.) That his temporary sufferings might be of infinite value, and afford fall satisfaction to the law and justice of God, Heb. 9:14. In these respects none other but one who was God could redeem us.

2. He behoved to be man, (1.) That he might be capable to suffer death, Heb. 2:14. (2.) That the same nature which sinned might suffer, Ezek. 18:4. 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' (3.) That he might be a merciful High Priest, Heb. 2:16, 17 and that we might have comfort and boldness of access to the throne of grace having an High Priest of our own nature as our Intercessor there.

III. I come now to prove, that Christ is God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person. Christ is God and man by a personal union of two natures. The two natures in Christ remain distinct: the Godhead was not changed into the manhood, nor the manhood into the Godhead: for the scripture speaks of these as distinct, Rom. 1:3, 1 Pet. 3:18, Heb. 9:14,; and of two wills in Christ, a human and a divine, Luke 22:42. These natures remain still with their distinct properties, that as the divine nature is not made finite, so neither is the human nature adorned with the divine attributes. It is not omnipotent, 2 Cor. 13:4.; nor omnipresent, John 11:15; nor omniscient, Mark 13:22 &c. Yet are they not divided; nor is Christ two persons, but one; even as our soul and body though distinct things, make but one person. This is clear from the text, which shews that the Son of God was made of a woman; which seeing it cannot be understood of his divine nature, but of the human, it is plain that both natures make but one person. And elsewhere he is described as one person consisting of two natures, Rom. 1:3 and 9:5. And it was necessary that the natures should be distinct; because otherwise, either the Divinity would have advanced his humanity above the capacity of suffering, or his humanity depressed his Divinity below the capacity of meriting. And it was necessary that he should be one person; because otherwise his blood had not been the blood of God, Acts 20:28 nor of the Son of God, 1 John 1:7 and so not of infinite value. Wherefore Christ took on him the human nature, but not a human person.

Lastly, Christ was, and so will continue God and man for ever. This union never was dissolved. He died in our flesh to save us; he rose again in it, and ascended to heaven in it, and will continue ever in it, Heb. 7:24. It will be a part of the happiness of the saints after the resurrection, that they shall feed their eyes for ever in beholding the glorified body of the blessed Redeemer.

I shall finish this subject with a few inferences.

1. The redemption of the soul is precious. The salvation of sinners was a work greater than the making of the world. The powerful word commanded, and the universe sprung up into being; but much more was to be done ere a sinner could be saved from wrath. The eternal Son of God must become man, lay aside the robes of his glory, and clothe himself with the infirmities of human nature, and in that nature purchase redemption by the price of his matchless blood for poor miserable prisoners, and deliver them from the pit of hell and wrath by an exertion of his almighty power.

2. See here the wonderful love and grace of God in sending his own Son to be the Redeemer of sinful men. It was he that contrived this method of redemption, in the adorable depths of his infinite wisdom. He pitched upon his own Son as the only fit person to set miserable captives free. He fitted and furnished him for this work, and sent him to the world with full power and authority to go about it. It was God the Father that was gracious to sinners, saying, 'Deliver them from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.' What an illustrious display of the astonishing love and grace of God is it, that he should have remembered them in their low estate, and laid help on one that is mighty to save them. To enlarge upon this a little further, I offer a twofold consideration.

(1.) Who he was that was sent and came into the world to redeem the elect; not an angel or archangel, nor any of the glorious seraphims that stand about God's throne. Indeed, if it had been so, divine love, even in this, had infinitely advanced itself, that God should be pleased to spare one of his own retinue from attending on him, and give such a glorious servant as an angel is, for the redemption of such a rebellious and miserable worm as man. But O! how may it raise and heighten our admiration, when we consider that it was not an angel, if he had been capable for the mighty task, but the Lord of angels, not a servant but a Son, that the Father plucked from his own bosom, and sent upon this business! He spoke to him as it were to this purpose. 'Go haste thee down to the earth: for there are thousands of miserable creatures sinning themselves down to hell, and must for ever fall under the strokes of my dreadful and incensed justice; step thou in between them and it, and receive the blows thyself; die thou under the hand of vindictive justice; that they may be saved and live.' When God tried Abraham's obedience, he aggravates his command by many piercing words, which must needs tenderly touch, and greatly affect, the heart of a compassionate father, Gen. 22:2. 'Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering,' &c. It greatly heightened Abraham's obedience, that notwithstanding of all aggravations, yet he was willing to sacrifice his beloved Son upon God's command. Just so here God heightens and sets forth his matchless love towards us. He takes his own Son, his only Son, the Son of his eternal delight and love, and cheerfully offers him up as a sacrifice for the sins of men. This is the greatest instance of the love of God that ever was given.

(2.) God's love is exalted here, in that he freely sent his only begotten Son to be the Redeemer of an elect world. He was God's free gift, or else he could never have been obtained. If devils and men had joined their forces, and combined all their strength and power, and thus made an assault upon heaven, yet they could never have plucked the Son of God's love from his eternal embraces. God gave Christ freely to redeem a sinful world, not only without, but against all merit and desert in them, nay, unasked and unsolicited to do so. From all eternity. God foresaw that they would despise and reject his Son, so that they would shed his precious blood, and then trample it under their feet, as an unholy thing; yet such was the height of his astonishing love, that he bestowed him freely upon them.

(3.) See the matchless love of the Son of God to poor sinners. It was love that induced him to substitute himself in their room, and to undertake to pay their ransom. He 'loved me (says Paul), and gave himself for me,' Gal. 2:20. His love in this, as the apostle speaks passeth knowledge. How cheerfully did he engage to make his soul an offering for sin, that thereby he might pay their ransom! Though he knew the difficulty of the work, and the greatness of that wrath which he was to bear, yet he cheerfully complied with the first motion of it that was made unto him by the Father. He knew very well, what a vast burden of sin was to be laid upon him, and the dreadfulness of that wrath he was to undergo; yet he did not shrink from the imputation of the one, nor from the suffering of the other. He was willing to be reproached, that we might be glorified; to become poor, that we might be made rich; to be accused and condemned, that we might be justified; to enter into prison, that we might go free; and to die a cursed ignominious death, that we might live, and reign in honour for ever. O how great was his love to poor sinful men!

4. All who live and die out of Christ must perish; for there is no other Mediator between God and men but the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself a ransom for sinners, and invites sinners to come and take the benefit thereof. Now, if men will not come unto him, that they may have life, their blood most be on their own heads. Christ is the only ordinance of God for life and salvation, and if men will slight and despise this ordinance, they must perish in their sins; for there is no other way of being saved but by him. If sinners will not enter by this door in time, the door of heaven will be shut against them for ever.

5. How highly is our nature exalted and dignified in the person of the Lord Jesus! He took not on him the nature of angels, a nature far superior to the human, but the seed of Abraham, and united it to his divine person. In that nature he performed his whole Mediatory undertaking, and wears it in his exalted state. It is corrupt in the multitude of those that partake of it, yet it is pure and spotless in Christ the Redeemer. Man's nature became so depraved and abominable by Adam's transgression, that it could never again appear before God; but in Christ it is so perfectly pure, that it was capable of an immediate union with the Godhead in his person. Though it be low and mean in itself, yet it is highly honoured and exalted in its union with the Son of God; and shall be the object of the delightful sight and admiration of the redeemed from among men through eternal ages.

6. It is impious and absurd to ascribe any part of man's redemption to any other. In the close of his sufferings on the cross, he cried with a loud voice, 'It is finished,' and gave up the ghost; intimating, that he had then perfected and completely finished the great work of redemption committed to and undertaken by him. It is therefore dishonourable to Christ, and dangerous for men, to join any thing of their own to his righteousness, in point of justification before God. The blessed Redeemer will never endure it. It reflects upon his Mediatory undertaking. If he be the only Redeemer of God's elect, then certainly there can be no other. If he hath finished that work, then there is no need of our additions. And if that work be not finished by him, how can it be finished by men? It is simply impossible for any creature to finish that which Christ himself could not. But men would fain be sharing with him in this honour, which he will never endure. He is the only Saviour of sinners; and he will never divide the glory of it with us. Men would fain have something of their own to atone offended justice. There is a legal strain, a strong bias towards the first covenant, running in the hearts of all men by nature. We would do something for ourselves, and are unwilling to be obliged to another for our deliverance from that wretched condition that sin hath brought us into. 'What good thing shall I do (said the young man in the gospel) that I may have eternal life.' But all our righteousnesses are but as filthy rags. Though your heads were waters, and your eyes a fountain of tears, and you should weep day and night continually; nay, though you should weep tears of blood, all would he in vain; for it could not cleanse you from the guilt and pollution of the least sin. To depend upon anything that ever he did, or can possibly do, is but like the setting up of a paper-wall to keep off a devouring fire: for it cannot screen you from the consuming flames of God's wrath and fiery indignation. 'By the works of the law (says the apostle), no flesh can be justified.'

7. Lastly, If ye would be delivered from the state of sin and misery into which ye are brought by your fall in the first Adam, come unto and accept of the Lord Jesus Christ as your Redeemer. God has laid help for you upon this mighty One, who is both able and willing to save all that come unto God by him. Close with him by faith, and you shall be redeemed from the guilt of sin, have its power subdued in you, and at last be delivered from the inbeing of it, and from all the penal consequences and effects thereof. He is now saying, Behold me, behold me; O do not refuse him, lest ye perish for ever.

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