women in the world must of necessity be found—either in the
under a covenant of grace, and do not know it, how rare shall we be
in pious duties! How weary shall we be of pious duties, and how
ready shall we be to cast off pious duties!
By these few things I have been hinting at, you may easily discern
how greatly it concerns all people to know what covenant they are
under; whether they are under the first or second covenant; whether
they are under a covenant of works or a covenant of grace. Now
having premised these seven things, my way is clear to that I would
be at, which is this—namely,
1. That there are but two covenants. In one of them, all men and
women in the world must of necessity be found—either in the
covenant of grace or in the covenant of works. The covenant of works
is a witness of God's holiness and perfection; the covenant of grace is
a witness of God's goodness and mercy. The covenant of works is a
standing evidence of man's guiltiness; the covenant of grace is the
standing evidence of God's righteousness. The covenant of works is
the lasting monument of man's impotency and changeableness; the
covenant of grace is the everlasting monument of God's omnipotency
and immutability.
No man can be under both these covenants at once. If he is under a
covenant of works, he is not under a covenant of grace; and if he be
under a covenant of grace, he cannot be under a covenant of works.
Such as are under a covenant of works, they have the breach of that
covenant to account for, they being the serpentine brood of a
transgressing stock. But such as are under a covenant of grace shall
never be tried by the law of works, because Christ, their surety, has
fulfilled it for them, Acts 13:38-39; Romans 8:2-4; Gal. 4:4-6. But let
me open myself more fully thus—
That all unbelievers, all Christless, graceless people, are under a
covenant of works, which they are never able safely to live under.
Should they live and die under a covenant of works, they were surely
lost and destroyed forever; for the covenant of works condemns and
curses the sinner: Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is everyone who continues not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
Neither has the sinner any way to escape that curse of the law, nor
the wrath of God revealed against all unrighteousness and
ungodliness, but in the covenant of grace, Romans 1:18. This
covenant of works the apostle calls "the law of works," Romans 3:27.
This is the covenant which God made with man in the state of
innocency before the fall, Gen. 2:16-17. In this covenant God
promised to Adam, for himself and his posterity, life and happiness,
upon the condition of perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience;
and it is summed up by the apostle, "Do this and live," Gal. 3:12. God
having created man upright, after his own image, Eccles. 7:29; Gen.
1:26-27, and so having furnished him with all abilities sufficient for
obedience, thereupon he made a covenant with him for life upon the
condition of obedience; I say, he made such a covenant with Adam,
as a public person, as the head of the covenant; and as he promised
life to him and his posterity in case of obedience, so he threatened
death and a curse unto him and his posterity in case of disobedience:
"In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die;" or, "dying you shall
die," Gen. 2:17. [Gal. 3:10. Not only the covenant of grace, but the
covenant of works also, is an eternal covenant; and therefore the
curse of the covenant remains upon men unto eternity. There is an
eternal obligation upon the creature, he being bound to God by an
eternal law; and the transgression of that law carries with it an
eternal guilt, which eternal guilt brings sinners under an eternal
curse.]
God, in this covenant of works, dealt with Adam and his posterity in
a way of supremacy and righteousness, and therefore there is
mention made only of the threatenings: "In the day you eat thereof,
you shall die!" And it is further observable, that in this covenant
which God made with Adam and his posterity, he did promise unto
them eternal life and happiness in heaven, and not eternal life in this
world only, as some would have it; for hell was threatened in these
words, "In the day you eat thereof you shall die;" and therefore
heaven and happiness, salvation and glory, was promised on the
contrary. We must necessarily conclude that the promise was as
ample, large, and full as the threatening was; yet this must be
remembered, that when God did at first enter into covenant with us,
and did promise us heaven and salvation, it was upon condition of
our personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, and therefore called
a covenant of works. "Do this and live" was not only a command, but
a covenant, with a promise of eternal happiness upon perfect and
perpetual obedience. All who are under a covenant of works, are
under the curse of the covenant, and they are all bound over unto
eternal wrath. But the Lord Christ has put an end to this covenant,
and abolished it unto all that are in him, being himself made under
it; and satisfying the precept and the curse of it, and so he did cancel
it, "as a handwriting against us, nailing it unto his cross," Col. 2:14.
So that all those who are in Christ ,are freed from the law as a
covenant. But unto all other men it remains a covenant still, and they
remain under the curse of it forever, and the wrath of God abides
upon them, John 3:36. Though the covenant of works, as it is a
covenant for life, ceases unto believers, yet it stands in force against
all unbelievers.
Now, oh how sad is it for a man to be under a covenant of works! For,
First, The covenant of works, in the nature of it, requires perfect,
personal, and perpetual obedience, under pain of the curse and
death, according to the apostle, "As many as are of the works of the
law, are under the curse," Gal. 3:10—presupposing man's fall, and,
consequently, his inability to keep it—"For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things that are written in the book
of the law, to do them," Deut. 27:26. The covenant of works,
therefore, affords no mercy to the transgressors of it, but inflicts
death and curse for the least delinquency: "For whoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all," James
2:10. The whole law is but one whole; he who breaks one
commandment habitually, breaks all. A dispensatory conscience
keeps not any commandment. When the disposition of the heart is
qualified to break every command, then a man breaks every
command in the account of God. Everyone sin contains virtually all
sin in it. He who dares despise the lawgiver in any one command, he
dares despise the lawgiver in every command. He who allows himself
in any one known sin, in any course, way, or trade of sin, he lays
himself under that curse which is threatened against the
transgressors of the law.
Those who are under this covenant of works must of necessity perish.
The case stands thus: Adam did break this covenant, and so brought
the curse of it both upon himself and all his seed to the end of the
world; in his sin all men sinned, Romans 5:12. Now if we consider all
men as involved in the first transgression of the covenant, they must
all needs perish without a Savior. This is the miserable condition that
all mortals are in, who are under a covenant of works. But,
Secondly, Such as are under a covenant of works, their best and
choicest duties are rejected and abhorred—for the least miscarriages
or blemishes which attend them or cleave to them. Observe the
dreadful language of that covenant of works, "Cursed is he who
continues not in all things that are written in the law of God to do
them," Gal. 3:10. Hence it is that the best duties of all unregenerate
persons are loathed and abhorred by God; as you may clearly see by
comparing these scriptures together. [Isaiah 1:11-15; Jer. 6:20; Isaiah
66:3; Amos 5:21; Micah 6:6; Mal. 1:10.] The most glorious duties and
the most splendid performances of those who are under a covenant
of works, are loathsome to God, for the least mistake that does
accompany them. The covenant of works deals with men according
to the most exact terms of strict justice. It does not make nor allow
any favorable or gracious interpretation, as the covenant of grace
does; the very least failure exposes the soul to wrath, to great wrath,
to everlasting wrath. This covenant is not a covenant of mercy, but of
pure justice. But,
Thirdly, This covenant admits of no mediator. There was no
arbitrator between God and man, none to stand between them,
neither was there any need of a mediator; for God and man were at
no distance, at no variance. [Hence this covenant is called by some, a
covenant of friendship.] Man was then righteous, perfectly righteous.
Now the proper work of a mediator is to make peace and
reconciliation between God and us. At the first, in the state of
innocency, there was peace and friendship between God and man,
there was no enmity in God's heart towards man, nor any enmity in
man's heart towards God; but upon the fall a breach and separation
was made between God and man; so that man flies from God, and
hides from God, and trembles at the voice of God, Gen. 3:8-10.
Fallen man is now turned rebel, and has become a desperate enemy
to God; yes, his heart is full of enmity against God. "The carnal mind
is enmity against God," Romans 8:7; not an "enemy," but "enmity,"
in the abstract; noting an excess of enmity. [The word signifies the
act of a carnal mind, comprehending thoughts, desire, discourse,
etc.] Nothing can be said more; for an "enemy" may be reconciled,
but "enmity" can never; a wicked man may become virtuous, but vice
cannot.