The Sum of Christian Religion 2, Part 2 · Subpart 4
OF THE COVENAVNT.
IT was ſaid,The couenant is that reconciliation, which Chriſt the mediatour hath wrought between God and man. that the mediatour is a perſon reconciling parties which are at variance. Nowe this reconciliation in the ſcriptures is termed the Couenaunt, and Teſtament, which is the correlatiue, that is, hath a mutuall reſpect to the mediatour. Wherefore the Doctrine which treateth of the Couenaunt is linked with the place concerning the mediatour, becauſe euerie mediatour is the mediatour of ſome Couenaunt, and a reconciler of parties who are at enmitie.
The chiefe queſtions are,
1 What a Couenaunt is.
2 Whether it can be made without a mediatour.
3 Whether there be but one and the ſame Couenaunt, or more.
4 In what the old and new Couenaunt agree, and in what they differ.
1 WHAT A COVENAVNT IS.
A Couenaunt in generall ſignifieth a mutuall promiſe or agreement betweene the parties who are ioined in that Couenaunt, whereby is made a bond or obligation for the performance of certaine thinges on both parts, ſolemne ceremonies and tokens beeing added thereto, to teſtifie and confirme that promiſe and agreement. For the making therefore, declaring, & confirming of a Couenaunt ſerue mutual promiſes and outward ſignes and tokens of the Couenaunt. A Teſtament is called the laſt will of a Teſtator, whereby he at his death diſpoſeth of his thinges, what he woulde hauehave done concerning them: this is ratified by the death of the Teſtator.
In ſpeciall, the Couenaunt betweene God and men is a mutual promiſe and agreement, made by our Mediatour, confirmed by othes and ſolemne tokens (which we call Sacraments) whereby God bindeth himſelfe to remit their ſins vntounto them that beleeue, and to giuegive them euerlaſting life, for & by his ſon, our Mediator: & men bind themſelues to receiue this ſo great a benefite with faith, and to yeeld true obedience vntounto God; which is, to liue according to his will, that ſo they may declare their thankefulnes vntounto god. The ſumme is: This Couenaunt is gods bond to yeelde vsus his grace and fauour: and of the otherſide our bond, to receiue this grace by faith; and to yeelde new obedience.
Why the reconciliation between God and vsus is called a couenaunt.Furthermore the name of Couenaunt and Teſtament ſhew the ſame thing, to wit, our reconcilement with God, or the mutuall agreement betweene God and men. This reconcilement is called a Couenaunt, becauſe, as it hath been ſaid, both God vntounto vsus, & we vntounto god hauehave promiſed certain things to be performed of both parts, adding certaine ſignes and pledges of this our mutuall agreement.Why alſo it is called a Teſtament. It is called a Teſtament, becauſe this reconciliation was made, by the death of the Teſtator, Chriſt comming between, that ſo it might be firme and ratified.It could not hauehave bin a Teſtament, except Chriſt the Teſtator had died. For while the Teſtator liueth, he retaineth a right to change, detract, or adde any thing. This reaſon is alleadged in the epiſtle to the Hebrews, cap. 9.16.17. The Teſtament, ſaith the Apoſtle, is confirmed when men are dead. For it is yet of no force as long as hee that made it is aliue. Chriſt hath purchaſed our reconcilement with God for vsus with his bloud, and hath left it vntounto vsus, euen as Parents at their deceaſe deliuer their goodes vntounto their children. Obiection. The Teſtament is ratified by the death of the Teſtator, which is good, who cannot die. Therefore this reconcilement is not ratified, or at leaſt wiſe it may not be called a Teſtament. Aunſwere. The Minor is to bee denied. Becauſe, God is ſaide to hauehave redeemed the church with his bloud: Therefore hee died; but he died according to his humanitie. Or, which commeth to the ſame; Chriſt is the Teſtator, as hee is both God, & man: but died according to his humanity only. Wherefore this reconciliation or Couenaunt may be called a Teſtament. Replie. But Chriſt is the interceſſor, The ſame is called an interceſſion in reſpect of Chriſt, who by interceſſion worketh it: and a reconciliation in reſpect of vsus, who are reconciled.and god the Teſtator: Therefore the reconciliation is not of force. Aunſwere. They differ in perſons and offices. The perſon of Chriſt differeth from the perſon of the father and the holy Ghoſt in office, not in efficacie and power; and in reſpect of him it is an interceſſion, in reſpect of vsus a reconciliation or receiuing into fauour.
2 How a Couenaunt may be made betweene god and men.
THat Couenaunt could not be made without a Mediatour. For without Satisfaction, and the death of the Mediatour, there could not be wrought a reconcilement, or anie receiuing into fauour. For wee were the enimies of God: neither was there an entrance open for vsus to god, before he was pacified by the merit of our Mediatour. Againe, Without the Mediatour regenerating vsus, we ſhould not hauehave beene able to ſtand to the conditions, and ſo had the Couenaunt beene made of no force: as it hath beene ſhewed more at large before in the place of the Mediatour, in the ſecond queſtion.
3 Whether there be but one Couenaunt.
THere is but one Couenaunt in ſubſtaunce, and matter:There is but one couenaunt in ſubſtance, two in circumſtances. two in circumſtaunces, or adminiſtration. There is but one in ſubſtaunce. 1. Becauſe there is but one god, one Mediatour of thoſe parties, god and men, one meane of reconcilement; one faith: one way of the ſaluation of all who are ſaued and hauehave been ſaued euen from the beginning of the world vntounto the ende. Hebr. 13.8. Ieſus Chriſt yeſterday, and to day, the ſame is alſo for euer. Roman. 9.5. Who is ouer all. Col. 1.18. And he is the head of the bodie of the church. Epheſ. 2.21. In whom all the building coupled together groweth vntounto an holie temple in the Lord. Actes. 4.12. Among men there is giuen none other name vnderunder heauen whereby we muſt be ſaued. Mat. 11.27. No man knoweth the father but the ſonne, and he to whom the ſonne will reueal him. No man commeth to the father but by me. Iohn. 14.6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Luc. 10.24. Manie Kings and Prophets hauehave deſired to ſee, that which ye ſee. Iohn. 8.56. Abraham reioiced to ſee my day and he ſaw it, and was glad. All therefore as wel vnderunder the law, as vnderunder the Goſpel, who were to be ſaued, had reſpect to the onelyonly mediatour Chriſt, by whom alone they were reconciled to God and ſaued: and therefore there is but one Couenaunt. 2. Becauſe the principall conditions whereby we are bound vntounto God, and God to vsus, and which are called the ſubſtaunce of the Couenaunt, are both before and after Chriſt all the ſame. For in both, both in the olde and new Couenaunt or Teſtament God promiſeth remiſſion of ſins to beleeuers and repentant ſinners. In both, men are bound to beleeue and repent; that is, the grounde and foundation of doctrine in both is the ſame, to wit, the law and the promiſe of grace propoſed in Chriſt.
Nowe the Couenaunt is alſo of two ſortes, or there are two Couenants, as concerning the circumſtances, & thoſe conditions which are leſſe principal, which are the formes of adminiſtration, ſeruing for the principal conditions, that the faithfull may attaine vntounto them by the helpe of theſe. A rule here may be obſerued:The diuerſitie of Couenaunts is knowen by the diuerſitie of their conditions. In all Couenaunts their conditions are euer to be conſidered: which if they be the ſame, then are the Couenaunts alſo the ſame: if diuers, then the Couenaunts alſo diuers: if partly the ſame, and partly diuers, then the Couenaunts alſo are in part the ſame, and in part diuers: as in this Couenaunt.
1 In what the old and new Couenaunt agree, and in what they differ.
1. The ſame autor of both couenaunts. 2. The ſame parties in both reconciled. 3. The ſame mediatour of both.THe new Couenaunt agreeth with the old, in reſpect of God, in theſe. 1. The ſame is the Author of both Couenaunts. 2. The ſame parties are ioined in both Couenaunts, to wit God and man. 3. The ſame is the mediatour of both. Moſes in deede is called alſo the Mediatour of the old Testament, but as a type: For Chriſt was alſo in the old Teſtament the Mediatour but had adioined vntounto him Moſes as a type, but nowe he is Mediatour without that typicall Mediatour. For he is manifeſted in the fleſh, & is no more couered with types. 4 The promiſe of grace is in both the ſame, to wit, remiſſion of ſinnes, the giuing of the holy Ghoſt or regeneration,4. The ſame promiſe of grace in both. & life or glorie euerlaſting, to bee giuen freely by and for Chriſt the Mediatour to thoſe onelyonly who beleeue. For God promiſeth grace and merciemercy to all who beleeue in the Mediatour. Gen. 22. In thy ſeede ſhall all nations be bleſſed. Gen. 3. Hee ſhall breake the ſerpents head. Gen. 17. I will bee thy god, and the god of thy ſeede. This is the ſame with the promiſe, which is made to the faithful of the new Couenaunt: Hee that beleeueth in the Sonne hath euerlaſting life. Now here wee ſpeake not in particular, of the circumſtances of grace, but in generall, of grace it ſelfe which was promiſed. Both Couenaunts hauehave the ſame corporal promiſes alſo, but that only in generall.
Now, in reſpect of men, the new agreeth with the old: that in both men are bound to faith and new obedience. Gen. 17. Walke before me, and be thou vpright. I will be thy god, and the god of thy ſeede. But the Lord cannot be our god, except by a true faith we applie the merite of Chriſt vntounto vsus, for which alone he will receiue vsus into fauour; and except wee bring forth the fruites of true repentance. The new and old Couenaunt therefore agree as concerning the principal conditions of the Couenaunt, both in reſpect of god, and in reſpect of man.
But they differ, in reſpect of god, in theſe. 1.How the old and new Couenaunt differ in reſpect of God. In the promiſes of corporall benefites. For theſe in the old Teſtament were ſpecial, certaine, and definite, as the promiſes of the Land of Canaan, of the Church, of the gouernement and Moſaical ceremonies to be obſerued in that region and nation vntil the comming of the Meſſias: and laſtly of the Meſſias to be borne out of that people. In the new Teſtament there are no ſpeciall promiſes of certaine corporall benefites, but onelyonly generall; as that god will alwaies in this life giuegive his Church ſome abiding and reſting places, although it be diſperſed and ſcattered throughout all Nations. 2. They differ in a circumſtaunce of the promiſe of grace. For in the olde Couenaunt they were reconciled vntounto god, and ſaued for the Meſſias ſake who ſhoulde come, or be exhibited: we in the newe Couenaunt are ſaued for him beeing come and exhibited. 3. In the ſignes or ſymboles of the promiſes. In the old were many and diuers ſignes and Sacramentes, as the Circumciſion, the Paſſeouer, the Sacrifices: in the new few, and plaine, euen Baptiſme, and the ſupper of the Lord. 4. In the olde Couenaunt were types and figures of good thinges to come, and ſo all thinges were the more obſcure and darke; in the newe is an accompliſhment and exhibiting of thoſe things, and ſo all thinges more cleare. The doctrine and knowledge of the Goſpell, eſpecially nowe Chriſt beeing come and manifeſted, is more bright and plentifull, for that a declaration of thinges done vſeth to bee more perſpicuous than the fore-telling of thinges which ſhall bee done. 5. In the olde the pouring out and effuſion of the gifts of the holie Ghoſt is more narrow and ſparing, in the new more large & plentifull. Hierem. 31. verſ 31. I will make a newe Couenaunt. 2. Cor. 3.6. The olde was but for a time, during vntil the comming of the Meſſias. The newe is for euer: According to that, I will make an euerlaſting Couenaunt with them. How they differ in reſpect of men.They differ in reſpect of men. Firſt, For that in the olde teſtament the Church ſtood bound to the obedience of the whole Moſaicall lawe, Morall, Ceremoniall, and Ciuill. In the newe teſtament wee are bounde onelie to the ſpirituall or morall worſhip, and the vſe of the Sacramentes. The Ceremoniall and Ciuil lawes of Moſes binde not vsus. Secondly, The olde was made to one certaine Nation. The Prophets therefore were ſent vntounto the people of Iſraell, and to them they applyed their ſpeeches. The newe belongeth to all Nations. For God will that all bee ſaued, of what Nation, language or condition ſo euer they bee. The Apoſtles therefore were ſent to the whole world to gather the Church of Chriſt out of all Nations: or, which is the ſame, in the old teſtament the Church was tied vntounto a certaine Nation; In the newe it is Catholicke and vniuerſall, that is, ſpread through all Nations.
Why the old couenant was taken for the law, and the New for the Goſpel.Here is to be obſerued, that the old Couenāt is takē by a figure of ſpeach called Synecdoche (which we vſe when wee take the whole for a part, or a part, for the whole) for the law, in reſpect of that part, which was eſpecially handled there. For in the old teſtament the law was more vrged, & there were many partes thereof. Contrariwiſe the goſpel was then more obſcure. The newe alſo is taken for the Goſpell, becauſe in the newe teſtament a great part of Moſes law is abrogated; and the manifeſtation and knowledge of the goſpell is to vsus more cleare and ample.