The Covenant of God Entered with Mankind, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
The Covenant of Grace is between God and man; and not between God and Christ.
HAving aſſerted a covenant in the proper nature of it, it is neceſſary, before I proceed further on, to give differences between this covenant of Works, and the covenant of Grace, to ſpeak ſomething by way of Explication, covenant being taken in ſo various and ambiguous ſenſes, or at leaſt ſo many ſenſes put upon it, which I take to be a miſunderſtanding of the Scripture-covenant, I ſhall lay down certaine Explicatory Propoſitions for clearing of the thing in queſtion. And the leading on ſhall be this. The Covenant of grace is between God and man, between God, and thoſe of fallen mankinde, that he pleaſes to take into covenant, God and man are the two parties in the covenant; It is not made between God and Christ. This is ſo plain, that a man might think there needed no words about it, but that there are ſome that will have man to be no party in it, and that it is entred onelyonly with Chriſt on behalf of thoſe that God hath choſen in Chriſt to himſelf. To this I ſhall ſpeak firſt by way of conceſſion, yeelding to them of this opinion, theſe three things that follow. 1. That there is ſuch a covenant of which they ſpeak, which was entred between God and Chriſt, containing the tranſactions which paſſe between the Father and the Sonne, the tenor of which covenant we find laid down by the Prophet, Eſay 53. 10, &c. and commented upon by the Apoſtle, Phil. 2. 6. There we ſee, firſt the work that Chriſt by covenant was to undergo, To make his ſoul an offering for ſinne, that is, as elſewhere is expreſt, to give his life a ranſome for many, and as he covenanted, ſo he did, He became obedient to death, even the death of the croſſe, Phil. 2. 8. and that, upon account of this covenant entred, Chriſt himſelf ſpeaking to it, and of his work in it, ſaith, John 10. 18. This Commandment have I received of my Father. Secondly, the reward that he was to receive, which is laid down by the Prophet in many words. 1. He ſhall ſee his ſeed, ver. 10. As Iſaac being received from the dead in a figure, ſaw a ſeed, had an innumerable poſterity; ſo the Lord Chriſt who was received from the dead in truth; hath his ſeed in like manner, beleevers innumerable, which are called his ſeed in reſemblance to the ſeed of man. 2. He ſhall prolong his dayes, not the dayes of his ſeed, as ſome would have it, making this one with the former, and rendring the words videbit ſemen longaevum, being delivered from death, he ſhall live and reign eternally, Revel. 1. 18. 3. The pleaſure of the Lord ſhall proſper in his hand; he ſhall irreſiſtibly do whatſoever is the Fathers pleaſure to be done in the work of mans ſalvation. 4. He ſhall ſee the travel of his ſoul, and ſhall be ſatisfied; upon this work done, he fully enjoys the whole of all his deſires. 5. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he ſhall divide the ſpoile with the ſtrong. He obtains a perfect victory, hath a plenary and full conqueſt over every adverſary. 2. We yeeld that the whole of theſe covenant-tranſactions; between God and Chriſt, was on our behalf. Making his ſoul an offering for ſinne, he offers it for thoſe that are fallen by iniquity; All is, (as is there ſaid) for the juſtification of many. Whatſoeve it is, that upon the work done redounds to himſelf, yet the reaſon of undertaking was for us, VntoUnto us he was borne, unto us he was given, He was wounded for our tranſgreſſions, he was bruiſed for our iniquities, he was delivered for our offences, and raiſed again for our juſtification; He endured the mulct, and we reap the benefit. 3. We confeſſe that it is the work of Chriſt that we enjoy a being in covenant, as it is his gift that we enjoy the bleſſing of Ordinances. But when all theſe are yeelded, the truth muſt be aſſerted, that there is a covenant to which Scripture conſtantly ſpeaks, which is entred of God with man, and not with Chriſt, which me thinks with much eaſe might be made to appear.
1. There are frequent teſtimonies of Gods entry of covenant with his people. 1. With the leading perſons in the covenant, which ſtand as the root of many thouſand branches, which are their off-ſpring in covenant. He entred covenant with Abraham, Gen. 15. 18. Gen. 17. 2. The like he enters with Iſaac, Gen. 26. 3. with Jacob, Gen. 35. 11. and therefore he is ſo frequently called the God of Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob. And the covenant of God is alike known by the name of the covenant with Abraham, Iſaac and Jacob. 2. He enters covenant with the whole body of the people of Iſrael, Deut. 5. 1, 2. Hear O Iſrael, the ſtatutes, and judgements, which I ſpeak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep them, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb, the Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us who are all of us alive this day; And this whole viſible body of Iſrael was not Chriſt.
2. There are teſtimonies of Iſraels entrance into covenant with God, Deut. 29. 10, 11, 12. Ye ſtand this day, all of you before the Lord your God; your Captaines of your Tribes, your Elders, and your Officers, with all the men of Iſrael, your little ones, your wives, and the ſtranger that is in thy Camp, from the hewer of thy wood, unto the drawer of thy water, that thou ſhouldeſt enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day, Pſalme 50. 5. Gather my Saints together unto me, thoſe that have made a Covenant with me by ſacrifice, Deut. 26. 17. Thou haſt avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways.
3. The particular time, and place of Gods entrance into covenant with his people, is, in Seripture noted likewiſe. In Horeb as we have heard, which was the firſt yeare of their coming out of Egypt, the third monethmonth, Exod 19. 1. Again, in the fourth year, the eleventh monethmonth, the firſt day, Deut. 1. 3. Deut. 29. 10, 11, 12. compared. This day ſaith the text. Now, there was no day, in which the covenant of God, with Chriſt, was entred, no day, when it was not entred, but it was from all eternity, as, all the works of the Trinity are, ad intra.
4. Covenant duties are impoſed, to walk before the Lord, to be perfect, to be an holy, peculiar people, Gen. 17. 1. Exod. 19. 6. Theſe are not impoſed upon Chriſt, but upon Chriſtians.
5. The people of God have the praiſe of keeping, and are under the blame of covenant-breaking, which praiſe of faithfulneſs, and blame of perfidiouſneſſe is aſcribed to them, and not to Chriſt Jeſus.
6. They that have the ſeals of the covenant given them, are in covenant; but man receives the Seales, both of Baptiſme and the Lords Supper; as, the people of God of old, did Circumciſion, and the Paſſeover, therefore, man is in covenant.
7. If the covenant were made, with Chriſt, and not with man, then he is a Mediatour between God and himſelf, and not between God and man. This is plain, in that he is the Mediatour of the covenant, viz. between perſons in covenant; But he is not a Mediatiour between God and himſelf, which were abſurd to imagine, but between God and man, There is one Mediatour between God and men, the man Chriſt Jeſus, 1 Tim. 2. 5.
There is only I think that one difficult text of the Apoſtle to be objected againſt this thing, Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his ſeed, were the promiſes made. He ſaith not, and to ſeeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy ſeed, which is Chriſt, from whence ſome conclude, that the covenant was entred of God, with no other of Abrahams ſeed, but with Chriſt, conſequently not with man, but with Chriſt only. As this was not in my thoughts in my firſt Edition, ſo, I ſhall not now (as I ſoon might) weary my ſelf, and reader, in wading into all the difficulties about it, being ſuch as have occaſioned, not onelyonly the Jewes to inſult, as Calvin obſerves but Hierom (the greateſt Linguiſt among the ancients) to ſpeak words unworthy of ſuch an Apoſtle, which I ſhall ſpare to repeat, and, all, upon the occaſion of the Apoſtles words, That the promiſes, were not made to Abraham, and his ſeeds, as of many, but his ſeed, as of one, on which the forenamed father ſays, Running over the whole Scripture, both with his eye, and memory; he doth not finde the word ſeed ever uſed in the plural number, but alwayes in the ſingular, whether it be in the better, or worſe ſenſe. But Gomarus on the words takes him up as being too ſhort in his memory, and quotes Samuels ſpeech, 1. Sam. 8. 15. to the contrary, where the word is uſed plurally, Rivet indeed, Exercit 108. in Geneſ. ſeemes to help him out, though he do not mention him, affirming, that the word [ſeed] is never uſed in the plural number, for the poſterity of men; but always collectively uſed in the ſingular number. The place objected in Samuel ſpeaking of the ſeed of the earth, but Ravanellus on the Apoſtles behalf, pleads, That it is uncertain, whether the word be only uſed of the Hebrews in the ſingular number, for though it be not uſed plurally, in the Hebrew Text of the Old Teſtament, yet it cannot thence be gathered, that the word hath onelyonly the ſingular number, and wants the plural; when it is without all doubt, that all the words which have been in uſe with the Hebrews, are not to be found in the Old Teſtament. Howſoever, I am not the man, from whom a ſatisfying Comment on theſe words may be expected; others more able, that have travelled in it, may be conſulted, yet I doubt not, but enough may be eaſily ſaid, to vindicate it from this gloſſe that is here put upon it, and to make it appear that this text will not bear this doctrine, that the covenant of grace is not entred with fallen man, but with Chriſt only, which may appear by theſe following Reaſons. 1. There is no ſafe oppoſing any one difficult text (about which Expoſitors are at ſo much difference among themſelves) againſt, ſo many that are full, and clear againſt it. The texts that are againſt it are (as I may ſay) without number, and this, I think, ſtands alone, with any colour for it. Thus the Papiſts have adventured to faſten their purgatory on 1 Cor. 3. 13, 14 and ſome few like difficult places. 2. The word covenant is not in the text, neither under the more proper word foreign, nor yet foreign, but foreign; promiſes, in the plural number, repeated again, verſe 19. in the ſingular, and a promiſe, and a covenant (as Paraeus on the words obſerves) much differ. 3. If they will needs underſtand by promiſes to, a covenant with, as every covenant is a promiſe, though every promiſe be not a covenant, they differ as the Genus and the Species, yet there is that in the text, (as Maſter Bulkley in his Treatiſe of the covenant obſerves) which makes againſt them, they ſay this covenant is made with Chriſt, and with none but Chriſt; but in the text, it is otherwiſe, Abraham is made a party in the covenant, as well as Chriſt, which ſerves to overthrow their excluſive particle. 4. [Christ] here in this place may be taken collectively, as [ſeed] is uſually taken, and ſo the word is taken, 1 Cor. 12. 12. As the body is one, and hath many members, & all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; ſo alſo is Chriſt. And ſo Mr. Bulkely, Diodati, Rivet, Gomarus, and our laſt Annotations upon the words expound it. 5. Being underſtood of Chriſt perſonally (which with ſubmiſſion to better judgements, I confeſſe moſt ſatisfies me) it muſt not be underſtood of Chriſt, as a party in Covenant, for bleſſedneſſe; but as a Mediatour making bleſſed. There are many promiſes in Scripture made to Abraham, and the ſeed of Abraham, and there is much difference among interpreters, to which of theſe promiſes this text refers; The Reader, if he pleaſe, may conſult Paraeus on the words, and Junius in his parallels, but to what text ſoever it is, that theſe words do refer, I am confident that the Apoſtle ſpeaks not, of any bleſſedneſſe received by covenant; but a promiſe of making Nations bleſſed, and this is not indeed to [ſeeds] as of many, but to [ſeed] as of one, which is Chriſt; which I gather by comparing the words in hand with v. 8. of the ſame chapter, and the Scripture foreſeeing that God would juſtifie the Heathen, through faith, preached before the Goſpel to Abraham, ſaying, In thee ſhall all Nations be bleſſed. This is the promiſe that this Text holds out, which is not a covenant for bleſſedneſſe, but a promiſe to make bleſſed repeated againe, verſe 19. The Law was added, becauſe of tranſgreſſions till the ſeed ſhould come, to whom the promiſe was made, which is not Chriſt, collectively, or myſtically, but perſonally conſidered, not entring covenant but as Mediatour of the covenant. So that this text ſerves nothing for this purpoſe. A learned Writer indeed ſayes, It is beyond my brain to conceive that God ſhould immediately make a Covenant with us, who were children of diſobedience, and of wrath, who could not be capable of any ſuch covenant and conditions. That Chriſt hath a hand to bring us into covenant, before was yeelded, and how far he hath a hand further to carry on; the covenant may be yet further conſidered, but man is a party in covenant, and as God may make promiſes, and give good things to fallen man, ſo he may enter covenant with him likewiſe.