A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace, Treatise · Chapter 1
CHAP. I. Of the ſignifications of the word Covenant.
THE word tranſlated Covenant, ſome deriveforeign à foreign Gen. 26. 28, 30. & 31 46, 54. of another that ſignifies to chuſe, or to eate; becauſe uſually they had a feaſt at making of Covenants: or it is a thing which two chooſe, and of which they mutually agree and promiſe betwixt themſelves: although the word be uſed, when one alone doth promiſe with a ſimple promiſe, and ſo it may be referred to the Teſtamentary diſpoſition. Others derive it of a roote that importeth to cut, divide or ſmite:foreign which being joyned to the word Covenant, ſignifieth to make or ſtrike covenant or agreement. Gen. 15. 18.Sept. foreign, 1 Reg 8. 21. Jer. 31. 31. Gen. 31. 44. LXX. foreign: Edit. Conp▪ diſponamus teſtamentum. LXX. foreign. The holy Ghoſt in Greek expreſſeth this word foreign ſundry waies, as by foreign, Heb. 8. 9. Jer. 34. 18. Jer. 34. 8. foreign, Heb. 8. 8. foreign, Heb. 8. 10. & foreign, Heb. 9. 20. Exod. 24. 5, 6, 7. Numb. 18. 19. 2 Chron. 13. 5. Septuagint foreign. Pactum, ſalis, firmum ſtabile, quod reſcindi nequit, ut nec ſalita car… corrumpi, Gen. 15. 9, 10. Jer. 34. 18. Pactum perpetuum hebraicè diceretur, pactum ſeculi ſimul utrum que obvium. Sal pecuniae benignitas: ut ſal carnem conſervat, ſic benignitas opes & pecuniam, Et caeſa jungebant foedera porca. Virg. In humane affaires alſo, they uſe the ſame word, 1 Sam. 11. 1. 1 King. 5. 12. Vid. Jun. Par. lib. 3. cap. 9. ad Heb. v. 15. &c. Job 31. 1. It is to be underſtood of a ſolemne condition to take heed to his eyes. Budae: Comment. ex Ariſtop foreign, pag. 705. Maldon. in Mat. 26. Genebrard. on Pſal. 24. Act. 3. 25. In the ſame day the Lord made a Covenant with Abraham. Jer. 34. 18. They have not performed the words of the Covenant, which they had made before me. Pſal. 83. 5. They are confederate againſt thee, Pſal. 89. 3. I have made a Covenant with my choſen. But elſe where to promiſe, appoint or ordain, 2 Chron. 7. 18. As I have promiſed (or ordained, or covenanted) with David thy Father. And ſo in the new Teſtament, the word uſed by the Septuagint doth ſignifie (Luk. 22. 29) And I appoint unto you a Kingdom. Eraſm. Ego diſpono vobis regnum. Beza, Ego paciſcor. Syr. Ego polliceor. And amongſt all Nations, Covenants were eſtabliſhed by the oblation of Sacrifice: Example beyond all exceptions, we have in that Sacrifice, wherein God made a Covenant with the people of Iſrael, and bound them to the obedience of his Law: whence it is alſo called a Covenant of Salt, that is, perpetuall; either, becauſe ſalt expels corruption, or rather, becauſe ſalt was uſed in Sacrifices; as if it had been ſaid, a Covenant being ſtriken, and ſuch ceremonies uſed, as are ordinary in making Covenants. Amongſt the Greeks alſo, that it was moſt uſuall, appeares not only by infinite examples, but by common phraſes, as foreign, which is as much as to ſweare the Sacrifice being ſlaine, or to eſtabliſh a Covenant. And in Homer, Iliad. 3. foreign, that is, bringing or bearing thoſe things, which were neceſſary in performing an Oath, or making a Covenant. The word Covenant or teſtamentall bond or league, which hath in Hebrew the ſignification of brotherly or friendly parting, and of explaining the conditions of agreement; The Greek Interpreters doe frequently and almoſt perpetually render by foreign, a teſtament or diſpoſition, Pſal. 25. 10, 14. Pſal. 44. 17. & 50. 16. & 55. 20. ſeldome foreign, Covenant, Iſa. 28. 15. which is uſed elſewhere, Sap. 1. 16. 1 Mac. 10. 26. 2 Mac. 13. 25. & 24. 26. But in the old Teſtament, the word Berith is never read for a teſtamentary diſpoſition, which of the Rabbins, as Druſius witneſſeth, is called foreign from the word that ſignifieth to command, and ſo to ſet his houſe in order, or to make his will, Iſa. 38. 1. Which word is yet generall, and muſt be reſtrained according to the circumſtances of the place, Where the LXX. and Theodotio tranſlate it foreign, Symmaechus and Aquila turne it foreign. Pſal. 25. 14. Nor is it a thing unuſuall with claſſicall Authors of the Greeke tongue to uſe the word foreign in the generall ſignification; For Camerarius citeth out of Aristophan. de Avibus, foreign, uſed for to make a Covenant. The Papiſts carpe at our Interpreters, becauſe they render the word Covenant, rather then Teſtament: for they would have it to ſignifie a teſtamentary diſpoſition. But they are deceived, for the ſignification of the word is more generall: and the Apoſtle Heb. 9. 16. argueth not from the ſimple ſignification of the word, but the circumſtances of the Covenant. In a Covenant and Teſtament both, there is an ordination and diſpoſition of things according to pleaſure: and the Greeke phraſe in the New Teſtament doth follow the received Interpretation of the Septuagint; although in this the Covenant of Grace is like to a Teſtament, that it is not eſtabliſhed but by the death of the Mediatour as of a Teſtator.
The Covenant in Scripture doth ſometimes ſignifie an abſolute Promiſe of God, without any ſtipulation at all, ſuch as was the Covenant which God made with Noah preſently after the Floud, promiſing freely, that he would never deſtroy man and beaſts with an univerſall deluge of water any more. Gen. 9. 11. And that Covenant of Peace, and everlaſting Covenant whichSept. foreign. God made with Phinehas, that he and his ſeed after him ſhould have the Covenant of an everlaſting Prieſthood. Numb. 25. 12, 13. Of this kind is the Covenant wherein God promiſeth that he will give his elect faith and perſeverance, to which promiſe no conditionJer. 33. 20. annexed can be conceived in mind, which is not comprehended in the Promiſe it ſelfe. Heb. 8. 10.
But oftentimes in holy Writ the name Covenant is ſo uſed, that in it is plainly ſignified a free Promiſe of God, but with ſtipulation of duty from the reaſonable creature, which otherwiſe was due, no promiſe comming betwixt, and might have beenPſal. 50. 16. Syr. Quid tibi & libris praeceptorum meorum quod aſſumpſeris pactum meum. exacted of God, and ought to have been performed of the creature, if God had ſo pleaſed, Pſal. 50. 16. and 25. 10. Pſal. 44. 17. For a Covenant is quiddam complexum, implying two things, diſtinguiſhed either re or ratione, the one covenanting, the other reſtipulating or accepting. As alſo two parts covenanted. Firſt, the giving of ſome future good. Secondly, the retribution of ſome performance. The firſt without the ſecond, is no more then a Promiſe: the ſecond without the firſt is no leſſe then a Law, though the Apoſtle, Gal. 3. 22. makes another oppoſition of Law and Promiſe, nature and faith, workes and Chriſt, for that is from a divers acceptation of the Promiſe. But when two perſons upon theſe two parts concurre, it is that we call a Covenant properly: though tropically ſometimes the Promiſe, and ſometimes the ſtipulation only is noted by the Covenant. Pſal. 50. 5. Nehem. 1. 5. Gen. 17. 7, 9. and ſometimes the ſeale of the Covenant is called the Covenant. Gen. 17. 10, 11.
This diſtinction of the Covenant depends upon a diſtinction of Gods love; for there is a love of God towards the creature, whence all the good that is in the creature doth flow, and there is a love of God vouchſafed to the creature, and that for thoſe things which it hath received, not of it ſelfe, but of God, as it was beloved with that firſt love. That we may call primary or antecedent (for diſtinction ſake) this ſecondary or conſequent love. From that flowes both the making and fulfilling of the Abſolute Covenant: on this depends the fulfilling of the Covenant, whereunto a reſtipulation is annexed, but not the making thereof. For in the Abſolute Covenant there is nothing in the creature that might move God, either to promiſe, or to performe what he hath promiſed: but in the Covenant to which a ſtipulation is annexed, God fulfils what he promiſed, becauſe the creature exhibits what was exacted, although this that God hath entered into ſuch a Covenant, and promiſed ſo great things unto him that performed ſuch and ſuch obedience, that wholly proceeds from the antecedent love, and free pleaſure of Almighty God. The eſſance of the Covenant properly conſiſteth in the Promiſe and ſtipulation: But the words of the Covenant containe obedience required of God, and promiſed of them in Covenant, and ſo by a Metonymie are called the Covenant. Exod. 34. 27, 28. Deut. 29. 1. Jer. 11. 2, 3, 4. and 34. 13, 14. The Tables of the Law were the Tables of the Covenant. The Covenant and Law differ, as friendſhip and tables obligatory to friendſhip: he that violates theſe, is convinced to breake this: Heb. 8. 1, 2. and the tables of the Covenant of Law are called the Covenant or Teſtament, and the Book of the Covenant. Exod. 24. 4, 7. 2 King. 23. 2. A Covenant is made betwixt men of thoſe things, which either were not due before, or were not thought to be due, which are made firme, ſtable and due by the very Covenant, ſo that by the Covenant new right is acquired or cauſed, either to one or both, who Covenant betwixt themſelves of any matter. Therefore the Covenant of God doth contain new things, great, and in no wiſe due, which of his meere pleaſure God offers unto us. Now where there is huge and infinite diſparity, there can be no aſſurance of this ſo great a gift, but the certaine Word of God, and the aſſured Promiſe of him who doth never lie, nor change. That therefore Man ſhould enter into Covenant with God, it was neceſſary that men ſhould firſt give credit to the Word of God, and then that they ſhould hope for thoſe things which exceed their capacity, and ſo at laſt truſting in God and obeying, they ſhould obtaine the good things promiſed: andExod. 24. 6, 7, 8. therefore the words of the Covenant may well be put for the Covenant. Nevertheleſſe in making Covenant with the creature God is not tied to verball expreſſions, but often he contracts the Covenant in reall impreſſions in the heart and frame of the Creature, which is apparent in the Covenant ſo often mentioned with the unreaſonable creature, and this was the manner of covenanting with our firſt parents in the ſtate of Innocency: but is mo…t obſervable in the reſtored reaſonable creature, when God ſhall put his Lawes into their hearts, and write them in their inward parts, Jer. 31. 33. and the more perfect the creature growes, the more reall ſhall the impreſſion be: But yet in all ages of the Church paſt, and ſo to the end of the world, God hath ever, and ever will make expreſſions outward of this his Covenant with mankinde. The Covenant is one thing, the name of the Covenant another. For the Covenant includes the whole reaſon of the Covenant with the circumſtances: but the name ſometimes is attributed to ſome circumſtances. So the Covenant may be ſaid to be the ſame and not the ſame, that which is the ſame in ſubſtance, varieth in manner and circumſtances. Deut. 5. 2, 3. and 29. 1. and 4 31. Nor is it a thing unuſuall in Scripture, that this ſhould be affirmed of one, and denyed of another, which is more illuſtrious in one then in another, though it be common to both, as Matth. 15. 24. Interpreters of Scripture give this rule, when it ſeemes to deny the very eſſence of the thing, it doth deny only ſome circumſtance or reſpect, Mark 9. 37. He that receiveth me, doth not receive me: which negation properly reſpects the degrees. Joh. 5. 45. There is one that accuſeth you, even Moſes, that is, Moſes primarily and eſpecially, Gen. 45. 8. God ſent me hither: when God and hisSee Jer. 23. 7. Iſai. 43. 18. brethren had done it, but in a divers manner.