Gospel Reconciliation, Chapter 17
CHAP. 17. How we come to have intreſt in what Chriſt hath done is further opened:
WE have ſhewed in the former chapter what Chriſt doth for the Continuance of this peace between God, and us: that he is at the right hand of God, there making interceſſion for the Saints continualy; ſo that if ther be any thing, that might (in its own nature) break the peace between God, and us; this our mediator ſits at the right hand of the Father, and there (by his interceſſion) he continually preſents himſelf for the removing of it, and for the continuance of the peace between God and us; that there may no Breach fal out, for the time to come; this I ſay Chriſt undertakes to do, and this is a ſpecial work of his Mediation; namly, his being Continually at the right hand of the Father, and there preſenting himſelfe unto God for the keping, and mantaining of this peace, which he hath made between the Father, and us.
Again; if it be demanded; how we come to have an Intreſt in this that Chriſt doth; (which was the fourth thing propounded in the twelfth chapter) in his Satisfaction, in al that he undertakes?
The Anſweer was this: That Chriſt is made the Head of a ſecond Covenant; for, as the foundation of the Breach, that was between God and us at the firſt came by the firſt man Adam, who was the Head of the firſt Covenant, in whom we al Sinned, and ſo turned enimies unto God: So Jeſus Chriſt is made a Second Adam, and the head of a Second Covenant; and al thoſe that are looked upon as the poſterity of the Second Adam, (for ſo it muſt be) they are looked upon as one in him. As al that were of the poſterity of the firſt Adam were looked upon as one man in him, and ſo the Breach was made, and enmity came between God, and al that one mans poſterity: ſo, al that are to be of the Poſterity of the Second Adam, that are either actually of him, or are to be born of him by a Spiritual generation, (which in the Scripture is tearmed Regeneration); al thoſe are looked upon as one with him: and hence it is that in the 1. Cor. 15.47. the Apoſtle ſpeakes of the firſt, and ſecond Adam as if there were no more but two men in the world, for indeed ther are no more in that ſenſe; nor ever were. The firſt man (ſaith the apoſtle) is of the Earth, Earthly; the ſecond man is the Lord from Heaven, Heavenly. here is the firſt man, and the Second man. Why, you wil ſay, are there but two men in the world? No, not in that ſenſe; that is, there were never but two men that did repreſent al others; and under thoſe two men are al other men in the world repreſented before God. Al the children of men that fel from God, the are repreſented in the firſt Adam, who was the Head of the firſt Covenant, and they ſtand under that covenant: And al thoſe that God intends to be reconciled unto, and to glorifie; they are repreſented before God in the ſecond Adam who is the Head of the Second Covenant. It is true, if we ſpeake properly; Caine was in order the ſecond man in the world; but Chriſt is the Second man; that is, the Head of a ſecond Covenant, the Second man that God did enter into the Covenant withal for other men, and in that ſenſe he alone was the ſecond man: As in the ſame ſenſe Adam is Called the firſt man ſo that God is Reconciled to the world in Chriſt; that is, as in the firſt Adam, the Breach was made between God, and man: ſo in the ſecond Adam Reconciliation is made between God, and man. And as God imputeth that which the firſt Adam did, to his Poſterity for Condemnation: ſo that which the Second Adam did, he doth impute to the Poſterity of that Second Adam for life, and Reconciliation. And that you have more largly diſcuſſed in the moſt part of the fift Chapter of the Rom. eſpecially from the middle of the Chapter to the end.