Gods Love to Man and Mans Duty Towards God, Part 2 · Section 5
Gen. 17.4.
Behold my Covenant is with thee.
Sect. 5. PROP. V. The Covenant of Grace is betwixt God and Man, not betwixt God and Chriſt.
NOte, I am not ſpeaking of that which Divines call the Covenant of Redemption, or Media…ory Covenant. Though, whether that can be any …ing, but the eternal decree of God, concerning Man's redemption and Salvation by Jeſus Chriſt, in which eternal decree, the will of the Son muſt needs …e ſuppoſed in the will of the Father, both having …e and the ſame eſſence, and will: (not only a like…eſs and agreement, but an identity or oneneſs of …ill) let the Godly-learned conſider. And whether …oſe Scriptures that ſeem to hold forth a Covenant, …r agreement betwixt the Father and the Son, are not … be taken as ſpeaking after the manner of men; …here there could no way poſſibly be any the leaſt …iſtruſt on either ſide; where there was not the leaſt …eed of engaging one another for the further ſatisfa…ion of either party, there would ſeem to be no oc…ſion for formal entring into covenant. What ground …e have to conceive a formal Covenanting betwixt …e Father and the Son, where we cannot conceive …w the proper end of covenanting could have place; Whether the promiſes in Scripture that run as made Chriſt, might not be recorded as that voice came from Heaven, Joh. 12.30. for his peoples ſakes, … one compares them: Theſe are things I would le… to them that are able, to weigh and determine.
Yet I make no queſtion of it, but thoſe that h… a Covenant of Redemption betwixt the Father a… the Son from all eternity, and others that ſee not h… that can be ſo well maintained, but think it is a ſi… decree, in which decree the will of all the three Pe… ſons, Father, Son, and Spirit, is included; do ho… ever both agree in the thing aimed at, though the expreſſions vary. And they that think it is me… properly a decree from eternity, than a Covena… from eternity; yet will ſay, in this decree the w… and manner of our redemption and ſalvation is ſurely, firmly ordered, determined, and provid… for, as if it had been by way of Covenant, and … moſt ſolemn mutual engagement of both parties. … both come to one in the end.
But of this, (whether Covenant or Decree fre… eternity,) *Reader, ſince the writing of theſe notes, I am taught by one, whoſe judgment I cannot but highly value, and reverence, that Beſides the eternal decree of God, there is a Lex Mediatoria (a Law of Mediatorſhip) that Chriſt is under as man, wherby God made Mediatory Acts his duty, and promiſed him his reward, of w… the certain Salvation of the Elect was much. And this L… was alſo a Covenant mod…lly. And of this I ſuppoſe thoſe … verend and Learned men, that compiled the larger Catechi… muſt be underſtood to ſpeak, when they ſay it [was made … Chriſt as the ſecond Adam.] which they call the Covenant Grace, taking in that other Covenant made with man (when faith and repentance are conditions) as being founded thereupon▪I am not enq… ring; but when I ſpeak of … Covenant of Grace, I me… that which ſtands in dire… oppoſition, and contra-diſt… ction to the Covenant works. And though I kno… many very reverend, eminently learned, holy and worthy men conceive otherwiſe, yet many cogent Arguments enforce me to conclude this Covenant made betwixt God and Man, not betwixt God and Chriſt. For,
1. Chriſt is the ſurety and Mediator of this Cove…ant, Heb. 7.22. and 12.24. And therefore not …he party whom God here covenanteth with. For …f ſo, he ſhould be a ſurety for himſelf, and Media…or on behalf of himſelf. As for Moſes he was not …roperly a Mediator, but improperly, a type of Chriſt, …he true Mediator. Chriſt as a Mediator comes be…wixt the two parties Covenanting. Upon his un…ertaking, upon account of Chriſt's ſatisfying, or …ndertaking to ſatisfie for our breach of the firſt …ovenant made with Man, the Lord was pleaſed to …nter into or make another Covenant with us. This …ovenant indeed was confirmed in Chriſt. But I …annot ſee how it can be ſaid to be confirmed with Chriſt. It was foreign, …onfirmed, ratified of God with reſpect unto Chriſt, …ooking at Chriſt, as ſome.
Some argue that the Covenant was made with Chriſt, becauſe he is made the ſurety and Mediator …f it; but I would argue on the contrary. Becauſe …e is the Mediator of the Covenant, therefore he … not properly a party wich whom it is made. What place is left for Man in this Covenant if Chriſt …e both principal, and ſurety? Or can the ſame …erſon be both principal and ſurety in the ſame …ond?
2. If this Covenant was made with Chriſt, then … was made with him, either as God, or as Man, …r as God and Man, or Mediator. But it was not made with Chriſt, as God: For ſo he makes o… party with the Father. Conſider him as God, a… ſo the Father cannot be one party, and the Son an… ther; but are both of them to be looked on as o… and the ſame party. Nor was this Covenant ma… with Chriſt, as Man; none will ſay th… Chriſt as Man was under the Covenant of wor… not under the Covenant of grace. Was the Cov… nant [Believe, and thou ſhalt be ſaved] made to … Man Chriſt? Or that which is ſometimes called th… new Covenant [I will give you a new heart, t… away the ſtony heart, forgive your iniquiti… was the Man Chriſt taken into this Covenant?
Nor was the Covenant made with him as God … Man, or Mediator; but rather was procured … him, ſo that in this reſpect, it is his Teſtam… His Teſtament, not made to him, but made or pr… cured by him. The New Teſtament in his bloo… Indeed if we conſider Chriſt as Mediator, ſo he properly no party: if we conſider him as a pa… in this Covenant, ſo he and his Father are one part and Man the other.
3. The very terms and tenor of the Covenant Grace (hinted at even now) do plainly ſhew w… whom it is made. [Believe, and thou ſhalt be ſave] which is expreſſed in other words and phraſes und… the Old Teſtament, as Iſa. 55.3. Incline your … and come to me; hear, and your ſouls ſhall live. … not this the Covenant that ſucceeded the Coven… of works [Do this, and live.] If the Covenant … Grace be made with Christ, then it follows wh… God requireth in the Covenant of Grace, is requir… of Chriſt. That he muſt believe, and muſt repe… and turn to God.
4. The benefits and bleſſings promiſed in the Covenant of Grace, are ſuch as are proper to us men, us ſinners, and are promiſed unto Us; not unto Chriſt. Will any ſay, that pardon, and free …uſtification was ever promiſed of God to Jeſus Chriſt? were it not blaſphemy to ſay, that Chriſt had any ſin to be pardoned? And though he was acquitted, and juſtified before God, yet not of free Grace; but he fully ſatisfied the higheſt demands of …uſtice, before he received his diſcharge.
5. If the Covenant of Grace be betwixt God …nd Chriſt, not betwixt God and Man, then no Man …pon earth can be charged with breach of Covenant …ere, or condemned, and puniſh'd, as a violater of …e new Covenant.
Object. 1. We read Gal. 3.16. the promiſes were made to Chriſt, that Chriſt was the ſeed.
Anſw. There we are to underſtand Chriſt myſti…al, not Chriſt perſonal. As Beza in his larger …otes, they that think Paul diſputes here of the …erſon of Chriſt, are in an errour, when rather he …eats of two people, i. e. Jews and Gentiles, …rought into one maſſe, or body of the ſeed of Abraham.
Object. 2. Tit. 1.2. we read of eternal life, pro…iſed before the world began; But there was none …efore the world began, to whom this could be pro…iſed, but Jeſus Chriſt our Mediator.
Anſw. 1. Some read foreign, not before …e world began, but before ancient times. Eter…al life was promiſed long agoe, Calvin. See Ball of Covenant, p. 40.à …ltis retro ſeculis, for many ages …aſt.
2. Otherwiſe by [promiſed] we are to underſtand appointed, or decreed; purpoſed it was, b… not promiſed before the world began.
3. How incongruous is it to ſay, Chriſt was M… diator from Eternity, before the world began? I… true, as God he is from Eternity, but not as M… diator.
4. If we could underſtand it no otherwiſe, th… that Eternal life was promiſed before the world … gan; yet it will not follow, that this was promi… to Christ Mediator: Dr. Kellet, Trican. p. 258.As one, W… may I not ſay, it is an holy Tria… giſme of the Father, Son, and H… Ghoſt, ſweetly conſenting and concording in … way of Man's Salvation before Man had a being ſomewhat like that, Let us make man in our … Image, Gen. 1.26.
Object. 2. God promiſeth to give Jeſus Ch… for a Covenant, Iſaiah 42.6. and 49. of Iſaiah therefore the Covenant of Grace was made w… him.
Anſwer. It follows not, but rather the contra… if Chriſt was promiſed of God, as the great bleſ… of the Covenant, it implies the Covenant was m… not with Jeſus Chriſt, but with them to wh… he was ſo promiſed; the Covenant of Grace i… Covenant concerning Chriſt, a Covenant of hi… ſhewing how, or upon what terms we may be… tereſted in him, and made partakers of his ſa… benefits. How then can it be a Covenant of … with him? The promiſes are Yea, and Amen, him, 2 Cor. 1.20. not to him. Or if when … promiſed for a Covenant, we underſtand for a … diator of the Covenant, that implyeth ſtill the … venant was not properly made with him, but betwixt God and thoſe who have him for their Mediator.
Object. 4. But fallen Man was unworthy, and unmeet to enter into Covenant with God.
Anſw. I do moſt freely grant it, I heartily yield this; yet without any prejudice to the Poſition I have laid down, methinks it is evident, this ſets it off as a covenant of Grace indeed; that it is a cove…ant with fallen Man. O wonderful free Grace! that the Lord ſhould make another covenant with Man after Man's violation of that covenant, made with him at firſt; it was not ſo wonderful gracious condeſcenſion, that God vouchſafed at firſt to take an innocent creature into covenant with himſelf, as that after Man hath proved falſe to God; yet the Lord ſhould pleaſe to treat with him again, and enter into another covenant with him. That God ſhould make a covenant with fallen men, with ſinful creatures. Methinks no more need to be ſaid, to prove it a Covenant of Grace. And certainly whatever covenant was made with Christ (as made with him) was not a covenant of Grace, but rather of Juſtice; and whatever we find promiſed to him, was but a juſt reward of his obedience and ſatisfaction. A reward not of Grace, but of Merit.
But that God ſhould any more covenant with poor ſinful creatures, as David ſayes [Although my houſe be not ſo with God, yet he hath made with me an everlaſting covenant.] O this we can never enough admire! And verily I cannot foreſee any inconvenience, or ill conſequence like to attend this aſſertion, that the covenant of Grace is made betwixt God, and Men; (ſtill ſuppoſing Chriſt to be duplicate page duplicate page the Mediator of it) but rather that it doth further advance, and ſet forth the free grace of God, an… lay a ſtronger obligation upon Men, than that opinion doth, which it oppoſeth.