Gods Love to Man and Mans Duty Towards God, Part 2 · Section 7
Mark 1.15.
Repent ye, and believe the Goſpel.
Sect. 7. PROP. VII. The Condition of the Covenant of Grace is … performed by God or by Chriſt for us; … by us; (the Lord enabling us.)
SOme that will not hear of the Covenant of Gra… having any Condition, yet that they may not… thought enemies to faith, repentance, new obedience, would fain ſalve the matter thus, Mr. Patient, Diſt. of Covenants, p. 30, 31.It is a Covenant without all condition required in the creature, but what God himſelf performeth.
Now though I freely grant no man would perform the condition of the Covenant of Grace, without ſpecial grace and help from God; yet to ſay, It is without all condition, but what God himſelf performeth, is a raſh, unſound aſſertion. For,
Firſt, It is ſelf-contradiction. It is to ſay the Covenant is abſolute, and not abſolute; without all condition, and not without all condition required in the creature.
Secondly, It is indeed blaſphemous to ſay that God doth believe in us, repent in us, obey in us. He giveth the grace & ability, but it is man that performeth the Act. He giveth his people that ſpecial help, whereby they come to believe, repent, obey. But it is one thing for God to enable us to perform the condition, and another to perform it himſelf. It is below the Majeſty of God to perform the condition for us; as it is above us, quite above our ſtrength, to perform it without him.
Thirdly, If there be no condition required in the creature, but what God performeth, then the Covenant ſhould run thus, I the Lord do promiſe remiſſion and ſalvation unto you, upon this condition that I give you an heart to believe and repent, upon condition that I perform this in, and for you. Thus God ſhould require the condition of himſelf not of us. Which is moſt abſurd.
Fourthly, Thus men ſhould not deſerve to ſuffer for non-performance of the condition; it being that which God is to perform, and otherwiſe not required in, or of the creature. If the Covena… lieth wholly on Gods part, then how are men puni… able for not keeping Covenant? This is eviden… that ſuch as have the Goſpel preached to them, a… do not come up to the Terms of the new Covenan… (do not believe, and repent,) they not onelyonly d… prive themſelves of the life and happineſs there pro… miſed, but alſo incurre the penalty threatned. No… will God puniſh any for unbelief, when faith w… not required of them; or not required, till th… Lord performed it in them? If that poſition I a… diſproving, were true, the Goſpel ſhould new threaten condemnation for unbelief. Where Go… performeth this for any, that they believe, they a… freed from condemnation upon that account; and … for others, who have not this performed in them, is not required of them, God requiring no mo… than he performeth. By this time I hope you a… ſenſible, that it a dangerous aſſertion, to ſay, … requireth nothing in the Covenant of Grace, but … he performeth.
And ſo it is as falſe to ſay, that the condition of … Covenant is performed by Chriſt.
It is enough for us (ſays one) to belie… that Chriſt hath repented for us, Saltmarſh.b… lieved for us.
But it is not required of Chriſt, but of us ſinne… to repent, and believe. Jeſus Chriſt was made … der the Law, and kept it to a tittle, fulfilled … righteouſneſs, he performed the condition of t… … Covenant. The Covenant of Works, whi… … brake, Chriſt fulfil'd. But he was not un… the Goſpel, nor was he concerned to perform the co… dition of the Covenant of Grace, but onelyonly to ſee that his people the heirs of ſalvation do perform it.
To adviſe ſouls that doubt of their Goſpel ſincerity, to ſee it in Chriſt (as Mr. Saltmarſh does) to ſee it in Chriſt, who hath obeyed perfectly, is miſerably to confound the conditions of the two Covenants, which ought to be moſt carefully diſtinguiſhed. And it implieth thus much, as if ſuch were troubled about what doth not at all concern them. Why ſhould any trouble themſelves about the condition of the Covenant of Grace, to find it in themſelves, if Chriſt hath performed the ſame for them? As if ſouls ſhould diſquiet themſelves, that they cannot ſee how they can ſatisfie Gods juſtice for their ſins, when Chriſt hath done that, and it is not expected from them. If Chriſt hath performed the condition of the Covenant of Grace for us, then it belongeth not to us to perform it. It is done already to our hand. And we ſhould not preſume to take Chriſts work out of his hand.
And if Chriſt fulfilled the conditions of both Covenants for us, then it followeth, that even as he made us without us, ſo he ſaveth us without us; contrary to Phil. 2.12. So likewiſe it followeth, that all for whom Chriſt hath ſatisfied (whether they were all mankind, or all the Elect) are immediately justified, actually diſcharged from all ſin, and condemnation, immediately intereſted in the benefits and bleſſings of the Covenant of Grace, in a ſtate of ſalvation, as ſoon as ever they are in being; there being nothing required to their intereſt in the ſame, but what Chriſt hath done for them. So it follows, that ſuch were never children of wrath, but alwaies in a ſtate of reconciliation with God, contrary t… Eph. 2.3. And ſo again, that we are not juſtified b… faith: but before faith, and without it, contrary t… Rom. 5.1. And then, what ſhould hinder, but that me… may be juſtified and ſaved, who never do believe contrary to Mark 16.16. He that believeth not ſh… be damned. But that the condition of the covenant… Grace is not performed by Chriſt, but by us, appea… from that Propoſition cleared and proved before That the Covenant of Grace is not betwixt God an… Chriſt, but betwixt God and us, or betwixt Chr… and us.