A Complete Body of Divinity, Sermons · 49 (Question 12 cont.)
SERMON XLIX.
WE have taken a brief view of the Nature of Special Government, as it differs from that which is Common,
Secondly. THE Subjects of this Government, (we obſerved,) are Reaſonable Creatures: Now theſe are of Two ſorts, viz. Angels and Men. Both of theſe are equally concerned i… this Government, as to the Subſtance of it▪ being created with, as Cauſes by Counſel, and having a Law given them, according to the Tenour of which they were to be everlaſtingly Happy or Miſerable. Only we may obſerve theſe differences:
1. THERE are many particular things i… the Moral Law, which the Angels were not capable of, but were proper to Men: The Angels being Spirits, whereas thoſe things have a reſpect to Man conſidered as having a Body as well as a Soul; and bearing ſome Relations which they do not, to which there are Relative Duties annexed; ſuch as between Husband and Wife, Parents and Children; Moderation is uſing the Good Things of this Life; inſtituted Worſhip, &c.
2. ANGELS were each one of them to ſtand or fall for himſelf; whereas Adam was the common Head of Mankind. All the Individual Angels were Created at once, in their natural Perfection, and therefore each one made his own Choice voluntarily; but Man was made One at the Firſt, and to be multiplied by Propagation, and in that One, all were comprehended, and tranſacted for, as will afterwards be conſidered.
3. OF the Angels, ſome ſtood never to …ll, others fell, never to be reſtored; whereas in the Firſt Adam, the whole race of Mankind fell under a Curſe of Death; and there are ſome who remain under that Apoſtacy, and others who ar… again reſtored unto Life by the Second Adam. But, as it little concerns us at preſent, to know the particular Tranſaction between God and the Angels, ſo the Scripture hath ſpoken but little diſtinctly about it; but as it relates to Men, we are all deeply intereſted in it, and have need to be well-acquainted with it from the begining to the end.
AND here, The firſt thing that offers it ſelf to our conſideration referring to Man, is the Covenant which paſs'd between God and him at the Firſt, which is the very Baſis on which all page missingat follows is built, and unto which it muſt … referred.
THIS Anſwer before us, affords a Deſcription of this Affair: And in the clearing of it …, we may conſider of theſe things.
(1.) That …ere was ſuch a Covenant paſt between God …d Man.
(2.) When it was made.
(3.) The excellency of it.
(4.) The Nature of it.
(5.) The Sacraments annexed to it.
[1.] THAT there was ſuch a Covenant paſt … God & Man. I need not here tarry … Diſcourſe of the Nature of a Covenant in General. Where two Parties do ſtand mutually obliged one to another in a voluntary Agreement, there is a Covenant: that there was ſuch … …ranſaction between God and Man will appear if we conſider.
1. THAT Adam was by Creation God's Servant. He was made, as all other. Creatures were, for the Service of his Creator, Prov. …0.4. The Lord hath made all things for himſelf. He was a Creature, and ſo bound for God as his laſt end: for this is the natural reſpect which a Creature owes to the Creator, and it is due to Him for giving it it's Being; Pſal. 100.2, 3. Serve the Lord with gladneſs; come before his preſence with ſinging. Know ye that the Lord he is God, it is … that made us, and not we our ſelves; we are his people, and the ſheep of his posture.
2. ADAM was a Reaſonable Creature, and ſo be owed unto God a Reaſonable Service. Rom. 12.1. I beſeech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye preſent your bodies a living ſacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reaſonable Service. The Nature of the Creature diſcovers the Quality of the Service that it owes to God; for the Operation follows the Being of the thing: And as a Reaſonable Creature, Man was capable of Tranſacting with God in the way of a Covenant; he was able to underſtand, and ſubſcribe to the Articles, to give his free Conſent, and ſet his Seal to them.
3. GOD's dealing with all his Creatures is according to their manner of working. Man therefore was made in ſuch a Capacity, that ſo he might actually be indented with; and hereupon God traded with him in this way. Hence,
4. THE Tranſaction between God & Man, recorded, Gen. 2. carries in it the Subſtance of … Covenant; as will be evident if we conſider,
(1.) THAT God gave him a Law or Rule to walk by. He pointed him to what was his Duty; laid out the way of his Obedience before him; Mic. 6.8. He hath ſhewed thee O man, what is Good, and what doth the Lord require of thee.
(2.) HE joined to the Ru…e, Conditional Pro…iſes and Threatnings; by which both God and Man became obliged. For both did God engage Himſelf to proceed according to theſe Sanctions, and laid Man under them: Gen. 2.17. we have the Threatning.
(3.) HE gave Man an Underſtanding both of his Duty, and of his Benefit and Danger. The Woman could tell the Serpent upon what Terms they ſtood with God, Gen. ….2, 3. And this is enough to make it a Covenant between One abſolutely Supream, and a Subject who …w…d himſelf and his all to him: But,
5. ADAM conſented to and approved of … Rule, as … & equal, and … to the Righteouſneſs of the Sanction of it. For neither did, nor could he Object againſt it, but conſented with Eve in the Declaration of it▪ and when he knew that he had tranſgreſſed it, and ſo brought himſelf under the Threatning, his Conſcience accuſed him, and he ſought to hide himſelf from God; and where we have God propounding, and Adam conſenting, on ſuch Articles, this amounts to a Covenant.
[2.] WHEN it was made: viz. When God had Created Men. He was firſt made capable of Covenanting; and then he was Covenanted withal, ſo that it was not the …eer reſult of Creation, but conſequent upon it, and falls under Government: And Man was no ſooner made, and placed in his Station among the Creatures, but God enters into Bonds with him and takes him into Covenant: And the reaſon of this was, becauſe Man was made capable of Happineſs, now he could not be Happy without a Covenant. Thoſe Glorious Rewards of Obedience could not become his due in any other way. He owed Service to God as he was his His Creature, but God owed him nothing, but what he ſhould pleaſe freely to give him: Obedience was but His Duty, and there could have been no Merit in it, not could he have challenged a Reward of Life for it, if it had not been Covenanted for on this Condition; for God is voluntarily and not naturally obliged to any of his Creatures. Man no ſooner was, but he was to ſerve God, and God immediately brought him under the ſtrongeſt Engagements ſo to do.
[3] THE Excellency of this Covenant: It was a Covenant of Life. It is true, there was both Life & Death contained in it, (as will be obſerved) but it is called, a Covenant of Life, not only from the latter part of it, or the Promiſe, but alſo becauſe this Covenant was therefore propounded to Man, that it may ſhew to him the way of Life; and the Uſe which he was to make of the Threatning of Death affixed to it, was to make it an incentive to him to be more carefull in his Obedience, that ſo be might live. It is a Covenant of Life in it ſelf, of Death only by accident; Rom. 10.5. For Moſes deſcribed the righteouſneſs which is of the law, That the man which doeth thoſe things ſh… live by them. Man ſtood now a Probationer for Happineſs or Miſery; the Covenant told him how he might eſcape the one, and gain the other: by offering the Reward to encourage him, by threatning the Penalty to caution him,
[4.] THE Nature of the Covenant is expreſſ in the reſidue of the Anſwer: Life was promiſed upon the Condition, &c. Here let us obſerve,
1. THAT the Covenant between God and Man was a Covenant between Unequals. Such as there is between a King and his Subjects, or a Maſter and his Servants; this indeed is but a ſhadow of it, becauſe God's Supremacy is abſolute; and he hath a Sovereign Right to lay His Commands, and give Articles as He pleaſeth, and for that reaſon it properly belongs to Government; and it is properly called the Covenant of God, and not of Man, in as much as He is the Author and Executor of it; Deut. 8.19. And it ſhall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and ſerve them, and worſhip them, I teſtifie againſt you this day, that ye ſhal ſurely periſh.
2. THE ſubſtance of the Covenant was the Moral Law, conſidered as the bond of the Obligation of the Creature unto God; as it was impoſed by God, and accepted by Man. Impoſed upon a Subject, over whom God had the right of Dominion: Thus is the Law the matter of the firſt Covenant, and therefore it is indifferently in Scripture called, ſometimes a Covenant, and ſometimes a Law; it being that unto which all Man's references are in the Covenant between him and his God, and the ground of the Divine proceedure with him.
3. IN this Covenant we are to obſerve the Parts of it; and they are two, viz. The conditions propounded, and the conſequents annexed: For, as there are two Parties in a Covenant, ſo there is ſomething that each of the Parties is obliged to, and the Obligation is on both, or elſe it could not be a Covenant: Now the conditions here are the Obligations laid upon Man, the annexed conſequents are thoſe which God hath taken upon Himſelf, and bound Himſelf unto: and there was a ſtrong connexion between theſe; as therefore the conditions were two, viz. Obedience and Diſobedience; ſo were the conſequents, viz. Life and Death; the former referring to Obedience, and was contained in a Promiſe, the latter to Diſobedience, and conſiſts of a Threatning: Here then,
(1.) THE Condition of Life was Obedience, Rom. 10.5. Now Moral Obedience, is Man's due, and Perfect, Perſonal attendance to the revealed will of God, or the command given to him, and thereby reſting, ſatisfyed in God, as the chief good; Deut. 6.5. And thou ſhalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy ſoul, and with all thy might. More particularly, in the Rule of Obedience, Man was required, 1. TO acknowledge God's Supremacy, and Authority to Command him, and to have born the higheſt reſpect unto it: God therefore gives that for a Reaſon of his Commands, I am the LORD; that He is an abſolute Monarch, His Will is a Law: Man therefore was to acknowledge the Command worthy of Obedience for its own ſake. 2. NOT to have given Err to any Temptation of Satan, but ſtood reſolutely and unmovably to the Command as his alone guide to eternal Bleſſedneſs; and his not ſo doing, was the firſt ſtep to his fall. 3. TO have made an Abſolute choiſe of God for his Pere…n; and to have reſted ſatisfyed in this choiſe. He was not to take up with any thing, either in Heaven or in Earth in the room of God. Pſal. 73.25. Whom have I in heaven have thee? and there is none upon earth that I deſire beſides thee. He was to chooſe God for himſelf, as his laſt End and beſt Good, and account Him enough. 4. FROM this Principle he was practically to have Attended to the faithful performance of the whole Law or Command. All the faculties and powers of his Soul and Body were to be employed conſtantly in this work; he was to do the Will of God, and nothing elſe; this was his buſineſs; and for that Reaſon it was a Covenant of Works, becauſe there was a work ſet him to do, on which his happineſs depended, Iſai. 56.2.
(2.) THE Reward promiſed to this Obedience was Life: In which Life there was contained the continuance of an Unchangable ſtate of Bleſſedneſs, in the full enjoyment of the Infinite goodneſs of God to his utmoſt capacity, Rom. 10.5. There are Two things contained in it,
1. AN Immutable S…te of Bleſſedneſs. He ſhould have been confirmed in his Obedience, and never loſt it, and ſo have been everlaſtingly happy: for it is Eternal Life that is promiſed: for as this is the reward of Faith now, ſo it ſhould have been of Obedience then; for it is the ſame Life is promiſed in both Covenants: and the continuance of his bodily Life, was included in it.
2. A full Fruition of God to be his Port…: and that is Life, Pſal. 30.5. He ſhould … been his God, Exod. 20.2 and he ſhould … been his for ever. Pſal. 48. ult. For this God's our God for ever and ever; he will be our … even unto death.
(3.) THE condition of Death was Diſobedience▪ And this is contrary to the former; as t…e… fore it was enjoyned him, ſo this was … den him: and it was his Non-attenda… … God's will, and taking up with ſomething … ſtead of God for his portion; and it … in any coming ſhort of duty, or tranſgre… of the Command: This is called Diſobedience, Rom. 5.19. And as the Obedience conſiſted … an entire conformity to the whole Law, ſo … Diſobedience, was in coming ſhort in any … Article, Gal. 3.10. Curſed is every one that … tinueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them.
4. THE Puniſhment threatned for this Diſobedience, was Death, Gen. 2.17. In which is contained an utter loſs of all that is good exhibited in the promiſe, and ſuffering all … miſeries of this Life, and Eternity.
NOW theſe terms were fixt, ratified, unalterable; and that on God's part as well as Man's: He engaged His Holineſs, Juſtice Truth in it, and they were to ſtand inviolable, Mat. 5.18. For verily I ſay unto you, Till heaven and earth paſs, one … or one tide ſhall in … wi…e paſs from the law, till all be fulfilled. Hence,
[5.] WE are to obſerve the Sacraments which were annexed as Seals to this Covenant, and they were two, viz. the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge, Gen. 2.9.
1. THE Tree of Life was a Sacrament, whereby God Sealed up a conſtant Life of Happineſs, in caſe of his Obedience, Gen. 3.22. And the Lord God ſaid, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And … leſt he put forth his hand, and take alſo of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. God had given to Man a concreated Power Moral, enabling of him to obey perfectly; but he was mutable: Hence to encourage him, He made to him a glorious Promiſe of an excellent Reward, if he would be Faithful; and to ratify this Promiſe and to make it the more obliging, He ſequeſtred this Tree, and put that figure upon it, that it ſhould be a Sign and a Seal of the Promiſe, and by looking upon it, he might ſtimulate himſelf, and fortify againſt all Temptations to draw him away.
2. THE Tree of Knowledge was a Sacrament to confirm the Threatning, and witneſs to Man the certainty of his Death, in caſe of Diſobedience; Gen. 2.17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou ſhalt not eat of is: for in the day thou careſt thereof, thou ſhalt ſurely die. It was to let him ſee and know that God was in earneſt; and would be as good as His Word; that the threatning was not meerly to frighten him, but to ratify to him the Truth of what he was warned of. This Tree alſo had a further deſign in it, …. To be a ſpecial Trial of his Obedience: This Tree, as the former, had nothing in its o…n Nature, to make it unlawful for Man to … the Fruit as common Food; but God to … his Sovereignty, did by a poſitive Law, by a reſtraint upon Man's Liberty, and ſo exempted it, to ſee if he would acknowledge …is …overeign, and give Him his Prerogative. Not that all Obedience was reſtrained to this one Article; for the whole Moral Law was his …le; but here was a ſpecial Probation of him; ſo that this Tree was both a Sacrament, and a Teſt unto Man at the Firſt.
USE 1. HERE … ſee the ground of that Truth; that Man's Perdition is in himſelf, Hoſ. 1…9. O Iſrael, thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf. Man is his own undoer, he had a perfect Law given him, and he might have obeyed it if he would, and ſo have been forever happy: If he would … and throw himſelf away forever, he muſt …nd to the hazard of it; if he dy and be damned, he can charge none with the guilt of it but himſelf: The Covenant was a Law of life in it ſelf, if he finds it become a Law of Death, it is thro' his own Default. Man by Covenant was put upon making his own Choice, whether he would Live or Dy; if he then Chuſe to Dy, againſt all Warnings, he juſtly deſerves to be filled with his own Device.
USE 2. SEE …ere a Reaſon of the Juſtice of God's proceedings againſt the Heathen; to pu…iſh them with Eternal Death. Not as they have refuſed to accept of the Second, but as they have violated the Firſt Covenant. The terms of Reconciliation were never propoſed to them, and hence they are not on this account Guilty, neither have they received the written Word, in which the Law is revived, (and hence ſaid to be Judged without the Law, Rom. 2.12.) but all Mankind owe Obedience to the Law Moral; and were intereſted in the Covenant made with Man in Adam; the breach of which Covenant they ſtand Guilty of; having ſinned, and come ſhort of the glory of God, Rom. 3.23.
USE 3. SEE how impoſſible it is for fallen Man, by Perſonal Legal Obedience to recover a State of Life & Happineſs. The Nature of the Covenant of Works diſcovers the vain attempt of Legaliſts, who go about to eſtabliſh a Righteouſneſs of their own: The Nature of this Covenant ſhews it abſolutely impoſſible for fallen Man to recover God…s Favour by his own works: The Covenant ſaid, if Man …in, he ſhall certainly Dy, and it Sealed it: How unreaſonable then is it for any to think by a new Obedience, perſonal, to recover himſelf again to the Promiſe of Life, who is for Sin already actually under the threatning of Death; which muſt be Executed, or the Truth, Juſtice and Holineſs of God will ſuffer. Let Men walk never ſo exactly, yet there is Guilt upon them; and if not removed, they muſt Dy.
USE 4. SEE and Bewail the Happineſs we have miſt of, and the Infelicity we have contracted to our ſelves by the Fall. Had Man obeyed God, all the Creatures had obeyed him, he had poſſeſt an Eternal Unchangable State of Happineſs: Life had been his Portion; all things had conſpired his Good; he had Lived and not Dyed; God would have taken up His Eternal Reſidence with him, and filled him with all Glorious Felicities; but now how far otherwiſe is it? and what a loud Cry is here to all, to ſeek a redreſs by the New Covenant; yea to drive Children to Chriſt in the Days of their Youth: You are now miſerable, make haſt then to be Happy in Chriſt.
[DECEMBER 29. 1691.]