•V,1 v? wV % *^^ ' "'"x iniri >,ria.i L ■ . « y WILTON. > - ^jr*r*ri0'-&'3&3e&k j .*" '""S^^^V .;* 1111(11 III [TfTl I f* »\ If \ THE DOCTRINE O F T H E Two Covenants, Wherein the Nature of Original Sin Is at large Explain'd : St. Paul and Sr. James Reconcil'd in the Great Article of Juftification. WITH A Difcourfe of Glorifying GOD in his Attributes. By the Right Reverend Dr. EZE KIEL HOTKINS, Late Lord Bifhop of London-Derry. Now firft Publifh'd from his Original Manufcripft LONDON: Printed for Richard Smith at Exeter- Exchange in the Strand. MDCGXII. / 'THE EVERAL Pieces of this Right Reverend and very Learned Prelate's Writings, as well thofe few publifh'd by himfelf in his Life-time, as fome others put out fince his Death, having been of late colleded into one Volume, and Printed in Folio under the Title of his Works ; it is eafie to forefee the Objections that will immediate- ly be made againft thefe Difcourfes, and whatever elfe fhall now pretend to come Abroad under the Name of this great Au- thor ; as either that their being Genuine will be much fufpected, or fuppofing they are fo, yet they appear with all the Difad- vantage of Tofthitmous Pieces. » This makes it neceilary to give the Rea- der the trouble of a fhort Preface, to fa- tis'fie him that there is no manner of Rea- A 3 fon T R E F A C E. fon for either of thefe Prejudices againft the Writings he is here prefented with : But that the Learned Bifhop, whofe Name they bear, was undoubtedly the Author of them ; and that they are as correft and finifli'd as any of the other Pieces which have been Printed fince the Bifhop's Death. For this prefent Volume, and two or three more which are defign'd to follow, are publifh'd, as the Title fets forth, from that Excellent Mans own Original Manu- scripts ; all written with his own Hand. This muft be acknowledged as an unde- niable Anfwer to the former of thofe Ob- jeftions, and may in a great meafure give Satisfaction to the latter. Now all this the Manufcripts themfelves do unqueftionably atteft, as may be feen by any one that defires to be further fatif- fied in this Point ; by perufing the Ori- ginals, which, to this end, are lodged in Mr. Smith" 's Hands. Thefe Volumes of Manufcripts contain great part of what hath been already pub- lilh'd under this Learned Author's Name, (among which is one of the three Ser- mons put out by himfelf ) and alfo feveral large Difcourfes which have not yet feen the Light. put there is another Argument which is yet more conclufive, and that is, that one of T R E FA C E. of thofe three Sermons which the Bifliop publifli'd himfelf, and which is therefore beyond all queftion both his genuine Work, and finifh'd with his laft Hand, does fo very little vary in the Print from that Co- py of it which we have in one of thefe Manufcript Volumes, that it is evident the Author's laft Hand was put to it before he tranfcribed it for the Prefs. Now all the reft are written as fair and legibly as that Sermon which was certain- ly iinifti'd, becaufe publifli'd by the Bifliop himfelf ; from whence it is certain, that thefe Manufcript Volumes are all of a piece, and that nothing is contain'd in any of them, but what the Author had put his laft Hand to ; and this, by the way, is another very good Argument of thefe Ma- nufcripts being that Bifliop's Genuine Works. But to put thefe Points beyond all Con- troverfie, I ihall refer the Reader to the learned Works themfelves, from which he hath been detained but too long ; and in thofe he will find that Exaftnefs of Me- thod, that Beauty and Accuracy of Stile, that Ferfpicuity of Expreffion, and thai- Strength of Reafoning, which were all fo peculiar to this great Author; that as they difcover the Mafterly Pen of Bifliop Hop- kins in every Line, I had almoft faid even more than his Hand- writing : So they are a PR E FA C E. a plain Demonftration, that thefe Volumes are more than^r/? Draughts, and do fur- pafs even the laft Hand, and the molt ela- borate Correttions, I will not fay of all, but the Generality of other Writers. I conclude with my hearty and unfeign- ed Prayers, that this and what more is to be publifh'd of that Incomparable Author's Writings, may obtain the good End for which he wrote 'em, and for which they are fo admirably fitted, by a due Influence up- on the Lives of all that read 'em ; and that his Glory may be continually increas'd in Heaven, by the daily Good thefe Pious Works ftiall do on Earth. IT>o hereby Cert if e, That the Original Co- pies of all BiJhoj>Hopkins's Manufcripts were put into my Hands, in order to have thofe Printed, which had not yet been made public 'k; and that I committed fuch of them as yet lay by untaken notice of, to Mr. SmithV Hands, to this furfofe ; the reft of them now remaining in mine. As witnefs my Hand this i %th Day of October, 1711. Michael Hewetfon, Late Archdeacon of Armagh in the Kingdom of Ireland. THE CONTENTS. THE Doctrine of the Covenants is very ufeful to be known Page 2, And yet is generally very little known 5 What a Covenant is 4 Two things requisite to aftricl Covenant, viz. A natural Freedom from each other in the Parties contracting ibid. And their mutual Qmfent to it f On which account there can be no firict and pro- per Covenant between God and Man 6 Nor are God's Tranf actions with Manflrillly and properly a Law 8 But a mixture of Law and Covenant together ibid. Two principal Covenants mentioned in Scripture 5 the Covenant of Works , and the Covenant of Grace p The former called The Righteoufuefs of the Law ibid. What is there meant by the Law *° a A A Table of Contents. A Digreffton concerning the Agreement and the Difference between the Law and the Gofpel p. 13 According to their various Acceptations ibid. A twofold Difference between them I f An d a twofold Agreement 1 7 What is meant by Righteoufnefs 20 Which is either Qualitative, Inherent in the Soul 2, 1 Or Relative, or Legal, to which is required 23 A Law eflabliflid to regulate our ABions, and ibid. A per feci Conformity to that Law ibid. The Law confifts of Pt ecept and Sanclion 2 f According to which there is again a twofold Righ- teoufnefs, either of Obedience, or of Satisfaction ibid. The Promife of Life is annexed only to the for- mer 16 Bach ofthefe is either perfonal or imputed ibid. Why we cannot be perfonally Righteous in the for- mer Senfe 27 And why not in the latter 28 Even though the Penalty be inflteled to fatisfie God's Juftice 30 How the Sufferings of Chrifl were fatisfaBory 32 Without one of thofe\RighteoufneJfes Man cannot be juftified, nor gain Heaven without them both 3f For the Covenant of Works is only fo far repealed by that of Grace, as it required a perfonal, not as it required a per fell Righteoufnefs 26 Several Proofs of this 37 Though we have no perfonal Righteoufnefs, yet our A Table of Contents. our Saviour hath, both of Obedience and Sat if- fatlion p. 40 Why Chrijl, who obeyed the Law, was bound to fuffer the Venal ty of it ■ 43 He was under a twofold Law, the ordinary, and ibid. That of the Mediator, by which he was obliged to Suffer 44 God is f leafed to impute Chriffs Right eouf?iefs to us, and how 4^ What is meant by his juftifying the Ungodly 47 The Cavil of the Papifts agahift imputed Righte- oufnefs anfwered 48 Another Error concerning this Doctrine 49 It was neceffary that both Chriffs active and his pa (Jive Right e oufnefs jhould be imputed to us yo This Right eoufnefs of Chrifl is made over to us by Faith fz From all which we may learn, The true difference between the two Covenants 5- 4 What Influence Faith has into Gurjuflification ibid. That Juflification and Salvation are to be expe- lled on no other Terms than a perfect Righte- oufnefs $j That the Righteoufnefs which is of Works, and that whkh is of Faith , differ only as to the manner of being made ours ibid. Of the Covenant of Works in particular j- o The Tenor of it, and of what it confijls ibid. Two Opinions concerning the Life promifed by it 61 Whether Adam in Innocence may be faid to be Immortal 64 What is meant by the Tree of Life 6f a z That A Table of Contents. That Life was certainly a State of Happhiefi p. 67 But far fiort of that prom? fed under the Covenant of Grace 68 What Death is threatned by this Covenant 70 Not the utter Annihilation of the guilty Soul 71 Tet a lefs fever e Punifhment than that threatned by the Covenant of Grace 72, H)ir God verified this Threatning upon Adam 7 J What was the Condition of the Covenant of Works 74 The fame Obedience required by the Covenant of Grace , except what fuppofes a finful Eflate 75 Adam was able to perform this Obedience j6 And was to perform it in his own Perfon 77 Which is the great difference between the two Co- venants ibid. Jlndfloews under which of them the fecond Adam was made 78 The Temporal Afflitlions of Believers are no part of the Curfe threatned by this Covenant jy But ivflitled by God as Corrections^ only to mani- fefi his Holinefs 80 Not as Pmiiflmients^ to fatisfie his Jufiice 8 1 The Comfort of this Refledion to a true Chrifiian under his Sufferings 82 But the Sufferings of the Impeyiitent are part of that Curfe 84 Who are the Perfons with whom this Covenant was mads ibid. Adam, not in his private Capacity ^but as a Fe- deral Heady and therefore all Mankind in him 89 In whom therefore they alfo braJce this Cove- nant . 9 r And A Table of Contents. And finned in him, not only by his Example, p. 9 3 But as his Sin in the fenfe of the Law was theirs ibid. Thefe things, though difficulty are yet ofufe, and not to be flighted 94 How we become Partakers of Original Sin 96 Different Opinions concerning this 97 Of what it confifls 9 8 How the Imputation and Corruption of it cleaves unto us 102 A dam' j Sin might have fubjetled us to Temporal Evils, only as he was our natural Head ibid. But it fubjecls us to eternal Damnation, only as he was our federal Head 104 And only as fitch, has our Nature its inherent Corruption from him ir7 The lofs of God's Image was that part of the Cwje immediately infilled upon Adam 109 Andjuftly depends upon all his Poflerity ibid. Nor was that Image probably fo much deflroyed by that one aft, Sin, as forfeited by it 1 1 o Elfe his Poflerity had probably retained thai. /- mage 1 1 1 As our Saviour did, who was not reprefented by Adam in that Covenant 1 \ z AdamV Poflerity have the fame Title to the Curfe, which they would have had to theBlefi- fitjg 1 i 4 And it is as jufl to impute to them the Guilt of the firfl^ as the Righteoufnefs of the fecond Adam utf Several nice Quefiions on this Subjezl 1 1 7 By this Covenant of Works all the World /lands Convicted 1 1 8 a 3 Nu A Table of Contents. No Man can perform the Obedience required by it p. lip Nor fatisfie the Penalty 120 Tet if we could do both, Original Sin were a Bar to our legal Righteoufnefs 121 This ftoews both God's Love in Chrift, who hath per formed all this for us 122 And their loft Eftate, who by Vnbelief rejefi Chrift ibid. The Covenant of Grace propounded to us to fupply the defecl of that of Works 124 What is the Tenor of it 127 Believing in Chrift not only fpeculatively, but praclically 128 Confeffing him not only with our Lips, but in our Lives 129 The Order wherein we may confider this Covenant to have been made 1 20 God forefeeing Man's Fall, purpofed to reftore him by a new Covenant ibid. In making which he intended both his own Glory and that vfjefus Chrift 132 On this purpofe of abrogating the Covenant of Works , there fucceeded two Covenants in its place 123 A Covenant of Redemption made from all Eter- nity between God the Father and Jefus Chrift ibid. And a Covenant of RecoJiciliation, which was mads between God and Men, and took place juft after the Fall ibid. The Form of the Covenant of Redemption 1 3 4 From this Covenant many ofthofe Relations flow, where God the Father and the Son ft and mutu- ally engaged ibid. And A Table of Contents. And herein confifls their mutual Agreement upon Terms concerning Man s Salvation p. i?6 This Agreement was as effectual from all Eter- ternity for procuring to Believers all the Bene- fits of the Covenant ; as when afterwards per- formed by Chrift in the fullnefs of Time 1 40 A Summary of God's TranfaBion with Man in making this Covenant ibid. An Anfwer to the Objection, that God might without all this have fav'd us by one a SI of Sovereign Mercy 141 // is not improbable that he might 143 For though his Juftice, like all his other Attri- butes, be ejjential to him, yet the outward Ex- preffions of that and all the reft are fubjecl to the Direction of his Will 144 Nor is punitive Juftice more natural to him, than pardoning Mercy 14^ Though he necejffarily hates Sin, he muft not ne- cefarily puniftj Sinners 145 However, this way of Salvation by Chrift is cer- tainly more for God's Glory than any other It was fit fome Reparation Jhould be made to his Honour 148 No other way could fo jointly glorifie his Mercy and Juftice ibid. The Covenant of Grace is either abfolute or con- ditional 1 fO The former made only to the Elect 1 f r CaWd abfolute, becaufe its Mercies are limited to no Conditions 1 r 2. Faith, the Mercy promised in it, being only the Condition of obtaining the Mercy promised in the conditional Covenant ibid. a 4 Tfo A Table of Contents. The conditional Covenant is that meant in the Text i f 4 Where Salvation implies all the Benefits of the Covenant if 5 Which are all promised of Free Grace , not with- flandingtheCond.it ions required on our part ibid. Tbofe Conditions being as much the Free Gift of God) as the Salvation promised upon them if7 A brief Defer iption of Juflification 168 Thefe Toints though difficult deferve our Tains to underfland them 169 What is the Nature of faving and juflifying 171 Several A Table of Contents. Several Opinions concerning it 1 72. Afummary Defcription of it 178 What is the Nature of that Obedience required as another Condition of this Covenant 1 79 What Influence thefe Conditions have on mr Ju~ ftification 182 Faith doth not juftifie us as it is a Work ibid. Nor as it is a Condition of this Covenant ^ 18$ But as it gives us a title to Chrifl's Right eouf- nefs 1 84 And that as it is the Bond of our myflical Union with Chrifl 186 Obedience is necejfary to our Salvation^ not as the meritorious Caufe of it 1 89 But as it difpofes and makes us fit for it 190 And is the way which God has appointed to ob* tarn it 1 yd. Nor does Chrifl1 s Obedience fuperfede ours ipf Obedience is likewife necejjary to our Juftifie ati~ on ip5 Tet not as it is it felf our Righteoufnefs ibid. ObjeBions from Scripture anfwered 1 9 J And iSV.Paul and St. James reconciled 198 But as a Condition without which we cayinot be juftifyd, zoo And as necejjary to preferve the State of Jufti- fie a tion^ when once attained 201 Good Works therefore are negatively but not pofi- tively a Condition of our Juftifie 'at ion 202 The Doctrine of Juftification by Faith is no Pa- tronage for Liber tinifm 203 Of A Table of Contents, Of glorifying God in his Attributes. THE Divifion of the Difcourfe into three Tarts p. 2.05- The Do&rine, and the Import of it zc6 No Being is fimply its own but God ibid. All others owe their Being to him 208 And depend upon him for the Prefervation of it 20 p And are made to promote his Glory 2 1 o And muft all do it actively or paffively 2 11 We are God's alfo on account of our Redempti- on 212 The fummary Import of the DoBrine z 1 3 The Obligation it lays upon us, viz. iSid. That we are not to fee k our own ibid. A twofold Self-feeking, Spiritual and Earthy 214 The former a feeking after Grace and after Glory 2 r f That Glory ought to be fought after, as well as Grace ibid. The Earthy Self feeking is alfo in fome Cafes Praife -worthy 2ip When performed with due Moderation, and at al- lowed Seafons ibid. And with due Subordination to the more noble Ends of Piety zzo But otherwife 'tis unworthy of a Chriflian} and even of a Man zn If we are not our own, we are not at our own difpofal ziz Nor ought to follow our own Wills ziz Nor to look upon any thing as our own zzf Nm A Table of Contents. Not abfolutely, but only as they are fo for our gOOd p. zzy Nor to let any Sin be our own zz6 We are not our own but God ys 227 Who hath manifold Titles to us, viz. ibid. As he is our Creator > has f repaid us exquifite Bodies 227 And infused Souls into them which are far more excellent zip As he is our Preferver zzi Ashe is our Governor, and as fuch both pro- tecls us from Evils 232 And provides all NeceJJaries for us 224 As we were devoted to him at our Baptifm z 3 f As we profefs and own him to be our Lord zz6 And have often renewed our baptifmal Vows zyj Some are God's more efpecially, as his Elect 238 We are God's alfo as he has redeemed us 240 On which account his Title to us is far greater \ than as he has created us 24 r For Redemption frees us from a greater evil than Creation does 242 And confers greater Benefits upon us 243 And was more expensive to God than our Creation 244 From all which may be inferred, how dear we are to Gody who has made us his by fo many Titles 246 And how unfaithful to him we are, who need jo many Bonds to fecure us 247 And what a great injujlice all Impiety is9 ibid. Viz. No lefs than Sacrilege 248 The reafon of the foregoing Doclrine 2f o^ What this price of our Redemption is z$i To whom it was pay\l Zfz Our A Table of Contents. Our twofold Bondage under Satan p. 2, 5 3 How Chrifi redeem1 d us from both ibid. Why this price was not pafd to Satan 254 How this payment is confident with God*s free Grace in faving us ibid. We are not fo freely redeem d as to exclude all Me- rit on Chrijfs part 255 Who hath pay d the utmoft Farthing for us 2 5 6 But in rejpeel of our felves our Redemption is of perfect free Grace 257 And it was an acl of that Grace to accept our pa)- ment from our furety 259 JEven more than to have forgiven us without any price 260 Con/idering both the Per fin appointed for our furety 161 And that God himfelf enabled that Perfin to pay the whole price exatled from him 263 Whence the Scripture in magnifying this Mercy joyns free Grace and purchased Redemption together 264 What we are redeem d from by that price 2 6" 5 From the Wrath of God ibid. From the Vaffalage of the Devil 267 By retraining his tempting Power 268 Rebuking his accujing Power , 269 And wholly aboli fifing his tormenting Power 270 From the power of Sin , both its reigning ibid. And its condemning Power 271 From the Curfi of the Law ibid. The ApoftWs Inference from the preceding DoElrine^ and the reafin of it, and that by way of Exhor» tatian, to glorifie God, and by way of DireUion% how to do it 272 What it is to glorifie Ged 273 Glory A Table of Contents. Glory is either Real or Relative 274. We cannot glorifieGod in the fir (I- Senfe, though he does us ibid* And that both in our Creation 27 ? And in our Reftitution from our lapfed Eftate ibid. And by the Cwfummation of our Holinefs and Hap- pinefs in Heaven 2j6 But in the fecond Senfe we may and ought to Hori- fie God 2jj Thus God is Jaid to glorifie him f elf -j,n% And thus Creatures may be faid to glorifie him 279 And to difljonour him by the contrary ibid. How we ought to glorifie God 2 % I What his effential Attrtbutes are ibid. Theje mujl be glorify' d by our adoring them ibid. By declaring them? and that in our Words 283 For which we cannot have a nobler Thcam 284 How fome diflienour God this way 285* Others are backward to honour him. 286 This of all Duties ought to be duly timed ibid. And 'tis eafie to find, frequent Occafions for it 287 As our bleffed Saviour did 288 We may alfo declare God's Attributes in optr Works 289 This is the chief way of doing it, ibid. And is done by coff arming our felves to the Like- nefs of his communicable Attrtbutes 2po And by performing thofe Duties to which we are oblig'd by fuch of his Attributes as are uncommu- nicable 292 We mufi glorifie him in his Holinefs by conforming our felves to it as perfectly as we can, 295 Eecauje A Table of Contents. Becaufe other Attributes may be glorify d whether we will or no, this cannot here below, but by our imitating it p. 294 And becaufe while we own our felves to be God's, we ou^ht to bear his Image, not the Devil's 295 Holinefs the only Badge by which God owns us 296 It exfrejfeth it Jelf againft Sin by abhorring it 297 And by avoiding it. Ibid. Wemuft glorifie God in his Mercy and Goodnefs Ibid. Of which the latter is of much larger Extent than the former 298 Thisfeems to be his darling Attribute 299 In this we muji glorifie God, by imitating it 301 Which will excite others both to adore his Mercy -302 (The only end we fliould aim at herein) Ibid. And alfo to reflett how much more Goodnefs there mujl be in the Creator^ when they experience fo much in the Creature 304. Our Goodnefs, to be like God's, mujt be general to all 305 Even to the Beafts 3 06 Free and undeferv'd Ibid. Which our Saviour makes the very Badge of his Difciples 3 07 Wholly difinterejfed 308 Tho' univerfal yet difcriminating% preferring the Good 309 Shewn according to our Ability 310 What abounds to us is not ours but God's and the Poors Ibid. ISTor can be improved better, than by laying it out upon them 311 12 This Duty is very much neglefled 3 And God difion&ur'd thereby 313 We A Table of Contents. We mufi alfo glorifie God's Mercy by endeavouring to become fit Objects of it p, 314. To which nothing bat Repentance being requird, 'tis the utmoft Contempt of it to neglect that Ibid. When thus become fit Objetls of Gods Mercy we mufi aljo glorifie tt by relying firmly upon it 317 // is the greatefi Difhonour to God, to defpond in this Cafe. Ibid. We mufi alfo glorifie this Attribute by praifing God for all the Ejfefts of his Goodnefs. 319 We mufi glorifie God in his Omnipre fence 321 By depending upon him in all Dangers 322 Tet not to run headlong into Danger without any C*ll Ib>d« 'Tis childifi) to fear more in fome Times and Places than in others^fince God is equally prefent always and every where 3 2 5 Such Tears overta!?e us for want of this Reflexion 324 We mufi alfo glorifie him in this Attribute by main- taining confiant Communion with him 325 Converfing with him in our Thought s9 which no Place nor Condition of Life can hinder 326 By demeaning our felves always with that Awe which becomes God's Pre fence Ibid. Which is difhonour d by nothing but Sin 327 We mufi glorifie God'sWtfdom and Omnifcience 328 By endeavouring to encreafe inWtfdom Ibid. Which is neceffary to the glorifying of his other At- tributes, as well as this 3a9 By relying upon it when we are in Difficulties and can find no way to extricate our felves 3 30 The ways of his Providence are unfearchable, and often advance thofe Ends which they feem to thwart 3 3 T By A Table of Contents. By the Sincerity of nil our Aims and Attions \%i Shewn in not daring to allow our felves either in Jinful Thought s, or in Jeer et Sins, or in a fuper- fictal Devotton 333 Hypocrifie th? greatefi DiJJjonour to this Attribute 334 ' By frequent and confeientious performance of Duties in jeer et 33^ How the want of this ImpreJJion makes Men Hypo- crites 337 Whom a due Refletlion on this Attribute would make as zealous in private as in public^ 338 By bearing falfe Accufations patiently and appealing to the all-feeing Eye of God for our Innocency 340 We mufi glorifie God in his Truth 342 And that both in general by imitating it Ibid. And aljo in particular with regard to the Truth of his Predictions , by adoring his Faithfulnefs in the wonderful Accompli foment of fuch as are fulfilled 343 Avd by firmly depending upon the accomplifoment of the reft 345 With Regard to the Truth of his Promifes, by de- pending on the Performance of them9 while we do our Part Ibid. And with rejpetl to the Truth of his Thr earnings ^ by trembling at the Judgments denoune'd againft obftinate Sinner s> Jo as to avoid incurring them 346 We muft gkrifie God in his A mighty Power and Soveraignty 3 47 Wherein thefe two differ Ibid. How glorious God is in this Attribute 349 Herein THE DOCTRINE O F T H E Two Covenants. ROM. X. 5, Sec. For Mofes defcribeth the righteoufnefs of the law, that the man which doth thofe things Jhall live by them. But the righteoufnefs which is of faith fpeak- eth on this wife : fay not in thine heart , who jhall afcend into heaven ? that is9 to bring Chrift down from above. Or who Jhall defend into the deep ? that is, to bring. Chrift up again from the dead. But what faith it?. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is the word of righ- teoufnefs which we preach. That if J Ji thou tf The Doctrine of thou Jhalt confefi with thy mouth* the Lord Je/iis9 and (halt believe in thine heart that God hath raifed him from the dead, thou fly alt be faved. F all the myftei ious Depths in Chriftian Religion, there is none more neceflary for our Information,or more in- fluential upon ourPra&ice, than a right Appreheniion and a diftinft Knowledge of the DocSrine of the Cove- nants. For if we be ignorant or miftaken in this, we muft needs be liable to falfe or confufed Notions of the Law and Go- fpel, of our Fall in Adam and Reftaura-^ tion by Chrift, of the true grounds of Mens Condemnation, and the Means and Terms of their Juitification; of the Ju- ftice of God in punifhing Sinners, and his glorious Mercy in faving Believers: And confequenrly neither can many per- plexing Doubts and Questions be refol- ved, the Neceffity and yet different Concurrence of Faith and Obedience unto Salvation cleared, the utter Insuf- ficiency of our own Righteoufnefs to procure Acceptance for us with God e- vinccd, his Juftice vindicated, nor his Grace glorified. For all thefe great and important Truths will readily own them- felves the Two Covenants. felves to be built upon the foundation of God's Covenant and Stipulation with Man, as I hope to make appear in our farther Progrefs. And yet though this Do&rine be thus generally ferviceable both to Knowledge and Praaice, how many are there who call themfelves Chriftians that are grofly ignorant of thefe Tranfaftions between God and Man, that know not upon w7hat Terms they ftand with the Al- mighty, nor what they may expeft ac- cording to the tenour of their mutual Compaft and Agreement. This there- fore I fhall endeavour to treat of as briefly and as clearly as the Subjeft will permit, from the Words which I have now read unto you, which are theTran- fcript and Copy of thofetwo great Con- tra&s made between Heaven and Earth, God and Man ; the one from the begin- ning of his Being, and that is the C ove- nant of Works ; the other immediately upon his Fall and Ruin, and that is the Covenant of Grace: the one called here the righteoujhefs of the taw, and the o- ther the right eoufnefs of faith. But before 1 can particularly treat on this Subjefl, 1 mull firft fliew you what a Covenant is in its general Noti- on, and whether there is or can be any B % fuch The Doctrine of fuch thing as a proper Covenant be- tween God and Man Our Englijb Word Covenant feems to be borrowed from the Latin convenire^ or conventus, which fignifies a mutual Agreement and Accord upon Conditi- ons propounded and accepted by the Parties concerned. And it may be thus defcribed. A Covenant is a mutual Con- fent and Agreement entered into be- tween Perfons, whereby they ftand bound each to other to perform the Conditions contracted and indented for. And thus a Covenant is the very fame thing with a Contract or Bargain. Now to a ftrift and proper Covenant there are two things prefuppofed. Firff, That in the Perfons contract- ing there be a natural Liberty and Free- dom the one from the other; that is, that the one be not bound to the other as to the Things covenanted for, ante- cedently to that Compad or Agreement made between them. For where an Ob- ligation to a Duty is natural, there it cannot be ftriftly and properly federal, or arifipg from a Covenant : If Children fhould indent with their Parents to yield them Obedience upon condition that they on their part will afford them fit and convenient Provifion, this cannot in the Tqw Covenants. 5 in ftrift Senfe be called a Covenant, be- caufe neither of the Parties were free from the Obligation of a natural Law, which obliged them antecedently to this r Compact In a proper Covenant the things promifed by each Party mull be due only upon Confent and Agreement, fo that there muft be an Equality of the Perfons covenanting, if not in other re- fpefts, yet in refpecft of that for which they do covenant, that the Right of both in what they mutually promife be equal. If one Man covenant with ano- ther to ferve him faithfully upon condi- tion of fuch a Reward and Wages, tho' there may be much Disparity upon other accounts between them, yet as to the things covenanted for, there is none; the one having as much Right to the Wages, as the other to the Service; and neither having Right to either before the Agreement. Secondly 1 In a proper Covenant there muft be mutual Content of the Perfons covenanting. And this is called a Stipu- lation, whereby each Party doth freely and voluntarily engage himfelf to the other for his own particular Benefit and Advantage. For where both are free and difobliged, it is generally the Ap- prehenfion of fome Good that will ac- B 3 erne The 7)ocirme of crue unto them, that brings them to en- ter into a federal Engagement. ^Jow this being plainly the Nature of a Covenant, it clearly follows that there neitheris5 norcanbe, aftrift.and proper Covenant between God and Man. For, I. Both Parties covenanting are not naturally free the one from the other. God is indeed naturally and originally free, and hath no Obligation to Man an- tecedent to his own gracious Will and Promife. But Man hath a double Bond to Duty ; both his natural Obligation, as he is a Creature, and his federal, as he is a Covenanter ; And therefore he is bound to Obedience, not only by his Stipulation and Engagement, but alfo upon that natural Relation wherein he flands to God as his Creator, and which alone would have been a fufficient Ob- ligation upon him had he never entered into Covenant. And, II. The Creature's Confent and A- greement is not neceflary to the Cove- nant which God makes with it. And that, becaufe the Terms of it being fo infinitely to our Advantage, as there can be no Rerifon imagined why we fhould diffent, fo neither is there any to expeft an explicit Confent for the Rati- fication of it, Neither are we Lords of our the Two Covenants. our felves ; but he that made us may impale on us what Laws he pleafeth; and if he condefcend to encourage us by Promiies of Reward, this voluntary Obligation which God is pleafed to lay upon himfelf, lays a farther Obligation upon us to do what he requires out of Love and Thankfulnefs , Faith and Hope, whereby we chearfully expeft and embrace what he hath promifed; which like wife of it felf is fovaftly tran- fcendent and difproportionate to all our Performances, that it cannot be our Due upon a drift and proper Covenant (for in every fuch Bargain the datum and ac- ceptum, that which is promifed by both Parties muft be alike valuable, at lead in the Efteem of the Covenanters) but ra- ther a free Beneficence upon an arbitra- ry Promife. So that between Man and Man a Co- venant is a mutual and an equal Obliga- tion, but between God and Man is on- ly a mutual Obligation, on God's part to a free Performance of his Promifes, and on Man's part to a chearful Perfor- mance of his Duty ; wherein as there is no Equality either in Right or Value, fo neither is there any Neceflity that Man fhould give an explicit and formal Confent unto it. B 4 And 8 The cDo£trine of And as God's Tranfadlions with us are not flriflly and properly a Covenant, fo neither are they ftriftly and properly a Law; although they are often called fhelSaw of Works, and the Law of Faith. For God doth no: deal with us merely out of ahfolute Sovereignty, but he is gracioufly pleafed to oblige himfelf to us by Promife, which doth not belong to a Sovereign afting as fuch, but car- ries fome Refemblance of a Covenant. So that the Agreement which God hath made with Man is not meerly a Cove- nant, nor meerly a Law, but mixt of both. If God had only faid T>o this, without adding Thou /halt live, this had not been a Covenant, but a Law. And if he had only faid Thou Jhalt live, with- out commanding "Do this, it had not been a Covenant but a Promife. Re- move the Condition and you make it a fimple Promife, remove the Promife and you make it an ablblute Law. But both thefe being found in it, it is both a Law and a Covenant, though both in a large Acceptation. And thus you fee what a Covenant is, and how the Tranfaffions between God and Man may be {aid to be a Cove- nant, and wherein they differ from the proper Notion of it, Yet the Two Covenants. Yet the difference is not fo great, but that the Scripture moft frequently makes mention of Covenants ratihed be- tween God and Man, and chiefly infiits upon the two principal ones, which in- deed are the Argument and Subftance of the . whole Bible, the Covenant of Works, and the Covenant of Grace, in which not only particular Perfons were engag'd, but the whole Race of Mankind. The Summary Contents of which were "Do this and live^ and Believe and live. The former is the Tenor of the Cove- nant of Works, the latter the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace: And both thefe are expreft in my Text. The Covenant of Works is called the right eoufnefs of the Law, that is, the rule of Righteoufnefs by the Law, the Sentence of which is that the man who doth thofe things ft) all live by them. The Covenant of Grace is call'd the righteoufnefs which is of Faith i that is, the rule of obtaining Righ- teoufnefs by Faith, the purport of which is this, that if thou jhalt believe on the Lord Jefus whom God hath rai fed from the dead , thou ft? alt be faved. Now here, before 1 can treat of the Subftance of thefe two Covenants, it will be requifite to explain to you, Firjf, 10 T^he Doctrine of Firjl, What is meant by the Law, And, Secondly, What by Righteoufnefs. To the firft I anfwer, that the Law is taken very varioufly in Scripture ; but mod commonly by it is meant the whole fum of thofe Commands which Mofes from the Mouth of God deliver^ to the IfraeliteS) containing that which we commonly call the Moral, Judicial and Ceremonial Law* But certainly in this place it cannot be taken in that Lati- tude : For the Judicial and Ceremonial Law were not branches of that Cove- nant of Works which God entred into with Adam* nor are any guilty for not obferving them, except the Jews to whom they were particularly delivered. This Law therefore, which, according to the Covenant of Works, mull be punftually fulfilled, in order to our ob- taining Juftificalion by it, is the Moral Law, the'Law aadDiftates of pure and uncorrupted Nature. And thi^few of Nature is no other but a brighflRid fhi- ning Impreilion of Divine Light upon the Soul, a kind of Parely and Reflecti- on of the immutable, unfearchable and eternal Law of God's Holinefs? a Com- munication of Divine Attributes unto us, whereby in our firft moulding we were ftampt the Two Covenants. ftampt after the Similitude of God, and are faid to bear his Image. Of this Mo- ral Law God hath given the World two Draughts, the one Archetypal, being the fair ftridtures of his own Likenefs in our firft Creation: the other Eftypal, in the Decalogue, wherein he hath in ten Words limned out what Mans Nature was when it was perfeft, and what it ought to be that it may be perfefl:. So that for the Matter and Subftance of them there is no difference at all be- tween the Original Law of Man's firft Creation, the Law of pure Reafon and uncorrupted Nature, and the Tranfcript thereof in the Moral Law deliver'd by Mo/es. And therefore as the Law of his Creation was to Adam a Covenant of Works, fo the Moral Law being for the matter of it the very fame, muft alfo be acknowledged to be the Matter and Subftance of the Covenant of Works. The fame Commands -of both Tables which tbind us to Obedience, bound A- dam himfelf, fo far forth as his Condi- tion in Paradife was capable of an aftual Obligation by them. For Parents he had none to honour, Neighbours and Servants he had none to receive the Of- fices of Juftice and Charity. But had he continued in his firft Eftate 'till thefe Rela- II 12 The TloBrine of Relations had fprung up about him, the fame Commands from the innate Princi- ple of his Reafon would have bound him to his refpe&ive Duties towards them, as do now bind us. And this may be farther difcern'd even by thofe obfcure Prints of the Law of Nature which yet remain upon the Hearts of Heathens, who though they have not the Law, yet (faith the Apoftle) they do by Nature the things contained in the Law, i.e. in the Moral Law, Rom. x. 14. As . when Mofes brake the two Tables of Stone, yet fomething of the Command- ments was ftill left engf aven by the Fin- ger of God upon the ihatter'd pieces of them ; lo when Man fell, and brake that goodly frame of his Nature, yet ftill fome remains and parcels of the fame Law, written there likewife by the Finger of God, may be obferv'd ftill to continue upon it. So that between the Law of pure Nature, and the Moral Law, there is as much Agreement as between an In- denture and its Counterpart. And there- fore if the Law of Nature were to Adam a Covenant of Works, as doubtlefs it was, the Moral Law being for the mat- ter of it the fame, mud Jikewife for the matter of it be the fame Covenant. the Two Covenants. 1 3 Now the Moral Law may be confi- der'd by us either as a Covenant of Works, or as a Rule of Life. In the former fefpeft it is fuperceded to all Believers by the Mercy and Grace of the Gofpel ; in the latter it is explain'd, corroborated, and protected by the Go- fpel ; and though it be no longer the meafure of God's Proceedings towards us, yet flill it is the meafure of our Duty towards him. And here if a profitable Digreffion may be allowed, give me leave to fhew you the Agreement and Difference that there is between the Law and the Gofpel. For fince they are vulgarly thought fuch oppofite things, it will not, perhaps, be im- pertinent to itate and fix the limits both of their Oppofition and Concord. When we fpeak of the Law and Gofpel, the Words are very equivocal, and may caufe many Miitakes and Errors in ignorant and confusM Minds. For by the Law three things may be underilood : Fir]}, The Law as a Covenant of Works. And then (as hath been alrea- dy noted) it muft be taken for the Sum and Subftance of the Moral Law, as ori- ginally imprinted in our Natures. Secondly^ By Law m^y be meant the Moral Law, as it is thePailefor our Du- ty 14- The Doffrine of ty and Obedience. And fo we under- fland it when we commonly fay, the Law commands this or that to be done, or this and that to be avoided. Thirdly, By the Law may be meant legal Adminiftrations and Ceremonies, which under the Pedagogy of Mofes were a great part of the Jewijh Wor- ship. And thus we call their Sacrifices, Purifyings, ways of Attonement, and other Typical Rites, Legal Obfervances. So likewife when we fpeak of the Gofpel, two things may be meant by it. Firft, Gofpel Grace purchased for loft Mankind by Jefus Chrift : Both rela- tive Grace for the change of our State in Pardon, Juftification, Adoption, &c\ and real Grace for the change of our Natures in SaneHfication and Renova- tion. And thus we ufe to fay, that the firft Gofpel that ever was preach'd in the World, was to Adam prefently after his Fall by God himfelf, Gen. 3. 5. The Seed of the Woman fhall break the Ser- pen? s Head : For this was the firft Di- fcovery of Grace and Mercy through Chrift Jefus. Yea, and the Promife made to Abraham many Ages before the coming of Chrift into the World, is ly the Apoftle called the Preaching of the the Two Covenants. 15 the Gofpel, Gal. 3. 8. God (faith the Apoftle) preach? d before the Gojpel unto Abraham^ faying* in thee fhall all Na- tions be bkjfed. Secondly 1 By Gofpel is fometimes meant the Gofpel A dminiftration of this Grace, difpens'dto the World by Chrift himfelf and his Miniflers, in a more free and open way, than the Shadows under the Law did exhibit it. Now according to thefe various Ac- ceptations of Law and Gofpel, we jnay obferve a twofold Difference, and a twofold Agreement, between them. Firjly If we underftand by the Law a Covenant of Works, and by Gofpel the Grace and Mercy of the Gofpel, fothey are extreamly oppofite and contrary one to the other. For take Gofpel Grace for Relative Grace, fuch as whereby we are pardoned, reconciled, juftified and adopted, thefe could have no place at all under the Covenant of Works. Yea, if we take Gofpel Grace for the real Grace of Sanftification and Reno- vation, fo as thefe Terms do imply the making of an unclean thing holy, and an old thing new, it had not, neither could have place under the Covenant of Works; becaufe there was no Unclean- nefs fuppofed to be done away, nor any thing The Tto&rine of thing old that fliould be renewed. For this Covenant makes no allowances for Tranfgreffion, nor any admiffion of Repentance. Yet indeed the Habits of Grace which now fanftifie us, were alfo in Adam whilfl under this Covenant, yea and Chrift alfo was the Author of them; but with this difference, that to him Chrift was the Author of them meer- ly as Creator, but to us as Redeemer; to him, only as God the fecond Perron, but to us as God-Man the Mediator. Secondly i If by the Law we mean a legal Adminiftration under Types and Fi- gures, fuch as were the Sacrifices and Ceremonies in ufe under the JewiJI? Difcipline, and by Gofpel that clear and unvailed way of difpeniing the Means of Salvation fince the coming of Chriftinto the World, fo again they as much differ each from other as Shadows do from Sub- fiance, or Clouds from Sun-fhine. And thus may we underftand that Antithefis, John i. 17. The Law was given by Mo- Jes, i. e. the Ceremonial fliady Law; but Grace and Truth came by J e fits Chrift, i. e. a clearer and more full nSanifefta- tion of Grace, and the very Subihnce and Truth of thofe things which were before typitied and adumbrated. Thefe the Two Covenants. Thefe are the two Differences be- tween the Law and Gofpel, in both which the Gofpel takes place upon the Abrogation of the Law. Gofpel Grace hath abrogated the Law as a Covenant, and Gofpel Difpenfations have abrogated Legal Ceremonies. Their Agreement is likewife twofold. Firjl, If we take the Moral Law as it is the directive Rule of our Obedience, fo there is a perfeft Harmony and Ac- cord between it and the Gofpel. For the Duties of the Moral Law are as ftriftly required from Believers fince Chrift's coming as they were before, yea as ilriftly as ever they were from Adam in Innocence, though not upon the fame terms from us as from him. The Gofpel is in this refpeft fo far from weakninp; the Law, that it doth rather much ftrengthen and confirm it. What faith our Saviour, Matth. $. 17. I am not come to deftroy the Law, but to fulfil it. And the Apoftle, Rom. 3. 31. 'Do we then make 'void the Law through Faith ? God forbid: yea-, we eftablijh the Law. The Gofpel receives the Law in- to its Protection and Patronage, fo that to the obliging Power which it had be- fore from the Authority of God the great Sovereign of the World enafting it, here- C by The DoSirine of by is added the farther Sanftion of Chriit the Mediator ratifying and con- firming it, who likewife gives us of his Spirit, whereby we are enabled to aft in Conformity to the Law, and to ful- fil its Commands. The Law is there- fore now taken within the Pale of the Gofpel, and incorporated into it, fo that it is no longer Law and Gofpel, but ra- ther an Evangelical and Gofpel Law. Secondly, If by Law we mean the Le- gal Adminiftrations of Ceremonies and Sacrifices, Types and Figures, ufed under the MofaLal Difcipline, and if by Gofpel we mean the Grace exhibited by it of Pardon, Juftification, &c. fo neither is there anyOppofition or Repugnance be- tween them, but a mofl perfeft Accord and Agreement. For before Chriit's co- ming into the World Gofpel Grace was under a Legal Adminiftration. When the Sun is approaching us in the Morn- ing, though its Body be under the Ho- rizon and in another Hemifphere, yet then we fee the dawning and glimmer- ing of its Light : So was it in the Church ; though the Sun of Righteoufnefs was not rifen upon them with his full brightnefs, yet they then faw and enjoy'd the dawn of our perfe&Day; and thofe Jews who lived as it were in the other Hemifphere of the Two Covenants. J9 of Time before Chrift's coming, were as much under Grace as now we are, though not under fuch clear and glori- ous Difpenfations of it. We read in- deed, that the'Diftiples were firfi called Chriftians fome few Years after our Sa- viour's Death ; but yet thofe Saints who lived many Ages before his Birth, were as truly Chriftians as they, though not known nor diftinguilh'd by that Name. Yea, and I remember I have fomewhere met wich a PafFage oi^t.Anihrofe^ *pri-* De Sa us capijfepopulum Chriftianum, qtidmpo- Cl'am> *• fulum Judaorum ; there were Chriftian 4* c# 3" ^People in the Worlds before ever there was a Jewijh Nation. They had then the fame Chrift to fave them, the fame Promifes to fupport them, the fame Faith to appropriate both unto them, as now we have. They were under as great an Impoflibility of obtaining Life by the Deeds of the Law, as we are ; and we under as ftrift an Injunction to fulfil the Commands of the Law, as was ever on themimpos'd. The only Diffe- rence between them and us confifts in . this, that they faw the Sun of Righte- oufnefs under a Cloud, we openly; they! by its refleftioir, we direftly. And thus much for the opening of what is meant by the Law in this C z Text, The 'DoBrine of Text, which is the Moral Law as a Co- venant of Works. The fecond Preliminary was to ex- plain what is meant by Righteoufnefs. Mofes defer ibeth the righteoufnefs of the Law, &c. And indeed unlefs we have a clear Notion of this, we can neither know for what Ends the Covenants were made, nor wherein the nature of Juftification doth confift. For, becaufe we fulfil the Covenant made with us by God, therefore are we righteous: and becaufe we are righteous according to the Terms of the Covenant, therefore are we juftified. So that a clear Know- ledge of this Righteoufnefs will be fer- viceable to the unfolding of both ; fince it is the end of the Covenant, and the matter of Juftification. This therefore I fhall attempt, by gi- ving firfl feveral Diltinftions, and then feveral Thefes or Pofitions concerning Righteoufnefs. There is therefore a two-fold Righ- teoufnefs. Firjf, Qualitative, or that which may be underftood as a Quality or Habit in i us. Secondly j Relative or Legal ; or that which ftands in Conformity to fomc Law. A the Two Covenants. A Qualitative Righteoufnefs is nothing elfe, but the divine Qualities of Grace and Holinefs inherent in the Soul. Ho- linefs and Righteoufnefs, to be gracious, and to be righteous, in this Senfe figni- fie one and the lame thing. Nothing doth more frequently occur in Scripture than this ufe of the Word. So Noah is called righteous, Gen. 7. 1. And Abra- ham pleads with God for the righteous in Sodom, Gen. 18. 23, 24. And Zacha- ry and Elizabeth have this Teftimony, that they were both righteous, becaufe they walked in all the Commandments of the Lord blamelefs , Luke 1. 6. The ways of Holinefs are called the ways of Righteoufnefs, Tfal. 23. 3. And the works of Holinefs, works of Righte- oufnefs, Tfal. 15*. 2. Ifai. 64. 5-. And 1 John 3.7. He that doth righteoufnefs is righteous. Many other Places there are, too numerous to be cited, wherein Righteoufnefs is taken both for the in- herent Principle of Holinefs, and for the gracious Aftions that proceed there- from. It is indeed improper to call our Holinefs, which is fo imperfeft and full of Failings, by the Name of Righteouf- nefs. Nay, were it moil perfeft and confummate, yet it is not the fame with Righteoufnefs ftri&ly and properly ta- C 3 ken, 22 The Doftrine of ken. For Righteoufnefs properly is ra- ther a Denomination arifing from the Conformity of Adions to their Rule, than either the Principle or Subftance of the Aftions themfelves. For that is righteous which is right ; and that is right which is agreeable to the Rule by which it is to be meafured. Even in A- dam^ whofe Holinefs was perfeft, yet was there this difference between it and his Righteoufnefs, at leaft in our clear Conceptions, that his Grace as it was conformable to its Pattern, vi&. the Purity of God, fo it was his Holinefs ; but as it flood in Conformity to the Law of God, fo it was his Righteoufnefs. For in ltri£t Propriety of Speech, the Rule of Holinefs is different from the Rule of Righteoufnefs: Holinefs is mea- fured by fimilitude to God ; Righteouf- nefs by conformity to the Law. Holi- nefs may admit of degrees, and be more or lefs perfeft in feveral Subjefts in whom it is implanted ; but Righteouf- nefs confifts in an indivifible and invari- able Point; for if it be lefs than a per- feft Conformity 'tis not Righteoufnefs, and more than perfect cannot be. Yet our defective and imperfed Holinefs may obtain the name of Righteoufnefs, either becaufe it flows from that Princi- ple the Two Covenants. pie which in its own Nature tends to a perfeft Conformity unto the Law, or elfe becaufe it is a neceflary and insepa- rable Concomitant of a true and proper Righteoufnefs, tho5 not our own, yet imputed. Secondly, There is a Legal or Relative Righteoufnefs ; and this a Man is faid to have when the Law by which he is to be judged hath nothing whereof to ac- cufe him. Unto this Righteoufnefs there is required, i. A Law eftabliili'd for the regula- ting our A&ions. For as where there is no Law there can be no Tranfgreffi- on, fo neither can there be any proper pofitive Righteoufnefs. And, i. There muft be a perfeft Confor- mity unto this Law. The Law is the ftreight Rule by which all our Aftionsare to be meafured ; I mean the Law of Na- ture and right Reafon enafted to all Mankind, and the fuperadded Law of divine Revelation to thofe who enjoy it. Now, it is a Gontradi&ion to affirm that there can be a Righteoufnefs where there is any Obliquity in Aftions com- pared to the Rule and Law whereby they muft be judged : For in cafe of fuch Obliquity and Crookednefs, the C a Law The DoSlrine of Law hath an advantage to lay in an Ac- cufation againit the Tranfgreflbr. So then we may take a brief Defcri- ption of Righteouihefs properly fo call'd in thefe terms. Righteoufnefs is a De- nomination, firft of Aftions, and con- fequently of Perfons, arifing from their perfeft Conformity to the Law whereby they muft be judged. It muft be firit of A&ions, and then of the Perfon ; becaufe the Righteoufnefs of the Per- fon refults from the Conformity of his Aftions. Nor will it fuffice that fome of his Aftions be thus conformable to the Law, but every Aftion that falls under its cognizance muft be conformed unto it, or elfe the Perfon can by no means be accounted righteous. This perfefl: Conformity being thus absolutely neceflary to conftitute a Per- fon righteous, and yet as abfolutely im- poilible to us in this our lapfed State, it might therefore feem to be alike im- poffible that ever we ihould obtain a Righteoufnefs that might avail to our justification. And therefore for the clea- rer Apprehenfion of the nature of Righ- teoufnefs, and the manner how we are denominated Righteous, (which indeed is the very critical Point in theDoftrine of the Two Covenants. 2< of Juflification) thefe following Diftin- dions, if duly ponder'd, will be very ferviceable. The Law confifts of two Parts. Fzrjf, The Precept requiring Obedi- ence, T>o this. Secondly^ The San&ion of this Pre- cept by Rewards and Punifliments. The man that doth thefe things Jhall live by them, is the Reward promifed unto O- bedience ; and the Soul that Jinneth it Jhall die9 is the Punifhment threatened againft Difobedience. Now according to thefe two parts of the Law, fo there are two ways of be- coming righteous by the Law, fo.that it ihall have nothing to lay to our charge. The one is by Obedience to the Pre- cept ; the other is by Submiffion to the Penalty : Not only he who perf3rms what the Law commands, is thereby righteous, but he alfo who hath fuffer'd what the Law threatens. From hence we may again diftinguifh Righteoufnefs, into a Righteoufnefs of Obedience, and a Righteoufnefs of Satisfa&ioi) : The former arifeth from performing the Pre- cept of the Law, the latter from un- dergoing the Penalty. Between thefe two RighteoufnefTes this remarkable Difference may be obferyed, that thp Promife x 26 The DoSrine of Promife of Life being annexed to the fulfilling of the Precept, the Righteouf- nefs of Obedience gives a full Right and Title unto the Life promifed, but no fuch Right refults from the Righteouf- nefs of Satisfa&ion. For it is not faid in the Law, Suffer this and live, fince the fuffering it felf was Death ; but T>o this and live. So that by meer Satif- faftion a Man is not accounted the Ful- filler of the Law, nor yet farther to be dealt withal as a Tranfgreffor of it. Hence then, the one may be call'd a Pofitive Righteoufnefs, becaufe it ari- feth from aftual and pofitive Conformi- ty of our Obedience to the Rules of the Law ; the other only Negative Righte- oufnefs, becaufe Satisfaction is equiva- lent to Innocency, and reduceth the Perfon to a guiltlefs Condition, which I here call a Negative Righteoufnefs. Now each of thefe, both the Righte- oufnefs of Obedience, and of Satisfaftion, may again be twofold, either Perfonal, or Imputed. I call that Perfonal Righte- oufnefs, which a Man in his own Per- fon works out, whether it be of Obedi- ence to, the Commands of the Law, or of Sacisf iftion to the Penalty thereof. Imputed Righteoufnefs is a Righteoufnefs wrought out by another, yet gracioufly by the Two Covenants. 27 by the Law-giver himielf made ours, and fo accounted as effeftual to all In- tents of the Law, as if we had in our own Perfons performed it. Thefe Diftinftions being thus premi- fed, I fliall now proceed to lay down fome Pofitions which may farther clear up this Subjeft to our Apprehenfions. Fir/ly If we could perfeftly fulfil the Preceptive part of the Law, we fliould thereby obtain a perfeft Righteoufnefs of Obedience, and might lay claim to eter- nal Life by vertue of the Promife annex- ed to the Covenant of Works. This is moft unqueftionably true,efpecially if we fuppofe this perfeft Obedience by our own natural Strength without the Afli- fiance of divine and fupernatural Grace; becaufe fuch an Ability would infer the primitive Integrity of our Nature, and exclude the Guilt of original Sin, which hath involved all in theCurfe and Maledi&ion of the Law. Secondly, If we could undergo the whole of that Puniihment which the Law threatens for Difobedien:e, then alfo fliould we be accounted perso- nally righteous by a Righteoufnefs of Satisfaction. If an Offender againft an human Law fuffers the Penalty which the Law requires to be inflifted on The DoSlrine of on him according to the Nature of his Offence, whether it be Imprifonment, a pecuniary Mulft, or the like, that Man thereby becomes negatively righteous, becaufe the Law is fatisfy'd, fo that it hath nothing farther to charge againfl: him for that particular Fad:. Thusftands the Cafe in reference to the Law of God, The tranfgrefling the Command binds us over to iiiffer thePunifliment; which Suffering if we can accomplifh, and come from under, we fliall be as righte- ous in the Sight of God as if we had never tranfgrefs'd. Thirdly, Becaufe the Punifliment threatned by the Law of Works is fuch as can never be eluftated,nor fully and compleatly born by us, therefore it is utterly impoffible that ever we fliould obtain a perfonal Righteoufnefs of Sa- tisfaction. Indeed could we fuffer it and come from under it, we fhould then be as righteous and innocent as if we had never tranfgrefs'd. But this is utterly impoffible. For, Firft, Infinite Juflice cannot be fatif- fy'd under the rate of infinite Punifli- ment. In a full Satisfa&ion the Punifli- ment muft anfwer the Greatnefs of the Offence. But every Offence againfl: God hath an infinite Heinoufnefs in it, and the Two Covenants. 29 and therefore the Punifhment for it muft be infinite. Crimes are greatned not only from the Nature of the Aftion as it is in it felf flagitious, but alfo from the Quality and Dignity of the Perfon againit whom they are committed. Re- viling and injurious Speeches againft a Man's Equal are but a&ionable, but a- gainft the King they are treafonable. A lefs Offence againft an excellent Per- fon, is more heinous than a greater a- gainft a more ignoble Perfon. And con- sequently God being of infinite Majefty and Perfection, every Offence againft him muft needs be infinitely heinous, and therefore muft be infinitely punifh'd before full Satisfaction can be made for it. Secondly, There are but two ways how a Punifhment can be imagined to be infinite. The one is inteniively, when it is infinite in Degrees; the other is extenfively, when it is infinite in Dura- tion and Continuance, though but finite in Degree. If the Punifhment be ei- ther of thefe ways infinite, it is fully fa- tisfaftory and commenfurate to the di- vine Juftice which is infinite. But, Thirdly , We cannot poflibly fuflfer a Punifhment which is infinite in Degrees, becaufe we our felves are but finite in The cJDoEirine of in our Natures ; and what is finite cannot contain what is infinite: Yea though God fhould ftretch and widen our Capa- cities to theutmoft,yet we can never be- come Vefiels large enough to hold in- finite W rath at once. Therefore , Fourthly ', The Punifhment of Sinners, becaufe it cannot be infinite in Decrees, that it may be fatisfa&ory, muft be in- finite in Duration and Continuance ; that fo a finite, yet immortal Creature, as the Soul of Man is, may undergo a Penalty fome way infinite as is the Juftice of- fended. Fifthly, Becaufe their Punifliment muft be infinite in Duration, therefore it is utterly impoffible that ever it fliould be compleatly born and eluftated, fince what is to laft to all Eternity can never be accomplifli'd. And therefore it is impoffible that ever we fliould procure to our felves a Righteoufnefs of Satif- fa&ion, as impoffible as it is to out-live Eternity, or to find a Period in what muft continue for ever. But it may be objefted, Is not God's Juftice fatisfy'd in the Punifliment of the damned? why elfe doth he inflift it? And if Juftice be fatisfy'd in their Dam- nation, how then can Satisfaftion be a Righteoufnefs equivalent to Innocence, fince the Two Covenants. 31 fmcetheyfliall never be difcharged from their Torments? To this I anfwer, Firjfy That there fliall never be any time wherein the Juftice of God fhall be fo fully fatisfy'd by the damned in Hell, as to require no more Sufferings from them : For they fliall be making Satisfaction to all Eternity. The infi- nite Juftice of God is fatisfy'd in this, that it fliall be fatisfying it felf to all E- ternity: And yet in all that Eternity, there fliall be no one Moment wherein the Sinner fliall be able to fay itisfinifli'd, and Juftice is fully fatisfy'd. Secondly j To this may be added, that the eternal Succeflion of their Torments is in refpeft of God a permanent Inftant, a fixed and abiding Now. So that the very Infinity of their Punifliment in the everlafting Continuance of it, is account- ed by God (to whom a thoufand Years, yea thoufands of Millions of Years, are but as yefterday when 'tis paft) as now aftually prefent and exifting. For in his,Effence there is no Variation, and in his Knowledge Objefts have no Suc- cefRonbefides that of Method and Or- der. But how then, may fome fay , were •* the Sufferings of Chrift Satisfaftory, fince 32 The DoSirine of fince they were not infinite nor eternal? I anfwer, Firjl, That our Saviour Chrifl being God as well as Man, and fo an infinite Perfon, might well bear the load of infinite Degrees of Wrath at once laid upon him, and thereby com- pleat his Satisfa&ion. So that his Suffer- ings might be intenfively infinite, and yet not exceed the Capacity of his Na- ture. Or if any fhould fcruple whether the Punifhment of Chrifl were infinite in Degrees, yet, Secondly, We may affirm that the Dig- nity of his Perfon, being God as well as Man, might compound for the Mea- fure of his Sufferings, and lhorten their Duration. For it is infinite Suffering for an infinite Perfon to fuffer, it being an infi- nite Humiliation and Abafcment. How- ever, that Punifhment which is flretch'd out by the Line of Eternity when laid up- on the damned, was all wound up toge- ther when inflifted on Chrifl : Heat one large Draught drank off the Cup of that Fury, which they everlaflingly drain by little Drops. And could they, as he did, bear and eluftate the whole Punifhment at once, they would thereby obtain a Righteoufnefs of Satisfaction, and be proceeded with as innocent or negative- ly righteous. That's the third Pofition* Fourthly, the Two Covenants. 33 Fourthly, Another Pofition fhall be this, Becaufe we can neither fulfil the Commands of the Law, nor yet under- go and elu&ate the utmoit extremity of the Punifliment, therefore our Righte- oufnefs cannot poffibly be inherent or perfonal. We cannot be personally righteous by perfeft Obedience, be- caufe of the Corruption of our Natures ; we cannot be perfonally Righteous by full Satisfa&ion, becaufe of the Condi- tion of our Natures : Our corrupt ftate makes our perfeft Obedience a thing impoffible; and our limited finite State makes our full Satisfaction as impoffible. As we are fallen Sinners, fo we lye un- der a fad Neceffity of tranfgreffing the Law : As we are vile Creatures, fo we lye under an utter Incapacity of recom- penfing Divine Juftice. Well therefore might the Apoftle cry out, There is none righteous, no not one, Rom. 3. 10. As for a perfonal Righteoufnefs of Obedi- ence, the Prophet unfolds that goodly Garment, Ifa. 64. 6. All our righteoufi neffes are but filthy rags. Rags they are; and therefore cannot cover our Na- ednefs: Filthy Rags they are, and there- fore need a covering for themfelves. To think to cover filth by filth, is no- D thing 34 The T>oBrine of thing elfe but to make both more odi- ous in the fight of God. Nor can we hope to appear before God upon a Righteoufnefs of Satisfacti- on : For how (hould we fatisfie his Ju- ftice? Is it by doing? Why, whatfoever we can do, is, I. God's Gift. II. Our own Duty had we never finned. And, III. Can bear no proportion to the Sin committed : For no Duty is of infinite Goodnefs ; but every Sin is of infinite Heighnoufnefs, as hath been de- monflrated ; and therefore no Duty can make Satisfa&ion for it. Is it by Suffering that we hope we may fatisfie God ? Alas, this is nothing elfe but to feek Salvation by being damned ; for that's the Penal part of the Law, and the only perfonal Satisfaction that the Juftice of God will exaft of Sin- ners. Now though it be thus in vain to feek for a Righteoufnefs of our own, either of the one kind, or of the other ; yet that Corruption of our Natures which is the only Caufe we have not a perfeft perfonal Righteoufnefs of Obedience, ftill prompts us infenfibly to truft to it; and ready we are upon alloccafionstobe draw- the Two Covenants. drawing up an Inventory of our good Works as the Merit of our Juftification, which (if they be really found) are but good Evidences of it. For, Fifthly, The Righteoufnefs which alone can juftifie us, muft be a Righte- oufnefs either of Obedience, or Satif- faftion, either doing what the Law hath required, or fuffering what it threatens ; and indeed both are necefla- ry to bring us to Heav'n and Happinefs, in a way of Juftification. Perhaps God might, by the abfolute Prerogative of his Mercy, have pardoned and faved Sin- ners, without requiring any Righteouf- nefs or Satisfa&ion. But I fay, that it is utterly impoffible, and contradi&ious, that he fliould juftifie any without a Righteoufnefs : For the very Notion of Juftification doth eflentially connote and infer a Righteoufnefs, fince it is God's owning and dealing with Men as righte- ous. For ought I know, God might, had he fo pleafed, have pardoned and faved us without any Righteoufnefs, but cer- tain I am he could not juftifie us with- out it. Now that is no Righteoufnefs which doth not fully aniwer the Law which is the Rule of it : For the leaft defeft deftroys its Nature, and turns it into Unrighteoufnefs. D % X The DoSirine of If it be here obje&ed, that the Rule of our Righteoufnefs is not the .Law of Works, but the Law of Faith ; that the Covenant of Works is abolifh'd, and that of Grace fucceeded in the place thereof, which requires faith, Repen- tance, and fincere Obedience as the Con- ditions of our Juftification, and that thefe are now the Righteoufnefs by which we are juftifled : I anfwer, by lay- ing down A Sixth Pofition, That the Covenant of Works is only fo far forth repealed and abrogated, as it did require a per- fonal Righteoufnefs to our Juftiiication ; but it is not repealed as it did require a perfefl: Righteoufnefs. God did never fo far difannul the Covenant of Works, that whether or no his Law were obey- ed, or his Jufticefatisfied, yet welhould be accounted righteous. But it is only thus far repealed by the Covenant of Grace, that though we cannot perfeftly obey, nor fully fatisfie in our own Per- fons, yet we may be pardoned and ac- cepted through the Satisfaction and Obe- dience of our Surety. So that even now under the Covenant of Grace, no Righteoufnefs can avail to our Juitiiica- tion, but what for the Matter of it is perfeftly conformable to the Law of Works. the Two Covenants. Works. And when we fay that the Co- venant of Works is abrogated, and that we are not to expefl: Juftification ac- cording to that Covenant, the meaning is not that the Matter of that Covenant is repealed, but only the perfonal Obli- gation relaxed. For ftill it is the Righte- oufnefs of the Law which juflifies us, though performed by another. And therefore in this Senfe, whofoever are juftified, it is according to the Cove- nant of Works : That is, it is by that Righteoufnefs which for the Subftance and Matter of it, this Covenant did re- quire. Now for the Proof of this, which is of very great moment for the clearing the Doftrine of Juftification, conficjer, I. That there can be no fufficienr Reafon given why our Saviour fhould fuffer the Penalty, who never tranf- grefs'd the Precepts of the Law, unlefs it be that his Sufferings might be our Satisfaftion. Confequently, if Chrift dyed for us, only to fatisfie Divine Ju- stice in our ftead, and as our Surety, it muft neceffarily follow, that this his Death is our Righteoufnefs of Satif- faftion according to the Law and Cove- nant of Works. II. That Law, according to the Letter of which the far sreateft part D 3 of 38 cThe cDoBrim of of the World ihall be judged, cannot be an abrogated, a repealed Law. But though true Believers lhall indeed be judged only according to the favourable conitruftion of the Law of Works, which is the accepting the Righteouf- nefs of their Surety for their own, yet all the reft of the World (and how vaft a number is it !) lhall be judged accord- ing to the ftrift Letter of the Covenant of Works, and muft either fland or fall according to the Sentence of it. They muft either produce a perfeft finlefs Righteoufnefs wrought out personally by themfelves, or elfe fuffer the Ven- geance of eternal Death. Indeed all Men at the laft Day fhall be judged by the Covenant of Works: And when they ihall ftand before the Tribunal of God, this Law will be then produced, and every Man's Title tryed by it ; and whoever cannot plead a Righteoufnefs conformable to the Tenor and Import of it, muft expeft nothing elfe but the execution of the Punifliment threatned. The Righteoufnefs of Chrift will be the Believer's Plea, and accepted, becaufe it fully anfwers the matter of the Law : The reft of the World can produce no Righteoufnefs of their own, for nil have finned ; nor can they plead this of Chrift, becaufe the Two Covenants. 39 becaufe they have no Faith, which alone can give this Title and convey it to them : So that their Cafe is defperate, their Doom certain, and their Punifli- ment remedilefs and infupportable ; and this according to the Tenor of the Co- venant of Works, "Do this, or Suffer this, by which God will proceed in judging of the World. Confider again, III. That the Matter and Sabftance of the Covenant of Works is nothing elfe but the Moral Law (as I fhewed before the Law of Holinefs and Obedience, the Obligation of which continues ftill upon us, and the lead Tranfgreffion of it is threatned with Death and Condemnati- on. What then, doth God fpeak Con- tradictions ? and in the Law of Works tell us he will punifh every Tranfgref- for, and in the Law of Faith tell us he will not punifh every TranfgrefTor ? No certainly ; his Truth and his Juftice are immutable, and what he hath once fpo- ken with his Mouth, he will fulfil with his Hand. And his Veracity is obliged to punifh every Offender, for God can be no more falfe in his Threatnings, than in his Promifes ; and therefore he punifheth thofe whom he pardons, or elfe he could not pardon. He pardons D 4 thei* 40 The cDoffrine of their Perfons according to his Covenant of Grace : Hepuniiheth their Surety ac- cording to his Covenant of Works. Which in a Forenfick Senfe being the puniihing of them, they have in him made aSatisfa&iontotheJuftice of God, and thereby have obtained a Righteouf- nefs according to the terms of the Cove- nant of Works. I have the longer in- filled on this fixth Pofition, becaufe it is the very critical Point of the Doftrine ofjuilification, and the very Hinge upon which all the Controverfies concerning it do turn. Seventhly* Another Pofition fliall be this, That though we have no Perfonal Righteoufnefs, yet our Saviour Chrift hath a Perfonal Righteoufnefs of both kinds, both of perfeft Obedience to the Commands of the Law, and of full Sa- tisfaction to the Penalty threatned in it. I. Chrift hath wrought out a Righ- teoufnefs of perfeft Obedience, and that by his abfolute Conformity to a twofold Law. i. The Law Natural, under the Obligation of which he lay as a Man. For both the firft and fecond Adam were made under the fame Law of Works. The firft under the mutability of his own the Two Covenants. ^l own Will, which forfeited his Happi- nefs ; the fecond under a neceffity or infallibility of entire Obedience through the Union of the Divine Nature with the Human, whereby it became as impoffi- ble that Chrift: fhould fail in his Obedi- ence, as that the Godhead fhould fail the Human Nature which it had afliim'd. x. To the Law National, under the Obligation of which he was born, as being of the Seed of Abraham, and the Tribe of Judah. By this National Law I mean both the Judicial and Cere- monial Laws of the Jews, of whom Chrift was according to the Flefh. For even the Ceremonial Law was in aSenfe National, and peculiar to the Jews : Yea, and they themfelves thought fo, feeing they did not impofe the Observation of the Mofaical Rites and Obfervances up- on Profelyted Heathens (thofe whom they called Trofelyti fort a) but admit- ted them to the participation of the fame common Hope and Salvation with them- felves, upon theObfervation of the Law of Nature, and the feven traditional Commandments of Noah. Now Chrift: was made under both thefe La^s, the Law of his Nature, and the Law of his Nation; under the former primarily and neceflarily as he was Man, and there- fore 42 Tfo Doffrine of fore muft obey the Law of right Reafon ; under the fecond Secondarily, and by Confequence, becaufe the Law of Na- ture and right Reafon diftates that God is to be obey'd in all his pofitive Com- mands. Wherefore he himfeJf tells us, Matth. 3. i?. That it became him to ful- fil all Righteoufnefs. Thus then his Righteoufnefs of Obedience was both perfonal and perfeft. And fo likewife, II. His Righteoufnefs of Satisfaction was perfonal and plenary. As Divine Juftice could exaft no Punifhment from him upon his own perfonal Ac- count, he being holy, harmlefs and un- defiled, fo it did receive full Satisfaction from him for the Sins of others imputed to him : Neither came he from under the Penalty, 'till he had difcharg'd the very uttermoft Farthing that was due. And therefore his Aftive and Paflive Obedience (as they are commonly term'd) were both perfeft and compleat. What the Sufferings of Chrift were, how far he paid the Idem, and how far the Tan- tidem, I fhall not difcufs. The Greek Liturgy checks our too curious Inquifi- tivenefs in this Search, by calling them dyv&ga. WBtf, unknown Sufferings. Only it may be here queried, Since that all Righteoufnefs is a Conformity the Two Covenants. 43 to fome Law, according to what Law was Chrift obliged to undergo the Per nalty for Sin ? Gould the fame Law bind him to Obedience and Suffering too? Or is it confident With the meafures of Ju- ftice to inflifl: the Penalty of the Law on him who had fully obferved the Commands of it ? To thislanfwer, That the fame Law cannot oblige both to Obedience and to Suffering. And therefore Chrift Jefus was not bound over to undergo the Pe- nalty by that Law3 the Precepts of which he had fulfilled. Had he been liable to fuffer by the fame Law that we are, he would not have been a Mediator, but a Malefaftor. Chrift was therefore un- der a twofold Law, in Conformity to which he obtained his twofold Righte- oufnefs. 1. The common and ordinary Law of Obedience, unto which he, as well as others, was fubje&ed upon the ac- count of his Human Nature. 2. The peculiar Law of the Media- tor. By the Law of the Mediator I mean, that Compaft and Engagement which Chrift entred into with God the Father to become our Surety, to pay our Debts, and to bear the Punifhmer*t due to our Sins $ which I fhall hereafter morq 44 The Tjotlrine of more largely open to you, when I come to treat of the Covenant of Redemp- tion. Now when Chrift had perfeftly fulfilled the common and ordinary Law, both of his Nature as a" Man, and of his Nation as a Jew, it could in no wife be juft, that heihould alfo undergo the Pe- nalty by vertue of this Law, which threatned it only againft the Tranfgref- fors. And therefore when the ordinary Law acquits and difchargeth him as Righteous, the Law of the Mediator interpofeth, feizeth on him, and binds him over unto Punifhment. And if Chrift had not born this Punifliment, though flill he would have been perso- nally righteous as a Man, yet he would not have been righteous as a Mediator, becaufe not conformable to the Law of the Mediation, or Suretyship, to which jobn 10. he had voluntarily fubjefted himfelf, and Pik 2.8. which obliged him to fuffer: But the Obligation of both Laws being fully an- fwer'd, he hath thereby obtained a Righ- teoufnefs according unto both; and be- ing both perfeft in his Obedience, and perfe&ed by his Sufferings, is become an Almighty Saviour, able to five to the ut~ terrnoft all thofe who come unto God by him. That's the Seventh Pofition. Eighth- the Two Covenants. 4.$ Eighthly-* Chrift having fuch an abun- dant Righteoufnefs cf his own, God the Law-giver hath been graciouily pleased to beftow that Righteoufnefs upon, and impute it unto us, to all intents and pur- poses as if it had been our own perfonal Righteoufnefs. And in this particular lies the great My ftery of our Juftifica- tion: And therefore to explain it, Ifliall lay down thefe two things. I. Imputed Righteoufnefs is not God's accounting us righteous when we are not fo, (for that would be a falfe Judgment, and utterly inconfiftent with the Truth, Wifdom and Righteoufnefs of the Divine Nature) but firft the Righ- teoufnefs of Chrift is become ours tby the Conveyance which God hath ap- pointed to make it over unto us, and then it is imputed or reckoned for our Juilification. For the Imputation of Chrift's Righteoufnefs is not Res vaga, that which may agree with anyPerfonin any State and Condition, as if there were no more required to juftifie the moft pro- fligate Sinner, but only that God reckon him Righteous ; no, but there mult be fomething pre-fuppofed in us, either as a Qualification, Condition or Means, that mult give us a Title to the Righ- teoufnefs of Chrift. And that is (as fliall appear 46 Tht DoBrim of appear in the next Pofition) the Grace of Fakh : So that Chrift's Righteouf- nefs being made ours by Faith, God doth then aftually impute it to our Ju- flification. And therefore the Righte- oufnefs of Jefus Chrift is not by God on- ly thought to be ours ; but it is ours really and truly in a Law Senfe. To affirm that God imputes that to be ours which indeed is not, would be to make it only a Putative Right eoufnefs* to in- vade the Divine Verity, and to lay the Imputation of a falfe and partial Judg- ment upon him. The Righteoufnefs of Chrift is not ours, becaufeGod accounts it to be fo ; but on the contrary, there- fore God accounts it ours, becaufe it is fo. It becomes not ours by God's Im- putation, for it muft be ours before any aft of Imputation can be true and jutt : But rather it becomes ours by Divine Defignation or Donation, whereby God hath made over the Righteoufnefs of his Son as a Dowry and Patrimony to Faith. God doth not juftifie us that we may be Righteous, but becaufe we are already Righteous; and that, not only imper- fectly, by the inherent righteous Qua- lities that are implanted in our Regene- ration ; but mod perfeftly by the Righ- teoufnefs of Chrift confign'd over unto us the Two Covenants. 47 us in otir Regeneration, by vertue of Faith, which is a main part of it. Cer- tainly that God who hath told us, That he whojuftifieth the wicked is an abomi- nation unto him^ Prov. 17. 15. will ne- ver himfelf make that the Procefs of his Juftice. 'Tis true, the Apoftle, Rom. 4. 5*. faith, That God jujiifieth the ungodly. But this muft be underftood either in a limited Senfe, for thofe who are in part fo, being but in part Sanftified ; or ra- ther it mull be underftood, not in a com- pounded Senfe, as if Ungodlinofs and juftification were States compatible to the fame Perfon; but in a divided Senfe, that is, that he juftifies fuch who here- tofore were ungodly; but their Sanftifi- cation intervenes between their Ungod- linefs and their Juftification. In which order the Apoftle recounts it, 1 Cor. 6. 1 1 . Such were fome ofyou, but you are fan£iifiedy but ye are juftified. So that in order of Nature, Faith (which is a principal part of our Sanflification) pre- cedes our right to Chrift's Righteouf- nefs, becaufe it conveys it ; and our right to Chrift's Righteoufnefs precedes God's aftual Imputation of it to our Ju- ftification, becaufe it muft firft be ours, before it can be with Truth accounted fo. Tis The Doctrine of 5Tis very wonderful that the Papifts fhould fo obftinately -refolve not to un- deriland this Doftrine of Imputed Righ- teoufnefs, but ffill cavil againit it as a Contradi&ion. It being, fay they, as utterly impoffible to become righteous through the Righteoufnefs of another, as to become heathful through another's Health, or wife by another's Wifdom. And fome (befides this Slander of a Contradi&ion) give us this Scoff into the Bargain, that the Proteftants in de- fending an Imputative Righteoufnefs, fliew only an Imputative Modefty, and Imputative Learning. But they might do well to confider, that fome Denomi- nations are Phyfical, others only Legal and Juridical. Thofe which are Phyfi- cal do indeed necefiarily require inex- iftent Forms from which the Denomina- tions fhould refult. Thus to be health- ful, and to be wife, and learned, do require inherent Health, Wifdom, and Learning : But to be Righteous, may be taken either in a Phyfical Senfe, and fo it denotes an inherent Righteoufnefs, which in the beft is imperfeft ; or elfe it may be taken in aForenfick or juridi- cal Senfe, and fo the perfeft Righteouf- nefs of another who is our Surety may become ours, and be imputed to our Juftifica- the Two Covenants. 49 Juftification. 'Tis the Righteoufnefs of another perfonally ; It is our Righteouf- nefs juridically, becaufe by Faith we have a Right and Title to it; which Right and Title accrues unto us by the Promife and Covenant of God, and our Union to our Surety. Indeed fome there are who refer our Juftification wholly to the Merits of Je- fus Chrift, but yet lay down a Scheme and Method of this Doftrine, not alto- gether fo honourable to our bleffed Sa- viour as they ought. Thefe affirm that Chrift by his Righteoufnefs hath merited that God fhould account our Faith to be it felf our Righteoufnefs. (Armin. Ttifp.TheoL Thef 17.) That his is only the Procatarctick or meritorious Caufe procuring this grand Privilege to Faith, that it fliould it felf be our Righteouf- nefs, and the Matter of our Juftificati- on. Wherein they are fo far injurious to the Merits of our bleffed Saviour, as to make them only the remote Caufe of our Juftification, and confequently ne- ceffary rather that Fai h might have an Objeft,than that we might have Righte- oufnefs. But of this perhaps more here- after. However, this which hath been fpoken may ferve to give us a more clear and diftinft Notion of Imputed E Righte- 50 The Do&rine of Righteoufnefs: Which is not ours mere- * ly becaufe God imputes it to us, but becaufe he hath by Deed of Gift in his Promife beftow'd it upon us when we believe, and then imputes it to our Ju- stification. II. That this Righteoufnefs of Chrift thus made ours may ferve to all Ends and Purpofes for which we Hand in need of a Righteoufnefs, it is necef- fary that both his a£tive Righteoufnefs, or his Righteoufnefs of Obedience, and alfo his paffive Righteoufnefs, the Righteoufnefs of his Satisfaction in fuf- fering for us, be made ours, and impu- ted to us for our Juitification. Though this Pofition be much controverted, yet poffibly the Truth of it will appear from the Grounds formerly laid, viz. That there are two Ends for which we ftand in need of a Righteoufnefs, the one is a freeing us from the Penalty threatned, the other is an entitling. of us to the Reward promis'd. Now had we no o- ther but the Righteoufnefs of Chrift's Satisfaction made over unto us, this in- deed would perfectly free us from our liablenefs toPuniftiment (for if our Sure- ty hath undergone it for us, we our felves are not liable ;) but {till we iliould need a Righteoufnefs to incitle us to the the Two Covenants. $ 1 *he Reward, and that mufl neceflarily be a Righteoiifnefs of perfect Obedi- ence. For, as I noted before, it is not faid Suffer this and live ', but TJothis and live. And confequently it muft be Obe- dience, and not Suffering, the a&ive and not the paffive Righteoiifnefs of Chrift, that can give us a Right unto eternal Life. 'Tis true, the Satisfaction of Chrift doth give a Right unto eter- nal Life concomitantly, but not formal- ly: That is, wherever Guilt is removed, there a Title to Heaven is procured. Yet the formal Reafon of our Title to Heaven is different from the formal Reafon of the Remiffion of our Sins : This refults from the Imputation of Chrift's Sufferings ; that, of his Obedi- ence. But if any fhould in this Particu- lar diflent, as many very Orthodox Di- vines, Tijcator and others* have done upon the account of the Impoffibility of a neutral Eftate, i. e. a Condition nei- ther of Happinefs nor Mifery, Life nor Death, I will not earneftly contend about it, fo that this Foundation itand firm and unfhaken, that we are faved only by the Righteoufnefs of Chrift made ours by God's Donation, and imputed to our Juftification. Yet Rom. 5. 18, 19, votes for it. E i Ninthly, 52 The 'Do&rine of Ninthly i and Laftly, This Righteouf- nefs of Chrift is convey'd and made o- ver unto us by our Faith : That's the Grace which God hath purpofed to honour with our Juftification. I fhall not longinfift upon this, becaufe I referve the more full handling of it to another Place. Only this is here to be obferv'd, that Faith gives us a Title to the Righteouf- nefs of Chrift, and makes it ours not on- ly by the Promife of God, but as it is the Bond of Union between Chrift and fhe Soul. By Faith it is that we are made myftically one with Chrift \ living Members in his Body-, fruitful Branches of that Heavenly and Spiritual Vine. We have the Communication of the fame Name. So alfo is Chrift, faith the Apoftle, rCor. 12. 12. fpeaking there of Chrift myftical, both his Perfon and his Church. We have the fame Relations, 1 afcend to my Father and to your father ', John 20. 17. We are made Partakers of the fame Spirit, For if any Man have not the Spirit of Chrift he is none of his. Rom. 8. 9. 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is join- ed to the Lord is one Sprit. And final- ly, the very Life that we live is faid not to be ours, but Chrift liveth in us, and that we live by the Faith of the Son of Cod, Gal. 2. 20. So that being thus one the Two Covenants. 5 3 one with Chrifl, his Righteoufnefs be- comes our Righteoufnefs, even as our Sins became his: And God deals with Chrift and Believers, as if they were one Perfon. The Sins of Believers are charg'd upon Chrift, as though they were .his; and the Righteoufnefs of Chrift is reckoned to Believers as theirs: Neither is God unjuft either in the one, or the other Imputation, becaufe they are myftically one; and this myilical U- nion is a fufficient Ground for Imputa- tion. Yet from this Onion flows the Participation only of the Benefits of his Mediatorftiip : For we are not hereby tranfubftantiated or deify 'd, as fome of late Years have blafphemoufly conceit- ed ; neither the Godhead of Chrift, nor his effential Righteoufnefs as God, nor his divine and infinite Properties are made ours ; but only the Fruits and Ef- fefts of his Mediation : So that hereup- on God gracioufly accounts of us as if we had done in our own Perfons, what- foever Chrift hath done for us, becaufe by Faith Chrift and we are made one. Thefe are the Pofitions which I thought neceflary, to inftruft us in a true Notion of Righteoufnefs, and the manner how we becorrje Righteous. I fhall deduce from them a few Co- rollaries. E 3 Firft, The Docirine of Firfty Hence we learn the true Diffe- rence that there is between the Cove- nant of Grace, and the Covenant of Works. Whatfoever vaft Difproporti- on fome have imagined, yet indeed thefe are not diftinft Covenants for the Matter and Subftance of them, but on- ly in the diftinft Method and Manner of participating the fame Righteoufnefs. They both require full Satisfaction to obtain Remiffion of Sin, and perfeft O- bedience to obtain eternal Life. But in this lyes the only Difference, that the Rigor and Severity of the Covenant of Works requires that this Righteoufnefs be perfonal, and wrought out by our felves ; which is relaxed to us by the Covenant of Grace, promifing us Re- miffion and Acceptation through the Righteoufnefs of our Surety, conveyed to us by our Faith. Secondly? Hence fee what Influence Faith hath into our Juftification. It is not it felf our Righteoufnefs, or the matter of our Juftification ; but the In- ftrument or Means (call it which you pleafe) of conveying over unto us the Righteoufnefs of Chrift our Surety,which is perfedly conformable to the Law of Works, and the Matter by which we are juitified. Some there are who would have the Two Covenants. 55 have Faith to juftifie us, as it is the ful- filling of the Condition of the Covenant of Grace : But poilibly this difference might be foon comprimis'd, if the Te- nor of both Covenants be heedfully ob- ferved. The Covenant of Works pro- mifeth Life, if we obey in our own Perfons; but the Covenant of Grace re- laxeth this, and promifeth Life if we obey in our Surety. The Condition of both is perfeft Obedience, in the one perfonal, in the other imputed; and the way how we iliould obtain a Title to this Obedience of our Surety is by believing. So that when the Covenant of Grace faith, Believe and you /ball be faved, it fpeaks compendioufly, and were it drawn out at length, it would run thus, Procure the Righteoufnefs of Chrift to be thine, and thou (halt be fa- ved : Believe, and this Righteoufnefs which will fave thee fhall be thine. Here then are two Conditions, the one fun- damental, primary, and immediate to our Juftification, and that is the Righ- teoufnefs of Chrift: The other remote and fecondary, and that is our Faith, which is the condition of the primary Condition, and confequently of the Co venant. This will appear more evident in this Syllogifm; If the Righteoufnefs E 4 °l The DoSirine of of Chrift be made thine thou fhalt be fa- ved; if thou believeft, the Righteouf- nels of Chrift (hall be made thine ; there- fore, from the firft to the laft, if thou believeft thou fhalt be faved. Now tho' Chrilt's Obedience be the principal, and our F dth the fecondary Condition, yet ufually in propounding the Covenant of Grace, the former is filencM, and the latter only mentioned. And this may be for two Reafons. Firft, Becaufe tho' Chrift's Righte- oufnefs be more immediate to our Ju- ftification, yet Faith is more immediate to our Pradice; and therefore it is of more concernment to know how Jufti- ficati n mig, ,t be obtained, than critical- ly to know wherein it doth confift. And, Secondly i Becaufe Faith doth necefla- rily relate unto the Righteoufnefs of Jefus Chrift: So that to fay Believe ', and you ftoall be favedy doth virtually and impli- citly tell us alfo that our Juftification and Salvation muft be by the Righteouf- nefs of another. If therefore thofe who affirm that Faith juftifies as it is the Performance of the Condition of the Covenant, intend it only in this remote and feccndary Senfe, I fee no caufe of Controverfie or Difagreement about it. That's a fecond Corollary. Thirdly, the TlWO Covenants. c y Thirdly* Another Inference may be this, that we fliould never expect J uni- fication, nor Salvation, upon any other Terms than a perfeft Righteoufnefs ful- ly anfwering the Tenor of the Cove- nant of Works ; anfwering it (I fay) as to the Subftance of what it requires, although the manner of obtaining that Righteoufnefs be not conformable there- unto, but unto the Law of Grace. If we cannot produce a Righteoufnefs eve- ry way perfeft, and tender it to God as ours, we cannot with reafon expeft but that God fliould feek for Satisfa&ion to his Juftice upon us in our everlafting Definition. Ours it muft be through our Union to Jefus Chrifl by the Bond of Faith, which is a fufficient Founda- tion for a real Communication of all Benefits and Interefts. Fourthly* Hence we may learn, that the two Righteoufnefles the Text fpeaks of, the Right coufiiefs which is of '^orks> and the Righteoufnefs which is of Faith, do not differ as to the nature of the things themfelves, but only as to the man- ner of their being made ours. The Righ- teoufnefs which is of the Law, mull be of per'fedl Obedience or of full Satisfa- ction; the Righteoufnefs which is of Faith is both of Obedience and of Satisfa- ction ; fo that for the Matter there is no Diffe- ^g The Doctrine of Difference between them ; for the Righteoufnefs of Faith is no other than what the Law of Works required. But herein lyes the only difference, that the one muft be perfona], the other impu- ted. The Law requires Obedience or Satisfa&ion to be wrought out in our ownrerfons, Grace mitigates thisStrid> nefs, and is contented with the Obe- dience and Satisfa&ion of another, ap- prehended and applied to us by our be- lieving. And thus you fee at large the Nature of Righteoufnefs both Legal and Evan- gelical, wherein they do confift, and what is the true Difference between them. The Knowledge of thefe things is of abfolute Neceflity to a clear Perception of the Doftrine of the Covenants, and of Ju- ftification. Some perhaps, becaufe thefe Truths are abftrufe and knotty, may think that I am teaching you, as Gideon is faid to teach the Men of Succothy Judges 8. with the thorns and briars of the wildemefs. Yet I doubt not but by a diligent Recollection of what hath been delivered, you may even of thefe Thorns gather Figs. Sure I am, that God who once fpake to Mofes out of a Bufli, can fpeak to you out of thefe Thickets : And though they do not fo immediately tend to the exciting of Af- feftions, the Two Covenants* 59 feftions, yet thofe Affe&ions may be well fufpefted to be irregular, and Ex- perience ftiews they are feldom durable, that are not built upon a right Informa- tion of the Judgment. Thefe things being thus difcufs'd and Hated, let us now proceed to a more diftinft and particular confideration of the Covenants, which I have told you were principally two ; the one made with Mankind in Adam at his firft Creation ; the other made with Mankind upon their Reftauration. The Tenor of the former is, T>o this, and live: The Te- nor of the latter, He that believeth on Chri/f Jefus jhall be faved, I fhall firft treat concerning the for- mer, the Covenant of Works; the fum of which is, *Do this and live, or in the words of my Text, The Man that doth thefe things jhall live by them. And herein two things ar.e chiefly to be ob- ferved, the Promifc, which is Life; and the Condition, which isT>o this, or per- fect Obedience. J fhall begin with the former, the Pro- mife made unto Adam, and all Mankind in him? The Man that doth thofe things Jhall live, which by the Rule of Contra- ries implies the Threatning and Curfe againft all Tranfgreffors, If he fhall live who 60 The T>ocirme of who fulfils the Law, then by the con- trary proportion he ftiall dye who tranf- grefleth it. And this threatning we find exprefly annexed to one particular Com- mand of the Covenant of Works, Gen.z. 17. In the day thou eat eft thereof, that is, of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou jhalt Jurely die. And to the general Tenor of the whole, Gal. 3. 10. Cur fed is every one who' con- tinueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them. Now concerning this Life and Death, much difficulty there is to ftate where- in they did confift ; and truly the Holy Ghoft having fpoken fo fparingly of it, it would be Prefumption, and an af- feftation of being wife above what is written, to determine any thing pofi- tively and magifterially herein: God ta- king more care to inform us how we might recover our loft and forfeited Blifs, than wherein it confifted. Yet poffibly fomething may with Modefty and Probability be fpoken of it, that may give us fome Satisfaction in clearing up, if not of all, yet of fome Truths that are pertinent: to this Subject, and wor- thy our Knowledge and Acceptance. As the Two Covenants. $i As for the Life here promifed, there are two Opinions that carry a fair Pro- bability. The firfl is, That by Life here, is meant the Perpetuity and Continuance of that Eftate wherein Adam was crea- ted, being a ftate of perfeft Happinefs and BlefTedncf , freefromSin, and there- fore free froiii Mifery ; the Friend of God, and L-rd of the vifible Creation ; all things being fubjed unto him, and himfelf iubjeft only to his Maker ; there being a pcrfeft Agreement between his God and him, end between him and himfelf; no tormenting Confcience, no gnawing Guilt, no pale Fears, no Pains, no Sicknefs, no Death. He might con- verge with God boldly, and fweetly ; and God would have converft with him familiarly and indearingly. Then there would have been noDefertion on God's part, becaufe no Apoftalie on his ; no Clouds in his Mind, no Tempeft in his Bread, no Tears, nor no caufe for any, but a continual calm and ferenity of Soul, enjoying all the innocent Delights that God and Nature could afford, and all this for ever. The whole World had been but an higher Heaven, and a lower. Earth had been but Heav'n a little allay- ed ; and Adam had been as an Angel in- carnate, 52 Me T>olirine of carnate, and God all in all : And all this to be enjoyed eternally, without diminu- tion, without period. O how great an Happinefs may we conceive the State of upright Man to be, which nothing can refemble, nothing exceed, unlefs it be the Happinefs and Blifs to which fal- len Man fhall be reftored. Had not Sin foil'd and drofs'd the World, it fliould never have felt the Purgation of the laft Fire ; the Elements fliould never have been diflblved, the Heavens folded up, nor the Holt of them disbanded; but Man had been the everlafting Inhabitant of an everlafting World. This is the firft Opinion concerning the Life pro- mised in the Covenant of Works. Secondly i Others again, to avoid fome Inconveniencies which might follow up- on the former Opinion, whereof the greateft feems to be a Populoufnefs be- yond what the World could contain, think it more probable to affirm, that when the multitude of Mankind (which certainly had been far greater than all the Generations fmce the beginning of it amount unto, fince Sin and the Curfe have hindred the Fecundity of the firft Bleffing) had fo far increafed as to • ftreighten the bounds of their Abode, God would have tranflated them to Hea- ven, the Two Covenants. 63 yen, without their feeing or tailing of Death. As when a Land is furcharged with Inhabitants, the State tranfpknts whole Colonies of them, to disburden it felf : So when this Earth fhould have been crowded with an Overplus of Man- kind, God would have tranfplanted whole Colonies of them, and have re- moved them from a terreftrial to a ce- leftial Paradife. God doth now indeed remove Believers to that State of Happi- nefs ; but yet they firft defcend into the Duft. Death is their Paflage into Life, and the Grave their Entrance into Glo- ry. We read but of two Men only who leapt that Ditch, and they were Enoch and Elijah. Of the one it is faid that God took him, and of the other that God fetcht him in a fiery Chariot. But had not Sin come into the World, this might have been the common and ordinary Paflage out of it. Eve had never been terrified by the King of Ter- rors, nor ftruggled at his Approach, nor fear'd, nor detefted the Separation of thofe dear Companions the Soul and Body. For there had been no fuch thing as Death ; but both Soul and Body jointly and at once fhould have been wrapt up to the Enjoyment of the fame God, and the fame Happinefs, which our The Do&rine of our Faith now embraceth, and our Hope expefts. Which of thefe two is the ve- ry Truth I cannot determine, though the grand Inconvenience confequent upon the former, may incline a confi- dering Mind to adhere rather to the latter. Now here fall in two Queftions to be refolved. Firjt, Whether Adam in Innocence may be faid to be Immortal. Secondly ', What is meant by the Tree of Life fpoken of in the Hiftory of A- dam> and faid to be planted in the midfl: ofParadife. To the firfl I anfwer, That Adam in his ftate of Innocence was Immortal. For Sin is not only the Sting, but the Caufe and Parent of Death, and gives it not only its Terrors, but its Being. What faith the Apoftle, Rom. 5. 12. By one Man Sin entred into the World, and 'Death by Sin. So that had there been no Sin, there had been no Death. But yet even then Adam had in him the Con- temperation of contrary Qualities, and therefore the Principles of Death and Corruption : And therefore his Immor- tality was notfuch as the Angels enjoy in Heaven, for they are not compoled of jarring and quarrelling Elements, being pure the Two Covenants. 65 pure Spiritual Subf lances: Nor was it iiich as the Bodies of glorified Saints ihali hereafter poflefs ; for they fliall be made wholly impallible, and fee free from the reach of outward Impreflions, arid the Difcords of Elemental Mutinies, that might impair their Vigour, or endanger their Diflblution. But it was an Immor- tality by Donation, and the Privilege of an efpecial Providence which engaged it felf to fway and over-rule that ten- dency which was in his Body to Corrup- tion, and notwithstanding the Contra- rieties and Distentions of a terreftrial Conftitution, to continue him in Life, as long as he Ihould continue himfelf in his Obedience. And as a Means and Sacrament of this, God appointed the Fruit of the Tree of Life, that the Eating thereof might per- petuate his Duration. Which Tree of Life, what it was, and why fo called, Was the fecond Query. Some fuppofe it was fo named, be- cauie the Fruit of it had a Natural Vir- tue to preferve and prolong Life ; and that Adam uling it as his Ordinary Food, ihould by the Medicinal force of it have kept off, or repaired, all incident Decays. But this, I think, founds fomewhat of the Rabbi : For the Guard which God F fee 66 The Doffrine of fet upon this Tree, left fallen Adam fhould once tafte it and live for ever, fufficiently overthrows this Conceit, and evinceth that Immortality could not be the Natural Effeft and Production of it. But the belt and moft receiv'd Opinion is, that it was therefore call'd the Tree of Life, becaufe it was a Sacrament ad- ded for the Confirmation of the Promife of Life. That as now under the Cove- nant of Grace God hath inftituted Bap- tifm and the Lord's Supper, that by be- ing waih'd with the Water of the one, and eating and drinking the Bread and Wine of the other, he might feal to us the Stability of that Covenant, wherein he hath promifed Eternal Life to thofe who believe. And fo God gave Adam this Tree of Life, that by his eating thereof he might feal to him theFaith- fulnefs of the Covenant of Works, wherein he had promifed Life to him if he would obey. That as fure as he tailed of the Fruit of that Tree, fo fure he ihould live, if he would perform the Commands of God. For every Cove- nant hath its Sacraments, or Seals, an- nexed to it. The old Covenant of Grace was fealed by Circumcifion, called therefore a Seal of the Right eoufnefs of Faith, Rom. 4, 11. And likewife the Pafs- the Two Covenants. 67 3?afs-over was another Sacrament of that Covenant. The new Covenant of Grace is fealed by Baptifm and the Lord's Sup- per. And in like manner the Covenant of Works was fealed by the Fruit of this Tree of Life ; which was fo called not from any inherent Quality of its own, but only Sacramentally, becaufe it did confirm the Promife of Life, that as furely as Adam did eat thereof, fo furely he fhould live if he would obey. By thefe obfcure and uncertain things* which cannot be recommended unto you as undoubted Verities,- but only as probable Conjeftures, ycu may perceive how much we are in the Dark, and how fubjeft to Error, when we pretend to define and pofitively determine what the Holy Ghbft hath thought fit to con- ceal. Yet two things I account moil certain, and with which it will be good to put a itop to our Inquifitivenefs. I. That this Life promifed in the Co- venant of Works, was a State made hap- py and blefTed by the Confluence of all good things outward and inward, Tem- poral and Spiritual, whatfoever Man's Condition could need, or his Will defire. As long as there were no defefts of Righ- teoufnefs and Hoiinefs in his Nature* there would have been none ofHappi-5 F % nefs The Dozirine of nefsfuitable to his Capacities, norfliould he have any Complaints to make, or •caufe for them. I!. That this Life, whether Eternal on Earth, or in Heaven, though fo per- fectly happy in its kind, yet was far ihort of that Glory and Happinefs which is now promiied to Believers under the Covenant of Grace. Chriit not only died to redeem a Forfeiture, but his O- bedienee merited thePurchafe of a rich- er Inheritance, and he will initate his in the PofTeflion of far more Tranfcenlent Glory. Adam was never fo happy in his Innocence, as he is now fince his Fall, by his Faith and Repentance. He is now exalted far higher than at firfl he flood. And therefore St. Gregory the Great, confidering the Advantage we have gained by our Reftauration through Chrifl, could not forbear exclaiming, O felix' culpa qua talem meruit habere Redemptorem; Happy Sin that obtained fuch a Redeemer. And Clemens Alexan- drians hath a like PafTage, 6 g*S|y.<3Wji ficiv£i. His ^Difobedience caji Adam out of Paradife, his Obedience inflates him in a far higher and greater Reward^ even Heaven. So that as Chrift faith con- cerning John the Baptifl, Among all that the Two Covenants. 69 that are bom of Women there hath not a- rifen a greater than he? yet he that is leaji in the Kingdom of Heaven is great- er \ the fame may 1 fay concerning A- dam in Innocence, Among all the vifible Creation there was none greater nor more happy than he ; yet the lead: Be- liever who is now in the Kingdom of Heaven, is far greater than he when he was Lord of Paradife. Yea, fliould we fuppofe that Adam after he had long continued in his Innocence and Obedi- ence, fliould have been afliimed into Heaven, yet a Believer's Glory there purchafed by the Merits of his Saviour ihall far outfhine wharfoever Glory A- dam' could have acquired by his own O- bedience. For fo much Approximation and Union as there is of the Creature unto God the Fountain of all Glory, fo much Participation is there of Glory from God by the Creature. Now A- dam\ Union unto God was only Mora!, fu:h an Union as Love and Friend (hip doth beget: But a Believer's Union unto God is nearer, and myllical, and ineffable: And therefore from this nearer Union will flow a greater Glory. God hath wedded our Nature to himfelf in the Hypoitatical Union ; and he hath wed- ded our Perfons to himfelf in a Myfli- F 3 cal The cDottrine of cal Union, neither of which could have had place under the Covenant of Works ; and the efore the Union not being fo great and clofe, the Glory promifed therein would not have been fo glorious, nor the Life and Immortality fo bleffed, as that which is now brought to Light by the Gofpel. J This you may take in anfwer to the fit ft Queftion, What the Life is that is promifed in the Covenant of Works, The Man that doth thefe things Jhall live by them. Our next Enquiry is, What Death it is that this Covenant threatens, In the day thou eatejt thereof thou fhalt die the "Death. And herein truly we are almoft as far to feek as in the former. Yet thus much is certain. Firft, That by Death is meant the Separation of the Soul and Body, which is a Temporal Death, together with all its Forerunners and Concomitants, Pain, Grief, Weaknefs, Sicknefs, and what- soever doth either caufe it, or attend it. Secondly^ It is alfo certain that here is meant Spiritual Death, the Lofs of the Image and Favour of God, a defpoiling the Soul of the Ornaments of Know- ledge, Grace and Righteoufnefs, with which in its firfl; Creation it was beauti- fied. the Two Covenants. fied. For as the Separation of the Soul from the Body is the temporal Death of the Man, fo the Separation of the Soul from the Love and Grace of God, is the Spiritual Death of the Soul. And, Thirdly j As certain it may be that hereby is meant likewife an Eternal Death, to endure for ever, becaufe to be inflifted by an infinite Juftice. But the main Difficulty is, whether this Eternal Death fhould have confifted in the utter Annihilation of the Soul after its Separation from the Body by a tem- poral Death, or whether both Soul and Body fhould have been again united to fuffer Eternally fbme Torments propor- tionable to thofe which the damned now fuffer in Hell. To this I fhall give you what I judge moft probable. And thai is, I. That the Death threatned in the Covenant of Works would not hive been the utter Annihilation of the Guil- ty Soul after its Separation from the Bo- dy. Becaufe Annihilation is not a Pu- nilhment fuitedto the Eternal glorifying of God's Juftice and Power, (in e it would be in one Moment tranf ed, and put the Soul out ofthereach> ~>d from under the Dominion of Omnipo- tency it felf. For altho' non ejfe be ma- ximum malum Melaphyficum> yet certain- F4 iy 72 The cDoctrine of ly God will not glorifie himfelf by Meta- physeal Notions, but by Phyiical and Sentible Punifhments. II. Whatfoever Punifhment had been eternally inflifted, either upon thefepa- rate Soul alone, as fome hold, or upon the whole Man both Soul and Body, as others affirm, had been more mild and mitigated under the Covenant of Works, than now the Torments of the damned will be who have defpifed the Covenant of Grace. For as the Life promifed then was inferior to the Life promifed now ; fo the Death threatned then was not fo rigorous, fo tormenting, as the Death threatned now. Certainly the Tenders that are made to Men of Chriit, and Salvation by him, are not mere in- different things, that though they flight and rejeft them, yet they ihall be in no worfe condition than when they were born; but a defpifed Saviour, an abufed Grace, a neslefted Salvation, are fuch things as will add Rage to the unquen- chable Fire, and make it eat deeper into the Soul, than if there had been no Sa- viour provided, no Grace offered, no Salvation purchafed ; but they had been all left in their firft fallen Eftate, wichout Hope, without Means, without Poffibi^ lity of Recovery. And the Two Covenants. 73 And thus much concerning the Life promifed, and the Death threatncd in the Covenant of Works. Only it maybe Queried how God verified this threat- ning upon Adam. The Threatning runs thus, In the "Day thou eateji thereof thou Jhalt jiirely die : And yet we read that Adam lived nine hundred Years and more after this peremptory Sentence. How is this confident with God's Ju- ftice and Veracity, who not only did not inflift Death on him, on the Day of his Tranfgreflion, but reprieved him for many hundred Years after? * To this I anfwer briefly, that when it is faid /;/ the day thou e ate ft thou jhalt die, by this is not meant that he Ihould presently upon his finning undergo actu- al Death, nor only that Death ihould be then due unto him, as fome would have it, for fo it might, and never have been inflifted ; but the Meaning is, that he fliould be liable and obnoxious., yea and ordain'd to Death : Dearh ihould cer- tainly be inflifted on him in the time that God had appointed, and which he forefaw would make moll for the Glo- ry of his Holinefs and Juftice. /;/ that day thou jhalt die, is no more than In that day thou Jhalt be a Mortal Creature, thy Life fliall be forfeited to Juftice, to be 74 The Doffrine of be cut off whenfoever the righteous and holy God fliall pleafe. Let us, in the next place, proceed to confider the Condition of the Covenant of Works; and that the Apoftle tells us is T)o this ; the Man that doth thefe things Jhall live by them. By doing thefe things is meant Obedience both in its Perfection, and Perfeverance .- For per- fect Obedience could not juftifie, un- lefs it were perfevering Obedience; for we find that Adam hirnfelf was not ju- ftified by his perfeft Conformity to the Law for a time, becaufe he did not continue in it. Now here concerning this Obedience which was required in the Covenant of Works, we may obferve, Firfij That the Rule of Adam's Obe- dience in his State of Innocence were principally theDiftates and Promptings of his own Nature, andfecondarilyanypofi- tive Law that fhould be given him by God : So that when God bidshim^ this and live, he doth but point him inwards to fee what was written upon his own Heart, and to aft fuitably thereunto. God gave him one Command which was not written there, and that was not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And fome fuppofe alfo the Com- the Two Covenants. 75 Command of Sanctifying the Sabbath Day to have been a pofitive Law given to Adam, Gen. z. 3. where it is faid God blejfed the feventh day, and finEiified it. Others fuppofe thofe Words to be brought in only by way of Prolepfis or Anticipa- tion. However that be, yet certain it is that God laid very few Injunctions upon upright Man, befides what the-Bl- ftates of his very Nature and Reafon did prompt him to: But if many more had been then impofed on him, they would all have been ultimately refolved into that grand Law of Nature, that whatfoever God commands we oueht to obey. And therefore though the not eating the Fruit of fuch a Tree were not a Law of Nature, yet this was, that he ought not to have done what God forbad him. So that, T>o this, was to Adam no more than AEi only according to the Rules of Nature and right Reafon* and thou Jhalt live. Secondly, The Covenant of Works required of Adam all thofe things which are now required of us under the Cove- nant of Grace, except it be thofe which fuppofe a fmful and a fallen State. Some Duties there are, which are in them- , felves abfolute and perfeft, and do not prefuppofe any Sin or Corruption in our Na- 76 The cDottrine of Nature; and fuch are, to love God, to reverence and worlhip him, to depend upon him, and believe in him, and to commit all our Affairs, and the Con- dud: of our whole Lives, to his Guidance and Government. Other Duties there are which do neceflarily connote and prefuppofe Imperfection and Sin; as Patience and Submiffion under Afflicti- ons, confefling of Guilt, Afts of Repen- tance, and of Faith in the Merits of Jefus Chrift, relieving the Neceffities of the Poor, forgiving Wrongs and Inju- ries, and many other fuch like. Now the Duties of the former fort which were required of us, were likewife required of Adam^ and his Continuance in them would have been his Juftification. But not the Duties of the latter fort : For a State of Innocence and Perfection ex- cludes all fuch Duties, becaufe it ex- cludes all that Imperfe&ion and Guilt, upon the account of which alone fuch Duties are become neceffary. Adam had the innate radical Power to them, but no occailon to exercife it. Thirdly i Adam in Innocency had a Power to do whatfoever the Law, or the God of Nature, did require; and by this his perfect Obedience to have pre- ferved the Righteoufnefs of his firlt fi- liate, the Two Covenants. jj ftate, and his undoubted Right unto that Life that was promifed. God is fo juit and merciful that he lays no Com- mands upon his Creatures to any thing that is impoffible, unlefs it be made fo by an Impotency wilfully contra&ed. God may indeed juftly require that from us which is no\# beyond our Power to perform (as the perfect fulfilling of his Law) and that becaufe it was once pof- iible for us in our Reprefentative. And if we have loft our Power of obeying, that does not prejudice God's Right of com- manding; no more than the Inability of a voluntary Bankrupt difchargeth his Obligation to his Creditors. In the State of Innocence God fuited the Pow- er of his Creature to the Law he intend- ed to give him, and made his Obligati- on to Duty commenfurate with his A- bility to perform it. Fourthly., That Obedience which was the Condition of the Covenant of W orks, was to be performed by Adam in his own Perfon, and not by a Surety or Un- dertaker : And therefore the Covenant of Works hath no Mediator. And this is the great, yea, for ought I can fee, the only real Difference between the Covenant of Works and the Cove- nant The Dottrine of nant of Grace. They both require the fame Obedience and Righteoufnefs to juftifie Men: Only the Covenant of Grace allows it to be the Righteoufnefs of another; but the Covenant of Works requires that it be wrought out by the Man himfelf. It is true we live by do- ing this, as well as Adam ; but we do it by our Surety, not in our own Perfons. And hence we may learn what Cove- nant it was thatChrift, the fecond^W, was made under. It was ftriftly the Co- venant of Works, of perfonal Righte- oufnefs, the fame that God entred into with Adam*, and therefore he is called by the Apoftle the Second Adam ; becaufe the firfl Adam failing in his Underta- king, he rofe up in his ftead to be our federal Head and Reprefentative ; and feeing the firfl did not rightly manage the Trufl depofited, Chrift took the whole Affair out of his Hands, and hath per- fectly, fully and faithfully tranfafted it. We have thus feen both the Promife, and the Condition of the Covenant. Our next Enquiry fhould be concerning the Perfons with whom it was firfl made* and by whom it was firfl broken. But before I come to that, it may not be impertinent to refolve a Query that may arife upon what hath been already faid : And the Two Covenants. y$ And that is, Whether the Affliftions and Temporal Evils that Believers fuffer in this Life, be not inflifted on them by vertue of the Curfe and Threatning of the Covenant of Works. In the Day that thou eateft thou /halt die^ and the Soul that finneth it Jhall die. For the Curfe of dying comprehends in it not only temporal Death it felf, but all o- ther Miferies and Troubles that we un- dergo in this prefent Life. And indeed it is worth the Enquiry, whether the Affli&ions and Sufferings of true Belie- vers, be properly Punifhments, or not. To refolve this>we muft know that God hath two Ends refpefting himfelf for which he brings any Evil upon Men: The one is the Manifeftation of his Ho- linefs, the other is the Satisfaction of his Juftice. And accordingly as any Affli- ction tends to thefe, fo it is either pro- perly a Punifhment, or barely a Chaftife- ment and Corre&ion. If God intend by the Affliftion to fatisfie his Juftice, then it is properly a Punifhment, and flows from the Curfe and Threatning of the Covenant. But if God intend there- by only to glorifie and manifeft his Holi- nefs, then it is not a proper Puniihment, neither hath it any thing of the Rancour and Venom of the Curfe in it, but it is on- g$ The cDoBrlne of ly a fatherly Corre&ion proceeding from Love andMercy. But now* Firft The Affli&ions and outward Evils that true Chriftians fuffer, are in- fli&ed by God upon them, to the end that he might manifefl his Purity and Holinefs. Indeed there are many gra- cious Ends refpefting Believers them- felves wherefore God doth affiift them, as to exercife their Graces, to keep them humble and dependant, to ftarve up their Luffs, to wean them from the World, and to fit them for a better. But the great End refpefting God him- felf is, that by thefe Afflictions they might know and fee how holy a God they have to deal with, who doth fo perfectly hate Sin that he will follow it with Chaftifements wherefoever it be found. Though the Sin be pardoned, though the Sinner be beloved, yet God * will afflift them, not indeed to fatisfie his Juftice, for that is done for them by Jefus Chrift, but to fatisfie his Holi- nefs, and vindicate the Honour of his Purity in the World, and himfelf too from Contempt, when thofe who will prefume to offend fhall certainly fmart for it, x Sam. iz. 13* 14 Secondly, The Afflictions and Evils that Believers fuffer, are not infli&ed by the Two Covenants. gl by God, that thereby he might fatisfie his Juftice upon them; and therefore they are not from the Curfe of the Law, nor properly Punifliments for their Sins. Pu- nifhment always connotes Satisfaction for tranfgreffing the Law. But now this Satisfaction to Divine Juftice is not to be wrought out by Believers them- felves; and therefore whatfoever they fuffer is not ftri&ly Punifliment. Chrift: hath fully fatisfied all the Demands of Juftice, and therefore no farther Satis- faction is expefted from them, fince that could not be confident with the Rules and Meafures of Juftice to punifh both the Surety and Principal too. The Curfe of the Law poured all its Poifon into Chrift, and there is not one drop of it that falls befides upon Believers, Gal. 3. 13. Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the Law, being made a curfe for us. For that Death, and all thole Evils threatned in the Covenant of Works are Curfes, not merely becaufe they are grievous and afflifting, but be- caufe infli6ted on Tranfgreftors in or- der to the Satisfaftion of Divine Juftice upon them. And therefore Chrift is faid to be accurfed, and his Death to have been an accurfed Death, {cur fed is eve- ry one that hangeth on a tree) not be- G caufe 82 The Doclrine of caufe he dyed, nor becaufe he dyed a moil bitter, painful, and fhameful Death, but becaufe he was ordained to under- go this Death as a Satisfaction to the JuitLe of God for the Sins of Men. And truly, fhould God inflift thofe very E- vils which he now doth upon Believers, to the end that he might thereby raife fome Satisfaction to his Juilice, though the Evils themfelves would not be grea- ter, nor more fharp and painful, yet they would all beCurfes, and make them too accurfed Creatures. For the true notion of a Curfe and of a Puniihmenr* confiits not in the Quality or the Mea- iure of the Evil fuffered, but in the in- flicting it as Penal, and in order to the Satisfaction of Juliice. Hence therefore with what Calmnefs and fweet Peace may a true Chriftian look upon all his Affli6tions? though theybe'fore and heavy, and feem to car- ry much Wrath in them, yet they have nothing of the Curfe. The Sting was received all of it into the Body of Chrift: to that now the Covenant of Works is difarm'd to him, and he need not fear the dreadful Thunder of its threatnings, for the Bolt is already discharged upon another. Indeed were it God's Intent to fatisfie his Juftice by the Evils which he the Two Covenants. 83 he brings upon me, I might then trem- ble with Horror and Aftonifliment, and account every the ilighteft Suffering a Prefage and Pledge of far greater and eternal to come. But if I have an Inte- reft in the Righteoufnefs of Chrift, Ju- ftice is already fatisfied, the Curfe re- moved, and all the Sorrows and Afflicti- ons I fuffer, are but the Corrections of a gracious Father, not the Revenge of an angry God. Am I pinch'd by Pover- ty? That is no Curfe : God doth not feek Revenge upon me, but only keeps me from the allurements to Sin and Va- nity. Am I afflifted with loffes in my Relations, or Eftate ? That's no Curfe: God doth not thereby feek Satisfaction to his Juftice, but only takes thefe from me, that he might be all in all. Am I tormented with Pain, weakned with Difeafes, and will thefe bring Death upon me ? Yet Difeafes, and Death it felf are no Curfes ; but only a necelTary Paflage from Life to Life, a bad ftep to Canaan^ a fliort Night between one Day and another. Revenging Juftice is fa- tisfied ; and therefore come what Af- flictions it fliall pleafe God to try me with, they are all weak and weapon- lefs, without Sting, without Curfe in them. G 1 But g^ The DoSirine of But moft fad and miferable is the con- dition of wicked Men, whofe Infidelity excludes them from having a right in the Sufferings of Chrift : For there is not the leaft Affliction that befals them, the leaft gripe of any Pain, the leaft lofs in their Eftates, the moft flight and in- confiderable Crofs that is, but it comes upon them through the Curfe of the Law. God is by thefe beginning to fa- tisfie his Juflice upon them, and fends thefe to arrefl and feize them. He is beginning to take them by the Throat, and to call upon them to pay him what they owe. Every Afflidion is to them but part of Payment of that vaft and endlefs Sum of Plagues, which God will moft feverely, and to the very utmoft Farthing exacft of them in Hell. And fo much in anfwer to that Query. Let us now proceed to enquire who are the Perfons with whom this Co- venant of Works w7as at firfl made, and then by whom it was broken. But in order to a clear and diftinft Refolution to this, I muft firfl premife one or two things moft neceftary to be known, and which I fhall lay as the Ba- ils and Foundation of my enfuing Di- fcourfe. The the 7 wo Covenants. X< The firft is this, that Adam may be confidered under a two- fold Capacity. I. As a Natural Root. II. As a Federal Head. In the former refpect we were in him as in our Original ; in the latter, as in our Reprefcntative. There is no difficulty at all in con- ceiving of Adam as our Natural Root, for that is only in regard of the Tra- duction of the fame Nature to all hisPo- flerity. As all Parents are the natural Root of their Pofterity, fo Adam was of all Mankind, delivering his Nature to his Children, which hath fince been handed down along from one Generati- on to another, even unto us. But all the difficulty lies in opening how Adam was our Federal Head, and what it fig-, nities to be fo. A Federal Head, is a common Reprefentative, or publickPer- fon, aPerfon as it were dilated into ma- ny, or many Perfons comra&ed into one, appointed to ftand in the ftead of others; fo that what he doth as a&ing in that publick Capacity, is as valid in Law to all intents and purpofes, as if thofe whom he reprefents, had in their own Perfons done it. This is a Federal Head, Surety, or Reprefentative. Now fuch a Reprefentative is fuppofed to have G 3 The Doftrinc of a Power to oblige thofe for whom he appears to any Agreement or Compaft whatfoever, as though they themfelves had perfonally entered into it. And this Power that one Man hath to oblige and bind another, may arife two ways. Firjl, From a voluntary Delegation. Secondly i From a Natural, or at lead a Legal or acquired Right that the one hath over the other. Firjf, A Reprefentative by Delegati- on, is one to whom thofe whom he re- prefents have, by a free and joint con- lent, given up their own Power, and inveited him in it. As to ufe a known inftance in the choice of a Parliament, the People give away their Power to thofe few feleft Men whom they fend, each Shire to its Knight, and each Cor- poration to its Burgefs. So that what- foever thefe few do, is in Law not only the Aft of thofe Men, but of all the People in the Nation : What Laws or Taxes foever theyimpofe on thofe whom they reprefent, are not only from them, but in a Law fenfe the People lay them upon themfelves. But Adam was noi* thus the Federal Head or Reprefenta- tive of Mankind, becaufe having not as then received our Being, we could PQt the Two Covenants. not by a free confent chufe him to tranfaft with God for us. Secondly, Therefore, there is in fome a Power to oblige others, arifing merely from the Right that the one hath over the other. And this Rbht is twofold: Either natural upon the ac:ount of na- tural Produ&ion, or elfe legal and ac- quired upon the account of Purchafe and Redemption. For both he that be- gets, and he that purchafeth and re- deems another, hath a right over him, and by that may become his Federal Head, and bind him to all juft Condi- tions, difpofing of his Perfon and Con- cerns as he thinks fit and expedient. Accordingly the whole Race of Man- kind never had but two Federal Heads or general Reprefentatives ; and they were the firft:, and the fecond Adam. The Power that Chrift, the fecond A- dam, had to reprefent thofe for whom he undertook, was founded upon a le- gal and acquired Right over them, as being their Redeemer who had bought them to himfelfout of the Hands ofju- ftice, and therefore might difpofe of them as he pleafeth. But the Power that the firft Adam had to be our Repre- fentative arole from a natural Right, as being the common Parent of all Man- G 4 kind, 88 "The TtoSirwe of kind, in whofe Loins we all lay, and from whom we deriv'd our Beings, and upon that account he might juftly ob- lige us, who owe our felves to him, as well as himfelf, to what Terms foever God ihould propound, and he accept. And the reafon why we fay, that Adam only was our Reprefentative or Fede- ral Head, and not our other interme- diate Parents from whom we fpring, as well as from him, is not hecaufe other Parents have not the fame Power to Covenant for, and oblige their Chil- dren, as he had (for ftill they have as muh Na ural Right over thofe that de- fcend from them) but becaufe they are not fo appointed and conftitutecFby God. Should God make a diftinft and diffe- rent Covenant with them, they would have as much Power to bind their Po- sterity to the Terms of it, as Adam had to bind all Mankind to the Covenant of Works. That's the firit thing pre- mifed. Secondly^ Becaufe Adam was thus our Federal Head, we are not to be conii- der'd as diftinft from him, but as one and the fame Perfon with him entring into Covenant with God. As the Par- liament is to be confidered as the fame with the whole Body of the People in all the Two Covenants. go all things wherein they do reprefent them; ioAdam and all Mankind a: e to be confidered as one and the fame Perfon in all things wherein he reprefents us. Now our being thus one with Adam doth not denote any real Phyfical Unity or Onenefs: but it muft be underftood in " fenfu forenfii in a judicial Law Senfe. And this Onenefs with him in a Law Senfe (which is a term frequently ufed3 and therefore it might help us to have it expounded) fignihes nothing elfe but that there is a real Foundation laid for the Law juftly to Reward or Puniih us, upon Adam's Obedience or Difobedi- ence, as if we were one and the fame Per- fon with him; which Foundation is the Right he hath over us to oblige us to Co- venant-Conditions. Now thefe things thus premifed (which are of great moment in the Doftrine of the Covenants) take thefe two Particu- lars, Firjf, That the Covenant of Works was not made with Adam confidered in his private and perfonal Capacity, but as a publick Perfon and a Federal Head ; and therefore it was made with us as well as with him, yea, with us in him. He was not a fingle Perfon, but a whole World wrsupt and folded up together in one : The Do&rine of one : So that all who have fince fprung from him, are, in refpeel of the Cove- nant, but one Adam unravell'd, and drawn out at length. What the Apoitle faith of Levi, Hebr. 7. 9, 10. Levi paid Tithes in Abraham^ for he was yet in the Loins of his father when Melchifedec met him> I may fay in this Cafe : We all entred into Covenant at the very begin- ning of the World, for we were then in the Loins of our Father Adam when that Covenant was made. So that when we eonfider either Adam or our felves with relation to this Covenant, we muft fo mould our Apprehenfions as if all we were Adam, and Adam all of us. For though we then lay fo deep hid in our Caufes, and the fmall Principles of our Beings, yet the Covenant took hold of us, and bound us either to the Obedi- ence which Adam promifed both for himfelf and us, or to the Penalty which he expofed both himfelf and us unto. Yet ftill our Covenanting in Adam muft be underftood in a Law Senfe : For it is utterly impoflible that we fliould per- fonally and actually enter into Covenant befjre we were. Bun the Meaning is only this, that the Covenant which God made with Adam doth as lawfully and ftrongly bind us to Obedience, and in cafe the Two Covenants. ^r cafe of failure to Punifhment, as it did him ; becaufe God made this Covenant with him confider'd not perfonally but representatively, he having a Power to indent for his Pofterity, from the natu- ral Right he had over them as their common Parent. And yet poffibly it may be long enough difputed, without hopes of a certain Refolufion, whether when God made this Covenant with A- dam he then knew himfelf to be a Pub- lick Perfon, and to Hand as the Repre- fentative of all Mankind. Probable it is, that this Affair being of fo vaft and general Concernment, fome fuch Ap- prehenfions might be impreft upon him by God, either through natural Inftinft or divine Revelation : And if fo, the more inexcufable was his Fault, that knowing himfelf intrufted with no lefs a Stock than the Happinefs of all his Race, he fliould fo wilfully break, and thereby ruin both himfelf and them. Secondly ', In like manner Adam brake this Covenant, not only as confider'd perfonally, but as he was a common Re- prefentative and a publick Perfon ; and therefore not only he, but we, by eat- ing of the forbidden Fruit finned and fell. We are not to look upon Adam as alone in the Tranfgreffion ; but we our felves The 'DoSirine of felveswereasdeepinit as he: He indeed by perfonal Confent to the Temptation (without which neither he nor we had iinned) but we, by a Covenant or Fede- ral Obligation in him our Surety and Reprefeniative. Every one will readi- ly confefs that he hath been and Hill is a Tranfgreflbr of the Covenant of Works, that his Obedience falls infinite- ly fhort of the Holinefs and Perfe&ion of the Law : But that he Ihould tranf- grefs this Covenant fo many thoufand Years before he was born, even in the Infancy of the World, that his Hand ihould be lift up againft God in thit pri- mitive Rebellion ; this fome deny, few underftand, and fewer lament. Yet what faith the Apoftle, Rom. 5. ver. 12, 18, 19? In the 12th verfe, By one man Jin entered into the worlds and death by Jin ; and fo death pajfed upon all men, i$ & irdrrzz HjjLct^t^ for that all have fin- ned, faith our Tranilation ; in whom all have finned, faith the Margin: Both are right, for indeed both carry but the fame Senfe. So ver. 18. By the offence of one man judgment came upon all to condemnation. And ver. 19. By one mans difbbedience many were made finners. But how could many be made Sinners by the Sin of one ? It is not by Imitati- on the Two Covenants. 93 on only, as the Pelagians held, main- taining thac Adam's Sin had no more In- fluence upon us, than the Power that a bad Example hath to fway that Will to Evil that is not necelTarily confirmed in Good. But this cannot be, becaufe Death is here faid to reign over thofe who never finned after the fimilitude of Adam's tranfgrejfwn^ ver. 14. that is, over Infants, for they alfo dye in whom the Example of Adam could never work any Propenfion to Difobedience. And certainly were there nothing elfe in A- dams Sin to make Men Sinners, but only the fetting of an ill Example be- fore them, I can fee noReafon why the Example of his Penitence and After-O- bedience fliould not as effeftually ex- cite us to Virtue, as that of his Difobe- dience to Sin. Especially methinks the Examples of the Miferies and Wretch- ednefs that Sin hath brought both upon Adam, and upon his Pofterity, might much more deter them, than the Exam- ples of Vice (if there were no Corrup- tion in their Nature) allure them. It is not therefore by Example only that Mankind are made Sinners through the difobedience of one ; but we became Sin- ners by his Difobedience, becaufe in him we our felves finned and difobey'd ; not in- 94 The T>oSirine of indeed actually, for fo we were not in him ; but Forenfically, and in a Law fenfe, he being our Reprefenta ive and Federal Head, and God looking upon what he did as equivalen to the perfo- nal deed of all Mankind ; which Impu- tation was built upon moft juil and righteous Grounds, becaufe Adam be- ing our firft Parent, had a natural right over us, and might bind all his Pofteri- ty to the Terms of any Covenant that God fhould be pleafed to make with him, and which might have been fo much to their Advantage. And thus I hope thefe two things are fufficiently cleared, which are of great ufe and neceffity to our right underftanding the Doftrine of the Covenants, with whom the Cove- nant of Works was made, and by whom it was broken. Now that many of thefe things are abftrufe and difficult I cannot deny ; but that any of them are vain and frivolous, I do. It is a moft ignorant and weak Excufe of many, who perhaps may be well-meaning People, that thefe things are too high Speculations for them to fearch into; that their eternal Salvation may be fecured well enough though they know not fuch obfcure Points as thefe are, folong as theyconfciencioufly pradife the Two Covenants. 95 pra&ife thofe obvious Truths, and ex- prefs Duties which they know. I will not, I dare not deny, but Men may be fafe in not knowing what they cannot at- tain. But if they pretend this for a Shelter of flothful and affected Ignorance, ' let them confider that many of the great and precious Truths of the Gofpel are delivered obfcurely, not to excufe us from, but on purpofe to. engage us to a diligent Search and Study of them. If thefe things were not expedient to be known, why fliould the Holy Scripture fo abound with them? The Epiftles of St. Taul are full of thefe profound My- fteries, which he wrote to the Churches in common, and every Member of them. Thefe were read in publick Aflemblies, and it concerned all the People to hear- ken to them, and confider of them. And if the preffing only of praftical Du- ties of Chriflianity had been futficient, mod part of the Apoftles Writings had been needlefs and fuperfluous. 'Tis true we cannot determine what is the Mini- mum quod Jic that is confident with Sal- vation, what 'is the leaft Degree either of Grace or Knowledge that may juft ferve to bring a Man to Heaven. But this we may fay, that 'tis a very ill Sign to drive the Bargain fo hard with God, • to The DoSlrine of to defire to be faved at the lead Charges andExpences poffible. This I will boldly fay > that he who defpifeth a more high and elevated Knjivleige of theMyiteries of Chriftianity, where the Means to attain It are afforded, though others who are deftitute of thofe Means may arrive at Heaven and Happinefs, yet I muft needs doubt whether ever he fhall. To de- fpife Evangelical Truths which* do not fo immediately tend to Pradice, is no other than to impute Trivialnefs to the infinite Wifdom of God who hath re- vealed them, and fo often and largely infifted on them ; and to withdraw the chiefefl pare of our felves, whereby we moll of all fliew our felves to be Men, from his Obedience, even our Under- llandings. 'Certainly we ferve God as well by endeavouring to know his Truth, as by endeaaouring to obey his Com- mands ; and he who refolves to obey God bidding do this, but not when he bids him underftand this, ferves him more like an Engine, than like a Man. From this that hath been fpoken we may borrow fome Light to difcover to us the manner how we are all become Partakers of Original Sin, through the Violation of this firft Covenant of Works. Many are the Difputes, and great the Difficul- the Two Covenants. 97 Difficulties about this Matter: Very much is faid and written upon this Sub-, jeft, to very little Purpofe, unlefs it be to fhew us how miferable the Blindnefs and Ignorance of human Nature is, which this Sin hath brought upon us. It would be a Labour as fruitlefs as end- lefs to reckon up to you the great Vari- ety of Opinions herein : No one Point of Divinity hath been more difcuft and controverted than this; and yet, if I may be allow'd fo to judge, all that ever I have yet feen, hath either been falfe in the Hypothefis, or failed in the Accom- modation. Some deny the Imputation of Guilt, and fome the Corruption of Nature, and becaufe they cannot com- prehend the Way and Manner of its Conveyance, deftroy Original Sin it felf. Others that grant both, yet puzzle them- felves and their Readers with flrange Aflertions ; fome holding that the Soul is propagated from the Parents even as the Body is; and therefore no Wonder that a defiled Soul ihould beget ano- ther fuch. Others, who hold the Souls of Men to be immediately created by God, affirm that it contrafts Pollution by being infufed into a polluted Body. But yet the Abfurdities that will follow upon all thefe ways are fo many, fo ve- H ry 98 The DoBrine of ry grofs and palpable, that fuch Hypo- thefesj inftead of fatisfying, muft needs only difquiet and torment an inquifitive IVlind ; and yet if after all thefe Diffe- rences andDifputes the certainty of the Truth in this Matter could be evidenced , it would more than recompence the Pains of all, and the Errors of many who have attempted it. For though it be cer- tain that Niceties in Religion are not Neceffities, yet if ever Difficulty and Ufefulnefs were conjoined together in any one Point, 'tis in this of Original ,.^JSin. I intend not to handle the Queftion at large, but only briefly fpeak to it as a Deduftion and Corollary from this Do- ftrine of the Covenants. To enter into it, I muft firfl premife a diftinclion or two concerning Original Sin, and then lay down fome Pofitions from which it may be cleared to you, that the true Ground of our partaking of it is only the Covenant of Works. m Jli~ Original Sin therefore is two-fold. Firft, The Imputation of Guilt. Secondly, The Inhefion of Corrup- tion. Firftj There is an Imputation of Guilt. To impute Guilt, is to reckon a Perfon a Tranfgreflbr of the Law, and there- fore liable to the Punifliment threatned, whe- the Two Covenants. 99 whether he hath in his ownPerfon tranf- grefs'd the Law, or not. And here lies a great part of the difficulty, how we can become guilty of another Man's Tranfgreffion, which we never afted in, nor confented unto, and was committed fome thoufands of Years before we were born ; and yet we fliall be puniili'd for it, and that as juftly as if we had in our own Perfons committed it. Secondly, Befides this Imputation of Guilt, there is in Original Sin an inhe- rent Corruption of Nature. The for- mer is by the Schools called Teccatum Originans ; and this Teccatum Origina- tion, barbaroufly indeed, but yet figni- ficantly. Now inherent Corruption of Nature is commonly made to confift of two parts. I. The lofs and privation of the Image of God, the Clarity of ourUnderftand- ings, the Obedience of our Wills, the order of our Affe&ions, the perfefl: har- mony of the whole Man in the Sub- jection of his inferior Faculties to his jfuperior, and all unto God, being ut- terly loft and renounced, fo that now we are become both unable and averfe to every thing that is good. II. Befides this, it is commonly affirmed that there is fome pofitive H % ma1ig~ 100 The Do&rine of malignant Quality in original Sin, viz. a violent propenfion, and flrong bent of the whole Man unto what is evil and finful. The former is called the Priva- tive, this latter the Pofitive part of Ori- ginal Sin. Yet I think, if it be well weighed, as there may be infuperable difficulties in admitting fuch a pofitive Corruption in our Frame and Compofi- tion, fo there is not any neceffity to grant it. We need not, I fay, fuperadd any pofitive Corruption in original Sin, to the privation of original Righteouf- nefs. For a mere privation of reftitude in an aftive Subjeft, willfufficientlyfalve all thofe Phenomena for which a pofi- tive Corruption is pleaded. We fhall find Man's Nature wicked enough by his Fall, thoughj there were no evil Prin- ciples infufed into him (for from whence Ihould they come) but only Holinefs and Righteoufnefs taken from him. For the Soul being a bufie Creature, aft it muft and will: Without Grace and the Image of God adorning and affifting it, it cannot aft regularly, nor holily. Its' Nature makes it aftive. The lofs of God's Image, which alone can raife the Soul to aft fpiritually, makes all its Afti- ons defeftive ; and this alone is fufticient to make all his Aftions corrupt and fin- ful, the Two Covenants. 101 ful, without admitting any pofitive Cor- ruption. There needs no more to make a Man halt that muft walk, but to lame him : And certainly he that doth lame him, doth it not by infufmg into him any habit or principle of Lamenefs, but only by deftroying that Strength and Power which before he had. So ftands the cafe here; we are all lamed by the Fall we took in Adam^ our Natures are defpoiled of their primitive Integrity and Perfection, fo that there needs not any pofitive vitious Habit implanted in our Original to make our Aftions vici- ous and irregular ; but it is fufficient that we have loft thofe holy Habits and Principles of Righteoufnefs and Know- ledge which we were at firft endowed with, and which alone could dired eve- ry Aftion in or dine ad