This covenant of grace made with believers in Christ, is not the same, nor must it be confounded with the covenant of redemption made with Christ before the world began ; they are two distinct covenants : For in the covenant of grace, into which believers are taken, there is a Mediator, and this Mediator is Christ himself But in the other covenant of redemption^ there neither was, nor could be any Mediator, which manifestly distinguishes them. Be- sides, in the covenant of grace, Christ bequeaths manifold and rich legacies, as he is the Testator ; but no man gives a legacy to himself This covenant is really and properly made with every believer, as he is a member of Jesus Christ, the head ; and they are truly and properly foederates with God : The covenant binds them to their duties and encourages them therein by promises of strength, to be derived from Christ, to enable them thereunto.
2. We thankfully acknowledge, that the glory of the new co- venant is chiefly discovered in the promises thereof; upon the best promises it is established. And all the promises are reducible to the covenant. They meet and center in it, as the rivers in the sea, or beams in the sun ; but yet we cannot say, that nothing but pro- mises is contained in this covenant : For there are duties required by it, as well as mercies promised in it.
Nor may we say, that those duties required by it are required only to be performed by Christ, and not by us ; but they are re- quired to be performed by us in his strength : Nor is it Christ that
OF ANTIXOMIANISM. 589
repents and believes for us, but. we ourselves are to believe and re- pent in the strength of his grace : and till we do so actually in our own persons, we have no part or portion in the blessings and mer- cies of this covenant. If Christ by believing for us, give us an actual right and title to the promises and blessings of the new cove- nant, then it will unavoidably follow :
(1.) That men, \v\\o never repented for one sin in all their lives, may be, nay, certainly are pardoned as much as the greatest penitents in the world ; because though they never repented them- selves, yet Christ repented for them ; expressly contrary to his own words, Luke xiii. 3. " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise " perish ;" and contrary to his own established order, Luke xxix. 47. Acts iii. 19. '
(2.) It will also follow, that unbelievers, who never had union with Christ bv one vital act of faith in all their lives, may be, nay, certainly shall be saved, as well as those that are actual believers : because though they be unbelievers in themselves, yet Christ be- lieved for them; expressly contrary to Mark xvi. 16. " He that be- " lieveth not shall be damned." John iii. 36. " He that believes not " the Son, shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on " him.'"' And Luke xii. 46. " He will cut him in sunder, and will " appoint him his portion with unbelievers."*"
(3.) It will also follow from hence, that men may continue in a state of disobedience all their days, and yet may be saved, as well as the most obedient souls in the world ; expressly contrary to Eph. V. 6. " Let no man deceive you with vain words ; for because of " these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of " disobedience."" And Rom. ii. 8. " But unto them that are con- " tentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, " indignation and wrath.'' And 1 Pet. iv. 17. " What shall the " end of them be that obey not the gospel of God ?"
This lano[ua<Te sounds stran^i^e and harsh to the ears of Christians, a repenting Christ saving the impenitent sinner ; a belicvmg Christ saving unbelievers ; an obeying Christ saving obstinate and dis- obedient wretches: Whither doth such doctrine tend, but to encourage and fix men in their impenitence, unbelief, and dis- obedience ? But the Lord grant no poor sinner in the world may trust to this, or build his hopes of eternal life upon such a loose, sandy foundation, as this is. Reader, all that Christ hath done without thee, will not, cannot be effectual to thy salvation, unless repentance, faith, and obedience, be wrought by the Spirit in thy soul. It is " Christ in thee, that is the hope of glory^ ^o\. i. 27. beware, therefore, on what ground thou buildest for eternity.
Error 10. ' They deny sanctificatmn iohc the evulenceoJjii8t\Jicaticmi
590 THE SECO^^D APPENDIX.
* and deridingly tell w*, this is to lig-ht a candle to the sun ; and the ' darJi'er ow sanctification is, the brighter our justijicatian is.''
Refutation. I am not at all surprised at this strange and absonous language; it is a false and dangerous conclusion, yet such as naturally results from, and, by a kind of necessity, follows out of their other errors: For if the elect be all justified from eternity, and that neither repentance, faith, nor obedience, be required of us in the covenant of grace ; but were all required of, and performed by Christ, who repented, believed, and obeyed for us; then, indeed, I cannot understand what relation our sanctification hath to our justification, or how it should be an evidence, mark, or sign thereof, or what regard is due from Christians to afiy grace, or work of the Spirit wrought in them, to clear up their interest in Christ to them. For w^e being in Christ, and in a state of justifi- cation, before we were naturally born, we must necessarily be so before we be regenerated, or new-born : and, consequently, no work of grace wrought in us, or holy duties performed by us, can be evidential of that which from eternity was done before them, and without them.
1. I grant, indeed, That many vain professors do cheat, and deceive themselves, by false, unscriptural signs and evidences, as well as by true ones misapplied.
2. I grant also. That by reason of the deceitfulness of the heart, instability of the thoughts, similar works of common grace, in hypo- crites; distractions of the world, wiles of Satan, weakness of grace, and prevalency of corruptions; the clearing up of our justification by our sanctification, is a work that meets with great and manifold difficulties, which are the things that most Chris- tians complain of
3. 4 also grant. That the evidence of our sanctification in this, or any other method, is not essential, and absolutely necessary to the being of a Christian. A man may live in Christ, and yet not know his interest in him, or relation to him, Isa. 1. 10. Some Christians, like children in the cradle, live, but understand not that they live ; are born to a great inheritance, but have no knowledge of it, or present comfort in it.
4. I will further grant. That the eye of a Christian may be too in- tently fixed upon his own gracious qualifications ; and being wholly taken up in the reflex acts of faith, may too much neglect the direct acts of faith upon Christ, to the great detriment of his soul.