Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in his first glorious estate ; with righteousness, that he might carry it fairly, justly, evenly, and righteously towards man ; and with holiness, that he might carry it wisely, lovingly, reverentially, and holily to- wards God, and that he might take up in God as his chiefest good, as in his great all.l I shall not now stand upon the discovery of Adam's beauty, authority, dominion, dignity, honour, and glory, with which he was adorned, invested, and crowned in innocency. Let this satisfy, that Adam's first estate was a state of perfect knowledge, wisdom, and understanding ; it was a perfect state of holiness, righteousness, and happiness. There was nothing within him but what was desirable and delectable ; there was nothing without him but what was amiable and commendable ; nor nothing about him but what was serviceable and comfortable. Adam, in his innocent estate, was the wonder of all under- standing, the mirror of wisdom and knowledge, the image of God, the de- light of heaven, the glory of the creation, the world's great lord, and the Lord's great darling. Upon all these accounts, he had no need of a mediator. And let thus much suffice to have spoken concerning the first covenant of works, that was between God and Adam in innocency. But,
6. Sixthly, Premise this with me — viz., that there is a new cove- nant, a second covenant, or a covenant of grace hetwixt God and his •people, Heb. viii. 6-13. Express scriptures prove this : Deut. vii. 9, ' Know therefore, that the Lord thy God, he is God ; the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations ;' 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, ' Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my desire ; although he make it not to grow ;' 2 Neh. i. 5, ' I beseech thee, 0 Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God ; that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him, and keep his commandments ;' Isa. liv. 10, ' For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not
^ Eph. ir. 22-24. In this scripture, the apostle speaks plainly of the renovation of that knowledge, holiness, and righteousness that Adam sometimes had, but lost it by his fall, Ps. viii. 4-6 ; Gen. ii. 20.
' See this, 2 Sam. xiiii. 6, opened in my ' Box of Precious Ointments,' pp. 369-374. [Vol. iii. p. 491, seq.—G.]
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depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee ;' Jer. xxxii. 40, ' And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me ; ' Ezek. xx. 37, ' And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant ;' Deut. xxix.^12, ' That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God ; and into his oath, which the Lord thy Grod maketh with thee to-day.' Consult the scriptures in the margin also, for they cannot be applied to Christ, but to us.i But for the further evidencing of that covenant that is between the Lord and his people — now that there is a covenant betwixt God and his people may be further evinced by unanswerable arguments — let me point at some among many.
[1.] First, Christ is said to he ' the mediator of this covenant:' Heb. ix. 15, ' And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the trans- gressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.' Certainly that covenant, of which Christ is the testator, must needs be a covenant made with us ; for else, if the covenant were made only with Christ, as some would have it, then it will roundly follow that Jesus Christ is both testator and the party to whom the testaments and legacies are bequeathed ; which sounds harsh, yea, which to assert is very absurd. Since the creation of the world, was it ever known that ever any man did bequeath a testament and legacies to himself ? Surely no. Christ is the testator of the new covenant, and therefore we may safely con- clude that the new covenant is made with us. The office of mediator, you know, is to stand betwixt two at variance. The two at variance were God and man. Man had offended and incensed God against him. God's wrath was an insupportable burden, and a consuming fire ;. no creature was able to stand under it, or before it. Therefore Christ, to rescue and redeem man, becomes a mediator. Christ, undertaking to be a mediator, both procured a covenant to pass betwixt God and man, and also engaged himself for the performance thereof on both parts ; and to assure man of partaking of the benefit of God's covenant, Christ turns the covenant into a testament, that the conditions of the covenant, on God's part, might be as so many legacies, which, being confirmed by the death of the testator, none might dis- annul : Heb. viii. 6, * He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.' The promises of the new covenant are said to be better in these six respects : — (1.) All the pro- mises of the law were conditional ; ' Do this, and thou shalt live.' The promises of the new covenant are absolute, of grace, as well as to grace. (2.) In this better covenant God promiseth higher things. Here God promiseth Himself, his Son, his Spirit, a higher righteous- ness and a higher sonship. (3.) Because of their stability ; those of the old covenant were ' swallowed up in the curse.' These are the ' sure mercies of David.' (4.) They are all bottomed upon faith, they
^ Deut. iv. 23; Isa. Iv. 1-3; Jer. xxiv. 7, xxx. 22, xxxi. 31, 33, and xxxii. 38 ; Heb. Tiii. 8-10.
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all depend upon faith. i (5.) They are all promised upon our interest in Christ. This makes the promises sweet, because they lead us to Christ, the fountain of them, whose mouth is most sweet, and in whose person all the sweets of all created l)eings do centre. (6.) Because God hath promised to pour out a greater measure of his Spirit, under the new covenant, than he did under the old covenant : Heb. xii. 24, 'And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.' Thus you see that Christ is called ' the mediator of the covenant' three several times. Now he could not be the mediator of that covenant that is betwixt God and himself, of which more shortly, but of that covenant that is betwixt God and his people. But,
[2.] Secondly, The people of God have pleaded the covenant that is hetiuixt God and them: 'Remember thy covenant.' Now how could they plead the covenant betwixt God and them if there were no such covenant ? See the scriptures in the margin. 2 But,