[5.] Fifthly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints stand, is sometimes styled a neio covenant : Jer. xxxi. 31, ' Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah :' Heb. xii. 24, ' And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,' &c., Heb. viii. 8, 13, and ix. 15. Now the covenant of grace is styled a new covenant in several respects. (1.) In opposition to the former covenant, that was old, and being old, vanished away, Heb. viii. 13. It is called a new covenant in opposition to the covenant that was made with Adam in the state of innocency, and in opposition to the covenant that was made with the Jews in the time of the Old Testament. (2.) To shew the excellency of the covenant of grace. New things are rare and excellent things.
^ This ceremony or solemnity of covenanting, the Romans and other nations used. Some judge the heathens borrowed this custom from the Jews. But of this before.
312 TDE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
In the blessed Scriptures excellent things are frequently called ' new ;' as a ' new testament,' a ' new Jerusalem,' ' new heavens,' and ' new earth;' ' a new name,' that is, an excellent name ; a ' new command- ment,' that is, an excellent commandment ; a ' new way,' that is, an excellent way ; a ' new heart,' is an excellent heart ; a ' new spirit,' is an excellent spirit; and a ' new song,' is an excellent song.'^ (3.) In regard of the succession of it in the room of the former. (4.) In regard of the dilation and enlargement of it, it being in the days of old confined to the Jewish nation and state, and some few proselytes that adjoined themselves thereunto ; whereas now it is propounded and extended, without respect of persons or places, unto all indifferently, of all people and nations that shall embrace the faith of Christ. (5.) Sometimes that is styled new, which is diverse from what it was before : 2 Cor. V. 17, ' If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,' that is, he is not such a man as he was before ; a man must be either a new man or no man in Christ. ^ The substance of the soul is not changed, but the qualities and operations of it are altered ; in regeneration our natures are changed, not destroyed. This word ' new,' in Scripture, signifieth as much as ' another ; ' not that it is essentially new, but new only in regard of qualities. A new creature is a changed creature : 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory,' that is, from grace to grace. In this respect also, is the covenant styled new, not only because it is diverse from the covenant of works, but also because it is diverse from itself in respect of the admin- istration of it, after that Christ was manifested in the flesh, and died and rose again. From the different administration it is called old and new. This new covenant hath not those seals of circumcision and the passover ; nor those manifold sacrifices, ceremonies, types, and shadows, <fec., to the observation whereof the Jews were strictly obliged; but now all these things are taken away upon the coming of Christ, and a service of God, much more spiritual, substituted in the room of them ; upon which accounts the covenant of grace is called a ' new covenant.' (6.) It is styled new, because it is fresh, and green, and flourishing, it is like unto Aaron's rod, which continued new, fresh, and flourishing, Num. xvii. 8.3 All the choice blessings, all the great blessings, all the internal and all the eternal blessings of the new covenant, are as new, fresh, and flourishing, as they were when God brought your souls first under the bond of the new covenant. But, (7.) Such things are sometimes styled new which are strange, rare, wonderful, mar- vellous, and unusual, the like not heard of before. So Jer. xxxi. 22, ' The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall com- pass a man ;' as the nut encloseth the kernel, not receiving aught from without, but concei\dng and breeding of herself, by the power of
1 Mat. xxvi. 28 ; Rer. xxi. 2 ; 2 Pet. iii. 13 ; Eev. ii. 17 ; John xiii. 34 : Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27 ; Ps. xl. 3.
* A new creature has a new light, a new judgment, a new will, new affections, new thoughts, new company, new choice, new Lord, new law, new way, new work, &c. A new creature is a changed creature throughout, 1 Thes. v. 23.
^ Austin, and others, think that the commandment of love is called a new command- ment, because it is alwaj-s fresh, and green, and flourishing ; and why may not the covenant of grace be called a new covenant upon the same account ?
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 313
the Almighty, from within. That a virgin should conceive and bring forth a man-child, this was indeed a new thing, a strange thing, a- wonderful thing, a thing that was never thought of, never heard of, never read of, from the creation of the world to that very day. So Isa. xliii. 19, ' Behold, I will do a new thing, I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.'^ This was a new work, that is, a wonderful and unusual work ; for God to make a plain or free way in the wilderness, where the ways are wont to be uneven, with hills and dales, and obstructed with thickets, and overgrown with brambles and briars, is a strange and marvellous work indeed. In this respect also, the covenant of grace is styled new, that is, it is a wonderful covenant. 0 sirs ! what a wonder is this, that the great God, who was so transcendently dishonoured, despised, provoked, incensed, and injured by poor base sinners, should yet so freely, so readily, so graciously, condescend to vile forlorn sinners, as to treat with them, as to own them, as to love them, and as to enter into a covenant of grace and mercy with them ! This may well be the wonder of angels, and the astonishment of men. (8.) and lastly. It is called a new covenant, because it is never to be antiquated, as the apostle explains himself, Heb. viii. 13. But,