* Though the covenant of redemption made to the fathers, and this which was given after, seem diverse, yet they are all one, and grounded on Jesus Christ, save that this ia called ' new ; ' because of the manifestations of Christ, and the abundant graces of the Holy Ghost, given to his church under the gospel, 2 Cor. iii. 1-3.
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to their unrigliteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I re- member no more ;' ver. 13, 'In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.' This is the substance of the new covenant ; and thus the Lord did fore-promise it by Jeremiah, and afterwards expounded it by Paul. Some small difference there is in their words, but the sense is one and the same. Now this covenant is styled the new covenant, because it is to continue new, and never to wax old or wear away, so long as this world shall continue. Neither doth the Holy Scriptures anywhere reveal another covenant, which shall suc- ceed this covenant. 1 If any covenant should succeed this, it must be either a covenant of works, or a covenant of grace ; not a covenant of works, for that would bring us all under a curse, and make our condi- tion utterly desperate ; not a covenant of grace, because more grace cannot be shewn in any other covenant than in this ; here is all grace and all mercy, here is Jesus Christ with all his righteousness, mediator- ship, merits, purchase. This covenant is so full, so ample, so large, so perfect, so complete, and is every way so accommodated to the condition of lost sinners, that nothing can be altered, nor added, nor mended : and therefore it must needs be the last covenant, that ever God will make with man. So Heb. x. 16, ' This is the covenant that
1 will make with them, after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their hearts, and; in their minds will I write them ; ' ver. 17, ' And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.' Kom. xi. 26, ' There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' The person delivering is Christ, described here by his office and by his original ; his office, the deliverer ; the original word pvofxevo^, which Paul useth, signifies delivering by a strong hand, to rescue by force, as David delivered the lamb out of the lion's paw ; ver. 27, ' For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sin.' This covenant concerning the pardoil of believers' sins, and their deliverance by Christ, God will certainly make good to his people.
Now from the covenant of grace, or the new covenant that God has made with sincere Christians, a believer may form up this eighth plea to the ten scriptures cited in the margin,2 that refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular account, viz., 0 blessed God, thou hast, in the covenant of grace, hy which I must he tried, freely and fully engaged thyself that thou loilt pardon mine iniquities, and remember my sins no more ; so runs the new covenant : Jer. xxxi. 34, * I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more ; ' so again, Heb. viii. 12, ' I will be merciful to their unright- eousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more ; ' so Heb. X. 17, ' Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more ; ' Isa. xliii. 25, ' I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
^ Where then is the fire of purgatory, and that popish distinction of the fault and the punishment ? As for the fiction of purgatorj-, it deserves rather to be hissed at, than by arguments refuted. And to punish sin in purgatory, as popish doctors teach, what is this, but to call sin to mind and memory, to view and sight, to reckoning and account ? which is contrary to the doctrine of the new covenant.
* Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 2 ; Rom. xiv. 10
2 Cor. v. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
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for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins ; ' Ezek. xviii. 22, ' All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him ; ' Jer. 1. 20, * In those days, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none ; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found ; for I will pardon them whom I reserve/ Now, 0 holy God, I cannot hut observe that in the new covenant thou hast made such necessary, choice, absolute, and blessed provision for thy poor people, that no sin can disannul the covenant, or make a Jindl separation between thee and thy covenxint- peopleA Breaches made in the first covenant were irreparable, but breaches made in the new covenant are not so, because this new cove- nant is estabhshed in Christ. Christ lies at the bottom of the cove- nant. The new covenant is an everlasting covenant; and all the breaches that we make upon that covenant are repaired and made up by the blood and intercession of dear Jesus. Every jar doth not break the marriage covenant between husband and wife; no more doth every sin break the new covenant that is between God and our souls. Every breach of peace with God is not a breach of covenant with God. That free, that rich, that infinite, that sovereign, and that glorious grace of God that shines in that covenant of grace, tells us that our eternal estates shall never be judged by a covenant of works ; and that the want of an absolute perfection shall never damn a beheving soul ; and that the obedience that God requires at our hands is not a legal, but an evangelical obedience. So long as a Christian doth not renounce his covenant with God, so long as he doth not wilfully, wickedly, and habitually break the bond of the covenant, the main, the substance, of the covenant is not yet broken, though some articles of the covenant may be violated ; as among men, there be some tres- passes against some particular clauses in covenants, which, though they be violated, yet the whole covenant is not forfeited ; it is so here between God and his people.