JaS. II. 13.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 227
rejoice over Satan, sin, death, hell, and his own conscience. In the coiirt of heaven the mercy of God rejoiceth ; in the court of conscience, the mercy of man : the one noteth a victory over the divine justice, the other a victory over our own fears.
The observations are these : —
Ohs. 1. The condition of men under the covenant of works is very miserable. They meet with justice without any temper of mercy. The word speaketh no comfort to them. Either exact duty or extreme misery are the terms of that covenant. ' Do and live,' and ' do and die,' is the only voice you shall hear whilst you hold by that tenure. God asked of Adam, ' What hast thou done ? ' not, Hast thou repented ? So in the prophet, Ezek. xviii., ' The soul that sinneth shall die.' The least breach is fatal. Toman fallen the duty of that covenant is impossible, the penalty of it is intolerable. Fore-going sins cannot be expiated by subsequent duties. Paying of new debts doth not quit the old score. Will you hope in God's mercy ? One attribute is not exercised to the prejudice and wrong of another. In that covenant God intendeth to glorify justice, and you are engaged to a righteous law, and both law and justice must have satisfaction. As the word speaketh no comfort, so providence yieldeth none. All God's dispensations are judicial : Ezek. vii. 5, 'An evil, and an only evil.' Their crosses are altogether curses. There is nothing befalletli them that are under the covenant of grace, but there is some good in it ; something to invite hope, or to allay sorrow : ' In wrath God remembereth mercy,' Hab. iii. 2. The rod is not turned into a ser- pent, and therefore comforteth, Ps. xxiii. 5. Whereas to these every comfort is salted with a curse ; and in their discomforts there is nothing but a face and an appearance of wrath. But the worst of the covenant of works is hereafter. When he dealeth with his people all in mercy, he will deal with them all in judgment : Eev. xiv. 10, ' A cup of wrath unmixed ; ' that is, simple and bare ingredients of wrath. Yet it is said, Ps. Ixxv. 8, that 'the cup of the Lord is full mixed ; ' full mixed with all sorts of plagues, but unmixed, with- out the least drop or temperament of mercy. Oh ! how will ye do to suffer those torments that are without ease and without end ? Kev. XX. 7, ' They shall be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, where they shall be tormented for ever and ever.' Nothing more painful to the sense than fire ; no fire more noisome or more scald- ing than brimstone ; and all this for ever and ever. There is an eternity of extremity ; it is without measure and without end , which is the hell of hell, that after a. thousand years are passed over, that worm dieth not, and that fire is not quenched. The brick-hills and the furnace of Babel are but shadows to it. There was a sad howling and yelling in Sodom when God rained hell out of heaven. How did the poor scalded creatures run up and down in that deluge of brimstone, and shriek and howl because of their pains ! Oh ! but what weeping and gnash- ing will there be in hell, when a 'fiery stream shall go out from the throne of God,' Dan. vii. 10, and poor damned creatures shall wal- low hither and thither, and have ' not a drop to cool their tongues ! ' Well, then, it should awaken those that are under the covenant of works to come under the banner of grace. Those that are condemned
228 AN ExrosiTiox, with notes, [Jas. II. 13.
in one court li;ive liberty of appeal to another; and when ' ye are dead,' and lost to the first law, you may be ' alive to God,' Gal. ii. 19. Let ' the aveujjjer of blood' make you fly to ' the city of refu.i^e.' liut you will say, Who are now under the covenant of w^orks ? There is a vulvar prejudice abroad which supposetli that the first covenant was repealed and disannulled upon the fall, and that God now dealeth with us upon new terms ; as if the covenant of grace did wholly ex- trude and shut out the former contract, wherein they think Adam only was concerned. But this is a gross mistake, because it was made not only with Adam, but with all his seed. And every natural man, whilst natural, wliilst merely a son of Adam, is obliged to the tenor of it. The form of the law runneth universally, ' Cursed is every one that,' &c., Gal, iii. 10 ; which rule brooketh no exception but that of free grace and interest in Christ. And therefore every child, even those born in the church, are obnoxious to the curse and penalty of it : ' Children of wrath, even as others,' E])h. ii. 3 ; and therefore are natural men described by tliis term, ' Those that are under the law,' Gal. iv. 5 ; that is, under the ])ond and curse of the law of works. If the law of works had been repealed and laid aside presently upon Adam's fall, Christ had not come under the bond and curse of it as our substitute and surety, for he was to take our debt upon him, to submit to the duty and penalty of our engagement ; therefore it is said, in the place last quoted, he was ' made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.' So also Gal. iii. 13, 'He was made a curse for us ; ' that is, in our room and place. And, again, the law is not repealed, because it is an unchangeable rule, according to which God proceedeth, fj.ia Kepala : ' Not a pick of the law shall pa.<s away,' Mat. v. 18, till all be fulfilled, either by the creature, or upon the creature, by us, or by our surety. It is the covenant of works that condemneth all the sons of Adam. The rigour of it brouglit Christ from heaven to fulfil it for believers. Either we must have Christ to fulfil it, or for tlie breach of it we must perish for ever. And therefore our apostle saitli, that at the day of judgment God proceedeth with all men according to the two covenants; some are 'judged by the law of liberty,' and some 'have judgment without mercy.' The two covenants have two prin- cipal confederate parties that contracted for them and their heirs — Adam and Christ ; therefore, as long as thou art Adam's heir, thou hast Adam's engagement upon thee. Tlie covenant of works was made with Adam and his seed, who were all natural men. The covenant of grace with Christ and his seed, wiio are believers, Isa. liii. 10. God will own no interest in them that claim by Adam. As Abraham was to reckon his seed by Isaac, not by Ishmael, * In Isaac shall thy seed be called ; ' so God's children are reckoned by Christ. Otlicrs, that have but a common interest, cherisli a vain hope: 'God that made them will not save them,' Isa. xxvii. 11.