Now after this fall, man's happiness was to recover again his communion and fellowship with God ; and therefore we must have a nev/ covenant before we can have life and comfort. God must enter into new conditions with us before we can have any communion with him.
4 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER.
GoJ therefore, loving man, cloth after the breach of the first agreement and covenant, when Adam had lost himself by his sin, and was in a most miserable plight as ever creature was in the world, falling from so great a happiness into wondrous miseiy ; he raised him up and comforted him by establishing a second, a new and better covenant, laying the foundation of it in the blessed seed of the woman, Christ the Messiah, who is the ground of this new covenant, and so of our communion and fellowship with God, without whom there can be no intercourse between God and us in love. And because this covenant was almost forgotten, therefore now in Abraham's time God renewed it to Abraham in this place : ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee,' &c.
There are four periods of time of renewing this covenant : first, from Adam to Abraham ; and in those first times of the world, those that were under the covenant were called the 'sons and daughters of God,' 'the chil- dren of the promise,' and the covenant of grace was called a promise of the blessed seed.
Secondly, From Abraham to Moses ; and then it was called a covenant, and they the children of the covenant. ' I will establish my covenant.' A covenant is more than a promise, and a more solemn thing, because there be ceremonies.
The third period of renewing the covenant of grace was from Moses to Christ ; and then it w^as more clear, whenas to the covenant made with Abraham, who was sealed with the sacrament of circumcision, the sacra- ment of the paschal lamb was added, and all the sacrifices Levitical; and then it was called a testament. That diflereth a little from a covenant ; for a testament is established by blood, it is established by death. So was that ; but it was only with the blood and death of cattle sacrificed as a type.
But now, to* Christ's time to the end of the world, the covenant of grace is most clear of all ; and it is now usually called the New Testament, being established by the death of Christ himself ; and it ditfers from a covenant in these respects :
First, A testament indeed is a covenant, and soviethinr/ more. It is a cove- nant sealed by death. The testator must die before it can be of force. So all the good that is conveyed to us by the testament it is by the death of the testator, Christ. God's covenant with us now, is such a covenant as is a testament, sealed with the ' death of the testator, Christ ; for ' without blood there is no redemption,' Heb. ix. 22 ; without the death of Christ there could be no satisfaction, and without satisfaction there could be no peace with God.
Secondly, A testament hegucatJuih ;iood thinf/s merehj of love. It giveth gifts freely. A covenant requireth something to be done. In a testament, there is nothing but receiving the legacies given. In covenants, ofttimes it is for the mutual good one of another, but a testament is merely for their good for whom the testament is made, to whom the legacies are bequeathed ; for when they are dead, what can they receive from them ? God's cove- nant now is such a testament, sealed with the death of Christ, made out of love merely for our good ; for what can God receive of us ? All is legacies from him ; and though he requireth conditions, requireth faith and obedience, yet he himself fulfilleth what he asketh, giveth what he requir- eth, giveth it as a legacy, as we shall see afterward.
Thus you see that the communion and fellowship of man with God, must * Qu. 'from'? — Ed.
THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER. &
either be by a covenant of works or by a covenant of grace. And we must distinguish exactly between these two covenants and the periods of them.
When the covenant of works was disannulled by our sins, because wo could not fulfil the law exactly and perpetually, God will have a new cove- nant. If we believe in Christ, we shall have everlasting life. Now, if we stick to the one, we must renounce the other. If it be of faith, it is not of works ; and if it be of works, it is not of faith. This was excellently signi- fied bj^ Joshua and Moses. Joshua bringeth the people to Canaan, and not Moses. Moses doth not bring any to heaven. It must be Joshua, the type of the true Jesus, that must bring them through Jordan to Canaan. This was typified also in the ark. There was the law, the covenant of works in the ark, but the propitiatory, the mercy-seat, was above the ark, above the law, and from thence God made all his answers ; to signify to us that we can have nothing to do with the law without the propitiatory. Christ is the propitiatory, the mercy-seat. In Christ God heareth us. He makes all his answers in the propitiatory, Christ. There- fore when the question is our salvation, how we have title to heaven, not by the merit of works, for then we reverse the covenant of grace ; but our title is merely by God's mercy in Christ apprehended by faith. The evi- dence indeed to prove our faith to be a true faith, is from works, but the title we have is only by Christ, only by grace. Here we must appeal from Sinai to Sion ; from the law to the gospel ; from Moses to Christ. We must fly with Joab to the horns of the altar, 1 Kings ii. 28. That must be our refuge. Fly to Christ in the covenant of grace, and we shall not be pulled from thence, as Joab was from the altar. There let us live and die.