Jesus Christ, as aforesaid; every promise that is a new-covenant
promise, if there be any condition in it, our Undertaker hath
accomplished that for us, and also giveth us such grace as to receive
the sweetness as doth spring from them through His obedience to every
thing required in them.
(7.) Surer, because that as they are grounded upon the love of God,
everything is taken out of the way, in the hand of a sure Friend. And
as Christ hath fulfilled every condition as to justification that is
contained therein, so the Lord hath solemnly sworn with an oath for our
better confidence in this particular—“For when God made promise to
Abraham,” and so to all the saints, “because He could swear by no
greater, He sware by Himself, saying, Surely, blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had
patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the
greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife,”
that there might be no more doubt or scruple concerning the certain
fulfilling of the promise. “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to
show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel,” or
certain, constant, unchangeable decree of God in making of the promise,
for the comfort of his children, “confirmed it by an oath: that by two
immutable things,” His promise backed with an oath, “in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb 6:13-18).
(8.) That they are better it appears also in that they are freer and
fuller. That they are freer, it is evident, in that one saith, No
works, no life—Do this, and then thou shalt live; if not, thou shalt be
damned. But the other saith, We are saved by believing in what Another
hath done, without the works of the Law—“Now to him that worketh not,
but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness” (Rom 4:4,5). The one saith, Pay me that thou owest;
the other say, I do frankly and freely forgive thee all. The one saith,
Because thou hast sinned, thou shalt die; the other saith, Because
Christ lives, thou shalt live also (John 15).
(9.) And as they are freer, so they are fuller; fuller of
encouragement, fuller of comfort; the one, to wit, the law, looks like
Pharaoh’s seven ill-favoured kine, more ready to eat one up than to
afford us any food; the other is like the full grape in the cluster,
which for certain hath a glorious blessing in it. The one saith, If
thou hast sinned, turn again; the other saith, If thou hast sinned,
thou shalt be damned, for all I have a promise in me.
3. They that are of the second are better than they that are of the
first; and it also appeareth in this—The promises of the Law, through
them we have neither faith, nor hope, nor the Spirit conveyed; but
through the promises of the Gospel there are all these—“Whereby are
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we
might be partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). O therefore
“let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He
is faithful that promised” (Heb 10:23). “In hope of eternal life,” how
so? because “God, that cannot lie, promised it before the world began”
(Titus 1:2).
4. They that are in this covenant are in a very happy state; for though
there be several conditions in the Gospel to be done, yet Christ Jesus
doth not look that they should be done by man, as man, but by His own
Spirit in them, as it is written, “Thou hast wrought all our works in
us.” Is there that condition, they must believe? Why, then, He will be
both the “author and finisher of their faith” (Heb 12:2,3). Is there
also hope to be in His children? He also doth and hath given them “good
hope through His grace” (2 Thess 2:16). Again, are the people of God to
behave themselves to the glory of God the Father? then He will work in
them “both to will and to do of His own good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).
5. Again, as He works all our works in us and for us, so also by virtue
of this covenant we have another nature given unto us, whereby, or by
which we are made willing to be glorifying of God, both in our bodies
and in our spirits, which are His—“Thy people shall be willing in the
day of Thy power” (1 Cor 6:20; Psa 110:3).
6. In the next place, all those that are under this second covenant are
in a wonderful safe condition; for in case they should slip or fall
after their conversion into some sin or sins for who lives and sins
not? (Prov 24:16), yet through the merits and intercession of Christ
Jesus, who is their Undertaker in this covenant, they shall have their
sins pardoned, their wounds healed, and they raised up again; which
privilege the children of the first covenant have not; for if they sin,
they are never afterwards regarded by that covenant—They brake My
covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord (Heb 8:9). But when He
comes to speak of the Covenant of Grace, speaking first of the public
person under the name of David, He saith thus, “He shall cry unto Me,
Thou art My Father, My God, and the rock of My salvation. Also I will
make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy
will I keep for Him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with
Him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and His throne as
the days of heaven. If His children forsake My law, and walk not in My
judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not My commandments;
Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take
from Him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips. Once have I
sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall
endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before Me. It shall be
established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven”
(Psa 89:26-37). “My covenant shall stand fast with him”—mark that. As
if God had said, I did not make this covenant with man, but with My
Son, and with Him I will perform it; and seeing He hath given Me
complete satisfaction, though His children do, through infirmity,
transgress, yet My covenant is not therefore broken, seeing He with
whom it was made standeth firm, according to the desire of my heart; so
that My justice that is satisfied, and My Law, hath nothing to say, for
there is no want of perfection in the sacrifice of Christ. If you love
your souls, and would have them live in the peace of God, to the which
you are called in one body, even all believers, then I beseech you
seriously to ponder, and labour to settle in your souls this one thing,
that the new covenant is not broken by our transgressions, and that
because it was not made with us. The reason why the very saints of God
have so many ups and downs in this their travel towards Heaven, it is
because they are so weak in the faith of this one thing; for they think
that if they fail of this or that particular performance, if their
hearts be dead and cold, and their lusts mighty and strong, therefore
now God is angry, and now He will shut them out of His favour, now the
new covenant is broken, and now Christ Jesus will stand their Friend no
longer; now also the devil hath power again, and now they must have
their part in the resurrection of damnation; when, alas! the covenant
is not for all this never the more broken, and so the grace of God no
more straitened than it was before. Therefore, I say, when thou findest
that thou art weak here, and failing there, backward to this good, and
thy heart forward to that evil; then be sure thou keep a steadfast eye
on the Mediator of this new covenant, and be persuaded that it is not
only made with Him, and His part also fulfilled, but that He doth look
upon His fulfilling of it, so as not to lay thy sins to thy charge,
though He may as a Father chastise thee for the same—“If His children
forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My
statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their
transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless,” mark “nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly
take from HIM, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I
not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.” And what
was that? Why, that “His seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as
the sun before Me” (Psa 89:30-34,36).
7. Another privilege that the saints have by virtue of the new covenant
is, that they have part of the possession or hold of Heaven and Glory
already, and that two manner of ways—(1.) The Divine nature is conveyed
from Heaven into them; and, secondly, the human nature, i.e., the
nature of man, is received up, and entertained in, and hath got
possession of Heaven. We have the first-fruits of the Spirit, saith the
man of God; we have the earnest of the Spirit, which is instead of the
whole, for it is the earnest of the whole—“Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the
praise of His glory” (Eph 1:13,14; Rom 8:8-11). (2.) The nature of man,
our nature is got into glory as the first-fruits of mankind, as a
forerunner to take possession till we all come thither (1 Cor 15:20).
For the Man born at Bethlehem is ascended, which is part of the lump of
mankind, into glory as a public Person, as the first-fruits,
representing the whole of the children of God; so that in some sense it
may be said that the saints have already taken possession of the
kingdom of Heaven by their Jesus, their public Person, He being in
their room entered to prepare a place for them (John 14:1-4). I beseech
you consider, when Jesus Christ came down from Glory, it was that He
might bring us to Glory; and that He might be sure not to fail, He
clothed Himself with our nature, as if one should take a piece out of
the whole lump instead of the whole, until the other comes, and
investeth it in that glory which He was in before He came down from
Heaven (Heb 2:14,15). And thus is that saying to be understood,
speaking of Christ and His saints, which saith, “And” He “hath raised
us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus” (Eph 2:6).
8. Again, not only thus, but all the power of God, together with the
rest of His glorious attributes, are on our side, in that they dwell in
our nature, which is the Man Jesus, and doth engage for us poor,
simple, empty, nothing creatures as to our eternal happiness (1 Peter
1:5). “For in Him,” that is, in the Man Christ, who is our nature, our
Head, our root, our flesh, our bone, “dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9,10). Mark how they are joined together, “In
whom dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead. And ye are complete in Him.”
God dwelleth completely in Him, and you also are completely implanted
in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power; and all this
by the consent of the Father—“For it pleased the Father that in Him
should all fullness dwell” (Col 1:19). Now mark, the Godhead doth not
dwell in Christ Jesus for Himself only, but that it may be in a way of
righteousness conveyed to us, for our comfort and help in all our
wants—“All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” saith He
(Matt 28:18). And then followeth, “And lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world” (Verse 20). “He hath received gifts for men,
yea for the rebellious” (Psa 68:18). “Of His fullness have all we
received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16). And this the saints cannot
be deprived of, because the covenant made with Christ, in every tittle
of it, was so completely fulfilled as to righteousness, both active and
passive, that justice cannot object anything; holiness now can find
fault with nothing; nay, all the power of God cannot shake anything
that hath been done for us by the Mediator of the new covenant; so that
now there is no Covenant of Works to a believer; none of the commands,
accusations, condemnations, or the least tittle of the old covenant to
be charged on any of those that are the children of the second
covenant; no sin to be charged, because there is no law to be pleaded,
but all is made up by our middle man, Jesus Christ. O blessed covenant!
O blessed privilege! Be wise, therefore, O ye poor drooping souls that
are the sons of this second covenant, and “stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled AGAIN,” nor
terrified in your consciences, “with the yoke of bondage”; neither the
commands, accusations, or condemnations of the Law of the old covenant
(Gal 5:1).
Two Hell-bred objections answered.
Object. If it be so, then one need not care what they do; they may sin
and sin again, seeing Christ hath made satisfaction. [The first
objection].
Answ. If I were to point out one that was under the power of the devil,
and going post-haste to Hell, for my life I would look no farther for
such a man than to him that would make such a use as this of the grace
of God. What, because Christ is a Saviour, thou wilt be a sinner!
because His grace abounds, therefore thou wilt abound in sin! O wicked
wretch! rake Hell all over, and surely I think thy fellow will scarce
be found! And let me tell thee this before I leave thee—as God’s
covenant with Christ for His children, which are of faith, stands sure,
immutable, unrevocable, and unchangeable, so also hath God taken such a
course with thee, that unless thou canst make God forswear Himself, it
is impossible that thou shouldst go to Heaven, dying in that
condition—“They tempted Me, proved Me,” and turned the grace of God
into lasciviousness, “so I sware,” mark that, “so I sware,” and that in
My wrath, too, that they should never enter into My rest. Compare
Hebrews 3:9-11, with 1 Corinthians 10:5-10. No, saith God; if Christ
will not serve their turns, but they must have their sins too, take
them, Devil; if Heaven will not satisfy them, take them, Hell; devour
them, Hell; scald them, fry them, burn them, Hell! God hath more places
than one to put sinners into. If they do not like Heaven, He will fit
them with Hell; if they do not like Christ, they shall be forced to
have the devil. Therefore we must and will tell of the truth of the
nature of the Covenant of Grace of God to His poor saints for their
encouragement and for their comfort, who would be glad to leap at
Christ upon any terms; yet therewith, we can tell how, through grace,
to tell the hogs and sons of this world what a hog-sty there is
prepared for them, even such an one that God hath prepared to put the
devil and his angels into, is fitly prepared for them (Matt 25:41).
Object. But if Christ hath given God a full and complete satisfaction,
then though I do go on in sin, I need not fear, seeing God hath already
been satisfied. [The second objection]. It will be injustice in God to
punish for those sins for which He is already satisfied for by Christ.
Answ. Rebel, rebel, there are some in Christ and some out of Him. [1].
They that are in Him have their sins forgiven, and they themselves made
new creatures, and have the Spirit of the Son, which is a holy, living,
self-denying Spirit. And they that are thus in Jesus Christ are so far
off from delighting in sin, that sin is the greatest thing that
troubleth them; and O how willing would they be rid of the very
thoughts of it (Psa 119:113). It is the grief of their souls, when they
are in a right frame of spirit, that they can live no more to the
honour and glory of God than they do; and in all their prayers to God,
the breathings of their souls are as much sanctifying grace as
pardoning grace, that they might live a holy life. They would as
willing live holy here as they would be happy in the world to come;
they would as willingly be cleansed from the filth of sin as to have
the guilt of it taken away; they would as willingly glorify God here as
they would be glorified by Him hereafter (Phil 3:6-22). [2]. But there
are some that are out of Christ, being under the Law; and as for all
those, let them be civil or profane, they are such as God accounts
wicked; and I say, as for those, if all the angels in Heaven can drag
them before the judgment-seat of Christ, they shall be brought before
it to answer for all their ungodly deeds; and being condemned for them,
if all the fire in Hell will burn them, they shall be burned there, if
they die in that condition (Jude 15). And, therefore, if you love your
souls, do not give way to such a wicked spirit. “Let no man deceive you
with” such “vain words,” as to think, because Christ hath made
satisfaction to God for sin, therefore you may live in your sins. O no,
God forbid that any should think so, “for because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” (Eph 5:6).
Thus have I, reader, given thee a brief discourse touching the Covenant
of Works and the Covenant of Grace, also of the nature of the one,
together with the nature of the other. I have also in this discourse
endeavoured to show you the condition of them that are under the Law,
how sad it is, both from the nature of the covenant they are under, and
also by the carriage of God unto them by that covenant. And now,
because I would bring all into as little a compass as I can, I shall
begin with the use and application of the whole in as brief a way as I
can, desiring the Lord to bless it to thee.
[USE AND APPLICATION].
A use of examination about the old covenant.
First. And, first of all, let us here begin to examine a little
touching the covenant you stand before God in, whether it be the
Covenant of Works or the Covenant of Grace; [The first use is a use of
examination]. and for the right doing of this, I shall lay down this
proposition—namely, that all men naturally come into the world under
the first of these, which is called the old covenant, or the Covenant
of Works, which is the Law; “And were all by nature the children of
wrath, even as others”; which they could not be, had they not been
under the law; for there are none that are under the other covenant
that are still the children of wrath, but the children of faith, the
children of the promise, the accepted children, the children not of the
bond-woman, but of the free (Gal 4:28-31).
[Quest.] Now here lieth the question. Which of these two covenants art
thou under, soul?
Answ. I hope I am under the Covenant of Grace.
Quest. But what ground hast thou to think that thou art under that
blessed covenant, and not rather under the Covenant of Works, that
strict, that soul-damning covenant?
Answ. What ground? Why, I hope I am.
Quest. But what ground hast thou for this thy hope? for a hope without
a ground is like a castle built in the air, that will never be able to
do thee any good, but will prove like unto that spoken of in Job 8,
“Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be” like “a
spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he
shall hold it fast,” as thou wouldst thy hope, it is like, “but it
shall not endure” (Job 8:13-15).
Answ. My hope is grounded upon the promises; what else should it be
grounded upon?
Reply. Indeed, to build my hope upon Christ Jesus, upon God in Christ,
through the promise, and to have this hope rightly, by the shedding
abroad of the love of God in the heart, it is a right-grounded hope
(Rom 5:1-7).
Quest. But what promises in the Scripture do you find your hope built
upon? and how do you know whether you do build your hope upon the
promises in the Gospel, the promises of the new covenant, and not
rather on the promises of the old covenant, for there are promises in
that as well as in the other?
Answ. I hope that if I do well I shall be accepted; because God hath
said I shall (Gen 4:7).
Reply. O soul, if thy hope be grounded there, thy hope is not grounded
upon the Gospel promises, or the new covenant, but verily upon the old;
for these words were spoken to Cain, a son of the old covenant; and
they themselves are the tenor and scope of that; for that runs thus:
“Do this, and thou shalt live. The man that doth these things shall
live by them. If thou do well, thou shalt be accepted” (Lev 18:5; Eze
20:11; Rom 10:5; Gal 3:12; Gen 4:7).
Reply. Why, truly, if a man’s doing well, and living well, and his
striving to serve God as well as he can, will not help him to Christ, I
do not know what will; I am sure sinning against God will not.
Quest. Did you never read that Scripture which saith, “Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness”? (Rom 9:30-32).
Object. But doth not the Scripture say, “Blessed are they that do His
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life”?
(Rev 22:14).
Answ. There is first, therefore, to be inquired into, whether to keep
His commandments be to strive to keep the Law as it is a Covenant of
Works, or whether it be meant of the great commandments of the New
Testament which are cited in 1 John 3:22,23—“And whatsoever we ask we
receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things
that are pleasing in His sight.” But what do you mean, John? Do you
mean the covenant of the Law, or the covenant to the Gospel? Why, “this
is His commandment,” saith he, “That we should believe on the name of
His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another,” as the fruits of this
faith, “as He gave us commandment.” If it be of the old covenant, as a
Covenant of Works, then the Gospel is but a lost thing. If it were of
works, then no more of grace; therefore it is not the old covenant, as
the old covenant.
Quest. But what do you mean by these words—the old covenant as the old
covenant? Explain your meaning.
Answ. My meaning is, that the Law is not to be looked upon for life, so
as it was handed out from Mount Sinai, if ever thou wouldst indeed be
saved; though after thou hast faith in Christ, thou mayest and must
solace thyself in it, and take pleasure therein, to express thy love to
Him who hath already saved thee by His own blood, without thy obedience
to the law, either from Sinai or elsewhere.
Quest. Do you think that I do mean that my righteousness will save me
without Christ? If so, you mistake me, for I think not so; but this I
say, I will labour to do what I can; and what I cannot do, Christ will
do for me.
Answ. Ah, poor soul, this is the wrong way too; for this is to make
Christ but a piece of a Saviour; thou wilt do something, and Christ
shall do the rest; thou wilt set thy own things in the first place, and
if thou wantest at last, then thou wilt borrow of Christ; thou art such
an one that dost Christ the greatest injury of all. First, in that thou
dost undervalue His merits by preferring of thy own works before His;
and, secondly, by mingling of thy works thy dirty, ragged righteousness
with His.
Quest. Why, would you have us do nothing? Would you have us make Christ
such a drudge as to do all, while we sit idling still?
Answ. Poor soul, thou mistakest Jesus Christ in saying thou makest Him
a drudge in letting Him do all; I tell thee, He counts it a great glory
to do all for thee, and it is a great dishonour unto Him for thee so
much as to think otherwise. And this the saints of God that have
experienced the work of grace upon their souls do count it also the
same—“Saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof” (Rev 5:9). “Worthy is the Lamb, that was slain, to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing” (Verse 12). And why so? read again in the 9th verse, “For
Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy” own “blood” (See
also Eph 1:6,7). “To the praise of the glory of His grace—in whom we
have redemption through His blood.”
Reply. All this we confess, that Jesus Christ died for us; but he that
thinks to be saved by Christ, and liveth in his sins, shall never be
saved.
Answ. I grant that. But this I say again, a man must not make his good
doings the lowest round of the ladder by which he goeth to Heaven—that
is, he that will and shall go to Heaven, must, wholly and alone,
without any of his own things, venture his precious soul upon Jesus
Christ and His merits.
Quest. What, and come to Christ as a sinner?
Answ. Yea, with all thy sins upon thee, even as filthy as ever thou
canst.