ence and refignation: that he should go as a lamb to the flaughter, quietly refigning his human will to the divine will; and make his obedience in his fufferings, as confpicuous as his fufferings themfelves: that, in midst of the extremity of his torments, he fhould not entertain the leaft unbecoming thought of God, but acknowledge him holy in them all, Pfalm xxii. 3. nor yet the leaft grudge against his murderers: in token of which he prayed for them while he was on the crofs, faying, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do, Luke xxiii. 34. Thus far of the conditionary articles.

INFERENCES from the conditionary Part of the Co

venant.

Thus as we have shown, ftood the important condition of the covenant of grace; and from thence the following inferences are fairly deducible.

Inf. 1. The redemption of the foul is precious: Is it not? Look to the price of the purchase, the ranfom of fouls, as ftated in the covenant; the holy birth, righteous life, and fatisfactory death of the Son of God; and ye must conclude it to be a costly redemption. Turn hither your eyes, (1.) Ye who value not your own fouls. See here the worth of thofe fouls ye fell for a thing of nought, for fatisfying a corrupt paffion, a pang of luft of one fort or another. Coftly was the gathering of what ye thus throw away. Ye let them go at a very low price; but Chrift could not have one of them at the hand of justice, but at the price of his precious blood. Ye cannot forego the vanities of a prefent world for them, nor fpend a ferious day or hour about them; but he after a lifetime of forrows, underwent a moft bitter death for them. What think ye? Was he inconfiderate and too liberal in his making such a bargain for the redemption of fouls? He was infinitely juft, who propofed the condition; and he was infinite

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ly wife, who went into it. He was a Father that exacted this ransom for fouls; and he was his own Son that paid it. Be ashamed and blush, to make fo low an estimate of those souls, which Heaven set fuch a high price on. (2.) Ye who have cheap thoughts of the pardon of fin, and of falvation, correct your mistake here. You fearlessly run on in fin, thinking all may foon be set to rights again, with a God for give me, have mercy on my foul; fo as you may

out of Delilah's lap into Abraham's bofom. O fearful infatuation! Is the mean and low birth, the forrowful life, and the bitter death of Jesus the Son of God, not fufficient to give men a just and honourable notion of the pardon of fin? Look into the condition of the covenant for pardon, written in the blood of the Lamb of God, and learn the value a juft God puts upon his pardons and falvation. See O finner, that it is not words, but deeds; not promifes and refolves to do better, but perfection of holinefs and obedience; not drawing of fighs and fhedding of tears, but shedding of blood; and not thy blood neither, but blood of infinite value, that could procure the pardon of fin, and falvation. And if thou have not upon thee by faith all that righteoufnefs Chrift fulfilled, to be prefented unto God for a pardon, thou shalt never obtain it. Particularly, ye are apt to think light of the fin ye were born in, and the corruption cleaving to your nature; but know, that God does not think light of thefe. It behoved to be an article of the covenant, that Christ should be born holy, and retain the holiness of human nature in him to the end; elfe the unholy birth and corrupt nature we derive from Adam, would have staked us all down eternally under the curfe. (3.) Ye that have mean thoughts of the holy law, rectify your dangerous mistake by the help of this glafs. Ye make no bones of tranfgreffing its commands; ye neglect and defpife its curfe: as it is a law, ye fhew not so much

regard

regard to it as to the laws of men; and as it is a coof mer venant, ye look upon it as out of date, being in no concern how it may be fatisfied for you. And fhall the honour of the holy law lie in the duft, in your cafe? Rather than it fhould fo lie in the cafe of So. dom and Gomorrah, God would have them laid in afhes with fire and brimftone. Yea, for vindicating the honour of the law, this whole world fhall be burnt to ashes, and all the unholy caft out from the prefence of the Lord for ever. And in the cafe of them that are faved, God would have the curfe of the law executed upon his own Son, as their furety, and the commands of it perfectly obeyed in all points by him in their name. Sure, if you are poffeffed of any fhare herein, it will be great and honourable in your fight, as it is in the fight of God.

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Inf. 2. The law is no lofer, in that life and falvation are beftowed on believers in Chrift. It is fo far from being made void through faith, that it is efta. blifhed thereby, as the apoftle witneffeth, Rom. iii. 31. God would never difpenfe his pardons at the expence of the honour of his law; nor declare one righteous, without the righteoufnefs of the law being fulfilled, either by him, or in him by another, Rom. viii. 4. Wherefore, life and falvation being defigned for the elect, the law's whole accounts of all it had to charge on them for life, were taken in; and an infallible method was laid down for clearing them, the burden of the payment being transferred on Chrift their furety. By this exchange of perfons the law had no lofs. Nay, it was more for the honour of the law, that he was made under it, and fatisfied it, in virtue of the claim it had upon him by the fecond covenant, than if they, being mere creatures, had fatisfied it in all points. But the truth is, they being finners, could never by any means have fully fatisfied it; though it had eternally purfued them and exacted of them, it would never have had enough

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from them; whereas now, by Christ's taking their debt on him, it was paid to the utmost farthing.

Inf. 3. Faith hath a broad and firm bottom to ftand on before the Lord. The believer hath a ftrong plea for life and falvation, which cannot mifcarry; namely, the condition of the covenant fulfilled by Jefus Chrift, even all righteoufnefs: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Fefus-let us draw near with a true heart, in full affurance of faith, Heb. x. 19,-22. The broken boards of uncovenanted mercy, and mens own works, which prefumption fixeth upon, cannot but fail, fince the law admits no life for a finner on thefe grounds. But forafmuch as there is a gift of Chrift and his righteousness proclaimed in the gofpel by the authority of Heaven, he who by faith receiveth that gift, and makes the fame his only plea before the Lord, cannot mifs of falvation : Rom. v. 17. They which receive (Gr. the) abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jefus Chrift; where the abundance mentioned, relates not to different degrees of the grace or gift, but to the offence, as appears from ver. 20. As if he had faid, "Who receive the grace "and gift of righteousness which abound beyond "Adam's offence, faving them out of the gulph of "ruin it plunged them into." Faith uniting a finner to Chrift the head of the fecond covenant, makes him partaker of Christ's righteoufnefs, as really as ever his covenant-relation to Adam made him partaker of his guilt. So, having all that Chrift was, did, or fuffered, for fulfilling the condition of the fecond covenant, to plead for life and falvation; it is not poffible the claim can mifcarry, juftice as well as mercy befriending the plea of faith, as a righteous thing with God, 2 Thef. i. 6, 7.

Inf. 4. Lastly, All who are in Chrift the head of the covenant of grace, and fo brought into it perfon

ally,

ally, are inherently righteous, or holy. For likeas tho' Adam alone did perfonally break the first covenant by the all-ruining offence, yet they to whom his guilt is imputed, do thereupon become inherently finful, thro' the corruption of nature conveyed to them from him fo howbeit Chrift alone did perform the condition of the fecond covenant, yet thofe to whom his righteoufnefs is imputed, do thereupon become inherently righteous, thro' inherent grace communicate to them from him by the Spirit. So teacheth the apostle in the forecited paffage, Rom. v. 17. For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one ; much more they which receive the abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteoufnefs, fhall reign in life by one, Fefus Chrift. How did death reign by Adam's offence? Not only in point of guilt, whereby his pofterity were bound over to deftruction; but also in point of their being dead to all good, dead in trefpaffes and fins; therefore the receivers of the gift of righteousness must thereby be brought to reign in life,not only legally in juftification, but alfo morally in fanctification begun here, and perfected hereafter.

Accordingly anfwerable to the three parts of the condition of the covenant of grace, undertaken and performed by the fecond Adam, to wit, holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and fatisfaction for fin; there are three characters to be found in all capable fubjects, who being perfonally brought into the covenant have the righteoufnefs of Chrift upon them, and imputed to them.

Char. 1. They are all born again, and so made partakers of a new and holy nature: 2 Cor. v. 17. Therefore (namely, fince he died for all, verfe 15.) if any man be in Chrift he is a new creature. Chrift's being born holy, fecured a holy new birth to them in him: fo they are all new creatures, created in Chrift Jefus unto good works, Eph. ii. 10.; new-made in Chrift, as fure as they were marred in Adam. And

how

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