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CHAP. IIII.
Of the Covenant of Promise.
THE Covenant of Grace is either promised or promulgated and established. Promised to the Fathers, first to Adam,R and afterwards to the Patriarchs,R and lastly to the people of Israel, and that before their coming into the land of Canaan, and after their return from the Babylonish captivity. Promulgated, after the fulness of time came.R And hence the Covenant of Grace is distributed into the Covenant of Promise, or the New Covenant, so called by way of excellency. For the Foundation and Mediator of the Covenant of Grace is our Lord Jesus Christ, but either to be incarnate, crucified, and raised from the dead, or as already incarnate, crucified, and truly raised from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. For there was never sin forgiven but in him alone,R who is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.R Therefore although before the Incarnation, Christ was only God, he was our (p28) Mediator, yet not simply as God, but as the divine person, who should take our flesh, and in it should finish all the Mystery of our Redemption, and therefore he is called the Lamb of God slain from the beginning of the world, and the Fathers by his grace were saved, even as we. In the acts of Mediation three things may be considered. Reconciliation, by which we are accepted of God. Patronage, by which we have access unto the Father. Doctrine, whereby God hath made himself known unto men by a Mediator. This third act might be done before he assumed our flesh, and indeed was done: but the two first did require his coming in the flesh, although the fruit of them was communicated to the Fathers under the Old Testament, by force of the divine Promise, and certainty of the thing to come with God.
If it be objected, that the cause is before the effect, and therefore the incarnation and death of Christ must go before the communication of the fruit and benefit thereof unto the Fathers:
The answer is, That in natural causes the Proposition holds true, but in moral causes the effect may be before the cause: and so the fruit and virtue of Christ's death was communicated to the Fathers before his Incarnation. But although the Son of God before he was manifested in the flesh, was our Mediator with God (to whom future things are present) because he should be, and therefore for his sake sins were remitted, men did teach and learn by his Spirit, the Church was governed by him: yet the manner and reason of that Mediation was proposed more obscurely, the force and efficacy of it was less, and did redound to fewer. The Covenant of Promise then was that Covenant which God made with Adam, the Fathers and all Israel in Jesus Christ to be incarnate, crucified and raised from the dead: And it may be described the Covenant, whereby God of his mere grace and mercy in Jesus Christ to be exhibited in the fulness of time, did promise forgiveness of sins, spiritual adoption and eternal life, unto man in himself considered a most wretched and miserable sinner, if he should embrace and accept this mercy promised, and walk before God in sincere obedience. God the Father of his mere and free grace and mercyR looking upon man in Jesus Christ, in whom he is reconciled, is the Author and cause of this Covenant. He hath holpen his servant Israel in remembrance of his (p29) mercy, as he spake to our Fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.R Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your Fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah the Father of Abraham, and the Father of Nahor, and they served other gods. And I took your Father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the Land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.R
The condition required in this contract, is the obedience of faith. Remission of sins, gracious adoption in Christ, and the Inheritance of eternal life is promised to believers: and eternal condemnation peremptorily threatened against unbelievers.
Christ, whom God hath exhibited in the Gospel, as he was promised to the Fathers in the Scriptures of the Prophets, is the object of this Covenant.
The end thereof is the praise of the glorious grace and mercy of God in Christ to come.
In this Covenant there is a mutual compact betwixt God and man: God in mercy promising, and man in duty binding himself unto the Lord.
It was made with man a sinner, and reacheth to the faithful and their seed, as God hath promised to accept the children of believing parents, upon due and religious tender of them made unto his Highness according as he hath prescribed: but saving effectually it was made with them only, who believe in him that justifieth the ungodly, be the heirs of salvation, and walk in the steps of our Father Abraham.
This Covenant doth beget children to liberty, doth administer the righteousness of faith, and the inheritance by faith: hope, peace of conscience, life in Christ, and spiritual joy is the effect thereof.
Internally the Spirit doth seal up the truth of this Covenant in the hearts of the faithful.R For when the adoption and the inheritance pertained to the FathersR under the Covenant of promise,R the spirit of adoptionR and earnest of the inheritance pertained unto them likewise. Externally it was delivered and confirmed by word and oath,R and sealed by the Sacraments.
For substance also this Covenant was everlasting and unchangeable:R The New Testament did not abolish the former, but the former was fulfilled by the latter. And in all these things it doth agree with the new Covenant: which here only are but briefly (p30) named, because the confirmation of them must be sought in the Chapters following.
And if the Covenant of Promise, and the New Covenant do thus agree in substance, then it must necessarily follow, That there is but one Church of the Elect,R the same Communion of Saints, one Faith, one Salvation, and one way of obtaining the same, viz. by faith in Christ.
Secondly, that the Word of God was no less incorruptible seed to the Fathers and the Israelites than to us:R That the Fathers did eat the true flesh of Christ by faith,R as well as we in the times of the Gospel:R That they and we are partakers of the same Spirit: and that the Sacraments of the Jews did signify and seal to them, the same promises of eternal life, which our Sacraments do to us. The Sacraments of the Old Testament were not types of our Sacraments, as sometimes they are called by Divines: but they typified the same things that ours do. For as the Covenants under which they and we lived, were one for substance: so are the Sacraments one in their common nature and signification.
Thirdly, that the faithful before Christ were saved by the free mercy of God in Christ, did know God and Christ, had the spiritual promise of life eternal,R and were equal to us Christians in all substantial graces of the Covenant.
Fourthly, and from the same grounds we may conclude, that the souls of the faithful, who departed this life before the coming of Christ in the flesh, were immediately received into Heaven. For they were taken to glory, and saved as we:R Now such as are taken to glory, are taken to Heaven. For the Scripture knoweth no place in which God doth ordinarily display his glory, but Heaven. And what should hinder their translation into the heavenly Jerusalem, when they are removed out of this earthly tabernacle? Not their sins, for they which could not hinder them from Sanctification, fitting them for Heaven, could not hinder them from Heaven: Not want of Faith, who now have that faith which Abraham, and many of them had: No want of efficacy in Christ, he was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, he was yesterday, today, and for ever; his death was effectual to cause them to find pardon, and the Spirit of Sanctification. Not any privilege of Christ: for not simply to ascend into Heaven was Christ's privilege, but to ascend soul and body, as heir (p31) of all things, and the Author of salvation to all that obey him. David is said not to have ascended into Heaven,R but that is spoken in respect only that he was not raised in body, and gone into Heaven body and soul, as the heir of all things, and person who was to sit at God's right hand. It is also said, The Fathers received not the Promise,R scil. of Christ's coming in the flesh to perform the work of our Redemption: but as they received the promise of forgiveness, and of the Spirit of Sanctification, so after their death they were taken into Heaven. They whose Pilgrimage and sojourning ceased with this life, they could not but be in their Country at home after this life. But Heaven is the Country of the Saints; for where their Father is there is their Country. Those who walked as strangers here on earth, because they looked for an heavenly Jerusalem, a City whose Maker was God,R they leaving this earth were translated thither. The translating of Enoch, Moses, and EliasR seem to figure out no other thing. Christ was the forerunner of Enoch, not in act, in respect of the assumption of his humanity into Heaven, but in virtue and merit. From the beginning of the world, a place was prepared for all, whom God had chosen in Jesus Christ, Matthew 25:31 and 20:23, but a place was to be prepared of Christ, for us, in respect of the promised payment, by the force and efficacy whereof the effect was before obtained, but with respect to future labours, which were both certain and present with God. For a moral cause, though it be not present in act, if it be supposed as future, may have its effect. The faithful before Christ, when they removed out of these earthly tabernacles, were received into everlasting habitations. Luke 16:9. Now if the godly at the instant departed, were bestowed in any place but Heaven, they then did go to mansions, which they were to leave in a short time, even then when Christ did ascend. Our Saviour promised to the penitent Thief upon the Cross, This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise:R which if it was not into Heaven, but into Limbus, it was but for a short time; for that was to be broken up within a few hours space.
But to return to the matter in hand, The Covenant of Promise and the new Covenant are so one for substance, that what is in the first for weight and essential, is in all the degrees following, and to be understood, though not mentioned, and whatsoever in any after degree appears as substantial to the Covenant, that was included (p32) in the first propounding of it but in sundry accidents, which nothing hinder their substantial unity, they are distinguished.
First on the part of the Object, Christ exhibited in the New Covenant, is promised as to come in the Covenant of promise.R For it was meet the promise should go before the Gospel, and be fulfilled in the Gospel, that so great a good might earnestly be desired before it was bestowed, and that the expectation of them that waited for the consolation of Israel might not be frustrated.
Secondly, In the manner of administration and measure of faith. For the knowledge of Christ, and faith in him to come, was more obscure and dark, than the knowledge of him already come, and faith which doth behold him present. The manner of Christ's Mediation was more sparingly and obscurely revealed: his person, the manner of execution of the office of Mediator, and the benefits that we receive in him, more darkly unfolded, sometimes propounded in general words, sometimes shadowed in types and figures, seldom more specially described. And the reason why these things at first were more darkly delivered, may be:
1. Because things present or past are seen more clearly than things to come:R prophecies be obscure before the accomplishment. 2. The Church was then in her Infancy and rude, not come to her ripe age, the Lord in his infinite wisdom so disposing the matter. 3. It was meet the clear and full revelation of this mystery should be reserved to Christ the chief Prophet. The Author of life was to lay open and make manifest the way to life: Till the way into Heaven was really entered by the true high Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, it was not fully manifested: Heb. 9:8. Under the Old Testament the way into the Holiest was not absolutely shut, but veiled, not altogether untraced, but not fully laid open: because our true and real high Priest had not made satisfaction by the offering up of himself a sacrifice once for all, nor consecrated that new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. 4. The minds of men were to be held in a longing desire and expectation of Christ: and the obscure revelation of Christ and his benefits did serve to raise their hearts to an earnest desire of his coming, in respect of the clear revelation and great and glorious blessings they might then expect. But in this obscurity we may observe some degrees: Before the Law given by Moses the promise was more obscure: the Law being given, (p33) even to the times of the Prophets less clear: in the times of the Prophets even to John the Baptist, more clear. Even from the first giving forth of the promise until the coming of Christ in the flesh, the revelation was more clear, distinct, ample, as the coming of the Messiah did approach nearer and nearer. For the Church by how much it was nearer to her beginnings, by so much it was the ruder, and therefore to be instructed in a more rude form. As the time of the Sun approacheth nearer, or if further off, so is the light that goeth before it, greater or lesser: and as the time of the arising of the Son of righteousness is more remote or nigh at hand, so was the revelation that went before more dim or clear. It was meet and expedient that when the coming of the glorious King of peace and righteousness did draw nigh, the hearts of men should be raised up in desire and expectation of him: But the better they were acquainted with his person and office, the more distinctly they understood the time of his coming, the more lively taste they had of the benefits they should receive by him, and the greater tokens they saw of his glory approaching, the more their hearts would be enlarged to desire and expect him. Moreover it was the good pleasure of God to manifest the riches of his grace, not all at once, but by degrees, as he saw it most expedient for the glory of his great Name, and the good of his people in several ages and states of the Church, of which we shall have occasion to speak largely in the Chapters following. But here two things must be noted to prevent some doubts that may arise. First that clearness of Revelation is twofold. One on the part of the revealer, when the revealer dealeth so, that unless he have a rude hearer, or altogether malicious, it may be understood of the hearer what he meaneth. The other clear, even on the part of the hearer, when it is so great that the rudeness of the hearer cannot hinder, that he should not perceive what is spoken, but his malice only. In the first sense, the revelation of Christ in the Covenant of the promise was clear: but the testimony concerning the Kingdom of Christ could not be understood of a rude hearer before the accomplishment.
If it be objected, how then could they be saved?
In the second place it is to be observed, that Christ doth not save as clearly known, but as he is sincerely acknowledged. But when the Revelation was sparing and dark, no man can deny that (p34) Christ was truly and unfeignedly acknowledged in the Church of the Jews. The word of God is the measure of faith, and that is true and saving faith, which believeth all things which are revealed, and in that manner wherein they are revealed, and therefore the faith of the Fathers was sound and effectual, because they believed what God was pleased to reveal, and after that manner wherein it was revealed of God.
A Third difference ariseth from this; for Christ with all his benefits was proposed to the Israelites under types and figures. As the Priests, Altars, Sacrifices, Propitiatory, were all typesR of Christ his Priesthood and Sacrifice: and the land of Canaan a type of Heaven: the Lord leading the Jews by the help of earthly things to heavenly and spiritual, because they were but young and tender: which was one cause why the Covenant was more obscure, heavenly things being wrapped up under earthly. But in the new Covenant Christ is offered to be seen with open face;R the truth, substance and body of the things themselves is exhibited; and all veil of figures removed, our minds are straight directed to heavenly blessedness.
The variety of administration doth offer a Fourth difference: for the Apostle compares the Nation of the Jews to an heir as yet an Infant,R that is under Tutors and Governors. The Christian Church to an heir come to ripe years.
And from this ariseth a Fifth difference, That as an heir not come to years, not differing from a servant,R the Church was held under the Ceremonial Law, from which they that believe in Christ are delivered after the expiration of the time of nurture appointed of the Father.
Sixthly they differ in the number of them that are called to the participation of the Covenant. The Covenant of promise was at first concluded within the Families of the Patriarchs, the rest having excommunicated themselves, and then within the confines or limits of Judaea:R that in the Jews there might be a most illustrious type of Election, and of rejection in the Gentiles, that is, of the Church of God and Satan. But the partition wall betwixt Jew and Gentile being broken down, the Covenant of grace was made with all Nations.
Seventhly, the efficacy of Christ promised is lesser than of Christ exhibited. In the Covenant of promise, certain promises concerning (p35) corporal blessings,R were made unto the Fathers; and external blessings were more esteemed, as Symbols of spiritual and heavenly: But under the New Covenant, blessings spiritual, and the gifts and graces of the Spirit are in more ample and plentiful manner poured upon the Church. Remission of sins though it was certain with God, was less felt under the Covenant of Promise, because [of] the cloud of the Law put betwixt the mercy of God and the eye of the soul; the grace of God was more obscurely revealed, and the means of expiating sin by the death of Christ; as also because remission of sins was not really obtained by our surety, for as yet he had not made the satisfaction promised. The Spirit was poured in less plenty upon the faithful: because that benefit was to be reserved to the times of Christ, who was first to receive the Spirit above measure in his human nature,R and thence to derive grace unto all us.R The Jews as heirs were partakers of the Spirit of Adoption, but tempered with the spirit of Servitude, because they were Infants, under the yoke of the Law, the way to heaven not as yet clearly manifested: But the heir come to ripe years, is altogether led by the Spirit of Adoption.R The sense of future glory was also more obscure, because there is more obscure mention of it, and of the way thereunto in the Old Testament. If we speak of some particular persons under the first Covenant, they were endued with greater gifts of the Spirit than many under the New: but more light of knowledge, and greater plenty and abundance of Grace is bestowed upon the Church in the time of the Gospel, if we respect the body of the Church and faithful in General.
Eighthly, the seals of the Covenant of promise were in number more, in signification more obscure, in use painful and burdensome, peculiar to some people as the Covenant was, and to continue only until the time of reformation: But the seals of the New Testament are in number few, in signification clear, in use easy, common to all nations, and to endure for ever.
And from these grounds it may be concluded, That though the Fathers being delivered from the Tabernacle of the body, were made partakers of life eternal in Heaven, yet they had not before Christ that perfect state in Heaven, which now we and they are presently possessed of:R for they were not to be perfected without us,R as neither shall we be perfected before that blessed day of the second (p36) coming of Christ, wherein the body of Christ, that is, the Church, shall be absolute and perfect every way. Not to insist upon this, that the former Tabernacle standing, the way to the Holiest was not fully manifested, and that there must be some proportion betwixt the manifestation of the way unto and sense of the future life, in this life, in them that be of ripe age, and the fruition of it in the life to come: This is certain, the Fathers who died before Christ, did expect in Heaven their Redeemer, on whom they had believed for forgiveness of sin and life everlasting: even as souls now expect the Resurrection of the body, the second appearance of Christ to Judgement, in regard of which things they are not perfected. Now hence followed a want of much light and joy, which on the sight of Christ, God man, entering the Heavens, did redound unto them: as we in earth now have not the fulness of joy which then we shall have, when we shall see the accomplishment of what we expect.
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[Footnotes for Part 1 Chapter 4: when clicking on a link the point to which the note refers should be the first appearing on the screen.
Numbers before a Hebrew or Greek word refer to Strong's numbering system.]
Gen. 3:15.<BACK>
Gen. 12:1 & 15:1.<BACK>
Gal. 4:4; 1 Pet. 1:20; Acts 3:25; Gal. 3:16,17; Eph. 2:12.<BACK>
Acts 4:12.<BACK>
Heb. 13:8.<BACK>
Deut. 9:5; Gal. 3:18.<BACK>
Luke 1:54,55.<BACK>
Josh. 24:2,3.<BACK>
2 Cor. 4:13.<BACK>
Rom. 9:4,5.<BACK>
Gal. 3:18.<BACK>
Rom. 8:15; Gal. 3:14.<BACK>
Gen. 22:16; Luke 1:73.<BACK>
Psalm 105:10.<BACK>
Eph. 2:18,19,20 and 4:4,5.<BACK>
Rom. 11:17.<BACK>
1 Cor. 10:2,3.<BACK>
2 Cor. 4:13.<BACK>
Heb. 11:9,10; Psalm 105:15 (?) ; Isaiah 51:6.<BACK>
Acts 15:11.<BACK>
Acts 2:34.<BACK>
Heb. 11:39.<BACK>
Heb. 11:13,14,15,16.<BACK>
Heb. 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11; Luke 9:31.<BACK>
Luke 23:43.<BACK>
1 John 1:1,2 & 4:14; Mal. 3:1; Isaiah 59:15 [onwards] <BACK>
Heb. 11: [13 & ] 17.<BACK>
Exod. 24:7,8; Heb. 10:1; Gal. 3:16; Heb. 8:1,2 & 9:7,8,9,10,11.<BACK>
Rom. 3:25; 1 John 1:1; Heb. 3:18 & 4: 1.<BACK>
Gal. 4:1,2,3 & 3:25. (original reads: Gal. 4.12.&3.13,25. but this does not seem right. PJR 1999) <BACK>
Gal. 4:1. (original reads: Gal. 3:1) <BACK>
Deut. 32:8; Matt. 10:5,6 & 15:24.<BACK>
Gen. 22:18; Deut. 19:8,9.<BACK>
John 3:34.<BACK>
John 1:16 & 7:38,39; Joel 2:28.<BACK>
Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6.<BACK>
Heb. 8:6 & 10:20.<BACK>
Heb. 11:39,40.<BACK>
