the covenant, to which all the prophets bear witness, Jer. xxxi. 34. Acts x. 43.

4. That they should be openly adopted, and declared the children of God, and be dealt with as such; that God should be their God, their Father, their Portion and Inheritance; and they should be his people, his children, and heirs of him, and be treated as such by him; as they would be when chastised for their sins, the rod being provided for them in covenant, as well as their inheritance. Jer. xxxii. 38. 2 Cor. vi. 18. Psal. lxxxix. 30, 34. Heb. xii. 7.-5. That they should be regenerated, their hearts spiritually circumcised to love the Lord, and his fear put into them, and be made willing in the day of his power upon them, to be saved by him, and to serve him, Deut. xxxi. 6. Jer. xxxii. 39. Psal. cx. 3. that they should be made new creatures, have new hearts and spirits put within them, in which ate new principles of light, life, and love, grace and holiness, joy, peace, and comfort; that the stony heart should be taken out of them, the hardness and impenitence of it removed, and an heart of flesh given them, soft, penitent, and contrite; or in other words, that true, spiritual, evangelical repentance for sin should be granted to them, Ezek. xxxvi. 26.-6. That they should have knowledge of God, as their covenant-God and Father; even the least, as well as the greatest, be all taught of God, as his children, and so believe in Christ; for those that hear and learn of the Father, come to Christ; that is, believe in him, Jer. xxxi. 34. Isai. liv. 13. John vi. 45. So that repentance and faith are not terms and conditions of the covenant, but are fiee grace-gifts granted, and blessings of grace promised in the covenant, and are as sure to the covenant-people, as any other blessings whatever, Acts xi. 18. and v. 31. Eph. ii. 8.-7. It is another promise in this covenant, that the law of God should be put into their inward parts, and written on their hearts; that they should have a spiritual knowledge of it, and a cordial respect unto it, a real delight in it, and serve it with their minds and spirits, and yield a constant, ready, and chearful obedience to it, Jer. xxxi. 33. Rom. vii. 22, 25. as well as be the epistles of Christ, and have the law of faith, or doctrine of the gospel, take place in their hearts, and dwell richly in them, and they yield a professed subjection to it.-8. It is further promised by the Lord, in this covenant, that whereas they are weak and strengthless, and unable to do any thing spiritually good of themselves, that he will put his Spirit within them, who should work in them both to will and to do; and strengthen them with strength in the inward man, and enable them to walk in his statutes, and to keep his judgments, and do them, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. so that likewise new spiritual and evangelical obedience, both to law and gospel, is no term and condition of the covenant, but a blessing secured in it, which absolutely provides with grace and strength to perform it.-9. Another article in this covenant, respecting the chosen and covenant-people, is, that they shall persevere in grace, in faith, and holiness, to the end; this is absolutely promised in it, and the faithfulness of God is engaged to perform it; I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me, Jer. xxxi. 40. 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. 10. Glory, as well as grace, is

promised in this covenant; and to whom God gives the one, he gives the other; eternal life was promised before the world began; and the promise of it was made unto Christ in the everlasting covenant, and put into his hands for his people; and it is represented as if it was the only promise in it, being the grand, principal, and comprehensive one; This is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life, Tit. i. 2. 2 Tim. i. I. 1 John ii. 25. hence our Lord, in an authoritative way, as it were, demands the glorification of ALL the Father has given him, and he undertook for in covenant, John xvii. 24.

OF THE PART THE SON OF GOD HAS TAKEN IN
THE COVENANT.

THE part which the Son of God takes, and the place and office he has in the covenant of grace, are next to be considered. Christ has so great a concern in the covenant, that he is said to be the Covenant itself; I will give thee for a Covenant of the people, Isai. xlii. 6. and xlix. 8. his work, that which was proposed to him, and he agreed to do, is, as has been observed, the grand condition of the covenant, and he himself is the great blessing of it; he is the Alpha and the Omega, as of the scriptures, so of the covenant of grace; he is the first and the last in it, the sum and substance of it; he is every thing, ALL in ALL in it; all the blessings of it are the sure mercies of him, who is David, and David's Son; he is prevented with all the blessings of goodness, and the covenant-people are blessed with all the spiritual blessings in him, as their covenant-head; all the promises are made to him, and are all ́ yea and amen in him; he sustains various characters and offices in the covenant. He is the representative-Head of his people in it; he is the Mediator, Surety, Testator, and Messenger of it; of all which, more particularly and distinctly hereafter. At present I shall only observe Christ's assent to his Father's proposals, his acceptance of them, and open declaration of his readiness and willingness to act according to them, which formerly constitute the covenan, and compact between them; his consent thereunto is fully expressed in Psal. xl. 6-8. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering, and sin-offering, hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God! yea, thy law is within my heart. Which words, though spoken and written by David, yet as personating the Messiah, as is certain from the application of them to him by the apostle, in Heb. x. 5-10. according to whom, the time when these words were spoken, was when he cometh into the world, that is, at his incarnation, when he came from heaven to earth, by the assumption of human nature, to do the will and work of his Father, which he proposed unto him; then he said all the above in fact, what he had before said in word, in promise; Lo, I come to do thy will; for that this was said before is plain, since

it was known to David, in his time, and written by him, as the pen-man of the Holy Ghost, and as personating Christ, and was repeated and confirmed by Christ at his coming into the world: and when could it be said before, but in the covenant of grace? Likewise it appears, that this was said on the account of the insufficiency of legal sacrifices to atone for sin; in proof of which the apostle quotes the words, It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin; wherefore he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, &c. that is, though they were the institutions and ap pointment of God, yet he would not have them continued any longer than the coming of Christ, because of the weakness and unprofitableness of them to take away sin, and because they were to have, and had, their accomplishment in him; in the fore-views of which this was said in David's time, and earlier by Christ, in the covenant of grace; in which, knowing his Father's will concerning sacrifices, and their continuance, as well as the insufficiency of them, freely declared that he was ready to come, in the fulness of time, and give himself an offering for sin; as his Father had proposed to him he should, Isai. liii. 10. This assent and consent of his is first more obscurely and figuratively expressed; Mine ears hast thou opened, digged or bored; expressive of his great attention, hearkening and listening with great diligence, to what his Father proposed to him; see Isai. 1. 4, 5. and of his ready and chearful obedience to his Father's will, signified thereby: the phrase seems to be used in allusion to the boring the servant's ear, who cared not to quit his master's house, but was willing to serve him for ever, Exod. xxi. 5, 6. the Septuagint, and so the apostle render the words, A body hast thou prepared me; a part being put for the whole; and which is supposed; for the ear could not be opened, unless a body was prepared; by which is meant, not a part, but the whole of the human nature, soul and body; prepared, not only in the purposes and decrees of God, but in the covenant of grace, where it had a covenant-subsistence, by the joint-agreement of the divine Persons; for as the Father proposed it to the Son, that he should have such a nature, he agreed to assume it, and therefore takes up these words, to shew his ready assent to it; A body hast thou prepared me; as it is thy pleasure I should have one, I am ready to take it, at a proper time; that I might have something to offer, an offering of more avail, and more acceptable, than the legal ones. This acceptance of his Father's proposals is more clearly and fully expressed; Lo, I come to do thy will; that is, to assume human nature, to lay down his life in it, to suffer death, make atonement for the sins of his people, and obtain their redemption and salvation; his willingness to do all this freely, and without compulsion; he himself, and not another, and immediately, as soon as ever it should be necessary; he declares, with a note of admiration, attention, and asseveration; and his heartiness in it is still more fully signified, by saying, I delight to do thy will; it was with the utmost pleasure and complacency that he complied with it, and it would be his meat and drink, as it was, to do it: and it is added; Yea, thy law is with

in my heart; it is in my heart to fulfil it; I am ready to yield a cordial and chearful obedience to it. Now all this was written concerning him in the vo⚫ lume of the book; not of the scriptures in general only, nor of the Pentateuch in particular, the only volume extant in David's time, v xpand, at the head and beginning of which is a declaration of the grace, will, and work of Christ, Gen. iii. 15. nor only of the book of God's purposes, Psal. cxxxix. 16. but of the covenant; alluding to the writing, signing, and sealing of covenants; the covenant at Sinai is called, the book of the covenant, Exod, xxiv. 8. Now in this volume, or book, as the Father's proposal is there written and contained, so is the Son's assent unto it, and acceptance of it. Add to all this, that the character in which Christ here addresses his divine Father, My God, is a phrase expressive of covenant-relation, and is frequently so used both with regard to Christ and his people. But, to observe no more, nothing more fully proves Christ's free and full assent and consent to do the will of his Father, proposed in covenant, than his actual performance of it. Was it his will that he should take the care and charge of all his elect, and lose none? he has done it, John xvii. 12. Was it his will that he should assume human na、 ture? the Word has been made flesh, and dwelt among men, John i. 14. Was it his will that he should obey the law? he is become the end of the law for righteousness, Rom. x. 4. Was it his will that he should suffer death, the penalty of it? he has suffered, the just for the unjust, to bring them to God, 1 Pet. iii. 18. Was it his will that he should make himself an offering for sin? he has given himself to God, an Offering, and a Sacrifice, of a sweet-smelling savour, Eph. v. 2. In a word, Was it his will that he should redeem his people from all their iniquities? he has obtained an eternal redemption of them, Heb.

ix. 12,

OF CHRIST, AS THE COVENANT-HEAD OF THE ELECT.

THERE are various characters, relations, and offices, which Christ sustains in the covenant of grace; among which, that of a federal Head is one: Christ is often said to be the Head of the church; not of any particular congregation of saints, in this or the other part of the world; but of the church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, even of all the elect of God, that ever have been, are, or will be in the world, Eph. i. 22, 23. and V. 23. Col. i. 18. and he is a Head to them in different senses; he is that to them as a natural head is to a natural body, and the members of it; which is of the same nature with it, superior to it, communicates life, sense and motion to it, as well as overlooks and protects it; such an head of influence is Christ to the Church, the source of life to it, from whom nourishment is derived, and all the supplies of grace, Eph. iv. 15, 16. Col, ii. 19. he is an Head in a political sense, as a captain-general is head of his army, and a king is head

of his subjects, Judg. x 11. xi. 11. Hos. i. 11. and in an coconomical sense, as the husband is the head of the wife, and a father the head of his children, and a master the head of his servants, and of his whole family, Numb. i. 4. Eph. v. 23, 24, Isai. ix. 6. Matt. xxiii. 10. The headship of Christ in the several senses, chiefly belongs to his Kingly office; but besides these, he is the representative-head of his church, or of all the elect of God; they were all consider. ed in him, and represented by him, when he covenanted with his Father for them; all that he engaged to do and suffer, was not only on their account, but in their name and stead; and all that he received, promises and blessings, were not only for them, but he received them as personating them. As Christ was given to be the covenant of the people, so to be an Head of them in it, Eph. i. 22. And thus, 1. Christ was considered in election; he was chosen a Head, and his people as members in him, and so they had union to him, and a representative-being in him before the world began; they did not then personally exist, but Christ did, who represented them, and therefore were capable of being chosen in him, as they were, Eph. i. 4.2. Such a relation Christ stood in to them in the covenant, that was made, not with him alone, but with all the elect of Gad, considered in him as their head and representative; hence we read of the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ; which was of God made sure and firm with his covenant-people, in Christ, as their Head, before the foundation of the world; when as vet they had not an actual being, only a representative one in Christ, Gal. iii. 17. and hence the covenant was made sure to them in him, before the manifestation and application of it to Abraham, and his spiritual seed spoken of in the preceding verse; so that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after that revelation and manifestation of the covenant to Abraham, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect; for what commences in time, can never make void what was confirmed in eternity, 3. The promises of grace and glory, made to the elect of God in covenant, were made to them, as considered in Christ, their head and representative; for whereas these promises were made before the world began, Tit. i. 2. they could not be made to them in their own persons, but as personated by Christ, and therefore were made to him their Head, and to them in him; and hence the promise of life is said to be in him, 2 Tim. i. I. and indeed, all the promises are Yea and Amen in him, 2 Cor. i. 20. The apostle having said, that to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, observes, he saith not and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ; who is the head and representative of all his spiritual offspring, and in whom they are all collected and considered; all the promises made, manifested, and applied to Abraham, and his spiritual seed, were originally made to Christ, the everlasting Father of his spiritual offspring, the common Head and Parent of them, Gal. iii. 16.4. All the blessings of grace, and grants of them in the covenant of grace, given and made to the elect in it, were given and made to Christ first in their name, and as personating