Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

strain, I will, and they shall, without any ifs or conditions; as, I will be their God, and they shall be my people; I will put my law in their hearts; I will forgive their iniquities; they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest; I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me; I wilĮ sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit, and an heart of flesh; and I will take away the stony heart, and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my śtatutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them, Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. and xxxii. 38, 40. Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27. The blessings of the covenant are not suspended on any conditions to be performed; they do not wait for any, but take place without them. Redemption by Christ, the great article of the covenant, was not deferred on account of any condition to be performed by men; but Christ, in the fulness of time agreed on in covenant, when men were without strength to do any thing, died for the ungodly; while they were yet sinners Christ died for them; and when enemies, they were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; and herein appeared the love of God; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, Rom. v. 6-10. 1 John iv. 10. Adoption takes place among men, who were not the people of God; and justification has for its objects the ungodly; and God forgives the iniquities of men, and remembers them no more, though they have done nothing to deserve it, but are guilty of the greatest ingratitude and unkindness; and regeneration finds men dead in trespasses and sins, foolish, disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures, without any previous dispositions or preparations in them for it, Hos. i. 10. Rom. iv. 5. Isai. xliii. 25. Eph. ii. 4, 5.

IV. The covenant of grace is perfect and complete, wanting nothing; it is ordered in all things; and if in all things, nothing can be wanting in it, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. It is full of precious promises; promises of all sorts, promises of things temporal, spiritual, and eternal; so that there is nothing that a believer stands in need of, nor any state nor condition he can come into, but there is a promise of what he wants, and which is suitable to him, 1 Tim. iv. 8. Heb. xiii. 5, 6. it is full of rich blessings of grace; of all spiritual blessings, of blessings of goodness, which Christ, as Mediator, is made most blessed with; of goodness inconceivable and inexpressible, laid up in the covenant, and in the hands of Christ, for the covenant ones; it provides all things pertaining to life and godliness; for the implantation of life itself, and of every grace; for the beginning, carrying on, and finishing the work of grace on the heart; for the food, nourishment, support and maintenance of the spiritual life in it; for the peace, joy, and comfort of believers; for grace, and spiritual strength to exercise grace, perform duties, bear and suffer all that they are called unto; for their perseverance in faith and holiness to the end; and for their eternal life and happiness; grace and glory are secured in this covenant; even all salvation, the whole of it, and all the parts of it, 2 Sam. xxxiii. 5. And it is so ordered, as to secure the

1

spiritual and eternal welfare of God's elect, so to advance the glory of God' Father, Son, and Spirit; the Father is glorified in and by Christ the Mediator of it; and Christ is glorified by the Spirit, who takes of the things of Christ, and shews them to his people; and the Spirit is glorified by being the earnest, pledge, and seal of the heavenly inheritance, Isai. xlix. 3. John xvi. 14. Eph. i. 14. V. It is an holy covenant; so it is called, Luke i. 72. where God, by visiting and redeeming his people, and raising up an horn of salvation for them, or by sending Christ to be the Redeemer and Saviour of them, and to be his salvation to them, which is the grand article of the covenant of grace, is said by all this to remember his holy covenant. The contracting parties in this covenant are, the holy Father, and the holy Son, and the holy Spirit, with respect to whom this epithet is thrice expressed in Isai. vi. 3. see Psal. cxi. 9. the matter of it is holy; the promises of it are holy, Psal. cv. 42. the blessings of it are holy; the what are called the mercies of David, Isai. lv. 3. are called oota, the holy things of David, in Acts xiii. 34. and nothing can more strongly engage to a concern *for holiness of heart and life, than the promises of the covenant; see 2 Cor. vi. 18. and vii. 1. yea, the covenant provides fully for the sanctification of all the covenant ones; expressed by writing the laws of God in the hearts of them, putting his fear into them, giving them new hearts and new spirits, taking away stony heart from them, and putting his own Spirit within them, to enable them to walk in his statutes, keep his judgments, and do them, Jer. xxxi. 33. and xxxii. 39, 40. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 27.

the

VI. It is a sure covenant, firm and immovable, more immovable than rocks and mountains; they may depart, but this covenant shall never depart, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Isai. liv. 10. it is kept or observed, as the word rendered sure, in the first of those places, signifies; it is kept inviolably by God that made it; hence he is sometimes described as a God keeping covenant, Nehem. ix. 32. his faithfulness, which he will never suffer to fail, is engaged to keep it, and therefore it is he will not break it, and men cannot, Psal. lxxxix. 33, 34. it is secured by the oath of God, and the immutability of that; for as the counsel of God is confirmed by his oath, so is the covenant of God; for it follows in the place now referred to, 35. Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David. And that is another reason why the covenant will not be broken; and why the word or promise that is gone out of his mouth, shall not be altered. The covenant is also ratified and confirmed by the death of Christ, the Testator, as has been shewn in a former chapter; whence the blood of Christ is called the blood of the covenant, which has sealed and confirmed it. The promises of the covenant, are Yea and Amen in Christ; that is, sure and firm; and the blessings of it are the sure mercies of David, and the whole of it is confirmed in Christ,

2 Cor. i. 20. Isai. liv. 3. Gal. iii. 17.

VII. It is frequently called an everlasting covenant, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Isai. liv. 3. Heb. xiii. 20. It is a covenant that will stand fast with Christ for ever, with whom it is made, and is what God has commanded for ever, and will be always

fulfilling; the effects of it will be always seen and enjoyed, in time and to all; eternity, Psal. lxxxix. 28. and cxi. 9. It is a covenant that will never be antiquated, nor give way to, nor be succeeded by another; the covenant of works is broken, and has been succeeded by an administration of the covenant, of grace; and that first administration being not faultless, but deficient with respect to clearness and extensiveness, is waxen old, and vanished away and has given place to a new administration of it; which will continue unto the end of the world, until all the covenant-ones are gathered in: but, though these two administrations differ in some things, as to some external cir-, cumstances and ordinances; yet the matter, sum and substance of them is the same, even Christ, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever: he is the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of old and new testament-saints, who all partake of the same spiritual benefits and blessings, and of the same promises; and both are saved in the same way, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; even by the grace of the covenant, which is invariable and perpetual.

OF THE COMPLACENCY AND DELIGHT GOD HAD IN HIMSELF, AND THE DIVINE PERSONS IN EACH OTHER, BEFORE ANY CREATURE WAS BROUGHT INTO BEING.

HAVING finished what I had to say concerning the internal acts of God, and the eternal transactions between the three divine Persons, before any creature, angel or man, was made; I should now have entered upon the external acts and works of God in time, but that I thought it might be proper, first, to observe the complacency, delight, and satisfaction God had in himself, in his own nature and perfections, before any creature existed; and would have had, if none, had ever been brought into being: as also the pleasure he took in the foreviews of his eternal purposes and decrees being executed in time; and of the success of those transactions, which were between the divine Persons in God, in the council of peace, and covenant of grace; and especially the mutual delight and complacency each divine Person had in one another, when alone, in a boundless, eternity, and all of them had in the chosen vessels of salvation.

I. The complacency, delight and satisfaction, which the divine Being had in himself, in his own nature and perfections, before the existence of any creature; and would have had the same if no creature had ever existed: in his nature, in the contemplation of the unspeakable glories of Deity, and in the special properties and mutual relations of the three persons to each other, and in the perfections of his nature. God is a most perfect being, entire and wanting nothing; he is El-shaddai, God all-sufficient, who has a sufficiency in and of himself, and needs nothing from creatures: he is the blessed one, God blessed for evermore; completely happy in himself, as has been proved, when his per-. fections were considered; whatever perfection. or excellency is in creatures,

angels or men, it is all from him, and is in him to the highest degree, and therefore as in them can add nothing to his pleasure and happiness: the perfections of God are indeed displayed in the creatures in a glorious manner; the heavens declare his glory, and the earth is full of it; but then these displays are made not for his own sake, but for the sake of others, that they may understand his eternal power and godhead, or be left without excuse; and though his perfections are very brightly displayed herein, yet they are clearer in himself, and so can give him no new pleasure and satisfaction, nor add any thing to his felicity and blessedness; for though it is said, For thy pleasure they are and were created. Rev. iv. 11. pleasure there does not signify delight but will; and so it should be rendered by thy will, or according to it, they are and were created; and though when they were made, and he had reviewed them, they appeared to him all very good, and he expressed his well-pleasedness in them; yet this raised no new joy in him, nor added any thing to his happiness, complete in himself; which would have been the same if a creature, or any of the works of creation had never been made, nor if any of the sons of men had ever been redeemed; for the benefit arising from the redemption of men by Christ, and the satisfaction made for them by him, redounds not to God, but to the redeemed, and for whom the satisfaction is made; My goodness extendeth not to thee, says Christ, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight, Psal. xvi. 2, 3. nor does ne need the worship and obedience of angels or men; nor does he receive any additional pleasure and happiness from them; what are the highest and loudest praises of angels, to him who is exalted above all blessing and praise? or the prayers and petitions of indigent creatures? the benefit from them is to them, and not to him; what is all the righteousness, and what are the es: works done by men to him; Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him; or what receiveth he of thine hand? Can a man by all this be profitable to God? No, he cannot; when the best of men have done all they can, they must own they are but unprofitable servants, with respect to him. Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again; for of him, and through him, and to him are all things? Job xxii. 2, 3. and xxxv. 7, Luke xvii. 10. Rom. xi. 35, 36, Since then nothing in time, in and from creatures, add any thing to the essential glory, bliss, and happiness of the divine Being; it clearly appears, that his going forth in the works of creation, did not arise from necessity of nature, but was according to his sovereign will; and that he had infinite delight, pleasure and complacency in himself, before any creature was made, and would have had the same, it they had never been.

II. As Jehovah took delight and pleasure in himself, in his own nature, and the perfections of it, so in the internal and eternal acts of his mind; his purposes and decrees formed in his eternal mind, according to the good pleasure of his will; these concern all things done in time, from the beginning to the end of the

world; the formation of the heaven, earth, and sea, and all that are in them; every thing that has been, is, or shall be, since the world began to the consummation of all things; for there is a purpose for every thing under heaven, and a time for every purpose, Eccles. iii. 1. And these all lay before God, at once and together, in his all-comprehending mind; he saw the end from the beginning, and every intervening thing; Known unto God are all his works from eter- : nity, Acts xv. 18. and he delighted in them, as he saw them in himself, in his mind and will, and in the foreviews of the accomplishment of them in time; who calls things that are not, as though they were; they stood all before himin his view, as if really in execution; nor does the execution of them add any new joy and pleasure to him: particularly all those purposes and resolutions of his mind, concerning the redemption, conversion, and salvation of his chosen ones, and the state and condition of his church, in all the periods of time, were viewed within himself, with the utmost delight and pleasure; the plan of their peace and reconciliation, drawn in the council of peace, and every thing respecting their salvation, settled in the covenant of grace. These transactions gave him infinite pleasure and satisfaction; and on these his thoughts have ran ever since, with the utmost delight, in the foreviews of all things, taking place in time to eternity, according to these ancient settlements. But what I would chiefly attend unto is.

III. The delight and complacency which each divine Person had in one another, before any creature was in being; with respect to two of the divine, Persons, this is strongly expressed in Prov. viii. 30. Then I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him: when all this was, may be learned from the preceding verses; when there were no depths, no fountains abounding with water; before the mountains were settled, while as yet he had not made the earth, &c. verse 24-29. and the third Person is not to be excluded.

1. The delight and complacency of the Father in the Son, is declared in the following expressions; which are borrowed from the delight and pleasure parents take in their children; being by them, brought up with them, nursed up. by them, playing before them; which must be understood with a decency becoming the divine Persons, and not be strained beyond their general design, which is to express the mutual delight of the Father and the Son in each other: Then I was by him, from eternity, or before the world was; I, a person, as the pronoun is expressive of; not a nature, not the human nature of Christ, which is no person; and still less a part of it, the soul of Christ, which then had no existence; but I, a divine Person, the eternal Logos, the Word and Wisdom of God, who is all along speaking from verse 12. I Wisdom, &c. to this very pas sage, the same with the Word John speaks of, and much in the same language, chap. i. 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »