these Sections teaches how that same covenant is administered by Christ to his people.

The doctrine of our Standards and of Scripture may be stated in the following propositions :

1st. At the basis of human redemption there is an

eternal covenant or personal counsel between the Father, representing the entire Godhead, and the Son, who is to assume in the fulness of time a human element into his peTBon, and to represent all his elect as their Mediator and Surety. The Scriptures make it very plain that the Father and Son had a definite understanding (a) as to who were to be saved, (6) as to what Christ must do in order to save them, (c) as to how their personal salvation was to be accomplished, and (cZ) as to all the blessings and advantages involved in their salvation, (e) as to certain official rewards w^hich were to accrue to the Mediator in consequence of his obedience.

(1.) The Scriptures expressly declare that the Father has promised the Mediator tlie salvation of his seed on condition of the travail of his soul. Isa. liii. 10, 11, 42 ; vi. 7 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 3, 4.

(2.) Christ makes constant reference to a previous commission he had received of his Father (John x. 18; Luke xxii. 29), and claims a reward conditioned upon the fulfilment of that commission. John xvii. 4, 5.

(3.) Christ as Mediator constantly asserts that his people and his expected glory are given him as a reward by his Father.

2d. The promise of this covenant was — (1.) All needful preparation of Christ for his work. Heb. x. 5 ; Isa. xlii. 1-7. (2.) Support in his work. Luke xxii. 43. (3.) A glorious reward {a) in his own theanthropic person as Mediator. John v. 22 ; Ps. ex. 1. (6.) In committing to his hand the universal administration of all the precious graces and blessings of the covenant. Matt. xiii. 18; John i. 12 ; vii. 39 ; xvii. 2 ; Acts ii. 33. (c.) In the salvation of the elect, including all general and special

god's covenant with man. 177

provisions of grace, such as regeneration, justification, sanctification, perseverance and glory. Tit. iii. 5, 6 ; Jer. xxxi. 33; xxxii. 40; Isa. xxxv. 10; liii. 10, 11.

3d. The condition of this covenant was (1) that he should be born of a woman, made under the law. Gal. iv. 4, 5. (2.) That he should assume and discharge in behalf of his elect, all the broken conditions and incurred liabilities of the covenant of works (Matt. v. 17, 18), (a) rendering that perfect obedience which is the condition of the promise of the old covenant (Ps. xl. 8; Isa. xlii. 21 ; John viii. 29; ix. 4, 5; Matt. xix. 17), and (6) suffering the penalty of death incurred by the breaking of the old covenant. Isa. liii. ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. iii. 13 ; Eph. v. 2.

4th. Christ as mediatorial King, administers to his people the benefits of his covenant, and by his }>rovidence, his word and his Spirit he causes them to become severally recipients of these blessings according to his will. These benefits he offers to all men in the gospel. He promises to grant them on the condition they are received. In the case of his own people he works faith in them, and as their surety engages for them and makes good all that is suspended upon or conveyed through their agency. In the whole sphere of our experience every Christian duty is a Christian grace, for we can fulfil the conditions of repentance and faith only as it is given to us by our surety. All Christian graces also involve Christian duties. So that Christ at once purchases salvation for us, and applies salvation to us ; commands us to do, and works in us to obey; offers us grace and eternal life on conditions, and gives us the conditions and the grace and the eternal life. What he gives us

lie expects us to exercise. What he demands of us he at once gives us. Viewed on God's side, faith and repentance are the gifts of the Son. Viewed on our side, tliey are duties and gracious experiences, the first symptoms of salvation bfegun — instruments wherewith further grace may be attained. Viewed in connection with the covenant of grace, they are elements of the promise of the Father to the Son, conditioned upon his mediatorial work. Viewed in relation to salvation, they are indices of its commencement and conditions siiie qua non of its completion.

The present administration of this covenant by Christ in one aspect evidently bears a near analogy to a testament or will executed only consequent upon the death of the testator. And so in one passage our translators were correct in so translating the word dcaOi^xrj, Heb. ix. 16, 17. But since Christ is an ever-living and constantly-acting Mediator, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever, this word, which expresses his present administration, should in every other instance have been translated dispensation, instead of testament. 2 Cor. iii. 6, 14; Gal. iii. 15; Heb. vii. 22; xii. 24; xiii. 20.

In entering upon the exposition of this section, it is proper to remark, that, at the period when our Confession was framed, it was generally held by the most eminent divines, that there are two covenants connected with the salvation of men, which they called the covenant of redemption, and the covenant of grace; the former made with Christ from everlasting, the latter made with sinners in time ; the righteousness of Christ being the condition of the former, and faith the condition of the latter covenant. This distinction, we conceive, has no foundation in the Sacred Scriptures, and it has long since been abandoned by all evangelical divines. The first Adam is said to have been a. figure of Christ, who is called the second Adam. Now, there was not one covenant made with Adam, the condition of which he was to perform, and another made with his posterity, the condition of which they were to fulfil; but one covenant included both him and them. It was made with him as their representative, and with them as represented in and by him. In like manner, one covenant includes Christ and his spiritual seed. The Scriptures, accordingly, everywhere speak of it as one covenant, and the blood of Christ is repeatedly called " the blood of the covenant," not of the covenants, as we may presume it would have been called, if it had been the condition of a covenant of redemption and the foundation of a covenant of grace. — Heb. x. 29, xiii. 20. By the blood of the same covenant Christ made satisfaction, and we obtain deliverance. — Zech. ix. 11. We hold, therefore, that there is only one covenant for the salvation of fallen men, and that this covenant was made with Christ before the foundation of the world.* The Scriptures, indeed, frequently sj^eak of God making a covenant wdth believers, but this language admits of an easy explication, in consistency with the unity of the covenant. " The covenant of grace," says a judicious wi-iter, " was made with Christ in a strict and proper sense, as he was the party-contractor in it, and undertook to fi\lfil the condition of it. It is made with believers in an improper sense, when they are taken into the bond of it, and come actually to enjoy the benefit of

* The distinction between the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace was mainiaiiied by Owen, Charnock, Flavel, and many others. By them it was explained in a sense consistent with the perfections and grace of God. But by others, the covenant of redemption has been represented as the foundation for God's entering into another covenant with sinners, of which faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, are made the terms. That the covenant made with Christ and with believers is one and the same covenant, has been maintained by Boston, K. and E, Erskine, Adam Gib, Hill of London, Brown of Haddington, Dick, Belfrage, and, indeed, by all modern evangelical divines.

it. How it is made with them may be learned from the words of the apostle,— »Acts xiii. 34 : ' I will give you the sure mercies of David,' which is a kind of paraphrase upon that passage, — Is. Iv. 3 : 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.' God makes the covenant with them, not by requiring anything of them in order to entitle them or lay a foundation for their claim to the blessings of it, but by making these over to them as a free gift, and putting them in possession of them, as far as their present state will admit, by a faith of his own operation." *

The supposition of two covenants for the salvation of mankind sinners, is encumbered with various difficulties. One is obvious. In every proper covenant, there are two essential parts — a conditionary and a promissory. If, therefore, there be a covenant made with sinners, different from the covenant made with Christ, it must have a condition which they themselves must perform. But though our old divines called faith the condition of the covenant made with sinners, they did not assign any merit to faith, but simply precedence. " The truth is," as Dr Dick has remarked, " that what these divines call the covenant of grace, is merely the administration of what they call the covenant of redemption, for the purpose of communicating its blessings to those for whom they were intended ; and cannot be properly considered as a covenant, because it is not suspended upon a proper condition." The Westminster Assembly, in this section, appear to describe what was then usually designated the covenant of grace, as distinguished from the covenant of redemption. But, though they viewed the covenant under a twofold consideration, as made with the Surety from everlasting, and as made with sinners in time, they certainly regarded it as one and the same covenant. " The covenant of grace," say they, " was made with Christ as the second Adam, and in him with all the elect as his seed." f The doctrine of our standards on this deeply interesting subject, may be summed up in the following propositions : —

1. That a covenant was entered into between Jehovah the Father and his co-eternal Son, respecting the salvation of sinners of mankind. The reality of this federal transaction, appears from Ps. Ixxxix. 3: " I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant." The speaker, in this passage, can be no other but the Lord, who is mentioned in the beginning of the Psalm ; and it cannot

* Wilson's (of London) Sermons, p. 72. + The Larger Catechism, Quest. 31

.90 CONFESSION OF FAITH. [cilAF. VII.

reasonably be questioned, that the words spoken have their ultimate and principal fulfilment in Jesus Christ, and assert a covenant made with him, of which the covenant of royalty made with David, King of Israel, was typical. In other places of Scripture, though the word covenant does not occur, we have a plain intimation of all the essential parts of a proper covenant. In Is. liii. 10, we have the two great parts of the covenant — the conditionary and the promissory ; and the two glorious contracting parties — the one undertaking for the performance of its arduous condition — the other engaging for the fulfilment of its precious promises : " If his soul shall make a propitiatory sacrifice, he shall see a seed which shall prolong their days ; and the gracious purpose of Jehovah shall prosper in his hands." — (Bishop Lowth's Translation.)

2. That this covenant was made with Christ, as the head, or representative, of his spiritual seed. This is confirmed by the comparison between Christ and Adam, which is stated by the apostle, — Rom. v.; 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47; which clearly establishes the truth, that Adam and Christ severally sustained a public character, as the federal heads of their respective seeds. Christ and his spiritual seed are called by the same name (Isa. xlix. 3), — a plain evidence of God's dealing with him as their representative in the covenant. Christ is likewise called the Surety of the covenant (Heb. vii. 22); and the promises of the covenant were primarily made to him. — Gal. iii. 16; Tit. i. 2.

3. That this covenant originated in the free grace and sovereign will of God. The Scriptures uniformly ascribe this transaction to the good pleasure of Him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will, and represent it as conducing to the praise of the glory of his grace. — Eph. i. 3-6. On this account this covenant is, with great propriety, called tlie covenant of grace, because it originated in the free grace of God, and conveys the blessings of salvation to sinners in a manner the most gratuitous.

4. That this covenant was established from eternity. The covenant of grace is called the second covenant, as distinguished from the covenant of works made with Adam ; but though the second in respect of manifestation and execution, yet, with respect either to the period or the order in which it was made, it is the first covenant. The Head of this covenant is introduced (Prov. viii. 23), saying, " I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, ere ever the earth was;" i. <?., he was set apart to his mediatory office and work, —in other words, to be the head of his spiritual seed in the

8KCT. 3.] OF god's COVENANT WITH MAN. 01

covenant of grace from everlasting. The promise of eternal life is said to have been given us in Christ " before the world began" (Tit. i. 2); and the covenant is frequently styled an everlasting covenant. — Heb. xiii. 20.

5, In the administration of this covenant, God "freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved." Though Christ, in this covenant, represented only a definite number of mankind, who were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world," yet, in the administration of the covenant, a free offer of salvation by Jesus Christ is addressed to sinners of mankind indefinitely and universally. — John vi. 32; Is. Iv. 1; Rev. xxii. 17. This offer is not restricted, as Baxterians allege, to sensible sinners, or those who are convinced of their sin, and their need of the Saviour; for it is addressed to persons sunk in total insensibility as to their OAvn miseries and wants. — Rev. iii. 17, 18. This offer is made as really to those who eventually reject it, as it is to those v/ho eventually receive it ; for, if this were not the case, the former class of gospel-hearers could not be condemned for their unbelief. — John iii. 18, 19.

That God " requires of sinners faith in Christ that they may be saved," admits of no dispute. The part assigned to faith, however, has been much controverted. Many excellent divines, in consequence of the distinction which they made between the covenant of redemption and the covenant of grace, were led to speak of faith as the condition of the latter covenant. But the term, as used by them, signifies not a meritorious or procuring cause, but simply something which goes before, and without which the other cannot be obtained. They consider faith merely as a condition of 07xler or connection, as it has been styled, and as an instrument or means of obtaining an interest in the salvation offered in the gospel. This is very different from the meaning attached to the term by Arminians and Neonomians, who rejaresent faith as a condition on the fulfilment of which the promise is suspended.* The Westminster Assembly elsewhere afiirm, that God requires of sinners faith in Christ, " as the condition to interest them in him."t But this is very different from affirming that faith is the condition of the covenant of grace. That faith is indispensably necessary as the instrument by which

* The se?itiraents of difierent writers on this important point are stated by Dr Fraser, in his excellent notes on Witsius' Dissertations on the Apostles' Creed, vol. i., note 44. To the writers mentioned by him may be added, Boston (View of the Covenant of Grace, head iii., sect. 1); Wilson of London (Sermons, p. 71 ) ; and Ur Dick (Lectures, vol. ii., p. 43-1 j.

t The Larger Catechism, Quest. 32.

02 COiNPESSION or rAITII. {^CIIAT. VII.

•we are savingly interested in Christ, and personally instated in the covenant, is a most important truth, and this is all that is intended ])y the Westminster divines. They seem to have used the term condition as synonymous with instrument; for, while in one place they speak of faith as the condition to interest sinners in the Mediator, in other places they affirm, that " faith is the alone instrument of justification,"* and teach, that " faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, only as it is an instrument by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his righteousness."t As the word condition is ambiguous, apt to be misunderstood, and is frequently employed in an unsound and dangerous sense, it is now disused by evangelical divines.

6. That God promises his Holy Spirit to work in his elect tliat faith by which they come to have a special interest in the blessings of this covenant. This implies, that a certain definite number were ordained to eternal life, and that all these shall in due time be brought to believe in Christ. — Acts xiii. 48. It also implies, that they are in themselves unwilling and unable to believe (John vi. 44); but God promises to give them the Holy Spirit to make them willing and able. — Ezek. xxxvi. 26. Faith, therefore, instead of being tlije condition of the covenant of grace, belongs to the promissory part of the covenant.— Rom. xv. 12. It is the gift of God, wlio worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.— Eph. ii. 8; Phil. ii. 13.