power, nor with his fidelity in promising. For if eternal life be bequeathed to all, how is it bestowed on so few? Our Confession teacheth, "that in the covenant of grace, God freely offereth unto sinners, life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, and promising to give (N. B.) unto all those that are ordained unto life, his Holy Spirit to make them able and willing to believe," chap. vii. 3. Hence,

5thly, As the promises made to Christ in favour of the chosen, bore no prejudice to the duties which were to be required of them; neither can they, when assuming the nature of a testament. The precious legacies bequeathed, are ever attended with a law, viz. that of the ten commandments, in the hand of the Mediator. On no supposition can the rational creature be exempted from obligation to obedience. The legacies of the testament do not "any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation.' Confession chap. xix. sect. 5. Accordingly some very properly call it, a federal testament, and a testamentary covenant. In proof of this, when God says, that he will make a covenant with returning sinners," even the sure mercies of David," that is, the blessings promised to him, purchased by him, and laid up in him: he immediately adds, "Behold, I have given him for a Leader and Commander to the people," Isa. lv. 3, 4. The testator is also a lawgiver, and his laws accompany his legacies. It is no how inconsistent with the nature of a testament, that certain things be enjoined to the legatees: which therefore may be called the law of the testament.

6thly, The method of salvation being in the gospelrevealed unto sinners for their acceptance, 1 Tim. i. 15, and they accepting it accordingly, God is said to make a covenant with them; Isa. lv. 3. which is expressly declared to be "the sure mercies of David," i. e. all the benefits purchased and bequeathed by Christ, Acts xiii. 34. They are all made over in possession, or in title, to returning sinners. These were promised to them in the covenant as made with Christ, and now they are again promised to them in their own person, they closing with him in all his characters: believing his testimony as a Witness, treading in his steps as a Leader, and obeying his law as a Commander, verse 4th. This, however, is not a distinct covenant from that which was made with Christ, as their representative. It is only its application, or a carrying it into effect. No new party appears here, no new promises are made, no new condition required; only what was said concerning the elect is now said to them; what was appointed, is now applied to them. These sure mercies were Christ's, before they become theirs, i. e. they were given by promise to him, before they are given in possession to them. The covenant was made with him as their representative, before it was made with them in their own person. It is not a new covenant purchased by Christ, as Arminians speak, but the covenant of Christ; the covenant made with him the head, applied unto them the members. As there are two Adams, 1 Cor. xv. 47. so but two covenants, Gal. iv. 24. As the obedience of the first Adam was the condition of the first covenant,

Gen. ii. 17. Hos. vi. 7. Rom. x. 5. the suretyrighteousness of the second Adam is the condition of the second. As the first Adam's posterity coming into existence, reap the fatal fruits of his covenant, Rom. v. 12. so the second Adam's seed being born again, enjoy the pleasant fruits of his covenant, Rom. iii. 22. V. 19. His covenant is theirs, Zech. ix. 11. his righteousness theirs, Jer. xxiii. 6. Rom. iii. 22. Phil. iii. 9. they are jointheirs with him, he being the first-born, Rom. viii. 17, 29. and they the children whom God hath given him, Heb. ii. 13. Two things are said of them as federates with God, viz. that they take hold of his covenant, Isa. lvi. 4, 6. and that they keep his covenant, Psal. xxv. 10, cii. 18. By the first may be understood their approbation of the covenant, their acquiescing in it, and their accepting of it as a faithful saying, and of the highest worth," that Christ came into the world to save sinners," 1 Tim. i. 15. By the second is to be understood, their holding fast the truths contained in it, or supposed to it, and their faithful observation of all the duties it enjoins, Isa. xxvi. 2. 2 Tim. i. 13. Heb. x. 23. 2 John ix. 11. Jude 3. John xiv. 21. Rev. ii. 19. I say the duties it enjoins, for these were implied in the promises of faith, repentance, perseverance, &c. When it was promised that the elect should come to Christ, John vi. 37. mourn for sin, Zech. xii. 10. and continue to the end, 1 Cor. i. 8. 2 Cor. xii. 9. surely this implied that these things were their duty; consequently, that they were under obligations to do them, and therefore under that law which

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required them. And as they were included in the Father's promise to the Son, so in the Son's testament unto them. Sure as they had their place in the one, they cannot be excluded from the other: but are, I may say, incorporated with it. And hence it is, that in the observation of them, the saints are said to keep God's covenant. They do not perform the condition of the covenant properly so called; that burden lay on the shoulders of the Surety. But they observe the duties of the covenanted, the duties enjoined in the testament. Hence a part being put for the whole, their observing it, is called their keeping of the covenant. Casting their burden on the Lord, Psal. Iv. 22. they take his burden upon them, Matt. xi. 29, 30.; dropping their galling chains, they take on his easy yoke. And thus they are not without law to God, but under law to Christ, 1 Cor. ix. 21. Gal, vi. 2. The law as a covenant having place in the conditionary part of the covenant of grace, and the same law as a rule having place in the testamentary part, we see clearly, that instead of being made void, it is established by faith, Rom. iii. 31. These two views of the holy covenant are intimated in our Lord's own words, Luke xxii. 29. I appoint unto you by a testamentary disposition, as my Father hath appointed unto me by a federal, a kingdom. The covenant and the testament are as the two leaves of a folding door, the one of which turns upon the other, 1 Kings vi. 34. Ezek. xli. 24. upon the covenant made with our Lord, turned the testament made by him. The promises made to us in him, were again made unto us by him. And thus alluding to 2 Kings xi. 17. I may say,

there is a covenant between the Lord, and the king, and the people: between the king also and the people. Hence I observe,

7thly, That the difference among the evangelic, as to this matter, is rather verbal than real. For the covenant, though one, cannot but come under two considerations, viz. as made, either from eternity with the Son of God, or in time with the saints. It was made with him as a Surety for us, Heb. vii. 20.; it is made with us through him as Mediator, 1 Tim. ii. 5. Heb. viii. 6. His obedience has the same place in the covenant as made with him, which Adam's would have had in the covenant made with him. Neither faith, repentance, nor new obedience have that place in the new covenant, which Adam's obedience would have had in the old: but only, that which the sinless obedience of Adam's posterity would have had; that is to say, They are the effects of our representative's righteousness: duties of the covenant incumbent on us, not its condition required of us. A condition must be performed previous to any right to those benefits of which it is the condition; inas much as it is that alone which gives a right to them. And if so, respecting the right to them, then also as to the possession of them. God is said to have made a covenant with his Son, Psal. lxxxix. 3. Isa. xlix. 1.-12. in which grace was given, i. e. promised unto us, 2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 2. He is also said to make a covenant with us, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Isa. lv. 3. But as it was not one covenant which was made with the first Adam, and another that was made with his posterity, Rom. v. 12.