come in; gather then to him, as ever you would be gathered to him in the end of the world. Laftly, Having gathered to him by faith in the bond of his covenant, publicly own him as yours, your Head, your Priest, Prophet, King, and Lord. The facrament of the fupper is appointed for that end, as a public owning ourselves to be his, before the world, angels, and men. And thofe that are indifferent of doing that honour to Chrift, would do well to confider what expectations they have of his owning them. WE proceed now to the character of the parties to be gathered to Chrift at his coming, "Thofe that have made a covenant with me by facrifice;" Heb. "Cutters off of my covenant upon a facrifice." Their character is taken, not from worldly advantages that attended them, for thefe will then be perished; but from the covenant, for that will be then lafting, Ifa. liv. 19. So their character is true covenanters, they that have been gathered into the bond of the covenant unto him. Where obferve, 1. The covenant from which their character is ta ken; it is not a covenant of their own devising; nor the covenant of the first Adam; but it is Christ's covenant, "my covenant," fays the Judge of the world, who gives order to the angels to gather them to him. It is the covenant the Father made with Christ as second Adam, called commonly the covenant of grace. 2. The nature of that covenant; it is a covenant upon a facrifice, namely, the facrifice of Chrift, that expiatory facrifice. The covenant of works was not upon a facrifice, for God was not then offended; but this covenant being made with an offended juft God, behoved to be upon a facrifice, and could not be without it. 3. Their coming into that covenant, every one perfonally for himself. This is expreffed by their being cutters off of it, a phrase taken from the cutting a beast afunder at parties entering into a covenant, Jer. xxxiv. 18. which had a reference to the curfe of the covenant Bb3 to to fall on the breakers. And the cutting off of the one part, so as they were never to come together again, imported the inviolableness of the covenant, Gen. xv. 10, 18. Hence the phrase is used for entering into a covenant, the fign for the thing fignified. To this their action also the words upon a facrifice do relate, q. d. That cut off upon a facrifice my covenant made upon a facrifice. Now the facrifice being the facrifice of Christ, it is plain our cutting off in that cafe must be by laying as it were our hand on the head of the facrifice cut off by divine juftice; and so it denotes our entering into the covenant by believing on Christ. And it prefuppofes the offer of the covenant made to us. From this part of the text, we observe the two following doctrines, vix. DOCT. 1. There is a covenant with God, which is Chrift the fecond Adam's covenant, made upon the facrifice of himself, and offered to finners. DocT. II. Thofe who now gather unto Christ, perfonally and fincerely entering into his covenant of grace offered to them in the gospel, while others flight him and his covenant, fball at the last day be joyfully gathered to him in the air, to receive their welcome to the kingdom of heaven, while others fhall be left on the earth to receive their doom from him, to be driven to the pit. DOCT. I. There is a covenant with God, which is Chrift, the fecond Adam's covenant, made upon the facrifice of himself, and offered to finners. In difcourfing from this doctrine, I shall, I. Confider the nature of this covenant in the general. II. Shew in what refpects it is Chrift's covenant. III. Confider its being a covenant upon a facrifice, and that of himself. IV. Make application. I. I SHALL Confider the nature of this covenant in the general. It is a covenant of peace and reconciliation betwixt God and finners, Ifa. liv. 10. whereby an an offended God and offending finners may become friends for ever, and they re-inftated in his favour, and established therein. And hence ye may perceive, that, 1. Not the neceffities of Chrift the Maker of it, but of finners whom it was made for, required it. He was infinitely happy in himself and in his Father's love, and stood in need of nothing without himself; but they needed it, and he made it for them, Cant. iii. 10. It is a covenant of grace, for his making it was an act of pure grace to us. 2. It is the new covenant, brought in to repair the ruins of mankind by the ruins of the firft. God and Adam, were friends when they entered into the covenant of works; but that being broken, finners fell under the curfe; and to recover them out of that ruinous ftate, this covenant was made. 3. It is the covenant by which finners may have life and falvation, Mal. ii. . By it all their fores may be healed. In it there is righteousness secured for the unrighteous, a pardon for the guilty, fanctification for the unholy, and eternal happiness in the other world for heirs of hell and wrath. There is as much in it as may make one eafy and joyful in the face of death; hence David in his last words says, 2 Sam. xxii. 5. "Although my house be not fo with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and fure; for this is all my falvation, and all my defire, although he make it not to grow." O bleffed covenant, which, by what is faid, you may fee is juft the covenant of grace! O happy device! Do not your hearts say within you, Whom is it owing to? Whose covenant is it? Surely it never came out of our forge. Chrift claims it as his. It is my covenant, says he. Therefore we fhall fhew, II. In what refpects it is Chrift's covenant. 1. He devifed it; it never bred in our breast, and never would. He was with his Father and Spirit the offended party; but the devifing of the covenant of peace peace is not owing to the offenders, but the offended. For it was devised before the offenders were in being, Prov. vii. 29, 30, 31. 1 John iv. 19. 2. He made it with his Father without us, in all its articles and claufes, Pfal. lxxxix. 3. Cant. iii. §. The bargain was concluded from eternity between the Father and the Son, in our favour, while we were not yet any of us in being. So that the remedy for us was kindly provided, before we fell under our dif eafe; that fo it might be ready for us, and we might not die of it. 3. He was the head of it, the fole undertaker in it, on the fide of finners. There was in this covenant a burden to be undertaken for finners, and Christ took burden on himself alone for them, to pay their debt, and to bear their punishment; and accordingly he bare the burden alone, Ifa. Ixiii. 3. He gave it as his bond of furetiship for the elect, which the Father accepted, no more to look to them, but to him for fatisfaction, Heb. vii. 22. The condition of it lay on him folely, viz. that he fhould fulfil all righteoufnefs. Sinners could no nothing in this, but he undertook to do it, by his being born perfectly holy, living perfectly righteous, and making fatisfaction by his death. 4. The promifes of it were made to him, not only that of a glorious reward to himself, but of eternal life to all his, Gal. iii. 16. Tit. i. 2. As when a father covenants with a furgeon to heal his fon's broken leg; the promife is made to the father, and he also pays the furgeon's fees, though the benefit redounds to the fon. 5. He receives finners into it, the administration thereof being wholly committed to him, fo that com ing to him by faith is our coming into the covenant, John x. 9. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be faved." Juftly is it reckoned his cove nant, fince the Father has left it with him, to take in whom he will into it; and none are inftated in it, but by, in, and through him. 6. All 1 6. All the benefits of it are in his hand. They are now purchased by him, and the Father has lodged them with him, intrusted him with them all from the leaft to the greatest, Matth. xi. 27. So that he has the difpenfing of them all; if the finner would have the pardon of the covenant, he must go to Chrift for it; if he would have the fanctifying influences of the covenant, he must apply to Chrift for them, for he is our Jo feph, who has all the ftores of grace and glory in his hand. 7. Laftly, It is in his right alone that finners can get the benefits of it, or claim them, Phil. iii. 9. They can claim them no otherwise than as they are his members, his fpouse, his children. Hence at the laft day, when they are to get the complete enjoyment of the covenant-benefits all together, the order is given by him, "Gather them to me ;" q. d. for they cannot go into heaven, but at my back; they cannot have the benefits but as they are in me, Rom. v. 17. III. I COME to confider this covenant's being a covenant upon a facrifice, and that of himself. And here confider, upon a fa 1. Why this covenant behoved to be crifice. 2. Why on the facrifice of Christ himself. 3. The import of its being a covenant on a facrifice. Firft, Confider, why this covenant behoved to be upon a facrifice. The reafon is, the honour of God injured by man's fin required, that if there was to be another covenant for life and falvation to man now a finner, it behoved to proceed on a facrifice making a tonement for the breach of the first by fin. Man could not break the first covenant unpunished, elfe where were the honour of the holiness, juftice, and law of God, Ifa. xlii. 21. Rom. iii. 25.? Therefore is that caution added, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, |