our Mediator and surety, according to the tenor of the cove nant entered into with the Father, Essenius, formerly his scholar, and afterwards his colleague, de subjectione Christi ad legem, e. x. § 2. says, "the federal sealing of the divine promise did also really take place in Christ," according to Isa. liii. 10, 11. Dr. Owen handles this very subject at large, on Heb. T. 1. Exercit. iv. p. 49. Nor was this doctrine un known to the popish doctors. Tirinus on Isa. l. 11. thus comments, that the prophet there explains "the compact agreed on between God the Father, and Christ," by which, on account of the sufferings and death of Christ, redemption, justification, and glorification, were appointed to be the rewards of all those who faithfully adhere to Christ. Thus it appears, that these sentiments concerning the covenant between the Fa ther and the Son, are not to be treated with contempt.

CHAP. III.

ས་

The nature of the Covenant between the Father and the Son more fully explained.

I. As the covenant between the Father and the Son is the foundation of the whole of our salvation, it will not be impro per to stop here a little, and, in our further meditation, enquire, 1st. From whence the beginning of this covenant ought to be taken, and in what periods of time it was completed. 2dly. What the law of the covenant contains, how far, and to what it binds the Son. Bdly. Whether the Son might not have engaged in this covenant, or have withdrawn himself from it, and had no more to do with it. 4thly. What and how great a reward was promised to the Son, and which he was to obtain in virtue of the covenant,

II. I consider three periods, as it were, of this covenant. Its commencement was in the eternal counsel of the adorable Trinity in which the Son of God was constituted by the Father, with the approbation of the Holy Spirit, the Saviour of mankind; on this condition, that in the fulness of time he should be made of a woman, and made under the law; which the Son undertook to perform. Peter has a view to this when he says, 1 Pet. i. 20. that Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world." To this purpose is also what the supreme Wisdom testifies concerning itself, Provi win: 23. ♬ was set up (anointed) from everlasting, that is, by my own VOL YOUR muunnos e idk dio enfay b

and the will of my Father, which is one and the same, I was appointed to the performance of the mediatorial office in time. Paul likewise declares, that "we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world," Eph. i. 4. And consequently, Christ himself was constituted from everlasting the head of those that were to be saved, and they were given unto him, John xvii. 6. for whom he was to merit salvation, and in whom he was to be glorified and admired. From this constitution, the Son, from everlasting, bore a peculiar relation to those that were to be saved. Hence the book of life is espe cially appropriated to the Lamb, Rev. xiii. 8. as containing description of the peculiar people assigned to the Lamb from all eternity. Hence also it was that God, by his amazing wisdom, so ordered many things in man's state of innocence, that the attentive remembrance of them after the fall, and the comparing them with those things which were afterwards revealed, might have reminded him of this divine counsel; as we have shewn, chap. vi. § III.

III. The second period of this covenant I place in that intercession of Christ, by which, immediately upon the fall of man, he offered himself to God, now offended, in order actually to perform those things, to which he had engaged himself from eternity; saying, thou hast given them to me, and I will make satisfaction for them: and so he made way for the word of to be declared to, and the covenant of grace to be grace made with them. Thus Christ was actually constituted Mediator, and revealed as such immediately upon the fall; and having undertaken the suretiship, he began to act many things belonging to the offices of a Mediator. As a prophet, and the interpreter of the divine will, he even then, by his Spirit, revealed those things relating to the salvation of the elect, and by his ministers published them, Isa. xlviii. 15. 1 Pet. i. 11. and iii. 19. Nay, he himself sometimes appeared in the character of an Angel, instructing his people in the counsel of God. As a King he gathered his church, and formed to himself a people, in whom he might reign by his word and Spirit. For it was the Son of God who said to Israel, Exod. xix, 6. "and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests," and who with more than royal pomp, published his law on mount Sinai, Acts vii. 38. and whom Isaiah saw sitting as king upon a throne, chap. vi. compared with John xii. 41. As a priest, he took upon himself the sins of the elect, that he might expiate them by the sacrifice of his body, which was to be prepared for him in the fulness of time. In virtue of this, as a faithful surety,

VII. Nor is it any objection against this, that the Son, from eternity, undertook for men, and thereby came under a certain peculiar relation to those that were to be saved. For, as that engagement was nothing but the most glorious act of the divine will of the Son, doing what none but God could do, it implies therefore no manner of subjection: it only imports, that there should be a time, when that divine person, on assuming flesh, would appear in the form of a servant. And by undertaking to perform this obedience, in the human nature, in its proper time, the Son, as God, did no more subject himself to the Father, than the Father with respect to the Son, to the owing that reward of debt, which he promised him a right to claim. All these things are to be conceived of in a manner becoming God.

VIII. Nor ought it to be urged, that the Son, even before his incarnation, was called the Angel, Gen. xlviii. 16. Exod. xxiii. 20. For that signifies no inferiority of the Son, before the time appointed for his incarnation; but only a form resembling the appearances of angels, and prefiguring his future mission into the world.

IX. As man, he was doubtless subject to the moral law, as it is the rule, both of the nature and actions of man. For, it is a contradiction, as we proved before, to suppose a rational creature, such as is the human nature of Christ, to be without law: and in this manner he was really bound by the law: 1st. To preserve the holiness implanted into his nature from his first conception, unspotted and pure. 2dly. To express it in the most perfect manner in his life and actions, from all his heart, all his soul, and all his strength. 3dly. Constantly to persevere therein, without yielding to any temptations, to the end of his course.

X. And as Christ was not only a man, and a common inhabitant of the world, but also an Israelite, that is, a member of the church of the Old Testament, and a citizen of the commonwealth of Israel; he was also subject to the ceremonial and political laws, which were then still in force, according to the divine institution. By virtue of these laws, Christ made use of the Sacraments of the Old Testament, observed the festivals, repaired to the temple, and behaved as an obedient subject under a lawful magistracy. He initiated himself by circumcision to the obedience of the ceremonial law; declared his obedience to the political laws by paying tribute, Matt. xvii. 24, 25.

XI. It may be objected that as to the ceremonial laws, Christ