way of covenanting is, to take up the covenant of grace as a free promise of life and salvation, upon condition of Christ's obedience and death performed already; to believe that promise with particular application to the sinner himself, i. e. that the sinner believe, that he shall have life and salvation, pardon of sin, repentance, sanctification, grace, and glory, and that upon the ground of Christ's obedience and satisfac tion only, Heb. viii. 10. Thus the covenant is held out, as a free and absolute promise, to sinners indefinitely, like a rope to a company of drowning men, that whoever believes It may by it be drawn forth out of the waters. We proceed to consider,

THIRDLY, The party contracted and undertaken for in this covenant. And as the party-contractor was a represettative, so the party-contracted for was.represented by him. And that these two, the represented and the contracted for, are of equal latitude, is plain from the nature of the thing: for those whom one represents in a covenant, he contracts for in that covenent; and those for whom one contracts in a covenant, made with him as a representative, they are represented by him in that covenant. It is evident also from the relation betwixt the two Adams, the former being a type of the latter. In the first covenant, those whom Adam, contracted for, he represented; and those whom he represented, he contracted for: therefore those whom the second Adam contracted for he represented; and whom he represented, he contracted for.

Now, the party represented and contracted for in the covenant of grace by our Lord Jesus Christ, was the elect of mankind; a certain number of the posterity of Adam chosen from eternity to everlasting life, Heb. ii. 11, 12, 13. In their person it was that he stood in making this bargain with his Father, in their name it was that he acted when he struck hands with the Father, as a surety to obey the law, and satisfy justice. And that these only could be so represented by him in this covenant, as being the objects of election, is evident from the last discourse, on the doctrine of election.

It will be proper, therefore, to shew how the elect were considered in this covenant and federal representation. They come under a threefold consideration, as sinners, as impotent sinners, and as objects of the divine love.

1. As sinners ruined in Adam, lost sheep of the house of

Israel, Matth. xv. 24. In the first covenant God put all the Block of mankind under the hand of one shepherd, Adam. But he lost all the flock, and was never able to recover them again. God from all eternity had put a secret mark on some of them, whereby he distinguished them from the rest, 2 Tim. ii. 19. He saw them among the rest, gone from their pasture, wandering like poor waifs and strays, a prey to every devourer. And he proposeth a new covenant, whereby they might be put under the hand of Christ as their shepherd, to be by him sought out and brought back. And this our Lord Jesus accepted, though he well knew what it would cost him to save the lost sheep.

2. As impotent, and utterly unable to help themselves, in whole or in part, Rom. v. 6. They were debtors, and utterly unable to pay one farthing of their debt; and criminals, and quité unable to bear their own punishment to the satisfaction of justice. Had it lain on them to have paid the debt or borne the punishment; they behoved for ever to have sunk under the load. Then said the Son of God, I can' not see them perish; Father I put myself in their room, I will answer for them; I will pay their debt, and bear their punishment; I will be the debtor and criminal in law reckoning, as representing the criminals and debtors.' The representation is sustained, the payment of all is laid on him, and is looked for from no other hand, in whole or in part, either by the one or other party contracting, Isa. lxiii. 3. Psal. lxix. 4. Yet,

3. As objects of eternal love, sovereign and free, given to Christ by his Father. The Father loved them, John xvii. 23. and therefore gave them to Christ, ver 6. The Son loved them, Eph. v. 2. and accepts of the gift, and represents them in the covenant, as a Father does his children, Isa. ix. 6. with Heb. ii. 13. This absolutely free-love, and mere good pleasure, was the reason why they, and not others in the same condemnation by the breach of the first covenant, were represented by Christ in the second covenant; why their names were put in the eternal contract, when the names of others were left out, Luke x. 21. They were his Father's choice and his choice; and so he became their representative*.

Some proper inferences relative to this part of the subject may be seen in the treatise on the covenant of grace, under the title, Of the party contracted and undertaken for. VOL. I.

3 B

II. The second general head is to consider the parts of this covenant. These are the things agreed upon betwixt God and Christ, as the second Adam, and representative of the elect in the covenant. They may be taken up in two things, the condition of the covenant, and the promises thereof. I shall consider each distinctly..

FIRST, The condition of the covenant. The condition of a covenant or bargain is that part of it, upon the perform. ance of which one's right to the benefit promised is founded, his plea for it is established, as becoming due to him for that his performance, according to the agreement betwixt the parties. For instance, the paying of such a sum of money, for such a commodity, according to the agreement of the parties bargaining, is the condition of a covenant of commerce, sale, or traffic; and the working of such a piece of work, or doing of such a deed, for such a reward, agreed upon by the parties, is the condition of a covenant of service or hire.

There is also what is called a condition of connection or order in a covenant, whereby one thing necessarily goes before another in the order of a covenant, without being the ground on which one's right and title to that other thing is founded. As in the former instances, the buyer's receiving of the commodity, and the hireling's receiving of the reward, covenanted or bargained for, must needs go before the pos session or enjoyment of them: but it is evident, that recei ving is not the thing on which the buyers right and title to the reward is founded: therefore, though it may be called a condition of connection in the respective covenants, yet it cannot in any propriety of speech be called the condition of these covenants.

Thus, in the order of the covenant of grace, the having of the Spirit must go before faith, faith before justification, justification before sanctification, and holiness before heaven's happiness. These may be called conditions in the covenant of grace, viz. conditions of certain connection; and belong to the established order of the promises of the covenant, which are contradistinguished to the condition of the cove

But such conditions can in no proper sense be called the condition or conditions of the covenant.

This being premised, we say, that the condition of the covenant of grace, properly so called, is Christ's fulfilling of

all righteousness, owing unto God by the elect, in virtue of the covenant of works, and that as the last Adam, their head and representative. And here I shall,

1. Evince this to be the condition of the covenant.

2. Explain and unfold that righteousness, the fulfilling whereof was made the condition of the covenant.

FIRST, I am to evince that this is the condition of the covenant of grace. This will appear, if ye consider,

1. Christ's fulfilling all righteousness in the second Adam, is what the Father proposed as the terms of the elect's salvation unto Christ, and upon which he founded his promise of eternal life to them; and not any work or deed of theirs, Isa. liii. 10, 11. And says Christ, This cup is the new testament in my blood; as if he had said, All the promises of the covenant were written with my blood, it was the condition of them which procured them, and without which ye had never got them. And accordingly this is what Christ, as the second Adam, did from eternity consent to, undertake, and bind himself for, and in time did perform, Matth. iii. 15, 'It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,' as it becomes a person of honour and credit to fulfil his bargain. Luke xxiv. 26. 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?? viz. as one ought to perform the condition of a covenant or bargain he has agreed to.

Obiect. But the elects believing, holiness, and good works, were also fixed as terms of their salvation: and Christ undertook also that they should believe, &c,

Ans. Then at that rate Christ performed the chief part of the condition of the covenant, and took it wholly on himself; but they perform another part of the condition, for which he became their cautioner. Thus the condition of the covenant of grace is divided betwixt Christ and the impotent beggarly creature: and so must the glory of their salvation be; for whosoever works part of the work, or pays a part of the price, without question so much of the reward and purchase is due to him. But none of the glory of it is due to us, 1 Cor. i. 31. Zech. vi. 13. Rom. iv. 4, 5.; and therefore no part of the condition is performed by us. I own these things are secured in the covenant; but they are secured not in the conditionary part of the covenant, but in the promissory part of it, Heb. viii. 10.

2. This, and nothing done by the sinner himself, is that

upon which a sinner's right to eternal life is founded: upon nothing else can he safely found his plea before the Lord for life and salvation. And a sinner thoroughly convinced will find it so, Rom. iii. 24, 25. Eph. i. 7. Phil. iii. 9. The sinner standing trembling in the court of conscience, by faith gets under the covert of the Mediator's righteousness, and dare oppose nothing to the sentence of the law, but Christ's fulfilling all righteousness, giving up all other pleas for life and salvation. And believing is the pleading itself upon that ground, not the ground of the plea. It saith, My Lord and my God,' in the promise, upon the ground of Christ's fulfilling all righteousness only, as the condition of the covenant.

3. This is that alone by which the salvation of sinners becomes due or a debt. Now, it is not a debt to them; therefore they fulfil no part of the condition: but unto Christ; therefore he performed the proper condition of the covenant; for he who fulfils the condition of a covenant, the reward is of debt to him, Rom. iv. 4, 5. compare 1 John ii. 1. 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. We may see this even in the first Adam's covenant, the condition whereof was perfect active obedience. Which if it had been fulfilled by Adam, eternal life to him and his would thereupon have become due or a debt to him. And hence it is, that Christ's fulfilling all righteousness is the believer's only plea for life and salvation even as in case Adam had performed the condi tion of his covenant, the plea of all his posterity for life would have been founded on that performance solely, as being the only obedience that was the condition of that covenant; their personal obedience, at least after the perform ance of the former, being the accomplishment of the promise of the covenant, not of the condition. And so they would have had life, not for any personal deed or work of theirs, but freely, for the obedience of the first Adam, to which he did graciously make the promise of life in the first covenant.

4. Lastly, The covenant of grace doth so exclude our boasting as the covenant of works did not, Rom. iii. 27. But if any deed or work of our own be the condition of the covenant of grace in whole or in part, our boasting is not excluded; for life and salvation is of or by the fulfilling of the condition of the covenant, Rom. iv. 4. and so far as