of it in a vindicative way upon offenders, I can see no contradiction nor absurdity, in affirming that God might, if he had so pleased, have pardoned sinners without any satisfaction. If he punish without pardoning, he is just; and, if he should have pardoned without punishing, still he had been just. God created this world, to declare his power, wisdom, and goodness; yet still he had been essentially almighty, wise, and good, if he had never expressed these attributes in any effects of them. So God punisheth sin, to declare and glorify his justice; yet he would have been as essentially just, had he remitted it without exacting any punishment. And why should it be unjust with God, to acquit a guilty person without punishment; seeing it is not unjust with him, to assign an innocent person, his own Son, to bear the punishment of the guilty? Certainly, there was no more natural necessity, antecedent to the free determination of his own will, to punish another, that he might shew mercy unto us; than there was, to shew mercy to another, only with a design to punish us: and, therefore, there was no more need that God should punish Christ, that he might pardon us; than there was, that he should pardon Christ all the sins imputed to him, that he might justly punish us. For, if punitive justice be natural to God, so also is pardoning mercy. Yet I suppose none will deny, that God might, without wrong to his nature, have damned all men for sin, without affording pardon to any of them and there can be no reason imagined, why it should be more natural to God to punish, than to pardon; unless we would make him, as the Marcionites and Manichees of old did, a sævus et immitis Deus. Sin doth, indeed, naturally and necessarily deserve punishment; but it doth not therefore follow, that God must, by the necessity of his nature, punish it for then it would be as necessary for him to pardon, because the sinner deserves it not; because a sinner, deserving punishment, is as much the object of mercy, as of justice; both being equally essential attributes of the divine nature.

The truth is, that though all the divine perfections be natural and necessary to God, yet his will governs the external expressions of them: omnipotency, wisdom, justice, and mercy, are in God naturally, and not subject to the determination of his will so that it is not from his will that he is almighty, nor all-wise, nor holy and righteous; but from his nature. But the outward expressions of these are arbitrary, and subject to his will: omnipotence is natural and essential unto God; yet it is

his will that applies his power to such and such effects: so, likewise, though it be natural and necessary that God be just; yet the particular expression and manifestation of his justice, in a vindicative manner, is not necessary, but subject to the free determination of his will. As God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens: so, he will have vengeance on whom he will have vengeance, and whom he will he might have pardoned, and that merely by the prerogative of his will.

(3) And if it be said, that "God, being a Holy God, must necessarily hate sin, and therefore punish it :"

I answer, that, though God's holiness doth necessarily infer his utmost hatred of sin, yet that hatred of sin doth not necessarily infer his punishing of sinners. For it must be acknowledged, that God may hate sin, odio simplici, et non redundanti in personam: i. e. " with a simple abhorrency and detestation of it, yet not with any ireful effects flowing from it upon the sinner." It is, indeed, absolutely necessary, that sinners should deserve punishment: this flows not from the will and constitution of God, but from the nature of the thing itself. But, that they be actually punished according to their deserts, depends wholly upon the determination of the divine will.

That is the Third Position.

4. Whether this way of salvation by Christ were simply and absolutely necessary, or no: yet, certain it is, that no other way could be so suited to the advancement of God's glory as this; and, therefore, it was most congruous, and morally necessary, that our salvation should be wrought out by his sufferings and satisfaction. For,

(1) This is the most decent and becoming way, that God could take to reconcile sinners unto himself.

So the Apostle says expressly: Heb. ii. 10. For it became him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings. It would not become the Great Majesty of Heaven and Earth, whose sovereign authority was so heinously violated by such a vile and base creature as man is, to receive him into his love and favour without some repair made unto his honour. And, if there must intervene a satisfaction, there is none who could make it but only Jesus Christ.

(2) No other way could so jointly glorify both the mercy and

the justice of God, as this of bringing men to salvation by Christ.

If God had absolutely remitted punishment, and accepted the sinner to life by his mere good pleasure, this indeed had been a glorious declaration of his mercy, but justice had lain obscured. If God had made a temporary punishment serve for an expiation of sin, here indeed both justice and mercy had been glorified; justice in punishing, mercy in relaxing the eternity of the punishment: but neither the one nor the other had been glorified to the utmost extent of them. But, in this redemption by Christ, justice hath its full glory; in that God takes vengeance on the sin to the very uttermost: and yet mercy is likewise glorified to the full; for the sinner is, without his own sufferings, pardoned, accepted, and saved. That none but Christ could do this is evident, because no mere creature could bear an infinite punishment so as to eluctate and finish it, and no finite punishment could satisfy an infinite justice: he must be a Man, that satisfies; else, satisfaction would not be made in the same nature that sinned: he must be God, likewise; else, human nature could not be supported from sinking under the infinite load of divine wrath and, unless we would have either the Father or the Holy Ghost to become incarnate, this work of man's redemption must rest on Christ. And, indeed, who so fit to become a Mediator between God and man, as the middle Person in the Godhead? Thus then we see how expedient and fit it is, that our redemption should be accomplished by Christ Jesus: and, therefore, because the divine wisdom takes that way which is most expedient, it is, in a moral sense, necessary that it should be by him brought to pass; though, simply and absolutely, God might have laid another design for our salvation. Potuit aliter fieri de potentiâ medici, sed non potuit commodiùs aut doctiùs præparari ut esset medicina ægroti. August. Serm. iii. de Annunt. Dom.

And this, certainly, may commend the infinite love of God unto us; since he would not go the thriftiest way, in accomplishing our salvation. Although it were not simply necessary, yet, if it be more conducible to make the mercy of our redemp tion glorious, the Son of God must become the Son of Man, and the Son of Man a Man of Sorrows. He gives his natural Son, to gain adopted ones. He punisheth a righteous person, that he might pardon the guilty. God spares nothing, he saves nothing; that he might spare and save fallen man, in a way

most adapted to glorify, both the severity of his justice, and the riches of his grace and mercy.

I shall not any longer detain you with preliminary truths. You see upon what the Covenant of Grace is grounded, viz. the Covenant of Redemption; and how far forth it was necessary, that Jesus Christ should be our Redeemer, and the Mediator of this Covenant of Reconciliation.

ii. TO COME NOW MORE IMMEDIATELY TO THE SUBJECT INTENDED, we must know, that the Covenant of Grace made by God with man, is twofold.

There is the Absolute Covenant of Grace: and

The Conditional.

Indeed, if we lay stress upon the words, as some do, there can be no such thing as an Absolute Covenant; because every covenant supposeth conditions and a mutual stipulation: but, yet, we may be well contented with the impropriety of the word, so long as we use Scripture language.

1. Frequent mention is made of this Absolute Covenant: as Jer. xxxii. 38-41. Ezek. xi. 17-20: but, most fully and clearly, Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. This shall be the covenant, that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people: which the Apostle quotes and transcribes, Heb. viii. 10.

It is not this Absolute Covenant, or Promise, call it which you will, that I intend to insist on; and, therefore, I shall only give you some brief remarks concerning it, and so proceed to treat of the Conditional Covenant.

(1) That this Absolute Covenant is made only to those, whom God foreknew according to his eternal purpose: but the Conditional Covenant is made with all the world.

God hath promised a new heart, only to some: but he promiseth life and salvation to all the world, if they convert and believe. And hence it follows, that the Absolute Covenant is fulfilled to all, with whom it is made: but the most part of mankind fall short of obtaining the benefits of the Conditional Covenant, because they wilfully fall short of performing the conditions.

(2) The Absolute Covenant of Grace is so called, because the mercies promised in it are not limited nor astricted to conditions.

For though, in the ordinary method of God's `sanctifying grace, a sedulous and conscientious use of the means is necessary to our conversion, and the making of a new heart and spirit in us; yet these means are not conditions, because God hath not limited himself thereto. It is certain and infallible, that no man shall ever attain salvation without faith, repentance, and obedience: but no man can say it is impossible, that any should attain a new heart, faith, and conversion without preparations and previous dispositions.

(3) Faith is the very mercy itself promised in the Absolute Covenant but it is only a condition for obtaining the mercy promised in the Conditional Covenant.

In this, God promiseth salvation to all men, if they will believe in the other, he promiseth grace to his elect, to enable them to believe. All the benefits of the Conditional Covenant we receive by our faith; but our faith itself we receive by virtue of the Absolute Covenant: and therefore it follows, by necessary consequence, that though no man can plead the promise of the Absolute Covenant for obtaining the gift of the first grace, yet likewise no man can receive comfort by the Conditional Covenant, till he be assured that the promise of the Absolute be performed to him.

(4) In brief, the Absolute Covenant promiseth the first grace of conversion to God: the Conditional promiseth life, if we be converted. The Conditional promiseth life, if we believe: the Absolute promiseth faith, whereby we may believe to the saving of our souls.

And therefore it is called an Absolute Covenant, because the first grace of conversion unto God cannot be given upon conditions. It is indeed commonly wrought in men by the right use of means; as hearing the word, meditation, prayer, &c. but these means are not conditions of grace, because we have found, that, in some instances, God hath not limited himself to them. And, indeed, what is there, that can in reason be supposed as a condition of God's bestowing the gift of the first grace upon us? Either it must be some act of grace, or of mere nature: not of grace; for then the first grace would be already given: nor of nature; for then grace would be given according to works, which is the sum and upshot of Pelagianism. Whence it follows, that the Absolute Covenant, of giving grace and a new heart, is made only to those, who shall be saved; but the Conditional Covenant, of giving salvation upon faith and obe