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Our Lord, Luke x. 16. "He that heareth you, hear. eth me; and he that defpifeth you, defpifeth me; and he that defpifeth me, defpifeth him that fent me."

Thirdly, To whom it is offered? Chrift's covenant of grace is offered to finners of mankind indefinitely; that is, it is offered to them, and any of them whofoever without diftinction. So the offer ftands in the written word, and fo the minifterial offer is to be made. This is clear from many teftimonies, Prov. viii. 4. "Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the fons of men," Mark xvi. 15. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." John iii. r6. "God fo loved the world, that he gave his -only begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him, fhould not perish, but have everlasting life." Ifa. lv. 1. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." Rev. xxii. 17. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Therefore it is offered to you, and every one of you, and you are war

ranted to enter into it.

Object. But it may be I was not elected, and Christ did not represent me in that covenant. Anfw. Your warrant to enter into Chrift's covenant does not at all depend on your election, or non-election, but on the revealed will of God making a real offer of it to you, Deut. xxix. ult. and that you have, and that you be lieve it not, you difbelieve the gofpel, Ifa. liii 1. make God a liar, 1 John v. 10. and fo must perish, Mark xvi. 16. Where do you find that ever a perfon's elec tion was the ground of his believing or entering into the covenant? It is not revealed to the elect to bring them to believe in Chrift; but they firft believe, and then by that means they fee they were elected.

Moreover, the promifes are propofed indefinitely. So was the first promife, Gen. iii. 15. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy

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feed and her feed: it fhall bruife thy head, and thou fhalt bruise his heel." So are other promises of the covenant, Ifa. lv. 3. "Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your foul fhall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the fure mercies of David." Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12. "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they fhall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, faying, Know the Lord; for all fhall know me from the least to the greateft. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousnefs, and their fins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 27. "Then will I fprinkle clean water upon you, and ye fhall be clean; from all your filthinefs, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart alfo will I give you, and a new fpirit will I put within you, and I will take away the ftony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my ftatutes, and ye fhall keep my judgments, and do them." Where is there any limitation or distinction of persons there?

Object. The conditional promises are indeed to all, but not the abfolute ones. Anfw. There is a connection of duty and privilege in fome promises; but I know no promifes properly condition, but to Christ, who has fulfilled the conditions of them already; Rom. iv. 4, 5. "Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." The promises of the covenant, call them as ye will, are to all indefinitely; for non eft diftinguendum ubi lex non diftinguit. Therefore the apostle lays it for a ground of faith to the murderers of the Lord of glory, Acts ii. 38. 39. "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jefus Chrift, for the remiffion

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of fins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghoft For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God fhall call."

Inft. If these promises be to all, then they must be fulfilled to all. Anfw. That is false; according to the apostle's reasoning, Heb. iv. 1. "Let us therefore fear, left a promise being left us of entering into his reft, any of you fhould feem to come short of it." It follows indeed that that must be fulfilled to all who accept them by believing; and fo they fhall, John iii. 16. But not to them who will not accept them, be lieve, nor apply them to themselves. No promise binds the promifer, if it is not accepted by the party. It is no imputation on God's faithfulness, that they are not fulfilled to unbelievers of them.

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SECONDLY, The next thing is the finner's entering into the covenant in a faving manner, fo as to fecure his gathering to Christ at the last day. This the text expreffeth by "cutting off his covenant on a facrifice," that is, by cutting off the facrifice to enter into the covenant. And this being the facrifice of Christ himfelf, can be no other but the laying the hand on the head of the facrifice which then was to be cut off by divine justice. And this in gospel language is just believing on Jefus Chrift facrificed for us. So it is by believing on Chrift crucified, that we are perfonally and favingly entered into the covenant.

It is agreeable to the nature of the covenant, that this should be the way of entering into it. For whereas the covenant is not made with us immediately, as parties, contractors for ourselves, in which cafe we would enter into it by promifing to do fomething on our part as the condition thereof; but mediately. through Jefus, who mediated therein as a reprefentative, undertook the fulfilling the condition thereof, and had the promises thereof made to him; it is evident there can be no way of our personal entering in

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to it in a faving manner, but by uniting with him, which the scripture determines to be by faith alone, Eph. iii. 17. "That Chrift may dwell in your hearts by faith." Accordingly it is determined, John x. 9. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he fhall be faved." Now this believing on Chrift crucified or facrificed for us, whereby we are entered into the covenant, formally lies in three things.

1. Believing the abfolute fufficiency of the facrifice of Chrift for the falvation of finners, and your falva. tion in particular, and the complete fecurity of the covenant for that effect to all within the bond of it, Jer. iii. 22, 23. "Return, ye backfliding children, and I will heal your backflidings; behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is falvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the falvation of Ifrael." The foul feeing the infinite ill that is in fin, as an offence and abomination to an infinite God, muft fee also the infinite dignity of the facrifice of Chrift, arifing from the infinite dignity of his perfon, ere it can believe this; and must also see the immoveable faithfulness of God, as the ground of believing the complete fecurity of the covenant.

2. Believing that this covenant, in the condition thereof fulfilled by Chrift's facrifice of himself, and the promises thereof made thereupon and bearing falvation, is offered really and truly to you in particular, by Jefus Chrift, with the good will of his Father; fo that it is lawful for you to come forward into it, and use it as your own. This is the report of the gofpel, Ifa. lv. 3. cited above. I John v. 11. "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son." And it is demonftrated by the Spirit inwardly to the elect, whereby they fee the door of the covenant open to them, Ifa.liii. 1.; and whofo believeth it not, can never enter into the covenant, but make God a liar by their unbelief of it.

3. Truft

3. Trufting on the facrifice of Chrift for your falva tion from fin and wrath, upon the ground of God's faithfulness in the covenant, Acts xv. 11. “We belie that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 'we fhall be faved." The foul renounceth all confidence ir itself, or any other, and relies wholly on the facrifice of Christ, the fulfilled condition of the covenant, for the promises of the covenant being fulfilled to itself, because God has fo engaged in his proclaimed covenant, and he cannot but be faithful in his covenant.

Thus the foul is formally entered into the covenant, receiving Chrift in his priestly office, and so uniting with him.

And this neceffarily brings along with it the covenanter's,

1. Receiving Chrift as his Prophet, renouncing his own wisdom and the wisdom of the world, giving up himself to be guided by his word and Spirit, Matth. xvi. 24. Acts xiii. 22. Uniting with him, he must needs be our head for direction and guidance.

2. Receiving him as his King and Lord, renouncing the dominion of fin, the devil, and the world, and whol ly giving up himself to be ruled by him as his head for government, Pfal. ii. ult. Ifa. xxvi. 13.

And thus the foul entering into the covenant, taking Christ in all his offices, takes God in Chrift for his God, and gives up himself to be one of his people for ever, confenting to the offer made, Heb. viii. Io. “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Whofo thus enters into the covenant now, shall be joyfully gathered to him at the last day, as those that have entered into his covenant on a facrifice.

THIRDLY, The last thing on this head is the profeffion and declaration of that entering into Christ's covenant, by fome fit fign. This is a folemn declared entering into the covenant, in which one may be either fincere or hypocritical, Deut. xxix. 10, 12. " Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God;-that

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