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the covenant must be in time also: however, it may be shuffled out of our sight by pretence of being from eternity.

Sixthly. If the fall of Adam must be considered in order of working before God's covenant with Christ; and this covenant of God with Christ, makes the elect the foederal body of Christ; then Christ and his body of election hath a dependency upon Adam's fall, and that in time

too.

Seventhly.

betrothed them unto himself in loving-kindness, and from thence forward looked upon them as standing in such relation to him, and which is the foundation of all after-acts of grace unto

spotless

them. Hence because of his marriage relation 2 v T l aq e unto his church, he became her surety, and gave Jarety himself for her, shed his precious blood to sanctify and cleanse her from all the impurities of the fall, and other transgressions, that he might present her unto himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; even just such a church and in such glory as he had viewed her in, when he first betrothed her. Heb. v. 25, 26, 27, So with the Jews there was a private betrothing before open marriage; Deut. xxii. 23, 24, And so Christ is said to be the husband of the Gentile Church before she was in actual being; Isaiah liv. 5.

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3. There

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Seventhly. If the fall must be considered first, then all things have not been made for Jesus Christ, so all those Scriptures are false; Col. i. 16. 18.

Eighthly. If so, all things were not made by Jesus Christ; for had it, it would suppose Christ to work before he had a being; Col. i. 15, 16, 17, 18. 1 Cor. viii. 6. John iv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hub. i. 2.

Upon all these universal affirmations, I ground

my

3. There is a federal union between Christ and the elect, and they have a covenant-subsistence in him as their head and representative. The covenant flows from, and is the effect of the love, grace, and mercy of God; these are spoken of along with it, as the foundation of it. Psalm Ixxxix. 2. 34, Isaiah liv. 10, hence it is comeverlasting monly called the covenant of grace, and this was Covenant, made from everlasting, Christ was set up as the mediator of it, and his goings forth in it were as

Proverbs early, Prov. viii. 23, Micah v. 2. Eternal life VMicah

was promised before the world began, and blessings of grace so soon provided, Tit. i. 2, 2 Tim. i. 9. All which proves the antiquity of this covenant. Now this covenant was made with Christ, not as a single persou, but as a common-head, not for himself or his own account only, but for and on the account of his people;

as

my faith; that the covenant made with Adam was made for and by Jesus Christ. The doc. trine needs no more proof, but rather amplification.

First, I observe that God, when he comes to create man, seems to be at a pause, and in a consult in his persons, about the state and form he should make him in; not that God was then consulting his wisdom and persons, and not before, but to shew us that his infinite wisdom had been

employed

as the covenant of works was made with Adam, Adam,

man.

as the federal head of all his posterity, hence he
is said to be the figure or type of him that was to
come, Rom. v. 4: so the covenant of grace was
made with Christ as the federal head of his
spiritual offspring, and for this reason a parallel
is ran between them in Rom. v. 14, and i Cor.
xv. as if they had been the only two men in the
world, the one called the first, the other the second
Christ represented his people in this co-
venant, and they had a representative union with
him in it; all that he promised and engaged to
do, he promised and engaged to do in their name,
and on their account; and when performed, it :
was the same with God, as if it had been done by
them; and when he received promises and bless-
ings of grace, he received them in their name,
and they received them in him, being one with of
him as their common head and representative.

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employed about it; being that God created them for his glory in Christ, some vessels to exalt his grace, and some to glorify his justice; how these must be formed, and in what state, is the business. (Now for the glory of Christ or never.) Shall they have a covenant made with every one in particular, as the Angels had, and so the elect be upheld from falling, and the reprobates left to the power of their own free will, as the Angels? No. Why? Because, though the upholding

Surety

• Impute

4. There is a legal union between Christ and the elect, the bond of which is his suretiship for them, flowing from his strong love and affection to them; in this respect, Christ and them are one in the eye of the law, as the bondsman and debtor are one in a legal sense, if one of them pays the debt bound for, it is the same as if the other did. Christ is the surety of the better testament, he drew nigh to God, gave his bond, laid himself under an obligation to pay the debts of his people, and satisfy for their sins, who being as such accepted of by God, he and they were considered as one, and this is the ground and foundation of his payment of their debts, and the imputation of his righteousness to them: in short, it is the Saints antecedent union and relation to Christ in eternity, in the several views of it in which it has been considered, which is

the

holding grace and power of Jesus Christ had been seen in this, yet God's love to his Son, the Son's love to us (in obeying and in bleeding) had not been manifested neither to the Father, nor to us, nor to the world, nor to Angels, so Christ had not had the glory. Well, shall there be two heads set up? one the head of the elect, and a covenant made with him for them all, and another with the vessels appointed unto wrath, and so we will uphold the head of the elect with a promise;

the ground and reason of all that Christ did and

suffered for them and not for others; the reason heaven we why he became incarnate for them, and took upon excercised him human nature, with a peculiar regard to them, was because they were children given to him, and why he laid down his life for them, because they were his sheep, and why he gave himself for them, because they were his church, and why he saved them from their sins, because they were his people: Heb. ii. 13, 14; John x. 14, 15; Eph. v. 25; Mat. i. 21. In a word, union to Christ is the first thing, the first blessing Love & of grace flowing from love, and effected by it, union. and hence is the application of all others, of him

are ye in Christ Jesus, first loved and united to Christ; and then it follows, who of God is mátle unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption; 1 Cor. i. 30. Union with Chrishy

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