The covenants

Front matter

f LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.?

* UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f

THE

Chapter I. The Covenants

Not understood ; the causes o4it ; proposed method of discussion ; simplicity of the subject ; its importance.

Salvation through Jesus Christ, is according to "the determinate counsel, and foreknowledge of God."* He was pleased to make known to the fathers, his purposes in this behalf, in the form of covenants, which were of different characters, and revealed at various times. These covenants enter into the very nature, and pervade with their peculiar qualities, the whole system of divine grace. A perfect knowledge of the Gospel therefore, involves necessarily, a correct comprehension of the covenants. But by whom among us, are these covenants clearly understood ? To most men, you need only to speak on this subject, and you at once perceive that "Even unto this day, the vail is upon their

• Acts u : 23.

heart."* They fail to perceive what the covenants are in themselves, in their relations to each other, and consequently in their bearings upon the designs of God in the Redeemer ! This darkness is lamentable in all its aspects, since falling short of the know^ledge of these, — " the rudiments of the doctrine of Christ," — obscurity must necessarily rest upon the whole Gospel system. How can he who does not perceive "the first principles" of any specified science, ever become a master of that science ?

But why should obscurity rest upon a knowledge of the covenants ? Are they in themselves, difficult of comprehension ? Far from it. No part of the word of God is more plain, and simple. The causes of their perplexity, and embarrassment, are to be sought for in other quarters. Nor are they problematical. To every intelligent, and unprejudiced observer, they are so obvious as not to be readily mistaken. Who does not know that for ages past, they have been the prolific , source"^ from which theological polemics of every caste, and of the most opposite sentiments, have sought to derive support for many of their most extravagant speculations in religion, and especially in the departments of ecclesiastical organization, the nature and efficacy of those ordinances commonly known as sacraments, and the required qualifications for membership in the church of Christ ? By each class they receive such expositions as that to superficial minds, they appear to sustain its own peculiar conclusions. In this work of perversion, both the pulpit, and the press have been profuse, and elaborate. Witsius, and Boston, Strong, and Russell, Macknight, Dick, Dvvight, and many others, have written profoundly. But who has been enlightened ? Have they not rather *' darkened counsel, by words without knowledge ?" However this may be, the opinion has been created, and now prevails almost universally, that the whole subject is exceedingly abstruse, so much so indeed, as to be beyond the reach of ordinary minds. By whom now, are the covenants even studied, independently of some recognized guide, apart from the Scriptures ? Ministers themselves, who preach sermons, and write controversial essays upon them, and assume to enlighten public sentiment, are with almost no exceptions, meantime, tamely following in the track of such writers as happen to have gained the confidence of that particular denomination to which they are severally attached. Investigation has really ceased on this subject, and error has become stereotyped !

You have only to look into the books that are issued on both sides of the Atlantic, and you will see how confidently the covenants are claimed as authority for the union of church and state, and for the severance of church and state ; for Popery, and for Lutheranism, for Prelacy, and for Presbytery ; for the introduction of infants into the church of Christ, and for the connection with it of none but believers ! The adherents of each party, are perfectly certain that the covenants fully sustain the doctrines they advocate. They have seen them, not indeed, in the Bible, but only through the medium of some essayist of their own class. The result has necessarily been a perplexity, and confusion almost hopeless.

These are some of the causes by which the understanding of this subject has been rendered, to many minds, so exceedingly difficult. How until they are removed, can the covenants ever be comprehended? While their sense, and purposes, continue to be thus turned aside, and perverted, the hearts of the simple must be deceived, and to many sincere christians, much of the word of God remain a sealed book.

In the investigation upon which we are now entering, I shall in the outset, direct your attention to **the covenant of works," the breach of which made all the others necessarj^ It stands by itself, and will be so treated. Next I shall refer you to the thr^ee separate developements of the covenants, — of salvation in the Mediator ; the first being the announcement in Eden, immediately after the fall, of a Deliverer from sin ; the second, the previous covenant of redemption, upon which necessarilj'-, that announcement was predicated ; and the third, the promise to Abraham that Messiah should come of his family, which promise was renewed, and transferred successively, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Judah, and to David. I shall then consider the three manifestations of the covenant of the law ; the first of which, made with Abraham, constituted his descendants a separate nation, and gave them as the place of their residence until the coming of Messiah, the land of

Canaan ; the second of which, also made with Abraham,' enacted circumcision, and thus distinguished his posterity personally, from all other men ; and the third, made with all Israel at Sinai, gave them their peculiar national government. It will be necessary here, for us to pause, and investigate the philology of these covenants; which when we have examined, we shall consider how they appear in relation to the christian dispensation. It will then at once be apparent that the former three covenants were direct in their reference to Christ, and were substantially o«e coye/^/a/i^, made known in the gospel, as '* the new and everlasting covenant;" and that the latter three were indirect in their reference to Christ, together formed the old cover} ant y and when Messiah came, and his claims were fully established, were consummated, and superceded by the gospel, which is their perfect developement. I shall then close the discussion by a brief explanation of the doctrinal, and practical teachings of the covenants. In this sketch I have not, you will perceive, included all the covenants of every class, recorded in the word of God, such, for example, as the covenant with Noah, the covenant of the priesthood in the family of Aaron, and many others of minor importance, because they are not especially connected with the promises which guarantied a Messiah, and do not, therefore, immediately concern our present investigation ; and because by omitting them, we shall be able, without detriment to a perfect understanding of the whole subject, to attain much more brevity, and directness, than would otherwise be practicable.

These preliminary considerations submitted, in which we have seen that the covenants are not understood ; the causes of that obscurity ; the processes by which their comprehension has been perplexed, and embarrassed ; and the method proposed in their investigation ; I proceed at once, to the execution of my task. All the theories and discussions which they have heretofore elicited, and of which the world is full, 1 shall, learned and ingenious as many of them are, eschew wholly. With the Bible before us, and the Bible only, we shall carefully, and prayerfully pursue our purpose. By this process the prevailing obscurity will vanish. You will be surprised that it ever existed. Not only will you clearly, and fully understand the covenants themselves, but the knowledge of them, will cast over every other part of the divine record, a brightness and beauty, that will fill your heart with surprise, and overwhelming delight. And as you thus see more and more of the goodness, and grace of God, his word will become to your heart increasingly precious.

COVENANT OF WORKS.

Chapter II. The Covenant Of Works

Man as created ; definition of a covenant ; nature of the covenant of works ; blessings of obedience ; penalty of disobedience ; condition as a sinner.

How beautiful is the scene in which man first appears upon the stage of being ! He is the niost exalted emanation of God. Himself clothed in dignity, intelligence, and excellence, he is surrounded on every side by exquisite beauty and loveliness. Balmy breezes, loaded with the fragrance of Eden, fan his bosom. Rich foliage, and flowers of every form and hue, delight his senses. Rivers roll in majesty before him, and rills are at his feet, whose waters dance, and sparkle in the sunlight. The companion of his paradise, is more eu being of heaven than of earth, an embodiment of elegance, and grace, and love ! Angels are their familiar associates. God himself deigns to visit, and cheer them by his presence, and blessing. They are in soul and in body, pure and holy, and, therefore, immortal, and perfectly happy.

Brought into being, and gloriously endowed by the power of God, and for his own holy, and sovereign purposes, our first parents were necessarily created

8 COVENANT OP WORKS.

under the government of appropriate laws, and therefore in covenant with their Maker. No fact is more plain and certain, than that nothing can exist in an)'' department of the universe, whether physical, mental, moral, or spiritual, without an appropriate government by which it may be directed. The laws which governed man have been called, and properly, the covenant of works. But what are we to understand by a covenant? A covenant, I answer, has been defined by Lexicographers, *' A mutual consent, or agreement between two or more parties, to do, or to forbear, some act, or thing ; a contract ; a stipulation ; an appointment ; a testament." This exposition, which refers to its ordinary sense, must not, as you will readily see, he too literally applied to the divine transaction known in the scriptures as a covenant ;* which if you invest with the technicalities of a mere human bargain, you err inevitably. A covenant, as that word occurs in the sacred oracles, describes, in some places, an appointment, or law ; in others a command, or a promise ; and frequently an arrangement, a constitution, a dispensation. But in many instances, as in that of the covenant now to be considered, and in several others hereafter to occupy your attention, the word is not employed at all in connexion with the transaction. The facts in the case alone, determine whether what is done amounts legitimately to a covenant. In its gospel application a covenant is '' A settlement, or an establishment of things, wherein by means of a

COVENANT OF WORKS.

Mediator, God reconciles men to himself, and takes them into a friendly relation as his own peculiar people ; stipulates for them blessings, and privileges, and gives them his laws, and ordinances, as the rule of their obedience, and the means of their intercourse with him." Such I understand to be a covenant in its ordinary sense, and especially in its scriptural acceptation.

Let these expositions now be applied to the events which characterized the creation of man upon the earth. He was we have seen, brought into existence, necessarily under an appropriate government. The law of his being, '* Takes," says Dr. Dwight, **in this case, the name of a covenant, rather than that of a law, (although it has all the nature, and sanctions of a law) because God was pleased to communicate his will to man in the form of a covenant ; a mode gentle, condescending, and highly expressive of the divine benignity."* It is recorded in the divine word, in terms singularly brief, and comprehensive. "Of every tree of the garden," said Jehovah, to him, '' Thou mayest freely eat ; but of the tree of the knowledge of good, and evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.'"! B^^ still more at large: — "God said, let us make man, in our image, after our likeness ; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,

♦ Theology, vol. 1, p. 397. t Gen. ii ; 16, 17.

So God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him; male and female crea* ted he them." ''And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." *' And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress, and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat ; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."*

We here have, in the beginning of the world, distinctly placed before us, as the parties to the covenant, God, and man, the Creator, and the created, the Governor, and the governed. In the covenant itself, brief as it is, we have concentred all those primary, anterior, and eternal principles of truth, righteousness, and justice, which enter necessarily into the nature of the great God, and which must always pervade his government, under whatever dispensation ; we have a full recognition of his authority to govern his intelligent creatures, according to these principles ; and we have a perfect

COVENANT OP WORKS. 11

acknowledgment on the part of man, that in all things he is subject, as a rational and accountable being, to the will and direction of the infinitely wise and benevolent Creator. No part of a covenant therefore, in its proper sense, is wanting. And it is further to be observed that its great principles were not only outwardly proclaimed, they were also written in the consciences of men, as they w^ere upon that of all other intelligences ; and that they necessarily bind them all alike to the throne of Jehovah, ^n them we have plainly the sum of all moral and spiritual government, whether on earth or in heaven ; among men or among angels ; under the law or under the gospel. These exalted principles are indeed not peculiar to the covenant of works. They enter fully, also, into all the other covenants recorded in the divine word. They are the same that were met, honored, and fulfilled on our behalf, by the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.

That the covenant of works is connate with man, and that its principles are by him every where recognised, appear in the traces of it, still discernible in his soul. From this source it is, in part at least, that even the heathen themselves, however dark and ignorant, have some glimmerings of light from heaven, so that an apostle could say — ''These having not the [written] law, are a law unto themselves, who show the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another."* Carried out in its principles, this is the *Rom. ii; 14, 15.

covenant that governs all the relations between man and man, and between man and his Maker. Its substance is love, and it is set forth in both the Old Testament and the New, as descriptive of the state of mind to which all men must return, before we can be fully prepared for heaven and glory. This fact is thus inculcated by our Lord Jesus Christ : — ** Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,'' " and thy neighbors as thyself."* And its sufficiency is declared by his apostle : " Love is the fulfilling of the law.'^f In its nature, it is an exact reflection of the moral perfections of God, and its observance is the highest distinction of which man is capable.

The covenant of works demanded as its conditions, perfect" obedience.

Nor was this in any degree difficult. One test only was instituted, by which that obedience was to be formally expressed ; abstinence from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How simple, and easy, was the observance of the obligation ! How appaling the consequences of its violation ! Compliance however, as is true in regard to all the other laws of God, was not confined exclusively to external action. The state of the heart was of primary consideration. The covenant claimed to govern not the conduct alone, but also, then as now, the powers of the inner man. " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit

♦ Matt, xxii ; 37-40. f Rom. xiii : 10.

and in truth."* ''The whole heart must be in perfect submission, uninterrupted by a single insurgent feeling. A purit}^ of character must be maintained, uncontaminated by a single spot. A zeal and devotion must be preserved, unrelaxing in a single purpose."

The covenant of w^orks was in its nature fitted, and designed to give, and did give uninterrupted happiness, as long as its requisitions were observed. This is true throughout the whole moral universe of God. I have before intimated that man is not the only being under its government. It is the law of angels themselves. To their nature, no less than to man's while in a state of holiness, it is perfectly adapted. Those of them who "have kept their first estate," are conformed perfectly to all its demands. They meet, and satisfy them fully by love ; fervent love to God, and to all their celestial associates. Heaven is pervaded consequently wath the unbroken harmonies of love. And how unspeakably happy ! O, who can estimate the joy, deep, calm, overwhelming, that fills angelic bosoms ! Nor was man originally, and during the whole period of his holiness, less happy. Who can adequately conceive of half his joys ? Whence all this pure, this unmingled delight ? It arose exclusively, as a perennial fountain, from the,covenant of works. '' The man," said Paul, " that doeth these things^ shall live by them."t His bliss is unfading. Happiness embraces every ultimate good. Perfect happiness, is

♦ John iv : 24. t Rom. x : 6.

14 COVENANT OP WORKS.

perfect good. God intended man, and all his creatures, to be thus happy. To gain this end was the purpose of the covenant. To all the obedient it. was, and ever must be, complete in its results.

The penalty of a violation of the covenant of works, next demands our attention.

All its blessings instantly cease. Transgression turns them all aside, and converts them into so many fountains of wretchedness and woe ! And man, alas, became a transgressor, and incurred the penalty. The manner of this transgression is thus narrated in the sacred record : — " Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field, w^hich the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman ; Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? And the woman said unto the serpent ; We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said ; Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman ; Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one. wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."* The deed was done ! The tempter triumphed. All was lost. The

*Gen. iii:l-6.

obligations of the covenant, and its curses alone remained. **By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin."* Miserable and hopeless beings ! How can they escape? The covenant provides no Mediator, nor any other method of restoration to the purity w^hich is now lost. Between the blessing of obedience, and the curse of disobedience, there is no middle ground. ** The soul thrit sinneth, it shall die."t Nor does this inevitable result arise from a mere arbitrary decision on the part of God, but from the very nature of that justice, and holiness, and truth, without which the moral world would be but a horrid mass of confusion and destruction. The law of gravitation for example, is essential to the existence of the physical universe. Remove this law, and all the " fair fabric" we behold, would be instantly dissolved. Place yourself in opposition to this law% in itself so wdse and benevolent, and you arc in a moment crushed and destroyed by its force. So as to the laws of health. Obey them and all is well. Habitually violate them, and you destroy your life. Thus the covenant secured to our first parents, while obeyed, holiness, and happiness, and life. Transgressed, it overwhelmed them in guilt, and misery, and death.

We have now seen the covenant of works, in its nature, in its demands, in its blessings, and in its penalty. Let us, in conclusion, contemplate it in relation to man as a sinner.

The violation of the covenant did not cancel his

* Rom. V : 11. t Ezekiel xrii : 4.

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obligations still to obey all its requirements. Whatever disabilities may have been incurred by the transgression, and especially by the consequent depravity of human nature, our relations to the law were not thereby changed. Are those who transgress the laws of our country thereby absolved from the penalty denounced against future obedience ? Surely not. Are the loss of the inclination, and even the ability, when it is a consequence of previous sin, a sufficient apology for not complying with the demands of justice, and truth, to the utmost practicable extent ? A drunkard may have no wish, and he may have lost much of his power, to keep sober. Is it, therefore, no sin for him to be drunken ? No such principle obtains in any equitable human government. Nor does it in the government of God.* Embracing, as we have seen, in its nature, all those principles which constitute holiness, justice, and truth, this covenant remained not only unimpaired in its claims, by its primitive transgression, but continues in every age in full force. You are, therefore, to-day, as much obliged to be conformed to its injunctions as were our first parents before the fall. You do not obey them. Therefore, you, also are a sinner, and justly condemned before God.

You inherit the condition of our first parents in other respects also, and especially in their exposure to misery and death, spiritual, temporal, and eternal. The covenant, while observed, guarded

II their holiness, their happiness, and their life. By its violation, that guard was removed, and all was lost. They stood before God, guilty and ruined! And so, for any thing man can do, they, and their posterity must stand forever. It is a characteristic inherent in the very nature of justice, that once a man is an offender, he can never afterwards be by the same law, pronounced innocent of crime. He may have been pure up to that hour; he may be pure ever after ; he may weep perpetual tears of penitence over his crime; but he is an offender still, and if justice is permitted to speak, she will pronounce him guiltj'. This is true of human laws; and how much more of the laws of God ! Such was the condition of man, M'hen he had violated the covenant of works. Our first parents had sinned. They w^ere cursed. Penitence for their crime could not change the fact. No subsequent good action could expiate their guilt. What hope had they ? The covenant, the only law of w^hich they had any knowledge, could not save them, because it contained no provisions for pardon ; because it was a faithful reflection of God's own holy character, and must be enforced ; and because with sin came depravity, for the removal of which it provided no method. What blessing could this violated covenant now confer ? It could only repeat perpetually, and it ever continues to repeat, guilty ; ffuilty ; guilty ! In this attitude did they stand before God ; and thus out of Christ, do we all stand before God ; criminal, and helpless, and lost !

Chapter III, The Covenant Of Eden

The announcement of the seed of the woman a promise of Christ ; this promise was a covenant ; character and work of Messiah declared , further explained by sacrifices ; influence of this covenant upon the faith, and piety of the patriarchs ; lessons taught by this covenant.

The first announcement of a Deliverer for man, from the horrible position in which sin had placed him, w^as made in Eden, immediately after the fall, by God himself. It was addressed, in the presence of our first parents, to the malicious tempter. *' I will put enmity,'' said he, *' between thee, and the woman ; and between thy seed, and her seed. It shall bruise thy head ; and thou shalt bruise his heel."* May this declaration be accounted, and received, in any proper and correct sense, as a covenant ? Why I ask, may it not ? It was a stipulation, a promise, a declaration ojf the divine purpose, an appointment. Particularly, was it not "A settlement, or an establishment of things, wherein by means of a Mediator, God designed to reconcile men, and take them into a friendly relation with himself?" If the definition of a word may be properly substituted for the word itself, and that it may, no one will dispute, then is it shown by the exposition of the former chapter, that this announcement is unquestionably a covenant in the highest sense of that term. It contained within itself, a promise of Messiah, with a declaration as to the humanity of his nature, and as to the manner in which having his own heel, or humanity bruised, but at the same time, bruising the head, or overthrowing the power of Satan, he would achieve the redemption of men. That our first parents, and all the primitive saints fully so understood it, there can reasonably' be no doubt. That your mind may be still more deeply impressed with these facts, let the whole passage in which this covenant occurs, be repeated. Speaking of our first parents, Moses says ; — ** They heard the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam, and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said, Where art thou ? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, [ashamed] because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said, Wh© told thee that thou wast naked ? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat ? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman. What is this that thou hast done ? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord said unto the serpent,

Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put evmity between thee^ and the woman ; and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head ; and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception ; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband ; and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalr> thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles, shall it bring forth unto thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."*