We have already seen, how that Christ became the Mediator of the covenant, both substantial and official; and have observed, that his official mediation runs through the whole of the covenant; and we have taken notice of a threefold relation of his unto it, namely, his being 1. The Kinsman-redeemer in it; 2. The Surety of it; and, 3. The Priest, the sacrificing priest, of it; the which parts of his mediation, respecting the condition of the covenant, do belong to the making of it. We shall now consider his other relations thereto, bearing those parts of his mediation, which, respecting the promises of the covenant, do belong to the administration of it. And they are these five. 1. He is the Trustee of the covenant; 2. The Testator of the covenant: 3. The Prophet of the covenant; 4. The King of the covenant; and 5. The Intercessor of the covenant: each of which is a syllable of the name above every name, given him of the Father, as the reward of his work. And in viewing these in order, the nature of the administration of the covenant will plainly appear.

I. CHRIST THE TRUSTEE OF THE COVENANT.

Our Lord Jesus as administrator, is, in the first place, the Trustee of the covenant; having the covenant, and all the benefits thereof, committed to his trust: Col. i. 19, " For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." This greatest of all trusts, too great for any mere man or angel, our blessed Redeemer was perfectly qualified for; and so was set over the house of God, the most precious things thereof being put under his hand. What is sealed up from the highest angel, he hath access to; he is trusted to loose the seals, for he is worthy, Rev. v. 2-5. A holy jealous God put no trust in his servants, and his angels he charged with folly for they were fallible; there was a possibility of their betraying their trust, Job iv. 18. But it pleased him to trust the blessed Jesus, that in him, as an infallible administrator, all fulness should dwell.

This high trust was a necessary prerequisite of the administration and therefore, upon his engagement to fulfil the condition of the covenant, reputed in heaven as sure as if it had been actually performed, all the benefits of the covenant were not only made over to him in point of right, but were delivered over into his hand in actual possession, that he might dispense them to sinners, according to the method therein stated and agreed upon: John iii. 35, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." Matth. xi. 27, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father." Ver. 28," Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest." Hence it was that he entered upon the administration of the covenant, long before his incarnation; even as soon as there was any place for the administering thereof, which was in paradise after the fall: though the solemnity of his investiture and taking possession, was reserved unto his ascension into heaven, when the man Christ was set at God's right hand, Gen. iii. 8, 15; with Psalin lxviii. 18; Eph. i. 20—22.

Thus the fulness of the covenant is in him: and this trust makes the unsearchable riches of Christ, not to be particularly inventoried by us, since they are unsearchable. But, agreeable to what hath been said before, we shall, for opening thereof, mark the following things:

1. The unseen guard of the covenant is under his hand. There is given unto him all power over natural and spiritual things, to manage the same for the preservation, protection, and restraint of those sometime to be brought into the covenant; while yet they are strangers from it, and neither perceive the guard about them, nor the commander thereof: John v. 22, "The Father-hath committed all judgment unto the Son." Hos. xi. 3, "I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them." Sometimes they are, during their state of blindness, in eminent hazard of their lives, and narrowly escape, before the stream of strong temptations threatening to carry them quite away; and yet the force of these is broken one way or other, and they brought back from the very brink of ruin; and they never truly know, whose debtors they are for these things, nor see the love-design ia them, until converting grace has reached them; and then they hear the captain of that guard saying to them, as he said to Cyrus, Isa. xlv. 5, "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." So the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire, for the defence of Elisha and his servant; while yet the servant saw none for them, but against them, until the Lord opened his eyes, 2 Kings vi. 17.

2. The quickening Spirit of the covenant is in him, whereby to quicken dead sinners, and cause them to live. The Spirit of life behoved to be purchased for sinners, otherwise there was no life for them. Now, the fulness thereof is purchased, and actually lodged in the Mediator, according to the covenant. Hence Christ proposeth himself to dead Sardis, as having the seven spirits of God, Rev. iii. 1; and saith to the Jews, John v. 25, "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God;" that is, dead souls shall be quickened, and being quickened, shall believe. The first Adam being made a living soul, was capable to communicate natural life; but not being made a quickening spirit, he could not restore life once lost but

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the last Adam was made a quickening spirit, to restore spiritual life to sinners dead in trespasses and sins. So, in Christ as the Trustee

of the covenant, is the fountain of life. Adam's sin put out the lights of the whole world; and his natural offspring were all left by him as so many blind candles: but the second Adam is made, and set up, a flaming lamp to light them again; and as many of them as it toucheth, do instantly flame too: and could they all but touch it, and none are forbidden, they should all be lighted again, and shine with the light of spiritual life, partaking of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

3. The righteousness of the covenant is in him, whereby to justify the ungodly that have no righteousness of their own. Hence his name is, "The Lord our righteousness," Jer. xxiii. 6. Righteousness of man before the Lord was quite worn out: there was nothing of that kind left upon any of Adam's children, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one," Rom. iii. 10. But Jesus Christ having, in his birth, life, and death, wrought out the righteousness of the new covenant, brought it in, and presented it unto his Father, Dan. ix. 24, with Lev. xvi. 15. And it was sustained and accepted as the new-covenant righteousness, for justifying all that believe; and was lodged with the worker thereof, intrusted with it as Administrator of the covenant. Hence he is said to be made unto us righteousness, 1 Cor. i. 30, namely, by a divine constitution, even as he was made the covenant. And intimation hereof is made unto sinners in the gospel, for a ground of faith, Isa. xlv. 24, "Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness," Heb. Only in the Lord (concerning me he hath said) is righteousness. They are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, narrating the divine constitution concerning himself. Compare ver. 23; with Rom. xlv. 10, 11. Wherefore, the gospel is called the ministration of righteousness, 2 Cor. iii. 9; and his. ministers, ministers of righteousness, chap. xi. 15; he being intrusted with the new covenant righteousness, for to administer it to sinners, unto justification of life, as the phrase is, Rom. v. 18.

4. The new covenant right to God is in his person as Mediator: and he is actually possessed of the fulness of the Godhead, as he is administrator of the covenant, to communicate of that fulness to all that shall believe, Col. ii. 9, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Ver. 10, "And ye are complete in him, which is the head." Our Lord Jesus, as the eternal Son of God, had a natural indefeasible right to the fulness of the Godhead: but as the second Adam, he took out a new right thereto, purchasing the same by his obedience and death; and as such, it is now lodged

with him, to be communicated by him. And thus the peace of the covenant, peace with God, is in him, Eph. ii. 14; the sonship of the covenant, the adoption into the family of God, is in him as the firstborn among many brethren, Psalm lxxxix. 27; with John i. 12; the covenant interest in God as one's own God, is in him, John xx. 17. And to obtain all these in one, let the sinner but receive Christ by faith, and he hath them; for they are all under his hand as trustee of the covenant, yea, in him as the storehouse of the covenant.

5. The covenant fulness of the Spirit of sanctification is in him, whereby to make sinners holy: Col. i. 19, "It pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." John i. 16, “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." Having purchased the same with his own blood, it is lodged in him as administrator of the covenant, in respect of which he is said to be made unto us sanetification, 1 Cor. i. 30. Therefore out of his pierced side came there forth blood and water; blood to remove the guilt of sin, water to wash away the defilement thereof. So he is the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness: not a vessel of that water of purification, which, how full soever, would lack as much as it should communicate; but a fountain, a living spring of it, to supply the needs of the unclean, without any lack in itself: "For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him," John iii. 34. Wherefore there is in him such a fulness of the Spirit of holiness, as is, by the infinite efficacy thereof sufficient to sanctify the whole family of Adam, and even the worst of them. There is a fulness of all grace in him, to be communicated for the repairing of the lost image of God in us. There is grace enough in him to melt the hardest heart into evangelical repentance, Acts v. 31, to mortify the strongest lusts, Gal. v. 24, and to quicken, and to strengthen unto holy obedience, 2 Tim. ii. 1.

6. The establishing grace of the covenant is in him, whereby to cause the most fickle and inconstant, once in him, to persevere unto the end Jude, ver. 1, "Them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ." He is constituted the head of influences for all his mystical members, which are to have their nourishment ministered from him, Col. ii. 19. The giving out of continued pardons, necessary for them in this their state of imperfection, is also in his hand, as the Trustee of the covenant, "exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and forgiveness of sins," Acts v. 31. Thus he is fully furnished for preserving them in a state of grace, having a fulness of grace in himself to communicate unto them, suitable to all their exigencies, whether in respect of the power, or of the guilt of their sin.

7. The temporal things of the covenant are all in his hand, whereby to provide for, and afford protection to his people, during their continuance in this world. In the covenant there was made to him a promise of his inheriting all things, as the first-born of the family of Heaven; and in his person as the last Adam, the ancient dominion over the creatures was restored, as we heard before. Now, as he is the Trustee of the covenant, the heritage of the world, and all things therein, is actually delivered over into his hand: so that he is not only Lord of the world in point of right, but in fact; having the power of all therein, from the smallest rag for covering of nakedness, even to the crowns and sceptres. This he himself witnesseth, Matt. xxviii. 18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Chap. xi. 27, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father." Hence to encourage his impoverished people in their building of the second temple, he saith, Hag. ii. 8, "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," namely, to give them to whom I will. And that these are Christ's words, appears from ver. 6, compared with Heb. xii. 26. Accordingly, from Psalm xxiv. 1, "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," the apostle clears believers' right to the creatures, 1 Cor. x. 25, 26. And thus he is fully furnished for affording all manner of provision to his people, in temporal things: and all protection from whatever dangers they can be in while here. The sun, moon, and stars, the earth, sea, and air, with all that in them is, are under his hand as the Trustee of the covenant; and he can dispose of them all for the ends of the covenant, as the glory of God and the welfare of his people do require.

8. The covenant-fulness of power over death and the grave is in his hand, whereby to disarm death of its sting, and bring about a glorious resurrection. "I," saith he, "have the keys of hell and of death," Rev. i. 18. Death goes through the world as a mighty conqueror, whom none is able to resist; the grave follows, and none can keep back its prey, nor cause it to give it up again. But the Mediator hath an effectual check upon them both. They are not absolute potentates, as mighty as they are: there is one above them, to whose orders they must precisely stick. Death may indeed enter in within the boundaries of the covenant, and carry off the covenant-people as well as others: but at the border it must drop its sting, and enter without it; for the power of death is now in Christ's hand, and he will not suffer it to enter there with it. And the time cometh wherein he will say to the grave, Give up: and then the bars thereof will be broken asunder, the gates thereof fly open, and it will deliver up to him its lodgers; for he is intrusted as administrator of the covenant, with full power over death and the grave.