9. Lastly, The eternal consummate happiness of the covenant is in his hand, whereby to render the souls of his people happy immediately after death, and then soul and body together happy at the last day for all power in heaven is given him. The Father hath made him the great repository of eternal life, the fountain from whence it shall stream forth to all the heirs of life; and the dispensing of it is intrusted to him: 1 John v. 11, "God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son." John xvii. 2, " As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." Wherefore his dying people do in faith commit their souls to him, as Stephen, Acts vii. 59, "Saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And at the last day he pronounceth the sentence, and solemnly receives them into the kingdom of heaven, Matth. xxv. 34. And thus Christ is the Trustee of the covenant. II. CHRIST THE TESTATOR OF THE COVENANT. In the next place, our Lord Jesus is the Testator of the covenant, as the apostle teacheth, Heb. ix. 15-17. By the conditionary part of the covenant, God had a compensation of the wrong done to his glory by sinners: and by the promissory part, Christ had unsearchable riches to communicate unto them, whereby they might be made happy, and being to die in the cause, according to his covenant, he timely made his testament, as a deed of conveyance thereof unto them; turning the promissory part of the covenant respecting lost sinners, into a testament in their favour, 1 Cor. xi. 25, “ This cup is the new testament in my blood." Hence it appears, that this belongs to the administration of the covenant, committed unto him, for making sinners partakers of the covenant-benefits; yea, and that it is the first and fundamental act of that his administration, laid as a foundation of all the other acts thereof, which are but so many means of executing the testament. Upon the Mediator's undertaking to fulfil the condition of the covenant, the Father made to him a disposition of the covenant-benefits contained in the promissory part: and the benefits so disponed, were actually delivered over into his hand, as the appointed trustee of the covenant, as we have already seen. Now, he having them all thus in his hand, hath made a disposition of them to poor sinners, by way of testament, Luke xxii. 29, "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." Or, "and I dispone to you, as my Father disponed to me, a kingdom." The word here used, signifies to dispone; and hath in it the notion of a : federal or covenant disposition, and a testamentary disposition too. Of the former sort was the disposition made by the Father to Christ, namely, a federal disposition; as being made on a most onerous cause, a condition properly so called, to wit, his making his soul an offering for sin and it can by no means be a testamentary disposition, since "where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator," Heb. ix. 16; the which, it is evident, could have no place in the case of the Father. Of the latter sort is the disposition made by Jesus Christ to sinners, namely, a testamentary disposition, which, of its own nature, is a deed or conveyance of grace and liberality, without conditions properly so called: and forasmuch as sinners were under an utter disability to perform conditions properly so called, it was therefore necessary for their behoof, to make it a testamentary disposition or testament. For clearing of the nature of this testament, which is of so great importance for all to know, who have any concern for their salvation, we shall consider, 1. The making thereof; 2. The legatees; 3. The executor; and, 4. The legacies. First, As to the making of Christ's testament, it is first of all to be observed, that though the covenant was indeed from eternity, the testament was not so. For Christ made his testament as administrator of the covenant; which administration he did not enter upon but in time. He was from eternity the trustee of the covenant, which grand trust was a necessary prerequisite of his administration yet forasmuch as his commencing testator of the covenant was an act of his administration thereof, there could be no place for it until there was place for administering the covenant, which there was not, till once the covenant of works was broken. And hereto best agreeth the nature of a testament, which is not simply a will, but a will declared, testified, and signified by word or writ, or some one or other external sign pleadable by the legatees, in order to their obtaining of the legacies bequeathed. Christ's testament, which for substance is but one, is yet twofold, in respect of different circumstances wherewith it hath been vested; namely, the old or first testament, and the new testament, 2 Cor. iii. 14; Heb. ix. 15. Christ's old testament is the declaration of the last will of our dying Saviour, touching his unsearchable riches, confirmed by slain sacrifices of divine institution, sealed with the seals of circumcision and the passover, and enduring in the church till the fulness of time, and the manifestation of himself to Israel in the flesh, Heb. ix. 20; Rom. iv. 11; 1 Cor. v. 7; Luke xvi. 16. This his testament was originally made by word of mouth; which kind of testament is called VOL. VIII. 2 L a nuncupative testament: but it was afterwards committed to writing; so that there was not only a word of the testament to be heard, but a book of the testament to be read, by the legatees, Heb. ix. 19, 20. And so we have it a written testament, in that part of the holy scripture called by the name of the Old Testament. Christ's new testament is the declaration of the same last will of our dying Saviour, touching his unsearchable riches, confirmed by his own death on the cross, sealed with the seals of baptism and the Lord's supper, and to continue for evermore, 1 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25; Matth. xxviii. 19; Heb. vii. 12, 16, 17. This also was originally made by word of mouth, in the time of his public ministry, wherein he declared his will anent the great salvation, which, as the apostle observes, at first began to be spoken by the Lord, Heb. ii. 3. And it was in like manner afterwards committed to writing: and we have it too a written testament, in that part of the holy scripture called by the name of the New Testament. If we look for the original date of Christ's old or first testament, we find his testament to be of a date as early as the nature of the thing could bear, being made in paradise, on the day of Adam's fall, in the cool of the day, Gen. iii. 8, otherwise called the time between the two evenings, Exod. xii. 6, that is between three and six o'clock in the afternoon. At the which time, our Lord Jesus did, in the promise of the seed of the woman to bruse the head of the serpent, which should bruise his heel, Gen. iii. 15, signify his death, and declare his will for the benefits of his purchase their accruing to sinners thereby. And that day I judge to have been the sixth day of the creation, the same day wherein man was created; reckoning that the scripture teacheth, that Adam lodged not one night in honour, as some do, agreeable to the original, read Psalm xlix. 12. They who cannot think that the events recorded from Gen. iii. 7, to the end of the third chapter, were crowded within the compass of one day, may weigh therewith the events relating to the death of Christ, which are recorded Luke xxii. 66, to the end chap. xxiii. 1.-33; John xix. 1; Matth. xxvii. 27, 28; John xix. 2, 5, 9-15; Matth. xxvii. 24. All which things were done in the space of half a day for Christ was crucified about twelve of the clock, Luke xxxiii. 44-46. : Some, through an unwillingness to think of their death, do put off the making of their testaments unto a death-bed: but so very willing was Christ, the second Adam, to die for us, that he set his house in order, and so prepared himself for death, that very day wherein the first Adam fell. The business of the great King, and the business of the ruined world of mankind, required haste. The whole fabric of the world was by Adam's fall so unhinged, that it was hastening to a total dissolution, and mankind about to perish in the ruins ; till the second Adam went, in, and bore up the pillars thereof, in virtue of his death to establish the earth again, Is. xlix. 8. Wherefore in paradise he made his testament in a few words, containing a disposition of the benefits of the covenant, in favour of poor sinners, Gen. iii. 15, and typically went in under that weight of wrath, which was pressing down all: and so he established the earth again. In this form it was, that they of the first ages of the world had the testament. But it was repeated and renewed to Abraham, to whom the promises were made, Gal. iii. 16, comprehended under the name of the covenants or testaments of promise, Eph. ii. 12. As also to Israel in the wilderness, whom Moses sprinkled with blood, "saying, This is the blood of the testament," Heb. ix. 19, 20. And this was Christ's old testament, upon which all that believed, from Adam to Christ, built their faith, and hope of obtaining the legacies left therein; though it was upwards of four thousand years, from the first making of the testament, unto the death of the Testator, by which the new testament was confirmed. Now, the apostle saith that, "a testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the testator liveth," Heb. ix. 7. Was Christ's testament then of no force all that time? Yea, it was of force; and that by means of a pre-confirmation, being confirmed before, Gal. iii. 17. The confirmation of a testament, in the sense of the holy scripture, is by the death of testator; as the apostle, in the forecited text, teacheth the Hebrews. And in scripture-reckoning, there was a twofold death of the Testator here one typical, another real. In respect of the former of these Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. xiii. 8, having died typically in the sacrifices then offered, Gen. iii. 21, and thereafter all along under the Old Testament. And by that death of the Testator was the pre-confirmation of the testament: so that from the day it was first made, it was of force, for the legatees obtaining the legacies therein bequeathed; forasmuch as it was then also confirmed. Wherefore the apostle observes, that, in full consistency with that known maxim anent testaments, Heb. ix. 17, above-cited," Neither the first testament was dedicated without blood," ver. 18. What the apostle means by the dedication of the testament, will be plain, if it is considered that what our version of the Bible calls dedication, is, in the scripture-use of words so rendered therein, nothing else but an entering on, or a first, or new using of a person or thing, to what they were designed for insomuch that the very dedication of the temple was no more but that, : as appears by comparing 2 Chron. v. 13; chap. vi. and vii. 1, with 4. 5. Wherefore by the dedication of the testament, must be meant the legatees beginning to claim and obtain their legacies, upon the testament. And this, the apostle saith, was not done without the testament's being confirmed by blood, or death: the which, though really the blood or death of beasts sacrificed; yet, according to the apostle's reasoning, were reckoned the blood or death of the Testator, they being sacrificed as types of him. And hence it appears, that whatever have been the different circumstances where with the testament in different periods hath been vested; the Old and New Testament, nuncupative and written, are for substance but the one testament of Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, Heb. xiii. 8, having the same force and effect for full remission of sin and eternal salvation, legacies claimed and obtained by faith, in virtue of the testament, Acts xv. 11; Rom. iv. 13: only, what was first declared by word of mouth, the same was thereafter written. The legacies at first bequeathed in general comprehensive terms, were afterward particularly nominated and in the New Testament they are more clearly expressed than in the Old. The former was a copy of the testament, fitted for the times before the testator really died: the latter, fitted for all times thereafter, to the end of the world; and therefore no other copy is to be accepted after it. Secondly, It is to be inquired, Who are the legatees, the parties in whose favour the testament was made, and who may, in the method of the testament, claim and obtain the legacies therein bequeathed? Christ's making his testament, being the fundamental act of his administration of the covenant, as we have already seen; the legatees in the testament must needs be the same as the objects of his administration of the covenant, that is to say, sinners of mankind indefinitely for if Christ is authorized by the Father to administer the covenant to sinners indefinitely, and hath accordingly made his testament for that effect; surely none can be excepted out of the. testament, that are not excepted out of his administration. Therefore the apostle lays down, for the foundation of faith, to those who had even imbrued their hands in the blood of the Lord of glory, their interest in the promise, Acts ii. 39, "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 shall call." To whomsoever then the gospel comes, we may warrantably say the promise is to you, and to you, and every one of you; even the promise of the testament and ye have access to claim it by faith, as your own legacy, your own mercy, Jon. ii. 8. And all the arguments adduced on the head of |