he be thus the mediator of this covenant now, he must have always been so, even from the fall, upon which it commenced, to his ascension into heaven; otherwise the new covenant, upon which he now mediates, must have been four thousand years without a mediator; which, considering the whole state and condition of it, can by no means be allowed: for besides that the fall of man was the reason why God withdrew himself from all immediate converse with him, and that therefore it is reasonably to be presumed, that whatsoever converse he had with him afterwards, it was through a mediator; there is nothing more evident from scripture, than that this very covenant, which is the standing medium of God's converse and intercourse with men, was granted to us by God in consideration of Christ's death and sacrifice. Since therefore it was granted long before Christ died, even from the fall of Adam, it must be granted upon Christ's obliging and engaging himself to the Father to die for us in the fulness of time; which engagement of his was virtually and in effect an offering up himself a sacrifice for us; God being as much secured of it upon his engagement, as if he had actually performed it. Upon which account he is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. xiii. 8. because upon his obliging himself to die for us, which was immediately after the fall, the event became as certain and infallible, as if in that very moment he had breathed out his soul upon the cross. And accordingly God proceeded on it as on a sure and certain fund, and in consideration of it, granted the new covenant to the world. Hence the apostle tells us, that it was by means of his death that there was redemption for the transgressions

that were under the first covenant, Heb. ix. 15. Since therefore it was in consideration of Christ's future sacrifice that God first granted this covenant to men, it necessarily follows, that upon the same consideration he at the same time appointed Christ to be the mediator of it; because, as I shewed before, he is mediator in the right and virtue of his sacrifice, by which he obtained it; and therefore, since his sacrifice had the same virtue in it when it was future, as it has now when it is past, he had the same right to be mediator of it then, as he hath now. In short, Christ's sacrifice was as certain in God's account, and therefore as prevalent with him, before, as after it was offered; and therefore, since his mediatorship of the new covenant is wholly owing to the prevalence of his sacrifice, there was the same reason why God should admit him to be mediator of it before it was offered, as after; and accordingly, long before he offered up his sacrifice, he is called the angel or minister of the covenant, Mal. iii. 1. And St. Paul expressly tells us, that four hundred and thirty years before the law of Moses this covenant was confirmed of God to Abraham in Christ, Gal. iii. 17. and if it was then confirmed in Christ, it is certain that then Christ was the mediator of it.

Fourthly, Christ's being always mediator of this covenant, necessarily implies his having been always king, under God, of all that ever were admitted into it, and particularly of the people of Israel; because his kingly office is so necessary and essential a part of his mediatorship, that he cannot be properly a mediator without it. For to mediate, as he doth, between God and men, is to act authoritatively for

and in the behalf of both parties; so that if he act only for one, he cannot be truly said to be a mediator between both; but in his acting authoritatively for God consists his royalty, or kingly office, as you may see, p. 231, 232. and if his mediatorial office necessarily includes a kingly power, to be sure that power must extend to all that ever were admitted into the covenant upon which he mediates. For how can any man be admitted into that covenant, of which he is the authorized mediator, without being subject to all the authority which his mediatorship necessarily implies?

Hence therefore it follows, that Christ hath been always king of the church of God, or confederate society of the true worshippers of him, in all ages of the world. For thus in the old world St. Peter tells us, 1 Pet. iii. 19. that by that very Spirit whereby Christ rose from the dead, he went and preached to the spirits in prison; i. e. by Noah, who, by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was a preacher or herald of righteousness, Christ preached to the spirits or souls of men, whilst they were yet shut up in and united to their bodies, long before that general separation of their souls from their bodies, which was made by the flood; vid. Dr. Hammond in loc. At this time, I say, whilst they were yet alive, Christ preached to them, to warn them of that general destruction which was pursuing them, and would ere long overtake them, unless they speedily repented: which shews that, long before the flood, Christ acted as a king, in issuing out by his heralds, in his royal proclamations to men, to declare his will and pleasure to them, and warn them of the fatal consequence of their disobedience to it.

Soon after the flood, mankind almost universally apostatized from God to idolatry; so that the church, or society of the true worshippers of him, was quickly reduced into a very narrow compass; so that four hundred years after, it seems very probable, that Melchizedek was the only king in the world who was not an idolater. And now God seeing his church almost totally extinguished by this general defection of mankind from his covenant, to recover and repair it, he calls Abraham out of his idolatry and idolatrous country, and with him and his posterity renews the new covenant, which the rest of mankind had renounced and deserted; and to secure them from ever revolting from it, he seals and ratifies it with them by a sign in their flesh, viz. that of circumcision, which he gave them as a mark to distinguish and preserve them distinct from the idolatrous nations round about them. And when afterwards the posterity of Abraham was multiplied in Egypt into a numerous nation, and this rite of circumcision being by Ishmael and Esau derived to their posterity, and so made common to other nations with Israel; God, to renew this distinction, gives them the ceremonial law upon their coming out of Egypt; one great design of which, even as that of circumcision, was to diversify them from their neighbouring idolaters by contrary rites and observances. And hence the Mosaic law is called by the apostle a middle wall of partition, Eph. ii. 14. alluding to that middle wall in the temple, which divided the court of the Jews from the court of the Gentiles, or Gentile proselytes of the gate, who, because they were not circumcised, were counted unclean, and upon that account divided from the cir

cumcised by a wall of stone of three cubits high; and a little after, verse 15. he calls this law the enmity between the Jews and Gentiles, because one great design of it was to divide and separate the Jews from the Gentiles, and thereby to secure them from revolting from the new covenant, by mingling and confounding themselves with idolaters. By which means the new covenant became in a manner appropriate to Israel, none being allowed admission into it, but only such as freely submitted themselves to the distinguishing laws of that communion, by which they were separated from all other nations. Hence the apostle tells us, that to them pertained the covenants, Rom. ix. 4. i. e. the new covenant itself, together with circumcision, the seal of it, which is also called a covenant. And the same apostle puts together, being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, as inseparable concomitants, Eph. ii. 12. And hence it is that they are styled God's peculiar people, Deut. xiv. 2. and his peculiar treasure, Psalm cxxxv. 4. because by this covenant which passed between God and them, they were separated to God from all other nations; and upon the same account also they are called the Lord's portion, and the lot of his inheritance, Deut. xxxii. 9. The new covenant therefore being thus particularly confined to the people of Israel, whilst it continued so, Christ, who was always the mediator of it, must be particularly the mediatorial head and king, that under the most high God and Father ruled and governed that church and people. But because upon the truth of this assertion this whole argument depends, I shall