to tbe E P H E S I A N S. 1 • By means of this our virtual or noprcfentativ~ fubfif\ing or being lookt at ~ as in Clirif\, and as one with him, m and from Gods firft chooling us; by means Serm. V. of this God could then from everlai!mg make a Covenant of Grace, and alfo ..__,....v---...J make that Covenant fure unto us. 11 Covenant (we know) IS an agreement between two parties upon Terms. Now we then norex1flmg m our lingle felves, though God might have took up a purpofe to do this or that for us, and 1n us; yet it could not be called a Covenant, unlefs we were fame way extant beiore him;and rhe Covenant ofGra~e 01ould otherwifc not have been a Covenant until mend d believe. To help this there lore, God chofeus 10 Chnft, and he repre• fented us, ftanding before God in our fl~ad, and offenng to undertal<e to work m us all the Terms that God lhould reqUire on our part; as th1s here, To be holy before him i11 tove,f!!c. And fo a Covenant was as truly !\ruck between God and Us, through Chrifl's reprefenting us, as the Covenant of Works was be· rwcen God and Us, as confidercd in /ldtlm. And hence it is, That Chrif\ (by the Prophet l{iliab) is calledOur Cove11a11t. . . 2 • Hence likewife Secondly it comes to pafs, that God might upon th1s Cove· nant then ~ive and bof\ow upon us all Sp!Titual bleffings (as we were thus con– lidered in Chrift.) Had God chofen us m our felves only, and apart, then mdeed he might have purpofed them all unto us; but could nothave been fa1d, as then, to have ~ivm 1hem unto us, or to have bi~[Jed us wah them as then. But whenas through Chrif\ h1s actual undertaking this Relation as thm unto us, that we came to be conftdered in him as a Common Perfon, God might in him blefs us with all thefe Spiritual ble!Tings, (in the fenfe before given:) even as Adrtmwas created a Common Perfon, and fo we conftdcred virtually and repre· fentativel y in him; God might, and did blefs us with all Earthly ble!Tings in him (as we before obferved.) God did purpofe them unto /!dam and Us, afore, by a bare Dterce ; but could not have been faid to blefs us with them, unlefs he who fhould reprefent us was himfelf exif\e~t; (and fo we virtually and repre· fentanvely m him,) wh1c11 was not unt1l h1s creat1on: I fpeak of /ldtlm. But now the So1t of God, then actually exifting, did voluntarily and ~y God's ap· pointment Perfonat~ us, that thereby all Ble!Tings, an? the Prom1fes of them, might be virtually gtven us, by being then given to h1m for us; as that Phrafe , 2 Tim. z. 9.imports, [The grace that WflS gzvm us itt Chrij/ .'1efiu before the world /;egmt. Even as a Grandfather may give a Portion to his Sons Child yet unborn, by giving it to his Son whom he makes his Heir and Executor; he per· fonall y fubfi!\ing before, and his Child in him. ~·The Third Advantage is, That hereby our Salvation had a fure foundation given it in Eleltion; not only in God's eternal love and purpofe, (but the foun. datio11 of the L ord remai11s Jitre, he k11ows who flrt his:) but further a!fo, This his firft choice of us was ajou11dittgus on Chrift, and in and together with choofing us, a fetting us into him, fo as.then to be reprefented.by him: So that now we are to run the fame fortune (1f I may fo {peak) With Chnfl: himfelf for ever : Our Perfons being made myf\ically one with his, and he a Common Pcrfon to us in Eleltion, as /ldtJmwas in his creation. Other men, (as likewife the Angels that fell) were ordained td be ilt them(elves, to !\and or fall by them• felves; but we were by a choice act of God's, cull'd out of the lump, and chofen in Chrifl, and not in our felves apart. Hence they the other mentioned fiood upon their own bottom, and in a ftngle and naked relation unto God : and fo God dealing with them but as meer fingle creatures, according to that Law that pa!Teth between the Creator and the ftngle Creatures they fell and perilhed. But we were confidered in Chrif\ from the firft, and the;efore though we fall, we !hall rife again in him and by him; for he is a Common Perfon for us, and to !land for us, and is for ever to look.to us, to bring us to all that God ordained us unto; and fo this Foundation remams fure. We are chofen in Chrift, and there– fore are in a~ fure a co~dition (as for final perilhing) as Chrift himfel£ 4· There IS a Fourth end orfubferviency of it,That God looking on us thus re~ pref~nted in Chrift, and bearing that relation to him, and he to us; God and Chnfi together might from that time delight in us, as y'ou have it Prov, 8.Chap. and have a complacency between themfelves before-hand in us. But of this when we come to the 6thVcrfe. . There
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