The Nature of Chrift'sSuretiship. 261 5 . We on all accountsStand in needof a Surety for us, or on our behalfi Neither without the Interposition of SUch a Surety, could any Covenant between God and us befirmand Stable, or an everlajling Covenant, ordered in all things and Sure. In the sirft Covenant made with Adam there was no Surety, but God and men were the immediate Covenanters. And although we were then in a State and condition able to perform ana anSwer all the Terms of the Covenant, yet w(as it broken and difinnulled. I f this came to pafs by the failure of the Promife of God, it was neceffary that on the making of a new Covenant hejhould have a furety to undertake for him, that the Covenant might be ftable and everlafting. But this is falSe and blaSphemous to imagine. It was man alone who failed and broke that Covenant. Wherefore it was ne- ceffary that upon the making o f the New Covenant, and that with a designand purpoSe that it Should never be difanmlled -as the former was, that we Should have a furety and undertaker for us. For if that StSt Covenant was not firmand ftable becauSe there was no furety to undertake for us, notwithstanding all that Ability which we had to anSwer the terms of it 5 how much lels can any other be So, now our Natures are become depraved and sinful > Wherefore we alone were capa>- ble o f aJurety properly Socalled, for us, we alone Stood inneed of him, andwithout him the Covenant could not be firm, and inviolate oh our parts. The Surety therefore of this Covenant is Sowith Goa for us. 6 . It is-the Prieflkoodof Chrifi that the Apoftle treats o f in this place, and that alone. Wherefore he is a furety as he is a PriejlI and in the discharge of that Office, and therefore is Sowith God on our behalf This Schli&ingius obferves,-, and is aware what will enfte againft his pretensions,, which he endeavours to obviate^ Mirum ( Saith he ) porro alicid videri pojfetcur Divinus Author de Chrifi facerdotio in fuperi- drtbus infecpuentibm agens, derepente mm fpenforemfoederis none
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