each PERs o rl difriinítly. 333 On this account, eternal life is Paid to be proinifed ofGod before the world began, Titus i, 2. that is, to the fon of God tot us, onhis undertaking bit our behalf. And grace alfo is faid to be given unto us before the world was 2 Tim. i. 9. that is, in Chrift our appointed head, mediator, and reprefentative. [5.] Chrifl being thus a common perfon, 'a mediator, furety, and repre- fentative of his church, upon lais undertaking, as to efficacy and merit, and upon his actual performance as to folemn declaration, was, as fuch, acquit - ted, abfolved, jufttfied and freed, from all and every thing, that on the be- half of the ele&, as due to them, was charged upon hint, or could fo be I fay as to all the efficacy and merit of his undertakings, he was immediately abfolved upon his faithfulnefs, in lais firít engagement, and thereby all the faints of the Old Teflament, were faved by his blood no lets than .we. As to folemn declaration, he was fo abfolved, when the pains of death being looted, He was declared to be the fon of God with power, Rom. i. 4.' by the refurreftion from the dead ; God faying to him, Thou art nyfon, this day have I begotton thee, Pfal. xv. 33. And this lais abfolution doth Chrift exprefs his confidence of, Ifa. 1. 6, 7, 8, g.. And hewas juftified, t Tim. úí. 16. That which I intend by this abfolution of Chrift as a publick per- fon, is this ; God having made him under the law for them who were fo, Gal. iv. 4. in their Read, obnoxious to the punifhment due to fin, made him.fin, 2 Cor. V. at. and fo gave juftice, and law, and all the confequents of the curie thereof, power againf him, Ifa. lui. 6. upon his undergoing ofthat which was required ofhim, Ifa. lüi. 12. God lofes the pains and power of death, accepts him, and is well pleated with him, as to the per- formance and difcharge of his work, yob. xvii. 3, 4, 5, 6. pronounceth him free from the obligation that was on him, All. xiii. and gave him apro- mite of all the good things he aimed at, and which his foul defined. Here- on are all the pronifes of God made to Chrift, and their accomplifhment, all the encouragements givenhim to ask and make demand of the things originally engaged for to him, Pfal. ii. 8: which he did accordingly, fob. xvii. founded, and built. And here lies the certain, Ratak foundation of our abfolution, and acceptation with God. Chrift in our Read, aging for us as our furety, .being acquitted, abfolved, Solemnly declared to have an fwered the whole debt that was incumbent on him to pay, and made fatis- falion for all the injury we had done,. a general pardon is fealed for us all, to be fued out particularly in the way to be appointed. For [6.) Chrift as a publick perfon being thus abfolved, it became righteous with God,- a righ- teous thing, from thecovenant, compat, and convention, that was between him and themediator, that thofe in whole Read 11e was, fhould obtain, and have bellowed on them, all the fruits of his death, in reconciliation with God, Rom. v. 8, 9, lo, n. That as Chrift received the general acquitance for them all, fo that they fhould every one of them, enjoy it refpe&ively. This is every where manifefted in thofe expreffions, which exprefs a coin- mutation defigned by God in this matter, as 2 Cor. vl 21. Gal. iii. 13. 1 Pet. ii. 21, 24, of which afterwards. Ç7.J Being thus acquitted in the covenant of the mediator (whence they are faid to be circumcifed with him, to die with him, to be buried with him, to rife with him, to fit with him in heavenly places, namely in the covenant of the mediator) and it being righteous, that they fhould he ac- quitted perfonally in the covenant of grace, it was determined by Father, . Son, and Holy Ghoft, that the way of their actual, perfonal, deliverance from the fentence and curfe of the law, fhould be in and by fuch away and difpenfation, as might lead to the praife of the glorious grace of God, P P P P Ephef.
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