Cap. 7 Arg. 4 Ratio 1: secret covenant (Jer 31:33 / Heb 8)—Mediator for elect Israel alone
He who by his death not only established that evangelical covenant looking promiscuously to all—“Whoever believes will be saved”—but also that secret covenant which takes in certain singular persons known to God alone, described by the prophet in Jeremiah 31:33: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after these days: I will put my law in their mind and write it on their heart, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”—he who procured such a covenant by his death offered his death and merit to the Father to be applied efficaciously to certain elect persons. That is clear, because putting his laws into people’s minds, writing them on their hearts, and making them God’s peculiar people marks the efficacious application of Christ’s merits and names the privileges of the elect, or spiritual Israel. I add the minor and affirm that by his death Christ was Mediator of this secret covenant, which includes application and embraces God’s Israel—or the elect children of God—and them alone. Besides the prophet’s words just cited, we have the Apostle citing the same prophet (Hebrews 8:6): “Our High Priest is Mediator of a better testament, established on better promises.” What are those better promises Christ the Mediator established? Verse 10 rehearses them in Jeremiah’s own words; they reduce to two heads—the promise of an inward reforming of hearts, and of free remission of sins—as Calvin notes on the place. So by his death Christ merited remission of sins for all if they believe and turn; and for some he also merited and procured this free, secret covenant to be fulfilled by the promising God—namely that they believe and turn to God, through and because of the Mediator reforming their hearts efficaciously and putting his laws into them. Those for whom he merited this (as Augustine makes plain) are all who belong spiritually to the house of Israel and Abraham’s seed: what else is that than all the elect? So from God’s and Christ’s intention the elect have had destined and given to them the special benefit of a fruitful application from Christ’s death.
Latin
Qui morte sua non modo stabilivit foedus illud Evangelicum ad omnes homines promiscue spectans, Quisquis crediderit, salvus erit; sed insuper foedus illud arcanum, quod certas & singulares quasdam personas Deo soli notas comprehendit, a Propheta hisce verbis descriptum, Jer. xxxi. 33. Hoc est foedus quod pangam cum domo Israel post dies hos, Indam legem meam menti eorum, & cordi eorum inscribam eam, & ero eis Deus, & ipsi erunt mihi populus; Qui, inquam, tale foedus morte sua procuravit, is mortem meritumque suum Deo Patri ut efficaciter quibusdam electis personis applicandum obtulit. Haec propositio inde clara & manifesta est, quod indere leges suas hominum mentibus, & inscribere eorundem cordibus, atque eosdem populum peculiarem Deo facere efficacem applicationem meritorum Christi denotant, & electorum sive spiritualis Israelis privilegia designant. Jam vero adjungo Minorem, & affirmo, Christum morte sua hujus arcani foederis, quod applicationem includit, & Israelem Dei sive electos Dei filios eosdemque solos complectitur, Mediatorem exstitisse. Praeter verba Prophetae modo laudati, habemus & Apostoli, eundem Prophetam citantis, perspicuum testimonium, Heb. viii. 6. Noster Pontifex melioris testamenti Mediator est, quod in melioribus repromissionibus sancitum est. At quae tandem sunt meliores illae promissiones quas Christus Mediator stabilivit? Recensentur vers. 10. iisdem verbis quibus exstant apud Jeremiam; & ad duo capita revocantur, ad promissionem de interiori cordium reformatione, & de gratuita peccatorum remissione, ut bene observavit in hunc locum Calvinus. Christus ergo morte sua meruit omnibus remissionem peccatorum, si credant & convertantur: ac meruit & procuravit quibusdam hoc gratuitum & arcanum foedus a Deo promittente implendum; nimirum, ut credant & convertantur Deo, per & propter Mediatorem, illorum corda efficaciter reformante, & leges suas eisdem indente. Hi autem pro quibus hoc promeruit Christus (ut ex Augustino liquet) sunt omnes pertinentes spiritualiter ad domum Israel & semen Abrahae: quid aliud est quam omnes electi? Electi igitur ex intentione Dei & Christi speciale beneficium fructuosae applicationis ex morte Christi & destinatum sibi habuerunt, & donatum.