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act_n	assurance_n	faith_n	justify_v	2,314	5	9.2915	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47489	The everlasting covenant, a sweet cordial for a drooping soul, or, The excellent nature of the covenant of grace opened in a sermon preached January the 29th, at the funeral of Mr. Henry Forty, late pastor of a Church of Christ, at Abingdon, in the county of Berks, who departed this life Jan. 25th 1692/3 and was interr'd at Southwark ... : to which is added, An elegy on the death of the said minister / by Benjamine Keach ...	Keach, Benjamin, 1640-1704.	1693 (1693)	Wing K62; ESTC R10226	54,891	60

to God's free Promise as the immediate and sole Cause of Pardon and Life as all true Protestants formerly affirmed and not by Christ's procuring a New Covenant for us to enter into with God which if we answer the Condition thereof i. e. repent and believe we shall be saved Which Faith as Mr. Baxter Mr. W c. assert taken in the full Extent and Latitude is nothing else but universal Obedience and that so it is to be understood when 't is said that Faith alone Justifies viz. Faith and all other Graces both in Habit and Exercise Mr. Baxter's Aph. 65. And they that thus believe and obey the Gospel shall be saved though their Obedience be not perfect but if Christ fulfilled the Law for us then say I that Obedience of his must be imputed to us as if we had wrought it and so we by the Application of that Righteousness are Justified in God's sight from the Accusation of the Law without any Works or procuring Conditions performed by us But as one observes when these Men speak of Faith as a single Grace 't is defined to be a sincere Acceptance of Christ as Lord and Saviour and so it Justifies meerly as it is a consenting to be ruled and saved by Christ which is saith he neither an Assent to the Truth of the Promises nor Assurance or Trust in them one or both of which all Men understand by Faith both in Scripture and common Speaking but it is an Act of Obedience or rather a Covenant or Promise of Obedience whereby a Man engageth That he will seek after Salvation in ways of Obedience to Christ's Commands and indeed they referr to the Baptismal Covenant made in Infancy And thus Faith Justifies as they intimate as it doth in part fulfill the New Law by engaging us to Obedience and in all this Christ is look'd upon as King or Rector chiefly and not as a Saviour for as Mr. Troughton notes if Christ's Righteousness doth not immediately Justifie us and is made ours then he is a Saviour but remotely as the Word is usually taken to denote his making Satisfaction for us as a Priest viz. As by his Death he procured a Possibility of Pardon and makes way for a New Covenant to be made with Man so that Christ's main Business as a Savour by this Opinion is to grant new and tolerable Terms of Salvation to command Faith Repentance and Obedience and to annex a Promise of eternal Life to them and so to justifie and save us if we fulfill these Conditions to the end of our Days and that God as a just and impartial Judge will give Sentence for or against us according to this Law so that we are justified by our Obedience to this Law and saved by a King proceeding according to his own Law and Faith is nothing else but a submitting to this Law and to the Terms required in it which things saith he certainly make a Covenant of Works tho' it differs from the First Covenant of Works and this if I mistake them not is their Covenant of Grace by which I never expect to be saved But to proceed 5thly The Covenant of Grace is well ordered in all things for our good for all things which we need are contained in it either in respect of deliverance from present and future Evil and to our being possess'd or invested with all true spiritual and eternal Good 1. We were Enemies to God by Sin and God an Enemy to us but by this Covenant God is reconciled to us Jesus Christ hath so pacified his Wrath that now God says Fury is not in me Isa. 27. When we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 The Angels that first brought the Tydings of our Saviour's Birth cryed Peace on earth good will to men Christ by the Blood of this Covenant hath made up that Breach and Reconciled God to us and by his Spirit he removes that Enmity that naturally is in our Hearts against God and so reconciled us to God he is our Days-man that lays his Hand upon both he is not a Mediator of one that is not of God only but of Man also he brings God to Man and Man to God 2. We were the Children of Wrath and under the Curse of the Law but by the Grace of this well ordered Covenant we are made the Children of God and we are delivered from the Curse of the Law Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ Gal. 3.13 4. 3. We had lost the Image of God but by this Covenant 't is restored to us again and so restored that we shall never lose it any more 4. We were dead blind naked in bonds in prison but by the Grace of God in this Covenant we are quickened Eph. 2.1 2. have the eyes of our understandings enlightned Eph. 1.18 have our naked Souls cloathed with the robe of righteousness are brought out of Prison and all our Wounds are healed Sent out of the pit wherein was no water by the blood of the covenant Zech. 9.11 5. We were guilty and filthy Creatures but by this Covenant we are justified and sanctified we are acquitted pronounced righteous and all our Sins pardoned and washed away in the Fountain of Christ's Blood 1 Cor. 6.11 Rev. 1.5 6. We were condemned and ready to have the Sentence executed upon us and cast into Hell to be burned alive for ever and ever even there where the worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched but by the Grace of this Covenant we are saved and shall be eternally we are not only delivered from all Evil or from whatsoever was hurtful to us but are invested with all true internal and eternal Good We by this Covenant have union with God adoption free access to the Father yea all things that appertain to life and godliness and when this Life is ended eternal Life and Glory in Heaven therefore 't is well ordered in all things for our good Fifthly It is a sure Covenant ordered in all things and sure 1. 'T is a sure Covenant because it was made in and with our blessed Surety Jesus Christ the Lord would not enter into Covenant with us any more nor take our Bond for that great Summ of Ten thousand Talents that vast Debt which we had contracted and were never able to pay for we had nothing no not one Farthing And therefore unless a Surety could be found who was able and sufficient to enter into Bond with God for us we must have perished for ever we were Arrested by the Justice of God for breach of his Holy Law and in Prison and must suffer Infinite Wrath and divine Vengeance for the just demerit of our Sin had not the Wise and Almighty God sought out a Surety to pay our Debt and undertaken this New Covenant for us Now Jesus

was come it was but to put into Execution this Covenant and to ratifie and visibly confirm this blessed Covenant that God had made with us in him before the World began The Covenant of Grace saith Mr. Petto was made or established not only with us but jointly with Christ and us in him so as both are within one and the same Covenant for the great Transactions with Jesus yea even the giving and sending of him and his accepting the Office of a Redeemer and undertaking for us these are all of Grace as well as what is promised to us through him Therefore the Covenant of Grace saith he must take in all that conduceth otherwise than by a meer Decree to our Restoration and eternal Life Petto on the Covenant which is recommended by Dr. Owen Pag. 18. 2. Where do we read in all the Holy Scripture of Three Covenants viz. 1. A Covenant of Works 2. A Covenant of Redemption 3. A Covenant of Grace Evident it is to all that the Holy Ghost only holds forth or speaks but of Two Covenants a Covenant of Works and a Covenant of Grace the First is call'd the Old Covenant the Second the New Covenant although both these Covenants had several Revelations Ministrations or Editions as First the Covenant of Works was primarily made with the First Adam and all Mankind in him by vertue of which he was justified by his own perfect Obedience before he sinned True there was another Edition or Administration of it given to Israel which tho' it was a Covenant of Works i. e. Do this and live yet it was not given by the Lord to the same End and Design as the Covenant was given to our First Parents viz. It was not given to justifie them or to give them eternal Life For if Righteousness had been by the Law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 And again saith Paul For if there had been a Law given that could have given Life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law Gal. 3.21 But indeed it was impossible Life Justification or Righteousness could be by the Law or by any Law because Man hath sinned and is now unable to answer the Law of perfect Obedience all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God We must therefore now be justified by the Grace of God through the Redemption which is in Jesus Christ but tho' Man had lost his Power to obey yet God hath not lost his Power to command Therefore as Dr. Owen shews it was added or revealed in the Wisdom of God as instructive as also to shew the Excellency of that State and Condition in which we were created with the Honour that God put upon our Nature from whence Directions unto a due Apprehension of God and our selves may be taken or derived It served to shew what a Righteousness Man once had and by his Transgression lost and also what a Righteousness 't is which the Holiness of God doth require in order to our Justification in his sight for the Law doubtless results not from God as a simple act of his Sovereignty but also as a Transcript of the Holiness of his Nature and Rectitude of his Will for without a sinless or perfect Righteousness no Flesh can ever be justified in God's sight and therefore such a Righteousness must either be inherent in us or else according to the Wisdom and Grace of God be imputed to us and therefore he chose his beloved Son and entered into a gracious Covenant for us with him that he in our Nature and Stead as our Head and Surety might yield perfect Obedience to the Law which we had broke and for which breach his Justice by Christ's Death must be satisfied also therefore the Compact or gracious Covenant that was before all World 's made between the Father and the Son was part of the Covenant of Grace respecting poor lost and perishing Man since there was no Redemption without the shedding of Christ's Blood hence the Blood of Christ is called The Blood of the New Covenant The Father saith Mr. Petto is Contracting with the Son Isa. 41.6 I will give thee fo● a Covenant of the People therefore that with the Son saith he and with the People is one and the same Covenan● indeed as that which partaketh of the Nature or is a part is put for the whole so that with the People alone even here beareth the Name of a Covenant with in the grand Contract with Jesus Christ as a Branch or Parcel thereof yet both together make up that one Covenant of Grace as appeareth thus 1. There is no Scripture Evidence for making these Two Covenants distinct one of Suretyship or Redemption with Christ and another of Grace and Reconciliation with us that distinction which some use is improper for the Parts of it are co-incident seeing that as with Christ was out of mee Grace also Joh. 3.16 And it was promised that Jesus Christ should be given for a Covenant and therefore it is of Grace that we are redeemed by him 2. Tim. 1.9 There was Grace before the World was and that must be in the Covenant as with Jesus Christ which was for reconciling the World unto the Father 2. Cor. 5.18 19 Col. 1.20 21. It is true Christ is our Surety and Redeemer not we in our own Persons yea he is our Head our Lord and King and on that Account of his standing in those different Capacities he hath some peculiar Precepts and Promises appropriated to him which are not afforded to us in the same manner and degree yet this hindreth not the oneness of the Covenant with him and us c. 3. That Holy Agreement or Compact between the Father and Son was the Rise or Spring of the Covenant of Grace it was made with Jesus Christ and with us in him therefore I see no Reason to call them Two distinct and compleat Covenants but two Subjects as the same Author intimates of the same Covenant as with Jesus Christ it had its Constitution from before all Worlds or we had a Being tho' as with us it has its Application in time after we exist and are actually in Christ as part of the promised Seed 1. The Work of Redemption to expiate Sin and make Reconciliation this was Christ's Work for us 2. For Application this is with us by him 3. He was chosen Mediator and undertook the work of Redemption and so struck up the Covenant from Eternity but in time he executed it and intercedes for our Participation in it Petto p. 21. 4. Therefore as Adam being a common Person or Head of all his Seed and we in him fell under Sin Death and Condemnation by vertue of the Covenant of Works made with him even so in Jesus Christ all the Elect partake of Grace and Justification unto Life by that one Covenant of Grace made with him and in him with all his Seed he being I say a common Person or Head to all the Father

Why Is not the purport of it this i. e. Christ as Mediator hath so far satisfy'd for the breach of the Law of perfect Obedience or given to God such a valuable Recompence that he might justly wave and not exact or execute the Law of Works or hath relaxed the Severity thereof and taken it away and hath obtained and given as he is a Law-giver or Govenour a milder Law of Grace and if Men perform the Conditions of Faith and sincere Obedience or Faith and Gospel Holiness they shall be Justified and Saved so that our Right to Life and the Favour of God Peace of Conscience and Hope of Salvation do depend upon our Obedience to the Gospel or New Law and this Christ hath purchased should be accepted as our Righteousness by which we must be Judged They deny not but that the Merits of Christ are the Cause of this Gospel Law his Righteousness imputed is the Cause for which we are Justified or rather 't is for his Sake we are Justified and Saved when we do answer the Rule of the Gospel I have heard them Preach and have read their Books and if this be not in part what they say I do not understand them 't is such a Mystery of c. However Christ hath done and performed his part in the Mediatory Covenant the Law of perfect Obedience cannot hurt us if we conform to the Rule of this milder Law which Christ doth not perform for us c. What do they mean Is it this i. e. Christ doth not believe for us Who says he doth but 2 dly Hath not he obtained Grace for us to enable us to believe Is not he the Author and Finisher of our Faith Doth not he begin the good Work in us and will he not perform it unto the end St. Paul affirms his Confidence in him that he would do it Phil. 1.6 And doth not performing imply a Covenant or Promise he has made to do it If so then it appears Christ hath more to do for us then only his performing the Covenant of Works and confirming the Covenant of Grace Doth he not say Other Sheep I have which are not of this fold and them I must bring Joh. 10.16 Must bring Doth not that Obligation that was upon him referr to the Covenant made with the Father and again he saith All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me Joh. 6.37 And that it is his Father's Will that sent him that of all that the Father hath given him he should lose nothing Is not Christ the Mediator as I have said before of Two i. e. Is he not to bring us to God as well as God to us Who can remove that Enmity that is naturally in our Minds against God Rom. 8.7 but he only Why is Christ called a Quickening Spirit and so full of Grace Is it not that he might Quicken us and Communicate of his Grace to us as he is our Head and Mediator and we his Members Can we subdue the Powers of darkness or break Satan's Chains are we stronger than the strong Man ●rmed Math. 12.29 Must not Christ perform all these things for us or Doth not the Performance of all this belong to the Covenant of Grace 3 dly I suppose the Mistake lies here viz. Our Authors do only insist upon or speak of the Application of the Covenant of Grace true Christ as Mediator performed the Covenant of Works for us without us he alone in his own Person did that and I must say he doth not so perform the Applicatory part of the Covenant of Grace for we act with him but how even as we are acted and moved like as when our Saviour quickened Lazarus he then arose and had Life and Motion and could come out of the Grave so when he hath quickened us who were dead in Sin when the dead hear the voice of the Son of God by his Spirit they then can act and move can believe and obey and do for God from a Right Principle and to a Right End Is it not said 't is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his own good Pleasure Phil. 2.13 And doth not David say he would cry to the Lord that performed all things for him Psal. 57.2 Pray let me here note Four Things as touching the Covenant of Grace 1. The Time when 't was made with Christ for us and that was from eternity 2. When it was first revealed and that was to our First Parents as soon as they fell and broke the Covenant of Works 3. When it was executed confirmed and touching the outward Dispensation of it took its rise or beginning it was executed by Christ as our Head when he came into the World in part i. e. in his Life and ratified and confirmed by his Blood and the rise or beginning of the outward Dispensation of it was at his Death and Resurrection when the Old Covenant ceas'd or was abrogated 4. When and how are we said to have it made with us or performed to us actually and personally so as to have real Interest in all the Blessings and Privileges thereof For as it respecteth us it only contains free and absolute Promises like the Waters of Noah And not a Law of conditional Faith and Obedience to be performed by us Now we have not actual Interest in it and so personally it cannot be said to be made with us until we have actual Union with Christ and do believe in him For want of these Distinctions I fear some Men run astray For it seems as if some Men would have us believe that the Covenant of Grace in the latitude of it is but that merciful conditional Covenant of Faith and Gospel Holiness that God is pleased to enter into with us and we with him in our Baptism and if we perform that Covenant to the end we shall be Justified and Saved nay and so far as we do act in sincere Obedience so far we are already Justified and if this be the Notion of these Men and that we must believe as they do then say I we are not under Grace but under a Law that will keep us in Doubts and Bondage as long as we live and if we have no other Righteousness than this which is either within us or wrought by us we shall certainly drop down into Hell when we come to die 4thly And by making the Covenant of Redemption distinct from the Covenant of Grace in respect of what I am now speaking of I fear it lay● a Foundation for those Errors which are got among us as if we are to enter into a Covenant with God without Christ's undertaking for us as our Surety for say they Christ did perform the Covenant of Works but doth confirm not perform the Covenant of Grace What is the Purport of this Doctrine as it is improved by our new Methodists Why this viz. In the Mediatory Covenant Christ made God amends for our breach of the

Covenant they call the Covenant of Redemption contains the whole Summ even Matter and Form Condition and Promises of the Covenant of Grace in that Covenant is contained all the Grace God hath promised and which we receive all is obtained upon the Account of Christ's satisfying for our Sins and so all the Promises of Grace and Salvation run to us in him no Love nor Divine Goodness is manifested to us but in and through that Covenant therefore not two but one and the same Covenant so that the Covenant of Grace it appears was made by the Holy God in the Person of the Father with us in the Person of the Son mind that Text Who hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the Work began 2 Tim. 1.9 But to proceed 2dly I shall open the Excellent Nature of this Glorious and Everlasting Covenant 1. 'T is you have heard all of Grace as it respecteth us tho' Jesus Christ paid dear for it he procured all the Blessings of it for us by his Merits i. e. by his Perfect Obedience and Suffering By Grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God Ephes. 2.8 not of Works lest any man should boast for we are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works r. 10. not by Works of Righteousness that we have done but by his Mercy he saved us Tit. 3.5 2. 'T is as it appears from hence an Absolute and not a Conditional Covenant not if we do this and that viz get a new Heart and perform the Condition of Gospel-Holiness and Obedience we shall have pardon and ●e justified no but otherwise He that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4.5 all is freely of Grace through Christ's Merit I will take away the Heart of Stone and give them a Heart of Flesh a new Heart I will give them and ● new Spirit I will put within them I will be their God and they shall be my People Now 't is question'd saith Reverend Cotton whether the Promise wherein the Lord giveth himself be Absolute or Conditional Faith to receive Christ is ever upon an Absolute Promise If you will say it is a Promise to a Condition what kind of Condition was it There is no Condition before Faith but a Condition of Misery a lost Condition or if a gracious Condition it is a Condition subsequent not pre-existant no Condition before it whereby a Man can close with Christ and if it was a Condition after Faith unto which the Promise was made then Faith was before and thatsoever followeth Conversion is no ground of Faith but a fruit and Effect of it therefore I say our first coming to Christ cannot be upon a Conditional but an Absolute Promise And indeed saith he if ever the Lord minister Comfort unto any Man true Comfort upon good grounds it is built upon a Promise of Free Grace 〈…〉 be unto Justification received it is true indeed a gracious Qu●●●●●tion and a Promise to it may give a good Evidence of its Aposteriore Cotton's Treatise of the New Covenant p. 56 57. and again he saith God doth give himself in working Faith before Faith can be there and therefore it is the Fruit of the Spirit that Faith is wrought in the Soul and this Faith doth receive the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ himself by his Spirit and doth receive also Justification and Adoption Again saith he a man is passive in his Regeneration as in Generation only the Lord giveth us his Spirit and that doth unite us unto Christ which is received by Faith together with Justification and yet by the Act of Believing we are justified also Gal. 2.26 that is manifested to be justified in our own Consciences p. 55. thus far Mr. Cotton What are we able to do when dead in Sin and Trespasses Can we believe before the Habit is infused from whence the Act proceedeth or move before we have Life or are quickened 3. It is a well ordered Covenant for that Covenant that is ordered in all things is well ordered c. but to make this further manifest I shall shew you that 't is well ordered 1. In respect of God I mean for his Glory in all his glorious Attributes 2. 'T is well order'd in respect of the Glory clear Revelation and Manifestation of the Three Persons in the God-Head that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit these Three are One in Essence yet three Subsistances 3. 'T is well order'd to confound and destroy the grand Works and Design of the Devil 4. 'T is well order'd in respect of God's Holy Law that the Sanction and Honour of the Law might not be lost or suffer the least Eclipse 5. And lastly 't is well order'd for our good A little briefly to each of these First His Covenant is well order'd in respect had to the Glory of all God's Attributes 1. The Sovereignty of God shines forth gloriously in the Contrivance and bringing in this Covenant for God he having Absolute Dominion for ever over the Works of his Hands to dispose and determine them as seemeth him good and doubtless to manifest his own Sovereignty he created both Angels and Men And part of the first sinning against him he leaves for ever under that Wrath and Misery they brought upon themselves and the other he determined out of his Sovereignty to confirm in their Primitive State And also part of Mankind he left under that Wrath they brought upon themselves by original and actual Iniquity and affords no eternal Redemption to and indeed 't is only Sovereign Grace he afforded a Saviour for any of the Off-spring of fall'n Man for he was not under any Obligation to enter into a Covenant for any of them any more than he was not to redeem the fall'n Angels he would therefore have been just if he had let us all have perished under Sin and his own fearful Wrath as he dealt by them 2dly His infinite Wisdom shines forth in this gracious Covenant and hence the Gospel is called the manifold Wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 which may refer to the whole Oeconomy of our Redemption as also to the several Forms and Manners of God's revealing of it to his Church and People 't is called the Wisdom of God in a Mystery even his hidden Wisdom which was ordained before the World began to our Glory 1 Cor. 2.7 Divine Wisdom hath admirably in this Covenant mixt all the Attributes together with unexpressible Sweetness and exact Harmony that Justice cannot triumph over Mercy nor Mercy glory over Justice but they meet together and sweetly kiss each other and it was infinite Wisdom I say that found out this way therefore 't is hereby wonderfully glorified in the sight of Men and