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A65373 David's testament opened up in fourty sermons upon Samuel 23, 5 wherein the nature, properties, and effects of the covenant of grace are clearly held forth / by Alexander Wedderburn. Wedderburn, Alexander, d. 1678. 1698 (1698) Wing W1239; ESTC R26311 330,515 376

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called for is Faith Faith is the special part of the Covenant required on our part this is his Command that is the great command in the Covenant of Grace for it was not commanded in the Covenant of Works that ye believe in his Son whom he hath sent God hath required many things in the Covenant of Grace but the great thing he hath laid on and commanded is believing There are three or four things will evidence the truth of this to you 1. Ye shall find the great Inquiry he makes when he Inquires about a persons Estate is after their Faith if ye will but take a view both of his Word and of his Works ye will find the truth of this it is evident that a man desires to know a thing by his inquiring after it Joseph when his Brethren came down into Egypt he inquired Is the old Man of whom you spake alive So Joab when he returned from the Battel David is very inquisitive is the young man Absalom safe Jacob was much on Joseph's spirit and Absalom was much on David's so in the Covenant of Grace ordinarily ye will find when he hath ado with any person he asks canst thou believe doest thou believe when he lays on the Cross it is to try their Faith 1 Pet. 1.7 That the tryal of your faith being much more precious than Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ if he delay an Answer to prayer it is to try Faith as he did with the Woman he called her a Dog as if she were not in his Commission but in the end he faith O Woman great is thy faith 2. It will be evident that this is the main thing in the Covenant in the Order of it that we should believe in regard of the great commendation given to it in the Covenant it 's remarkable Heb. 11. When the whole cloud of Witnesses that covenanted wiht God are brought in beginning at Abel and coming down to Abraham and David the thing especially commended in them is their faith no question they had patience and love but that which the Scripture cryes them most up for is especially their Faith this evidences that faith the greatest thing in the Covenant on our part not only is it the thing that Christ makes a special Inquiry after but it 's the thing of all the Qualifications thou hast that Christ especially commends 3. In regard of the honour put upon it in the work of justification we are justified by faith alone without the works of the Law this is a special honour put upon it it 's a question among Schollars why faith only and not love is imployed in the work of Justification they give this as the reason of it faith is the meetest for it if ye Inquire why the Eye sees and not the Hand Why the Hand works and not the Eye The reason is they are fittest to be Instruments in Seeing and Working so faith is fittest to be the Instrument of Justification for it 's a receiving Grace it 's called a receiving of Christ in the Scripture John 1.12 But as many as received them to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Now there is no Grace so fit to be honoured in Justication where God gives the pardon of sin as a receiving Grace A second Reason why Faith is imployed in the work of Justitication and not Love because Faith will not wrong Christs honour Rom. 3.27 We are told by the Apostle boasting is excluded by what Law by the law of works nay but by the law of Faith v. 28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith without the deeds of the law Faith excludes boasting and gives all the honour to Christ if Love or Patience were imployed in the work of Justification they would plead to more meritorious causes but Faith is the instrumental cause so no wonder Faith be made the principal condition of the Covenant of Grace in regard it is so fit to receive from Christ and it will not wrong Christ in his honour it will plead for merit in regard it is only to receive what Christ hath bestowed But 4. and lastly Faith it furnishes all other Graces work every other duty is influenced by Faith patience repentance prayer and love are influenced by faith for faith works by love every other Grace is actuated by faith so until we come to believe we cannot repent we cannot suffer we cannot pray all these things like a body without a Soul will be dead and lifeless things without this Grace of Faith Lay all these four together and ye will see that in the Order of the commanding part of the Covenant Believing hath the precedency of all other Graces and Duties so in the Order of the commanding part of the Covenant whatever other Duties God hath commanded he hath especially commanded Believing that is to be the first in order of our Obedience and to have the precedency of all other Graces which is necessary to be observed for many think that they can go about other duties before they believe and that in a way suitable to the Covenant but they are altogether mistaken for there is nothing acceptable to God without Faith Thirdly In the Order of the commanding part of the Covenant though Faith be first and principally requiried yet it 's not only required Papists calumniat 〈◊〉 when they say we preach and say that Faith is only required it is the only Instrument of Justification it is by Faith only that we are Justified but it 's no faith only that is the condition of the Covenant of Grace therefore in the order of the Covenant the obedience to the whole Law comes in after believing such as would observe the order of the Covenant must be obedient to all the commands of the Covenant it 's remarkable the obedience that the Covenant of Grace requires hath these three Properties 1. It must be new obedience that is to say obedience from a new heart and obediedce conform to the tenor of the new Covenant the obedience is new when the principle of it is Love it was of old fear but it hath a new principle when the end of it is the exalting of Christ it was of old the exalting of our selves 2. The obedience must be strict obedience I would recommend to you the excellent discourse that Master Allan hath wirtten in his Vinditiae pietatis proving that the holiness he says of a Christian is strict ay no less strict than that of the Covenant of works requires every Christian must be a Precisian and must labour to strive and wrestle and take the Kingdom by violence to watch against the least beginnings of sin and the least incroachments of it on Christ's Honour or else it 's no Obedience according to the Covenant 3ly It must be perpetual Obedience