may justly be who seem to make it all one with the Old yet I ought not to be afraid of Jesus the only Author Preserver and Redeemer of my life the only joy and blessing and comfort of my death You say I am not afraid of the Covenant I know I am not afraid of Jesus nor do I say I am desirous to come to Mount Sinai where the Covenant properly so called was repeated but to Mount Sion where the Testament properly so called is really fulfilled and the inheritance conveyed thereby is actually possessed And the words that I quoted import no lesse I am desirous to come to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant For the reason of my desire is because He is the Mediatour of the New Covenant the Covenant of Grace not of the Old Covenant the Covenant of Justice or of works for Moses was the Mediatour of that at least as it was renewed on Mount Sinai but of the New Covenant the Covenant of Grace whereof Jesus was the Maker to put Mercy in it and is the Mediatour to put me into that Mercy Thus you see it is a threefold Cord twisted with Custome Conscience and Truth as with three twists which labours to pull down this your Objection the Custome of speech the Comfort of conscience and the Truth of the Gospel all three concurring together to make me say I am desirous to come to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant and seeing this I suppose you will no longer seek to maintain such an Objection for 't is not ingenuous to stand against Custome not Religious to stand against Conscience not Honest to stand against Truth 7. And thus much in answer to the Verbal part of your exception whereby you have made me some new Work I now come to the real part of it whereby you seem very willing to make some new Divinity for if it be not True it must be called New by that infallible Rule Id verum quod primum That is Trust which is Oldest as coming immediately from the Ancient of dayes or from the first Truth For in very deed say you Christs New Testament is no other than a new conditional Covenant with us by which we are bound cooperating with his Grace to do very many things our selves for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never attain thereto which seems to me a very strange Assertion for so you have vented it and yet a more strange definition for so you seem to intend it The Assertion is strange because it is Authentical and yet withal Ambiguous such as may be much admired but little approved For he that will speak positively ought not to speak doubtfully as you are positive in denouncing the irrecoverable losse of Heaven but doubtful in declaring by what means we may prevent that losse you speak with authority enough to terrifie us but not with perspicuity enough to instruct us You say plainly We are bound to do very many things for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never attain thereto But you say not one word concerning any of those things wherein we are bound not to faile So you put our Salvation upon unknown conditions which is the way to fill our souls with perplexity instead of piety and since what is not known cannot be done you may also put our Salvation upon impossible conditions which is the way to turne our perplexity into desperation our desperation into damnation 8. And I think this is enough to prove it a strange Assertion for it doth not explaine but rather obscure the thing defined as agreeing more with the Old than with the New Covenant For put Moses his Old Testament instead of Christs New Testament and you shall not need change any one particle of the whole definition but it will all agree with the one as well as with the other and so it may go after this manner For in very deed Moses his Old Testament is no other than an old conditional Covenant with us by which we are bound cooperating with Gods Grace to do very many things our selves for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never attain thereto So that you have given us a Definition that will fit the Old Covenant as well as the New and therefore truly fit neither since it cannot fit both which must needs be a very strange definition confounding that Covenant it should explaine for which cause it is Unlogical very strange to reason and making that one Covenant which God hath made two Covenants for which cause it is Untheological very strange to Religion For he which hath said Those things which God hath joyned together let not man put asunder Mat. 19. 6. hath thereby said according to the rule of Contraries Those things which God hath put a sunder let not man joyne together And God hath put the Old and the New Covenant as farre asunder as he hath put Heaven and Hell as he hath put Salvation and Damnation For by the Old Covenant Do this and live all mankind after the Fall must have perished there 's the Damnation But by the new Covenant Believe and thou shalt live none that lay hold on Christ and keep with him and stick to him shall perish there 's the salvation For S. Paul hath told us expressely that God will judge the World not by the Law which will condemn the most innocent and the most righteous since the losse of our first innocen'cy and righteousness but by the Gospel which will condemn only the unrepenting and unbelieving sinner In the day that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel Rom. 2. 16. never any yet though he had a most innocent hand had so innocent an heart that he durst say his secret thoughts were innocent wherefore he must needs be condemned in the Judgement if God should Judge him according to the Law and not according to the Gospel Nor yet will the Gospel acquit him if he be not innocent any more than the Law will acquit him because it hath the same precepts of innocency with the Moral Law according to which precepts the last Judgement will be given and pronounced only it will accept of his innocency by Faith and Repentance whereas the Law will accept only of his innocency by perfect Obedience The Judgement is not like to be the lesse righteous for being according to the Gospel but the more merciful because though Jesus Christ in Judging us will proceed according to the Rule of the Law which is the same with the Rule of the Gospel yet he will not proceed according to the Covenant of the Law Do this and live but according to the Covenant of the Gospel Believe and thou shalt be saved 10. For the Moral Law is to be considered as a Rule of Righteousness Do this and as a Covenant of Life Do this and live as
but me doth likewise say Thou shall invocate no other but me because invocation is the most proper and the most publick acknowledgement and worship of God For Invocation is required by the first though it is regulated by the third commandement That enjoyns the object and internal affection this only enjoyns the manner and the external expression Therefore Call upon me in the day of trouble Psal. 50. 15. belonging to the affirmative Call not upon any besides me doth belong to the negative precept in the first Commandement since these two are contraries and contraria sunt sub eodem genere posita contraries must be ranked or reckoned under one and the same Head For in vain doth your Cardinal seek to excuse bad words in prayers from the good sense or meaning of him that prays non agitur de verbis sed de sensu verborum Bell. l. 1. de sanct Beat. c. 17. because as a right intention in our prayers is required by the first so also a right expression in our prayers is required by the third Commandement God requirlng us no less to honour his Name by right words and professions in the One then to honour his Nature by right intentions and affections in the other For as we may not honour God with our lips whiles our hearts are far from him So neither may we dishonour him with our lips whiles our hearts are near him For as the one makes us Hypocritical so the other makes us blasphemous worshippers As the one is directly against the internal so the other is directly against the external Act of Religion as the one is against the morality of the first so the other is against the morality of the third Commandement But of this I have spoken elsewhere of purpose to justifie the Religion established and professed amongst us for which so many Orthodox Divines have lately lost their livelyhoods by Protestants and pray they may not come to lose their lives by Papists because I was there bound to shew the irreligion that I found not only in Faction which hath no Liturgie but also in superstition which hath corrupt Liturgie Justif. of the Church of England cap. 3. sec. 3. there you might have seen more work made for you upon the grounds of conscience then you have here made for me only upon the grounds of contention Thither if you please you may go for more of this argument but before you go take this Question along with you not Where was this your Religion of praying to Saints before Luther but where is it now For it is not in any of Gods Commandements concerning Religion nay 't is plainly against them all 'T is against the first in having a false Object and false internal acts of Religion against the second in having a false external act or manner of Religion by way of adoration against the third in having a false external act or manner of Religion by way of invocation or of Praise and Profession As it is not according to Gods Commandements so it cannot be Piety or Religion as 't is against Gods Commandements so 't is moreover impiety and irreligion Therefore boast not any longer of the general profession and practice of this or any other corrupt part of your Religion which you cannot justifie in its substance For 't is a miserable Religion which is to be found only in its exercise according to the purport of the fourth and not also in its substance according to the purport of the three first Commandements A Religion in its Name not in its Nature in its solemnity not in its purity in its followers not in it self That is in one word A Religion not of Gods but of mans making 12. To such a Religion belongs â—…hat Prayer Maria mater gratiae mater misericordiae Tu nos ab hoste protege horâ mortis suscipe which yet your Cardinal boldly imputeth to the universal Church sic loquitur ecclesia universa lib. 1. de Sanct. Beat. cap. 19. though its language speak only the Church of Rome and its rythme speaks only the late and corrupt ages of that Church and its irreligion doth in truth speak no Church For that is no Church whereof Christ is not the Head And he is not the Head of that Church which prayeth to such as he did not pray And he did never pray to his Mother but only to his Father teaching us o say Our Father not Our Mother whâ—…ch art in Heaven We cannot say the words of this Prayer in his Communion we cannot obtain the blessing oâ—… it by his intercession therefore if we wâ—…l â—…e his Church we must put this prayer oâ—… of our meutâ—…es because we dare not put it into His We have no pattern 〈◊〉 sâ—…ch prayers in all the Book of God and 〈◊〉 we can find better Patterns then God hath given we are bound to â—…ollow those of his giving or we shall leave his 〈◊〉 â—…oly Communion and lose his Soâ—…s blessed â—…ntercession in our prayers â—…or as we are sure the eternal Son of God hath â—…ot taught us thus to pray so we may be assured he will not he cannot 〈◊〉 us in this Prayer Esto mihi in Deum Protectorem Psal. 31. 4. will not agree with this Tu nos ab hoste protegeâ—… In maÌ„us tuas coÌ„mendo spirituÌ„ meuÌ„ will not agree with this Et horâ mortis suscipe why should I leave the Communion of Gods eternal Son either in not saying the one or in saying the other For I may no more now venter to have Religion then I may hereafter hope to have a salvation out of his Communion And though it be more like a Heathen then a Christian to say If it be a question of words and of names and of your Law Acts 18. 15. for words are to be regulated in the exercise of Religion according to Gods Law by vertue of the third Commandement no less then thoughts by vertue of the first Gestures by vertue of the second and Deeds by vertue of the fourth yet is that saying very unfitly applyed in the defence of this Prayer For this is as formal an Invocation of the Blessed Virgin as if she were God Calling her the Mother of Grace and Mercy and praying her to protect us in our life and to receâ—…ve us at our death And who can say more then this to God putting but Father instead of Mother who can ask more then this of God This is in effect to say Mater de coels Dea instead of Pater de coelis Deus miserere nobis miseris peccatoribus O blessed Mother of God instead of O God the Father of Heaven have mercy upon us miserable sinners And we ought to say Libera nos Domine Good Lord deliver us not so much in regard of any other evil and mischief as in regard of such Letanies Therefore this Invocation of the Mother of God is faulty in Objecto cultus in modo colendi both in the object
be reserved only to the Eternal Son of God who alone had a righteousness able to hold weight in the ballance of the Sanctuary and consequently who alone had a righteousness able to make a sinner righteous If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me Joh. 13. 8. being spoken to a man of infirmity better merit than I can hope for notwithstanding all that I can do or suffer for my Saviour makes me say That unlesse his blood wash me I shall never be so clean as to have a part with him Therefore will I rely only upon his blood to make and keep me a true member of his Body for I see that St. Paul who excelled all others in his Doings and in his sufferings for Christ in labours more abundant there was the excellency of his doings In stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft there was the excellency of his sufferings 2 Cor. 11. 23. yet dares not plead either for acquitment or acceptance with God from his own but only from his Saviours obed ence And do couâ—…t them but dung sc. all things whatsoever not the righteousness of the Law excepted that I may win Christ And be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. 3. 9. A righteousness which is most truly called the righteousness of God for it is of God the Fathers giving of God the Sons purchasing For none but God can take away sin appease the wrath of God abolish the power of death and the tyranny of the Devil therefore no righteousness but the righteousness of God can have any thing to do in our Justification whereby sin is taken away Gods wrath is appeased and the power of death and the Devil is abolished If men alone can do this great work of our redemption what need we any more then man alone in the person of our Redeemer wherefore to admit any but the Son of Gods righteousness as the cause of mans Justification is to set open if not to set up an inlet for Arrianism which forceth Christian Divines to bring St. James to St. Paul in this doctrine of Justification that they may set up not mans but Gods righteousness for if we need a God to redeem us why not also to justifie us since Justification is the main work of our redemption And indeed if men would be so ingenuous as to allow the Spirit of God the same constancy to himself under the hands of several Pen-men as of One They would no more oppose St. James against St. Paul in this doctrine then St. Paul against himself For St. Paul hath as palpably rejected a Faith without works as St. James Though I have all Faith so as to remove mountains and have no charity I am nothing 1. Cor. 13. 2. And yet by so saying did never intend and was never thought to thwart his own doctrine concerning Justification by Faith in Christ or to ascribe any share of it to works which proceed from charity or to make man a fellow-sharer with God by allowing our own righteousness to be in the least respect a Partial cause of our Justification And herein St. Augustin shews himself St. Pauls Scholar and therefore may justly challenge to be our Master For though he writ a Book of purpose to confute the Solifidean Heresie which looked only after Faith yet hath he not let fall any one passage to perswade us That works are required to Justification as well as Faith This himself professeth lib. 2. Retr cap. 38. Interea missa sunt mihi à quibusdam fratribus laicis quidem sed divinorum eloquiorum studiosis scripta nonnulla quae ita distinguerent à bonis operibus Christianam fidem ut sine hâc non posse sine illis autem posse perveniri suaderetur ad aeâ—…ernam vitam quibus respondens librum scripsi cujus nomen est de Fide Operibus When I had received certain writings from some Lay-brethren indeed but studious of the holy Scripture mark the distinction of Lay-men and Clergy-men in those daies but withal the free use of the Scriptures not denied to Lay-men which did so divide and separate Faith from Works as to say without the one we might not be saved but without the other we might I thought to answer them in a Treatise of purpose which entitled of Faith and Works And in this Treatise though by many Texts he proveth that men are bound to work out their own salvation yet doth he nowhere avow that they shall be justified or saved by their works Thus himself declareth the whole intent and scope of his Book as to this argument Quare illud jam videamus quod excutiendum est à cordibus religiosis ne malâ securitate salutem suam perdant si ad eam obtinendam sufficere solam fidem putaverint berè autem vivere bonis operibus viam Dei tenere neglexerint lib. de Fide Oper. cap. 14. Now let us consider that Tenent which is to be kept or driven out of religious hearts lest by an evil security they should lose their own salvation while they think to obtain it only by faith and neglect to live righteously and by works of righteousness to keep themselves in the way of Godliness Here 's his whole scope and intention To keep religious hearts from carnal security in neglecting good works not to fill them with spiritual Pride in relying on them and surely they must rely on them very much to the dishonour of their Saviour and to the danger of their salvation if they look to be justified by them nay a little after He plainly excludes good works from Justification though he require them in the Faith that justifieth Quùm ergo dicit Apostolus arbitrari se justificari hominem per fidem sine operibus Legis non hoc agit ut praeceptâ ac professâ fide opera Justitiae contemnantur sed ut sciat se quisque per fidem posse justificari etiamsi legis opera non praecesserint sequuntur enim justificatum non praecedunt justificandum When therefore the Apostle saith we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law his intent is not that because we have known and do profess the faith we should contemn the works of the Law but only that every man should know he may be justified by his faith though he hath not performed the works of the Law For those works do follow him that already is not go before him that hereafter shall be justified If good works do not go before him that is justified then the work of Justification is done before they come and if done before them then most surely done also without them Yet still the same Father reviles their opinion who did think That Faith without works was available to salvation saying plainly that to confute this
Covenant is there must of necessity be the life of the Covenanter Therefore if I will have the full comfort of the death of Christ overcoming for me the sharpness of death and opening to me the gates of everlasting life and rescuing me from the guilt of sin the terrors of hell and the tyranny of the Devil I must go to the Testament which tells me of Christs death not to the Covenant which threatens mine own by shewing me the multiplyed offences of my sinful life And in truth he that will deny this to be the proper signification of the word Testament must also deny St. Pauls argument which here depends wholly upon the proper signification of that word And for this cause saith the Apostle He is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the Promise of eternal inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator Heb. 9. 15 16. He saith not the Mediator of the New Covenant which supposeth the life of the Covenanter but of the New Testament which supposeth the death of the Testator and accordingly he placeth all the strength of his argument in the word Testament which by vertue of Christs death gave us redemption from transgressions and admission to an eternal inheritance So that we had need go to the Testament not to the Covenant both for our Redemption and for our Inheritance For the transgressions which were under the Old Covenant that of works here called the First Testament because as it was repeated by Moses it was not dedicated without blood v. 18 19. could not be expiated but by the Redemption that was under the New Testament wherefore the Covenant puts us in fear of captivity and death and 't is only the Testament gives us hopes of liberty and life And accordingly the Apostle useth the word Testament of purpose to proclaime the abundant Grace and Goodnesse of God to mankind that after our fall he was pleased to give us not a Covenant but a Testament For a Covenant is a matter of strict Justice having mutual conditions between both parties which if either fail the agreement is of none effect But a Testament is a matter of more Grace as being the conveyance of an inheritance without any harsh conditions imposed upon the Heires and before any obliging offices performed by them And such was the Act of God to us sinful men when we had disabled our selves to performe the conditions of his Covenant It was a Testament to instate us in the right of Salvation by the death of our Redeemer and therefore the Apostle sets it forth with the adjuncts and properties not of a Covenant but of a Testament For the proper adjuncts of a Covenant are not Blood and the Death of the Covenant-Maker which two alone are here mentioned since a Covenant is rather voided than established by death but both these are the proper adjuncts of a Testament which though made before the death of the Testator yet is not established till after it wherefore since our blessed Saviour did presignifie and promise his own death and the effusion of his own blood by Typical Sacrifices till he verified that Promise by the real Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross the Spirit of God in this place thought fit to make choice of the word Testament whereby to express this Act of his free Grace and favour towards us and sure no Minister of Gods Church may justly be questioned for speaking after the dialect of Gods Spirit 5. For what should a sinful soul do but gaspe after Gods free Grace acknowledging it to be Grace because she is â—…worthy and to be free Grace that she may not be uncapable of it For as she may easily perish by opposing it so she must necessarily perish by not obtaining it And the desire of opposing Grace must needs be a great impediment in obtaining Grace for God that gives Grace above our deserts wil not give it against our desires since it is expressely said That God resisteth the proud and therefore most resisteth those that are most proud even the proud in spirit who dare capitulate with his Justice but giveth Grace to the humble and therefore most Grace to those who are most humble even to the meek and lowly in heart who rely wholly upon his mercy And this consideration alone though you see it is not alone was enough to make me say and is enough to justifie my saying I am afraid of the Covenant and fly to the Testament for by the Covenant I can look only for Justice which I am afraid to find but by the Testament I can look for mercy which I desire to find here for the Comfort hereafter for the Salvation of my soul And if any be so hardy as to venter his soul upon the terms of Justice I may allow him to have the greater confidence but I cannot allow him to have the greater Comfort and I wish he may not have the lesser Salvation 6. And whereas you tell me Nay you your self are not afraid of the Covenant but fly to it for in your ejaculation 20. using S. Pauls words Heb. 12. you say I am desirous to come to mount Sion and to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant I crave leave to tell you that this objection was farre fetcht to shew you were willing to make it and may be as deare bought if I can shew you are not able to maintain it For I was bound to alledge St. Pauls words as I found them translated that none might be mistaken in my allegation and I found them thus translated To Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant Therefore in that I alledged them so I only shewed my self not afraid of the translation but I might still for all that be afraid of the Covenant For custome that ought to regulate speech which is established by it ought not to regulate conscience which it cannot establish The Word may be confined where the Thought is at liberty I speak for others but I Think for my self therefore I must speak according to Custome and yet may still think according to Conscience But I will not plead Custome when I may justly plead Comfort for in these words is nothing at all to terrifie my soul but very much to comfort and to settle it For it is said The Mediatour of the New Covenant which is every jot as comfortable as the Mediatour of the New Testament for it directs our hearts as immediately to our blessed Saviour since as the New Testament was confirmed so the New Covenant was signed and sealed with his Blood the only Balme to heal wounded Spirits the only Anchor to settle floating consciences Nay yet more here is Jesus expressely named To Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant so that if I were afraid of the New Covenant as you
Law or the Covenant of works did promise Salvation only upon perfect Obedience 14. And hence it is That St. Paul disputes so eagerly against the Law calling it our Gaoler to shut us up in prison Gal. 3. 23 Our Scholemaster to keep us under the Rod Gal. 3. 24. Our Accuser to work wrath Rom. 4. 15. nay our Executioner to minister death and condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 7 9. not speaking of the Law materially as it is in it self but Formally as it was then in its use For the Law in it self is the rule of Justice and Holinesse even an undefiled Law converting the Souls both of Jews and Christians and in that respect the very end and scope of the Gospel 1. And if we thus consider the Law t is all one to be Antinomian and to be Antichristian But the Law in its use to the Jew was a Covenant of life and Salvation requiring of him perfect Obedience if he would be saved and in that respect besides that it engaged to ritual observances the Law stood in opposition against the Gospel 2. And if we thus consider the Law we must be Antinomian that we may not be Antichristian wherefore the same Apostle St. Paul entring a comparison between the Ministers of the Law and of the Gospel proveth that the Ministery of the Gospel is so far more excellent then the Ministery of the Law as the Gospel of life and liberty is more glorious then the Law of death and condemnation 2 Cor. 3. For saith he the Law or the Old Testament was only external of the letter that killeth But the Gospel or the New Testament is internal of the Spirit that giveth life ver 6. 3. The Law was of the letter shewing us our duty and killing us for not doing it The Gospel is of the Spirit giving us grace to do our duty and life for doing it So excellent is the New Testament above the Old in its conditions Again The Law was obscure as it were vailed with Types and shadows with a kind of curtain before it that the Children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of it because their minds were blinded and even unto this day when Moses is read the vail is upon their heart v. 13 14 15. But the Gospel is clear and perspicuous making us with open face behold aâ—… in a glass the glory of the Lord v. 18. So excellent also is the New Testament above the Old in its Promises Therefore to confound the Gospel with the Law or the New with the Old Testament is to confound light with darknesse life with death liberty with bondage 15. This made St. Paul so vehemently expostulate with or rather exclaime against the Galathians saying Tell me ye that desire to be under the Law do you not heare the Law Gal. 4. 21. He justly upbraids them with desiring it saith St. Chrys. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it was not a thing that had been of his Preaching but only of their own phansying not a thing that God required but that themselves desired not a matter of their Obligation but only of their Contention to be under the Law as it was a Covenant of Life and Salvation and accordingly he confutes this their desire even by the Law it self shewing that if they looked into the Allegory therein delivered by Moses they would find as great a difference betwixt the Old and the New Testament as was betwixt Abrahams two wives Agar and Sarah which represented the said two Testaments For as Abraham had two wives the one a bond woman the other a free woman so God had made two Covenants or Testaments with mankind the one under the Law which gendred unto bondage the other under the Gospel which hath free born children These are the two Covenants ver 24. And as Agar though accounted fruitful yet brought but a small progeny to Abraham by Ishmael whereas Sarah who was looked upon as barren brought a great progeny to him by Isaac So the Old Testament brought forth children to God only in the confines and precincts of Judea but the New Testament is fruitful over the face of the whole Earth Therefore it is said Rejoycâ—… thou barren that bearest not for the desolate that is The Christian Church represented by Sarah hath many more children than she which hath an husband that is the Jewish Synagogue represented by Agar ver 27. And as Agar had children borne after the flesh or according to the course of nature But Sarah had children born after the Spirit or by vertue of Gods Promise So the Old Testament for what appeared in the letter had nothing but the ordinary strength of nature to bring forth children but the New Testament hath the extraordinary Grace of God Now we brethren as Isaac was are the children of Promise ver 28. Again as Ismael was of an unquiet and malicious disposition hating and persecuting his brother Isaac So those who look to be saved by the Old Testament trusting to themselves and the endowments of nature do scoffe and persecute those who look to be saved by tâ—…e New Testament trusting to their Saviour and the endowments of his Grace As then he that was borne after the flesh persecuted him that was borne after the spirit even so it is now ver 29. Lastly As Ismael was at length cast out of his Fathers house and Isaac was made his sole heire so those that rely upon Moses and look to be saved by the Old Testament will be excluded out of Gods family whereas those who rely upon Christ and look to be saved by the New Testament will without doubt be admitted to his heavenly iuheritance Cast out the bond-woman and her son for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heire with the son of the free-woman ver 30. 16. But why should I labour to add light to the Sun-beam the most glorious beam of the Sun of Righteousness for by the consent of all Christians the very ground upon which Christianity is justified against Judaisme is this That the Old Testament delivereth but the figure and the shadow of the New wherefore we can go to the Old Testament only for the figure and shadow we must come to the New Testament for the body substance both of our Religion and of our Salvation So vast a difference is there betwixt the Old and the New Testament both in Gods and in his Churches account yet you seem to confound these two Testaments by saying The New Testament is a conditional Covenant by which we are bound to do very many things our selves for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never obtain the same For this definition placeth the obtaining of our inheritance not in Believing but in Doing whereas perfect obedience was the condition of Salvation in the Old but Faith is the condition of Salvation in the New Testament There the primum Praedicatum the first thing Preached was Do this and live