believe all the Creed and Word of God but I will not have Christ Reign over me at the present but I promise that hereafter I will see Doctor Drake against Mr. Humfrey whether they would admit such Hierom argues thus from Baptism to the Administration of the Lords Supper therefore I may do it as to the receiving Quamobrem oro te utaut sacrificandi ei licentiam tribuas cujus baptisma probas aut reprobes ejus baptisma quem non existimas sacerdotem Neque enim fieri potest ut qui in baptismate sanctus est sit apud altare peccator Hier. Dialog adv Luciferian Argu. 17. That Doctrine which feigneth an un-sealed Covenant for giving right to the Seal of the Covenant of Grace is unsound But such is Mr. Blakes therefore No Scripture can be brought to prove such an outward Covenant of Gods And it is against the common reason and custom of men that a second Covenant should be drawn to convey right to the Seal of the first Covenant seeing right to Covenant and Seal go together and if there must be another Covenant to give right to that then by the same reason there must be another to give right to that and another to that and so in infinitum To the Antecedent it is apparent that Mr. Bl. distinguisheth ex parte Dei between the outward and the inward Covenant It is probable that he thus distributes them from the blessings promised whereof some are inward and some outward for though he explain not himself fully yet I know no other sense that it will bear It is evident that his outward Covenant hath no Seal For it is a Covenant de sigillis conferendis If therefore it have a Seal it is either the same which is promised or some other Other I never heard of they nowhere tell us what is the Seal of their outward Covenant The same it cannot be for the same thing cannot be the materia foederis or the Legacy it self or the benefit given and the Seal too of that Covenant whereby it is given Argu. 18. That Doctrine which makes it the regular way in Baptism for all men to promise that which they can neither sincerely promise nor perform is unsound but such is Mr. Blakes therefore The disabilitie which I here speak of is not such as is in a Godly man to do any good without Christ and the Spirit as is in the second cause to act without the first or in a partial cause to act without its compartial but such as is in an unregenerate man to do the work of the Regenerate or in any broken instrument or disabled agent to do its own part of the work till it be altered and made another thing as it were For the consequence it is evident in that 1. No man should ever perform Gods command concerning covenanting 2. And no mans word were fit to be taken concerning the performance of his own Covenant 1. Whether God may or do command some men or all men that which they have not abilitie to perform is nothing to the point For yet he gives some of them abilitie and causeth them to perform it when he makes it necessarie to salvation But in this case God should enable no man regularly to that Baptismal Covenant which he commandeth nor should any obey his command For he commandeth them sincerely to take him for their God and promise to Love Believe and Obey him hereafter For to dissemble he commands none But this no unrenewed Soul can do or ever did to this day They cannot resolve it therefore they cannot sincerely promise it and if justifying Faith must regularly begin after baptism as being the great condition to which it engages and not prerequisite then it is only unregenerate men that are the regular subjects of baptism 2. And its plain that he who cannot sincerely promise and therefore doth it dissemblingly or with a half heart nor is able to perform his promise is not to be credited God himself never enableth an unregenerate man to believe and repent savingly while he is such in sensu composito and therefore is it likely that it is ordinarily and regularly such dead men that must Covenant to Repent and Believe to justification Renewing Grace must intercede which is not in their hand how then can they promise to do the works of the truly Gracious God may invite and command the dead to live yea and to do the works of the living because he gave them life and gives them means for revival But I know not where he calls such men to promise to do it much less is the constant Baptismal Covenant such Argu. 19. If the Distribution of the Church into visible and invisible be but of the subject by divers Adjuncts and not of a Genus into its Species then that part or those members which are meerly visible are indeed no part or members of the Church so distributed but are only equivocally called a Church Christians Church-Members c. But the Antecedent is true therefore The Antecedent is not only the common Doctrine of the Reformed Divines against the Papists but is expressly affirmed by Mr. Blake in this his Book The consequence is undeniable in that Adjuncts are no part of the Essence much less the Form or the whole Essence and therefore cannot denominate but equivocally instead of the Essence Note that visibile is not the same with visum Argu. 20. If the man without the wedding Garment had coram Deo Right to be there then would not the Lord have challenged him therein with a friend how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding Garment If you will help him that was speechless to an answer and say for him Lord he was compelled to come in al thy command I Reply He that compelled him by invitation did not only bid him come but to come not only to come in but to come in as a Guest should to honor and not disgrace the Feast At lest it should have been known as implyed It was no unrevealed thing Argu. 21. If Circumcision were the Seal of the Righteousness of Faith even a Justifying Faith already in being then so is Baptism but the former is certain Rom. 4.11 12. He received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that Righteousness might be imputed to them also The last words confirm the consequence also Argu. 22. Many texts of Scripture shew that it was Justifying Faith that was by God required in the aged in baptism which I will cite together and not stand to fetch an argument from each alone Act. 2.38 39. was before cited verse 41. It was they that gladly received the word that were Baptized Act. 8.37 also is before spoke to It must be believing with all the heart Mar. 16.15 16. is very plain first Christ
below you Your standing is unsafe when you do little or nothing for God He is not bound to hold you the Candle to do nothing or to work for your self Work therefore while it is day the night comes when none can work 5. Another Temptation that you must expect will be to have your minde swell with your Condition and to disrespect the inferiour sort of your Brethren But I hope the Lord will keep you small in your own eyes as remembring that you are the same in the eyes of your Judge and your shadow is not lengthened by your successes and that you must lie down with the Vulgar in the common dust Sir Because the matter of this Book may be less useful to you I could not direct it to your hand without some words that might be more useful I do not fear least you should take my faithful dealing for an injury or interpret my Monition to be an Accusation as long as you so well know the Affections of your Monitor The Lord be your Teacher and Defence and Direct Excite Encourage and Succeed you and all that have Opportunity to do any thing to the Repairing of our Breaches by furthering The Reformation and Unity of the Churches Which is the earnest Desire and daily Prayer of Your Servant in the work of Christ RICHARD BAXTER Kederminster Marc. 8th 1653. RICH. BAXTERS ACCOUNT Given to his Reverend Brother Mr T. BLAKE OF THE Reasons of his Dissent FROM The Doctrine of his Exceptions in his late TREATISE of the COVENANTS JOHN 3.7 Little Children let no man Deceive you He that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous 1 TIM 4.8 Godliness is Profitable unto All things having Promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come LONDON Printed by A. M. for Thomas Vnderhill at the Anchor and Bible in Pauls Church-yard and Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1654. The Preface Apologetical SO sweet a thing is Christian Love and Concord and so precious are the thoughts of Peace to my Soul that I think it unmeet in this contentious Age to publish such a Controversie as this without an Apology which its likely may be needful both as to the Matter and the Manner Not that I dare rather choose to Excuse a fault then to forbear the committing of it But that I would have the Reader judge of things as they are Just Apologies are not a cover to our faults but for removal of mis-representations and healing of misapprehensions that those may not be taken for faults which are none or those to be of the greater size which are but ordinary infirmities Whether my Apology be Just the Reader must judge I do so heartily Love Peace that I have hard thoughts of Controversie yet do I so Love the Truth that I refuse not to contend for it Though the strait be great yet it s no other then we are usually put to even in lower things The most noble and excellent ends may have some distastful means which as none that is in his right senses will choose for themselves so none but a slave to his senses will refuse when they are necessary It is no Contradiction in such a case but true Discretion to Choose the thing which at the same time we do Abhor To choose it as a necessary Means and yet to abhorre it for its Ungrateful Nature We are contented to seek and buy and take that Physick which we so abhorre that we have much ado to get it down or to retain it The Lord knows that contending is distastful to my soul though my corrupt nature is too prone to it Much studying of Controversies hath oft discomposed my minde and interrupted my more sweet and heavenly thoughts and unfitted me for publick and private duties so that I as sensibly finde my self a loser by it as by some other avocations of a more aliene nature Yet dare I not be so selfish as to cast it off That must be endured which may not be desired We may not pretend the disadvantages to our souls much less any lower against apparent duty and service to the truth of God Many wayes hath our Master to make us a full reparation for our losses What then shall I resolve on Neither to Delight in Controversie nor totally to Refuse it Not to rush upon it unadvisedly nor to be carried into it by blinde Passion and partiality nor yet to cast away my Captains Colours nor to draw back when I am prest Not to militate for any Faction but for the Faith nor for vain-glory and credit but for Christ And this with such a differencing the Person from the Cause that as it respecteth the errour it shall be bitter and contentious but as to my Brother it shall be a Conference of Love I abhorre almost nothing more in Divines then laying too much upon the smaller controvertible Doctrinals and making too much of our Religion to consist in curious and unnecessary speculations if not unsearchable unrevealed things contradicting one of their first Maxims that Theology is a Practical Science An honest Philosopher saw the evil of this Yet must Gods commands be obeyed and the Truth defended and the Church confirmed and edified and the soul of an erring Brother be relieved though at a dearer rate then a verbal Disputation It is about five years since I wrote a small book about Justification and being in great weakness and expectation of death I was forced to deliberate Whether to publish it with its many Imperfections or not at all I chose the former supposing the Defects and Crudities would be charged only on the Author and that some Light might notwithstanding appear to the Reader which might further him in the understanding of several truths I durst not so far value reputation as to be injurious to Verity for fear of discovering my own infirmity It s no time to be solicitous about the esteem of men when we are drawing near to the Judgement Seat of God When this Book came abroad it fell under very different Censures as most things use to do that seem to go out of the ordinary road Too many overvalued it Some were offended at it Hereupon being afraid lest by Ignorance or Rashness I should wrong the Church and Truth I did in the end of my Book of Baptism desire my Brethrens animadversions and advice which accordingly many of the most pious and Learned men that I know in the Land were pleased to afford me and that with so much Ingenuity Love and Gentleness as I must needs confess my self their Debtor as having no way deserved so great a favour and I do hereby return them my most hearty thanks After this my Reverend and Dear Brother Mr Blake in a Treatise of the Covenants did publish a Confutation of some things in my Book among many others whom he deals with Mr Powell Mr. Tombes Mr. Owen Mr. Firmin c. wherein I found nothing
not as a Redeemer by ransom or as one that is to justifie us but not to Sanctifie or Rule us each of these is true in suo genere but false if they pretend to be that which Scripture calls Faith in Christ and which denominateth Believers So is it to believe with the understanding speculatively and superficially and yet to Dissent with the will I think if a man say This is the Son the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours we will not have this man Reign over us that these are not true Believers nor have right to Baptism though their belief that he is the heir be a Dogmatical Faith true in its kinde 2. As Amesius Medulla li. 1. cap. 3. § 20. Quamvis in Scripturis aliquando Assensus veritati quae est de Deo Christo Joh. 1.50 habetur pro vera fide includitur tamen semper specialis fiducia atque adeo omnibus in locis ubi sermo est de salutari fide vel praesupponitur fiducia in Messiam indicatur tantum determinatio vel applicatio ejus ad personam Jesu Christi vel per assensum illum designatur tanquam effectum per suam causam And as words of Knowledge and Assent do in Scripture oft imply affection and consent so on the contrary words of consent and affection do alwaies imply Knowledge and Assent And therefore Faith is sometime denominated from the Intellectual act Believing and sometime from the Wills act Receiving 3. Do you not know how ordinarily even saving Faith it self is denominated from the Intellectual Act alone when yet you 'l confess the Will is necessarily an Agent in this many texts might quickly be cited to that end Those that Amesius citeth may suffice Joh. 11.25 26 27. He that believeth in me shall live Believest thou this yea Lord I believe that thou art that Christ the Son of God that was to come into the world Such was Nathaniels faith Joh. 1.49 50. 1 Joh. 4.15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and be in God And 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Here is more then Right to Baptism The great doubt was then whether Christ were the true Messiah and therefore this was the greatest and most difficult part of Faith to Assent to this and therefore the whole is denominated from it it being supposed when they believed him to be the only sufficient and faithful Physitian that they were willing to be healed by him in his way 4. If you think as you seem by your answer to do that a man may Assent to the Truth of the Gospel with all his heart and yet be void of Justifying Faith you do not lightly err Though an unregenerate man may believe as many truths as the Regenerate yet not with all his heart Christ saith Math. 13. The word hath not rooting in him Doubtless whether or no the Practical understanding do unavoidably determine the Will yet God doth not sanctifie the understanding truly and leave the Will unsanctified which must be said if the Dogmatical Faith that is the Intellectual Assent of a wicked man be as strong as that of a true Believer Dr. Downam in his Treatise of Justification and against Mr. Pemble hath said enough of this to which I refer you I take that answer as equal to silence which yet Mr. Bl. so highly values as to say It will take away all scruple §. 52. HAving Replyed to your Answer I shall be bold to trouble you with some more Arguments to this point Mr. Blake affirmeth that Justifying Faith is the great Condition to which Baptism engageth and therefore not prerequisite to Baptism and that an acknowledgment of the Necessity of such Faith with engagement to it is sufficient for a title to the Seal and so it is a Dogmatical Faith which entitles to Baptism in which Baptism we must engage to believe with a lively and working Faith hereafter Against this Doctrine I argue 1. From Authority beginning with the lowest Argument The Reverend Assembly in their Advice for Church Government Printed after the Directory pag. 58. of the Church say thus Particular Churches in the Primitive times were made up of Visible Saints viz. of such as being of Age professed faith in Christ and obedience unto Christ according to the Rule of Faith and Life taught by Christ and his Apostles and of their children and they cite Act. 2 â—8 41 last compared with Act. 5.14 1 Cor. 1.2 compared with 2 Cor. 9.13 Now if the Profession of this Saint-ship in Faith and obedience according to the Rule were necessary then the profession of Justifying Faith was necessary For this is justifying Faith without doubt And if so then it is not a Faith short of this which is the condition of Church member-ship for then the profession of that other imperfect Faith might suffice of which more anon See also the Assemblies Confession cap. 28. § 1.6 and the two Catechisms of Baptism where 1. observe the ends of Baptism that it Sealeth Remission Regeneration Adoption c. 2. the subject that none are to be Baptized at age till they profess their Faith in Christ and Obedience to him Which if they do sincerely no doubt that Faith is no less then justifying See also what that truly Iudicious Learned Reverend Divine Mr. Gataker hath Replyed to Dr. Ward viz. against those words which I confuted not knowing that it was Mr. Gataker that the Doctor dealt with in Mr. Gatakers Desceptatio de Baptismatis Infantilis vi efficaciâ— pag. 71. where he also cites Luther Calvin Bucer Whitaker c. and therefore I will cite no more Mr. Marshal in his late Sermon for Unity I mentioned before A hundred might easily and truly be cited to this purpose Argu. 2. My Second Argument shall be from the Testimony and Practice of the purest Antiquity 1 Justin Martyr in his second Apologie relating the Churches custom in Baptizing saith As many as being perswaded do believe these things to be true which we teach and do promise to live according to them they first learn by prayer and fasting to beg pardon of God for their former sins our selves also joyning our prayer and fasting Then they are brought to the water and born again in the same way as we our selves were born again So for the other Sacrament he addeth This food we call the Eucharist to which no man is admitted but he that believeth the Truth of our Doctrine being washed in the Laver of Regeneration for Remission of sin and that so liveth as Christ hath taught 2. Irenaeus l. 4. c. 13. shews that Abrahams Faith by which he was justified is the same with the Christian Faith yea with that whereby we begin to be saved And cap. 76. having reference to the Baptismal Covenant wherein men deliver up themselves to Christ he saith Si igitur tradideris ei quod
is as it were engaged to man in the Covenant of Grace and that it is dangerous to make God to be in actual Covenant with men in the state of nature though the conditional covenant may be made to them and though he have revealed his decree for the sanctifying his elect but he is supposed to dispence his mercies to the unregenerate freely as Dominus absolutus or as Rector supra leges and not by giving them a Legal or Covenant-right And indeed in my opinion the Transition is very easie from Mr. Blakes opinion to Arminianism if not unavoidable save by a retreat or by not seeing the connexion of the Consequents to the Antecedent For grant once that common Faith doth coram Deo give right to baptism and it is very easie to prove that it gives right to the end of baptism God having not instituted it to be an emptie sign to those that have true Right to it And it will be no hard matter to prove that it is some special Grace that is the end of Baptism at lest Remission of sin And so upon the good use of common Grace God should be in Covenant obliged to give them special Grace which is taken for Pelagianism §. 53. WHen I had Replyed thus far to Mr. Blake I was much moved in my minde to have Replyed to his answer to Mr. Firmin on the like subject and also to have then proved that the children have no Right to baptism except the immediate Parent be a believer for the sake of any of his Ancestors and that the children of Apostates and wilfull obstinate wicked livers should not be baptized as theirs and to have answered what Mr. Bl. hath said to the contrary and this meerly in love to the Truth lest the reputation of man should cloud it and in love to the Church and the lustre of the Christian name lest this fearful gap should let in that pollution that may make Christianitie seem no better then the other Religions of the world For I fear this loose Doctrine of Baptism will do more 〈◊〉 the pollution of the Church then others loose Doctrine of the Lords Supper or as much But I am very loth to go any further in Controversie then I shall be necessitated And if Mr. Firmin be living I conjecture by his writings that he is able easily to vindicate his own words Not that I have low thoughts of the abilities and worth of my dear and Reverend friend Mr. Blake but that I take his answers on those subjects to be very dilute si pace tanti viri ita dicam so great a disadvantage is an ill cause to the most learned man Mr. Firmin I know not any further then by his Book against Separation But in that Book I see so much Candor Ingenuitie Moderation Love to Peace and some convenient terms for Peace discovered that I am heartily sorrie that there are no more to second him and that his incitements to accommodation are no more laid to heart But the Peace-makers shall be blessed in the Kingdom of Peace how little soever they may succeed in this tumultuous world For as where envy and strife is contentious zeal there is confusion and every evil work so the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace § 54. I Had thought also at the first view that it would have been necessary to have confuted Mr. Blakes 31. Chapt. when I found this Title A man in Covenant with God and received into the Vniversal Church Visible needs no more to give him accesss to and interest in particular Visible Churches But I know not whether he mean the access and interest of a stranger in passage or a Transient Member or of a fixed Member If of the latter I should have proved moreover that there is Necessary both his Cohabitation and his Consent to be a Member of that Church and his consent to submit to the particular Pastors of that Church as his Teachers and Spiritual Guides in the Lord. But I finde in the following pages Mr. Blake doth acknowledge all this himself I shall therefore pass on to some other subject only remembering Mr. Bl. that as it is not Number of Arguments but Weight that will carrie the Cause so it is not Number that I trust to and therefore if any one of those 26 Arguments foregoing be good though 25 be bad I must needs think the Cause bad which I argue against §. 55. Whether Faith and Repentance be Gods Works Mr Bl. CHap. 15. So Mr. Baxters Questionist qu. How do you make Faith and Repentance to be Conditions of the Covenant on our part seeing the bestowing of them is part of the condition on Gods part Can they be our Conditions and Gods too Answer c. And I shall not stand to distinguish of an Absolute and Conditional Covenant and so making the whole in the Absolute Covenant to be Gods and in the Conditional this part to be ours which I know not whether exactly understood the Scripture will bear but in plain term◠deny that they are Gods Conditions and affirm them to be ours I know what God speaks in his Word concerning these works that He will write his Law in our hearts and put it into our inward parts that he will take away the heart of stone and give an heart of flesh which implyes this work of which we speak I know likewise what in particular is affirmed of Christ that he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith c. Yet all this rises not up higher to make them formally Gods acts and not ours Whose acts they be his Conditions they are this is evident But they are our acts we Believe and Repent it is not God that Believes it is not God that Repents c. Faith and Repentance are mans works not Gods works which man in Covenant does respective to salvation in the Covenant tendered But the Apostle some may say in the next words tells us That it is God that works the Will and the Deed. There he seems to take them from us and ascribes the formality of them to God In this Cooperation of Gods whether they be formally our works or Gods let Isaiah determine Isa 26.12 Thou hast wrought all our works in us When God hath wrought it the work is ours we have the reward c. § 55 R. B. MR Blakes business here is to confute the answer that I gave to that objection A brief Reply may easily satisfie this confutation 1. I did explain in what sense these were called Covenants shewing that that which is called the Absolute Covenant is in some respect no part of Gods Legislative Will and so doth not jus conferre but only part of his Decretive Will revealed but that in other respects it belongs to the Legislative Will and may be called an absolute promise And so the word Conditions applyed to God is taken for the thing promised improperly called a condition but applied
Souls But for my part I never yet saw the face of that sober man to my knowledge who durst say That he was as sure or as confident of his own sincerity as of the Truth of Gods Word and particularly of that Promise He that Believeth shall not perish but have Everlasting life And as I have oft said already The Conclusion may not be said to be de fide unless the other Proposition he as evident as that which is de fide because Conclusio sequitur partem deteriorem Yea let me be bold to grow a little higher and to tell you that it seems to me impossible and a contradiction that any man should be more certain that he Believeth sincerely then he is that Gods Word is true or that the Promise is Gods Word which he doth Believe For the truth of God in his Word is the formal object of Faith without which there can be no Faith No man therefore can be more certain that he believes truly then he is that Gods Word is true For to Believe is to apprehend the certain Truth of the Word And none can be more certain that he apprehends the word as certain then he is that the word is certain If you say I am certain that I believe the certainty of the word but weakly I answer At lest then the saving sincerity of your Faith will be as uncertain to you as the word is if not the being of that Faith And then there is no more certainty I think rationally and ordinarily then there is Evidence So much for that Controversie and so of all so far as I have observed which Mr. Blake hath with me or hath called me to give an account of my judgement Whether the Covenant of Grace require perfection and accept sincerity THough I have done with what Mr. Blake saith to me and have no desire to do any thing unnecessary in a way of Controversie yet because it is of the like nature with a subject formerly handled or tends to clear up some things about it I will very briefly touch on his Arguments pag. 107.108 upon this Question §. 82. Mr. Bl. A Second opinion is that the Covenant of Grace requires perfection in the exactest way without help of these mens distinctions in an equal degree with the Covenant of Works but with this difference in the Covenant of Works there is no indulgence or dispensation in case of failing but the penalty takes hold the Curse follows upon it But the Covenant of Grace though it call for perfection such is the exactness of it yet it accepts of sincerity such is the qualification of it through Grace or the mercy in it If I should take up any opinion in the world for the Authors sake or those that have appeared as Patrons of it then I should embrace this The Reverence deservedly due to him that I suppose first manifested himself in it hath caused it to finde great entertainment But upon more then twenty years thoughts about it I finde it labouring under manifold inconveniences §. 82. R. B. 1. IT may seem audaciousness in a young Divine to question that which you shall now so considerately deliver after more then twenty years thoughts But no prejudice must hinder us from a further enquiry after the Truth 2. I began to conjecture that the Reverend person that you mean is Mr. Ball and yet methinks you should not suppose him the Author It is therefore sure some one much elder 3. For the thing it self if I may shoot my bolt upon a shorter deliberation I conceive that all your difference with the men of that Judgement is occasioned by the Ambiguity and various acception of the word Covenant of Grace which in my judgement you ought to have removed by distinguishing before you had argued against their opinion The term Covenant of Grace is sometime taken strictly for the Contract alone either 1. for the full Contract which is mutual or by both parties which is most properly called a Covenant Or 2. for the engagement of one part only 1. either for Gods Promise 2. or mans Herein the Condition is implyed not as commanded but as tendred Now it is certain that taking the Covenant in this restrained sense it doth not command Perfection of obedience for it commands nothing at all nor doth it propound it as the Condition for then we were undone But then it must be known that this is too restrained a sense for us ordinarily to use the word Covenant in God hath made no such Covenant with us which is not a Law in one respect as well as a Covenant in another He layes not by his Soveraignty in Covenanting Nay they are all more properly called Laws then Covenants Even the Promise it self is most properly Lex Gratiae Remedians Like an act of Oblivion or Pardon to a Nation of Rebels Yet comparatively the Law of Grace is far more fitly called a Covenant then the Law of Nature which perhaps is never so called in Scripture because the Promissory part is the predominant part in the Law of Grace the precept being but subservient to that but the preceptive part is most predominant in the Law of nature the Promise being not so much as expressed by Moses and obscure in nature it self so that it will hold great dispute whether God were obliged at all to Reward man with heavenly Glory yea or any proper Reward besides non-punishment which is improperly a Reward The Lutherans are the leaders of that evil custom and conceit of denying the Gospel to be a Law 2. In the next place therefore the word Covenant of Grace is taken for the New Law containing Precept Prohibition Promise and Threatning And here it is taken 1. so narrowly as to comprize only the Precept of Believing with the Promise and Threatning annext as being indeed the principal parts 2. Sometime more largely as containing also the Precepts that Christ hath given the Church since his coming that were not before given Principally that of Believing Jesus to be the Christ and also those of Ministery Ordinances Church-Assemblies c. together with the Doctrines or Articles of Faith which he since revealed 3. Sometime it is more largely taken for that whole Systeme of Doctrines Histories and Laws Precepts Promises and Threats which directly concern the Recovery of faln mankinde 4. Sometime for as much of these as was delivered before Christs coming in Promises Prophesies and Types c. 5. Sometime for as much of these as yet remains in force whether delivered to the Church before the Incarnation or since for many Covenants or Evangelical Promises and Precepts are ceased now that were in force before as that Christ should be born and they should accept his birth c. This last sense containeth the Doctrine of Redemption by Christ and the History of his birth life and Death and Resurrection as Narrations of the occasion end and matter are usual appurtenances of a Law as also the Precepts